Sika | June 25, 2010
And, that’s it for Peace Corps. I’m still going to be writing at this address, but when I get back from Costa Rica, I’m going to archive all my Peace Corps related stuff at a different address, redesign and re-title my blog, and start new(ish). Someone once told me it annoyed her when RPCVs kept [...]
Sika | June 25, 2010
Malawi has made me . . .. indecisive. I mean, I had occasional (frequent) problems making a decision before, but in Malawi you can make as many decisions as you want, and they rarely have any effect on the end outcome. Which is not to say there’s no point to making decisions; but, if you’re [...]
Sika | June 9, 2010
In the afternoon, we visited my school. It was anticlimactic, as most everybody was on holiday. I felt sorry for the incoming class of first years, meant to be a class of 90 and, since they wouldn’t fit in any of the existing classrooms, they were meant to be taught in the burned out and [...]
Sika | June 8, 2010
The next day, a Wednesday, we met Kris and Marla and Kristen from Nsanje for lunch at the evil christian coffee shop, a place that is owned by Irish missionary types who have books for sale that talk about how to convert Muslim women and about having a biblical marriage, and all that annoying crap. [...]
Sika | June 8, 2010
Kris pointed out, on our way down from Nyika, that we weren’t going to be able to push through to Lilongwe in any kind of time to make it worthwhile. I was supposed to have dinner with Agatha, and Kris wanted to see Gloria, but we wouldn’t get there until late, late. Also, my mom [...]
Sika | June 8, 2010
At about this time, my journal writing became even more sporadic than usual. And, no, all these nine-month late posts did not come straight out of my pristine memory, but out of my journal, so you can see the problem. Or, the wonderful freedom of it all. Or, something. Nyika was beautiful. It was a [...]
Sika | June 8, 2010
In mom’s and my whirlwind tour of Malawi, I tried to balance seeing things that I hadn’t been able to see, and showing mom what my life was like in Malawi—well, at least as close as I could given that I my life in was functionally over. We went up to Nyika Plateau, which was [...]
Sika | June 7, 2010
When I got back, we finally had my leaving party from work. There’s a whole ritual that happens when someone gets a gift. The gift-giver or representative of the group who is giving the gift holds the gift up high and dances over to give it to the recipient, where both people observe respect. When [...]
Sika | September 13, 2009
But first I had to clear Malawi immigration. The immigration guy called me in front of 4 or so other people, I think because I am white and looked confused and stupid white people are dangerous to leave wandering around all willy-nilly. He asked me why I couldn’t approximate how much I spent in Malawi. [...]
Sika | September 12, 2009
I called Debbie from the train back to Liwonde. She very graciously said I could stay and sent a co-worker just leaving work to come and pick me at the station. I was very happy that the return trip from Nayuchi was considerably shorter than the trip out—about 3 hours. So I even had time [...]
Sika | September 11, 2009
What was that I said about having enough time and just letting the trip unfold, and not stressing? Yeah, well, even though I know that to be best, after today I’m tempted to give up the whole trip. I got off today just fine: Kory was concerned this morning that since the bwanas are in [...]
Sika | September 10, 2009
Wanangwa and Kate, two Zomba friends of mine, got married. It almost didn’t happen because their ankhoswe* was late and the law books say you can only get married between certain hours, and the only reason the guy marrying them took pity was that Kate’s mum was returning to Scotland the next day. Anyway, so [...]
Sika | September 9, 2009
We weren’t there for Health ‘08’s site announcements. Health ’06 did a great event for ours, but due to scheduling problems we didn’t get to stay in Dedza long enough for the ’08 site announcements. This year, site announcement was at All-Health, like it was for us, and so we could all be a part [...]
Sika | September 8, 2009
If there are people waiting with you on a minibus, and they seem too happy—dancing and singing enthusiastically to Lucky Dube blaring on the radio instead of looking like they’re tired of waiting but have nowhere else to go—and overly familiar with everyone at the minibus stand, beware. They’ll probably be paid a few kwacha [...]
Sika | September 7, 2009
If I said there aren’t some things I’ll be happy to leave, I’d be lying. Mostly things like stone babies and the way many men feel they own my body because I’m a woman, and being called azungu azungu all the time, and feeling like I live in a fishbowl—the only way to escape it [...]
