Monday was one of the days that makes teaching worth it, the students seem to finally be making way in understanding bonds. Ryan attempted to hear and then teach all of the rules of conjugating English verbs. There are a lot and they are very confusing. There was study circle, which Sasha had to stick around for, Ryan rushed home to fix the shower that had been turned on and now would not turn off. Once the students had divided into groups with the help of Justice, and the pencils had been taken from the cleverest students so everyone had a chance to write, Sasha sent a group outside as it was very hot and they did eventually answer all questions. A student stayed after class for almost an hour reviewing topics from the year before. All very exciting, but for the last half hour a group of local children just stared at Sasha and the student waiting for Sasha to finish. As they left, she was ambushed. It had been a very long day so she hid inside, and Ryan was unable to get them to leave. Sasha is just too much fun to hang out with. Twenty minutes of “Sasha! Sasha! Sasha!” and looking through the ground floor windows eventually our neighbor told them to leave.
Tuesday was Mothers day (or Anakubala and literally translates
to the ones who have given birth), and we all had the day off so we planned to
go to the beach. The Bishop arrived that morning as well, so we got dressed in
our best and went to say hello. He was very kind and easy to speak to. He welcomed
us, and told us of his visit to the States so he understood how much we had
given up. We assured him Malawi was very worth it, as it lives up to the name of
“Warm Heart of Africa”. He spoke of the best safaris around- no other Malawian
we have spoken to has gone on one. The guides are very well educated, and can
predict the movement of animals. A few even have PhDs!
We asked if the cat bothers him, he said not to worry, the cat knows not to go
into his room when he is around. We finally got a name besides “The Cat”- her
name is “Tombe”, which means cloud. There is also a famous human rights
activist in Malawi that became active after it was named.
MaryFaith came by, and we began our trek to the beach. Justice had told us no- he had homework to grade. Nioni also said no, he had organizing to do. When we asked him what organizing, he was very slow to come up with an excuse! So of course we went to their house. They indeed were sweeping and cooking beans, but we did convince Justice to come with us. Nioni said he must focus on his beans. On the way we stopped in Jalo for flip flops, and Justice bought us the popular energy drink.
It was a perfect day, the water was clear and cold and the beach clear. We ran into the water, and practiced hand stands (Sasha’s were best) and seeing who could swim the furthest (either Ryan or Justice, depending on how you define cheating). MaryFaith grew up further inland so she could not swim, but by the end of the day she had perfected the doggy paddle. Around 10 kids came to play with us, and we picked them up and threw them into the small waves. We taught them the game of chicken. We picked a smaller one up, to put him on the other kids shoulders, but put that one back down as he had no pants, picked up another small one, and put them on a larger ones shoulders. They seemed to enjoy the sport and it was a lot of fun to watch them tackle each other instead of us for a change. We drank the still-cold drinks with an audience who grabbed the bottles as soon as we were done. Finally- we had given a kid the water bottle that they request ALL THE TIME. We started playing tug of war with the kids, eventually they did win by grabbing Sasha’s feet and dragging her the 10 feet to the water.
When the bishop arrived we had to move to the guest house right next door, which is quite nice but also has a shower that does not drain. The shower pan has thick cracks that harbor all sorts of insects and geckos. But we have only seen one cockroach so far which is a plus, but there are shield-back insects everywhere. They don’t bite and are somehow far less gross, so it is an upgrade. We also have a freezer bin that stays very cold!
Ticket to Anywhere 