Saturday, December 19, 2009
Kuno ku Chitimba...
I have now been living at site for one week and two days! And I have not yet starved to death, contracted cholera, been attacked by monkey(s), or eaten all of my Reese's Pieces. So far, so good. Chitimba is lovely. I'm going to try an upload a picture as proof:
And that's just the sign! If you were standing where I was when I took that picture, and turned left (east), you would see Lake Malawi, a freshwater lake so enormous that most days you can't see the mountains in Tanzania on the other side. If you walked south a bit and turned right, in about two hours you would reach Livingstonia, the original site of the missionaries in Malawi. And if you kept walking south, you'd be in Chitimba village proper, just over the Rumphi-Karonga border, and now my home for two years. YIKES.
We are now officially Peace Corps Volunteers! The day of swearing-in we kept joking about finally receiving our superpowers -- it is kind of funny how PC coddles us for 10 weeks and then drops us in the middle of nowhere. I am pretty excited about "defending the Constitution" -- as I swore to -- in Chitimba, though. I'm not really sure what that means, but by golly, I will make everyone here acknowledge that presidents must be over 35 years of age. Here's my amayi (host mom) with me at swearing-in:
The first week at site has been a challenge. My electricity hasn't come through yet -- my most optimistic guess is New Year's -- and so I've been cooking with charcoal. It's REALLY HARD to light charcoal without lighter fluid. There's a paraffin shortage in Malawi right now, so I've been consigning the environment to perdition and using plastic to light my stove. Essentially I've learned that I should start trying to light it about four hours before I actually want to eat. But! I'm looking forward to getting creative with the few ingredients Chitimba has to offer -- tomatoes, mangoes aplenty, rice, and a few onions. I bought wheat flour in Lilongwe, so tortillas are definitely in the offing. Meanwhile I've been embarking on some serious DIY projects: curtain sewing, shelf-building, path-paving. The workmanship isn't exactly exquisite, but nothing has fallen down yet. This is the beach that's about an 8-minute walk from my house.
And here's some pictures of the inside of my house. My bed used to be under the window with the blue curtain. Then it rained.
I tell you what, this rainy season means serious business. There is no glass in any of the windows in my house, so my books have their own little plastic shelter which will hopefully protect them. Everything else can just deal. On the plus side, rain means a couple fewer times I have to go to the borehole and carry water back on my head. I can carry about 15 liters now, but it sloshes everywhere. Yesterday I was trying to put a full bucket on top of a rolled-up chitenje (piece of fabric) on my head, and I kept knocking the chitenje off. My arms aren't quite long enough to lift the bucket from the top, but it didn't occur to me, because I am a dolt, that I could lift the bucket from the bottom. So instead what happened was that I made two iwes (children) who were laughing hysterically at my efforts come and help me. As they balanced the bucket on my head, though, the chitenje slipped, and they were instantly soaked. I felt bad about it, but it's so hot here that they probably enjoyed it. I know I spill so much water every time I carry a bucket that it's practically a bath.
School! Form 2 (sophomores) started this week, but Form 1s will have to wait until January, since we don't have their exam results yet and Christmas and New Year's are school holidays. I don't think anybody was prepared for the new school schedule, including the national exam people -- nobody can actually start on time because they don't know who has passed. So far my kids are learning poetic terms -- it's slow going, but it's on their exam, so hopefully now they can identify rhythm, rhyme, simile, metaphor, and alliteration. One of the best things about Chitumbuka (the language here) is that there's so much alliteration -- everything has to agree in a sentence, and the way you make things agree is by adding the same prefix. Everything's a tongue twister. It's kind of great.
On the whole, I am very excited to get going with the work I'm doing here. I'm sure that Chitimba will soon seem like home, and that one of these days I'll finish these stupid curtains. In the meantime, there's always swimming in the lake to keep me cool, and slightly less dirty.
Happy holidays! Keep me posted on your lives!
