Quarter

Since the last time I wrote, I’ve passed two big milestones in the category of “quarter” – first, I passed the 6-month mark of living at my site (aka. one quarter of the two years I’ll spend in Fulirwa), and second, I turned a quarter-century old! I also just recently passed the NINE month mark of living in Malawi, meaning technically my time here is more like a third over, which is very strange. And considering the Ministry of Education changed the academic calendar, some people in my group will likely leave earlier than expected, meaning I could be MORE than a third of the way in. But I’m not ready to think about that, so, moving on..

My birthday was nice and low-key. I wanted to spend my actually birthday in the village, but I also wanted to hang out with some of my PCV buddies, so Friday night six of us northerners got together for a delicious dinner on the beach in Chitimba (amazing pizza.. really, unexpectedly good). We all crashed at Meg’s, and then like the true baller she is, Meg rocked my birthday morning-world with French toast with Nutella and an amazing peanut butter & chocolate birthday cake. Yeager, Ray, and Johnny made some pretty rockin’ birthday cards, and Will brought me some delicious freeze-dried ice cream that he’d gotten in a care package (apparently he got it weeks before and had to literally hide it from himself so that he didn’t eat it before he could give it to me, haha!). I really have to use this space, though, to give a genuine, from-the-bottom-of-my-heart, shout out and thank you to the M-C of MAC for MAKING my birthday for me. Caitlin Kieran, I can’t believe you overnighted a present and a card to Meg to bring back from the states. And Meg, all that stuff you brought back for me.. Opening those gifts from you guys, and seeing how well the two of you know me.. Let’s just say I love you both more than words can say and that I am more thankful than you can imagine that I have you two in my life. Stuff has continued to be really rough lately, and feeling your love and support on my birthday.. It was just more than I have words for. Thank you. SO, so much.

Saturday, my birthday, I came back through Uliwa, spent some time with my girl Mavis, and then arrived at home where Mr. Nyasulu COMMANDED me to go to the ESCOM clubhouse with him =) We had some cold beverages with friends, watched the world cup, and then came home to watch more Lost (we’re so addicted, and one of Meg’s many awesome gifts was all of the current season, ie. THE END. I’m going to have such a gaping hole in my life when Lost is over. It’s pathetic.). But anyway, all-in-all, a great birthday. Here’s a little photo documentation (I mean, how could I not post pictures?).

Here is Meg’s delicious cake. It even says (if you look veeeery closely) “Happy Birthday Ash” in mini m&m's!


And here are my presents (and the remnants of our lovely breakfast)!


Mavis & me in her shop:


The card from Mr. Nyasulu that was waiting for me on my desk when I got home =)


Hanging out with friends at the clubhouse:
Backing up to some non-quarter related items, after leaving Lilongwe last break, I went to Livingstonia Beach in Senga Bay to camp out for a few nights with friends. It was gorgeous, and so relaxing, and exactly what I needed. A lot of the time we had the beach all to ourselves, and we swam, read on the sand, and cooked some really delicious food. In fact, the creatures we saw most often on this trip were the monkeys that woke us up each morning to watch the sunrise!


Here are some shots of the beach, and those breath-taking African sunrises:


Jerrod is an awesome cook, particularly for the Food Network-style lessons he gives while preparing our meals:


I was definitely not ready to leave and go back to reality, but luckily, after 3 days of traveling home, I got to come home to my son’s birthday! And I managed to make a carrot cake!


Here is Peter with all of his moms and little bro (and I found a birthday banner and balloons in Lilongwe!):


And here he is blowing out his candles:


The mandatory shots of Mr. Nyasulu’s heart-breakingly adorable children. Izy loves to dance with daddy:


And Patience recently decided that he wanted a tie so he could be just like his pops:


I can’t even handle how cute they are. We even had a third birthday in the last six weeks – my headmaster’s, two days before mine! I told him I was turning 25 and he broke out paper and pencil to calculate how old he is, haha. Calculations prove him to be a young 41 =) I made a banana chocolate cake for his birthday, and we had the party during the day so that the teachers who don’t live nearby could come. Here’s the cake, mMmmm:


The birthday boy, Mr. Ngwira, and Mr. Mkandawire:


Mr. Simwaka and Mr. Nyasulu (and Izy, of course):


Mr. Nyasulu was in a particularly festive mood. He decorated the balloons:


And even better, himself:


I don’t even have words. He brings so much joy to this world. What would I do without him?

