They've Arrived!

Today, I finally met the Laffoons.
They couldn't be a more precious family!
I think we are headed to Mzuzu on Tuesday.
HOLY COW!

and remember when I was a rockstar??
Well, I went back to the same school and got to get some video of the kids.

Here's some pictures of them dancing around me...

They were gathered for the ending of school for their holiday. This was just one small picture of over 700 kids seated there for the closing ceremony.

One month down...

I have officially been a resident of Africa for a month now. Its crazy to think that I've been gone that long. It really doesn't feel like it.

Good news is that the family I'm working with will be in Malawi on the 25th! We are moving to Mzuzu the first week of March! I haven't seen my house yet but the one thing that everyone says about it is, "wow! that house is huge!" :) (I have also heard there may be monkeys in the back yard!)

I have moved into a guesthouse to give living by myself a go. They thought it would be good to getting me used to living in Mzuzu. So, this is officially my first night living alone. Surprisingly, I'm doing pretty well.

Here's some numbers to break down my past month in Malawi:

100 - number of pumpkin leaves I have peeled as I sat in the dirt with village women.

62 -  the number of glass bottle Cokes I have drank since arriving on the continent. :)

45 - number of orphans I have already fallen in love with and want to adopt.

16 - number of movies I've watch since I've arrived in Malawi...(this doesn't include TV series shows)

5 - number of times the power went out one day.

4 - number of times I have eaten a meal with my hands eating Nsima (think playdough)

3 - number of times I've almost hit another car, bicyclist, or pedestrian.

2 - the number of shirts already ruined from perpetual sweating in the armpit area.


1 - number of indecent proposals I've received. This one promised he "would find me a Valentine that night. wink, wink." gross!

night.

Today, I was a rockstar...

Today, Kym and I went out to a village school that Kym worked in her very first few months here in Malawi. The school is growing and now has over 700 students from Standard 1-8. The kids absolutely freak out whenver they see us "Mzungu" drive up. They scream, yell, run after us, try to shake our hand, give us high fives, and just mob us.

Well, we were just visiting the staff yesterday because we promised we would.  The director invited us to have lunch with his family, so I was really looking forward to that.  Let me set the scene...

We arrive at 10:15...kids mob us and they take us into a 4 by 3 office with six of us, 2 bookcases, a desks, and about 500 books. HA! (talk about hot and crowded!) So we make small talk with the teachers, have lots of awkward silence, they feed us "biscuits" (cookies) and Fanta, we have some more awkward silence, more small talk...

So, while we are waiting for lunch, Kym and I decided to go to Standard 8 classroom and teach them a really silly song. So, we go and have fun with the kids, and then, as we are headed back to the office, alot of the younger kids start being let out of their classes...

And here's where it got crazy.

Kym and I started out just high fiving the younger kids. Just being silly. There was probably 15 of them.

Then...the other classes started letting out. So, more kids started coming.  As of right now, there are about 100 kids surronding me.  The kids start singing a Malawian song (that I obviously don't know the words to) and I am encased in this tiny circle literally surrounded on all sides by children.

Well, since I don't know the words, I do only what I know to do...I DANCE!

THE KIDS WENT CRAZY! I look up, and there are over 500 kids in a circle around me jumping, laughing, and singing.

Whatever dance move I did, the kids would just scream and go crazy!!
The dust was flying up, the kids were pushing in, and I really felt like I was on stage at a rock concert.

It was AWESOME!

So, I finally start getting out of breath, so I say goodbye, and then a riot ensues.
A teacher starts yelling, "Make a path for her!"
So the kids start parting so I can walk through.

Then, pushing to get closer starts again, and we have huge mobs of kids, falling, pushing me almost to the point of my falling down...until I was finally pulled back up into the office.

It was pandemonium. :)

And of course, I didn't have my camera.....

What would you see on the back of a bicycle?

Okay, as you know, cars aren't the only form of transportation here. Bicycles are also a big way that people get around the city. So here is my top 5 things you will see on the back of a bicycle that people are carrying around with them...

5. lawnmowers. Yes...you will actually see push mowers tied to the back of bicycles. They are most likely gardeners for "expats" (anyone here who isn't Malawian).

4. live chickens. Sometimes you'll see a basket of baby chicks, and other times its some big live chickens on their way...to become a pet I'm sure.

3. live goats: also on their way to becoming pets...heh.

2. market buys: Meaning whatever food or goodie they bought at the market that day.

1. Logs. You will see piles of logs that are twice as tall as the person riding the bicycle! They are piled and have supports that curve up above the head of the rider! Its crazy!

A funny side note: I went to CFC (like KFC african style) and they had a sign for ice cream flavors on the wall. One of them was "wall nut". haha!