My New Home

I'm all settled into my site now. I came into "town" (Lilongwe) today to meet up with some friends. We're all headed over to the lake for the first time tomorrow for a nice little XMAS vacation on the beach. Maybe I'll put up some pics of our adventure later on.

Anyways, I really like my site. Although it's relatively close to the capital, it's a very rural location. The closest source of electricity is 6k away (at another PCVs house, she was lucky enough to get a solar panel). The closest trading center, Mitundu, is a 15k bike ride away. This is where I will probably have to buy the majority of my food, and it is also where I can either catch a minibus or hitch a ride in town. As for the area around my site, it's pretty flat with lot's of farmland (at least during this time of year, while we have plenty of rain and the land is green, it sort of reminds me of Iowa).

The two big crops in this area are tobacco and maize (the people in my area were very disappointed to hear that I don't plan to plant either of these in my garden). I live near a smaller trading center which basically consists of a pair of very small general stores and a pair of tea rooms. The people in this area live in small villages, consisting of about 5-15 families (~6-13 people per family). Each little village is made up of extended family. The way this works (to the best of my knowledge) is that when a marriage occurs, the husband will move into a new home in the village of the wife.

My language is improving rapidly. As I said earlier, I’m in a very rural area. This means that very few people speak more English than “Hello!” or “Give me my money.” (no kidding, this is how they say it-it’s hard for me to take a beggar seriously when they use this gramatically poor phrase). Therefore, I’ve been speaking lot’s of Chichewa and making a fool of myself. Everytime I leave my house, I feel like the freak show at the circus, but I’m getting used to the confused stares and the “Azungu, Azungu!” (which roughly translates as rich, white, European) chants by the children. I have convinced these lille rascals to call me by my actual name.


My house is brand new. It certainly wasn't constructed with extraordinary craftsmenship, but it's better than anything I would have expected three months ago. The roof leaks when the wind is out of either the north or the west, but we plan to get this fixed...sometime. This is my backyard, with the chim (aka toliet) on the right and the entrance to the bafa on the left:

This is my kitchen/sitting room:

and my bedroom:


Some of you (Josh) may be looking for cheap ways to call me. The cheapest thing that I know of is a website called skype.com. I think it's like 13cents/min, although you have to make the call through the computer rather than an actually phone. It must be fairly simple to figure out because even my mom and brother were able to get it going;-}.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. I’m starting to miss home, but I am truly enjoying my time here. Each day provides some interesting moments.

I’ll leave you with a pic of the most interesting critter I’ve seen thus far. I also have some pretty big spiders in my house.

Officially a PCV

I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)! I have completed training, and on Friday I will move in to my site/village. I’m looking forward to moving in so that I can unpack all of my junk and get everything organized. Living out of a bag is fun for a while, but after a few months it becomes a hassle, especially when you continue to accumulate more and more junk.

Here are some pictures from the Swearing In ceremony at the US Ambassador's home near Lilongwe:

While we were waiting for things to start, the Ambassador's dog, Atlas, provided some entertainment.

Next, we have (from left to right) the Peace Corps Malawi Country Director Dale Mosier (he will be ending his service as CD of Malawi in the next few days after six(?) years hear in Malawi), yours truely, and the US Ambassador to Malawi Peter Bodde. That tie of mine probably deserves an explanation. To start, you must know that short, fat ties are very fashionable here in Malawi. Wanting to fit in, I went to the market one day trying to find one. After digging through some piles of clothes and asking around, I found this lovely tie for under 1USD.

This is my language class with our trainer, Matthews, looking confused.

Last, here is the always entertaining Harry (our trusty driver whom will be delivering me and all of my belongings to site) and myself.
I have never been one to get very excited about ceremonies, but this was nice, and at the end of it I felt proud to be a new member of the Peace Corps. I shouldn't forget to mention that the food afterwards was fantastic. I ate way too much, but I felt that it was neccessary for me to take advantage of the situation since I will be diving into the village lifestyle soon I village lifestyle where quantity of food is more important than variety and quality.

On a different note, I am starting to miss some of the comforts of home, but at the same time I am thrilled to be here and everyday provides new excitement. The next few months (the beginning of service), are what most PCVs call the hardest so I’m trying to get mentally prepared for that. It will be a huge social change for me once I get to site since I have been living closely with 21 other trainees for the past few months. We have developed good relationships with each other, and I think it will be a huge shock for us all once we are alone at our respective sites.

Nevertheless, we are making plans for Christmas so that a bunch of us can get back together and share our horror stories from the first few weeks at site. Right now it looks like we’re going to head over to the lake for a few days of relaxation on the beach. I expect the homesickness will really set in once I get to site with Christmas coming up, and thus it will be nice to reconnect with some other Americans for a few days.

