Week Zero

So, a whole new bunch of education and health trainees just arrived in Malawi, which is exciting for quite a few reasons:
1. I have 36 new friends. Yay.
2. This is a sign of time passing. I will soon be part of the Second Year Education group. While weeks fly by here, the months move like millenia, so it is nice to pass this landmark in my two years of service.
3. I got to spend a week back in Dedza at the College of Forestry orienting the brand new trainees and teaching them all sorts of fun things like how to use a pit latrine without messing up your skirt, accidently peeing on a goat, or being attacked by creatures of the night. I was pretty lucky to be selected as a week zero (orientation week) volunteer, and have the chance to get to know all the new arrivals right off the bat. It was a fun week, and also a time to reflect on my Peace Corps service and realize how far I've come, both with projects and with cultural assimmilation. I had fresh eyes and a heightened appreciation of my time in Malawi when I arrived back in Salima yesterday.

But... I couldn't stay there long because I'm meeting a very special visitor in Zambia on Wednesday, who just might be a guest blogger right here in the near future. One hint: she's a liberal commie pinko. And an English teacher at Annandale. That's all. No more hints.
Off to Lusaka via Chipata tomorrow morning!

Miss you all,
Loo