Day 4 and 5

Local Time: 8:05 pm
June 24, 2009
Day Four

Today was a super long day for us. I didn't sleep hardly any last night, about two hours. The dogs were out barking again, and it sounded like they were having a party beneath us with loud music and furniture moving. This morning we got up and went back to breakfast at the Pizzaland with eggs, toast, bananas and such. After breakfast we loaded the bus with 18 people and 2 suitcases per person plus carryon. We were stuffed to the max. We left Lilongwe and drove out into the country for about an hour until we reached Dedza Pottery and the Elephant Dung Paper Making Plant. We had lunch at the goregous pottery plant with elaborate terraces and shopped around. For lunch I had beef stew that was pretty good, but with lots of big onions.
After lunch we went down the dirt road to where Henry makes paper from elephant dung and the collected old paper he has. First we went to his shop where we all bought so much that he told us it would support his community for four months! His poor walls were bare after we left. While most of us shopped, Todd and Carla made friends with some local (4) children gathering around the bus. Soon there were thirty children of all ages, boys and girls surrounding us outside of the bus. Todd brought some small bouncy balls that were a huge hit with the boys. While he played with them, all the girls were up for having their pictures taken. Angela gave one of the boys a bag of Life ceral which he then distributed to the other's pockets. One boy was so precious, he had on a Boy Scouts of America shirt. Another boy was only 5 years olds, carrying his baby brother on his back in a sack. But he was too cute, he would pose to have his picture taken so that he could then see himself on the screen. We then loaded the bus back up and drove not even 5 minutes down the road to where Henry actually makes the paper. We bid the children goodbye as we drove off. What do they do? Follow us down the road screaming, "please don't leave!"
We then went to Henry's house to watch him make the paper. He showed us every step to making recycled paper. However, no one was interested in poor Henry because being a bunch of teachers, we were all so fascinated with all the children who had gathered around to hear and see the demonstration around his fence. They would poke their little heads through the tatched fence and would chatter loudly to the others about what was going on. After playing with the children for a while and taking a lot more pictures we loaded back on the bus for another long trip.
Charles drove us for about an hour until we unloaded once again at the Lizulu Market. This was a real experience. On one side of the road is Malawi and the other side is Mozimbuque. Both sides of the road have elaborate markets with lots of fresh vegetables, clothes, and shoes. We were looking for oranges while Charles stopped to pick up a few vegetables for his own family since they are much cheaper here. The group walked around for just a few minutes before a drunk man came up and started telling us that Malawi was his country and we could not take pictures. This really scared me because I did not want him to take my nice camera! Pat took care of him and told him to Go Away and Leave Us Alone.
We loaded the bus back up and drove for about three more hours until we reached Mankoahwe village and stopped for a quick photo opportunity. After sitting in the very front of the bus like with the windshield today so that I wouldn't get car sick, I have been designated at the photographer of the group and everyone wants to get copies of my pictures. (That makes me feel nice.) I am also in charge of making sure the Radford kids don't get lost. Ugh, but some of them I might just forget sometimes when they become too materialistic.
For the final leg of our journey today, we drove one more hour to Annie's Lodge in Zomba. We passed a couple of little villages and town markets on the way but were told we had three weeks to shop at those places and not to start looking now! When we finally got to Annie's it was almost dark and so we unloaded the bus as fast we could with luggage and all. But the bus died right in the driveway and started to roll backwards down the huge hill. Bad news for Charles. That was almost three hours ago and it's still not fixed. When we got here, the electricity was out and so we had to enter our room by candle light. A little sketchy doing it in the dark, but we can already tell this is so much nicer than the Budget Lodge and we will be able to call it home for the next three weeks.
We went down for dinner and I chose to have spaghetti with tomato sauce. It was served with green beans that were so delicious. I am completely exhausted today from a lack of sleep last night but the lights just came back on so I'm going to take a quick shower and get to bed. Good night!

Pictures:
*42, Homes on the Way to Freedom Gardens
*52 Enterance to Freedom Gardens
*115 Trying to learn to balance bananas on my head
*130 The whole group with Moses and Daniel
*220 High fiving the kids around Dedza Pottery
*272 Me and Charles the bus driver (he loves me)
*312 The kids at Malemia (the school I'll be teaching at) posing for pictures

Local Time: 10:00 am/12:30 pm/7:30 pm
June 25, 2009
Day Five

This morning we got up to have a very nice breakfast at Annie's Lodge. I had a cheese omelet and some toast. It was very nice. No monkeys in the dining room yet, they say they are shy at first and then come every day. I can't wait!!!!!!
We drove to Demasi this morning, which is just like the next town over to meet the school children at Malemia Primary. This is hard to describe. When all 18 of us got off the bus, the children started running towards us. We were introducing ourselves and high fiving the kids. We then tried to tour all of the classroom on the grounds. They call their grades "standards" and primary school is standard 1 through 8. I would really like to teach standard two with teacher Gertrude. I'm not sure if this will be possible since two of the other girls in my group are Early Childhood education. The children in standard three sang a very nice song with an uplifting beat. I can't wait to learn it.
After we saw the hut where the poorage from the feeding program that Radford started we had to leave. As we were leaving, we realized we had left one of the Rachels. Oops. But Charles stopped for her before he took us to the demonstration school. The North Carolina A&T students will be teaching here. This school is a structured building with lots of nice classrooms with tables. The children were much calmer and none were skipping class like at Malemia. The teachers greeted us with a meeting and thanked us so much for coming. They said we were such an asset to them.
Next we walked down a beautiful trail through what they call woods, and by a small river (more like a creek in our standards) to the government school. This is where the Virginia Tech students will be teaching. Many, around 100 students greeted us. The government school has many more students than the other two schools, all wearing a blue uniform. The kids swarmed us so much that there was a huge dust cloud. The whole day was so heartwarming.
After we finally got to rest at the Malawi Institute of Education and bought cold drinks, we were filed into a classroom for our first, of many, group discussions. This got really personal as we started talking about what had warmed our hearts so far, what we were uneasy about and how we felt about the next several days. We discussed the use of our pictures and that got a little intense. We talked about burning questions that can be answered over our stay.
Charles finally picked us up and took us to buy more water. Keep in mind that the only thing we can do here is shower in the water. We have to brush our teeth and wash our faces and hands with bottled water. I do not like carrying gallons of water up the hill to Annie's. (And no mom, it wouldn't have benefited me to go on any more hikes with you.) Tonight we are just relaxing and getting really settled into our rooms. I didn't get dinner tonight because there was a mixup with the pizzas and so I'm having Ramen Noodles. (Thanks for packing them Mom!) I miss you all and hope all is well in the States! Everyone email me! That's the best way to get in touch. And some days I just need a little something to keep me going! kadams292@radford.edu. Love you!