Sunday, July 13th- A day to myself!

I woke up on my own around 9am this morning. I wanted to get some free breakfast before it closed at 10am. I greeted Tension and we didn’t realize he had taken our shoes and washed them. We told him he didn’t have to do that but appreciated the service.

I wanted to go around today and take pictures of Annie’s lodge and walk across the street to look at the botanical gardens. Today was our last free day to get anything done on our own. However it’s still very chilly and cloudy today so its not a good picture day. I’ll have to try early in the morning for the best sun.

Krista was till sleeping and the power was off until about 11am so I spent the morning outside ready my chapter that I’m going to present on Tuesday. I’ve started highlighting some concepts to discuss. Finally, the power came back on and I’ve been catching up on my blogging. The Internet server is down today but its okay because I just needed Microsoft word.

Tenison came by and brought us our shoes. Oh my gosh they are spotless. I don’t know how he did it but they look brand new. The laces were brown and now they are white. I can’t believe he did that for us. I was feeling bad that I was going to be giving these gross shoes away but now that are so clean I can give them as a present.

Krista was going with Heidi to Tasty Bites and Africycle with the Canadians. I was thinking about going but I knew it would take up a lot of the afternoon and I really wanted to stay here and finish blogging, upload pictures and videos, clean up the room and get ready to pack up to leave here on Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday will fly by so I needed to get it done today. I don’t know how I’m going to pack all these wood things in my suitcase. I was also concerned with getting sick after being in the rain and cold all day yesterday so I wanted to be sure to take it easy and get lots of rest today. I would hate to have a cold during my last week in Africa.

Almost everyone was just relaxing and hanging out today. The idea to do nothing all day sounds amazing. Most of us were slowly starting to pack, finish lesson plans for Monday and start making little gifts and thank you cards to our friends here. A couple people went into town for some shopping and Tasty Bites. We have spent everyday for the last 3 weeks with the same 18 people, so an afternoon to myself sounded great.

Although the thought of leaving Africa really makes me sad, there are some things that I’ve missed and I’m looking forward to when I get home. In no particular order:

#1: Fruits and vegetables! The food has been great here and I really can’t complain but I am looking forward to being able to eat anything regardless of whether it has a skin or not. Especially since the food usually looks so wonderful and fresh in the markets, it kills us that we can’t eat it. Strawberries are my first pick!!

#2: A manicure! My hands and nails are so gross after touching so many people and the overall dirt around here. I feel like I can never get the dirt and grind off my hands and nails so a manicure will sure be great!

#3: Haircut and blow-dry ☺ My hair is getting long and difficult so handle so I am looking forward to a haircut and I haven’t used a hair dryer in a month so I sure am ready for some style. I know, very materialistic of me.

#4: Being able to pet dogs…. I can’t wait to see my Lucy!

#5: Looking forward to watching some new movies and TV shows! Although we have a TV here, its only 5 channels and most of the show don’t interest me. Plus we have so little time to watch TV, I’m always doing something else if the TV is on.

#6: Not having eggs every morning for breakfast and not having chips and/or rice served with every meal. And I’m looking forward to real ketchup. The kind here is watery and blah.

#7: Having a cell phone and being able to call anytime. Even with just the 18 of us, we missed having a cell phone to be able to keep in contact and find where people are.

Since we lost power this morning, the Internet server was down for most of the day. This evening it came back but I lost the universal code so I’m super bummed. Who knows if I’ll get it back before we leave on Wednesday.

In no particular order- what I will miss about Malawi:

#1: The friendships I have made here.

#2: The time and effort people take to make you feel “most welcome”

#3: The attitude of the people here. There is always a reason to celebrate something no matter how little you have.

#4: The music and dancing!

#5: The stress free lifestyle

#6: The children's smiles! Most of the time they don’t smile for cameras but take my word, their smiles are contagious!

Some girls were talking about all the stories they are going to tell their friends and family. My blog has all my adventures and stories so if you have kept up with it, I won’t have anything new to tell you about! At least I’ll have lots of pictures!

I hate the idea of leaving here, but in a week I will be at home. Well, maybe. Apparently our layover in Addis Ababa is less than 2 hours and that will make it very tricky to get to the 2nd plane in time. None of our planes have left on time so far, so if we leave late from Lilongwe we are putting ourselves at great risk. We know of flights that have held the plane for large groups but we also know of situations where they didn’t wait- just depends who's working that day. If we miss the flight we might be stuck in Addis Ababa until the next flight which could be a couple days. There’s no use in worrying about it unless it happens, but we can’t help but wonder.