Nkhata Bay

                We had a little break in Lilongwe to recover from our long travels to and from Zambia, and then we were right back to traveling. This week we went to Nkhata Bay. It’s in the northern part of Malawi close to Mzuzu. We stopped at SAFI on our way to pick up John and we stayed for lunch and talked to Nicolle. Camille was out doing surveys so we didn’t get to see her. While we were there, there were some kids playing on the toys that were yelling at us that we didn’t recognize so we thought they might be from the new families that are supposed to be coming this month but apparently nobody knows when they’re coming so we have no idea if those kids were from a different village or what.

                It was good to travel with Kevin again. I liked the mini bus much more than the charter buses. There’s a lot more space for us to spread out and I don’t have to worry about where my stuff ends up so I don’t forget it and lose it. On the way to Nkhata Bay, we stopped along the road because Adam wanted to get a picture but he couldn’t find a good place to take it. We also stopped in Mzuzu to meet Kevin’s family. His wife and daughter are adorable but his daughter was afraid of us which is normal. It was really great to meet them and finally get rid of that chicken he was bringing to them. It was a live chicken and we didn’t know it was in the van so it scared us when it started making noises while we were driving.

                We got to Njaya Lodge where we are staying in the dark and had some chicken curry for dinner and moved into our rooms and called it a day.

                The next morning we woke up to this really loud noise that sounded like we were in a hurricane. Emily thought it was the fan in our room but it wasn’t. It was raining outside and the tin roof on our chalet made it really loud and difficult to sleep through. It was about time to get up anyway so we sat outside and watched the rain. I didn’t think I was going to get to see it rain while I was here but it has rained every day we have been here at the bay. One morning we went to the beach just the check it out and the water was a little turbulent from the rain and wind. I had fun trying to go as deep into the water as I could and dodge the waves so my pants wouldn’t get wet but I wasn’t very good and came back with very wet pants. The next day we actually put on our swimsuits and went out into the water. There were lots of rocks in the water so we climbed up on one and hung out there for a while before coming back in and lying in the sun.

                The main reason we came here was to go on a four day kayaking trip but as it turns out, it wasn’t such a great idea because of the weather and the ferry that brings us back only runs twice a week so we just did an overnight trip. I was really nervous about tipping my kayak, being cold the whole time and sleeping in a tent so that morning we left I was a little out of sorts. We were in two people kayaks so it was harder to tip them, the weather warmed up and the tent was still not very fun but I was tired enough that I slept. Our guides were really great and fun to be with and they made us some delicious food. On the way to the beach where we spent the night there was some rocks to jump off of (I didn’t) and we snorkeled at a little island. On the first day, Emily and I were in a kayak and Whitney and Adam where in the other. They were so much faster than is it was ridiculous. Emily and I spent the whole day playing catch up to them. I think a lot of it was that I hadn’t kayaked before and Emily was in charge of steering with the pedals and she hasn’t done that before. By the end of the day we were doing really well though.

                We had dinner on a beach next to a fire. It was so good. I know I couldn’t have done any better in those conditions. We had some chicken and veggies and mashed potatoes. All of it was so good and it felt good to be in our dry clothes and all dressed up in our warm stuff.

                Sleeping in the tent was a little rough because all we had was a sleeping bag. We didn’t have pillows or a pad to sleep on. I thought the beach would be much nicer to sleep on but it was just as hard as any other time I’ve been camping. The hardest part I think was not having a pillow so I used my arms and tried to use part of my sleeping bag. On the positive side, I wasn’t cold at all. It was an alright night when you consider everything.

                The next morning it rained and it was cold. The rain wasn’t terrible so we didn’t really worry about it; it was over by the time we had everything packed up. We switched up the teams so they were a little more even. Whitney and Emily were a team and I was on Adam’s team. Adam was feeling a little sick before we left and it was worse on day two so we was anxious to get back to Njaya to rest and recover. I was in the back steering and I was really bad to begin with but I got better. We kayaked most of the way back before lunch and then just had a little bit left after. After lunch I was much better and steering and Adam really wanted to get back so we were booking it. It was a little difficult because we were going against the wind and the waves were bigger but I think we still went fast than Emily and I did the first day. We all made it back safely and we took showers and I feel much better now except for my sore muscles and few bumps and bruises I picked up on the way. When I took my shower I noticed that I have a really bad tan line. I didn’t think I was getting that tan but I’ve only been comparing myself to everybody else in the group so maybe I’m tanner than I think. I guess we’ll see when I get back.

                Today Kevin came back from Mzuzu where he was spending time with his family and he’s going to show us around the area. It should be nice relaxing day. Tomorrow we are going back to SAFI and spending the night there and then we have two days in Lilongwe before we start our trip home. It’s been determined that my trip is the longest because I have the long layover in New York, which will be exciting and then I have a three hour drive to Idaho from the Salt Lake airport. At least I can sleep on the way home. 

Back to Malawi

7.29.13

                The day after rafting, we were on our long journey back to Malawi. We got up early to catch the 6:00am bus to Lusaka so we could have some time to check out Lusaka before we went back to Lilongwe. I think I’m getting used to these long bus rides because they seemed a lot easier on the way back to Malawi than they did on the way to Livingstone. In Lusaka, we killed our extra time at the mall.

We had pizza at Debonaire’s because we’ve seen it around a few times and we thought it might be good. We got the full house which was four pizzas. Two of them had mayonnaise on them so that was weird. I’m not sure what I think about that place. Maybe the subs were better.

Then we saw Wolverine in 3D at the theater. It was good but the glasses were too big for my face and kept falling off my nose so I had to hold them on. I thought I was going to fall asleep but I didn’t. I guess I wasn’t as tired as I thought.

After the movie, we went to Steers for some chicken burgers and fries. The burgers were also covered in mayonnaise but the fries were good. Then we got a taxi and went back to the hostel and called it a night.

The next morning we had to get to the bus station at 4:30am to board. Emily had a taxi arranged but he was late or not coming at all so we had to get another one really fast. We made it on time but we didn’t get the best seats. It was ok though because I think we were all just used to sitting on buses forever. The last couple of days haven’t been very eventful. It’s good to be back in Malawi.

Since we’ve been packing in the dark early in the morning for the last few days, I have left a pair of pants and my filtered water bottle. We also left the tent we bought in Livingstone so we were not the best at remembering all of our stuff. There are worse things we could have done so it’s ok.

Zambezi Swimming Team

7.26.13

                We have been going non-stop since we left Korea Garden in Lilongwe. We had to get up super early to catch our bus at 5:30 to Lusaka. Kevin is the nicest driver ever and got up early so he could take us because he was worried about our safety.

                John wasn’t feeling good so we were a little worried about him on the bus for the whole day but he said he could take it so we all got on. We were there early so we sat for a while to wait for the bus to fill up. Not too  long after Kevin left, John decided he wasn’t feeling up to the ride so Emily called Kevin and he came back to get John. He went back to SAFI for the week to recuperate. The bus ride wasn’t too comfortable but at least we had seats. The bus was packed as full as they could get it but all things considered, it wasn’t too bad.

