Random/ motorcycles/ malawi nation - Matt

If you are real busy, do not read.

irrigation in malawi - Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0201/p01s03-woaf.html

education cleanup in malawi- Malawi Nation
http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=14933

little motorcycle fix, motorcycles are in Malawi, the news says that are slowing down the minibuses
http://www.gofastvideo.com/gallery/item/predownload/334/1/free-racing-videos/up-on-one---isle-of-mann.html -just hit "click here to play video"

last i called the passport office to report my lost passport. the menu choices for one group included "international adoption, international travel, and international abduction". downsizing at its finest

stay well, matt

ps any news from john jordan yet?

Scott - Home is...

It's not "Home is where you hang your hat," or "Home is where the heart is."
For me, it's "Home is where you get to wear clothes that weren't in Africa."

Using that definition, I finally got home yesterday, and boy was it a nice feeling! I started boarding at the house of a friend of a friend, and yesterday, I was finally sufficiently moved in to the house and out of storage that I could wear some of the clothes I left behind. It's really great having all my stuff unpacked in one place, and not feeling like a mooch.

Out of curiosity, has anyone else tried making nsima to show their family or friends? I tried it for one of my friends. It was bland and tasteless, so you'd think it would be perfect, but its texture just wasn't the right Play-Do consistency. Guess there's some things you just can't get out of Africa. (Amarula, on the other hand, is available in most fine liquor stores, and tastes just as good on this continent!)

Hope y'all are having fun!

Sarah

Again, It is great to hear from you all! Thanks for the laughs!!

Props to all those who have found jobs and schools. It really is a lot of work. Speaking of work, I have been given the title Family Assistant! My sister just bought a nice 2-story house. So yes, my work has indeed expanded. My daily jobs include dishes (with good smelling soap), laundry (can we consider this a chore?), and installing ceiling fans (garage door opener is next).

Last week I bought two plane tickets for Europe. Andrew and I are going at the end of this march/returning beginning of May. We'll be meeting up with Frank in Ireland!

I had a huge high today. I took public transportation, and yes, it was everything I thought it could be! It was better than biting into my first number 2 at McDonalds. The atmosphere was very similar to Malawi in terms of people helping me out, yet I did not have to share my seat with three other people or hang on for dear life. I did however stick out like a sour thumb - Hummm why? Well, I was....

1. The only white girl
2. The only one with a HUGE smile sitting straight up in her seat with eyes wide open
3. The only one with her face behind three different bus map info pamphlets
4. The only one saying, "Isn't this transport the best!...No really, It is out of this world!" to everyone (two times okay three times)!

All in all it has been my most memorable day in Amelica. I am looking forward to taking the bus again! Tomorrow I begin substitute teaching, and I cant wait to get comments like the ones Tom heard.

Much pc love!
Sarah

Top ten- Matt

Tom loved the stories, maybe, just maybe Malawi wasn't so bad.

One question, does anyone really need 74 different types of toothpaste?

here are some of my observations. in a top ten list of course
top ten ways you know you are back
10. you are the worst smelling person around
9. no matter how much you bargain you cannot get a 7 layer burrito any cheaper
8. dora will not sign vacation forms any more
7. fruit/corn on roadside replaced by processed foods at gas station
6. no evelyn hugs
5. no need to carry around toilet paper or 5 kwatcha bills
4. walking to front of bank lines not enouraged by "locals"
3. extremely poor chitumbuka is not appreciated at stores
2. its hard to buy parafin for my stove
1. i'm not really doing any thing,.. wait, nevermind on that one

stay well

ps can enayone translate redneck southern?

Overheard in New York

I started teaching today in Brooklyn. It's going to take a little while to get used to the students here. I'm still expecting them to squat for me....
Here are some things I've overheard while doing demo lessons and observing classes in the past few weeks:

A female teacher's aid tries to tell a female student to stop talking and she replies:
"You just mad because you got a big ass moustache on your face. You need to shave that shit. Yo Tanya, don't she got a big ass moustache on her face?"

