Hi Everyone!
We spent the last week trying to get settled into our new house. I wish I was able to post pictures of it, but we've had a hard time uploading them, so let me describe it. We are about 30km from Salima, our closest city. Although we are only 2km off of a paved road that runs North-South on the lake shore, we are in a rural area. Our school campus is actually on a CCAP Mission (Central Church of African Presbyterian). As teachers hold a higher status in the community, we are in a teacher's house which means it is brick with a tin roof. Other villagers around the campus live in mud huts with straw roofs. The irony is that the brick houses with tin roofs actually work like ovens which is not exactly what we are looking for when we are living in extreme heat and humidity. Oh well, it will only make us appreciate MN winters more I suppose. Anyway, our house has 4 rooms- two that are kind of like bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Our furniture is minimal, but more than some other volunteers. We have a bed (actually two twins pushed together to make a king!), two tables and 4 chairs. A lot of stuff is on the floor right now. Our backyard has a brick fence around it. Enclosed in the fence are our chim (pit latrine), bafa (place to bath) and real kitchen (for fires). We also planted a garden in the back with some seeds that Amber gave us- sweet corn, green beans, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, watermelon and a Malawian variety of Maize. We also hired someone to start building a bin for our compost.
Our other news is that we got a kitten. He is orange and white and we named him Moto, which means "fire" in Chichewa. Hopefully he will help with keeping away unwanted pests. By the way, some of the wildlife that we share our home with include: mice, bats, lizards, spiders and scorpions. I was actually bit by a little scorpion that crawled into our mosquito net the other night!
We also hired just hired a girl to carry water for us. We don't have running water, so we need to get it from the borehole which is about 100 meters from our house. Drawing water and carrying it on my head is probably my least favorite job in Malawi. Brian doesn't really like it much either, but more than me. Typically carrying water is considered women's work so it looked weird when Brian was carrying it this last week. All of the kids were laughing and chanting "Brian is carrying water!" in Chichewa. Although this may be good for the villagers to see gender equality, it actually reflects poorly on me because "I'm not taking care of my husband." The solution is to hire someone. Plus it will help her pay her school fees. We only hired her to carry water, but so far she has insisted on mopping our entire house and sweeping our entire yard (Malawians sweep dirt yards all the time).
As we've had nothing but time on our hands we have been able to cook some interesting meals. We cook on a paraffin stove. At first we made some guacamole and rice because we had avocados from Lilongwe. Then we tried some Italian pasta. We've had pancakes, eggs, fish (fresh from the lake), bean, popcorn, and curry. We'll probably be eating eggs or beans and rice most of the time though. Bananas and mangoes are readily available as well.
Well, that is about it for now.
We love and miss everybody! Please leave comments, emails, letters, etc...
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
PCT to PCV
Well, we did it! We were officially sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers this morning. A year and half after we started the Peace Corps process, we are finally able to call ourselves Peace Corps Volunteers. The ceremony took place at the ambassador's house and was followed by lots of fried foods, beverages and a chocolate cake with the Peace Corps logo on it.
Now we have a quick break before we are off to shopping for our site. We need to buy all of our buckets and basins (to store water in), pots and pans, dishes, etc... This evening we will enjoy another nice dinner at our country director's house.
We will be headed off to our site tomorrow morning with a vehicle full of our stuff and another friend, Danny, who will be somewhat close to us. Just imagine a jeep with 3 mattresses, 3 bikes, all the luggage we came with, large quantities of food and us! I'll try to take a picture. Speaking of pictures, sorry for the delay. It takes forever to upload them. Our profile picture is of us on top of a mountain near the college we stayed at in Dedza. There are also a couple more on Facebook if you have an account.
We are sad to say good-bye to all of our new Peace Corps friends, but anxious to get to our site and be settled in. We have been living out of suitcases since we moved out of our house in September. I have to admit that I am a little bit nervous for the heat though. I believe it has started raining in Salima since we went for our visit so that should at least provide some temporary relief.
Also, we have made our Christmas plans. We are going north to our friend, Angela's, in Nkhotakota. There are 10 or so of us who will be there. It should be fun as she is really close to the lake and a pottery place I want to check out. After Christmas we will go further north to Nkata Bay and possibly to Mzuzu (3rd largest city) for New Year's. Technically we are not supposed to leave our sites except for a monthly restock visit for the first 3 months. Peace Corps stresses this so that volunteers integrated themselves into their communities. However, since Christmas and New Year's falls in our first three months they make an exception.