                We got to the Zambia, Malawi boarder faster than we expected but it was a long stop. We had to go to the Malawi office to fill out a form to exit and then the Zambian office to check in with our visas we got the day before so that went as fast as possible. The long part was customs looking through the baggage.

                We stopped a couple of other times to take bathroom breaks and food and such. I made it through without needing to stop but it was good to stretch my legs and walk around every once in a while. We decided that the bus ride was a lot like the flight from JFK to Johannesburg but it was much harder to get out of your seat to walk the isles because everything was packed in the bus so tight but we didn’t get as bored on this ride maybe because we’re used to having nothing to do for long periods, because we could look out the window and actually see stuff or because it was during the day and we weren’t so tired and tired of being tired. The bus ride wasn’t too bad but Emily was planning on catching the bus to Lusaka at 7pm to so we could stay at Jolly Boys that night. That definitely didn’t happen because the bus was so late and the drive was so long. It’s a pretty common thing to happen actually but we just go with the flow.

                We got into Lusaka late at night and I experienced a little bit of culture shock. Most of Zambia that we had seen was just dry bush land. Not many buildings or people. When we got into Lusaka there were traffic lights, a movie theater, billboards that lit up and even a Radisson that looked fancier than the one in Salt Lake. We definitely weren’t in Malawi anymore. It didn’t feel like home but it felt like a vacation.

                We stayed the night at a hostel in Lusaka. We didn’t really do anything there besides sleep and talk a little with the people staying in our dorm. There was a guy from Germany that had been in Africa for a while and he told us a little about the weird things he’s experienced like the time he killed a cockroach and then had a much bigger infestation later. There was also another guy that was studying baboons. I slept really well there and we left the next morning to go to the bus station to get tickets. We got our tickets for the bus at 11:30 so we had some time to kill. We walked through the station and then we played I Spy. When we got on the bus it was a little nicer because there was a TV but they didn’t play anything good. I was expecting the ride to be a couple of hours but it was actually supposed to be 6 and then the bus was late. We went to Jolly Boys to see if they had room for us but they didn’t but there was another Jolly Boys hostel that was further out of town so we stayed there for the night and checked into the one closer to town in the morning.

                Yesterday, after dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we went to spend the day at Victoria Falls. Adam went bungee jumping and did the big swing. We watched. Since the Zambezi River is the boarder of between Zambia and Zimbabwe, we had to do some stuff with the government. We were afraid we wouldn’t be able to go because a few of us forgot our passports but we were with a group and they people in the front of the group had theirs so they didn’t check for ours so we got through. I felt a little like an illegal immigrant. I even took my picture next to the Zimbabwe sign. So now I’ve been to four African countries but only seen two. The line for bungee jumping was long so we spent about half the day there waiting for Adam to go and then watching the video they took of him and looking at the pictures they took. We also took some pictures of him. It was fun to watch him and everybody else and see how they all react to fear. He bought the whole package that came with the bungee jump, swing and zip line but he didn’t want to do the zip line so I was going to but they said he couldn’t transfer any of the stuff to someone else. Oh well.

                The next half of the day we spent walking through trails and looking at the falls. We were with a girl we met on the way over who was also staying at our hostel names Faith and she hung out with us for the day. Part way through, Adam said we should have a photo contest and try to get really artsy pictures so we all started laying on the ground and going off the paths and taking all kinds of non-traditional pictures. It was really fun and I think we all got some good pictures. We even found a place that we could sit almost right on top of the falls and he hung out there a little bit. We also waded a little bit but not very far so we didn’t slip and get swept away. We just had fun being together in a beautiful place.

                Today, Emily got up early to get a booking for us to go white water rafting. We got it! Last night we talked to a girl from the east coast named Hannah who also wanted to go white water rafting and a couple from Europe who had a booking so we decided to go with them. There was a guy in our dorm from South Africa that did the rapids and he told us that the first rapid you have a choice and we should pick the hard one because it’s more fun and that we should all go together because we all kind of knew each other and knew nobody would chicken out on us. When we got over to Saf Par we got all dressed up in our wet suit tops and life jackets and helmets and stuff. Then we got our safety brief and we got in the truck to go. These people were also taking pictures and video of us. When the water is lower, you can start basically right underneath the falls but we started on rapid 7 of 25 so we still did most of them. There were also a handful of kayakers that came with us. They were really good and their job was to fetch our paddles and the people when we all fell out of the raft. Baby Face was our favorite kayaker for reasons, you’ll soon see and he was also Melvin’s (our guide) cousin. We had a lot of fun with all the guides and the other rafts.

                Rapid 7 was actually like a level 1 so we were fine but rapid 8 was the one where you chose. There was the chicken run where you avoid all the rapids, then one that was level three and the one on the far left was level 4 or 5 depending on the day I guess. We were prepared and said level 5 all the way. I didn’t really think about taking hard rapids my first time white water rafting and it’s a good thing I didn’t because if I had thought about it I would’ve chickened out.

                Rapid 8 was one of the most eventful rapids of the day because it was the highest level and we flipped the raft at the beginning. Apparently the rapids here are longer than they are at the other places which is one reason why it can be difficult. So after we flipped, I was so disoriented and it was crazy. One moment we’re paddling forward the next Melvin tells us to get down and hold on then the next I’m in the water in the middle of the rapids. We had to skip rapid 9 because it was too hard so I was worried that I wouldn’t get back in the raft it time and I was really worried but Melvin had everything in control and was yelling at us to stay calm and he got us all back in the raft. I was one of the first people to get back in and then there was another group that had got thrown a ways away and were hanging onto kayaks. It was stressful for a while but we made it through.

                We walked around rapid 9 and I’m glad we did. It was class 6 so we definitely wouldn’t have done well especially after rapid 8 had taken so much out of us. I was nervous for a while after that rapid and falling out.

                We all fell out again on another rapid. I don’t remember what number it was but there were two that were really close. The first had three parts called the three angry sisters and the second was the mother. Lots of these rapids had scary names and our guide would tell us before we went which didn’t help my nerves at all. We flipped again on one of the sisters but everybody managed to get in pretty fast except Emily, Hannah and me. I wasn’t too far from the raft when I fell out but I wasn’t able to swim back so I held onto Baby Face’s kayak and he helped me get onto another raft. Trying to swim in the rapids is exhausting so I couldn’t do anything to help the other people pull me in but they got me in and I got a free ride to the end of the rapids then we caught up to my raft and I jumped in and got a free ride through the mother because I didn’t have a paddle. Emily had to go through the rest of the sisters and the mother hanging onto a kayak which took her a while because she was tired and had to rest a little. Hannah had managed to get on another kayak and we got her last. The kayakers also managed to get enough paddles for all of us. They were really great actually. After that we lost a few people on a rapid but they just kinds of slid out and we pulled them back in without a problem. None of the other rafts flipped or lost any people as far as I know so they all called us the Zambezi swimming team. I think our team has the best learning curve and we had to most fun and got the best video and pictures but I’m sure the other rafts had fun too. There were a couple of rapids that they told us we could jump out and ride with just our life jackets because they were really calm but I was too tired to get try.

                When we finally finished we took the cable car up and had lunch while we watched the video and looked at our pictures. We all got a little beat up with some bumps and bruises but we all made out safely and we all had tons of fun. I wouldn’t have chosen to go white water rafting but I’m really glad I did.

