mass email #2

dear all,This one is hella long, so take it in stages. Don't get too much of an overload of me, really. It's bad for your health. I apologize in advance for mistakes....english. it's just not there anymore....which is unfortunate for my students, eh? :)
I have mangoes just about everyday. I have a host family that will never leave my mind while I’m in Malawi. I have amazing language trainers who have adopted me as the hugging-laughing PCT. I have mastered the bucket bath and chim (hole in the ground toilet). I have accepted the fact that the only reason why it looks like I have a tan is because the dirt won’t come off of my bodyv (yes, Julie, it's true). I have 21 fellow PCTs who are all intricately different, interesting, and loving. I have been nominated to make the English swearing-in speech in December. I have had very successful hitching experiences thus far (including one with an ex-pat Brit who saw how desperate and scrappy we looked so he took us out for cheesecake on our way to a Mozambique market). I am going to be living in a village funded by the clinton foundation...yes, i am meeting BILL CLINTON in march if all goes to plan. I have learned that Malawians are incredibly loving, generous, warm, and welcoming people. I have possibilities at my feet just waiting for me to jump.
I’ve decided that I am no good at mass emails especially seeing as there are three languages in my head right now as I am trying to find the right words in English. My Chichewa, however, is killer good…if Malawians talk really slowly and only about teaching, my culture, my family, and what I want from a store. Ha. We had our mock LPI (language proficiency interview) where we sit down with a tape recorder and trainer to talk about ourselves and answer questions for about a half an hour. I’m three levels above passing thanks to Beatrice and Agatha, my incredible language trainers. I think I got that score partially because I made my trainer laugh so much he had to stop the tape during the interview. If you were asked the question “What is the difference between Malawian and American culture?” you, too, would have to include a tidbit about how Malawians use their buttcheeks in dancing a whole hell of a lot more than Americans do (btw, buttcheeks in Chichewa: matako. Mah taco. Oh, priceless).
My group of 22 is especially young for Peace Corps. Most of us are in our twenties, Meagan being the youngest at 21 and our oldest is 34. We all just got back from our homestay: five and a half weeks staying with a family, learning the culture, the cooking, the dancing (buttcheeks…I swear…they do the whole Ellen Degeneres thing where they look at their butts half the time they’re dancing), the relationships between men and women, the relationships between the teaching staff and PCVs, etc. I taught a classroom of 86 juniors for two and a half weeks…I didn’t want to leave Linthipe Secondary School. I had these kids wrapped around my finger. The size of the classroom isn’t daunting until I have to correct their homework. I think I am going to implement a lot of one-on-one time for my students. I’m going to try, at least. These schools do not have continuous assessment—so their grades are based on three exams, one at the end of each term. I am going to continuously assess my students because I think it gives them motivation when they know where they stand my in class.
Homestay was incredible. I had a family that had a PCT before so they were a very relaxed and non judgmental. They have a chicken business in their compound so we always had baby chicks running around. I had four host siblings whom I would take home in a heartbeat: Lorrezi, Filipina, Makeswelo, and Numero all warmed up to me pretty easily. My family taught me a lot about surviving in Malawi (smearing mud as part of the upkeep of my house, sweeping, getting water and carrying it on my head, cooking over a three stone fire, bucket washing my clothes, how to shake my butt like a Malawian, etc). They also gave me the low down on which bugs are ones I really should be afraid of and which ones I should eat. Yes, I did have live and fried termites for dinner one night. Yes, they do taste like popcorn. No, I don’t think I’ll be cooking them at site. My Amayi and Abambo would stay up with me past their bedtime to talk in Chichewa (seeing as they spoke zero English). I asked my Abambo early on what he does and he said “I farm, I help with the kids, and I teach you Chichewa.” My Amayi usually would sit with me whenever we were both tired and just hold my hand for moral support. Malawians are very much into hand holding. As they say “love is in the hands,” so greeting people is incredibly important and the hands never separate throughout your whole greeting conversation. Talk about cross culture awkwardness.
Many PCVs say homestay is the hardest part of PC, but I disagree. The first three months at site are going to be very hard. We are told to take care of ourselves in those three months and not to do too much, but we are expected to do certain projects that will make in impression upon the community about why I am there and what I can do for them. My Chichewa needs to get a bit better for me to get there.
I go in an out of realizing where I am and how far away it is to everything else. It makes me happy to say that though I miss everyone at home, I know this is where I’m supposed to be. At least, I know this is the job I was meant to do after college. Being in Malawi is just a plus, really.
Last week at the college (Agriculture college that hosts PC in trainings), we found out our sites. For the next two years I will be in Nambuma, a village an hour or two outside of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. Though I wanted to be near the water, throughout training we all became excited to go anywhere in Malawi. I will be close enough to the city to visit people coming in from all around the country. I will be close enough to transportation that will get me anywhere in the country. I will be 1K away from a market and a few hours away from a Shop Rite and internet! I am close (20K) to one current volunteer, Jessica, and I am relatively close to a bunch of friends in my group who are going south of me.
My house is GIGANTIC, which is very unusual for malawi, but they JUST rebuilt my school (new lab, new classrooms, new chims, new library and reading room, etc) and two new houses for the headmaster adn what was supposed to be for the deputy, but he willingly gave the house to me. I am one of the few new PCVs that will have running water, FOUR bedrooms (the house is bigger than the first floor fo paradise...yeah....that big), and an outdoor porch with a grill and sink. Though I have bats and the house is big, I am one lucky person to be in this village. The Clinton Foundation has decided to fund three towns in Malawi, Nambuma being one of them. Soon they will rebuild the market, a new hospital, an agriculture center, a fruit juice factory, a cell phone tower and 50 new houses for families in Nambuma. I am meeting Bill in march if he decides to stick with the plan and visit. He will be the 2nd white person in this village...I wonder if the kids will yell "AZUNGU!" at him, too.
Though it is being funded by the Clinton foundation for all of these new things, Nambuma and the 30 surrounding villages are still in dispair. I made a list of things I could possibly do as secondary projects and they include: fill the library with books, build two hostels for girl students, build a new primary school for one of the adjacent villages, get books for the primary school next to my house, a new water hole or two in the surrounding villages, and a whole lot more. I have a lot to look forward to.
I know I will be teaching Form 1 and Form 3 English, Form 4 Life skills and maybe Form 2 math of Form three Phy Sci. They were really looking for a phy sci teacher, but I'm what they got, so live with it!! Life Skills essentially consists of kids asking me questions about sex, careers, college, and the outside world. We get to do demonstrations with HIV/AIDs and sex education. Think: bananas. I am most excited for that class. I have to decide if I am going to get my mail forwarded to nambuma. I have to get advice from malawians. Keep sending to Lilongwe for now. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR BEING SO WONDERFUL. You have made everyone in my group incredibly jealous and hella wishing they had you all has friends and family. I am really lucky.

I miss you guys so much.Send my love to everyone.Always, Erica