Pile O' Puppies

In Mzuzu for the monthly GAD meeting (Gender and Development), which I am now the vice president of. Go me! Looking responsible!

Five of us brought our puppies to take to the vet. It's like we planned it. They are so unbearably cute, falling all over each other and being adorable. Doug has a girlfriend. She's a cutie, so young she doesn't have a name yet. Doug's a cradle robber.

So on my way home from Robert's site I accidentally missed transport home and was not-so-unfortunately stuck at Melissa's site...for two nights. We ran into another PCV on the beach, Adam, with his family. They treated us to a wonderful dinner at their resort. It was just like parents visiting in college, wanting to feed everyone and hear everything. It was great!! I haven't been at site for almost two weeks. I'm getting a little site guilt. I'll go back tomorrow for sure...

That is all!

The Joys of Running on the Beach with a Baby Dog

Turns out Doug is a terror. Doesn't help that I have no idea what I'm doing. We've pretty much plateaued at "sit." He's growing faster than I can feed him. And he eats everything. Even the mud stove we made two weeks ago. He won't eat beans though, which is too bad b/c that's 80% of what I eat here.

Sooooo its been, what?, two wks since I last tried to update my blog sans internet? Awesome. Last week a bunch of us in the North went to Mzuzu for an HIV/AIDS training thing for three days. It was actually the most useful and informative training we've had since we've been here. We left thinking "isn't that what PreService Training was supposed to be like?" It wasn't even really a training, more like a focus group for the staff to find out what we know about AIDS and what we need in terms of support. It was mostly newbs at the meeting, so we pretty much knew nothing and especially nothing on how to implement AIDS awareness education blah blah in our villages. So, we pretty much soaked up every word the staff and older PCVs said to us. AND it was an all-expenses paid trip to Mzuzu. Winner winner, three nights o' chicken dinners!

Then a week ago, last wednesday, I got my first PC official visit from the staff. AND they brought all 6 of my packages up from Lilongwe for me! Thank god!!! Woulda been a beast if I had to figure out how to transport them myself. AND so much food!!!! YES!!! Doug loves cardboard boxes!!! And thank you SO much Mom, Dad, Katie, and Marley for the love. Because it was pure love in those boxes. I'm so happy!! Anyway, the site visit was a jolly good time that took all of five minutes and then free transport out of Chikwina half way to Chintheche, where all my dreams come true! I saved like a million kwacha! And the pup got to ride along. And once we were in Chintheche, why not go all the way to Robert's site in Tukombo? Why not?! And why not stay a few extra days on the beach.... with my hammock I so conveniently stashed in my backpack?

So I just left Rob's site today, after telling myself the last three days that "this will be the day I go home." I just couldn't bring myself to do it. His site it AWESOME! He has a truly Peace Corps house, the way you're supposed to live when you're in the Peace Corps. Mud hut, thatched roof, do the dishes, the laundry, and the bathing in the lake. We camped on the beach one night, made s'mores, got sunburned. Krazy Kathi came one day and we giggled uncontrollably over delicious ramen sent from home. We went to Kande Beach and drank beers in hammocks and ate food at a resort like it was a real-life vacation. Doug and I got up and ran and yoga'd on the beach in the mornings. I've never had a dog of my own before, and much less one I could run with. It was so much fun! He follows me everywhere, so it was no problem getting him to keep up (I mean, getting ME to keep up). He just thought it was playtime. He's so cute and small and always wanted to race...or eat sand. Sometimes he couldn't decide, which was so cute! And everyone we passed yelled after us "azungu we ndi kagalu! kagalu! kagalu!!!" (White person has a small dog! Small dog! Small dog!!! - Its more like a song when they yell kagalu, with the "ka" short and the "gaaaaaa" drawn out). Yoga with the dog was a little more difficult. Turns out he loves to dig. Every pose I started turned into him trying to dig my feet out of the sand. He's still nervous about the water, ever since Melissa's Tonga party the other week. He'd never been to the lake before and had no idea what a body of water entailed. So he followed me right in without realizing dry land had ended. It was the biggest surprise of his little life.

So yes, Robert's site is truly paradise on Earth. But why I REALLY adored his site was that everyone there speaks the Chitonga dialect that I learned. It was SO refreshing to speak with people and understand them and have them understand me, especially after drowning the last few weeks in the fake-mumbled-Tonga-slash-actually-Tumbuka noise they make at my site. YES! TONGA! I can actually speak you a little! I helped make soap with Rob's inherited women's group and almost-sort-of-chatted with them over tea and garlic bread (inter-cultural exchange, thank you very much.) Rob and I came up with an INGENIOUS way to toast garlic bread over his wood-burning stove. its INGENIOUS! it involves metal skewers, but I'm not giving away any INGENIOUS secrets... Ok, so what you do, is position metal skewers that past PCV's have left behind OVER the stove like a griddle. its brilliant! Considering that before we unearthed the skewers I was just dangling the bread over the fire with my bare hands. That was dumb. I also made a few top-of-the-line hand washing stations around his site out of old plastic bottles and string. Health Sector 2011!!