Well, that is about all! Keep the news coming. We love to hear from everyone at home.
Now we have a quick break before we are off to shopping for our site. We need to buy all of our buckets and basins (to store water in), pots and pans, dishes, etc... This evening we will enjoy another nice dinner at our country director's house.
We will be headed off to our site tomorrow morning with a vehicle full of our stuff and another friend, Danny, who will be somewhat close to us. Just imagine a jeep with 3 mattresses, 3 bikes, all the luggage we came with, large quantities of food and us! I'll try to take a picture. Speaking of pictures, sorry for the delay. It takes forever to upload them. Our profile picture is of us on top of a mountain near the college we stayed at in Dedza. There are also a couple more on Facebook if you have an account.
We are sad to say good-bye to all of our new Peace Corps friends, but anxious to get to our site and be settled in. We have been living out of suitcases since we moved out of our house in September. I have to admit that I am a little bit nervous for the heat though. I believe it has started raining in Salima since we went for our visit so that should at least provide some temporary relief.
Also, we have made our Christmas plans. We are going north to our friend, Angela's, in Nkhotakota. There are 10 or so of us who will be there. It should be fun as she is really close to the lake and a pottery place I want to check out. After Christmas we will go further north to Nkata Bay and possibly to Mzuzu (3rd largest city) for New Year's. Technically we are not supposed to leave our sites except for a monthly restock visit for the first 3 months. Peace Corps stresses this so that volunteers integrated themselves into their communities. However, since Christmas and New Year's falls in our first three months they make an exception.
Well, that is about all! Keep the news coming. We love to hear from everyone at home.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
phones
By the way, we just got cell phones. We can recieve texts and calls for free. We can also text fairly easily.
Brian
+2659118260
Kristy
+2659118526
P.S. We will probably delete this post, so write them down!
Brian
+2659118260
Kristy
+2659118526
P.S. We will probably delete this post, so write them down!
Back in Lilongwe...
We are back in Lilongwe today after a visit to our site in the Salima district. We actually weren't planning on coming here today, but Brian threw his back out yesterday so the Peace Corps doctor had us come here so he could look at it. It sounds like he just needs some pain-killers and rest. We think it was caused by stress and lack of regular exercise. Anyway, it has given us a chance to go online again which is nice.
We really liked our site. The headmaster and teachers are all really nice. We will be living in a little brick house with a brick fence. There are 3 rooms and a common area. The kitchen, "shower room" and outhouse are all located outside within a brick fence. We are planning on planting a garden and getting chickens back there.
One of the days we were there we went to Senga Bay and went swimming in Lake Malawi. It was awesome. Just like an ocean but better because it was fresh water. Plus it is soooooo hot that the water brought some relief. In fact, we were bathing multiple times a day while we were at our site. It is the hottest time of year, so hopefully the temperature will drop when we return in a couple weeks.
Next week we are back at Dedza college for one more week of training. After that we will go to Lilongwe again for our swearing-in ceremony and shopping before we move to our sites. We should be moving to our site permanently on December 14th or 15th. We are looking forward to getting settled, but we will miss our fellow trainees that we have become friends with. We will all be spread out around the country so I am sure we will do some travelling.
We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. We will be missing you all at Christmas. Also, my Grandma Anderson is in the hospital and not doing well. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers. It is difficult to be away from home during a time like that.
Love and Peace,
Kristy and Brian
We really liked our site. The headmaster and teachers are all really nice. We will be living in a little brick house with a brick fence. There are 3 rooms and a common area. The kitchen, "shower room" and outhouse are all located outside within a brick fence. We are planning on planting a garden and getting chickens back there.
One of the days we were there we went to Senga Bay and went swimming in Lake Malawi. It was awesome. Just like an ocean but better because it was fresh water. Plus it is soooooo hot that the water brought some relief. In fact, we were bathing multiple times a day while we were at our site. It is the hottest time of year, so hopefully the temperature will drop when we return in a couple weeks.
Next week we are back at Dedza college for one more week of training. After that we will go to Lilongwe again for our swearing-in ceremony and shopping before we move to our sites. We should be moving to our site permanently on December 14th or 15th. We are looking forward to getting settled, but we will miss our fellow trainees that we have become friends with. We will all be spread out around the country so I am sure we will do some travelling.
