Slept in later than usual on Saturday which was awesome. Spent some time at the internet and then spent most of the afternoon watching various football games. Watched the first half of one at the Brothers’ house and then moved over to the staff room for the second half. Much to my dismay Man U. scored within the last 20 seconds of extended time. So obnoxious. Apparently it was just a terrible day all around for my football teams because Chelsea ended up losing too. John Terry got a red card and then it all just kind of fell apart. Pretty depressing lol. The actual act of watching the Chelsea game was even more fun than usual though. There were some Man U. fans around – Mumba, Liwewe, and Ng’ambi – who spent the game trying to convince me that they were in fact supporting Chelsea. Yeah right. But it was immensely fun play bickering back and forth with them. And to make things even more bizarre Kaluha switched over to saying that Man U. was the top team. Weird. But entertaining definitely. Especially since the bickering is nothing new… the cool part was that it was all in English (rather than me trying to piece things together) so I was a complete member in it.

After the game Molly and I headed over to Miracle to watch the variety show that was being put on for the YCS rally. I had promised Khumbo that I’d come to watch him dance and Molly had promised Revelation so we knew our attendance was a must. It turned out to be really fun! They were only letting in YCS members so when we showed up there were a ton of people crowded outside the windows. Squeezed our way in and found some space to stand and watch the teenage interactions lol. Because oh the boys were so excited that girls were around! Molly and I were a bit scandalized by the girls’ outfits and dance moves. I don’t know how we’re going to function in the U.S. since we’ve been in this conservative culture for so long. Above the knee and shaking hips?! Gee geepers. Ended up standing on the benches at one point because I was too short to see over the boys. And then the two of us laughed with hilarity as short little Kaluha had to do the same :) Molly wanted to leave eventually but Khumbo hadn’t danced yet so I hung out with the teachers. I’m so glad I stayed to watch because he was awesome! One of the best dancers I do believe and just a fantastic kid to chat with. Also got to see McPherson dance which was great too. Had a down moment when I got home and sat on the porch. Matt was great – he came out and listened to me cry and then we talked about everything for a long time. It was really nice because he and I don’t usually have that kind of relationship… but it was just what I needed at that moment so I was very grateful to him!

Woke up in the morning feeling pretty drained. The weird part was waking up to find students crowded all into our front lawn. Good morning Fred, student of mine. They held mass on our front porch/lawn for all of the YCS students and the community as well. It was actually really nice because we were in the shade and there was a breeze… much better than being trapped in the church. The priest actually irritated me quite a bit – very fire and brimstone.

Spent the rest of the day cooking supper because it was my turn. Had a terrible time of it because the power was out all day. So Chris taught me how to build a fire and then I put the beans on to cook. Because here there are no beans from a can. They are raw so you have to boil them for 3 hours. Not so bad if you have a stove, but on a fire it means you have to keep rebuilding. So yeah I put them on and then went over to watch football with Mumba in the staff room. Had a lovely time too. Came back at halftime to rebuild the fire and then back for the game. Power went out again so I went home and rebuilt the fire again. Awesome. Actually let me rephrase that, I tried to rebuild the fire. Fortunately as I was choking on smoke and cursing under my breath, Frank came out to inform me that the power had come back on. Thank goodness. So I got to finish the meal inside on the stove. Finished the pottage and made the rice just in time since the power went out as it was ending… not quite cooked but with the lid on we just let it sit and steam itself for a while longer. Meal turned out to be quite the success. Way too much food but somehow Chris managed to drain the pot.

Monday was Matt’s birthday! Whoot whoot! It was actually a pretty quiet affair – just had supper with Frank and Abraham. And then on Saturday we’re going out to Planet with some of the teachers – should be a fun time! Had my regular summer hut time. Talked for a while with Mr. Simkoko, who is new this term, so that was cool. Went home and had a picnic table lunch outside under the trees which was fantastic. As Matt noted, it was particularly great because the sweat would roll down your face and immediately be swept away by the breeze. Oh life’s little blessings lol.

After lunch we went into town for shopping, but I got dropped off at Lusubilo because I was having a meeting with Peter about the 2 Univ. of Dayton students who will be coming to volunteer for 10 weeks. Somehow I ended up being the one in charge of coordinating their arrival and stay so Monday was the time for me to hammer out their projects and housing. The meeting went well – jobs are in place for them so that’s a relief. And then after the meeting I walked for about 45 minutes (our bike is broken) to meet Madame Mwalweni to visit one of the host families (Madame is the other host). Met a creepy police officer along the way – I swear if I meet one more officer who abuses his power in order to hit on a white woman I’m going to scream – and eventually made it. Sat in on Madame’s bible study for a while as we waited for Mr. Kasaya (the host) to arrive and then hopped on a bike taxi to go to his house. Checked out the place to make sure it’s suitable for the volunteer and then spent some good times chatting with the family to make sure everyone was comfortable with everything. Fell in love with their adorable little son who laid under the table to touch my toes and then kept giving me shy smiles throughout the afternoon. I’ve definitely decided that we will be buddies. The wife was also fantastic – seems like she’ll be a real hoot! So yeah it was a very busy, exhausting day, but I’m glad that everything seems to have worked out well.

