"Please be careful when opening the overhead compartments as contents may have shifted upon landing."
I know that it's common procedure for the flight attendants to make this announcement, and I'm sure they'd be in a lot of trouble if they didn't, but after 4 flights in 2 days, I could quote their standard announcements along with them. But after about 4 days in Africa, I feel like that's a pretty accurate introduction to this blog.
Let's see, I filled you in on day 1 and all the traveling. Since then, we've accomplished a lot, and some shifting has definitely taken place. First off, I still panic every time the driver of the vehicle I inhabit makes a left turn into the left lane. It's just not right! But I am getting used to the tremendous amount of bikers and pedestrians, and I'm gaining confidence that one day I too will understand the mystery of driving in Malawi. Second, we've learned the basics of shopping. We even made it to the market! Aly's blog has some detail for you there, if you're interested. It was fantastic, and I'm sure I'll have more to say in the future, but basically Malawian teenagers and young men bombard you begging you to buy their produce (or other random item) and give you all sorts of prices, and you have to figure out which one is not ripping you off and then bargain with him because really they're all giving you a high price. It is fantastic! It's like a strategy game. (Ok, ok, I'm a nerd, and it really is a bit stressful, but still fun!) We have also learned the art of shopping in multiple places for different things, and are in the process of figuring out what price is reasonable for what item and where you can get that price. It's something I am enjoying learning, and everyone does things a little differently, so we're hoping to shop with lots of different people so we can develop our own method. This is what Saturday consisted of.
Sunday we went to the church that meets here on campus, and I really enjoyed it. The sermon was great, the people were kind, and the music made me feel like I was at home. We sang "At Calvary" and "In Christ Alone" in the same service. It's just brilliant. We then took a nap. And then I'm not sure what we did. Also, we've had dinner with some great people this week. Friday night was with the Eppersons, who made us tacos and gave us coke. We loved every minute of it, even though we were barely awake. Saturday was at the Kysers, who made amazing spaghetti and gave us sweet tea and brownies and let us play with their sweet kids all evening in the dark! (yay power outage!) And Sunday evening we had dinner with the Carlisles, who made us pancakes. Now, I did enjoy the other meals, but with all the traveling and the adjusting to new water and new food, etc, I just hadn't had an appetite until Sunday night. So the poor sweet family let us eat them out of house and home, and between just Aly and I, I am pretty sure there were about 12 pancakes eaten, and then they gave us coffee, and it was just really excellent. So tonight we were on our own! I am proud to say we did pretty great. We pooled our resources and had potatoes cooked with green peppers, carrots, and onions, and then we made rice! And we had strawberries sliced and sugared for desert. It was a pretty impressive first meal in Africa. (And really it was all Aly and Katie's doing, of course!) We also were able to have Craig over, who arrived earlier the same day we did and enjoyed getting to know another new friend!
The other big event has been getting to see our classrooms! I'll have to take pictures later, but it was super exciting. I have lots and lots and lots of work to do between now and when school starts. If you didn't get the update, I am now teaching 8th and 9th grade language arts, and 10th grade world lit. I have some amazing resources on 8th and 9th grade from the previous teachers, but 10th grade hasn't been taught in a few years (they do this really cool online school program usually) so I am pretty low on resources here and kinda have to start from scratch. Which is totally doable and kinda exciting. But really is going to require some hard work from me in the 2 weeks to come.
This is about all I have for you tonight. It's about my bedtime. Oh! but I have a phone number now!! I think it will change soon, but I have a cute lil black and hot green nokia phone that is already covered in silly stickers. Expect pictures soon of dinner and the phone and my classroom and other such things soon! Until then, remember,
every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.
I know that it's common procedure for the flight attendants to make this announcement, and I'm sure they'd be in a lot of trouble if they didn't, but after 4 flights in 2 days, I could quote their standard announcements along with them. But after about 4 days in Africa, I feel like that's a pretty accurate introduction to this blog.
Let's see, I filled you in on day 1 and all the traveling. Since then, we've accomplished a lot, and some shifting has definitely taken place. First off, I still panic every time the driver of the vehicle I inhabit makes a left turn into the left lane. It's just not right! But I am getting used to the tremendous amount of bikers and pedestrians, and I'm gaining confidence that one day I too will understand the mystery of driving in Malawi. Second, we've learned the basics of shopping. We even made it to the market! Aly's blog has some detail for you there, if you're interested. It was fantastic, and I'm sure I'll have more to say in the future, but basically Malawian teenagers and young men bombard you begging you to buy their produce (or other random item) and give you all sorts of prices, and you have to figure out which one is not ripping you off and then bargain with him because really they're all giving you a high price. It is fantastic! It's like a strategy game. (Ok, ok, I'm a nerd, and it really is a bit stressful, but still fun!) We have also learned the art of shopping in multiple places for different things, and are in the process of figuring out what price is reasonable for what item and where you can get that price. It's something I am enjoying learning, and everyone does things a little differently, so we're hoping to shop with lots of different people so we can develop our own method. This is what Saturday consisted of.
Sunday we went to the church that meets here on campus, and I really enjoyed it. The sermon was great, the people were kind, and the music made me feel like I was at home. We sang "At Calvary" and "In Christ Alone" in the same service. It's just brilliant. We then took a nap. And then I'm not sure what we did. Also, we've had dinner with some great people this week. Friday night was with the Eppersons, who made us tacos and gave us coke. We loved every minute of it, even though we were barely awake. Saturday was at the Kysers, who made amazing spaghetti and gave us sweet tea and brownies and let us play with their sweet kids all evening in the dark! (yay power outage!) And Sunday evening we had dinner with the Carlisles, who made us pancakes. Now, I did enjoy the other meals, but with all the traveling and the adjusting to new water and new food, etc, I just hadn't had an appetite until Sunday night. So the poor sweet family let us eat them out of house and home, and between just Aly and I, I am pretty sure there were about 12 pancakes eaten, and then they gave us coffee, and it was just really excellent. So tonight we were on our own! I am proud to say we did pretty great. We pooled our resources and had potatoes cooked with green peppers, carrots, and onions, and then we made rice! And we had strawberries sliced and sugared for desert. It was a pretty impressive first meal in Africa. (And really it was all Aly and Katie's doing, of course!) We also were able to have Craig over, who arrived earlier the same day we did and enjoyed getting to know another new friend!
The other big event has been getting to see our classrooms! I'll have to take pictures later, but it was super exciting. I have lots and lots and lots of work to do between now and when school starts. If you didn't get the update, I am now teaching 8th and 9th grade language arts, and 10th grade world lit. I have some amazing resources on 8th and 9th grade from the previous teachers, but 10th grade hasn't been taught in a few years (they do this really cool online school program usually) so I am pretty low on resources here and kinda have to start from scratch. Which is totally doable and kinda exciting. But really is going to require some hard work from me in the 2 weeks to come.
This is about all I have for you tonight. It's about my bedtime. Oh! but I have a phone number now!! I think it will change soon, but I have a cute lil black and hot green nokia phone that is already covered in silly stickers. Expect pictures soon of dinner and the phone and my classroom and other such things soon! Until then, remember,
every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.
Good update! Glad y'all are getting off to such a great start. I saw your mom last night...she is doing well and was happy to see your pictures, too! Sweet dreams :)
ReplyDeleteSo good to read! Praying for you!
ReplyDelete