PIctures from the Sleepover

See all of our make-up on the floor? haha. Megan is blindfolding Sasha.  

Thank you Anna Maria and Megan for my lovely makeover.

 

Don't worry, I got Anna Marie back. :) hahaha. I really enjoyed putting that lipstick on.

 

Megan, you are quite stunning darling.

Sleepover ParTAAAAYY!!

So, Anna Maria turn the Sweet 16 last Monday! Huzzah! There are some South African girls here are pretty much the only girls close to her age. So, they were all invited over to my house for a Sleepover!!!

If I thought I was still young....
I apparently am not.

The night started off with "Blindfolded Makeovers." Basically, you blindfolded someone, and they had to feel around your face and put on your makeup for you. Hilarious. Maybe one day my internet will work enough for me to add pictures.

So then it was time for Bracelet making! I remember back in 5th grade, us girls would get together during free time and make bracelets out of the embroidery thread...well, that apparently hasn't died yet.  I still had fun like I was 10 again. Then, there was a serious session of fingernail painting. Each finger and toe had to be a different color. (I did that too when I was that age!)

Finally, movie time.  The first one up was Princess Bride! I made maybe half-way through, and then I had to call it a night. I know, I'm a sissy. I made it to 11:30 on a sleepover....Can I get any lamer?

The girls ended up staying up till 4:30!  They watched another movie (Princess Diaries 2), went "pillow sliding on my floor, and I think just basically giggled the rest of the night.

I was up at 8:00 making pancakes and breakfast casserole. After some strawberry smoothies, another movie (All Dogs Go to Heaven), it was time for the fun to end. Parents came and the sleepover was done. It all happened much faster than I remember it when I was a kid. Sleepovers lasted forever.  It was a magical time, and you always giggled yourself to sleep or either woke up parents with your giggling.

I did have fun though, even though this was my first time being the adult at a sleepover.

I'm okay with being the "fun aunt" for a while. Its not so bad. :)

A quick errand...right?

I had to go get my thyroid labs done again. The closest place to me that can take them is at a hospital about 30 mins away in a small town called Ekwendeni.

So, I head out there one day after school.

But first, I had to go by and see a Malawian doctor friend of mine to write the lab request…

I got to his office at 2:00. I was his only patient. So, run through your mind what would happen if this was the states…(go in, state your business, he writes the request, you walk out 10 mins later.) Well, here's how it happens in Africa:

Front desk: "Oh he just walked in his office. Let's give him a minute to get settled."
 [10 mins later] I finally walk in to see my friend.
Doctor: "How are you? I haven't seen you in forever! Have you heard from Shirley? What are you up to these days? What do you do on your weekends? I started the Society for Malawi, did you know that? Once, when I was a boy, I used to ride my bike out to the forest. I hope I'm not keeping you. You should come to this conference! "

1 hour later….(3:00)
"Oh, now, let's talk about your medical needs. What can I do for you?"
I finally walk about over an hour later with my request.

I drive the 30 mins out to the hospital. It is a very small town, much smaller than Mzuzu. I sit for a few minutes waiting on the lab technician. The labs are done very quickly and efficiently. But then the Lab guy says…"If you wait just about 30 mins, you can take this blood work to the Pony yourself." (The "pony" is our mail service that goes to the city about 10 hours away that will process the results.)

"Oh…Okay. I'll wait." It is now about 4:00.

Don't worry. In case you were concerned I would be sitting there, all alone, needing some company, a male student nurse saw my "aloneness" and came to chat with me the while I waited. :) In fact, his opening line was: "Hello, I wanted to come and speak with the mzungu." All boys should use that pick-up line.

Finally, the lab tech. walks out and says, "Dear, we are out of large envelopes to send this. But we can go in your car to the store around the corner and get one."

"oh, sure"

So we get into my car and head to the store. We pull up, and he just looks at me expectantly. "Do you have 100 kwatcha to pay for the envelope?"

Oooohh, of course I would have to pay for the envelope….

So, we buy the envelope and I drop him back off at the hospital. Now, with my viles of blood in my front seat, sealed and addressed, I head back to the Mzuzu.

I find the "Pony" and drop off my goods.

Did I really just take my own blood samples to the mail?
I just chuckle to myself as I think about what all happened over the last few hours….Only in Africa...

Bubby

He was a white blond, blue eyed, little boy; quite the opposite from my black hair and brown eyes….But I wanted to be just like him.

He had a really cool "hurricane" cowlick, liked tractors, sling-shots, and being all boy. And he knew how to make me so angry, I cussed at him once when I was five (I didn't know it was cussing at the time, I had just heard it on TV ).

He used to tell me that I was adopted, because I looked so different from him, and, to be honest, I looked a little chinese. He used to get so mad at me because I was constantly singing, singing over him talking, singing in the bed at night, always singing.


When I was in Jr. High, the first boy that I  "went out"  with (for about 6 hours), was pulled aside and told, "I'm watching you, buddy." Haha. I loved that he was my protector.

I couldn't wait until he came home from college so we could sit around the table at dinner, and he could tell us all these funny stories that would have me in stitches.

And now, he's grown up, married, and has a little white blond, blue eyed, cow-liked boy of his own.


But the special part is that today, my bubby is 29.


