Year Three Begins !

While I may not have such luxuries as “indoor plumbing” or
“electricity” at my humble village home, I now have one of the latest
and greatest luxuries of all: the internet! As of last week, I’ve been
equipped with the internet thanks to the purchase of a little USB
stick that gets signal through the phone towers. Malawi’s course of
development is surely different from America’s—internet being
available in my village before electricity? I’m also reminded of this
unusual ordering of things when I see women pausing to answer their
cell phones while carrying water on their heads. Here I sit, posting
on my blog instead of starting a fire to cook my dinner (I find
different ways to procrastinate here).

A lot has happened since my last posting—beginning a third year of
teaching, traveling around Malawi, saying goodbye to my group, getting
an internet stick for internet connection. Teaching is going well. We
recently heard that our school’s pass rate was more than 60% on the
national Junior Certificate Exams. This was great news for us! The
results were announced on the radio last night, and the names of the
students who passed were all read aloud. I could hear cheers coming
from nearby houses when they heard their names called.

This year, I’m teaching Form 2, 3, and 4 physical science along with
Form 3 English literature and grammar. I start with an African literature book. It’s called Looking for a Rain God, and I just finished reading it today. It’s a collection of short stories that is giving me a little bit more
background on different cultures within Africa.

From the middle to end of September, I traveled around Malawi and said
goodbye to my friends in my group—the majority of my group is in
America now; I remain here with the few and the proud who chose to
extend. While traveling, we made it to the lake (Senga Bay is so
beautiful and relaxing, and a great place to chill and chat), Liwonde
National Park (we got so close—too close?—to elephants), and Blantyre.
In Blantyre, we went out to the movies! The movies! Going out to the
movies may seem unremarkable, but for me, it was quite possibly the
best date ever! The company had a lot to do with it, as did the fact
that I was at the only movie theatre in ALL of Malawi: a place with a
giant, enthralling screen, extremely comfortable seats, and popcorn
with cheese powder. I’m used to such seating arrangements as 20 people
per pickup truck bed and such food as maize flour porridge. The movies
were… wow. I hope I can appreciate them at least 10% as much in
America.

After traveling, I went back to site and caught up with my students
and my groundnut group. The students are hardworking this term; I’m
excited about this year. The student who lives with me, Dyna, is doing
well. It’s really neat to see her getting more comfortable and
realizing how talented she is. She’s 16, making her one of the
youngest form 4 (senior-level) students. She’s an academic superstar.
Dyna continues to beat me at Bao (a traditional African game, like
Mancala). That’s surely not keeping her humble. But there will come a
day when I’ll have learned all of her tricks. And then she’ll be in
trouble.

The g-nutters, whose business management and oil production I advise,
are doing well. I visited them this morning. The women looked so cute, and
the men so sharp (er…emasculated?) in the aprons I had made with a
ground nut pattern on the fabric. When they requested that I write
aprons into the grant proposal, I don’t think they knew how far I
might take it with the g-nut pattern. Oil-production is going really
well. Everyone is happy, having received their pay from the groundnut
oil and flour. They still have some money in the bank too! I’m really
pleased and impressed with this industrious group. The Department of
Agriculture has noticed them, and is encouraging them to apply for
funding so they can build a production house. I’ll try to find an
artist who can paint groundnuts all over the building. Just kidding….
Well, MacKenzie IS coming to visit….

That’s right! I’ll be receiving two very important visitors next
month! Carroll and MacKenzie, two of my very best friends, are coming
to Malawi! I am working on putting together a good itinerary for us.
It will definitely involve a Thanksgiving to remember (killing our
very own Thanksgiving turkey, I hope!). We will also head to the lake
where two of my friends—a Canadian and a Malawian—will be getting
married. We’ll spend some time at my site, do a hike in Nyika… add to
those things about 3 or 4 days of travel (which can be fun with
company!), and the time will surely fly.

Well, I’m getting hungry. My loving mother sent me a care package that
was bursting at the seams! It was filled, almost entirely, with
macaroni and cheese. Yummm. My stomach just made an audible growl.
Better go start a fire.

I hope y’all are doing well! Now that I have the ‘net, I’ll be able to
see your e-mails in good time (I should be checking at least every
other day). Hopefully I’ll be able to stay in better touch this year.
I miss you all and look forward to hearing what’s new in your lives!

Love,
Alyssa