Answering a question on the Aztec empire a student says "Uh, is that Chilupa?" Another student pipes in: "Wrong! Chilupa's a fucking mexican food, aaashole."

Tom

Overheard in New York

I started teaching today in Brooklyn. It's going to take a little while to get used to the students here. I'm still expecting them to squat for me....
Here are some things I've overheard while doing demo lessons and observing classes in the past few weeks:

A female teacher's aid tries to tell a female student to stop talking and she replies:
"You just mad because you got a big ass moustache on your face. You need to shave that shit. Yo Tanya, don't she got a big ass moustache on her face?"

Answering a question on the Aztec empire a student says "Uh, is that Chilupa?" Another student pipes in: "Wrong! Chilupa's a fucking mexican food, aaashole."

Tom

Scott - Almost (finally) settling in

Well, Harlan, has it nice -- I haven't gotten to my own place yet, so haven't gotten to start playing computer games. And (don't worry guys, just one more sentence of geekiness), I checked out the system requirements for any halfway interesting game in the stores, and my computer, which was pretty high end in '03 has apparently become a dinosaur, incapable of playing anything more interesting than Freecell and Minesweeper. No, I'm not referring to my laptop (which, ironically, kicked it's last Windows breath as soon as I left Malawi!)

I'm with the "still unemployed" part of y'all, but have made a lot of significant advances in the past week. I left the fairly uncomfortable sofa-bed in my Mom's apartment, and hopped on a plane to Houston, and got here on Monday. A very nice friend from my temple (I refer to her as my Houston Jewish Mother -- she'd invite me to all her holiday celebrations while I was in Houston) has been kind enough to give me room in her house for a while, and loaned me a vehicle. So, I've finally become independent-ish! I went back to Houston Symphony Chorus, and have finally got to catch up with friends and such. In the next few days, I'll start boarding at another house, one in which I'll actually have my own totally private room. Then I can start in on those computer game thingies...

Some day soon, maybe, I'll look for a job. I'm looking for a very specific kind of job -- one appropriate to a rabbi-wannabe. A rabbi-wannabe who doesn't have any training to do anything a rabbi would do. And a job that won't mind if I drop everything in 5 months to go off to Israel...

Atah rotzeh cheeps em hazeh? <-- Mangled Hebrew for "You want fries with this?"

Great hearing from and about y'all. Congrats to those who are getting jobs and college acceptances!

Dakotah in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hi everyone-

I have left the beaches of Rio and for the past week have been staying with some family friends in a town about 1 hr outside of Buenos Aires. You see their son, Juan, stayed with my family about 2 yars ago during some student exchange thing. Now they are being kind enough to return the favor with me. They are wonderful people! They keep feeding me lots and lots of meat. And drinking lots of beer! Also most of the family speaks english.....I feel kind of stupid because I dont neccessarily know another language, especially spanish. But you want to know something -- chichewa is useless in south america!! Like the rest of you I wish we were in a country where we actually could use the language elsewhere in the world.

Anyways, tonight I am going to take some tango lessons, a good dinner, and then watch a tango show. It should be good times! As all of you know, I like to watch any kind of dance so this will be fun.

Then tomorrow I head to Esquel, in southern Argentina for a 3 day fly fishing trip. It is in the patagonia region so it should be a beautiful area.

Then after that I head home. I beleive that from our group I will b the last one to make it home....well unless john is lost surfing or has joined the army like he said at COS conference.

I do plan on coming to San Francisco and New York in the end of Feb or early march. So for those of you in those cities plan on me coming to visit and we cant eat nsima together and call each other Iwe --- hahaha.

Alright evryone great to read all of your stories. Harlan, dont worry I am going to spend a couple days playing video games with my brothers -- you are not the only video game freak.

Keep you posted on my travels.

Later,
dakotah

Ryan

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to post that I am still alive, still looking for a job, and still living at my mother's house. Damn.

Anyway, I'm going to be in San Diego from Feb 11th to Mar 4th if anyone wants to visit. I'm pretty sure Tommy will be there and Stephanie will be there around that time I hope. But if anybody else is around I'd love to see all of you.

