I have been away from home for a little over 3 weeks and wow did I miss it. I knew I would but not this much. I came back and everyone was so happy to see me even the things that would usually get to me made me smile. When I returned home a fence was being built around my house and it is still in the process of getting done. Once it is complete I will be able to start my garden and lay around in my yard and not be stared at. So I am pretty excited about that.
At last I got to see the lake that most people talk about when discussing Malawi. It was very pretty and really hot. I stayed with my friend who lives by the lake it was really nice. We went swimming and laid out by the lake away from the village so we wouldn't be bothered. We kayaked to lizard island and saw cichild fish which was really cool. I have to say thank you to Genna for being patient with me because I was fearful of tipping my kayak. We made it back with no tips, mostly dry, and some awesome sunburn lines. It was also great to see what kind of work she was doing. She is health volunteer so her work is much different then mine plus she loves kids also much different then me. As volunteers we are often told how different everyone service is going to be but I don't think I really realized that until I saw a volunteer's site and day to day life that started the same time as I did. The experience was eye opening and a lot of fun it was good to bounce ideas and problems off another volunteer.
After the lake I went to In service Training also known as IST. The first day we went to the Nordin's former Peace Corps volunteers who have been living in Malawi for 15 years. We went to check out their permagardening that they have going on at their house. The whole set up they have is really cool. Then we headed to Dedza where our counterparts met us there. The college of Forestry in Dedza was our first taste of Malawi so it has this comfort factor to a lot of volunteers. We had a lot of good technical training and some fun exercises in trusting our counterparts and them trusting us. On Saturday our counterparts left and we went to a cultural center. It had some really interesting stuff in the center and a really cool and reasonable gift shop. Then on Sunday we went back to see our home stay families. Mine was really excited to see me and I got nervous and couldn't speak much Chichewa plus I am not that good. So it was still kind of awkward. I gave them some gifts and they gave me a bag of potatoes. They now have a pig and a TV that they run off a car battery so doing well I guess. The kids had gotten bigger and had new clothes so that was nice to see. In the afternoon on Sunday all the Health volunteers came so it was great to see them all. We had a week of training together on administrative stuff so not super interesting.
The following Saturday all the Env. volunteers left most of us went up to Lilongwe to hangout for a day to get some stuff done at the office. I stayed around to go to the dentist and do somethings at the office. We went one night and saw The Black Missionaries a Malawian Reggae band, it was a good time. On Monday I went to the dentist and my long term plan is to get two root canals in my front two teeth so that should be interesting. I will most likely have to go to South Africa to get that done. My Ipod is MIA I am hoping it is at the office otherwise I think I have insurance on it and can get another one I hope. An Ipod makes traveling here so much more relaxing so it is a must have.
All in all a good trip but glad to be back home and hit the ground running on projects. I am going next week to liwonde national park to help out with a game count so hoping to see some animals then.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Essie