Happy Birthday Justin. I love you so much and miss your funny stories. I'm so proud of how good a dad you are. I hate that I'm missing today, but I'm so glad I get to be there for your 30th. I can't believe your so old. Geez, I never thought you would get old.

Little snippets

Not much has been going on here in Mzuzu. We've started school and so days are long, and I'm going to be at 9 and waking up at 5:00. So, I thought I would just give you little snippets of my of my favorite events of the past couple of weeks. 

The first is the Jacaranda trees are in bloom...so there is this gorgeous purple everywhere! Being my favorite color, I think it is so beautiful. When I was on the street taking this picture, everyone was looking up and trying to figure out what I was so interested in. There isn't a big appreciation for aesthetic beauty here. They were pretty perplexed as to why I thought it was worth taking a picture.

But my favorite quote? A drunk guy..

"Why are you taking this picture?"

"Purple is my favorite color!"

"Well, you love purple, and I love you. Why don't you marry a Malawian man."

 The next happening was lunch with some girls from Norway and a girl from India...Oh, and my friend Judith. The craziest thing? If any of you know my friend, Jeff Norton, he's in Norway working at a college...and two of these girls are from that same town! How crazy is that? We had a fun time making lunch and just hanging out.

 

This picture is from my house. Every Thursday I meet with other ex-pats in the community at different people's house for tea, coffee, and snacks. We have a great time. Well, it was at my house a couple of weeks ago. It's so cool because we have South Africans, Portuguese, American, Irish, Tibetan, British, Jamaican, Pakistani, and I'm sure there's more. Not everyone is a Christian/missionary so its a great time to minister too.  

 

and finally, we went to a dance celebration Sunday of the Ngoni people. There were thousands of people there and we were the only whites. The Ngonis wore there traditional dress passed down from generations. 

Here's just a preview of my day. :) More to come later.

I've Changed.

So, I'm officially a year into this thing. I have one more year to go, and I know it will all be downhill from here. I'm filled with mixed emotions. Excited knowing I will see family and friends in the somewhat near future, and yet sadness knowing that the ache in my heart for Africa will come back as soon as I step back on American soil. I cannot express to you how much I love this place. I know that it has been hard being here alone, and there are incredibly frustrating things about a culture that I will never fully understand, but I LOVE this place.

I was thinking back over how I have changed these past 12 months…There are things about me that of course will never probably change: clumsiness, chick flick enthusiast, love for shoes, and easily excited about little things.

But there has been other things change about me that I guess somewhat took me by surprise. Some are kinda funny…

For example, just a few minutes ago I made a smoothie using expensive strawberries, expensive yogurt, expensive milk, and not very expensive ice. As soon as I filled my cup, I knocked it over on the counter (see? my clumsiness is still there). I looked at it quite distressingly. So, I did the only thing I could do. I scraped it across the counter, back into my cup, and continued to enjoy my treat. I would NEVER have done that in America. Counters kind of gross me out (thanks mom for that!).  In fact, I used to get onto my dad for putting the bread for his sandwich directly on the counter. Ew.  But now, I'm enjoying a drink that has been scraped across my counter.

Another example: I made a GREAT cup of coffee…sat down on my porch to enjoy in, and just happen to look down and see a tiny little fly in it….yep, I drank it anyway…fly and all.

Or when I found about 20 ants in my sugar?? Used the sugar, ants and all.

Or the fact that I WILL dance very expressively during the singing at church. There's just no other way to do it. :)

I talk to myself constantly and carry on conversations with my dogs like they can answer me or understand what I'm saying.

I've changed in the fact that I'm living in a house alone, paying/taking care of my workers, and cooking everything from scratch. All things I've never done before.

But I know there have been changes in me in more serious ways than just eating gross stuff, things that I pray have changed permanently, and I won't revert back to what I was/thought before when I get back home.

Like my relationship with the Lord…how I've learned to depend on Him just to breathe everyday.

Or to be mission-minded with every person I meet, every conversation I have, every situation I'm in.

To understand that clothes, always looking "good", and being consumed with how I appear on the outside is so worthless. Sure, its nice to dress up, but not being consumed with it…that my beauty comes from humility, a quiet spirit, and Jesus shining from within.

To have endless patience with my students, and not get frustrated when they don't catch on a quickly as I want them to.

That I need to be concerned with my brothers and sisters in Christ around me who may need help…orphans, widows, the homeless….realizing that hoarding things is greed and selfishness.

And finally, that my ONLY purpose in this life is to bring glory to our amazing, sweet, precious, merciful, Alpha and Omega, Savior. So if that means coming back on the field in a more terrifying place than this one, never getting married, or never step back on this continent that love, well…that is what He has called me to do.

I guess the question for yourself would be, What has He called you to do? and possibly, Why aren't you doing it?

In the words of a band, Jesus Culture,

"Though the world sees and soon forgets,
We will not forget who You are, and what You've done for us!"

How cool is my life?

I was just coming back from visiting a friend's garden. Obviously, it was near sunset, and we were way off the road back in a village with a really cool name that I can't pronounce. And then we drove past this football field where the kids were playing football. This is like picturesque Africa.

And these are the times in my life when I get to see stuff like this with my own eyes, and I just think..."How COOL is my life?"

 

I have this in video format which makes it even better. Remind me in a year when I'm back and I'll show it to you.