PS. Does anyone else REALLY want to hear from John? Where did he end up??? And what about Shauna, Dan and Bill? I need gossip!

Alive and kicking

Hey guys, I'm finally getting around to posting on here. Not sure why it took so long... oh wait, it's because I've been playing computer games 24/7 since I got back. I promised myself when I got off the plane that I'd resist the temptation, and I'm proud to say that I kept that promise for a whole week and a half!

I've been looking for work since the new year started, but no luck so far. So in the meantime, I've just been doing all the jobs around the house that have been accumulating for the past two years. And I'm bored out of my mind, so I'd love it if any of you want to come to San Francisco. Dakotah and Steph have the right idea. Come on, you know you all want to!

Harlan

Stephanie wants to visit you!

Hi all,

Joaquin is safely in Idaho and I'm safely in New Mexico with Lumpy. She's acting like an angel with me around and my family is pleased. She did do some more biting last night when I was gone, but I'm hoping to work on that. (For those of you who didn't know, Lumpy was acting like a total bitch [ ha ha, because she *is* a bitch, techinically] and biting my family whenever she didn't want to obey. So we need to figure out a plan of action to stop that)

The reason for this post is that starting Feb 5 I will be taking a road trip with my friend Jana (the one who did our website) and I think I will be going near many of you. We'll be going first to Phoenix, AZ; then to LA, then to San Diego, then to San Fransisco, then up to Northern CA if we find a cheap place to stay. If not, we'll just continue on to Portland, then to Idaho to go get Joaquin.

So...if any of you are in any of those places, please email me or post so I can come see you!

I'll post adventures later. For now, I'm pleased to report that within 10 hours of getting to Albuquerque I had been to the bank, eye doctor, got cell phones, saw grandparents and uncle, and had been to a meeting at church. I also had a little re-adjustment issue when I tried to eat M&Ms off my friend's floor and they really didn't like that. "No guys, really, it's ok, I brushed the hair off!"

Stephanie

Congrats, Inu Nonse!

Congratulations, Tom, Kelly, and Jess! Way to lead productive lives. Yeah. Rah! Rah! Keep it up!
And seriously: Mwachita zabwino! Zikomo kuti mwakhoza! :)

(Yeah, this is Martha.)

PF in AK

Well after a long stay at the parents' home I am back in Alaska.
The trip up was okay even though our plane was re-routed because of the ash plume from St. Augustine (erupting volcano).
I am still unemployed but hope to hear about a job this week or the next. whatever. I am just living on a friend's couch for a few days. The weather has been cold and there is snow. My money just keeps disappearing.

patrick

Congratulations!

That's for both Tom and Kelly on getting jobs. I'm glad things are working out so well for you guys. Now you can buy a couch so I can come visit and sleep on it.
In other news, I got my first acceptance from a law school yesterday. To Washington University here in St. Louis. It was, at one point, my top choice school, but I'm not sure if it is anymore. It feels good to know I got in somewhere though, at least I don't have to worry about not getting to go at all. Four others left to hear from, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Mmm Bop is playing again. I know all the words now.
Peace Out - Jess

home at last - matt

greetings all, after about 3427 hours in 150 different vehicles, six different countries, 13 hostess snacks, I am home. Welcomed back in the airport by a sweet song by Elton John, then a Huey Lewis musical remake. its good to be back. stay well

a friend sent me this and it is hillarious. take a look. here's a sample
Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
http://chucknorrisfacts.com/

We got jobs!