Ok enough internet, my eyeballs are starting to cross and I'm gonna miss my transport home. Peace to the core!

May 11, 2011

So I lasted another week at site before I left again. I really love site. But I also really love my PC friends. So, the weekends are a toss-up. This weekend Doug and I are in Chintheche at a Tonga Party. My buddy Melissa has a bwana house on the lake with running water and electricity, and its time to have another party. Should be a jolly good time.

Notable things that happened this week:

-People came of fix the broken pipe that is preventing me from having running water. They fixed it for about an hour before they had to turn the water off again b/c they’re missing a part. It was still really exciting to see water coming out of the tap. Like, really exciting. Doug and I watched the shower running for a few minutes while the pipes cleared of months of dirt. Then I gave him a bath, which he didn’t really like.

-Its only been a week since I’ve had Doug and he’s definitely already getting fatter. I taught him how to come, sit, and jump so far. But we need to work on “stay.” Like, REALLY need to work on “stay.” And “drop it!” Luckily I have very few items of furniture, so teething damage is minimal. The neighborhood kids are warming up to him. Yesterday they were feeding him usipa (dried mini fish, like sardines) and trying to get him to chase them around.

-I attempted to make pumpkin jam. People have been giving me lots of pumpkins. What do you do with pumpkins besides carve them and smash them? I made “jam,” which really turned out to be very sugary syrup. But Doug and the kids like it. Better luck next time. I also made a pumpkin curry, which turned out to be bomb, until I ruined the rice I was gonna eat with it. I suck at cooking. Hardcore suck at cooking. Rob’s coming back with me this weekend after the Tonga Party to finish the mud stove, hopefully that’ll help.

-Helped out with an Under 5 clinic and two outreach clinics in near-by-ish villages. Outreach clinics involve me and Johnstone, one of the HSAs (Health Something Somethings at the health center) walking some distance through the mountains to weigh babies and distribute vitamins and give health talks. I’ve started talking to him and the Senior HAS about what projects need to be done. I need to get in touch with the Community Development Committee in one of the near-by-ish-yet-very-remote villages to work with them to get more protected shallow wells in their area. The one that they have (which serves 2000+ people) isn’t working so they’ve been getting their water from the river, NOT good, especially because of the cholera outbreak in Mzimba near-by-ish. They can’t get a borehole because the roads through the mountains won’t support the borehole-drilling truck. So that little project is high on my list. Also getting the District to fix my health center’s water tank and get them hooked up with electricity and maybe getting them an ambulance is up there.

-I also had a meeting with the secondary school headmaster who gave me math, biology, and life skills books to look at and start working on lesson plans for next term. I’ve never taught before. I’m nervous.

And that’s it for this week! Otherwise I’ve been camped out on my back porch attempting to cook and reading and half-heartedly studying up on Chitonga. I’m getting worse at the language. Awesome. Miss and love you all! Keep sending me mail! So far I’ve received 4 letters in 3 months. And none from my parents. They say that they’ve sent me stuff, but evidence points to the contrary. We went to the post office to talk up the postman and give him cookies so packages and letters will definitely get to me at this address:

Stacey Neilson

Private Bag 126

Mzuzu, Malawi

Southern Africa

Cinco De Mayo - Desperately Trying To Catch Up On This Blog Thing

So sorry! I’ve been literally non-stop for the last month. So, since my last post we finished our homestays, thank god, and moved back to the college for Spring Break 2011. It was a jolly good time. We then spent a week test-running our sites. My site is in Chikwina, a little town thing center of a bunch of little villages. I live across the "street" from the health center, which I initially wasn’t so keen on because I woke up the first morning to an under 5 [years-old] clinic happening in my front yard and was like "no thanks." And two of my neighbors have electricity and want all of Malawi to know it, so they keep their lights on ALL THE TIME and play their stereos as loud as possible ALL THE TIME. Literally, Justin Beiber at 2 am. My house is really nice. Its so nice its like I'm not even really in the Peace Corps. One of my friends just visited and said I live in america, just in africa. I'm wired for electricity (but dont have it b/c the company hasn't come in the last 2 yrs to hook it up) and I have running water (but not right now b/c the pipe is broken) and my brick house is super big with cement floors and too many guest rooms (two guest rooms, i dont know what to do with them, I really only need my bedroom and a place to store my food), I have a flushing toilet (when the water is on) and a shower[head] and the walls are painted. It was just built two years ago. Its super nice, but rereading what I just wrote it sounds like Africa, just in Africa. but regardless, I dont know what to do with it. So, I got a puppy on Monday. Doug. We're best friends already. He's about [______________________] this big. When the Malawians say his name it sounds like "dog." It’s extra funny because when they see me with him they immediately switch to English and say “dog,” which sounds like Doug, and he comes running, tail wagging a million beats per minute. Malawians don’t really like dogs. So, they turn and run as fast as they can to get away. Naturally, Doug thinks its playtime and has great fun chasing them at top speed, all the while my would-be Malawian friend is booking it, screaming the whole time. Really, its fun for all parties involved.

