hard at work

wednesday

They came in on Wednesday and had these sweaters on. I was in a sleeveless dress and couldn’t imagine with all the running around they do that they were actually still cold so when they came into class I told them to put their sweaters and jackets into their cubbies. One girl started to take her jacket off but most of them just sat and looked at me. So I went over to one of them and started to pull off his sweater. Evidently his mouth was open as I pulled it over his head and it somehow got caught on his loose tooth. And the screams commenced. I had no idea what had happened but took him outside and saw the blood that started coming so we rinsed out his mouth and waited for him to calm down (apologizing the whole time—can’t believe I really caused blood to flow). He didn’t talk for about 45 minutes after that but then came around and all was forgiven. During break he came in screaming again—he’d hit his head on a scooter and blamed another girl for it. came in and sat on my lap until he had screamed it all out. Then looked at me and said “you can never do that again.” I agreed and said, “yes, but you should also listen to your teacher and do what she says.” He thought about it and repeated his earlier statement so I did the same. He lost the tooth that afternoon—no tears.

short week

A great week at school. No big breakthroughs but little things. Clean up has been going really well at the end of the morning. It takes a little while to get started and there are of course some who just refuse to help but even they are not playing with the toys quite as much…just pulling out the mats and sitting down (and then bothering their neighbors while I have my back turned. They come in after break (again not all of them but we’re getting there). I don’t think I had any of those really frustrating moments when I was afraid that I would scream in the middle of class. It could also do with the fact that I had Lawrence in the room for most of the week…second set of hands and eyes goes a long way. Even Friday was good (and usually they are little monsters on Fridays). They left after we sang all sorts of songs and copy games…I lined them up at the door had them all wave to me and say (together) “see you next week”…and then as they walked out about half turned to me as said “see you tomorrow!” ah, well. I know it is the weekend.

home again

Got stopped at the same roadblock as before (I don’t know what it is with Lilongwe as none of the other blocks had a problem with us and we sailed through). He looked like he was going to let us through but then caught sight of the 4 of us in the back…oh an offense! How are you today…isabelle was driving and she said that she was fine but that her passenger was not feeling well. This is true and we’d stopped in Lilongwe because she felt like she was going to be sick and faint so we were anxious to get her home…she still looked pale and he noticed that. But he said you see and pointing to the back one, two, three that is ok. But that (pointing at me) is wrong…(I didn’t even get a “that one” which is normal Malawian for her or him), but since “this one” is sick I’ll let you go if you won’t do it again. ok and bye. No other incidents on the way home (all 45 minutes of it).

lake

The lake was nice…lots of wind (which is why Nkhoma was having such bad weather last week we were told) and therefore lots of waves. It looked and sounded like we were at the ocean! But the water was “fresh” and I didn’t float very easily but then the lake is quite shallow so there wasn’t much need. Sunny and relaxing it was very nice to just hang out with the girls. The camping area was very nice and we set up our three tents on the grass…as it turned out this was the wrong thing to do as there were ants everywhere…I thought we had set up away from all the anthills but evidently I was mistaken. I woke up to ant bites and just kept swatting. Finally at 4:30 I turned a flashlight on next to my head and saw that my sleeping bag was teeming with them. Up I got and went to sit on the beach to watch the sunrise and get away from that (I wasn’t going to sleep anymore anyway after seeing that.). beautiful sunrise—great way to start the day. More relaxing and we “Doomed” our tent (bug killer) twice before getting in again Sunday night…woke up at 11 to more bites so doomed again and while it was better than before they were still around. Slept some but decided to get up for sunrise again as napping on the beach would be more restful than this…

driving

Gone again to the lake…of course. What else to do on a weekend? Especially a long weekend! 6 girls in a Honda CRV with an amazing amount of stuff in the back. Not all that bad as we were camping and needed tents, sleeping bags, etc…but still. Off we headed thru Lilongwe and of course through the police stop there. Made it through no problem and stopped for gas just on the other side (wouldn’t want to run out)…trying to leave the gas station one of the officers must have thought he’d found an easy mark and stopped us before we could get on the road again. came to my window and asked for my license…checked the insurance and the license and came back to tell me we were in violation as the insurance is good for 5 not 6. (as I watch a minibus pass through with at least 20 I’m sure). So what are we going to do? Where are we headed and where are we from? (to the lake from Nkhoma) the offense is MK3000 (US$17). I then asked if he was going to fine everyone coming through with too many people. Like who he asked. Like those minibuses…well they are allowed 16 people. I told him that every minibus I’d been in had at least 20 in it. well, some stop just before the road block and let people out to walk through (very illegal)…none of mine have done that. Well, some of them are going to funerals and we take that into consideration. Hmm. What about that truck (pick up with many in the back. Well, they are going to the fields for the harvest. Well, we are all volunteers working for free here in Malawi. So what are we going to do? I think you should tell us to have a good weekend. We are working for free and don’t have the money to pay. Well how are you going to pay for the lake? We brought just enough for the lake. Well, then give me a Fanta. We don’t have any Fanta. (worth MK60). Here is a water bottle (frozen). I don’t want that. Well, that is what we have. What are we going to do? You can say have a good weekend. And then while he didn’t tell us to have a good weekend he did let us continue on our way.