Tom got hired at his first choice! He's super excited to be the new teacher at the School of Law and Justice. And I got hired as a full time sub biology teacher at John Dewey High School. Now we can afford to pay our rent and we don't have to eat PB & J every night! Hope all is well, we're off to celebrate in New York City style!

central heating is suprisingly necessary

paul and i just spent 4 days in a house with no heat. our landlord, who fancies himself a mechanic, tried to fix it on friday instead of calling a real mechanic, so we had to wait the whole weekend to get someone to actually fix it. luckily mechanics work on john chilembwe day, so it was alright. the landlord brought over the loudest industrial heater thing, which runs on paraffin and electricity, to heat the house while we waited. it blows out 200 degree heat for 2 minutes and the house is roasting, but then for some reason, when it goes off, the house instantly goes back to 50 degrees. i don't get it. my dog, lilly, was petrified of the thing, so we tried not to use it much. at night it kept us awake and made us afraid of burning the house down, so we didn't use it then either. but after days of walking around bundled in blankets (you guys know how i feel about being cold) a guy came and fixed it yesterday.
in other news, at my school, the seniors are doing a fundraiser for prom. it is cleverly called 'stop the bop'. the idea is that they will play 'mmm bop' in between all classes, at lunch, before and after school, until people donate $1000. then they will stop. it makes it so that song is stuck in my head all day long and it also reminds me of matt's hanson shirt.
that's all for me. i should get back to doing something that looks a little more like working.

hugs and kisses - jess

Royal family in Egypt- Matt

Greetings all, love all the stories about adjusting back into "normal life". I am delaying it as long as possible though my travels end in a few days.

To keep myself busy until that time comes I have been kuyenda-ing around the Sinai area in eastern Egypt. Egypt is a wonderful mix of the new york city, old arabic history, and my image of Pakistan. Mostly dry but wonderful scenery, especially around the Mount Sinai area, where Moses found the burning bush and the Ten commandments. For the record the bush is not burning. Travel is easy here though our minibus driver was quite close to hitting a camel at full speed(some things dont change).

Yesterday while climbing the mountain it snowed on us, today i think i will go snorkeling. Pretty cool place. Did a bit of canyon treking as well. All in all though really looking forward to seeing the family.

Anyone going to be in Florida in February?

Matt(in arabic means death)

ps the royal family thing came from a tour of the valley of kings where i was named king of the south. which by the way actually has a bigger settling allowance than peace corps.

Just Little Things

Hey there, everyone! Happy New Year! Sad news about Rodwell. Having worked with him a bit during PST, it's strange that he's not there. I picture him, out of the hospital from his surgery, back at training, doing the cross-culture skit depicting Malawian funerals and heading up the discussion afterwards; ironic that he should then be the subject of his teaching so soon thereafter. It's life, but boy, it's in your face every day over there. There's something I miss about that intensity - not the death and dying, of course, but the lack of distraction and things that allow you to dissociate from the difficulties. Anyway...

I am in California this week, and guess who's coming to lunch tomorrow? That's right! Tommy Swan! Yay!

I haven't any nutty stories, but I can say that I have noticed a few little things that make me realize my head is not all the way here yet. For example, I was standing in line for a coffee in the airport and realized after about fifty seconds of not inching forward that I might be standing a little too close to the woman in front of me because I can sort of feel my breath bouncing off her shoulder, and perhaps she wouldn't like that. Later on, upon landing, I looked out the window and saw a guy out on the tarmac and it struck me odd, for a hint of an instant, that he was white. One of my first forays to the mall in my car had me noticing the white people in their vehicles and looking to see if I recognized any of them. It slowly dawned on me what I was doing and I realized I really needed to pay more attention to traffic because I would have been looking at nearly everyone! I have found myself awkwardly accepting the salt and pepper with two hands, or holding my right arm with the left just to hand someone a pen. The other day I curtsied to a friend as I left the room to do her a favor. Thankfully no one else notices these things, but I catch myself in the middle of them, saying in my head, "You don't need to do that, it doesn't mean anything now." I guess it's a matter of sorting out what will continue to have meaning and what to let go.

I am sort of dreading the process of determining what I will be doing for work. I feel myself gearing up to procrastinate. Well, I'll start thinking about it next week.

I am also enjoying everyone's notes. This was a good idea. And Steph - thanks for the heads-up about the Corps Care stuff. I was able to check mine out - though luckily all is well.

All the best to those of you still traveling. Come home safely.