                I have lots of new pictures but they won't upload because the internet is not good at all. I'll post them when I can.

Prepare for Adventure

7.22.13

                This weekend has been pretty chill. Usually the internet is free here at Korea Garden but something broke so they’re using Skyband in the meantime which means you have to buy a card to use the internet. That’s why my updates are not so frequent.

                We left Saturday morning in a truck for Lilongwe. Akim put a mattress in the back of the truck for us to sit on and it made the ride really nice. It was sunny outside and we were able to stretch out our legs and it was really comfortable except for the wind but if you just lay way down in the truck so only your head just barely pops out, it’s really comfortable and I almost fell asleep. I think I prefer riding in the back of the truck to the mini bus, at least during the day.

                When we got to Lilongwe, we checked into Korea Garden Lodge. We got our keys and started moving all our stuff in. We brought a lot because we aren’t going back to SAFI until the 4^th or 5^th of August so we had to bring everything we would need for about two weeks. It was kind of difficult because I brought a small backpack. I should’ve picked up my Kennedy Center backpack before I left like everybody else but I didn’t. It’s okay though because the purse I got here actually can hold quite a bit. We also tried to pack as light as possible and still be able to stay warm when we are camping when we’re at Nkhata Bay kayaking. We’re going to be sharing a lot, soap, shampoo, conditioner, bug spray, sunscreen and such. I even loaned Whitney one of my wraps I brought from home because we can use them as skirts and towels if we need to. The good news is that we won’t have to carry it all with us on our trips. We can leave the stuff we don’t need with BFI and they’ll keep it safe for us. I love having friends here.

                So Whitney and I are sharing a room like we always do. We felt like we knew our way around Korea Garden pretty well until we saw that our key was for room B22. We went into the area where the bronze rooms but we couldn’t find B22. It was a little confusing. Then we walked around the side to see if there were more doors. There was one but it didn’t have anything on the door so we looked around the corner and there was some people doing the laundry. Don’t think it’s back there so we were lost. We asked somebody where it was and they took us to the room with nothing on the door. It’s a really small room and when we first went in, there was only one bed. We were not going to share. Whitney is not a cuddler. So Emily talked to the front desk and we got another bed put in but there’s still only one mosquito net. It’s all good though. We just like the adventure. Our door is also short so tall people have to duck. I don’t.  Emily is also in a small room but she’s in there by herself. She’s actually in the room that Tim Heaton (a sociology professor) stayed in one time and he called it the hobbit room because the door and the room were so small. Her room is a little smaller than ours I think but not too much.

                After we all got settled in and we killed some time, we went into town for our last hoorah because Nicolle and Camille went back to SAFI after church on Sunday and we won’t see them again before they leave. They leave the morning of the 4^th so we’ll just miss them.  We had Indian food at our favorite restaurant. We got dessert, brownies and ice cream. I miss ice cream so I’ve been keeping my eye out for some ice cream bars but I haven’t found any yet. The brownie wasn’t the best but it wasn’t bad but the ice cream was my favorite part.

                Sunday was also our last Sunday with the Lilongwe branch. We’ll be traveling next Sunday and the Sunday after. Gift and Arnold are in the YSA class and they are best friends. Gift is back from his mission and teaches the class. Arnold is getting ready to go. They were both sad to hear that it was our last Sunday. Their class is really going to be small in a few months if they don’t start recruiting more YSAs. They let us take pictures with them. Arnold was having fun but he kept saying he was trying not to cry. Gift was really quiet and it was obvious he was really sad about it.

                After church it was time for Nicolle and Camille to go back to SAFI. We said our goodbyes and hugged and all that good stuff. We’ll see them again when we go back to school. Whitney is the only one that’s not going back to BYU but she’ll be in Salt Lake so I’m sure we’ll see her once in a while.

                Today our first priority was to get our visas to go to Zambia tomorrow morning bright and early. We went to the Zambian embassy and they gave us a list of stuff we needed to get before noon to get our visas. We had to get passport photos and a cover letter, fill out an application and all kinds of stuff. It felt like we were on a scavenger hunt but we got it all done in time so we should be able to get on the bus and get passed the boarder tomorrow. Besides that we haven’t been up to much. We got some food for our all day bus ride tomorrow. Kevin said he would give us a ride to the bus station at 4:00am which is so kind of him. He told us it just wasn’t safe for us to walk to the bus station that early. We all like Kevin.

                So tomorrow we start the real adventures. Victoria Falls should be fabulous. I’ll take some pictures and try not to let my camera get ruined. It’ll just be exciting to have another stamp in my passport.

Wrap it Up

                Yesterday we started our last run. It’s a little sad to start cleaning up our makeshift lab and see it turn back into its intended purpose, a classroom. I also started packing up all of my clothes. I’m really excited to go home but I’m going to miss my adventures here. We have all grown so close as a group during out time waiting for our driver, sometimes for hours and we have all had our hard times and have had to life each other up. This place and these people will always have a special place in my heart.

                Since we still don’t have much to do in between taking measurements, I decided that I would start analyzing data from the last run because I knew it would probably take me a while. The first thing I have to do is convert the time we took the water activity each day into how long the samples have been drying. Since we took water activity 120 times, that meant a ton of calculations and I have yet to find a calculator that will do it for me so that means we’re doing it by hand! Don’t worry; I split it up so we all got to have some fun. After I put everything into the spreadsheet, I realized that some of the numbers were wrong. It was by chance that I even noticed really but that got me to check all the others. Most of them were wrong but there was only one mistake that messed up the whole thing. I screwed up the most. I don’t know how or where I went wrong on mine; I just know they were really wrong. So I went through the ones the other interns did and fixed them. When I got to mine my brain was fried and I just couldn’t fix them. I went through one a second time and double checked it and it was still wrong! I gave the last two to Whitney to fix. She did a wonderful job despite her lack of confidence from her previous missteps. It was all really simple math too. We just had to figure out how long it was between two times like 8:23am and 12:11pm for example. Here’s the BYU Food Science Department’s finest and we can’t do arithmetic. At least we caught it.

                Today the power was out for most of the day which makes it really hard to do anything. We were really bored. I went into cleaning mode because I figured we would have to clean the lab up tomorrow anyway so I swept the floor. The broom we have doesn’t have a handle so you have to bend over to use it. I made sure to get underneath all the desks and in the corners and behind all the stuff in the room so make it really clean since we didn’t have anything to do anyway. It was some hard work and I had to take a break halfway through. I did get it all done eventually though. Then the power still wasn’t on so we still couldn’t really do anything except take water activity ever two hours. Just before our last set of samples before lunch, I wiped down all of the desks because they were really dusty and dirty. After lunch the power came back on so life is good again.

                Tomorrow morning we’re going to Lilongwe and early Tuesday morning we leave for Zambia to go to Victoria Falls in Livingston. It’ll be an adventure. We get back on Sunday and take a break on Monday. Then on Tuesday we go to Nkhata Bay and we’ll kayak there for a couple of days. We’ll get back on Monday (the 5^th) and pick up all our stuff from SAFI and spend the rest of our time here in Lilongwe. Then we fly into New York and spend the day there and then I’ll be home. I’m not sure I’ll have my computer in Zambia or Nkhata Bay but I will be able to fit in an update between the two trips and then after Nkhata Bay I’ll be good to go. If you don’t hear from me for a few days don’t freak out. Expect updates on Mondays. I’m doing my best to stay safe and healthy. Don’t worry about me.