We're in Nkhata Bay right now so I can take him to the vet to get his shots. Traveling in Africa with a puppy was mostly hilarious. They don't think very highly of dogs here so having a white person cuddling up to a dog, picking him up and carrying him around and talking to him is the pinnacle of comedy for them. He’s travel size though, so it surprisingly easy to transport him. On the matola (flat-bed truck used as a shuttle) yesterday, which is the most squished I think I’ve ever been in my entire life, he just burrowed into the crook of my arm and slept the whole way.

ANYWAY, I met the guy I’m replacing, Jeremy, in Mzuzu so he could take me to site for my test-run visit. My site is BEAUTIFUL!!! Its kind of a pain in the ass to get to, its waaayyy in the Bush. And by wayyy i mean only like 20km from the tarmac, but transport is a pain in the ass. But its up in the mountains, which are too unbelievable to even try to describe, I don’t have the language for it. The neighborhood looks straight out of Mr. Rogers, the chief of one of the surrounding villages gave me Doug fo’ free and also a chicken, a pumpkin, and more avocados than I can eat. I have a great group of friends that the guy I'm replacing already made for me. There’s a core group of 5 of us, all single in their 20s and highly educated and westernized...so I AM kind of like living in America except just in Africa. Two are school teachers, one works at the health center with me, and one is an accountant for the coffee plantation co-op up the "street" from me. everything about my living situation is like, awesome. So it seems that I'm not having a very traditional peace corps experience, but on the other hand it'll be NO PROBLEM to keep this up for five, I mean, two years. I don’t think I could be better. Except I probably won’t get much better at the language. Everyone speaks English and the area is half Chitonga and half Chitimbuka speakers.... and everyone laughs at me anyways when I greet them in their language. OH! And a few days ago I walked into my exceedingly spacious living room to see a man in my front yard yelling at my house. I stood there thinking “sorry, I don’t speak that language” until I heard that he was saying in Enligsh “shut your front door! There is a large snake on your porch!” My front and back doors are always open, creates a tunnel of wind in my house. SO, I slammed the door and peered out the window to see how near death I was. Turns out a HUGE black cobra was in the process of slithering into my house. As some of the men chased it off into my backyard with rocks it reared its ugly black head and waved his scary big neck thing as if to say “see you soon, Stacey! Good luck clearing your yard to start your garden without me KILLING you!”

Then after our trial-run site visit we went to language intensive week, where me and 5 of some of my favorite people in the program who also happen to be learning Chitonga went to this little cottage on the lakeshore for a week and attempted to focus for more than five seconds on learning the language. We didn’t learn anything, but we had a LOT of fun drinking on the beach. Somehow I still managed to score Advanced Low on my LPI test (we needed to score at least Intermediate High, one step below my score, in order to swear in and move to site). And my birthday was epic. Every day that week felt like my birthday.

Ok, so after language intensive week, which was really just hanging out on the beach intensely for a week, we swore into the Peace Corps as full-fledged volunteers. That was surprisingly intense. After a bunch of important people spoke to us about the gravity of our commitment to our country they had us stand and swear a bunch of stuff about taking the oath voluntarily and without hesitation blahblahblah "so help me god." WHOA! oooook, that was overwhelming. Half the girls (myself included) were crying by the end of swearing our lives away. It was cool though, made it all feel a bit more real. Now we're "at site" as volunteers. But for the first three months (starting 6 days ago) we're not supposed to do anything but "integrate"...meh, i'll integrate next week. This week I'm in Nkhata Bay with my friends and my dog having a grand ol’ time! Today we go to Mzuzu to get paid and buy buckets. This is my life!!! Doug’s so cute!!!

K, you're officially caught up on the major bullet points. Come visit me. I’m having an extra bed made for one of my two extra bedrooms.