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This week was a bit of a long week with exams, spiders that are not spiders, kittens, and So. Much. Heat.
We went to watch a football match Sunday evening, and the whole town turned out. All the men who were too busy to make it to church arrived at the game! This time all the players had a uniform and cleats. Whenever someone got injured which was fairly often (this is soccer after all), the medics would run out, pour some water and rub it in. We were told that this cooled the wound down and made it better. This is the best first aid here, and it did seem to work. As we watched some girls came up and asked to braid Sasha’s hair (cici). Five sat behind her the whole game making tiny braids, and rotating out when fingers got tired. At the end of many classes she has exclaimed “These kids will give me gray hair!” And it turns out they had. The girls found one, plucked it out, and rubbed the scalp to give it color again. The kids give gray hair, and they take it away. After braiding one did happily spend awhile scratching the dandruff out of my scalp, though honestly there isn’t much.
Sasha shared morning preaching duty with Benson this week. She just had to preach one day, which was not quite as terrifying as she thought. And of course, if we speak quickly no one will understand so it will be fine. Benson preached about the story of the Jews complaining about having no water on the way out of Egypt. His conclusion was if you complain you will disappear, complain of your teachers, and poof! You will be gone. Though in this story, complaining was how Moses knew they needed water and then provided them that water. Without complaining, they would have disappeared of thirst. This has become a joke around the office, if someone complains you say “ah careful you will disappear!” and it is “very funny”. Benson came in to give a few more examples- If you complain of the heat, you will disappear. If Ryan hits you and you complain, you disappear! If you complain about the students, you disappear!”
The teachers get all the lesson planning out of the way in the morning, and spend the rest of the time sitting outside under the tree where you can get a breeze. They try to plan as many lessons outside as possible, as the students sit in the same semi-dark classroom all day. The ceilings are tall, and the window panes are gone, but it can still get very hot in there. There is always pleading for lessons to be taught outside. Unfortunately for everyone involved, because of the language barrier a chalk board is critical and most lessons must be taught in the sweatbox. We are adjusting to the heat, and adjusting to actually drinking the suggested 2L each day. Sasha was walking back to the house to pick something up and one of the quiet teachers asked for cold water, she brought him a mug of water that they had sitting inside (and not from the very hot pipes) and he drank the whole thing in one swig. Benson then asked her for a jug, and she made Ryan carry one up on their way back. It may be silly, but no one had yet asked him to grab water and she did not like being the woman who was expected to bring water to a group of men. The teachers are all great people, but this is still a deeply sexist country. It is likely no worse than 1960s US, and it is very subtle especially to us Azungu (plural of white Europeans) but Ryan is still asked of any decisions and informed of any news first even if they must ask Sasha where he is. When Sasha’s students walk by them, they say “good morning sir” first. When we are purchasing something, they look to Ryan to produce the money and Sasha gets to pull it out of her purse. The bills are far too small, and you need far too many to keep in a wallet! Small things, but they speak to the culture at large.
We have begun running in the morning, and getting up at 5am before village life has started. We got up and ran at 6 the first time, but there are too many people. Likoma has no pathways or areas that are not inhabited and we get stares and laughter while we run. It is not unheard of for people to run (we even ran into another couple where the idea to run was clearly the mans idea) but when you run you are still passing and seeing people, so you must wave and say hello. A vague smile is not enough here. Students were on their way to class, and one kept up with us around a quarter of a mile in flip flops (they have uniform shoes, but it’s a dusty walk to class) until the running caused her bag to break. No matter what time we go there are always little kids who come join us. Unfortunately, water does not come on until 6am at the earliest if it is coming on that day, and so we typically shower out of re purposed gin bottles that someone left behind. The 10 or so bottles in our bathroom does make it look like we are pretty heavy drinkers hopefully the church will not get the wrong idea about us.
Cassidy found pizza dough and we donated our pasta sauce. She made some mozzarella cheese as well, and it baked while we listened to music, and danced with her boyfriends kid Kiri, and her friend Tasha. Kiri would pick up Tasha just to show off she could, so Sasha picked them both up, then Ryan picked up all three. There is a Belgian couple next door that has been coming for 15 years for three weeks at a time to help in the nursery schools around Likoma.