As the End Draws Near

                For the last few weeks, things have been pretty slow aside from the occasional trip to the hospital. Okay there was just one.

                This week is our last week of research (Oh Happy Day!). The objective this week is to just take water activity all the time to get as many points as possible for the charts. That means a lot of work with really short break times.

                This week we have been getting up early to take water activity at 6am. At the beginning of the summer, that wouldn’t have fazed me much but lately I have started sleeping in later and later. I even slept in until 9 one morning! It feels good to sleep in, especially when there’s not much to do during the day. However, there is at least one benefit to waking up so early.

                That benefit is that when it’s 6am here, it’s 10pm at home. That means that everybody is still awake enough to want to talk to me. I’ve message my family during the day before but that only works if they can message me while they’re at work or they’re home. If I wanted to call them on Skype I would have to wait at least until 5pm their time which is 1am my time. I’m not willing to walk back to the hostel by myself that late so I’ll just deal with getting up early. The first attempt to Skype was yesterday. I was going to get on while we had the water activity meter going and it would be all nice and casual. The internet would be fast because nobody was up yet and I would have something to entertain myself while we took water activity for an hour. It was the perfect plan until I was up and ready to go at 6am and the internet wasn’t working. It didn’t end up working until 8. Fortunately, my family was still up so we could Skype a little before they all passed out for the night because they had to get to work the next morning.

                Day two was much more successful. The internet was working but we didn’t Skype. We messaged each other on Skype and Facebook. My sister has a friend visiting and there have been attempts from multiple parties to hook them up. I’m not sure how well any of it is working but I like meddle.  Messaging three people at a time makes taking water activity go by so much faster. I could get used to waking up early as long as I get a nap in the afternoon which may not happen if we crack down and start taking water activity every two hours instead of every three.

                As this week slowly rolls by, I get more and more excited for the final leg of our journey in Malawi, our final push at the end of the summer before I go home and collapse. This is our last week at SAFI. After this we will be back once to pick up all our luggage so we can fly to New York. We won’t even have time to do laundry so it all has to get done this week! Next week we brave the public bus system and travel to Zambia to see Victoria Falls. The week after, we kayak Nkhata Bay and rough it for a couple of days. Only after we are finished at Nkhata Bay do we come back to SAFI (On Sunday or Monday) just long enough to gather up our stuff and maybe do a little bit of last minute laundry so we have something to wear on the ride home and head back to Lilongwe to wait for our flight. Emily, Whitney and I are definitely excited for our layover in New York. There is just so much to do and see still.

We have been putting off our adventures for a couple of weeks but we are making sure to squeeze them in right at the end to make this trip memorable. This trip has been nothing if not memorable. Everything that has happened here from seeing real live elephants to the trips to the hospital has made this the most unique experience I have had up to this point. I have loved every minute. Okay maybe I haven’t loved it all but I will love talking about every minute. Every experience, especially the more unpleasant ones makes a story to tell your kids later. I’ll enjoy pulling out the story about the time I was sick in Africa when my kids complain.

                I have definitely made some great friends here that I will probably have for a lifetime. It has been a long, hard emotional journey but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Here's just a few pictures of my adventure this summer

All Better

                So that last post was… well you know. Sorry for making you worry. I just wanted everybody to know what was going on.

                I’m feeling much better now. That’s probably because of the high dose of antibiotics I was on but that also meant I didn’t have to take them very long. The rash that has been the tell-tale sign for the past three weeks was mostly gone after we got back to SAFI. It has popped up in a few patches but it hasn’t been too bad. I think the antibiotics made me a little nauseous though but it wasn’t bad if I didn’t let myself freak out about it. I was also dehydrated so I drank lots of water until I was sick of it then Adam gave me some crystal light to get me through the last few days. Things haven’t been easy but I’m doing just fine. I don’t want anybody to worry about me.

I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly

                After our day with Nuskin we went to Mabuya to hang out for the rest of the day. We didn’t really have any plans for Saturday so we were nervous about how we were going to spend our time. I think we’re all getting a little tired of Lilongwe. The girls were also a little nervous because we were staying in tents because the dorms were all full. I was extra nervous on top of that because the last time we stayed at Mabuya, I got that rash.

                After putting our stuff in the tent, I got a book from the library at Mabuya and read a little bit. I didn’t really like the book very much so I put it back and decided to take a shower so I would have a chance to dry off before it got cold outside. After my shower, Whitney and I just hung out in our tent and talked. After a while though my rash started to pop back up and my lips started swelling really badly. When we got out to go brush our teeth we saw Emily and told her what was up and we decided that I was definitely not made for Mabuya. We decided that it would be best if I stayed at Korea Garden Lodge for the weekend so Whitney and I packed back up, grabbed a flashlight, gave all of our valuables to Nicolle and Camille and we started our hike to Korea Garden. On the way there a car pulled off to the side of the road and offered us a ride, saying they were from Mabuya but it was just too fishy for us to risk it so we told them no thanks and kept walking.

                When we got to Korea Garden, they didn’t have bronze room available for that night which is what we usually stay in because they’re the cheapest but they did have a silver room so we took it and got a bronze room for the next night. We went to our room and Whitney told me to take another shower to hopefully get off whatever it was off so I wouldn’t be dealing with this rash for another two weeks like the last time it happened. When all of that was over, I just wanted to sleep so we climbed into the bed we were sharing and tried to sleep.

                At about 10 or 10:30 I wasn’t feeling too great. I was a little nauseous from being in the sun all day and it had finally gotten bad enough that I actually threw up. I really hate throwing up. After I threw up I felt better though so we thought it would be a one and done kind of thing but I threw up two more times that night. It was a long, miserable night. Whitney did a good job trying to make me feel better and helping me try to figure out what the heck was going on. I stopped throwing up around 4 so we tried to sleep but neither of us really got too much sleep.

                At one point during the night I told Whitney that I felt like the old lady that swallowed a fly because I’d start with one problem and then when a bigger problem came along, the problem from before was better. I had a headache at Mabuya, when my rash came back, my headache felt better and then when I was throwing up my rash was doing alright. It was a stupid game.

                The next morning we had breakfast but I didn’t have very much because my stomach still wasn’t feeling very good.  Then we checked out of our silver room and waited for our bronze room. While we waited, we called Emily to let her know what was going on and told her that I should probably see a doctor again, especially since I ran out of drugs for my rash and it didn’t look like it was going away any time soon. Emily called Moses and he came to take us to see a doctor.

                The first place we went to was closed because it was a weekend or because it was it was Malawian Independence Day. Then Moses took us to a hospital that’s funded by Korea because he knew it would be open.