Until the next time -
Iam, Martha

I've spent the past eight days at my brother's apartment recupperating from a way-too-crazy New Year's Eve in Chicago. I spend my days watching TV, running, cooking, teaching my brother to make noodles from scratch, cleaning, taking advantage of the beautiful opportunity you have when you combine post-Christmas sales at Banana Republic, H&M, and Victoria Secret with a re-adjustment allowance (that's what it's for, right?), and pondering the next step. The biggest committment I've been able to make has been buying clothes...and that is a very overwhelming experience (especially when the 17 year-old sales girl calls me "hon"....doesn't she know that I should be addressed as "madam") that's materialism leaves me feeling regretful and dirty.

Because I don't have a car I have been walking to the library to use the internet. It is a one mile walk and I enjoy the fresh air; however, I can't help myself from wondering if someone would pick me up if I waved my hand. I wouldn't trade my ability to drive a car, but I also wouldn't trade the experience of having had to trust in the adventurous stystem of a stranger picking a white girl up on the side of the road and the stories exchanges along the way. And, as annoying as the greetings could be in Malawi, I miss that people took the time to acknowledge each other's presence. In Malawi I called it the "muli uli game" (you know, who would speak first and whether your said how did you wake or how are you if it was exactly noon). Here, I find that Americans like playing the "busy game" (you think you are so busy....I am so busy...I just don't have time....blah blah blah).

Over the weekend I visited some colleges friends in Detroit. They are also recent returnees from abroad who are living with their parents. It was thereapeutic for me. And I learned a valuable lesson for survival while living with the family: get something that permits you to have your own space (car, job, residence, school) and stop feeling like you are defined by the term "living with my family/mom/dad/parents."

So, this week I am going back to Traverse City. The snow melted, but I have faith that it will return in full force.

Oh, and this is my big news to contribute to the Malawi gossip pool: MARY KINNEY IS ENGAGED. KJ asked her to marry him New Year's Eve in Kalamazoo. They returned to South Africa last weekend.

It is 28 degrees and the sun is out.

Love ya, Merilee

stephanie just can't stop blogging

Hi again,

We're getting ready for a presentation tomorrow to some Bulgarian students of our PCV friend from high school, and I found these great maps for classroom use. Go to http://www.graphicmaps.com/webimage/testmaps/maps.htm

The maps are free, you can get ones of outlines of different continents or the world, and also you can get the answers. We're using the map of Africa as a pre-presentation test of the students. They think they're "hot stuff" and so we need to break them down a bit. Just kidding, the quiz was our friend's idea.

Sunny...St. Louis

and I just thought you guys would like to know that yesterday it was in the 70's here too. that would be great if it didn't drop again after one day. barely in the 40's today. boo.

this is jess

sunny san diego

Just thought you guys might like to know that it's been in the 70's and 80's here for the past week or so :-)
Tommy

Sarah's Back! with the longest blog ever...

Wow, your stories are wonderful! Thanks Stephanie for dishing out the info on this site. Well, I miss and love all of you! Keep the updates coming.

I left Malawi on good terms. I finished the big Madonna and Child African style. When we presented it to the church, the members were confused as to why Mary and Jesus were not white. Nothing like getting one more cross-cultural experience under your belt before you leave.

Then I went to Cape Town. I totally pampered myself with a hair cut, movies, and McDonalds. If it wasnt for Shauna and Ron coming to my rescue, I would have eaten every meal for 4 days at the golden arches. Thank you Shauna! So Tom, I have lost our bet - I'm happy.

After CT, I went to the Drakkenbergh Park with my PCV friends from South Africa. We planned for a 3 day 2 night hike. On our third day, we realized that we were lost - really lost. We only had a half packet of crackers, 1/4 block of cheese, and one apple left for three people. The park sent out search helicopters and everything, yet did not find us bc we hiked into Lisutu (another country)! After three days, of being lost, we ended up walking out of the park, which put us on a missing persons report. I jumped on the plane the next day for home! Lesson Learned: Maybe playing frisbee with Lisutu boys after opening and finishing a bottle of whiskey, on day 2, isnt a good time to ask for directions.

