0 Words only post

No new pictures...the Internet was down when I went to the hotel last night. You'll just have to wait for the next installment!

This week has, admittedly, been a little up and down. Now that I'm settled in and living real life here, the immediate shock and awe of being in Africa has died down somewhat. Instead, some realities of life here have begun to present themselves:

1. Teaching is exhausting. Why have you all failed to tell me this? Leading to reality number 2, which is
2. I want to go out and explore Mzuzu more, but what I really want to do in my free time is sleep.
3. Making friends in a country where you're a total outcast is kind of tough. But I'm working on it.

My Aunt Pat wrote in an email to me just before I left, "just like in real life, there will be some good days there and some bad ones." I like to keep that in mind and remind myself that life can't just be magically perfect now that I'm here.

Regardless, things are good. I just finished my first full week of teaching and it feels really good. We have covered so much in just a week. These kids are constantly thirsty for knowledge...they just want to learn more and more and more and I give it out until I'm spent. But they would be happy as clams to stay in that classroom with me all day. The huge nerd in me is coming out as I begin to teach grammar. And you know what? It's really an amazing feeling when your students show that they've learned what you've taught them. Even the quiet ones will now and then volunteer to write an answer on the board and it's a completely perfect sentence in the present perfect continuous. The silent killers, if you will.

The people here are so wonderful. I can't get over it. Strangers are friendly and acquantances treat you like an old friend. Kondwani, who works in the office, asked me today, "So, what are we doing tonight?" My taxi driver, Thumbiko, and I are buddies now. We talk about random cultural differences. Here it gets dark at six, which I said is strange for me considering the warm weather; he was astounded when I told him it can be light as late as 8:30 in the summertime. He is the driver that Maloto uses and so the office pays him, which is amazing for me, and he literally takes me anywhere I want to go. I feel bad asking, but he always says, "yeah, that's no problem!"

Thumbiko drives some of the kids home, too (because he is just nice), and we all pile up in his car and they ask me all sorts of questions. "Miss Berman, what type of music do you like to listen to?" "Miss Berman, who are the most famous people in the United States?" "Miss Berman, what church do you belong to?" And today Kondwani (another Kondwani, who is my T.A. in the class) asked me, "Miss Berman, you said that you live in New York City?" And I said well yes, I live outside of the city. And he said, "do you go there a lot?" and I said yes, and he said, "Well, I want to ask, have you ever met hip hop musicians like 50 Cent or others of the like?"

Tonight I'm going to that hostel again (the Mzoozoozoo) to schmooze with some mzungus. Then this weekend I'm heading up to the Lake again, this time to Nkhata Bay, which is a little bit closer (where we went was about an hour and 15 minutes, and this place is only 35). I'm taking the minibus there with Vitu (because it is his job to accompany me for Anna's peace of mind) and then staying at the Mayoka Village Lodge. Everyone says that it's a ton of fun and that it's the place to meet fellow mzungu travelers. Vitu's not staying...so I'll just have to be my friendliest self and try to make some new pals. Wish me luck!

0 Running, beaching

I miss reliable Internet. And my friends and family. Otherwise, things are going swimmingly here in Mzuzu.

The teaching is amazing. I feel that what I'm doing is important...and I love it. I have never felt this way before about a job, and I'm not even getting paid for this, so it's a great feeling.

Right now this is my schedule:
-Wake up at 5:30 to run (more about that in a minute)
-Get ready, eat breakfast, finish up lesson plans
-Get driven to work (20 minutes)
-Teach from 8-10
-Get picked up from work. Go home, take a nap, or maybe go to town and buy things for class
-Eat lunch, start working on the next day's lesson plan
-Get picked up again at 2:30 and teach from 3-5
-Go home, eat dinner, finish lesson plans or write, maybe go to the hotel and use the internet or maybe get a drink with Anna
-Bed by 9:30

So basically it is like real life but in Africa. It's nice to finally have a schedule. I spend about an hour and a half a day in the car so that is kind of annoying. But I'm not complaining (my dad is laughing right now).

So yeah, I did run for the first time here this morning! It was so nice. I was worried that everyone would stare at me but then I realized they already stare at me anyway. Plus no one's out at 5:30, and I finally know my way around so I'm not worried about getting lost. One man riding by on his bicycle did say, "Taking exercise, Madame?" How lovely. I'm looking forward to getting these runs in more.

Also, Anna and I went to Lake Malawi yesterday and it was a beautiful. We had such a lovely, relaxing day on the beach. Apparently it rained all day in Mzuzu so we picked the right day to take a day-trip.