                When we got to the hospital it was lunch break so we had to wait for everybody to get back. I was so tired that I just wanted to sleep but I couldn’t. When the lunch break was over it was time to ping-pong around the hospital. I got a health passport from reception. I hope I don’t have to use it again while I’m here. Then I went into a room and got my vitals taken then went into another room marked “Internal Medicine” to talk to a doctor about what was going on. He wrote in my passport and gave me another sheet of paper to take to the lab to get some tests done.  They had to get some blood drawn for the tests but it wasn’t working very well, probably because I was really dehydrated. Whenever I put anything in my stomach I felt nauseated. So the lab tech guy put a tourniquet on my right arm and put in the needle but couldn’t get any blood out. Then he switched arms and still nothing. He told us that I’d have to go the casualties to get blood drawn because they had some other ways to do it. It was about then that I almost passed out. It was probably because I was tired, dehydrated and all of my blood was in my arms and turning blue. I couldn’t hear what anybody was saying and I felt like my whole body was numb and it wasn’t fun. Emily told the tech that I was going to pass out and he said to hurry up and go the casualties anyway so Emily and Whitney helped me walk over there where they would let me sit down for a little.

                After that I decided it would be ok to drink some water, even if it made me feel sick. Emily had a water bottle in her purse and I would sip on it every once in a while.

                Casualties was also the emergency room so there was some pretty serious stuff going on in there. There were beds and wheel chairs and IVs and it didn’t look like a fun place to be. They were able to draw some blood out of a vein in my hand and Whitney and Emily were telling me stories to distract me because I still wasn’t feeling wonderful and I had just about had all I could take of needles. When they got the blood, we took it back over to the lab and waited for the results.

                When we got the results, we went back in line to wait to talk to the doctor again. While we were waiting we tried to figure out what they all meant but we couldn’t figure it out. When we got back in to see the doctor he said the test for malaria was negative, good news, but I had a high white blood cell count. I thought that made sense because I was having an allergic reaction. The doctor said that meant I had a bacterial infection in my blood. I was prescribed a whole bunch of stuff including Piritor which is what the last doctor gave me for my rash and worked really well. I also got two different kinds of antibiotics and some ibuprofen to help with the swelling I guess. I also had to get some antibiotics injected into me. That was the second worst part of the whole trip. We went back to casualties and I thought it was just going to be a couple shots but it had to be injected through IV. Shoot, now I have to get stuck again and have it sit there while the medicine is going through.

                Whitney and Emily distracted me again while they put the needle in and hooked a syringe up to inject the drugs. Then the guy that was in charge of the needles would push the plunger down a little and then walk away to do other stuff while I would hold the syringe to keep it from moving the needle in my arm too much. One time he pushed the plunger down too much and I felt nauseous almost immediately and both of my arms went numb and I couldn’t hold the syringe so Whitney took over. Fortunately I didn’t throw up but it was rough. When one bottle was done I was excited but we had to do another one! I just had to be very patient and long suffering so I could just get through it and hopefully get feeling better really soon.

 After all of that was over, we got some food on our way back to Korea Garden then I ate a little and then slept until about 7.

                At 7 I ate again and Whitney and I talked a little. She didn’t get a nap so she was really tired. My rash was coming back again so I put on some more cortisone and we got ready for bed and tried to sleep. I was feeling pretty nauseous again while I was lying in bed and it just wouldn’t go away so I went outside to try to cool off to see if that would help but it wasn’t working. It was the same kind of nausea that I get when I don’t take enough food with my doxey. Eventually I threw up and felt better and went back to bed. Whitney got one of her bandanas wet for me and that helped because I think I had a little bit of a fever. After that I slept alright and didn’t throw up again.

                In the morning we packed up and I had some breakfast. I was able to eat a little more than I had the day before and I took all of my drugs. It was a lot. Then we checked out and went to church. I was armed with Whitney’s wet bandana to help keep my fever down and it also helped relieve the itching from my rash.

                It was good to go to church. I was still tired and Whitney didn’t sleep well so I’m sure she was really tired too but she handled it better than I did. After church we went back to SAFI and I went straight to bed. I got up again around dinner and I just wasn’t feeling good. I could tell something was wrong with my stomach but I didn’t know what and I really didn’t want to take my drugs again or eat dinner because I was afraid I was going to throw up. I was just scared, and sick and tired of being sick and tired. I got a blessing and Nicolle and Camille gave me a back rub and helped me calm down and little and I eventually went back to sleep. Everybody has been really helpful trying to get me feeling better. I have been offered tons of food but I don’t quite have the stomach to eat it all yet. Emily gave me some electrolyte stuff to help me get rehydrated and some probiotics because we think all the antibiotics might be killing off the good bacteria in my gut and making me feel gross. It just felt good to go back to sleep. Sleep is doing me a lot of good right now.

                When I woke up this morning I was feeling better. My rash was coming back like it always does but it’s manageable. I’ve decided that I’m going to try to minimize the drugs I’m taking until I have more of an appetite so I’m skipping my doxey because I’m on two other antibiotics and I’m also skipping Ibuprofen because I’m not really too swollen or sore so I figure I don’t really need that either. I am starting to feel better again. It’ll just be a matter of time before I’m back to being healthy again and I really don’t want to get sick again while I’m here. It’s a good thing I only have a month left.

Nuskin Part 2

                On Friday we got up early to leave at 5 in the morning to make it to Lilongwe in time to meet up with Nuskin to tag along with them on their adventures for the day. It was really early and it’s hard to sleep in the bus so none of us were exactly full of energy. In the morning we went with Nuskin Korea to see a community center where Feed the Children has been involved. The people there were very excited to see us and sang and danced a lot. We all got to join in but it was hard to figure out when to stomp and when to life your leg because there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

                After our visit we went back into Lilongwe to have lunch all together. It was really good again and we had a nice little picnic because the weather was so nice. Then we went out with Nuskin Japan to see an orphanage.

                 The children at the orphanage were very friendly. We all got a friend when we got out of the bus. We took a little tour of the orphanage and the children put on a little skit about Vitameal for us and then we pretty much just hung out and took pictures of each other. The Nuskin people had their Polaroids out and the kids loved it. There was also a little boy that would come to sit of my lap and then get off and sit on Nicolle’s lap. The children loved the cameras. They took over 100 pictures on mine. It was a little stressful at times trying to make sure you knew where your camera was and that nothing bad was going to happen to it but I got tons of pictures without putting any effort into it.

                Friday was a really fun day but exhausting because we were in the sun so much and we were running on so little sleep.

The mothers of the children at the Community Center

Dancing!

Love, me and the baby that couldn't decide if he liked me or not

Nuskin Part 1

                Happy 4^th of July! We celebrated this morning by having some hot chocolate at breakfast.

                Yesterday we had a busy day. It started early in the morning around six when Nicolle and I had to rinse off our laundry that had been soaking all day on Tuesday because there was no water to rinse it. We were in a hurry because we had to leave at 6:30 to go to Malingunde to start our day tagging along with Nuskin Japan and Korea. I was the last one in the bus after running around to get everything I needed in my purse and then grabbing some breakfast to go.

                In Malingunde there were tons of people there sitting in rows and then huge bags of vitameal that they gave us to pass to the children. Each child got a 2kg bag to take to their family but only the children got some. We passed it out for a while and then they had them hold them all up over their heads to make sure everybody got some. Then they were excused to leave. Lots of the kids came up to us to shake our hands and talk to us a little bit. They were very cute. Then we left.