It’s midterm season here and we both conducted our first midterms from the teacher side of things. Ryan had a Life skills test on Wednesday which Sasha helped proctor. We also randomized their seating arrangement and made them put their bags at the front of the room. This cut down on the rampant cheating significantly, but not entirely. I don’t think they were used to this level of test security and I’m a little afraid that many of them will do poorly without the help from their neighbors. Thursday was form 2 Maths test and the Form 3 Chemistry test. We moved some classes around so that they could both be at the same time at the beginning of the day. We went in early wrote the questions on the board and moved the desks further apart. Then after assembly we gathered all the students and randomly assigned them a seat in either classroom so that they would all be sitting next to someone taking a different test. Sitting next to strangers really did the trick. The classroom was silent for 2 full hours. A accomplishment that neither of us thought was actually possible to achieve.
One girl raised her hand and complained that she had no chemistry in her brain, none at all. Sasha told her this was not the time to bring that up, but do her best. Halfway through the test, she just got up and walked out test in hand so Sasha had to chase her down.
We stood brushing our teeth when a mouse skittered across the floor. Then kept skittering. As it ran closer we saw it was no mouse- but a fist sized spider. Ryan chased it and missed many times (it was fast!), eventually killing it with a pop. After examining the body we learn it is not a spider at all- but a spider relative called the camel spider. They were a terror on the internet as soldiers from the middle east sent photos home of terrifying foot long spiders that chase people. They are a desert spider that will chase shade, and are rumored to gouge the stomachs of camels. Their breathing system is totally different than a spider who is an ambush predator, and relies on oxygen to diffuse in through their exoskeleton. These ones have a trachea and actually take in air, allowing them to move extremely fast. There is not much research as they die in captivity and are allegedly hard to find, but a researcher did chase one for over two hours before giving up. While their mouth parts are huge and would take a chunk out of you, they are luckily not venomous.
We also noticed three days ago, that our cockroach eating machine was lazier than usual. She would get up suddenly and rush to another spot to laze about. She threw up twice, and as we sat with our morning coffee we noticed her stomach was moving. When we touched it, it felt like one of those massage chairs with balls rolling around underneath. She was pregnant! Apparently, cats get morning sickness too. According to google she was around 2 weeks away. Last night she walked around our room all night meowing. Sometimes she will meow a bit in the morning, but she was really making a racket all night long. After a quick search the next morning we found that this is a common behavior on the day cats give birth. They get especially noisy and restless. When we got up she finally was quiet and found a basket in the corner of the kitchen (also a favorite cockroach hunting ground) – by the time we checked on her again there was a kitten! We watched as the second one came out with an audible “PLOP”
The Bishop has Arrived
Halloween is almost here, and it is not something people here celebrate or care very much about. There are plenty of other holidays! The Peacecorps three goals have inspired us, however. The first, is to help the community you are in. The second is to spread understanding of American culture, and the third is something about better relations. We are taking the second goal to heart because if you understand Halloween, you understand the West! Or at least, America.
This being a small island, there is not much surplus to make a costume out of. Every scrap of fabric has a use, and to go buy something new, or even to buy paper, is expensive. We can dress as a Tourist with my big hat and sunscreen, or perhaps a cat with some black eyeliner. The form 4s are learning of Western culture, so the teacher has given us permission to do something that embodies Halloween. But what? If you could cut Halloween into a 40 minute class period, what would you do?
We could do face painting with eyeliner, or a mummy-making competition with toilet paper. We could buy candy and have them run through the other classrooms throwing candy out, though that may be a too-accurate look into American culture.
While here, we have quickly been inflicted by some of the pain that we no doubt had inflicted on our teachers in school. Grading papers has been a frustrating and often humorous exercise. Ryan asked the question “What did you like about the story we just read? What did you not like?” about half answered correctly and the other half told me that they like to play football, eat nsima, swim and they dislike drinking beer, doing homework and bugs. Close but not quite. A student responded to the Question “Give an example from the book” with “English book”- an example of a book. I suppose they are taking these tests in a foreign language. One student answered all the questions, but gave answers from a book that we wont be reading until April. Ryan had a talk to him about paying attention in class and asked him to return the teachers copy that his answers were copied from word for word.
