I got to spend Thursday morning with my Electrical I class which was great – between all of the driving and escorting that I’ve been doing lately, I’ve missed out on a lot of morning assemblies. So I was grateful to have that time with them. Spent the first 2 hours of my day working in the library and then had Communications class where I really just gave them an out-of-class assignment and then set them free since they all had practical (trade) work that they were working on. Fine with me since it just meant I got more library time :) Got to have lunch with Frank since he was leaving soon. Had a computer class with HM 2 after lunch which turned out to be awesome because Kelvin and Denis are starting Microsoft Word! It’s pretty exciting that someone’s finished the typing program and is moving on to the next step. Had some drama between a couple of students during cleaning time as a group of them were pulled to carry benches and didn’t like it. Had to mediate between 2 older-than-me students who are usually sweet but were just bickering this time. Oi. Hate being teacher on duty sometimes. Went home and crashed in front of the television to watch Friends with Molly. Hadn’t seen that show in a while. Thought I wasn’t going to get to go to Lupembe the next day with Jeff but Molly so kindly offered to cover my teacher on duty stuff so that I could go. Was very grateful to her for that. Also got to use a blanket that afternoon – the first of many cooler days to come – so fantastic!

Woke up early again to go to Lupembe (with Jeff this time). Unfortunately I was locked out of our main house so I didn’t even get to have breakfast so I was borderline dizzy all day. Whoops. Made a strong effort to chase the dogs away this time so they didn’t end up all the way in town again… was successful with all but the two stupidest of the bunch, Teteza and PJ. So they kind of ruined my time a bit as I had to keep yelling at them and trying to scare them off. But they lost me as I approached the hospital and got picked up by the Bank Manager – awesome! Met Jeff at the depot where we caught a minibus immediately and had one of those “well this is a terrible life decision” moments as he was driving like a maniac. Predictably, we made it to Lupembe early but Kennedy was there this time so no problem. Had some good business conversations and set up solid things that the staff needed to do for next time so that was promising. And Jeff fit in really well – he’s just a goofball but there was a lot of fun and laughter as we shared minerals and cookies, the latter of which Jeff is apparently addicted to. The INCOS guys were so cute – they went out and bought him another package of cookies for the road. Were joined by the crowd again as we went out to the road. Took some fun pictures of ourselves and then chatted until a bus came along for us to sprint after. Jumped on and ended up sitting in the conductor’s seat, which inspired some fun moments with the roadblock police as the bus driver christened myself the conductor and Jeff, his inspector. Got dropped at the junction to begin my hour walk home but luckily I got picked up shortly thereafter by the Bank Manager again! How funny (and lucky) that she found me on both parts of the journey!

Made it back in time for my computer class and then returned to Miracle after lunch for the entertainment time which happened to be a football match between the First Years and Second Years. I, of course, supported the First Years since they’re my class… although I did feel bad since I do love a handful of the Second Year players as well. Sat with Tamala and Allan the whole time which was a fun combination as Allan is just goofy and Tamala is sweet. Was tired beforehand and didn’t really want to hang around, but as usual, after some quality time with the students, I was grateful that I stayed. Since I was teacher-on-duty I had to be there for closing assembly and deal out punishments. Normally prefects write down names of rule breakers and give them to the T-O-D but not this week. I don’t know… apparently they decided to go on holiday and just didn’t inform me, the brats. So – with a little encouragement from Molly – I decided that since they broke the rules by not performing their responsibilities all week, they’d be the rulebreakers that day. The other students loved it. Did not sit so well with the prefects though who are used to just bossing others around rather than lifting a finger on their own to do some work. So they had to finish moving the benches, which of course yielded lots of griping but oh well.

