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.