30 August
Posted By Sika on August 31, 2007
FINALLY I will move into my house in Zomba on Tuesday. And I was able to take advantage of site visits up north to get a ride to Mzuzu this past Tuesday and back to Lilongwe tomorrow. I’ve been staying with Michelle, although we had dinner at the Mzoozoo Zoo with a few people from our health group who are in Mzuzu for a resupply trip. And we’re going to go back to the transit house tonight to have a Mexican dinner with them (Allie got taco seasoning in one of her birthday packages, along with those single use crystal light packages and chocolate, all of which are highly coveted items).
When I left Lilongwe, I left my luggage on one of the porches with a note that read:
“Sika’s Stuff
“Please do not touch
“If you do, you will be turned into a zombie.
“Unless you want to be a zombie, in which case, you will never become a zombie in your life. Or unlife. Or whatever.”
I was thinking about the other volunteers, feeling kinda clever and very silly, and thinking they may get a kick out of it. It wasn’t until we were halfway to Mzuzu that I remembered that Ida and Masa, the Malawians who run the Lilongwe transit house, would read the note, too. I hope they’ve been around us totally insane Americans long enough to know when we’re being insane Americans.
Today, after going to the transit house to bake cookies using Michelle’s Hershey bars from home and Allie’s Hershey’s kisses (from the aforementioned packages), Michelle and I went to the Tanzanian Market, where I bought nearly 30 meters of fabric for about $40 (In general, I try not to think of prices in dollars; it’s deceptive, because we don’t earn dollars, we earn Kwacha: What I spent today would’ve been about a third of my budget for the month if I hadn’t already planned on splurging and using money from home.) Most of it is cotton, although one is an unidentified damask type fabric that I’m not sure about and I don’t have matches with which to perform a burn test until I get back to Lilongwe
We’ve had a much welcomed influx of what are called smut magazines in the transit houses lately. Smut magazines are like crack here, and even people who wouldn’t be caught dead reading them back home read them here. You may have heard of them; they have titles like People and Entertainment Weekly. After all, without knowing the several-month-old celebrity gossip we would really be adrift, rudderless, in the world. When a new magazine hits a group of PCVs all conversation stops until the magazines have been devoured by all. Maybe there will be a few minutes of conversation about how much weight Nicole Richie should gain now that she’s pregnant. Maybe. But probably not. There are political ramifications to all this, but really, I can’t deal with them now: a People magazine is calling me.
Just wanted you to know that I added your journal:) Am excited to hear about your adventures!
Hey Jessica,
Let’s see if I can get through this email to you without somehow deleting it as I did the one I just wrote…and had just about finished!
I love reading about all the adventures you are having. They are truly amazing!
While I imagine it would be hard capturing all you are learning and experiencing with words, I must say you’re doing a phenomenal job!!!!!
Did you really have to become a patient in Africa so that you could teach those nurses how to do a better job???? I think you’d have done fine without that practicum!
So, what happened? What surgery?
You are so funny! I hope that everyone in PC and the people yo work with appreciate it as much as I do!
Congrats on becoming ‘for real,’though you’ve always been that to me, of course!
Take good care!
Best,
Peggy
Hi Sweeter than Shirley Temple Pudding,
We have been following your blogs.
Hope you are doing well in Zomba.
I am a mom with a son about to come to Malawi (on Sept 25th)
What kind of phone did you come with or have now?. Are you able to call your family in the US? How do you phone them? Did you purchase a phone when you got there? If you do not have a cell phone are there other methods available (using phone cards and phones at the Training site in Dedza or the Transit Houses).What have the other Peace Corps members done to stay in touch with their families especially in the first three months? How do you get onto the Internet to post your blogs?
I would appreciate your response, because I haven’t been able to find this kind of info any place.
Many Thanks, Lynn
Lynnspeak@woh.rr.com