11.23.2015
Even though it’s thanksgiving week we’re still having class in the morning for the first two days. School is going well still, we’re all still getting used to it but the structure is slowly getting settled. I had quite the time today though. Never have I been so thankful for the stories I’ve read and the movies I’ve watched. Strange thing to say right? Well school was over and I was sitting with Huddy and Jett playing with magnetic squares that you could build with, and Huddy hands me some square shaped ones he’d fashioned into a “book” and told me to read, so I jokingly made up a few short lines and turned the “page” and such, and we laughed and then Jett handed me one and told me to tell that story too, and soon enough even Benson was on the couch as I made up stories to “read” to them from the magnetic books. The thing is, I’ve never considered myself to be very creative when it comes to story-telling so it was kind of a miracle that I was able to keep them entertained, but I was thankful for their age because it meant that I could draw from many movies and stories that they’ve never known before and they wouldn’t catch on. (Ok, they caught on when I used Bug’s Life, but I learned my lesson after that about drawing from Pixar films.) They now know a very shortened, altered version of your typical princess story (once upon a time… tower… dragons… prince… rescue… happily ever after), Second Hand Lion’s (there was hidden treasure and the lion saved the day), a Bob Ross turned treasure hunter (basically the guy had an afro and got bored and found a treasure map, etc etc.), a story of my cousin and I (thank you Renee!), Phantom of the Opera (I omitted the phantom) and a few others. They say to tell a story, draw from what you know, so I did and somehow they found it entertaining. Thankfully when I’d all but run out of ideas lunch was ready, but it was quite the experience!
We might finally be getting into rainy season, which is a blessing because it has been SO hot and muggy the last few days, and the rain brings the temperature down a bit. Also, all the tea farms and every other farm needs water for obvious reasons. Even the daily power outages are due to the lack of water because the hydro plants can’t produce enough electricity to power the country, so they literally shut off the power to whole areas for 8+ hours a day, and not during the late night when you wouldn’t care if it was off. Everyone just kind of expects it, when the lights all go off we all sort of groan and laugh and such. It does really affect things like laundry though. It’s hard to do laundry when you don’t know if your machine will stop working halfway through a cycle and then not turn on again till hours later. The internet and sometimes telephone lines don’t work either. Or, cooking can be difficult when the fridge, microwave, oven and stove don’t work. I’ve been very lucky and haven’t really suffered much from the outages, but these are what a lot of people around are having to deal with. Thankfully the hospital has a generator because they need to keep people alive and such but unfortunately that doesn’t help any of the other buildings around. It’s amazing how much we rely on power these days.
On another note, I joined the Haytons, Graybils and one other family on a hike to the falls at Mt. Mulanje. (I think it’s classified as a mountain. Apologies if I’m quoting wrong.) The mountain is truly spectacular with trees abounding giving it a lush look. We didn’t take a particularly long hike, but it was mostly uphill and the ground is quite uneven so we went a bit slower to account for the small girls trying to keep up. I didn’t mind the slower pace though since I’m still adjusting to the higher elevation here and it also gave me time to take a few pictures. The waterfall was really crowded but the water was clean and clear and COLD so it was incredibly refreshing to actually swim. You could swim right up to the waterfall and tread water where it came down so it was pretty neat! Then we went for lunch which we waited 2ish hours for (Malawi time for you ;) ) and while we were waiting there was a pool there so the kids played for a bit then we moved to another area for our food. I definitely recommend a trip to Mulanje for any future Malawi travelers! Also, public service reminder that sunburns hurt.
Oh! Random fact! I kept hearing that we were near “Cholo” but could never find it on any signs, I only saw Thyolo on signs. Turns out Thyolo is pronounced like Cho-lo. Now go ace that pop quiz on Malawian pronunciations you won’t be given. :)
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