Walani playing this crazy stick-jumping game

Walani and Isaac doing some acrobatics, NBD

You probably all think I'm kidding about running away with a Malawian child

Lake Malawi





Malawi is pretty.

OK, two more things:

1. See more pictures here. I'll try to take more of the kids in my classes, too.

2. Shameless PSA: please consider donating to Maloto. We really need funds now. Mzuzu Academy, an internationally-accredited secondary school for Malawi's poorest and brightest students, is opening in the fall. It needs to be fee-based in order to be sustainable, and although the tuition is not huge on our end (about $1,500 a year), it's a pretty large number in Malawian terms. The more donations we get, the more money available to give scholarships to potential students. The kids that I work with are so gifted, and they come from so little. Please consider donating, even if it is just a small amount. (If you are feeling really generous, and you have the funds, you can sponsor one student's entire tuition for $1500. Please email me if you want to learn more about it.)

1 Interior decoration

My room was pretty stark when I got here, and I had some fun the other night going through my pictures and cutting out images from magazines. Now it feels a little bit more like home.

Hugo, and the mosquito net I should be using

Above my bed (clockwise from the top): my great grandmother, words to live by, some of my dad's family a while back, my mom and little cousin

Night stand / desk / bookcase / throw-all table-top



Above night stand, from top: Hermes ad and words cut from a magazine, my little cousins, my brother and me when we were little, my family and me on Sanibel Island, Florida, Laura, me and Celeste on my last birthday, personal stationary, a favorite poem, "Trapeze"

I forgot to upload a close-up of the pictures on the far-left, but there is a picture of me and Kelsey, of Marissa, Alison, and me, and some other magazine collages

Clockwise from left: My parents after my mom's first Avon Walk, one of my favorite poems, "Drought" (where I got the title of this blog), handmade Kenyan card, best friends from school in West Hartford

Clockwise from left: My love Amanda Seyfried, me and Laura in Montreal, silly sayings from a friend at camp, me, Brittany and Jess in Boston, handmade Kenyan card

3 Teaching - first impressions

I began my teaching yesterday. The kids are amazing. Kwithu consists of over one hundred kids from Mzuzu, and I spent time with about 40 of them today, aged 4-16. They all happily played Duck Duck Goose and learned the hokey pokey, and taught me some of their own games and songs. Every one of them is so eager to improve their English and they're just fun and love to laugh and dance and sing. To see kids acting like kids, even not jaded into their teens - it's refreshing.

On a regular basis, I'll be working with a small group of older kids, around ages 12-14, and helping them prepare for their high school entrance exams. Yesterday I met with five of them. The little kids are really cute but I'm happy to be working with the older ones and teaching at a more advanced level. We will get to do a good amount of essay-writing practice and some creative writing. I adore my little group and already feel myself getting sad that I will only be with them for three months. There is a trio of boys - Isaac, Bakeem and Walani - who make me laugh to no end. They are all so curious and ask the most interesting questions. For instance: "Is it hard to get a job after graduating from college?" "What is the marrying age?" "What about gays and lesbians?" (What about them?) How do you begin answering any of these? Walani asked today, "are there beautiful places in the United States that tourists like to visit?" He's so cute.

Faith, who I want to bring back to the U.S. with me

Anna and I harvesting beans

A traditional Malawian lunch: hard-boiled egg, pumpkin leaves, tomato sauce, and nsema, a corn porridge. You eat with your hands.

The Kwithu farm

Isaac, resident charmer and class clown

Walani, Bakeem, and Charity

I've started blogging at the Maloto Blog as well - check it out. And a reminder that all my pictures are up in my Picasa album.

0 It's 4 am in Malawi

I passed out at 8 pm last night after a long day of bean harvesting, and now I am wide awake. Things are going well here in Mzuzu - I still feel I am adjusting to this very different lifestyle. It's difficult not having the internet at my fingertips (I am on the office computer now, but during the work day I can't use it extensively. As for uploading pictures from my camera, I have to go to a nearby hotel with wireless internet to do that.). I am so used to being able to talk to my friends and family whenever I want to. Power outages are a big issue, and electricity cuts out altogether on Sundays. The food is good but heavy - not sure how much longer I can subsist on salty meat and greasy "chips" (fries). And the poverty is staggering. Everywhere are dirty, emaciated, barefoot kids. Whenever we drive by they yell "mzungu," which means "white person" - it is not derragatory but a denotion of their surprise or curiosity, as many of them have never seen a white person before.