                We made a quick stop at the grocery store on the way to Blessings where they make the vitameal at ate lunch on the way. The tour was pretty nice. It was really interesting and the Koreans were really fun to tour with because they really got into it. They thought it was really cool. The vitameal here is made with corn and soybeans. The soybeans are roasted to inactivate the trypsin inhibitors and then everything is ground and fortified before it is bagged. After the tour it was time for lunch. Oops. We took what was left of our lunch and joined Nuskin. They had a really nice spread with little mini pizzas, pigs in a blanket, wraps, juice, cake and so much stuff that looked so good and we were at our own table eating bread and apples. We were full already but the food was just so appetizing that we all caved and went and got a plate of it anyway. It was the most American food we have had since we got here it May. It was just the best.

                After lunch we went to the orphanage and they introduced themselves and sang up some songs and did a little dancing. It was really fun to watch. Then there was a soccer match between Nuskin and the orphanage’s soccer team while the rest of us watched and talked to the kids and played with Frisbees and such. Some of the people from Nuskin brought Polaroid cameras with them and took pictures of all the kids for them. On one side there was a soccer match and other the other side was everybody else shaking their pictures. We met some other people that were more involved with the orphanage from the US and talked to them a little bit. It was a really neat experience.

                After the orphanage we went home. It was a long day and some of us didn’t even eat dinner because of all the food we ate at lunch. When we got back to SAFI we noticed a few things. The trees and brick that border the gardens were painted white and a new playground was put in next to the daycare. Everybody at SAFI was working all day to get ready for Nuskin. I think it’s strange how donors get a glamorized view of these projects but at the same time, it would seem a little rude to not do anything to get ready for them. Interesting. After we got back we caught up on emails and such and chilled in preparation for today.

                This morning we weren’t is as much as a rush as yesterday but there were still things to do. I had Whitney braid my hair this morning. She just braided one side of my head and then put it all in a ponytail. It looks really cool. Then we had to get ready for our short little presentation for Nuskin. It wasn’t much we just set up the small solar dryer next to the big one by the warehouse and waited for Nuskin to come around. Betha had a display of all these dishes from Malawi for her part which is Nutrition. I wonder why we don’t get those things like soy sausage, banana cabbage and such. I would really like to try some of it. They also had the big brick oven warming up to make scones. There was just so much cool stuff going on today it was fun to see.

                We waited a long time for Nuskin to come our way so we asked Betha some questions about the logistics of our sensory panel that we would really like to get done next week. She said there would probably only be about 40 people and that we probably couldn’t get them to come to a classroom to do it because they’re sick of class and ready to leave. I wish we could tell them that it wasn’t really a class. We would only spend like 5 minutes explaining to them how a sensory panel works and then they would taste 5 samples of sweet potatoes, take a break and taste another 5 then be done. We might have to pay them but if we can’t get them to come it will be so much harder to get this panel done because we’d have to either set it up by their homes (or in an empty one) or take it to them and do it one by one with a translate which would take forever. I’m starting to wonder if this will actually happen.

                Tomorrow we are going to see Feed the Children which will probably also be cool but we have down time for the rest of the day so we’re just hanging out.

Super Moon

Whitney did a fabulous job

Get Over It

                So last week I pretty much spent the week taking care of myself. It was quite the process at times. I would usually break out in the morning and the evening. That meant it took me a long time to get ready in the morning and a long time to get ready for bed because I had to put calamine all over my body and on top of all of that, sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night because I was itchy! Not fun!

The calamine I got from the hospital/clinic lasted me three days so the next morning, Nicolle and I trekked out to the hospital to get more but this time we didn’t have a local with us so we didn’t really know what to do. There were some benches and some women were sitting on them so we figured it must be a waiting room and we took a seat. Then Nicolle and I tried to figure out which door we were supposed to knock on and who we were supposed to talk to because it didn’t look like anybody was leaving the “waiting room”. I really had no idea because when I went last time it was so fast because Chimano just popped us in and out. Nicolle saved the day at recognized somebody from when she picked up the height board for her anthropometric measurements and asked him and he pointed out the guy that could help us. I got more calamine and we had fun just sitting at the clinic.

That night, Chimango became my doctor. She told me that she used to get this rash a lot when she was little so I asked her how long it usually lasts and she said three days. That was the night of day four and it was still bad. She told me that I need to take a bath and helped me warm up some water. I had to take it in a bucket because there wasn’t any running water in the shower so I filled up a bucket from the sink. She warmed some up for me and I was a little apprehensive about taking a bath from a bucket but the warm water felt so good and it felt wonderful to be clean again. It really wasn’t bad at all.

On Saturday I ran out of calamine again but we weren’t sure if the clinic was open on the weekends. At lunch we asked someone and she said they were so after lunch, Whitney and Nicolle hiked with me to the clinic again. It was hot and long (it takes about 25min each way). When we got there we found out that the clinic wasn’t even open. Shoot. That was a bum deal but we shrugged it off and started our walk back.

The reason we didn’t take the van was because the van was occupied all week with so Camille and the interviewers could go do their surveys. They had some help from Chimango, Akim and a couple of students from Bunda. Anyway, on our walk back they found us on the road and gave us a ride back to SAFI. On the ride back, Chimango decided that she should take me to a private clinic in Lilongwe. It was perfect timing because we had to drop the Bunda students off and pick up Emily anyway. Thus started my day trip to Lilongwe.

The doctor in Lilongwe told me it was an allergic reaction. I have no idea what to but that’s just let’s hope I don’t run into it again. I got some cortisone and some piritor to help with my rash then we took the natives shopping, picked up Emily, got some water/food for the ride home and tried to sleep the rest of the way back. I opted out of a bath that night because it was so late and I really just wanted to sleep. So I did.

The next morning, I felt so much better. There was a little bit of a rash on my write but that has been the worst of what I’ve seen since Saturday night. It all literally disappeared overnight.

 I spent all day Sunday sleeping with a little bit of reading and eating. Nobody went to breakfast because we all just wanted to enjoy our day off. We all stayed at SAFI because we couldn’t get a ride to church in Lilongwe. Sunday was just a chill day.

This week we are getting ready for Nuskin Japan to come. When they get here we are pretty much just following them around and telling them how everything’s going on our end. We should all probably take a shower before they show up. 

A Visit to the Hospital

                Today was pretty normal, except for the part where I went to the hospital and got to skip all the lines.

                Yesterday I was itchy all over. It was weird and then last night when I change to go to bed I say what looked like dozens of mosquito bites in strange places such as my thighs and belly. I showed Whitney and she thought they were mosquito bites too except for one on my leg which I didn’t see before but she thought it was a spider bite. The after-bite wasn’t really working for me so I put some drawing salve on them at that seemed to help and I went to bed. I woke up a couple of times but I’ve been doing that lately too.

                This morning while we were slicing sweet potatoes my sides and hips were really itchy so I showed Emily and Whitney. Emily thought it might be bed bugs because there was so much so we sent Whitney to go try to figure out what it was on the internet. We still thought it was bug bites and we didn’t really find anything conclusive.