I did get stuck in customs. They opened everything! They did not like the bao SEEDS, or the elephant ivory! I had no idea the hippo bone, which is also illegal, was ivory!! I got a two hour lesson on how to identify ivory, a ticket, and a threat of a $1000 fine! Welcome back to a place where waving an mK500 note will get you no-where, yet an innocent face and a slightly southern accent will get you out of a fine.

Okay so home is wonderful!! I love being so close to my family; they are such wonderful people!! It is also great to see all my friends. Re-adjustment is cake so far, expecially when I had a slight thought I might not be able to make it back home.

stephanie

Hi guys,

I know Rodwell wasn't one of the trainers in our training, but many of you may have remembered him from the LPI and also from being PCV of the week.

The following is from an email from Dora to Dave Buie, that he posted on the Malawi PCV yahoo group.

Dave,
Sad news, Rodwell Swira the Language Trainer died on January 1 at 4.00 AM at Kamuzu Central Hospital from cancer. His body was carried to his home Karonga yesterday and will be buried today. It is a great loss of a dynamic language trainer. He was very good and loved by all.
Greetings
Dora

stephanie wants to know who is missing?

Hi. Who are we missing? More importantly, what are their email addresses? I know I have a stack of papers with all the contact information, but that is in the US, and I'm not there yet.

Also, Kelly, can you email me at slhramsey@yahoo.com , please? Joaquin and I are coming to NY next week and thought we should get together to talk about old times. :)

Dakotah in Rio

Hi All-

Well I have now left africa for good (at least until the next time I go back there). And am now in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The first three days it was RAINING!!!! So all I did was sit go to a few boring museums and then sit at the hostel waiting for rain to stop so I can go to the beach. Fortunately, yesterday the sun came out and Rio became a completely different city! It is like all of rio decends to the beaches to show off there buff bodies -- guy in there speedos and girls in their skimpy bikinis........no I did not strut my stuff around in a speedo if that is what you all are thinkin (you guys make me sick!).

Also the other day I went to a samba school -- you know the dance they do at carnival. Well they do rehearsals and anybody can join in the fun. They play a fast drum beat and then to dance to it, to me, it resembles flailing your legs as fast as you can. so fast you are practically floating on air. it was soooo much fun! the samba girls can move like no other. I tried my luck having a dance off with one of the samba guys (he won of course) but then he complemented me by taking me to one of the samba girls having me dance with her saying i wasn´t too bad.

Great to hear everyone´s stories. they all make me laugh. I only have 3 weeks till i get home and am really excited to go home.

later,
dakotah

From Scott, in Florida (for now)

First of all: Matt -- cool idea getting this started. I was hoping for a forum for us all to get together. Good thinking.

It was a pleasure reading all of your posts (though if anyone who isn't us reads this blog, they'll wonder just how many personalities the single person "malawivolunteer" can have, and why they talk to each other). I'm glad to hear everyone is doing relatively well.

If anyone's sent email to me at merm@io.com, that's no longer active. I e-live at scott.mermelstein@gmail.com now.

There's lots of rambles I can post, but I'll keep it fairly limited. I've travelled to Benin, which was ok. I kept wanting to speak to the people in Chichewa, and had to remind myself that they were speaking French. I came home to my family in Florida, hung out for a few weeks, then hung out in North Carolina, pet-sitting for a friend. I got to drive a car with a manual transmission for the first time ever. Lots of stalls, screeches, and gear grinding. In my friend's house, I discovered that PS2s are just as addictive as I always expected. The only reason I'm not playing one right now is because my friend wouldn't let me take hers.

I also got to visit some of my missionary friends from Namwera -- they were on furlough, living just 40 minutes south of my Mom. Nice to see faces from Malawi, outside of Malawi.

I'm getting tired of sleeping on my Mom's couch, and living out of my suitcase, so I'm spending more of my allowance, and flying to Houston, and renting a car for the week. In that week, I propose to magically find the 3 Holy -Ations: habitation, occupation, and transportation. I'll let y'all know how many of them I can pull off.