We are slowly getting accustomed to life here, and trying to think of a project to help the school. Joanna made a lunch program, but what could we do? We were brainstorming and came up with a scholarship idea for top students, or purchasing books. During Friday morning announcements, there was another man in the line up in a suit. He informed the school he would be paying half the school fees of the top 8 students! Turns out he is a politician, and in the Thank you speech the head teacher said “we didn’t vote for you last time, but perhaps this time we will!”
The Bishop is here for the week, and it has been fascinating to talk and listen to him. It is clear how he rose to his position, as soon as he arrived he began solving problems. The team he leaves here seems very good, but he is a one man team that accomplishes just as much. We learn he is a bit of a jokester as well. Cassidy wanted to use the vanilla she had lent us, and so came to the Bishops house forgetting that we had moved. Outside sat a small group of people, including a man who introduced himself as the Bishops cook and apologized that the bishop was inside asleep. They sat talking about her time there, and he ended up saying if she does not get into medical school that the church could donate her some land and she could open a resort. When she left, her friend explained that was the Bishop himself the whole time! She had met him previously and so was very embarrassed. He laughed through his retelling of the story, it sounds like the most fun he has had all week.
He said as well that he had no idea we had made it, as we came here very independently and his team did not tell him. We did not know there was another way, though apparently people usually get picked up at the airport and get a ride straight to Mzuzu, with help getting on the ferry as well which would have been extremely helpful.
We also got to talking about construction projects on the island. Ryan quickly volunteered to help in whatever way he could. The two main projects coming up will be a renovation of the Bishops house and Guest house and refurbishing an existing out of service water system. Both projects are set to get underway as early as November!
Friday was a very exciting day, Sasha had a Chemistry class with a cool experiment. Sasha had a double period (an hour and a half) and so wrote a few questions to solidify their understanding in bonding, which of course took far too long. It seemed that as soon as the students were understanding, she had to get pushy with time which is always a tragedy. She wrote a sugar molecule and the complicated equation on the board, and sent two students to collect the supplies from the office. Ryan and Justice appeared to help, and as half the students were out of the classroom the English teacher came up to say there was an assembly, cutting her class 20 minutes short. She told him they would be there in two minutes, the students have been looking forward to this (which was a lie, they really didn’t seem to care). With that, the rest of the form 2 students walked by the form 3 classroom (who had misbehaved so did not do the experiment). She pulled on the gloves, put on the sunglasses, and prepared to pour the sulfuric acid into the soda bottle of sugar. Look up the experiment on youtube, it looks very cool! The bottle started warming, and then turning black. It started to bubble and rise, releasing a burned sugar stench. One by one students touched the outside of the bottle, pulling back at the heat. Justice gave another short explanation, saying there is no test on this, it is just to show that Chemistry is fun and this was a privilege. The students smiled and clapped, and with that we went to the assembly.
We sat in the shade, the teachers in a line. A man in red fidgeted in his seat, playing with the sticks and rocks on the ground. The English teacher (who is allergic to charisma) explained this is a symbolic handing over of books. The fidgeting man was asked gave a short explanation, and quickly sat back down. He asked for a photographer, and a student with one shoe on took the phone. Someone produced a few new books, and asked the head boy and girl to come down. The head boy was absent, so he asked any of the prefects to come down, as is the case in most of our classes, still no one came down. Alright, any boy come down. Eventually someone did, and they proceeded to take some photos. The English teacher gave a thank you speech, saying be sure to use them and not leave them in backpacks, and that this was very nice but we need plenty more so keep us in mind when it comes to giving out more things. The man got up and said anyone stealing a book will be immediately dismissed from the school. And with that, we had two full crates of new books! The assembly was over lunch and so the next class was cancelled. Luckily neither of us had classes, but it was infuriating for the teachers that did to learn their class was cancelled at the same time as the students.
You cannot do something here and hope for a proper Thank you. You also cannot expect a please. To say please is begging. Cassidy has heard it once in the months she has been here, and that was by a woman begging the immigration officer to let her visit Mozambique even though she had only half the required money. Without going, her livelihood would be on the line and her family may not eat that month. After awhile, he did let her go.
