Burnin' Up

                Week three is finished which means that we are a quarter of the way done with our stay here this summer. Time just flies by. Next week we will be one third through the summer. Crazy!

                This weekend we went to Lilongwe and Salima. In Lilongwe we decided to go back to the Indian restaurant for Nicolle’s birthday but we went into town early to hang out. Akim dropped us off in old town and we split into two groups. In our group we just checked out the shops but we got bored pretty fast because it was so hot and we had to walk everywhere. Eventually we just found a shady place to sit and planted there until it was time for dinner. I’m starting to like Lilongwe more but it’s still nice to just sit in the shade and relax.

               Salima was really nice and relaxing and all that jazz. The sand on the beach was really coarse but in the water it was really soft. It was really fun to play in the water and lay out to get some rays. Since I’m the intelligent person I am I brought bug spray instead of sunscreen and didn’t really think much of it until we were done. Now I am hurting. I burned my back, shoulders, knees, face and chest. Fortunately my knees/thighs and face are starting to feel better but my shoulders are really hurting today. I feel like a T-rex because I can’t move my shoulders very well. I also have a sore throat but it’s not like a cold, it might be from the lake too from stretching out my neck so much. We’ll see how it all goes.

The view from the beach with the island we went to

Sunning out!

               There was also a guy that took us out to the island to see the fish out there and hike to the top to see what there is to see. It was really fun and relaxing. The guy we were with got some snorkeling gear for us to use but I’ve never been snorkeling so I tried but gave up trying to swim and snorkel at the same time. The water was clear enough that I could see the fish anyway. After we were done swimming around we hiked up to the top but most of us only brought flip flops which made it difficult so a lot of us just took them off and hiked barefoot which wasn’t as painful as it sounds. The view was awesome but I didn’t get any pictures so I’ll just have to get them from somebody else.

                We came back that night because Akim was going back anyway and we wouldn’t be able to go to church in Lilongwe because we didn’t have a ride which is the only reason we would stay. The drive back seemed very long because it was late and I was very tired. The minibus is more comfortable than riding in the back of a truck but it’s still next to impossible to sleep in it, especially when we get off the tarmac and onto the dirt roads. I was so tired when we came back that I just wanted to fall into bed and never get up. But I did get up early the next morning because we were going to church with Akim in Madisi.

                 We went to the English service in Madisi which was good because we don’t speak Chichewa but there was next to nobody there and Akim took us right up to the front row so it was obvious that there were asungu visiting that had no idea what they were doing there. There was lots of standing up and singing and sometimes we would just stand up and stand there while everybody else was doing their thing because we were lost. At the end of the service, we sang amazing grace which was a little funny because there was just so much going on during the song. The guy playing the keyboard was a little lost and so was everybody singing. Then we were asked to come up to the front in the front of the congregation to introduce ourselves. Yeah. It was a little awkward but everybody was nice.

                After the English service was the Chichewa service and people were flooding in. They even got a band with their service. Someday we are going to go to the Chichewa service and see how it’s really done.

                I was still really tired all through church but I tried really hard to stay awake. When we finally got back and didn’t have any other obligations for the rest of the day we all took really long naps. I’m not sure how long mine was but it was at least four hours. There just wasn’t much going on so we just rested all day long.

                This week we are getting back to work. Dr. Johnston will get here on Wednesday and when he does we’re going to start another run of the sweet potatoes and get that project moving. We also still have to digitize all the information we took from the families for Dr. Johnston and get all the measurements for the kids matched with their families so that is another project. We also are teaching again this week but we got some lesson plans now so that should be ok.

                Aside from being sore and tired, I am perfectly happy and healthy. I am starting to miss American food a little bit but I’m still enjoying my time here immensely. I hope everybody at home is doing well. I’ve seen some adventures on facebook. Keep me updated!