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!