Shortly after the assembly Ryan inquired if he would be teaching at study circles this afternoon the English teacher considered it and said that he would. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after the last period there is an hour dedicated to additional study of either Sciences, Humanities or Language. Ryan was faced with the daunting task of teaching an hour long Friday afternoon class to a bunch of hot and tired students that just want to leave. Ryan wasn’t really looking forward to the experience either. While attempting to plan a review session he decided to do something a little different. When the bell rang (an actual brass bell) there were about half the students and a few more trickled in from outside. He started unpacking his large bag to fierce indifference. The students watched with mild interest. Ryan pulled out a package of Monsta Crème biscuits and the atmosphere changed instantly. There was an uproar of excitement. Then came the handful of chocolate caramels. The class was out of hand. In the now very awake classroom Ryan set up his projector and opened up the game of Jeopardy he had created for review. The competition was fierce and everyone seemed very eager to learn all of the sudden. The first place team in a surprise twist did not chose a goodie, but rather selected a bonus point on their end of term exam. I’m not actually sure if we are allowed to do that, but I suppose we will find out. The second and third place team happily left with their biscuits, sweeties drastically happier faces. Several even stuck around after class for some additional tutoring!
Mothers Day Photos
To Celebrate Mothers Day We Entertained Children At The Beach.
Mothers day- Anakubala!
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!
Fourth week of Class
Each week at the beginning of the day a different teacher runs announcements, preaching, and prayer. We stand in a line on a small wall and the students stand in four lines by their class, and are chastised for being late as tardy teachers sneak by behind them. We had hoped they had forgotten about us in the lineup, but they had not. This week, Ryan split with one of the teachers so he had only to pray while the other teacher preached. On the first day, the teacher gave a very good speech with only a little bit of rambling. Far shorter than the rest, with far less repeating. Afterwards he admitted to us that he had not prepared adaquitely and promised that it would be longer tomorrow. Ryan led the school in a morning prayer all week and was able to come up with a new semi unique prayer for each day. He kept it short! Sasha has week 6, and her teacher buddy says she must preach one of the days. Thanks for the help with that, mom and dad.
Sasha was sitting on the porch working on some papers when a man walked up holding a liquor bottle. This is not unusual, people are always coming up. But he did not smile, and simply began picking his way through her books. She stood and asked to help him, and he just stared at her before leaving. That stare is unfortunately a frequent occurrence in Seattle, often linked to insidious drugs. She asked a teacher about it, who said that man looked into his classroom and scared the children, but its not a problem. He is just mentally ill and drunk. There is nowhere for him to go, and so he simply wanders. This is much better than the two women in Vanuatu who were mentally ill and wandered the streets topless, breasts swinging. Sasha said there was a meth problem at home, and he didn’t know what meth was but excitedly told the story of his friend in college took a valium and blacked out for three days.
We are beginning to learn names better, and today Sasha brought sweets to everyone who did their homework, so 5 people. Tomorrow, maybe there will be more. She is supposed to cover the basics of bonding with grade 10 (form 2) and the trends of ionic v covalent bonds with grade 11 (form 3), but it turns out no one knows much at all so both classes are learning the same thing at the same time. The form 2s are doing a little better, as more participate and more do homework. If we write something like “CH4” on the board, we get 4 carbons and 4 Hydrogens. Or CH-CH-CH-CH. They will seem to understand drawing one element, but cannot do the next at all as they had just memorized it. It is a tax on patience, as we have worked on this and other practice problems all week. We were afraid it was our teaching, but the teachers say it always happens. And whoever taught form 3s before didn’t get through it at all either!
On Wednesday, lunch is served and so the classes are completely full. We are inundated with “I don’t know, I wasn’t here” from students who skipped class. Some have good reasons why they did not come before, most just didn’t feel like it. It is also infuriating to be the one who has the most acne breakouts in a room of teenagers. After school on Wednesday it is sports day. Last Wednesday a visiting priest gave a speech on the netball court, so we all watched soccer. Someone donated a handsome set of soccer uniforms, so one team wears the shorts and one team wears the shirts. Three students have cleats, the rest run in barefeet. Unlike the girls, the boys do not wear their school uniforms. Their skirts are far easier to run in that pants! Some go out just in the soccer uniform shirt and boxers, one student (who looks like Bruno Mars) made it a few minutes in before running back with his hands covering his crotch yelling he would make this match dirty. Someone lent him some shorts and the match went on.
