The opposite of Malawi is...

Yup, Springfield "Home of the Simpsons" Vermont (photo taken out of bedroom window at Chez Hughes)

It's true. I'm home and in addition to a new sculpture of Homer Simpson's "hand holding doughnut" (photo to be posted) in the center of town, it has snowed approximately every single day since I arrived last week. I mean I was hoping for some snowshoeing, but holy moly. I couldn't even get out the door the other day because the snow fell off the roof right outside our front door (I could have shoveled, but opted to take the side door). I would also add that I can count the number of hours I've felt my hands on, uh, one hand. It is frrrriigggiiddd.

But it's great to be home and now I know that global warming IS just a left wing conspiracy.

Okay, okay, I know I can't get out of at least a small explanation for my blogosphere hiatus. I hope that bloggers would agree that once you get a bit behind, it's hard to catch up. I mean the amount that has happened in my life since last posting this fall...wow. Shocking amounts of developments--new food made, yet another new house, hiking, new job. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The beginning of my non-blogging started for one reason:

Yeah. No doubt. The BF came to visit and my blogging took back seat to:
Okay, sorry for this (I would totally barf if I were me a year ago when love stuff made me grossed out). But Andrew came for a visit from Uganda in October and it's entirely his fault that I didn't blog.

Now that we've got that out of the way, here are some updates:

1. My 6 month internship is up (July-Dec), but I'll be going back to Malawi for 2 years as a Global Health Fellow. I'm really excited. In reality, I was interviewing during Oct/Nov and everything was very up in the air which was a bit stressful. At any rate, it all came together and I'll be working in health (mostly HIV/AIDS) for the next two years. Details to come. Overall though I am SO glad that I went out to Malawi--I learned a lot about the country as well as public health as a whole--and I'm really looking forward to the next two years. The big difference will be my switch out of Malaria work to programmatic management in HIV/AIDS. More to come on this as I begin my work...

2. When I return in January I'll be living closer to the city (not in embassy housing, but one I picked out myself). Here's a very uninteresting photo I took of the new place in the dark:
It's nice though - I mean, look at all of the plants. I'll take some photos when I get there. Things that the house came with: 5 bedrooms, a pool, a dog.

3. I went to Zambia! Kate, Amy and I took off in late October to see some animals and enjoy a little relaxation in a national park. I didn't take many pictures, but here's one I took of Kate taking a photo of the ants (there were a lot). Oh, and I'm getting a new camera. This is going to improve the blog a lot.
4. I hiked Mulanje and it was amazing. Andrew and I took off for a few days to hike the 3rd highest peak in Africa. It was one of the most difficult climbs I've ever done--day 1: 2000 vertical meters. What? But we didn't die so it's fine. There's a lot of mystique that surrounds the mountain--i.e. people have disappeared on Mulanje and there is some rumor that the mountain "took them". Anyway, I think this photo may capture some of this said mystique:
Here's me at the peak reading* the map:
*this photo is totally and completely posed.

The most difficult aspect of the hike was the straight up rock cliffs we scrambled with nothing but the liken kept up upright.
It was a great hike though and we had a really nice time. On our way home we stopped by Cape Maclear (see posting #2 for photos) which was a nice spot to unwind after the hike.

Anyway, this has gotten very long (I know I ran out of juice to tell you about all of the food I've been making/eating which I'm sure is very disappointing for you, dear reader). At any rate, things are going very well. I'm home until mid-January and I hope to catch up with some cats in NYC, Philly and DC during this time.

BUUUTTTT keep checking the blog because I'll be writing fresh from the US and A.

Word to my peeps in Malawi--I'm eating nice cheese and thinking of you.

Zinger!

What happened to me?

Seriously. The length of time between this posting and the last is completely inexcusable. I can only imagine the readership I've lost because of this poor form. Not that you, Precious Reader, are looking for excuses, but let me at least note that I have been working pretty nonstop (even Saturdays, and, are you ready for this, Sundays). For those of you who knew me in my former life at a certain department of fuels, you probably don't even believe me, but I am not someone who's going to lie on my own blog. For real. Please believe, and forgive, me.