And that's just the sign! If you were standing where I was when I took that picture, and turned left (east), you would see Lake Malawi, a freshwater lake so enormous that most days you can't see the mountains in Tanzania on the other side. If you walked south a bit and turned right, in about two hours you would reach Livingstonia, the original site of the missionaries in Malawi. And if you kept walking south, you'd be in Chitimba village proper, just over the Rumphi-Karonga border, and now my home for two years. YIKES.
We are now officially Peace Corps Volunteers! The day of swearing-in we kept joking about finally receiving our superpowers -- it is kind of funny how PC coddles us for 10 weeks and then drops us in the middle of nowhere. I am pretty excited about "defending the Constitution" -- as I swore to -- in Chitimba, though. I'm not really sure what that means, but by golly, I will make everyone here acknowledge that presidents must be over 35 years of age. Here's my amayi (host mom) with me at swearing-in:
The first week at site has been a challenge. My electricity hasn't come through yet -- my most optimistic guess is New Year's -- and so I've been cooking with charcoal. It's REALLY HARD to light charcoal without lighter fluid. There's a paraffin shortage in Malawi right now, so I've been consigning the environment to perdition and using plastic to light my stove. Essentially I've learned that I should start trying to light it about four hours before I actually want to eat. But! I'm looking forward to getting creative with the few ingredients Chitimba has to offer -- tomatoes, mangoes aplenty, rice, and a few onions. I bought wheat flour in Lilongwe, so tortillas are definitely in the offing. Meanwhile I've been embarking on some serious DIY projects: curtain sewing, shelf-building, path-paving. The workmanship isn't exactly exquisite, but nothing has fallen down yet. This is the beach that's about an 8-minute walk from my house.
And here's some pictures of the inside of my house. My bed used to be under the window with the blue curtain. Then it rained.
I tell you what, this rainy season means serious business. There is no glass in any of the windows in my house, so my books have their own little plastic shelter which will hopefully protect them. Everything else can just deal. On the plus side, rain means a couple fewer times I have to go to the borehole and carry water back on my head. I can carry about 15 liters now, but it sloshes everywhere. Yesterday I was trying to put a full bucket on top of a rolled-up chitenje (piece of fabric) on my head, and I kept knocking the chitenje off. My arms aren't quite long enough to lift the bucket from the top, but it didn't occur to me, because I am a dolt, that I could lift the bucket from the bottom. So instead what happened was that I made two iwes (children) who were laughing hysterically at my efforts come and help me. As they balanced the bucket on my head, though, the chitenje slipped, and they were instantly soaked. I felt bad about it, but it's so hot here that they probably enjoyed it. I know I spill so much water every time I carry a bucket that it's practically a bath.
School! Form 2 (sophomores) started this week, but Form 1s will have to wait until January, since we don't have their exam results yet and Christmas and New Year's are school holidays. I don't think anybody was prepared for the new school schedule, including the national exam people -- nobody can actually start on time because they don't know who has passed. So far my kids are learning poetic terms -- it's slow going, but it's on their exam, so hopefully now they can identify rhythm, rhyme, simile, metaphor, and alliteration. One of the best things about Chitumbuka (the language here) is that there's so much alliteration -- everything has to agree in a sentence, and the way you make things agree is by adding the same prefix. Everything's a tongue twister. It's kind of great.
On the whole, I am very excited to get going with the work I'm doing here. I'm sure that Chitimba will soon seem like home, and that one of these days I'll finish these stupid curtains. In the meantime, there's always swimming in the lake to keep me cool, and slightly less dirty.
Happy holidays! Keep me posted on your lives!
Friday, November 27, 2009
At long last...
Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone/anyone who reads this! I am in Lilongwe, waiting for PC transport back to Dedza, about an hour south of here. Yesterday I arrived in the capital from site visit, which means I have spent about 30 hours on a bus in the past 6 days. So far, it seems worth it -- my site is gorgeous. It's at Chitimba, on the border of Rumphi and Karonga district. I traveled there with my headmaster, Chance, who was gracious enough to let me stay in his house during my visit. And then I got to see my new house and explore around Chitimba. The house is enormous. Visitors are always welcome. AND I have electricity! So I lucked out. No running water though. But the electricity is especially welcome, because it means I can have a fan. It's really really hot. It's about a 5 minute walk to the beach, and I have plans for some beachside ukulele-ing.