We walked to another beach, Kaiko lodge, to find somewhere to swim. It was almost an hours walk in the sun, and kids kept coming to ask for waterbottle. When it became clear we wouldn’t, Sasha taught two girls in matching dresses the sneaky high five were you go for it and then pull your hand away at the last second, which they loved. They walked us to the lodge, where we sat drinking cold soda waist deep in cool, clear water. On the way back a group of smaller children ran out and walked half a mile holding our hands, 2 kids per hand.
It has become clear that nobody knows what a cookie is, so we are on a quest to make some. There is not a single chocolate chip in all of Malawi, but we have many of the ingredients for sugar cookies. It does make sense, its so warm it would soon be one chocolate slab. As we sat behind the school after Sasha made Ryan go for a walk, we found the Antlions that make Africas Small Five list. There are the Big Five of Lions, Giraffes, etc. and then the lesser known small five. They sit buried in the bottom of conical holes they dig, and wait for one of the small ants that cover the landscape to slide in. Then is a long battle to the death, the ant attempting to escape and sliding down the steep walls while the antlion grabs at it. Picture that one starwars monster. We found a cluster, and waited for one to thrown dirt up to show an antlion is there, before dropping in an ant. A 5 year old with a broken toothbrush helped us catch ants for our Empire-like fun. As was crouched over the tiny holes torturing ants, the one other white girl in the town hurried by “Hey are you Cassidy?” We had caught glimpses of her before, as she works in the hospital though she never seemed friendly. After being here 6 months and dealing with tourists, that is not surprising. She warmed up quickly learning we were staying as well. She as well has discovered the lack of cookies, and has been making them on the island, so soon we shall have a recipe! She has also invited us to a dance at the museum on Saturday.
We spoke a little of our hometown- explaining that if Malawi is the warm heart of Africa, Seattle is the cold shoulder of America. It is not an apt description (especially as the term “cold shoulder” is not used here) as we love Seattle and the ability to put on headphones and ignore everyone around you, but Seattle Freeze is real. Here, our smile muscles get sore just to walk to go buy bread. It is considered rude to walk by anybody without speaking to them. A nod doesn’t count. We explained how there are more dogs than children, to very shocked looks. Remember, there are feral dogs running around and no one keeps them as pets. When Joanna caught some puppies and taught one to sit, no one could believe it. One teacher said they value family more, and we explained we value it deeply but begin having children around 30 instead of 16. He had 3 siblings, our physics teacher had 3 direct siblings, 5 on his mothers, and 5 on his fathers. Also, they have never heard of The Beatles. The N-word has a very different meaning as well, they know it from people like Chris Brown using it in songs, and so it is associated with fancy cars, fur jackets, and gold chains. If you wear a jacket that makes you look like a pimp, then that is an “N-word Jacket”.
My old Chemistry teacher who was and is fantastic has been sending experiment ideas (thank you Mrs Baker! 4th period chem forever). Justice and I have been working our way through with the ancient chemicals around. Today, we mixed sugar and HCl behind the school with 3 gloves between us, and my sunglasses as protective goggles. In one of the glass bottles we have been trying to get rid of in the Bishops house. (“can we toss these?” “Yes of course you can use them” whelp, here they are- being used). It took awhile but it did boil and rise into a lumpy black snake. It was very exciting, and doesn’t quite fit into anyone’s lessons, and we did use all the sugar from the teachers lounge, but the students won’t notice and there were ants in the sugar anyways. For disposal, we hid the glass bottle in a bush instead of in the trash where someone would try to burn it. We should teach proper disposal of chemicals to students, but it is difficult when we really would never follow through.
After another exceptionally hot week it was finally the weekend and in a surprise twist of events we actually had plans! Friday night was movie night. One of the teachers had been trying to see Avatar so we invited him over to the biggest and only movie theater in Malawi: the side of the Bishops house. We came prepared with cordial and biscuits to really make the movie theater experience come to life. Children paused from trying to get mangos to hide in the shadows and watch. It was a beautiful show under the stars and Justice even brought Ryan’s laser pointer which he admitted to have been using as a light to walk home with at night.