Aaand finally, here are all of us – the teachers of Fulirwa CDSS! From left to right, Mr. Mkandawire, Mr. Nyasulu, Mr. Simwaka, Mr. Ngwira, Madam Dazi, and Mr. Nthakomwa:


FUNNY ONE!


Hahaha, I love it..

Before I forget, some leftover shots of Elisabeth’s birthday at Kande:




Russell only has three faces, so I guess this one is at least better than the crooked half-bite:


Yeah, you’d be sad, too, if you sat down in a big chief’s chair and your feet didn’t touch the ground:


Haha, anyway.. other than that, life has just been a lot of work lately. My kids have their big national exams starting NEXT WEEK – AH! I’m so nervous for them. I will be so sad to see my Form 4s go. I was just telling Mr. Nyasulu today that as badly as I want for them to rock their tests, I wouldn’t be sad to have them in class again next year. I really love those guys. And a handful of my Form 2s – they could make an amazing Form 3 class next year if they kill their exams. I’ve been working through the required literature with my Form 4s lately which has been a fun change from all of the grammar they have to know. Right now we’re doing Romeo & Juliet, which wouldn’t have been my first choice for students who are learning English as a second language, but the Ministry has dictated it so. I showed them a film version earlier this week which seemed to really help them nail down the plot; now we’re just struggling through the language as we read/act it aloud. I’m not technically supposed to teach them once the Forms 2s start their exams next week, but since my Form 4s still have a couple weeks, I think I’m going to have them come over and do some work at my house. I may even show them the Leo & Claire Danes version of Romeo + Juliet – they couldn’t stop giggling at the mushy parts of a filmed stage production; can’t you just imagine them, sitting on my couch, eating popcorn and watching the Baz Luhrman version? I’m smiling just thinking about it. Here is a picture of my Form 4 class:


They are way too cool to be taking a picture =) Hahaha can't you just feel the teen angst? I LOVE IT.

In contrast, my Form 2s all jumped out of their seats cheering when I asked them to come outside for a snap:


Man, these kids.. they just break my heart with joy sometimes.

Outside of school life, Will and I have been knocking down doors trying to get funding for Camp SKY. The road has definitely not been an easy one, but it looks like one or two things are turning our way. The Gender and Development committee is working on some different fundraising avenues as well, trying to put together a job shadowing camp for later this year. We just recently printed t-shirts that I’m totally stoked about, take a look:



Thanks to Melissa’s friend, Carrie, for the awesome design, and Mr. Russell Conroy for pulling an awesome logo out of his hat at the eleventh hour. Hopefully we’ll sell a bunch of shirts this weekend and start to lay the foundation for our project.

Speaking of this weekend, that brings me to the reason for this jaunt out of site and visit to the internet: the 4th of July celebration at the U.S. Ambassador’s house! I’ve been at site for a solid 5 weeks now and have only been further than the nearest market for my birthday celebration, so it will be nice to get out, get some ice cream, and see some friendly faces. It should definitely be an interesting weekend. PCV gatherings turn ridiculous when there are just a handful of us who need to blow off some steam, so this little shindig.. should be quite the event. JTrain texted me a few days ago to inform me that our first order of business is a market trip to find him an outlandish holiday suit. Should be the perfect kickoff to an absurd weekend =) Happy 4th of July, everyone! Wishing you the most delicious of barbeques and incredible fireworks. Bedtime for me – I’ll be dreaming of hamburgers and red-and-white checkered tablecloths!