Funny story: so I was wondering what Malawians wear to go swimming, and I asked my headmaster. He said, simply, "Pants." Naturally I thought, that makes sense. Malawi is a very conservative country (I'm supposed to wear skirts below the knee at all times), and I don't think people have the income to buy scuba suits. I was forgetting, however, that this Malawian conservatism doesn't always follow my American logic, and that, more importantly, "pants" in Malawi means underpants. The next day I wanted to go into the lake, so my headmaster's lovely wife went with me. We got to the sand and I took off my wrap, revealing my "sturdy one-piece" that the packing list had instructed us to bring. The headmaster's wife looked at me, laughed, and promptly stripped down to her undies. Malawi is a confusing place sometimes.
So for a quick sum-up of the two months I've been here:
We've been in PST, or Pre-Service Training, which means we are not officially Volunteers yet. We will become Volunteers on Dec. 9th. So my training class of 20 has been having a lot of language classes, a lot of technical preparation, and a lot of excitement when the mail arrives. Speaking of which, I have a new mailing address! It's on the sidebar. So we had homestay for 6 weeks, where we stayed with village families and taught at the local school. It was an adventure, mostly because of the lack of communication ability. My family spoke nearly no English, and my Chichewa is not quite up to par, so there were some funny moments. I taught Form 1 (freshman) English at the Katsekaminga Community Day Secondary School -- their essays were, at times, hilarious, and at times, very impressive for kids who have never owned a book. [Sidebar: I'm definitely looking forward to working on the library in Chitimba -- there's a bunch of books that a previous Volunteer got sent to the school, but right now the kids can't access them because they're not organized and they're all in the staff room, where the students are not allowed to go. It is strange to be allowed in the staff room, actually -- a lot of my students will be my age or possibly older, since often they break off in the middle of the school year to help with the farming or other work, and then finish the following year.]
After homestay was over, which was both sad and relief -- it was hard to never decide what was happening to me, but my family was incredible -- we had a week back at the College of Forestry. We got our bikes (they are hardcore), went to Ed's, the bar down the street, hung out a lot, and forgot a lot of the language we'd learned in homestay. It was a good week. Up next: language intensive, which for us Chitumbuka speakers is in Rumphi boma (boma = city). Then, we're back in Dedza for a few more technical wrap-up things, and then it's off to site! Then I'll start teaching English to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, in classes of about 50. Yikes.
It's definitely exciting.
Should roll out now, but I hope I can post again soon, and I miss you all!
Funny story: so I was wondering what Malawians wear to go swimming, and I asked my headmaster. He said, simply, "Pants." Naturally I thought, that makes sense. Malawi is a very conservative country (I'm supposed to wear skirts below the knee at all times), and I don't think people have the income to buy scuba suits. I was forgetting, however, that this Malawian conservatism doesn't always follow my American logic, and that, more importantly, "pants" in Malawi means underpants. The next day I wanted to go into the lake, so my headmaster's lovely wife went with me. We got to the sand and I took off my wrap, revealing my "sturdy one-piece" that the packing list had instructed us to bring. The headmaster's wife looked at me, laughed, and promptly stripped down to her undies. Malawi is a confusing place sometimes.
So for a quick sum-up of the two months I've been here:
We've been in PST, or Pre-Service Training, which means we are not officially Volunteers yet. We will become Volunteers on Dec. 9th. So my training class of 20 has been having a lot of language classes, a lot of technical preparation, and a lot of excitement when the mail arrives. Speaking of which, I have a new mailing address! It's on the sidebar. So we had homestay for 6 weeks, where we stayed with village families and taught at the local school. It was an adventure, mostly because of the lack of communication ability. My family spoke nearly no English, and my Chichewa is not quite up to par, so there were some funny moments. I taught Form 1 (freshman) English at the Katsekaminga Community Day Secondary School -- their essays were, at times, hilarious, and at times, very impressive for kids who have never owned a book. [Sidebar: I'm definitely looking forward to working on the library in Chitimba -- there's a bunch of books that a previous Volunteer got sent to the school, but right now the kids can't access them because they're not organized and they're all in the staff room, where the students are not allowed to go. It is strange to be allowed in the staff room, actually -- a lot of my students will be my age or possibly older, since often they break off in the middle of the school year to help with the farming or other work, and then finish the following year.]