We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. We will be missing you all at Christmas. Also, my Grandma Anderson is in the hospital and not doing well. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers. It is difficult to be away from home during a time like that.
Love and Peace,
Kristy and Brian
Monday, November 26, 2007
A day in the life of Brian and Kristy's Peace Corps Trainees in Malawi
[note: this letter arrived the day after Thanksgiving.]
4:00 First rooster crowing wakes us, but we are able to fall back asleep. It is almost like Bean and Humphrey trying to wake us.
5:30 Kristy's alarm goes off. She takes a warm bucket bath that the host mom has heated on the fire.
5:50 Brian takes his bucket bath. Any leftover hot water is used to wash an article of clothing. We found it is easier to wash clothes one by one.
6:30 Host mom and host sister come into our hut with breakfast (bread, eggs, tea...) and we all sit on a mat on the floor to eat.
7:00 We walk through the village and greet about 25 people on the way to our trainer's house where we are picked up for school.
7:30-11:30 We are at our schools doing our practice teaching and lesson planning. We each teach 7 40 minute periods a week. Brian's class has 45 students, Kristy's has 65! We are lucky if we get books or desks on any given day.
11:30 go back to our host family's home in the village.
12:00-1:30 lunch break. Lunch might include 3 of the following: Rice, potatoes, nsima, greens, eggs, soy pieces, beans, chicken, or goat.
1:30-4:30 Chichewa language class at our trainer's house (actually it is not her house, but Peace Corps rents houses from families in the villages during our training). Our teacher-student ratio is 1:3!
4:30-5:30 We walk to a cliff with Laura, the other trainee in our village/language group and enjoy the view of the mountains and fields.
5:30-6:00 Read, lesson plan, listen to music...
6:00-7:00 Help (or watch) our host mom in the kitchen and practice speaking Chichewa with her. Oh, and sunset is at 6:00 so after that we rely on a kerosene lamp, candles, and our head lamps.
7:00-7:30 Dinner. (Usually what we ate for lunch.) MOst of our meals are eaten in silence with a few awkward Chichewa conversations.
7:30-8:30 Reading under our mosquito net until we fall asleep.
A favorite day of ours is Thursday because we get to go to Dedza College of Forestry (where we stayed for the first week). We enjoy the chance to catch up with our fellow trainees and hear about their homestays. Also, we get mail on Thursdays...hint, hint. I (Kristy) get to wear pants on the college days too (otherwise I am always wearing a skirt in the village or at school).
We will be finding out where our site is in a couple weeks. We are excited, but we're not exactly sure what to be excited about just yet. There are so many unknowns! Actually by the time this letter gets posted, we may know.
We will be spending Thanksgiving at the ambassador's house. It sounds like the food is really good. We will also get to meet a lot of the other Peace Corps volunteers in Malawi.
On December 12th we will be sworn in as official volunteers. They will give us a day in Lilongwe to buy what we need for our site before dropping us off. School doesn't start until January 7th so we have about 3 weeks to set our place up. Obviously Christmas is during that time, but we are not sure about our plans. Technically we are not supposed to leave our site for the first 3 months, but they make exceptions for Christmas.
We are having a great time. We miss you all. Write letters!
Love,
Brian and Kristy
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!
4:00 First rooster crowing wakes us, but we are able to fall back asleep. It is almost like Bean and Humphrey trying to wake us.
5:30 Kristy's alarm goes off. She takes a warm bucket bath that the host mom has heated on the fire.
5:50 Brian takes his bucket bath. Any leftover hot water is used to wash an article of clothing. We found it is easier to wash clothes one by one.
6:30 Host mom and host sister come into our hut with breakfast (bread, eggs, tea...) and we all sit on a mat on the floor to eat.
7:00 We walk through the village and greet about 25 people on the way to our trainer's house where we are picked up for school.
7:30-11:30 We are at our schools doing our practice teaching and lesson planning. We each teach 7 40 minute periods a week. Brian's class has 45 students, Kristy's has 65! We are lucky if we get books or desks on any given day.
11:30 go back to our host family's home in the village.
12:00-1:30 lunch break. Lunch might include 3 of the following: Rice, potatoes, nsima, greens, eggs, soy pieces, beans, chicken, or goat.
1:30-4:30 Chichewa language class at our trainer's house (actually it is not her house, but Peace Corps rents houses from families in the villages during our training). Our teacher-student ratio is 1:3!