Okay, in addition to work (which I luuhhoovvve by the way), a lot has happened since I last posted. Let's start with the fact that I moved(!). The new place is, if you can imagine, even bigger. We forgot O'ball, but she found us.
In all of my non time I didn't take a great sequence of photos, but I have a random assortment so you can get a feel of my small mansion house. Let's start in the place where all the magic* happens--my bedroom. I have a few closets for the 3 outfits I brought:
*magic =sleeping
I thought I should clean up a bit before I took a picture of my room...but I didn't.
I have two new roommates I should tell you about. The first one you've seen many a time before - John Face! Here he is preparing for our language lessons (which we have in the living room).
And here's the second one - who John killed
True story. That thing was in my bathroom and I felt like I was suddenly on safari. I felt badly killing it so I gave John a yogurt container to trap it and then let it back into the wild. He took the container and then one of my shoes and, well you can imagine the rest. Obviously, there was a breakdown in communication which is a real shame for the once giant spider.

Anyway, back to the tour. The kitchen is quite large. We labeled all our food with Chichewa names in a desperate attempt to learn (which is proving to take a while).
Sorry, that's the best photo I have of the kitchen, but if you look closely, you'll also see the coffee (khafi) maker that came from Uhhhmerica.

One other new thing--in addition to working all of the time and the crib change is a small SUV sitting in the driveway. Owner = car model (pictured below).
On this note, see the title of my first blog entry.

Okay, I also have a lot of photos from a work trip and I promise a "what do I do besides travel and live in big houses and eat" posting soon. Overall though, things are going really well. Malawi is a beautiful country and the people I'm working with are inspiring (as is the work).

However, it's after 9pm now so I must sign off--get off Amy's couch and go home.

Village Peeps

Holy my moly, was I so excited when Joe asked if Colette and I would be interested in seeing his Peace Corp village and family. We decided to make a day of it and drove an hour or so south of Lilongwe.

We parked just outside of the village and walked in. I thought it important to take a photo of me as we set out.
Although not shining through in this photo, Joe's family was quite happy to see him.
They invited us into their home to talk and catch up. This was especially interesting for Colette and me who still have some work to do in terms of our command and comprehension of Chichewa.
As we were sitting there, more and more people crowded around the house. I took a picture through the small window as I nodded and smiled (not having any clue what was being talked about).
After a while, Joe's family invited us on a walk to check out a village forestry project. I thought, "Oh that will be nice to go for a little walk, see some trees". Right, this was no small walk and after about 10 minutes we had to forge a stream. Good thing I'm so steady on my feet.
Okay, that's a complete lie--I did a terrible job crossing this stream and fell in on the way back. Anyway, let's move on.

As we continued on what turned out to be an hour or so hike, Colette and I grew a bit concerned--where are these said trees?
This kid didn't seem concerned.
Anyway, we had to turn around a bit early to get back to Lilongwe. I took the below (albeit, cliche) photo of our send off party.
All in all it was a great little village visit and I'm looking forward to seeing some more rural areas through work.

Not to end on a sad note, but Joe headed back to the States last week. This leaves me a bit concerned as I stay alone in my mansion house. See, Joe and I had quite the security system--see guns below.
These things happen and rumors are I'll have a new roommate soon--check back, details coming. We out.

I heart food stuffs

While I take nsima and beans everyday at lunch (post on its way...), here's a little peek into what I cook and eat at my small mansion house. Let's start with this really delicious veggie and rice combo I made the other night.
Doesn't it look so good? And 100% vegetarian--right on.

Even though I make my own food so well (proof above), I really like to cook with other people. Most of the time, Joe (my roommate) and I cook together. We made apple pie last week, see.
And while we're on dessert, this is my favorite...
I make it from scratch and here's the recipe: one banana, nutella spread on top and almonds (place like you would for ants on a log). If the recipe and above photo isn't tempting enough, check out the pure joy it brings.
The other night we made my absolute favorite meal: veggie dumplings. We made the dough from scratch and then forced the dinner guests to make their own dumplings.
The whole process takes a while, but learning is what really matters. Aussie John made the worst ones because he's used to only working with knives and crocodiles. Not surprising, mine were 100% awesome. In the picture below you can probably tell who made which ones (hint: John's is that second one from the bottom).
I actually felt badly for making fun of Aussie John's freakish dumplings so I gave him the biggest dessert.
Oh and to leave on such a great note, I found tofu in Lilongwe! I've been eating a lot of beans and veggies, but craving some other options.
Three words: pure tofu joy.