                After the potatoes were in the brines, we could take a break so we went into my room to see if we could find any bed bugs. Nope. Everything seemed normal in there so we asked Betha what it was udi bili (or something like that) and that I needed to go to the hospital. Well that escalated quickly. We asked her how you get it and she said it just happens. She came with us to talk to the accountant to find a ride to the health center down the road. Camille and Nicolle took the van for the week to go do interviews for their project so Emily and I were wondering what was going to happen. As it turns out, Camille and Nicolle had to come back to get a check from the accountant. When they came back we told them the story and they gave us a ride to the health center. Chimongo came with us and got us past the lines and in to see somebody to give me calamine. He asked me when it started and where I was from. He didn’t believe that I was from Malawi. Then he just gave me some calamine and we walked back out. The only stressful part of the situation I think was not knowing what it was.

                When Chimongo found out that I had udi bili she told the cleaning lady to wash my sheets because she thinks it was an allergic reaction. That kind of makes sense because it’s starting to look more like a rash than a bunch of bug bites. When we got back from the clinic, I went into my room to put the lotion on while everybody else took care of the potatoes. While I was in there I figured I might as well change my sheets now while the calamine dries so I did. Right before I finished remaking my bed the cleaning lady came in. I channeled my inner Whitney and gave her my dirty sheets. She didn’t leave so I guessed that she wanted to see my rash so I showed her. She didn’t think it looked like much fun but still wasn’t leaving. Then she started pointing at my bed so I gave her my comforter and the other blanket that was on it. She took them and the clean sheets I just put on and left. She even left the dirty sheets I already gave her in the hall. Oh well. Maybe she’ll clean them all who knows.

                So there you have it. I was so lucky that I was the first person on this trip to get sick and then I was the first person on this trip that needed to see a doctor. I’m just about ready to move here permanently. No worries though, it’s nothing bad. I’ll be fine. Just getting some good stories to bring back with me.

My Shoes

                Oh what a day. There was a lot of goings on but I’m going to start with a story from yesterday.

                So Mui is the little girl that lives with us with her mom. They’ve been here almost as long as we have and to be honest I’m starting to wonder if they’re leaving because they came for a visit. Anyway, Mui is not shy around us at all which can get kind of annoying. She walks in on us working a lot and it can be hard to get her to leave us alone. Yesterday she slapped Whitney in the face just because it was there so Whitney kicked her out of the lab. Later that day I was walking back to the hostel with my computer and the children came running. Devali is one of the children who gets really excited when he sees us and he got to me first and took my free hand. Mui was in the group of not winners which is not her favorite spot but she dealt with losing pretty well. She still wanted to get in on the hand action though so she just grabbed my hand anyway. Then she started jumping on it like red rover. When we got to the street and were crossing it. Mui jumped on mine and Devali’s hand and just like in red rover, our hand fell apart except she wasn’t expecting it and she was a couple feet above the ground and landed on her face. She started crying so it was sad but at the same time she deserved it and she had dirt all over her face so that was kind of funny.

                Ok so today we were just working on our sweet potatoes. After we finished taking water activity after breakfast, Whitney and I started our laundry. She had tons and I had a towel so we both had a lot of work but she probably had more because she was using two buckets and I could fit everything in one. After lunch we rinsed them off and hung them outside on the line and decided to watch Hancock because we didn’t have anything planned for the afternoon. We didn’t get very far into the movie before the lady that cleans our rooms came in. She doesn’t speak English so I have a really hard time communicating with her but Whitney actually does it pretty well. They had a little small talk and then she told Whitney that our clothes had fallen. That’s an issued because there’s dirt under the line so we went out there and lo and behold. The line had broken and all of the clothes were in the dirt. We started laughing a picked them up while our cleaning lady fixed the line. Whitney put her clothes back up and I put most of mine back up except for my towel because I figured it was just too heavy for the line. Yeah, it was another week of drying most of my clothes in my room but I didn’t have too much this time. It was mostly socks.

                After lunch, Whitney and I were walking back to the hostel and some older boys came to walk us there. The older kids like to ask us for stuff. This time, Manuel asked me for my shoes. Whitney had a water bottle from lunch and didn’t stop to talk so I was with the boys and she was a few feet ahead of me. Anyway, I told Manuel I wasn’t giving him my shoes because they’re my shoes. The conversation went back and forth for a while with him talking about shoes and me saying “my shoes” Then he started yelling a Whitney and gesturing towards her. I told them that her name was Whitney and they started yelling her name at her. She would turn around and wave but then keep walking. Then they would turn back to me and call me “my shoes”. It was so funny. When we got back to the hostel, we told Nicolle and Camille and Nicolle started telling everybody else that my name was “my shoes”. She was so excited because I’ve wanted a name that people can say here. It’s frustrating to tell people my name because they have a really hard time saying it. I even told Devali my name was “my shoes” when I went to get my computer from the office. He thought it was funny.

                I think it was later that we were in the bathroom and Camille was looking in the mirror and asked if we knew why her hair was the way it is. I thought it was a pretty obvious question but I answered it anyway and told her it was because she was half black. She wasn’t talking about how her hair is curly apparently because the answer was because it was dirty. Go figure. I thought it was pretty obvious that we were all pretty dirty. As time goes on, the less motivated we are to take showers. It’s kind of gross but only if you’re around clean people.

                After dinner, we changed to work out and got the brines ready for a new run. While we waited I got on Facebook to see if anything new was happening. Sarah was online so I started talking to her and then Whitney jumped in and started talking to her. We had a lot of energy last night and it was fun to see if Sarah would figure out she wasn’t talking to me. She didn’t as far as I know. It was funny.

                It was an eventful day. I’m loving it here. It’s crazy that I’m almost at the halfway point and it’s still weird to me to think about the fact that I’m here and that I’ve adapted to this place that’s so different from home. I’m so glad I was able to come. 

Banana Sandwhich

                Ok so remember that one thing I was supposed to post about but forgot what it was? It was the story of the banana sandwich.

                Once upon a time the second time we went to Salima, we got lunch at a lodge by the beach. As I was gazing through the menu I saw a number of sandwiches and one caught my eye. It was called the Safari Sandwich. It was a ham and cheese sandwich with probably some other stuff I remember and a banana. I remember making myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich once when I was little and didn’t really enjoy it. I really don’ remember what was wrong with it then which probably contributed to my willingness to try out a banana sandwich again. Needless to say I ordered it.

                The food took a while to come out which isn’t uncommon in Malawi. We had a nice time talking and looking at the monkeys that were roaming around trying to see if somebody else left out any food. When our food finally came I bit into my sandwich and noticed something was a little strange about it. Oh yeah, it’s a banana sandwich! It wasn’t bad, but I don’t know that I would call it good either. Right now the best way I have to describe it was interesting. I think it helped that it was toasted and the banana was creamy inside. I also didn’t get a huge dose of banana which is good when you order a ham sandwich. I finished it and even tried it with some peri peri sauce. I don’t really know what else to say about banana sandwiches. They is what they is.

No Baking

                After leaving Lifupa we stopped back at SAFI to pick up Nicolle and Camille to come to go to Lilongwe. Adam wasn’t feeling well so he stayed. While we were checking on Adam, we pulled out our cameras to take a picture of the sunset and the kids went nuts trying to get in the pictures. A couple even got hurt. One of the kids was carrying a baby on his back so I made sure to get a picture of it for Kelly.