4:30-5:30 We walk to a cliff with Laura, the other trainee in our village/language group and enjoy the view of the mountains and fields.
5:30-6:00 Read, lesson plan, listen to music...
6:00-7:00 Help (or watch) our host mom in the kitchen and practice speaking Chichewa with her. Oh, and sunset is at 6:00 so after that we rely on a kerosene lamp, candles, and our head lamps.
7:00-7:30 Dinner. (Usually what we ate for lunch.) MOst of our meals are eaten in silence with a few awkward Chichewa conversations.
7:30-8:30 Reading under our mosquito net until we fall asleep.
A favorite day of ours is Thursday because we get to go to Dedza College of Forestry (where we stayed for the first week). We enjoy the chance to catch up with our fellow trainees and hear about their homestays. Also, we get mail on Thursdays...hint, hint. I (Kristy) get to wear pants on the college days too (otherwise I am always wearing a skirt in the village or at school).
We will be finding out where our site is in a couple weeks. We are excited, but we're not exactly sure what to be excited about just yet. There are so many unknowns! Actually by the time this letter gets posted, we may know.
We will be spending Thanksgiving at the ambassador's house. It sounds like the food is really good. We will also get to meet a lot of the other Peace Corps volunteers in Malawi.
On December 12th we will be sworn in as official volunteers. They will give us a day in Lilongwe to buy what we need for our site before dropping us off. School doesn't start until January 7th so we have about 3 weeks to set our place up. Obviously Christmas is during that time, but we are not sure about our plans. Technically we are not supposed to leave our site for the first 3 months, but they make exceptions for Christmas.
We are having a great time. We miss you all. Write letters!
Love,
Brian and Kristy
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Everyone!
We are in Lilongwe today for Thanksgiving at the ambassador's house. We can't write much because a lot of people are waiting, but I wanted to let everyone know that we will be in Salima about 8km from Lake Malawi. It will be very hot and sticky!
We are having a great time!
Love and miss you all!
Kristy and Brian
We are in Lilongwe today for Thanksgiving at the ambassador's house. We can't write much because a lot of people are waiting, but I wanted to let everyone know that we will be in Salima about 8km from Lake Malawi. It will be very hot and sticky!
We are having a great time!
Love and miss you all!
Kristy and Brian
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
[transcriber's note: this letter arrived in Minnesota yesterday]
10-04-07
Moni! (Hello) Muli Bwanji (How are you?)? So far so good. We arrived in Malawi on September 27th after several flights and stops. When we got here we went to the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe for an hour or so and then were off to Dedza College of Forestry to start our training. We were greeted by signing and dancing from our Malawian language and culture trainers. I was so moved by their music that I could barely participate. We are here with a group of 24 other trainees, all education volunteers. Brian and I are the only married couple, which can be strange at times, but for the most part it doesn't seem to affect group dynamics. We really like our group a lot. There is no shortage of humor.
10-12-07
We have now been at our homestay for a week. We are staying with a small family, just a mom, dad, and 15 year old daughter. All of their other children are grown. We have a pretty good set up. The family moved out of their house to let us use it and moved into the neighbors (who we think is the mom's sister). Don't get me wrong, we are not living in luxury. Our home is simple. The walls are mud but they seem like cement. The roof is straw. There are 3 rooms, one main one where we eat on a straw mat, a small bedroom and a storage room. The kitchen is a separate building. It is basically a hut with a fire pit and mud stove. The toilet, or "chim," is also its own building. It is really an outhouse with a hole instead of a toilet seat. We also "shower" outside. Our host mom brings us a basin of hot water every morning in an enclosed straw fence structure called the "bafa."
Besides bringing us hot water, our host mom does a lot for us. She cooks 3 meals, boils water for all our needs and cleans. I might add that cooking is no easy task as all the wood used she collects. She also carries the water from the well a quarter mile away. Yes, she does carry it on her head. I was able to try it one day. My bucket was much smaller than hers and my arms and neck killed when I was done. All of the women at the well were laughing at me.
We have been very busy with the rest of our training as well. We have language class for about 3 hours a day. It has been crucial as our host family does not speak English. We have both found ourselves wanting to use Chinese, German, or Spanish when we can't think of words. Who knew that coming to Africa would refresh my Chinese!! Besides language training we do what they call technical training. A lot of it is relearning what we covered in education classes (writing lesson plans, classroom management, etc.) We are also starting our practicing teaching.