Had a fun night of celebrating Molly’s birthday! Frank came over for supper which was enjoyable as always. We had plans to go to Planet afterwards so I spent the interim time sleeping…was pretty exhausted after a long day at work but felt like I had to go since it was Molly’s birthday. So dragged myself out of bed and ended up having a fun time. Danced a lot (more than I ever have before) with Molly and the others but also spent a lot of time in our outside chair circle because the boys would leave us girls and we’d instantly get swarmed by creepers, thus forcing us off the dance floor. Bah. But this outside time was nice since we got to meet Duncan, a Canadian who is working as a water engineer here. Always fun to hear new stories! We started trying to go home around 12:30 and this is where the night crashed… we had a taxi already arranged to get us, so we call him. No problem, he says he’s coming. 30 minutes pass, we call again. Still says he’s coming. 30 more minutes, we have Frank call him in vernacular. Still coming. 30 more minutes, Matt calls and the guy’s phone is turned off. So by this point it’s now 2 am so we’ve missed any other chance of getting a ride home from other Planet patrons. And we’re all pretty much just sleeping outside in the chairs now as we wait. Luckily the owner of Planet is awesome and he offered to drive us home… we just had to wait for him to find someone to cover the place in his absence. Awesome. So we move inside and I curl up on the couch to fall asleep while the others watch football. Finally he’s ready, so we pile into his car. And wouldn’t you know, we’re almost halfway home and his car breaks down. Oh.My.Goodness. This has officially become the trip from hell. Might I add that it’s freezing, so all of us are shaking with the cold and are huddled together trying to keep warm. So we just slept in the car for another 30 minutes or so until someone came to fix it. Finally made it home around 4 am. Geez louise. Times like these that I really miss having my own car and not having to depend on others!

Slept in late after that whole fiasco and then had a nice, lazy day. Watched “Gray Matters” with my housemates after lunch and then walked over to Miracle by myself since no one else wanted to go watch their football match. Hung out with Mbale for the first half which was nice, talked about his research that he’s doing about why so many marriages in Malawi fall apart. He wanted to know how Americans do it since we’re “more successful” at the marriages. Grinned at his look of shock when I told him something like 40% of American couples end in divorce. But we did have some good talks about different cultural expectations and dating practices. The game itself was pretty boring and I was uncomfortably cold (imagine that, here in Africa!) so I headed home at halftime. Just wanted to curl up in bed under my blanket and watch a movie – which I did, so my afternoon was great! Wanted some hot chocolate but only one burner on our stove works and Alick was using it… and I wasn’t motivated enough to build a fire outside. So I settled for a peanut butter sandwich :) Good day.

Sunday was equally pleasant. Washed some clothes and made grilled cheese (a real treat here!!) for lunch. We tried to have a skype date with Emily that afternoon which worked for a while and it was awesome to talk to her! But then the internet died… lame. So the four of us hung out in the computer lab for a while, taking funny pictures with Molly’s Photobooth laptop app. Good times and some great pictures!

Joined Molly for the task of cooking supper – pretty basic rice and beans – and then watched “The Proposal” with everyone. Had a fun “prayer” before supper – imitating Grandma Annie from the movie and chanting/dancing around the dining room table, thanking the universe for all of its blessings. :) Went over to the Brothers’ house for a great visit with Beams after supper since he’d returned from his trip to Kenya.

Monday started off well with tea for breakfast! May sound like a little thing but I love that it’s finally cold enough here to enjoy hot tea and a warm blanket. Lovely. There’s also a new Brother, named Innocent, around so that was cool to meet him. He’s another young one and it seems like he’ll be a fun guy to have around. Pretty typical day – worked in the library for a couple of hours and then went over to Chaminade for computer lessons. Had great summer hut time! Felt like I hadn’t hung out with Kalua or Banda in a long time, so it was really nice that they had enough time to just sit and talk for a while. Also had some quality time with Mumba who’s also been scarce lately. Also got to meet the new student teachers and joke around with them about looking the same and not being able to remember their names. They seem like a good bunch of potential friends! Lol Annie, the new female teacher, was also around and turns out to be quite fun!

Banda decided to escort me back to Miracle which was just a blast. Love that guy. I think he’ll definitely be one of my top 3 in Molly’s list-making game of “Who I’ll Miss the Most When I Leave.” We had a lovely time chatting away as we walked back to Miracle, visited the library and also Molly’s office.

Did some more work in the library and then back to Chaminade again for 2 more computer classes. Carpentry students irritated me right off the bat, but then I had a fantastic class with the Tailoring 1 students so that was great! I had been nervous about them because we had to start from scratch since there were a whole bunch of new students and it was their first day. It went well though and they did a great job when I turned them loose to try it on their own. In fact, I’ve never had a class do so well on the first day!

Ran back to Miracle to be with my Electrical 1 class since I feel like I’m never around anymore. Then had a great walk home as Kelvin – one of my favorite students – and I went together since he works for the Brothers. Learned all kinds of new things about his family and his home. Always nice to have those conversations. Alick taught me how to make nsima after school since I’ll need to know that for when I come back. Planning to make it some Sunday-soon so that I can get the hang of it. Matty added pink food coloring, so we had pink nsima for supper! The Malawians must just think we’re crazy.