After homestay was over, which was both sad and relief -- it was hard to never decide what was happening to me, but my family was incredible -- we had a week back at the College of Forestry. We got our bikes (they are hardcore), went to Ed's, the bar down the street, hung out a lot, and forgot a lot of the language we'd learned in homestay. It was a good week. Up next: language intensive, which for us Chitumbuka speakers is in Rumphi boma (boma = city). Then, we're back in Dedza for a few more technical wrap-up things, and then it's off to site! Then I'll start teaching English to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, in classes of about 50. Yikes.
It's definitely exciting.
Should roll out now, but I hope I can post again soon, and I miss you all!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Four hours to go....
We are in Philadelphia, having finished staging, learned that we cannot date spies and that we cannot post the locations of other volunteers on our blogs. Apparently Peace Corps is full of state secrets. In a little less than 4 hours we will be leaving the hotel on a bus, traveling a few hours north to JFK airport in New York, and finally taking off for Lilongwe (via Johannesburg). It is very strange that this is happening at all, much less in the middle of the night. Luckily everyone in our group of 21 seems pretty flexible so hopefully it will all go well.
I probably won't be able to post for another 3 months after tonight, but when I do, I can promise lots of information about training and all that stuff. Write me a letter!
I probably won't be able to post for another 3 months after tonight, but when I do, I can promise lots of information about training and all that stuff. Write me a letter!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Things I Didn't Know About Malawi
Sydney Bristow probably compiled these all by herself: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mi.html
Life expectancy at birth: 43.82 years
(Malawi is ranked 216 out of 224 in terms of life expectancy. The U.S. is ranked at 50, behind Bosnia-Herzegovnia, Israel, pretty much all of western Europe, and Macau at the #1 spot. The nations that have lower life expectancy, in descending order: Djibouti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zambia, Angola, Swaziland.) But back to the country at hand --
HIV adult prevalence: 11.9%
Literacy: 62.7%
Population: 14,268,711
Area: slightly smaller than Pennsylvania
Population below the poverty line: 53%, or 7,562,417 people (I did math!)
Life expectancy at birth: 43.82 years
(Malawi is ranked 216 out of 224 in terms of life expectancy. The U.S. is ranked at 50, behind Bosnia-Herzegovnia, Israel, pretty much all of western Europe, and Macau at the #1 spot. The nations that have lower life expectancy, in descending order: Djibouti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zambia, Angola, Swaziland.) But back to the country at hand --
HIV adult prevalence: 11.9%
Literacy: 62.7%
Population: 14,268,711
Area: slightly smaller than Pennsylvania
Population below the poverty line: 53%, or 7,562,417 people (I did math!)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
80 lbs., 107" and a possible hernia
Packing list! If anybody's interested. The Peace Corps restricts us to 80 lbs. and 107 inches (height + width + length), so obviously it's all subject to change, probably until the moment that I actually depart. Comments and advice always welcome!
Clothing and OMG SHOEZ
Northface rain jacket
Zip-up fleece
2 calf-length skirts
1 ankle-length skirt
2 calf-length dresses
2 edging on not-quite-long-enough dresses
liberal interpretation of the packing guidelines
1 ankle-length dress
1 pair jeans
1 pair water-resistant zippy pants
4 tank tops (various colors)
3 short-sleeve t-shirts
2 long-sleeve t-shirts
3 blouses
1 pair Bermuda shorts
1 pair athletic shorts
long underwear
1 pair pajama pants
1 cotton slip
2 sports bras
4 regular bras
SO MUCH UNDERWEAR
5 pair socks
2 swimsuits
black tights
scarf & mittens
baseball cap
running shoes
Chacos
Rainbows
Teva flip-flops
frumpy orthopedic teaching shoes
gray ballet flats
Now that I typed that out, it seems like really a lot, but it's all squeezed together in those vacuum-packed thingies.