Eventually took my leave of them, a bundle of bananas under my arm as a thank you for visiting their home, and took a bike taxi halfway home. Got lucky and was picked up by Sarah, a teacher at a local primary school, who apparently thought I was Emily (thanks, Em!). Even though I had to tell her that no I was not Emily, she was still more than happy to give me a lift and I was immensely grateful not to be hanging onto the back of a bike as it bumped along Airport road.

Walked for a while with Beatrice, who was another woman in the car – lovely!, and then split off to take the shortcut home. Stopped at the Chaminade summer hut because I saw that Molly was around. And in return I got to listen in on the lecture she was giving the older Chaminade teachers about marriage. Oh so amusing lol. And then Muyila decided that all of the young, single teachers are “useless” because they “are not using the resources they have,” namely us volunteers haha. Clearly they have epically failed since they let Sarah and Emily slip away and are running out of time with Molly and me. Oh how I laughed. This hilarity increased as the 3 useless ones chose that very moment to arrive together in the summer hut. So Molly broke it to them not so so gently that she has no intention of marrying any of them. Kaluha and Kaunda gracefully accepted defeat, but Banda put up a fight. Love that guy – cracks me up every time I’m around him. And then Kaluha decided to put on a little drama of his own, choosing precisely the most embarrassing time to ask to talk to me alone. Oh how the older teachers loved that as Banda started hollering about Kaluha turning his attentions from Molly to someone else. Molly and I just sat there with mortified looks on our faces, unbelieving that things turned so quickly lol. But it was a pretty enjoyable evening.

Went home and enjoyed a lovely supper of nachos and cake with Frank and Abraham. Had my wits scared out of me as I saw a man creeping on our front porch after supper, who didn’t respond when Molly called out hello. Was relieved to find out that it was just Beams, though, guitar in hand, ready to sing a happy birthday song for Matt. So he joined us for cake and chatting and then I called it a night.

Tuesday morning was spent watching “Runaway Bride” and working on the library catalog. Big moment occurred as I finished as much as the catalog as possible… meaning that out of the 4,500 titles entered so far, I’ve given call numbers to 3,500. The rest I’ll have to pull off the shelves and check for content. But I’m pretty stoked because this means that I can start putting spine labels on the books.

After lunch Chris took me to the basketball courts to watch a game between 2 of the Chaminade hostels. Had a really fun time cheering for Khumbo’s team and chatting with Moses, who’s this really sweet tiny kid. Was pretty impressed as the match was very high scoring, 16-14, and Khumbo had two spectacular blocks. Lovely afternoon activity!

Spent some quality time in the summer hut afterwards, chatting with Mr. Muyila. Had a lovely bonding moment as I told him about being engaged. Now I don’t usually advertise this because it leads to a bazillion questions. In fact, he’s the first Malawian I’ve told about this. But he’s just great so I figured he’d be a good one to tell. Went to watch the football match after supper but it lasted until 11 pm so I pretty much slept through the whole thing :) Actually wouldn’t have even come back but a couple of the older teachers kept reminding me about it so I figured since they were making such an effort to invite me, I could at least come.

Very productive morning on Wednesday. Woke up and immediately did some laundry. Had summer hut time with all generation sectors. Walked to Gondwe’s with Chris to get a mineral. Fun times were had as we inadvertently taught them how to play hopscotch. Namely Chris and I played and then as we looked back, they too were trying it out. Very cute. Also created a fun ruckus as Chris attempted to pole vault over some children who were laying in the path trying to “hide” from us.

Got pretty frustrated with my community after supper. I’ve gotten to a place where I don’t particularly enjoy being at home. I go out and have an awesome time on campus and then it seems the moment I walk in the door the fun feelings just get sucked out of me as I’m either bored with their antics or feeling like I’m getting walked all over. Sooooo I’ve been tending to spend a lot of time with the Chaminade teachers and if that fails, watching movies in the room, both of which keep me feeling happy. But anyways, Wednesday night was just the boiling over point of that so I spent some time in the room and then went off to watch the Bayern vs. Lyon football match with the teachers. Great game even though the score was only 1-0. Should’ve been higher and it was pretty exciting so I was content.