My airline didn't lose my bag, but I had a similar story. The short version is: South African Air accepted my great big, 54 kg cedar chest from Malawi to South Africa. I put it in storage while in Benin, and when I tried to take the flight from SA to the US, they told me they wouldn't take the chest. I had to check it, which made me get on the plane 15 minutes after it was supposed to leave. (They waited, just for me!) The chest made its own way to Tampa, including a 3 week stopover in Miami, while the USDA got to decide if cedar is contagious. (Apparently, it's not.) It finally arrived in Tampa on the 29th of December, and shortly after returning from my friend's house, I picked it up. In my mom's 20 year old Nissan SomethingSmall, that she doesn't trust to drive on a highway, but had a convenient hatchback. Manhandling the chest out of the car on my own served as my weightlifting exercise for ... well, the decade, knowing how much I work out.
All the Masasans who helped me pack it will be glad to know, though -- the chest arrived in my Mom's house in perfect condition.
Though, there's this mysterious, finger-sized chunk of cedar in the packaging. I can't really see where it's from on the chest. Guess this is like when I repair things -- there's always got to be an extra "spare" piece laying around.

I sent out my application for Rabbi school. I should have my interview at the end of March. In the meantime, I'm desperately trying to cram Hebrew in to my head. ("It's 'Shalom!', not 'Muli Bwa'!)

That's my news, in one single blog or less. It was great to see so many of you posting, keep it up!

Happy belated New Year!

P.S.: The coolest thing to discover on my first day back in the U.S.: public water fountains. Imagine -- water that's free of germs (mostly), available for everyone to drink (except hopefully, those folks with germs), and COLD (until I drank it all)! Ah, the wonders of modern technology...

stephanie and joaquin near the end of the trip

Unlike some of you, we have no jobs or homes and we are hundreds of dollars over budget. Luckily, even though we are both sick, we took all the drugs we could fit in our bags from PC Malawi before our departure. So we are well-drugged.

On New Year's Eve we felt like we were really in Sarajevo as we ducked and ran for cover as people threw M80s everywhere. Our hostel owner said, "Ah, that is not good. People here are used to having things thrown at them. And then they die."

We had been at this concert where crazy Eastern European platnium blondes were pretending to sing during guitar solos and people were throwing fireworks into the crowd. We didn't like it and so ran home and celebrated the stroke of New Years being afraid and annoyed. Luckily we'd had 5 cups of Turkish coffee and shots of homemade God-knows-what earlier in the night, so we ran quickly and easily.

Now in Bulgaria, we have screwed up our sense of time by staying up until 4am and getting up at 3 pm. It seems good to me. All I have to do is keep this up for another week and a half until I get to the US, and I will suffer no jet lag.

We saw bomb damaged buildings in Belgrade as we waited for train to leave on our way back from Sarajevo to Bulgaria. The people we were travelling with assumed that this was bomb damage from NATO, but the McDonalds in Belgrade was packed and made very good cheeseburgers.

Glad to hear from those of you who are posting. I hope more people post soon so we can get updates all around.