But the people are so kind and I feel very welcome here. Yesterday, I went to the Kwithu farm. Kwithu is Maloto's feeding center, where AIDS orphans go for their meals - most of them live with extended family who cannot afford to feed them. It is also a place of refuge for them. Local women (and one guy, my new friend, Vitu) volunteer at the center. Together the women and children plant beans, maize, and vegetables like tomatoes and pumpkins, then harvest the crops when they are ready, and finally cook meals for everyone. It is a collective effort and the community is so warm and must be very comforting for the children. I also find it amazing that the women do not get paid at all for their hard work.

It was a surreal day - I walked fifteen minutes down muddy trails and through maize fields to get to the Kwithu farm. Everything is so green. When I was in sight, three of the boys whom I will be teaching ran up the hill to meet me. "Hi Andy!" they yelled. "It's Mandy!" Vitu corrected them. One immediately took my bag. They all followed behind me while Vitu held my hand down the path to make sure I didn't slip. When I got to the farm all the women were singing and dancing and each of them gave me a big hug and welcomed me. We all danced together and I felt silly but it didn't matter. Then one of them pointed to a stool for me to sit on and another held out a cup of water and poured it over my hands. Then I was given a plate of traditional Malawian food - nsema, which is a maize-based substance that is sticky and sort of looks like mashed potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tomato sauce, and cooked pumpkin leaves (which look and taste like spinach).

For the rest of the afternoon I picked bean stalks in the fields and then harvested the beans, pulling them individually from the stalks and separating the dried ones from the fresh, green ones (they use the fresh ones immediately and save the dried ones, using them year-long). I talked with the women and children. One women said she saw snow on a television, and asked if it was still snowing - I realized she was referring to the Olympics. She asked what snow felt like, if it is more like water or more like ice.

I talked with one girl and asked her if she had any siblings. She said yes, one brother and four sisters. I asked if any of them were also at the center. "No," she said, "there are no more."

I learned a few words in Timbuka, the most widely spoken language in Northern Malawi (though there are so many languages in Malawi, it's hard to keep track). Tomorrow I will go to the center for lunch and get to know the kids better. We are waiting for my teaching materials to get here - until then, I have to improvise.

There's a bit of a lag on the pictures - I didn't get to upload them yesterday - but these pictures are from Sunday, when Anna showed me around Mzuzu and the Maloto projects in progress.

View from my bedroom window

More rain

Anna, our house, and our car (which sounds like a tire's going to fall off every time we hit a bump in the road)


The biggest and most delicious avocados

Mzuzu Academy, opening in September 2010 (I am working with promising students from Kwithu who need to pass entrance exams in order to get into the Academy)

An unfinished room

I opened a Picasa web album, so you can check out all my pictures here - I will update as often as I can.

1 Welcome to the rainy season

I woke up to pouring rain at 6:30 this morning (the time change is still messing with me). I felt like I was in a rain forest. The best thing about the rain is that it cools everything off; before the rains the weather becomes unmanageably humid, but afterward, the sun comes out and there's a perfect little breeze.

The project manager of Maloto drove down to Lilongwe last night and then took Anna and I back to Mzuzu this morning. I wanted to stay awake and see the people and the landscapes, but I ended up dozing for most of the four-hour drive (I'm telling you, this jet lag is no fun). We drove through some towns that were nothing but storefronts with signs falling off and windows boarded up, and people just hanging out in front of them, barefoot. We pulled into one shopping mart to buy water and kids came up to our windows, palms open, "Give me money, please."

I'm now in Mzuzu, kind of settled into my house. Anna gave me the biggest room - so generous, this one (she's also been refusing to allow me to pay for anything) - and I have lots of closet space, a bathroom, a long nightstand with two shelves and of course a bed (with a mosquito net over it).

Unfortunately the internet where I'm living is very slow, and I can only use a desktop, so I need to come to the nearby hotel with wireless internet to blog. Hopefully once I get the lay of the land I will be able to walk here - it's very close.

Tomorrow we are going to Lake Malawi! Which has the largest amount of freshwater species in one body of water IN THE WORLD! And Monday I get to meet the kiddies I'll be working with.

A final note: You should see the amount of weight women here can carry on their heads. I'm talking wide trays of dozens upon dozens of bananas. It's impressive.

1 All this girl needs

A shady spot to write

blue skies

and a cup of coffee.
I'm finding it hard to believe that it's February. I'm sorry beloved northeasterners: let me just bask in this for a minute.

P.S. If you want to follow my adventures in Africa, simply click "follow" or "subscribe" using one of the tools on the right sidebar of this blog. Even if you are not a blogger yourself, you can follow me using your Google account; my posts will automatically show up in your Google Reader.