Week of Hallows Week of Heartbreak

The Chemistry and Physics teacher Justice, that has patiently helped us pronounce so many words and understand so many cultural oddities, left to go back to school this week. It was also another teachers birthday this week (On Halloween; She was very surprised I remembered, as she told me a month ago), and so we brought in a cake to celebrate both of them. We used Nutella from Australia as icing, and added skittles in the first letter of their names on top. The teachers were all sitting outside under the tree to avoid the heat, and were extremely excited about the idea of cake. Birthdays are not really celebrated here, and Justice had not told anyone else he was leaving so it was truly a surprise for everyone. We played mixes of Happy Birthday and danced, while everyone got photos of the cake and the cutting of the cake from every angle. I was expecting an even cut for each person, but they cut out huge pieces for themselves that included all the skittles, then split the remaining third for the other 8 people. This is a way of sharing I will probably use with my birthday cake at home.

For Halloween, Ryan gave an exam (it doesn’t count as giving an exam on a holiday if they don’t know it is a holiday) and Sasha gave practice problems and did the spooky experiment- the sulfuric acid and sugar with the form 3 class. A student raised her hand in Sashas class (Martha- she is very sweet and hardworking, and the first to offer to help to carry Sashas books) and said she had heard rumors it was an American holiday today- was this true? Which was an excellent Segway to explaining the beauty of Halloween to a class of students who only mostly spoke English with only untampered excitement and a chalkboard. Once class was nearing the end, She grabbed the bag of candy and small chips and told everyone to say “Trick or Treat”, take one, and head to the site of the experiment. Of course this was soon a very hungry swarm with people coming for seconds and ignoring the move away idea. Eventually they gathered around to watch the experiment. It took longer than before, and they were not too excited with sugar turning black. Until it started to boil and grow! They carefully touched the side to feel the extreme exothermic reaction, and jumped back at the smell of sulfuric acid. A perfect audience! This time a few actually were interested in what was happening. In Ryan’s midterm, thanks to the help of some anti cheating measures the class was eerily silent and everyone got a candy as they left the class. The spookiest part was yet to come when the tests were graded, and Ryan found out how poorly they had all done. Good thing a 40% counts as passing!

It seemed unfair to only show Halloween to our own classes. So, during a free period, we grabbed some eyeliner to put a nose and whiskers, picked a Halloween playlist, and waltzed in to the form 4 and form 1 classrooms. We wrote Halloween on the chalkboard and gave a short explanation, then presented our large bowl. The aim was apple bobbing. But with mangos! The students were very excited about the game, they had so much fun that another teacher had to come by and tell us to be quiet. Sasha used white eyeliner on the students to look like cats as well.

That evening, Cassidy brought out a watermelon from the mainland and we carved it into a beautiful Jack-o-lantern. We presented it proudly while the theme to “nightmare before Christmas” played, and set it up outside the bar her boyfriend owns. They laughed and took many selfies with it. Exclaiming: “You people! You look ridiculous!”

Over the weekend we made our semi-monthly pilgrimage to Mango Drift for the pizza, and ran into a family with two young children that took 6 months off to travel Africa, and a couple that took two months off. The family and the couple lived 2 blocks from each other in London and had just met for the first time on the ferry to Likoma. With their two months, the woman (Katherine) taught medical students in Blantyre (a city to the South). The class took only three weeks so they were using the rest of their time to travel more of Africa. Thomas was an ex-English teacher that now wrote textbooks that was very excited to help Ryan put together a lesson plan. Thomas seemed to miss the classroom, so Ryan offered one of his lessons. Thomas happily accepted and began planning right away. Ryan was also excited to have one less class to plan and maybe actually learn how to teach from someone that knew what he was doing that was in a similar situation. The first step was to ask permission from the head teacher. We weren’t expecting much from the meeting considering he had hired both of us for our positions as full time teachers before we had even met him. When we arrived at his office it turned out to be a full on interview. Thomas had exactly one formal outfit which he was saving for the classroom, so he arrived in Katherines PJ shirt with a Polar Bear on it. He was able to answer all of the head teachers questions and it went well overall except for the part where the head teacher implied that they might be terrorists.

Thomas asked for a 2 hour block and I was able to wrangle an extra hour from study circles to get him an hour 40. He did a cool lesson that involved a lot of group work and moving around. It got very loud and it took both of us to get the class under control at times. Thomas almost made it a full hour before he said that it was too hot and asked if I could take over for the rest of the class. The students were unhappy to see him go, He brought a lot of fresh energy and passion in his teaching. Now he has taught in Vietnam, Japan, Honduras, and Malawi! It was affirming to hear him complain that our students are especially loud, and our classrooms especially hot.

Mtombe woke us early with a screech Saturday morning, and we ran out looking for her and the babies. We could find her nowhere, and her babies gone as well so we assumed she had moved them somewhere else because we had been checking on her all the time. The next morning the cat appeared as soon as we started eating breakfast as usual. She pranced around waiting for scraps and didn’t seem very guilty at all for taking our kittens away from us. We bumbled around, Cassidy arrived, and we prepared to go to the beach. Until Mtombe carried a tiny kitten from behind the closet, laid it at our feet, and tried to lick it back alive. It wasn’t even old enough to open its eyes, but its tongue lulled out of its mouth. We sat in a mournful circle around her, watching as the licks became more frantic. We saw a possible streak of blood and turned it over, to a bite under the armpit too small to be fatal. We listened at the closet, hoping for signs of the other. We pulled the closet out to find only a whole bunch of peanut shells and dust. She realized we could not help her, and disappeared into the neighbors window with the lifeless kitten. When we came back from searching the trash pit for a little box to bury it in, we looked around the front of the house and found both kittens lying outside. Mtombe was trying still to wake them, and we decided to give her some space and went for a swim at the nearby beach. We remembered why usually we walk the extra hour to visit a beach resort, as kids swarmed us and swam next to us laughing. They are always entertaining, but they never seem to tire and don’t leave much room for conversation or relaxation. When we came back, we learned the neighbor was tired of the cat bringing her kittens inside the house and had tossed them into the pit toilet. We sadly rethrew away the box we found, and gave her extra fish.