Update on Ethiopia-matt

Greetings all, glad to hear that all are ok (minus the rash and poor review of HP6).
I am in Ethiopia now after traveling through Uganda, Kenya.
While in Uganda I visited with Cindi McMillian [you might not know her she was Patrick’s (you might not know him as he did not leave site) first site mate] in the capitol and then did some mountain exploring(with an armed guard) in the eastern part in Mt Elgon National Park. It is very similar to Olympic National Park with the addition of a bamboo forest. Uganda is a beautiful country with a ton to offer.
Christmas Holiday was spent with a bwana Kenyan family in Nairobi. I knew the mother from a class. We watched Home Alone 2 and Spanish soap opera “mis 3 hermanos”. I took them to see Chronicles of Narnia” and the youngest boy opted to urinate in the parking lot instead of the bathrooms. “you can take the boy out of the village…..”. In Kenya all buses have seatbelts, 80kmh speed governors, and overcrowding is punished. Safe roads are possible.
I flew to Ethiopia and had no problem to adjusting to one per seat and no call boys for the flight. Being in the Nairobi airport brought back memories of our start in Africa.
Ethiopia is incredible. By far it’s my favorite place that I have visited. The rock carved churches in Lalibela are called the 8th wonder of the world and I would agree. Today I took a boat out to the island monasteries in Lake Tara. The country side is like a cross between northern Montana and Arizona mesas. It is just incredible. People have horses to get around and use donkeys to carry stuff. I took a bus for a 300km ride and it took 12 hours on a gravel road, but it was SAFE, safe I tell you. Every vehicle I have ridden in here has been safe and slow. And if this is your interest, the women here are easy on the eyes. Another benefit, people do not seem to hurt stray dogs.
Along the road there is wreckage of tanks scattered about. Children were using one of them as a play toy. We even had a man board our bus with an assault rifle, after a bit of arguing with the conductor. The refugees get pretty poor treatment and while I was in Kenya they were protesting being abducted by the government security forces as dissidents from the last election.
Anyone interested in a motorcycle tour of Ethiopia let me know, I’m coming back here. Next, I’m off to Egypt for two weeks and then home.
I hope that everyone continues to settle in well and keep spending money. I look forward to hearing how everyone is doing. Matt.

ps patrick is not the only one who has lost a bag, i am a backpack less backpacker, thanks to ethiopia air.

jessica's job is not too exciting

so it turns out that in my job here, i am actually required to do less than i was required to do in malawi. part of that is because it's the beginning of the term so the kids don't have lots of work they need help with yet. so tutors aren't really in high demand. and here i don't have a library or laboratory to organize either. it makes me sleepy. especially after my long night of painting the second bedroom in my house. it takes a really long time to paint by yourself. i did half of it by myself and it took hours, the second half paul was home to help me and it seemed like it took 30 minutes. i'm not sure how that works, but it sped up by more than a factor of two. now that 1/3 of the house is done, im sure it will only take me about 3 more weeks to be motivated enough on enough occasions to get it done. i'm also fixing a bunch of the terrible workmanship that has been done on the house over the years. paint on all the windows and woodwork that isn't really attached. it annoys me so i'm just fixing it, even though it's not my job. i guess i'll stop babbling and go back to doing something else, like reading the newspaper. i hope you guys are all good. merilee, i hope the rash heals, remember to rub the ointment in really well like sheila taught us. kels and tom, congrats on the apartment. i've always dreamed of my own apartment in new york, staying on your couch will be good enough for me til i can have my own. smooches...

Kelly and Thom

Yhea! We got an apartment in New York City! We signed today. So what do you think Jess, wanna come here for your first break? There's no better place to readjust and have reverse culture shock than down town Brooklyn! It's only a block from Prospect Park and is close to the subway. We are super excited. Now we are just waiting to hear back from jobs and school. Tom and I have decided to retire our pics and the Zambezi swing video. Telling the same stories and jokes is getting a little old-but then we realized that's what teaching is all about (and for the next 30 years!). Hope all is well with everyone.

jess

hey guys,
i just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year. i was thinking about new years two years ago when most of us were up in chitimba at the lake. sarah's foot was just beginning to swell and i had my first case of dysentery. ah, the good times. i hope everyone is happy and safe. things are going well here. got a car and a house and a job. i guess those are the biggest things. i also got the LSAT out of the way, so now i'm just waiting to hear back from law schools. since i'm a teacher, i get a 'spring break' again this year, and i've decided to visit whichever one of you can tempt me the most to visit your hometown. i don't think there is anything better to do with my vacation than get to see some of you guys again. i hope everyone is good - i'll write more when i get more time. like when i get back to work on tuesday. i have tons of free time there.

Ryan

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to wish you all a happy new year and tell you all that I miss you all. I hope you are all having a great time. Just with some friends in Colorado, but kind of wish you all were here.

Tommy, I wont be to San Diego until late Jan or early Feb, but I'll keep you updated.

Anyway, have fun everyone and see you all next time.