Not a long way from Lilongwe...

So I've been wicked excited to find out that just outside of big city Lilongwe there's a lot of nice hiking. Even though I don't have a car, it's not hard to hitch a ride out on the weekends--this Saturday being no exception.

I went with a couple folk from a microfinance NGO that sort of combined the hike with a site visit. Those of us who were not part of the NGO waited outside of this gas station where speakers underneath the roof blared Michael Jackson's "The way you make me feel" (I really like that song, I mean profoundly so).

Across from the gas station was another one of their microfinance projects--a small small grocery. We got some food stuffs for the hike.

That's Claudia on the left--she lives here with her husband--and Debra who is visiting from the NGO's headquarters in the UK (small world, Debra is also Kate's roommate...Kate went back to the UK which is very, very sad).

Apparently, Ntchisi (where we went) is the last patch of rain forest left in Malawi (I haven't double checked that factoid). Anyway, it definitely did have that rain forest feel from the start.

That's Arthur in the front and Mike, Claudia's husband on the far right.

So we hiked through the rain forest (I was on constant snake patrol). We had to stay pretty much on the trail because apparently there are traps set to catch antelope (another unchecked factoid). The trees were amazing, however, and we did step off to take a closer look.

After about an hour of hiking we hit a clearing that overlooked the lake (although it was hard to see because there's so much smoke from people burning crops).

We had some lunch on a big rock.

My favorite part of lunch was the name of the crackers.

It was a really great hike and I can't wait to go back.

We rode home in the back of the pick-up where we made some small friends.

When I got home I was really dusty from the back of the pick-up and very tired from all that fun and excitement so I just ate some fruit and went to bed.

Good thing hippos only eat marbles

Before I tell you about my weekend in Liwonde National Park, I'd like to take a moment to show you the biggest bug bit I've ever had:

Note the difference in size between my left (normal) hand and my right (freakishly large) hand. This notable change in appearance of my own two hands kept me occupied for most of the car trip--note that it takes 2.5 hours to get to Liwonde.

Okay, to the weekend: It was amazing. My roommate/workmate/former peace corp volunteer in Malawi/excel master (our trip was in a spreadsheet) Joe organized an awesome excursion down south to Liwonde National Park. Here's Joe in living color as we're leaving Lilongwe.

On our drive down, you'll never believe what I saw (and fortunately for you, took a picture of)--how about Mozambique.

And if you think that picture is poor in quality, you're in for a real treat throughout this blog posting...(something is wrong with my crappy camera and I would like a new one please).

So we arrived at Chinguni Lodge and it was amazing--it kind of felt like you were hanging out at some guys house or something. Here's John and Joe at dinner:

Right so the next day we woke up 5:30am for a morning walk/safari. I really enjoyed just being outside, you know, with the elephants and buck. If you are thinking the same thing I was thinking, yes, there are tons and tons of snakes. I did not see any but I knew they were all around.

Since my friends took much better pictures of the animals, I opted for two different approaches in safari:

1. The safariers become the safaried

2. And even more so...

Since I'm not that into Safari, the morning walk was my favorite because I could sort of run around, etc. During the afternoon we went out on a canoe ride WITH HIPPOS EVERYWHERE and I was feeling both SCARED and antsy. This picture doesn't show it because it was only hour one.

Oh, and do you like the hat? I was feeling very British Safari in the 1800s in that thing and couldn't quite break out of character, see:

But the reason I was so scared about the Hippos is check out how close they were: At one point I looked out and saw this which really made me wonder if I'd made the right choice coming out here: Yup, I'm down with my decision.

Here are the ladies from the weekend--that's Kate on the left and Marva on my right. As you can see the roads were a bit bumpy...

Right after we took that picture, check out what we ran into:

We left pretty early Sunday morning so we could stop along the way. John made lots of friends through his strong command of chichewa.

I made one purchase.

So all in all a great weekend. Oh, and the bug bite is much better.