We still don't know where we will be located for the next two years. We know for sure it will not be located in the North, so it will be somewhere in the Central or South regions. Some of the people in our group are learning another language because they are going to the north. We also know for sure that we will be in a rural village.
We are both doing really well. Of course we miss everyone at home. The Peace Corps staff and our host family are taking really good care of us. After all, we are in "The warm heart of Africa." Before we go I'll leave you with our highlights:
Kristy:
1. 5:30 am sunrises from behind the mountains
2. Dancing with girls in my village
3. Watching our host mom cook
Brian:
1. Landrover trips on bumpy roads (there's always room for "one more" volunteer in a Peace Corps truck, but we are not allowed to ride on top :) )
2. Playing soccer
3. Getting to know fellow trainees and Malawians.
Much love and peace,
Kristy & Brian
10-04-07
Moni! (Hello) Muli Bwanji (How are you?)? So far so good. We arrived in Malawi on September 27th after several flights and stops. When we got here we went to the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe for an hour or so and then were off to Dedza College of Forestry to start our training. We were greeted by signing and dancing from our Malawian language and culture trainers. I was so moved by their music that I could barely participate. We are here with a group of 24 other trainees, all education volunteers. Brian and I are the only married couple, which can be strange at times, but for the most part it doesn't seem to affect group dynamics. We really like our group a lot. There is no shortage of humor.
10-12-07
We have now been at our homestay for a week. We are staying with a small family, just a mom, dad, and 15 year old daughter. All of their other children are grown. We have a pretty good set up. The family moved out of their house to let us use it and moved into the neighbors (who we think is the mom's sister). Don't get me wrong, we are not living in luxury. Our home is simple. The walls are mud but they seem like cement. The roof is straw. There are 3 rooms, one main one where we eat on a straw mat, a small bedroom and a storage room. The kitchen is a separate building. It is basically a hut with a fire pit and mud stove. The toilet, or "chim," is also its own building. It is really an outhouse with a hole instead of a toilet seat. We also "shower" outside. Our host mom brings us a basin of hot water every morning in an enclosed straw fence structure called the "bafa."
Besides bringing us hot water, our host mom does a lot for us. She cooks 3 meals, boils water for all our needs and cleans. I might add that cooking is no easy task as all the wood used she collects. She also carries the water from the well a quarter mile away. Yes, she does carry it on her head. I was able to try it one day. My bucket was much smaller than hers and my arms and neck killed when I was done. All of the women at the well were laughing at me.
We have been very busy with the rest of our training as well. We have language class for about 3 hours a day. It has been crucial as our host family does not speak English. We have both found ourselves wanting to use Chinese, German, or Spanish when we can't think of words. Who knew that coming to Africa would refresh my Chinese!! Besides language training we do what they call technical training. A lot of it is relearning what we covered in education classes (writing lesson plans, classroom management, etc.) We are also starting our practicing teaching.
We still don't know where we will be located for the next two years. We know for sure it will not be located in the North, so it will be somewhere in the Central or South regions. Some of the people in our group are learning another language because they are going to the north. We also know for sure that we will be in a rural village.
We are both doing really well. Of course we miss everyone at home. The Peace Corps staff and our host family are taking really good care of us. After all, we are in "The warm heart of Africa." Before we go I'll leave you with our highlights:
Kristy:
1. 5:30 am sunrises from behind the mountains
2. Dancing with girls in my village
3. Watching our host mom cook
Brian:
1. Landrover trips on bumpy roads (there's always room for "one more" volunteer in a Peace Corps truck, but we are not allowed to ride on top :) )
2. Playing soccer
3. Getting to know fellow trainees and Malawians.
Much love and peace,
Kristy & Brian
Friday, August 31, 2007
Malawi Blog
Hi Everyone!
Here is where we will irregularly post our blogs about Malawi.
Also, our address is:
Brian and Kristy Rolig PCV
PEACE CORPS/MALAWI
BOX 208
LILONGWE
MALAWI
This will be our address for the whole time, however, we might have a new address after the first 3 months of training. We will still be able to get mail at this address though.
Brian and Kristy
Here is where we will irregularly post our blogs about Malawi.
Also, our address is:
Brian and Kristy Rolig PCV
PEACE CORPS/MALAWI
BOX 208
LILONGWE
MALAWI
This will be our address for the whole time, however, we might have a new address after the first 3 months of training. We will still be able to get mail at this address though.
Brian and Kristy
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