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!