We still do not know what got them. perhaps she ate a cockroach we had poisoned, she had worms, the rats took a bite, or someone tired of cats snuck into our house and killed them. None of the locals really care either, so it is difficult to get answers.

That night the hospital threw an awards ceremony and Cassidy invited us to attend. The awards began at 6, the dancing was scheduled to begin at 8. Being experts at Malawi time we thought we were playing it safe when we arrived around 9, to find the awards had just begun. We sat on the beach and listened to the music and had a phone call with Christian WHO CONFIRMED HE IS VISITING!!! We chatted for an hour with our feet in the waves trying to figure out the logistics of bringing a snowball from Germany, when the awards show finally ended and the dancing began.

The chief, the mayor, and everyone else of note was sitting along one wall, and the rest of us sat facing them with a dance floor in between us. There is no possible more awkward way to set up a dance party. Still, we chatted with Francis who said Mtombe had one kitten before, which died at birth and who offered to take us on his fishing boat to a neighboring island. Cassidy and Sasha went to the bathroom, to find that the handle on the inside and the out had fallen off. So they moved to the mens as one person stood guard. The police officer, Bruno, came by to tell them to stop and use the correct bathroom. He added that there was a spoon that would open the womens bathroom from the outside. When asked about it, he disappeared for a few minutes before producing a dirty spoon. He seemed confused about why we didn’t love this plan.

We visited Mzuzu again in order to sort out some immigration issues. The couple that had taught at the school with us earlier in the week boarded the boat as well, and saved us a seat up top. They promised a room if we ever visit London, and then went to bed. Bruno came to chat, it seems everyone was on this boat! A man had gotten drunk and thrown a knife at his father, and Bruno managed to arrest him so this week he had to go to court. He is highly energetic and still didn’t get the hint when Ryan managed to go to fall asleep on the table. When we ran out of topics, Sasha started watching some Netflix. She shared a headphone with Bruno and they settled in a few episodes of the very wholesome “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (The only show he had a chance of enjoying after Black mirror, House of cards, Rick and Morty….). It was a very enjoyable 4 minutes until the very entertaining and very gay Titus walked on in leopard print. She had completely forgotten about this very prominent character. “That man- he acts like a woman!” He explained God made Adam and Eve, and we explained God also made gay people, and here is the science behind it. He patiently explained gay people were a punishment, which is why Malawi didn’t have any gay people. We explained 5% of the population is gay, they are just silent in fear about it. We both agreed to disagree and were able to part friends, but nobody left with a changed opinion. We figured it was best not to get in too heated of an argument with one of the only people who carries a gun on the island- although it is left at the office. There is no emergency number on the island, so we got his Whatsapp number so now we can call the police if there’s any trouble.

A church driver picked us up from the ferry dock the next morning and took us to Mzuzu, a very welcome change to the cramped discomfort of previous rides. We walked into a very welcoming Joy’s place, picked the best beds in the dorm, and enjoyed French Toast and a proper English Breakfast. There were a few things we absolutely needed: a mop, a hammer, a bottle opener, and vegetables. Whenever we attend sports at another school, or attend any event, they give us bottles. The Malawians open it with their teeth. Everyone has very good teeth despite this treatment (except many children, who have terrible teeth). The big grocery stores had the food, and we picked up some water guns as well. A man came by and asked what they were for, we told him to keep our students quiet. He suggested the tear gas the next aisle over would work better. Sasha grabbed some books of paper and pencils for the girls that come by. She draws them on her nice paper that is running out, and they want to draw as well! No bottle opener or mop in sight, we were informed to search the market. The market is a huge sprawl of shops selling everything if you know where to look. We do not. We passed rows and rows of fish before coming to a shop that was a solid mass of cords and small metal objects. After digging for a few minutes the shop owner produced a hammer with a blunt end. After digging a few more he found a proper hammer with prongs for nails. A man reappeared with a bottle opener that had the look of being very second hand even by Malawi standards. He probably had a friend with a bottle opener and told him some silly mzungu wanted to buy one. We haggled to save 1500MWK, and left very satisfied.

We met Justice in Mzuzu, who took us out to lunch to meet his girlfriend. While she was looking away, he asked Sasha for the cash to pay for the food we were about to get (he’s learned that Sasha is the one with the money). When his girlfriend looked back we ordered and Justice exclaimed “I am the boss, I will pay!”.

Dinner came around, and we enjoyed a proper hamburger and burrito. We had to try very hard not to tear up a little at the beautiful taste. Joys started to get somewhat busy, and we met another Peace Corps who told us about her struggles in the public schooling, and gave us some tips for handling the students. The innkeeper, Justin, came out to upgrade us to our own room “Like in everything, its who you know not what you know” as he lit a cigarette. He insisted people are spending far too much on Malaria research and prevention. Its no fun to have, but as soon as you feel ill you go to the hospital and get the cure. He’s only had it around 20 times in the past 5 years, and each time for him it is the same symptoms of headache and sore muscles. His wife gets diarrhea. You just know your body and get the cure. It’s like the common cold here. We were not convinced and will still be taking our very expensive Malarone.

We returned to the island too tired and too late to attend our morning classes, but were greeted by the beautiful sight of hundreds of ripe mangos everywhere.