The next morning, we took a hike up to the tallest mountain in Likoma. At the top were some cell towers and some very friendly guards. We had hardly arrived at the top when they came out and invited us in the gate for a grand tour of the cell tower. They very proudly showed us the server racks and the radio room. Looking back, they probably would have let us climb the tower if we had asked. There’s always next time! We entertained some children and taught some students that came by during the day. That evening the dance was delayed to Sunday since the Illala was delayed (no surprise there). So we headed to a bar in Mbamba to meet up with Cassidy. We got to hang out with a bunch of locals and even played a game of pool with the immigration officer. Unfortunately he also informed us that we had overstayed our visa and we should come see him on Monday. Hopefully he will go easy on us since we let him win.
The next day was church day. We got up, had our breakfast and spent our hour and a half listening to music and Chichewa at church. Once we had made our offering, we snuck out the side door and got ready for our beach day. We did hear from someone that someone complained of us leaving early, but we were far from being alone in leaving early and we simply cannot do FOUR HOURS. Cassidy joined us and we started the trek to Mango Drift and the promise of pizza. The power was out so we had to wait till the afternoon when the ovens would have power. We decided to go cool off and take our first bath/shower in a long time by jumping in the lake with snorkels. There were so many of the famous Chichlids. The ones the fishermen go for are a boring gray, but the ones that put Lake Malawi on the map are every color. Our favorite is the brilliant blue or purple, but theres purple and gold, black and checked pattern, stripes down the side, bright yellow, and many more. They were quite used to people and you could swim right through their school without disturbing them much. The lake was amazingly cold and refreshing only a few feet down. We had almost forgotten what cold felt like. We enjoyed our pizza, played some cards and Ryan tried without much luck to prepare for his classes on Monday. It only served to further his dislike of the English language. There are so many rules and none of them make any sense! I am learning a lot about the language so that’s a plus.
Finally, it was time to see the traditional dancing. Cassidy’s boyfriend picked us up from Mango Drift and brought us over to the museum where the dance was to be performed. We got a soda and settled in. There was one dancer dressed in a mask and frills all over his body and about 12 backup dancers who also played instruments. There were the drums and a bent piece of metal called a Kanada that they hit with a nail. It wasn’t a very complicated instrument but they played very loudly and well, and the singing that went along with it was unlike anything weve heard before. The best was to describe it is probably a mix between acapela singing and yodeling. You run up and put Kwacha in their bowl- a hold over from previous times were the village donated so the dancers wouldn’t kill you.
October 2019 Photos
God Bless the Rains Down in Africa
This week started out very hot; we made liberal use of our spray bottle, hoped for a breeze and drank as much water as we could. We even brought the spray bottle in, to the amusement of other teachers. We forgot to bring a deck of cards and have been searching for some since we arrived, and found none in the big city. Being a deeply religious country they have proven to be very hard to find; Gambling is a sin! We were shocked and very excited to find some right under our noses in the little shop we visit most days. After we finished dinner we pulled out the cards for our first game of dishes. Almost as soon as we started, it seems we had indeed made God unhappy. Sasha though she saw a flash of light in the distance but wasn’t sure so we continued on. As we played the flashes got more intense and began to be accompanied by deep rolling thunder. We forged on determined to finish our game (which Sasha won). Then came the soft pitter patter of rain on our aluminum roof. We had been told that there was no chance it would start raining until December at the earliest. We ran outside startling our resident porch watchmen who looked at us like we were crazy for being excited for rain. They had quickly moved to immediately outside our door. We gave them cushions to sit on, then walked out into the shower in our PJs and smelled that wonderful smell that can only be experienced after a first rain. We took a walk down to the Football pitch and watched as the lightning snaked its way across the sky. The thunder occasionally rolled on for 20 seconds or more. The air was fresh and cool, and we could see stars for the first time. Its never cloudy, but there are too many particulates in the air usually. We came back to the house slightly dripping but happy to have been reminded of our rainy Seattle. And yes, we did play “The Rains Down in Africa”. Hopefully the rain will help our two little bean sprouts grow big and strong!
