So they’ve thrown us all together again for our IST. Oh, the joys of having 40 Azungus in one place. IST is two weeks long and usually comes after our 3 month probation period. But because the new Education group came in at a weird time, our IST was pushed back a month. And because of all these budget cuts and what not they overlapped a week of the Health and the Environment sectors’ ISTs, which is a good thing. So the Environment guys had been here a week before we showed up and walked in on their little Frat party. Last week was definitely like coming back to college – class, cafeteria, doodling during class, hippies in hammocks, skipping class entirely, dorm rooms, communal bathrooms, scandals, bar hopping at night. Haha, bar hopping. I mean climbing a hill in a forest to get to the only bar in the area, which we are blessed to have. We even watched a little football! Patriots vs. Some Other Team. How are the Chargers doing??
But putting us all together again in close proximity and drinking also means rampant sharing of bugs. A bunch of the Environment group were knocked flat with some stomach slash fever deal. Almost everyone has had stomach issues and the dreaded die-die (that’s Peace Corps lingo for “diarrhea”). I think it’s the food, really. Not that the food is bad, it’s quite good. But now that we are denied the ability cook for ourselves all the time, we are at the mercy of the cooking staff. That means nsima, rice, and mostly oil. And meat everyday, which put my body in shock after 4 months of next to nada. Once I cut out the meat and the oil the die-die cleared up a bit, but I was in a rough spot for a few days. Being sick abroad sucks the most. All you want is to be home with a bowl of soup (maybe a couch, complete with a cat, but let’s not get depressing). This time all I wanted was Won Ton soup, and it happened to be the most unattainable thing in the world. Damn you, Won Ton soup!!!
On the training-front, IST is ok. I was hoping for a much more in-depth session on grant writing, as I will be doing a lot of it. Sorely disappointed, but I’m sure I can figure it out. Learned a lot about how to broach the HIV/AIDS topic in the village. Peace Corps gave us some really good tools for AIDS education. In all of the other sessions I got really good at crossword puzzles…
This weekend they shuttled us all back to our homestay villages to visit our families again. Soforeti immediately reattached herself to my hip. Marayu ran away from me and cried when the other kids tried to force him into my presence. Oh, well. Guess it wasn’t meant to last. Adaif kept her usual respectable distance from me but followed me everywhere, skipping with the rest of the village kids. I really love those tiny tykes! Mkomeko looks like it has had a serious economic boom since we left, maybe they had a really good harvest. There were a bunch of new houses and metal roofs. That constitutes an economic boom.
Now the Environment folks are gone and we are spending this week with our counterparts. The general consensus among us remaining PCVs is “awkwarrrrrddd!” We’re not psyched on this week. Now that our American friends are gone all we have to look forward to is a bunch of Malawians coming to pull the fire alarm on our Frat party. Mingling will be forced, interactions guarded, general awkwardness will ensue. Of course, it’ll be fun in its own way, I guess, and it’ll be nice to just be with the sector, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m expecting a letdown.
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