Summer hut time on Thursday morning and then sat through their staff meeting so that I could hear that news about Mr. Nyanguru’s going away party. Afterwards I was invited to go with Kaluha and Banda on a trip to Lilongwe at the end of May. We’ll see if it actually happens and I’ll have to do some polling to see if that’s culturally appropriate – there were old teachers around when they mentioned it and none of them were scandalized so I think it might be ok? I don’t know – I think I get a lot more leeway since I’m foreign and thus expected to make mistakes. But I like the idea. They’re my two favorite young ones and I think they’d be a lot of fun. Plus I’m sure by May I’ll be worn out from teaching and needing a fun weekend away. But anyways, thought it was nice that they want me to come with them.

Watched “The Time Traveler’s Wife” after lunch and enjoyed it more than the first time, probably because I wasn’t stuck on comparing it to the book. Then returned to the summer hut because Banda and I had made plans to take pictures of him in my favorite pink shirt of his. But alas he never came. Had a lovely time taking snaps with my other favorite teachers though. Those old teachers turn into little boys, getting all excited when a camera comes out. Too cute.

Went to another basketball game with Chris but ended up leaving pretty soon into it because the boys were blocking my sitting view and I didn’t want to stand. :) So instead I went to watch the volleyball match with Matt and Molly where I could indeed lounge on the grass. Much more enjoyable. Ended up back in the summer hut with Matt because he wanted to help Br. Charles by adding some hype to the newly refurbished school truck, but we really just ended up joining the other teachers in admiring Munthali’s laptop. This worked out well since I got to admonish Banda who finally showed up. Had a great time though as he was in a chatty mood and thus walked me back to the house and sat with me on the porch for a good 45 minutes until our dinner guests showed up. I’ve officially decided that I really enjoy Banda. He’s always so happy and cheerful that you can’t help but feel better around him. Great time chatting.

Had to end eventually though as Mr. Wanda and his family arrived for supper. Wanda is the new headmaster so we figured it’d be a nice idea to have him over. It was fun time – he’s a nice man and was definitely chattier than he normally is in the summer hut so that was a good surprise. Got a package from Brittany after supper that pretty much made my night (thanks, love!) and then ended up sitting outside just looking at the stars for the rest of the evening.

Ended up accidentally sitting through the staff meeting again on Friday. They have them in the summer hut so they just kind of start all of a sudden and I’m stuck. This one wasn’t nearly as exciting. It is always interesting to hear the different teachers’ input though – can definitely form some opinions about peoples’ mentalities based on their comments. Gain a lot of respect for some, lose respect for others.

Spent most of my day in the summer hut since it was my last day of holiday and I wanted to enjoy it! Banda finally showed up in his pink shirt so I got to take my favorite picture with him. Since it was just before lunch he ended up escorting me home and sitting on our porch chatting with me and Chris again. Very fun. Especially when he decided to go home and Chris made up a song on the guitar just for him. So funny watching him dance his way down our path. Took a nap after lunch and then returned to the summer hut. Had a moment of horror as Chris came to tell me that 3 men had cycled 20 km to see me… and I didn’t recognize any of them. But then I realized that one of them was Kennedy, director of an NGO that the 2 UD volunteers will be helping. So had a brief meeting with them, hammering out more details and such. Glad to know that that project is also confirmed. Chris hung around the summer hut so we had our own little bubble as everyone else was talking in vernacular. Unfortunately (?) we were drawn back into the conversation as Ng’ambi decided to tell his story about dropping his cell phone into the pit latrine and fishing it out. Aaaarrrggghhh. Gross. And then the others continued to talk about floating feces and bathroom habits of various staff members. Really never thought I would listen to a conversation like that in the summer hut. Eventually everyone else disappeared for classes so I ended up sitting with Ng’ambi for a long while having a completely normal conversation. It was very nice actually since I’d never talked to him on my own for an extended amount of time. And I had some quality time with Mumba which was really nice. Love that guy.

Had a nice time with the community after supper. Matt made frozen chocolate covered bananas (we have 70 bananas in our pantry because we harvested our banana tree!). They were oh so good. Yum! So I think we’ve decided to use the bananas mainly for banana bread and the chocolate bananas….. no complaints from me! While washing the dishes they decided to teach me how to play beer pong since I have never played before (I know it boggles the mind how many things I missed in college lol). Played a practice round with empty cups and I didn’t do too terribly. Are planning to play for real on Saturday before we go dancing at Planet. Looking forward to seeing some Malawian teachers learn the skill. :) Afterwards we watched “Up” as a community and I managed to stay awake the whole time. Very cute movie! Although not gonna lie, pretty depressing for much of it. Cute though.