Pictures (fingers crossed!)

Since I haven't posted any pictures since Pre-Service Training, here's a melange of stuff from my life since then.

First, my home! Here's my house, as well as some "before" pictures from the first visit to my site and my house:


Living room:



Bedroom, with the stuff Jemusi left for me:


Kitchen/storeroom:


And the back patio area (on the right is the main house, on the left is the kitchen and the bafa, and that wall in the middle is where Yamikani was climbing over to steal my katundu):


And here's how I made my place home! Living room:




Little inspirational wall, including Jordan's epic Half Dome artwork on top, entitled "Pastels Are Crayons For Big Kids":


Looking down the hallway toward the back patio:


Bedroom on the left, closet/storeroom/room-in-progress on the right:


My makeshift closet (you should have seen me trying to hang this up):


My bedroom (if you've written to me, your card hangs on this wall so I can think of you! Along with all of your shining faces all over the place, of course):





Fully-stocked kitchen/storeroom (thanks mom, Mike, Grandma, Aunt Chris, and Aunt Debi!:



Actual kitchen, with cooking in progress:


Here's my school's library, outside and inside:



Here's my school with a beauuutiful rainbow (I discovered this when I stepped outside early one Saturday morning):


And then a few days later, as I walked home from school, I found the rainbow over my house:


Here are the girls' netball and boys' football teams and an inter-village match:



A few weeks ago I took the science teachers from Fulirwa up to Yeager's bwana (boss/rich) school to do experiments in the laboratory. We video-taped everything, and now the kids at Fulirwa get to have some idea of how to do the practicals that they'll be tested on!



Here is Mr. Nyasulu acting as a tightrope walker in order to lay fertilizer on his rice fields:



The day we went to the chicken farm:





And the day I made cookies with the two Mr. N's:





Here's My Malawian family =) From left to right, me, my son Peter, Mr. Nyasulu and his baby girl Isabel, the Gondwe's (Peter's real mom and dad), and Mr. Nyasulu's wife:


Izy LOVES Peter:


Oh, and just for my mom, a shot of the most adorable kitten I have ever seen (he is about the size, and the Ngwira's laugh at me relentlessly when I fawn over this cat):


This is my girl, Mavis. She owns the shop where I wait for the vehicle into my village. I spend a loooot of time chatting with her, waiting to go home. She's an intelligent, strong woman and I'm so thankful to know her.


In less exciting pictorial news, here is Yamikani's trial. Poor kid got 8 years with hard labor.



Back to happier things! Here is some ridiculousness from IST. Mattress jumping!





It was because of this bed-pile conquering that I got slapped. Hard.


Here's a list of some of the best students' names from our secondary schools:


I think "McVicious" is my favorite. Meg also recently discovered that she has a kid named Hitler. There are no words to adequately follow-up this statement.

Here is Ryba looking slumpishly sad as we stare out at the washed-our road in Senga Bay:



And on that note, here are Ryba, Meg, and I standing in the "street" after our tragic rainy walk through Blantyre:



Definitely had feces on my feet. No joke.

Here is my very sad farmer's tan (WHO KNEW I COULD TAN?!). It looks like I'm wearing a t-shirt even if I'm not.


Here are some funny sightings of late. First:


Annual Coffin? I hope not.

Butcher:


Halaal? Really? I kinda doubt that.

This one we had a long discussion about. Did this man see something that scared him so badly he jumped right out of his shoes (there on the wall)? Or was he just, invisible, and in fact still standing there?


Here are some shots from the.. "energetic" welcoming of the new environment volunteers at the airport:




Aaand in the same vein, and a shockingly similar photo, our trip to the Carlsberg factory:



Just another night at Mufasa's (where volunteers stay when we visit Lilongwe):


Get DOWN, Jerrod.

Here was Meg's attempt at a rain hood (unfortunately within 30 seconds of stepping outside a car drove through a puddle near us and drenched us anyway):



Here are some examples of how PCVs travel:



I felt very strongly that I should have been allowed to pay half price in that minibus considering I paid for a seat and technically that man in my lap was also sitting in my seat.

Here is one of the many baboons that often chase after vehicles hoping for food:


Oh, and here is an old (from New Year's) but gorgeous shot of Nhkata Bay at night:



And last but definitely not least, the Mulanje adventure!

Here's the epic mountain, though you can't even see the peak we conquered from here:


And here we are, Team Mulanje 2010:



"You're about to hike the third highest peak in Africa! Be how you feel!"


Excitement! Yeah! Aaand then we started up...




And Jerrod started falling, a lot.



But it was unbelievably beautiful, and we were stoked.








Oh, and in case you didn't believe me about the barefoot Malawian men carrying trees down the mountain:


Yep.

At the end of day one, we relaxed at the Chambe hut, made s'mores, and prepared for what turned out to be the day you could never adequately prepare for:



Day 2 we were pumped and ready to go:


We could see a storm below:


But we were lookin' upwards:


And didn't realize that soon, we would be in it:



Unfortunately, the only ridiculous, cloudy picture of the ponchoed-pcvs on the peak is on Jerrod's camera, so I can't post it here. But I can post a bit of the aftermath:


Bye bye, Meg's pants.

All-in-all, it was amazing, and once my scrapes and bruises heal, I hope to do it again someday. Who's in?



Phew! That's all for now. I hope you've enjoyed this glance into my life, and I hope you're all having epic adventures of your own. Please know that you're welcome to join in on mine anytime =) Khalani makola mose! Nikumusobani! (Stay well everyone! I miss you!)