Malawi 7/20/13

         I have become so fond of listening to crickets outside my window as I fall asleep at night. Last night, we went over to the house where Julia, one on the interns, is staying and her family cooked us dinner. We were supposed to eat there the night before but the water went out and there was no way to cook dinner so we rescheduled. As they were getting ready to start cooking the power went out which is widely expected but always a surprise. The remedy was so go outside and start two small charcoal fires that we cooked sweet potatoes and chicken over. It takes a bit longer but it was so enjoyable just to sit outside around the fire and under the starts with good people. This family just got a new puppy and it took turns falling asleep on us. The night was amazing and we learned more about what we will be doing next week at the YoungLife camp we are serving at.

We go to villages quite a bit and there are sights I will never get used to. Children always run up to us and grab or hands or pet our skin; and usually there are one small child, maybe age 5 or 6 who has a baby ties to their back. Its most likely a little girl that has the task of watching over this infant while she tries to run and play with the kids her age. This doesn’t seem to bother them at all, but I can see that when the other kids run around and play they are usually tending to the baby strapped to their backs.

Last week at Chisomo Idea I think I had the most fun I have and may ever have! The language barrier between the kids and us interns is deep so after a few minutes of starting at each other you usually just start running around. This week I passed out some girly jewelry that my friend Teagan sent me off to Malawi with and they loved it! Then we started running around a little. I decided that teaching them how to do a conga line would be fun and I was right! I had almost all of the kids lined up holding each other’s shoulders and kicking every three steps! I was laughing so hard and I bet the kids didn’t even know why. I also started doing some yoga poses and found out that some kids were copying me so I started a mini yoga class right there on the dirt soccer field. It was such a great day and I am always so sad to leave those kids.

Yesterday we had a rest day so we decided to go to a market to buy some Malawi souvenirs. So far on the trip we haven’t gone shopping at all so we were very excited. We showed up at the first market and it resembled something of a swap meet where everyone has similar things and there is too much to look at. The only thing different from shopping in America are the men that shamelessly solicit you to buy there things. They sow you things you don’t want, they attack you if they see you looking at anything they are selling, and they don’t take no for an answer. They are trained salesmen to the point of fault.  Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that there are no prices so you have to haggle. I hate haggling. I feel like I am insulting them if I issue to low a price and I know that they are ripping me off if I take their offered price. I was swarmed by so many salesmen and if I said that I wanted to look around but I would come back, they would make me promise that I would in fact come back. It was a completely overwhelming experience that I didn’t like altogether but I did like the outcome. Although I had to have my friend Krysti with me at all time because she wasn’t afraid to say no to people I ended up with some pretty cool stuff. I got some paper beads, which I have wanted for awhile, I got a beautiful painting that I didn’t know I wanted until I was shown about 100 paintings. I also got three meters of fabric that I am so excited about! After the shopping trip I was completely worn out. Our intern team is made up of four people including me. Two of us are extroverts and two introverts. It seems that the introverts had no problem with this experience; they said it was fun, relaxing, and not stressful at all. The two extroverts on the other hand were overwhelmed, exhausted, and frazzled by the end of the day. I think it has to do with not wanting to disappoint people in social environments, but either way I was tired.

I was asked to sing in church on Sunday which is such an honor but I am a but nervous. Today I will go to the practice for that. In the afternoon I have a meeting with my mentor Rita, and then I am meeting up with my friend Sarah who is in the Peace Corps here. Tonight we have our hangout night for college students and I have a plan to chat with my Malawian friend Harry about fashion, as he is a fashion student, and after the hangout night we have to go to the Flood Sat. night service at the College of Health Sciences. Its strange how my busy schedule from American life is following me here in Malawi but I think I am to blame. I don’t want to miss out on any opportunity to have quality time with someone and hear about their life while I’m here.

Starting Monday I will be traveling out to Lake Malawi, which I hear is beautiful for an 8 day YoungLife camp. There are three two-day camps total and we are living in cabins and tents. I am hoping that it will bring me back to my younger years spent at Forest Home, I am excited to be camping, to take walks outdoor, and to serve the kids. I don’t think I will have any type of Internet out there so I will update again when I return next Tuesday.