To anyone that is reading this: feel free to contact me. The easiest way would be through email. Notice that I have now posted my phone number; texting is fairly cheap, and it is free for me to receive your phone calls. Also, notice that you can post comments on this blog and . Finally, please tell me what you want to hear about on this blog. Right now I’m just rambling on about what I think is interesting, but if ya’ll want some other details just let me know.

Site Visit

Well it looks like I have some more time on my hands, so I will put up another post.

Today I'm back in Lilongwe, the capital. I just got back from my "site visit." This entailed an awkward three day visit to the village I will be living in for the next two years. I still have a few more weeks left of training, and then I will move in permenetly on either December 10 or 11. I don't actually start teaching until Jan 4 so I will have plenty of time to settle in and get over to the lake for a Cristmas vacation. Anyways, I will be living in a little village called Chadabwa. It's about ten kilometers east of a large trading center called Mitundu (). I am really happy about the location since it is about an hour south of Lilongwe and in the central part of the country. Hopefully, this will allow me to travel easily throughout the country and get into the big city whenever I have to take care of business. Also, there is a branch of the University of Malawi about 20K away from my site, so I should be able to update this thing frequently.

My house is nicer than I expected. It's brand new with a cement floor and a tin roof. I will get some pics of it up in the future. There is no running water or electricity at my house or anywhere nearby, but that is what I expected going into all of this so I should survive. The house has three small bedrooms and a larger sitting room. With three bedrooms, I have the opportunity of boarding two students from my school. It is not uncommon for PCV teachers to board students at their houses since we often have extra rooms, and many of the students have to walk many miles back and forth to school every day. With this, the student gets to stay near the school in a comfortable environment while the teacher (myself) has someone to do chores around the house. I definately won't have a student live with me right away, but I will reevaluate things after the first term.

Well, I have to get going. I will try and get some pics of my site up next time around.

An Insufficient Description of Training

Hello everyone, I’m still alive! Sorry I haven’t been able to update this thing lately, but I’ve been cut off from the modern world. Anyways, let me try and give you a glimpse into the last few months of my life here in Malawi. Obviously a lot has happened, and I’m overwhelmed right now while a contemplate how to explain it all, but here goes.
First, I must say that right now I am entirely satisfied with what I have decided to do with the next few years of my life. I will admit that I was very uncertain going into this whole thing. I wasn’t sure if I was capable of doing this job or if I would actually enjoy it. However, I can now honestly say that there is nothing else I would rather be doing with my life. I have already learned a ton about life, while having a blast at the same time.
So far, here in Malawi, I have been going through something called Pre Service Training, PST (as with any other government organization, Peace Corps uses tons of acronyms; I will try and explain them all the first time around). I am part of a group of 22 volunteers that will be teaching in Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) here in Malawi. During training we have been spending most of our time in the Dedza district. At the start of training, all of us spent a week at the Dedza College of Forestry. This is a few of us on the top of a mountain that we climbed early one morning:

We didn’t actually learn about forestry at the college, rather it’s just a somewhat reliable location that Peace Corp Malawi uses for a majority of its training events. After that first week, we were split into three groups and sent off to three rural villages in the area where we lived for five weeks. I was sent to a village called Mpalale. In Mpalale, I lived with a family of six; taught at the local CDSS; and went through lot’s of language training, amongst other things. It’s hard being anyone’s guest for five weeks, especially when you don’t speak the same language. Nevertheless, this was an invaluable experience for me, although it was certainly a challenge.

During our first week in Mpalale, we all went to a village wedding:

We were a part of the honored group of guests that got to sit in the cozy plastic chairs.

Here's a view of the Malawian countryside in the Dedza district:

I took this while climbing up one of the mountains in the area near my homestay village.

Here's an overhead view of my homestay village:


The closed door on the right leads into the room I stayed in during homestay:

It was small but comfortable, and the roof didn't leak too bad.

This was my wonderful homestay family:

They took very good care of me, and they taught me lots of Chichewa.

On November 14, we all moved out of the villages and returned to the college for some additional training. This was bittersweet since living at the college is a much less overwhelming cultural experience, but at the same time, I will definitely miss my siblings; the hot bucket baths; and the home cooked meals, amongst other things.

It’s impossible for me to put all of this into words, but this brief summary will have to do for now. I should have more frequent access to the internet from now on. This will allow me to give a more detailed description of my crazy life, rather than inadequate posts that rush through everything.

Thoughts become reality

After worrying, planning, and thinking about what I am getting myself into, the time has finally come for me to get started. My flight leaves tomorrow morning. Here is what my luggage ended up looking like:


In addition to one carry on item (the black duffle bag), we are allowed to have two checked bags (the blue and brown bags) that are supposed to be under 80 pounds total. I was a little worried about this until I finally put everything on the scale and it was well under the limit at around 50 pounds. This may not seem like very much luggage for a 27 month trip, but I can buy a lot of stuff over there as well. It's not like I'm going to the moon. People have been living in Malawi for thousand of years, and I'm sure that I'll be able to get another t-shirt if the two that I am bringing get too many holes in them. But perhaps I shouldn't be so sure of things until I actually get there and check it out for myself.