At the school we were able to wow one of our fellow teachers (Justice) with the laser pointer that we brought from home and he was, in turn, able to take it to his physics class for a demonstration on the properties of light. They kept asking, “but what is it for? Why did you buy a laser?””for fun” is not a satisfactory answer. We asked if they knew any puns- Sasha was considering informing her class as to why Helium, Curium, and Barium are the three medical elements (because if you can’t helium, and you can’t curium, you barium!) but it has proven best to test things like this out on teachers first. She did have to explain but got a chuckle at the end. Ryan asked “why is 6 afraid or 7?” to very confused looks. After repeating the punch line twice, we got knee-slapping, rib-aching, head-back laughter.
Sasha brought the French Press again, and the social studies teacher brought the coffee grounds. Justice says he is lying about enjoying it as he never drinks it at home, but she decides he is truthful about sharing her passion. Most are excited, and always add about 2 heaping teaspoons to a small cup. The boredom has been difficult, but this month is Inktober so Sasha has a new , drawing every day.
Our students are starting to warm up to us, or at least understand what we are saying in class sometimes. Some of them even laugh at our jokes! If we write them on the board. Since the start of the year we have been telling students to come to us for help after school. This has been especially frustrating when we get back quizzes and homeworks that are regularly under 30% correct (the teachers say, once 40% kinda get it, youre good). Late this week though we had a 7 or 8 students who came by for tutoring. It was great to teach them in a more relaxed setting where they could ask the questions they were too afraid to ask in class. This was especially inspiring since earlier in the week around half the students walked out of Sashas form 3 class. Turns out they had decided to drop chemistry. Sasha was unsure of the rules, but turns out they can drop after the third term. So they had decided to drop chemistry, but since they cannot yet, were being forced to sit through class “incase they discover are good at it”. She wants them out of class, as teaching a dedicated 15 students is easier than an unenthusiastic 40. She gave a quiz to see where they are at, and only 5 began doing it right away. She had to walk around and demand students produce paper, and then to take away textbooks and notebooks from other classes. They write down all questions first before attempting any- it is infuriating! Many would stare into the distance. One boy walked forward with his hand under his shirt “where are you going?” “I must ring the bell” “No you don’t, sit down” but he had made it to the door and ran for the hills. After 40 minutes of pushing them forward, she gave a 5 minute, 2 minute, 1 minute warning. She came to collect and students refused to give them up. She gave a brief review of Ionic and covalent bonds, and said you learned this last year, see me if you don’t know it. It was the two cleverest kids that came by after school to say they did not understand, dragging along the textbooks, so that is very disappointing.
At home more and more locals are starting to recognize us and we are rarely charged the Mzungu price anymore. Small steps! We have been pushing to get a more varied menu for some time and we finally got our chance this week to teach our cooks how to make Asian fried rice. They seemed very skeptical when we told them we would add the vegetables to the rice and even more confused when we broke a few eggs into the mixture. Usually everything is served separately. We gave them a plate to share as well and asked them to tell us what they thought of it. We thought it was fantastic. They still haven’t commented on it. In less happy news we have noticed an odd pattern with the various creepy crawlies that visit us in the night. They seem to come in waves. There will be nights, even several nights in a row where there are no critters to speak of. But some nights we are suddenly visited by a swarm of little bugs that seem to perch on our nets and then die in mass quantities. Other nights we listen to the scurry of cockroaches as we fall asleep. Last night, Sasha reached for her waterbottle right next to her head, inside the mosquito net. It moved. It was a cockroach. It scurried to her knee where it stayed. Sasha froze not wanting to kick at it and have it go the wrong way. She settled on shaking, and it ran under the bed. She turned the light on and found another sitting on the waterbottle. It paused then ran to the mosquito net and hung there. Ryan got up from his bed, opened the door for the cat, while selecting a shoe. It ran underneath the bed as well, were the cat lay in wait. A few seconds later, we hear loud munching. One cockroach down. We faded into an uneasy sleep. Last night we also saw our first, second, third and fourth centipedes of the trip. They come in numbers one night and disappear for several nights afterward. The only constant is the buzz of the mosquitos.
Ticket to Anywhere 