Machines, aka things which will become useless probably very soon
netbook & accoutrements
DVD reader (since the netbook doesn't have a CD drive)
DVDs
solar charger & attachments
wind-up alarm clock
headlamp
small LED flashlight
spare AAA and AA batteries (lithium)
spare headphones
iPod & accoutrements
1 wattage converter
3 plug adapters
Steripen
Food-Related Items
chef's knife
paring knife
small cutting board
whisk
kitchen shears
spatula
salt & pepper grinders
travel French press
2 boxes Clif bars
1 small jar creamy Jif (I hear moms love it)
1 medium tupperware
6 packs Annie's cheese mix
Propel vitamin water powder
2 Nalgenes
Things Made of or Related to Paper
3 folders
lesson planner
grade book
small spiral
journal
comfort reading: Wives and Daughters, I Capture the Castle, James Herriot's Dog Stories, The Horse and His Boy
crossword book
Sudoku book
Lonely Planet Southern Africa
ballpoint pens, mechanical pencils
4 Sharpies
craft scissors
Scotch tape
Toiletries (the Peace Corps provides us with some stuff, also)
small bottle of shampoo
Dr. Brommer's all-purpose soap
1 tube toothpaste
4 toothbrushes
floss
1 tube moisturizer
2 deodorants
razor and spare razor blades
small Cetaphil facewash
small Aveeno sunscreen
Off bugspray
1.5 oz baby powder
makeup, very basic
1 large hand sanitizer, 2 little ones
2 bottles contact solution
8 boxes spare contacts
2 contact cases
2 pairs glasses
1 pair prescription sunglasses
1 pair regular sunglasses
baby wipes
Medical kit: Dramamine, Midol, small pack band-aids, small Tylenol, Lunesta, Orajel, Afterbite, various things -- PC gives us anti-malarials, cross your fingers for Malarone
fingernail clipper
travel toilet paper (6 packs)
3 cherry Chapsticks
Entertainment & Gifts
ukulele
ukulele music: Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills & Nash, Dar Williams, the Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton
extra strings
picks
pitchpipe
embroidery threads (for friendship bracelets)
cards (1 regular, 1 UNO)
4 boxes crayons
beach ball
bananagrams
sparkly stickers
2 UT baseball caps
cheepy earrings
Things that Don't Really Fit in Another Category and yet Don't Have Enough in Common to be Their Own Category
REI 2-person tent
lightweight sleeping bag
camping chair
1 roll duct tape
eyeglass repair kit
sewing kit
safety pins
jewelry
bobby pins, rubber bands, headbands
3 bandannas
twin sheet set & 2 pillowcases
Camp towel, washcloth
pillow
Things that I am Mailing to Myself
More Clif bars
Reese's mini peanut butter cups (I don't care if they melt - I'll drink them out of the package)
Spices: vanilla extract, seasoning salt, Italian seasoning, chile powder, dried rosemary, cinnamon
birthday candles
non-stick frying pan
deck of cards
powdered drink mixes
mini speakers
binder clips
construction paper
markers
more deodorant: always super, never superfluous
Still in consideration (besides all the above, some of which will probably have to be 86ed): dish towels, travel Scrabble, frisbees.
Clothing and OMG SHOEZ
Northface rain jacket
Zip-up fleece
2 calf-length skirts
1 ankle-length skirt
2 calf-length dresses
2 edging on not-quite-long-enough dresses
liberal interpretation of the packing guidelines
1 ankle-length dress
1 pair jeans
1 pair water-resistant zippy pants
4 tank tops (various colors)
3 short-sleeve t-shirts
2 long-sleeve t-shirts
3 blouses
1 pair Bermuda shorts
1 pair athletic shorts
long underwear
1 pair pajama pants
1 cotton slip
2 sports bras
4 regular bras
SO MUCH UNDERWEAR
5 pair socks
2 swimsuits
black tights
scarf & mittens
baseball cap
running shoes
Chacos
Rainbows
Teva flip-flops
frumpy orthopedic teaching shoes
gray ballet flats
Now that I typed that out, it seems like really a lot, but it's all squeezed together in those vacuum-packed thingies.