Sunsets are so beautiful here

This is how everybody carries babies here. I've even seen some girls doing it with a doll

                In Lilongwe we had dinner at the Indian place we all like for Camille’s birthday. After dinner we wanted to get food from the grocery store for the rest of the weekend but everything was closed. Oh well. On Sunday we went to church which was really great. Nothing against the other churches we’ve visited but going back to an LDS church is just great. The members definitely noticed our absence. It’s nice to be missed. After church we just slept. On Monday, Camille and Nicolle went to Bunda College for a meeting for their project. The rest of us just hung out a Mabuya. Emily had a paper to work on and Whitney went back to SAFI Sunday to meet her friend Duhka so I was on my own for a while which meant a shower and napping. It felt good but yeah, nothing much going on.

                Tim’s flight also came in on Monday so Nicolle and Camille went to dinner with him and Dr. Johnston. Apparently it was really funny because Dr. Johnston and Tim are good friends. The rest of us would have gone but we had already ordered dinner a Mabuya before we knew they were coming back. You win some you lose some. On Tuesday Akim dropped off Dr. Johnston at the airport and then took us to the grocery store for lunch. We ended up buying lots of stuff because Adam wanted some food, we wanted food, we needed food for our runs this week and we just love shopping I guess. By the time we hit the road to go back to SAFI it felt like we were on a road trip with the car full of people and snacks. Last week I decided that I would get a nail file and clothespins at the store when we went on the weekend but when we got back to SAFI realized that I didn’t even think about it.

                While in Lilongwe, we got ingredients to make no-bake cookies for Camille. Whitney and I made them yesterday in the kitchen. We told Sarah, Bernadette and Aida that we wanted to make something and they got excited and watched us make it. When we were done we asked if they wanted the left over ingredients and the recipe and they were really happy to have them. We didn’t have anything to measure with so we did a lot of eyeballing. Whitney was worried that they wouldn’t turn out well because of that and we didn’t have a way to cool it down but they turned out awesome. Since Emily doesn’t like peanut butter we substituted it with hazelnut spread. She tried to pull her “try it sometime” trick on us but we didn’t fall for it and she ate some.

                 Today we started our run and it actually went really smoothly. There are still some things that can be improved upon but we actually finished before lunch. It was great. We are going to try to fit in two runs this week so here’s hoping we don’t have too much cloudy weather coming this way.

Lifupa

                Friday night we went to Lifupa Lodge at the Kasungu National Park. It was seriously one of the most fun things we have done here in Malawi. This park is awesome because all about keeping the animals safe and all of the profit the lodge makes goes towards stopping poachers.

                While we were there we went on the walking safari and went to see some cave paintings and had lunch on top of Black Rock. It was beautiful.

                On our walking safari we didn’t actually see anything crazy in the way of animals but since we were on foot and totally vulnerable it was a good thing. We saw some bugs though and hippos from afar. It was estimated to be an hour and a half but we took our time and it lasted about three hours. Dr. Johnston was able to come with us which is really good because for a while I was afraid he’d be sitting at the lodge the whole time while the rest of us were out and about. We has a lot of fun and saw lots of beautiful scenery and took tons of beautiful pictures. Since the park just lets the animals do as they will and there’re no fences to keep them in a certain place, sometimes you see lots of animals and sometimes you don’t see any but you still see beautiful things. Since we started later in the afternoon and we took our time we got back in the dark and had to pick up the pace towards the end but that’s okay because there wasn’t enough light to take pictures anyway and we made it back safely.

There were so many ants. It was weird

This pretty much sums up the kind of antics we were up to

It's a Hippo!

                That night after a wonderful dinner we spent time together just Whitney, Emily and me in our room. We all took a nice warm shower in the candle light and then had a hair braiding party. It wasn’t exactly a glamorous night but it was still really fun.

                In the morning it was really cold but that’s probably because we left the windows open. Oops. Somehow we managed to get up and brave the cold to have breakfast and get ready for our trip to Black Rock and the cave paintings. We went with these two guys who served in the French military and came to the park to catch poachers. Their names were Kevin and Mat. Kevin didn’t speak much English but Mat did and was really fun to talk to. We all loved learning about how they catch poachers and what they were working on. We picked up a guide at a camp on the way to the cave paintings so we would actually find them. When we got there we had to hike a bit to get to the two caves. In the first one, some of the paintings were damaged because poachers don’t want tourists roaming around the park too much and they light fires in the cave to destroy them. The second cave was more preserved but it was a harder hike. It was well worth it though. We were bushed when we got back to the land rover.

The land Rover definitely wasn't comfortable but it was still awesome

So excited! A real adventure!

Cave painting

                After dropping off our guide, we went to Black Rock. The hike to the top of Black Rock was much shorter but it was also super steep. It’s a good thing I didn’t wear flip flops. The view from the top though was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. We had falafel for lunch and it was delicious as was all the food at Lifupa but I’ll get to that later. While we were eating lunch, we talked to Mat some more and Kevin would join in once in a while if he could. It was just nice to sit on top of Black Rock and take in the view and rest. We all got some nice pictures, especially Emily. After lunch we climbed back down and got a picture with Kevin and Mat. I think it’s a funny picture because we’re all smiling and happy and they are just standing their holding still so we don’t have to retake any pictures. Not that they complained or anything. They just weren’t as excited as we were.

Lunch was packed in a medic bag. Mat and Kevin thought it was funny

The view from Black Rock

                                You can see the difference between us and the boys

              On the way back we got attacked by flies! Usually flies don’t bother me too much but these flies were evil. They were out to eat us! If you didn’t get them off of you fast enough, they would bite you. I have like three bites on my neck from them. It’s stupid. So naturally we also went on the offense because the best defense is a good offense right? So we started attacking them and freaking out a little. Mat and Kevin thought it was funny but at this point I’m pretty sure we’re all used to people thinking we’re weirdoes.

Ok so the food at Lifupa, was, awesome! For lunch we had pasta salad and some Shepard’s pie. Dinner was oriental chicken and beef stew. Breakfast the next morning was all kinds of goodness. There was homemade bread that I could have eaten all day. I also got some French toast that was made with the homemade bread. I’m not a big French toast person but I loved this stuff. There was also a sampling of different jams we tried out. There was tomato and banana jam and some peanut butter. Whitney really liked the peanut butter with the banana jam and told Emily to try it. She doesn’t like peanuts and for some reason we keep forgetting so we keep asking her if she wants to try some. She takes it well though. She just says she’ll have to try it sometime, meaning never.

After we came back from Black Rock it was time for us to check out. We had so much fun! Whitney and I waited in the lobby for Emily and Dr. Johnston to get payment all figured out. While we waited, we wrote in the guest book and one of the people that work there asked if we were sisters. It was funny because that has never happened to us because we don’t look even remotely related. We had a good laugh. We are very tempted to go back before we leave in August. They want to start a new thing where they take people to the top of black rock and they sleep on top under the stars and then they can see the sunrise in the morning. They’ve done it once before and the people they took loved it. I think it would be fun. It was just a really awesome place to just see Africa. For anybody thinking about going to Malawi, go to Lifupa.