What PCVs do...

a plethora of buckets

In my opinion, every PCV should have a bucket. They serve so many purposes! From bucket bathing, to puking into it while having diarrhea at the same time, to using it to store stuff, to using it as a chair, to making a drum out of it to make a kikass beat... and thankfully they can be found almost everywhere, including the local piață!

Cleaning Day in Malawi

It's Sunday so it is a good time to do a little house-cleaning. I'm mopping my cement floors this morning. I don't see much difference before and after, but it feels good anyways.

While cleaning my living room I found a few things this morning:

- lizard skin that had been shed

- a dead cricket

- a tiny poop (lizard poop?)

Oh, and this little guy:

Isn't this the hairiest little caterpillar you have ever seen? He is now happily roaming outside in my yard. Ah, nature.

Okay, back to laundry. Let's see if the red ants are back yet...

Hot Season

While the Northern Hemisphere goes into Fall and Winter, it is getting quite warm down here in the South.

In Malawi, they say there are three seasons: Hot season, cold season and the rainy season. And it is officially the hot season. October and November are supposed to be the hottest months, so I am looking forward to that...

I don't have a thermometer, but that is probably a good thing because knowing the number is not going to make me feel any cooler. It's not so bad right now, though I notice I drink more water than a few weeks ago. (Although I really miss ice.)  Mostly it is just difficult to sleep at night. I got a tip from a PCV to sleep with a wet handkerchief over me to cool me off, so I tried that last night. It worked pretty well too.

The heat has some benefits though-- tropical fruit season is coming! I got a bunch of bananas (nthochi) yesterday for really cheap. And my neighbors gave me this from their tree:

Papaya! Now I admit I am not a huge papaya fan, but when in Malawi...

Stay warm, Northerners!

4 weeks of școală terminat!...31 more to go!!

(elevii [students] putting a puzzle of the 3 aspects of health together during class)

(„Triunghiul de sănătate” - mintală, fizică, și socială

"Triangle of Health" - mental, physical, & social - i made puzzle pieces for each health aspect - each representing one of the colors of the Moldovan flag - albastru [blue], galben [yellow], și roșu [red];
o, and obviously not all the elevii showed up for class, hence all the blank puzzle pieces)

(elevii posting their own health drawings onto „Triunghiul de sănătate” ["Triangle of Health"]; my partner teacher, Natalia, is encouraging them)

(my 1st gift from an elev as a profesoară!!)

(2nd gift...the plum looks like a butt...or a heart, depending on how you look at it ;op)

(& 3rd time's the charm! my 1st măr (apple)!!! YAY! how iconic! i feel like a real teacher now! :o] )

bucket bathing...not for everyone ;op

Like my sister down in Malawi, i too must bucket bathe in lieu of showering or any type of bathing with running water...but, unlike my sister, i really dread it and avoid it for as long as possible! I've lived in my site for 6 weeks now and have only bucket bathed twice so far!! I know, ew, right??, well, i've thankfully managed to get away almost every weekend and have been able to take either real, or almost real showers when i've been away from site! The 2 weekends i've stayed at site were the 2 weekends in which i bucket bathed...not a pretty site. So, if you've done the math, ya, i'm only truly bathing about once a week...but inbetween bathings, i do body wipe-downs with the baby wipes i brought with me...so i'm not completely gross. ;op

But, the bucket itself, i do love and it hasn't gone completely to waste! I used it a couple weeks ago to puke in while i was having waterfalls of diarrhea! I think that one of the most valuable possessions all PCVs must have is a bucket! ...regardless of bucket bathing! 

Toamnă este aici!!! ...for realz yo

So, Autumn is here, and it's frkn COLD!!! I LOVE IT!!!! ...but it's frkn COLD!!! The past few nights have gotten down in the 30's (Farenheit, duh)! By the time i walked to school the other day (only about a 10 minute walk), my feet, hands, and nose were numb!

My prep for winter while i was still in SoCal was limited...I was shopping for winter (or trying to) in SoCal in May...

It's only Autumn and i'm already soooooooooo cold!!! Mama-G gave me a 2L bottle filled with hot water last night to put under my blankets next to me while i slept...it was wonderful! and it stayed warm the whole night!

(on the left: corn cobs used as fuel in the sobă (heater thingy) for heat during the winter; 

on the right: freshly painted squatty potty...we have a flushing toilet inside (technically we don't have plumbing, the water that flushes and comes out of the tap is pumped in from the well), so i'm wondering about this freshly painted outhouse...does it mean it gets so cold here in winter that we can't flush the toilet and are gonna hafta use this the whole COLD iarnă (winter)?? ...sigh)

time to start growing out my winter coat, i guess ;op