Machines, aka things which will become useless probably very soon
netbook & accoutrements
DVD reader (since the netbook doesn't have a CD drive)
DVDs
solar charger & attachments
wind-up alarm clock
headlamp
small LED flashlight
spare AAA and AA batteries (lithium)
spare headphones
iPod & accoutrements
1 wattage converter
3 plug adapters
Steripen
Food-Related Items
chef's knife
paring knife
small cutting board
whisk
kitchen shears
spatula
salt & pepper grinders
travel French press
2 boxes Clif bars
1 small jar creamy Jif (I hear moms love it)
1 medium tupperware
6 packs Annie's cheese mix
Propel vitamin water powder
2 Nalgenes
Things Made of or Related to Paper
3 folders
lesson planner
grade book
small spiral
journal
comfort reading: Wives and Daughters, I Capture the Castle, James Herriot's Dog Stories, The Horse and His Boy
crossword book
Sudoku book
Lonely Planet Southern Africa
ballpoint pens, mechanical pencils
4 Sharpies
craft scissors
Scotch tape
Toiletries (the Peace Corps provides us with some stuff, also)
small bottle of shampoo
Dr. Brommer's all-purpose soap
1 tube toothpaste
4 toothbrushes
floss
1 tube moisturizer
2 deodorants
razor and spare razor blades
small Cetaphil facewash
small Aveeno sunscreen
Off bugspray
1.5 oz baby powder
makeup, very basic
1 large hand sanitizer, 2 little ones
2 bottles contact solution
8 boxes spare contacts
2 contact cases
2 pairs glasses
1 pair prescription sunglasses
1 pair regular sunglasses
baby wipes
Medical kit: Dramamine, Midol, small pack band-aids, small Tylenol, Lunesta, Orajel, Afterbite, various things -- PC gives us anti-malarials, cross your fingers for Malarone
fingernail clipper
travel toilet paper (6 packs)
3 cherry Chapsticks
Entertainment & Gifts
ukulele
ukulele music: Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills & Nash, Dar Williams, the Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton
extra strings
picks
pitchpipe
embroidery threads (for friendship bracelets)
cards (1 regular, 1 UNO)
4 boxes crayons
beach ball
bananagrams
sparkly stickers
2 UT baseball caps
cheepy earrings
Things that Don't Really Fit in Another Category and yet Don't Have Enough in Common to be Their Own Category
REI 2-person tent
lightweight sleeping bag
camping chair
1 roll duct tape
eyeglass repair kit
sewing kit
safety pins
jewelry
bobby pins, rubber bands, headbands
3 bandannas
twin sheet set & 2 pillowcases
Camp towel, washcloth
pillow
Things that I am Mailing to Myself
More Clif bars
Reese's mini peanut butter cups (I don't care if they melt - I'll drink them out of the package)
Spices: vanilla extract, seasoning salt, Italian seasoning, chile powder, dried rosemary, cinnamon
birthday candles
non-stick frying pan
deck of cards
powdered drink mixes
mini speakers
binder clips
construction paper
markers
more deodorant: always super, never superfluous
Still in consideration (besides all the above, some of which will probably have to be 86ed): dish towels, travel Scrabble, frisbees.
Monday, September 7, 2009
17 Days to Go
Here I am with 17 days before my departure for Malawi via Philadelphia (knock on wood). Today I stuffed the vast majority of the junk I'd planned on taking into my two bags, and weighed them. My stuff weighs as much a third grader: 62 pounds. Leaving 18 lbs. for clothes, shoes, and all the business I hadn't yet put in (a couple of books, parmesan cheese, random toys to give as gifts, etc.). Of course, that's 62 lbs. including my tent and camping chair, which may turn out to be unnecessary. Or maybe I'll just toss out my two UNO decks.
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