I found some interesting info at lonelyplanet.com recently. On the South Africa page there is a travel warning: "Criminal gangs are known to operate at airports, bus stations and other transport hubs in South Africa, particularly at Johannesburg International Airport. Muggings and carjackings are regularly reported in Johannesburg's city centre." Yeah, I'll be passing through there in a couple of days; good thing I bought that money belt.

It looks like the internet cafes are outrageously expensive (I think I remember someone saying 8$/hour, which is about a days "allowance") so I don't know how often I'll be able to post or how long the posts will be. One thing I do know is that it is very unlikely that I will have any internet access at all during training. With this, don't be surprised (or worried) if I don't get on here again until December. When it concerns the third world, no news is good news. If you want to get in touch with me your best bet is to ditch the keyboard and write me a letter. Wish me luck, and start making those travel plans to Malawi now- I would be glad to take a few days off to be a tour guide.

The Five W's

To start things off, here are the five W’s of this adventure of mine
Who?
My name is Bryan. For more a little more detail, see the text on the left.
What?
First I have to go through ten weeks of technical, cross-cultural, health and safety, language, and development training. Technical training covers the ins and outs of being a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), and for me this will include a teaching internship. More than likely I will be learning Chichewa, which is spoken mostly in rural areas (while English is spoken mostly in schools and the cities). Also, I will be living with a host family during this time in a village similar to where I will work and live during service.
After completing training and showing some level of competency, I will be officially Sworn-in as a PCV and allowed to begin my work. My primary job will be Secondary (high school) Education. I will mostly be teaching science, but I may be needed in other areas as well. I also plan on doing some projects outside of the classroom. This could include promoting HIV/AIDS awareness, environmental activities, tutoring students, and organizing community groups or athletic teams.
Where?
I will be training and working somewhere in Malawi, but at this point I don’t know the specific location. Most likely, I will be working in a small, rural village. Hopefully it will be at a higher elevation, where it tends to be cooler. It’s also interesting to note that I probably will not have running water and electricity.
Malawi is known as the “Warm heart of Africa” due to the friendliness of Malawians. As you can see on the map to the left, it is a land-locked country about the size of Indiana. It is characterized by beautiful landscapes with mountains and the large Lake Malawi along the eastern boarder. Unfortunately, this country and its people also face many problems, which is the main reason I am going there in the first place. These interconnected problems include (but are certainly not limited to): high population density, an HIV/AIDS epidemic, drought, environmental degradation, and a general poor standard of living. With regards to my specific service area, education, common problems are an insufficient number of teachers (leading to class sizes of 50-100 students (yes, I am a bit intimidated by those numbers)), a lack of resources (desks, books, even floors and roofs), and few students passing the national exams.
Why?
That’s a question that I still don’t have a concrete answer for, but I’ll take a stab at it anyways. I have always been discouraged by, and perhaps even ashamed of, the issues faced by a majority of humanity while my own life (as a white, American male) is relatively easy. I feel like I have some skills and knowledge that will be useful to these people to improve there own lives. This should also be a good experience for personal growth and all that good stuff. Volunteers that have been doing the same things that I will be doing often say that they learn more from the people they are working with than those people learn from them. Furthermore, at this point, I don’t have a good idea of what direction I want to take with my life, and this will give me a few years to get things figured out while doing something productive in the meantime. Also, I’m looking forward to doing some traveling around this area of the world and experiencing this new culture. I won’t have any better time in my life to do something like this, and although I’m not so disillusioned to think that I will enjoy every minute of every day, I hope that in the end this will be an overall positive experience for me and everyone I work with (Peace Corps slogan: “The toughest job you will ever love.”).
When?
To get things rolling, there will be an orientation in Philly for a couple of days starting September 26. Then we will fly across the pond to Lilongwe, Malawi (the capital) via New York and Johannesburg, South Africa (18 hours between these two). Training in Malawi goes from about September 30 to December 9, and my service will end about December 9, 2010.

At this point, a lot of this information is speculative, based on stuff that I have read and rumors that I have heard. However, I’m pretty sure the first “W” is accurate. Anyways, I will try to update this regularly, but this may be difficult as Internet access (not to mention electricity) will probably be hard to come by. For the same reason, I encourage everyone to contact me through the mail (see info on left) rather than email. Surprisingly, there is a good chance I will have a functional cell phone over there, but more on this later. I hope this was (and will continue to be) at least mildly interesting.