Mice!

                We went to church yesterday at the Lilongwe branch. It was fun and interesting. In sacrament meeting there were seriously a dozen confirmations. I didn’t actually count but it took up most of the meeting and we didn’t even have time for speakers after that. There was only time for a testimony from an Elder that just got back from his mission. We don’t know where he went but he spoke English really well but had a hard time speaking Chichewa which was unusual. There were also tons of missionaries there, like three companionships. I’m guessing we hit them on an unusual week.

                We also went to Sunday school and Relief Society of course. They were both good but I think we were all tired and had a hard time staying awake. The teachers would go back and forth between Chichewa and English a lot so it was harder to stay awake during the parts in Chichewa.

                After church we had meeting with Ken and Thompson who are with BFI to nail down what they wanted us to do for them while we are here. It turned out to be a really long meeting and I feel like the Food Science students really had much to do with it so that was also fun. Towards the end of our meeting there was precipitation! I felt it a few time and I got really excited but it didn’t really get anything wet. There was debate over whether it was actually raining or not and the definition of raining.

                After our meeting we went back to Mabuya Camp and just hung out.

                This morning we slept in because the only thing on our agenda was to come back to SAFI. BFI took the van to get the rest of the seats put in in the morning so we still had a lot of free time. We decided that we should go back to town and see it some more before we met up with Dr. Steele at the Sunbird hotel where he was hanging out to get picked up.

                We ended up walking through the market which was a little stressful. Camille and Nichole met a couple of cool people there that were friendly but they got ripped off a little bit for some paintings. They both got two paintings and Whitney also got two paintings but got them for about a third of the price that they did because that’s all the money she brought. I didn’t get anything because I thought it would be better to observe the first time through and get an idea of how it worked and get used to it a little. It was stressful because people would swarm around you and they wouldn’t leave you alone and some of them would even invade your bubble. There were some people there that were actually very respectful and understood that I didn’t want to buy anything that day but most of them were really aggressive and pushy. After we met up with Dr. Steele he gave us some tips and I think I have a pretty good idea of what to do when I want to get something. I do have an advantage because I will be here all summer so I’m not in a hurry to buy anything. I just haven’t really thought about what I would get. There were paintings, carvings, fabric, bracelets, earrings, purses and some other fun stuff that I didn’t really get to see too much of but if anybody wants anything in particular you should let me know because I think I can get lots for pretty cheap. Whitney got two paintings for 7500 kwacha which is about $10 apiece.

                While we were in the market Adam wandered off by himself and he didn’t have his phone because he gave it to Dr. Steele to use while he is here so we had no way to find him. We spent some time looking for him and hoping he would just turn up. Gift and Chico (the people Camille and Nichole met) called up their friends and told them to look for a tall American named Adam which we really appreciated. Eventually we decided to just go meet up at the Sunbird because we thought it was time to get picked up to pick  up our luggage we left in a storage room at Mabuya and go back to SAFI. As it turns out, Adam was there. It was kind of annoying because we spent so long looking for him and were worried but he really didn’t even consider us when he was making his decisions. Emily was especially stressed out because she’s the facilitator and is kind of responsible for us.

                We ended up spending about two and a half hours at Sunbird waiting for our ride because the van wasn’t ready until 3ish. We made bets on when we would actually get picked up and the latest guess was 3. I think we were actually picked up after 3:30.

                On the way home we passed some vendors selling mice and Dr. Steele had our drive (Mike) stop to check them out. They were on a bamboo stick and I should’ve got a picture but everybody else did so I should be to find one for you to see if it’s not on Whitney’s blog. They were boiled and still had the fur on them and were really gross looking but we bought them anyway because they were 300 kwacha which is less than a $1. The only problem was that there is no way any of us were eating them and we still had at least a 2 hour drive until we got home. When we got home we gave them to Chimango and told here we got them for her because she’s from here and we thought she ate mice. She told us that she didn’t. I used to think I could try anything once but I think I’m going to modify that to I’ll try anything that they locals would recommend once. Chimango told us that she would find somebody that would eat them so hopefully she does and whoever that is enjoys it.

                It’s nice to be back and SAFI but I do miss us all sleeping in a room together a little bit. I just like listening to everybody else talk and having fun. Especially with Dr. Steele here, our imaginations run a little wild. Right now there is an inside joke about John and Camille getting married, Emily and Adam hooking up and whoever gets married first can live in Dr. Steele’s basement as long as he approves of the match. We have also planned our reunion at Dr. Steele’s house for September 25^th and apparently we are all supposed to bring dates. It’ll be really fun and it better actually happen. I officially have one week under my belt and have about twelve more to go. I’m having a good time and I’m still safe and healthy. I did get sunburned but that is slowly turning into a tan and mosquitoes haven’t been a huge issue. I haven’t forgotten to take my Malaria medicine so everything is still going well. Tomorrow morning everybody else wants to start a pretty intense workout routine. I’m going to try to just take it easy until I really feel like I can get into it. It is going to make a lot more dirty laundry though which means we will have to have washing parties more often. I guess that’s just life.

                I love you all. I still get emails so let me know what you’re all up to. Don’t forget about me!