International Day of Peace (Ziua Internațională a Păcii)

Sooooooooo, this is REALLLLLLY late, but wutevz...

I taught about the International Day of Peace way back in September (the official day is Sept.21 -- happy b-day mom!), but am just now getting around to posting it!

I started with a definition of peace ("Peace is a time of security and tranquility that exists when there is no fighting or war, all coexisting in perfect harmony and freedom."). Then I explained what The International Day of Peace celebrates and it's history (InternationalDayOfPeace.org).

From there i showed and explained different symbols of peace from around the world, starting, of course with The Peace Corps' logo and my role as a PCV.

Upon researching different peace symbols, i learned a few things myself, like where the shape of the most recognized peace symbol comes from. It was a logo designed for the UK campaign for nuclear disarmament, in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, and adopted by anti-war and counterculture in the United States and elsewhere.

The symbol is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D," standing for "nuclear disarmament". In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an inverted "V," and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. Superimposing these two signs forms the shape of the center of the peace symbol.

"V" is for "Victory". That's how this famous hand gesture got started. It was used to represent victory during WWII. In the '60s, anti-war protesters adopted it to represent peace from the Vietnam War. Both uses represent the desire for the end of war.

The olive branch represents the restoration of peace. The dove from Noah's Ark brought back an olive branch, which showed that The Flood was receding, and therefore, God's wrath subsiding, bringing peace back to earth.

The dove is what brought the olive branch back to The Ark. Commonly the dove and olive branch are symbolized together, with the dove carrying the olive branch in it's beak.

The Roerich Emblem - I had never seen this symbol before, but thought it appropriate for Moldovans because it was designed by a Russian cultural activist, Nicholas Roerich, who used it as the emblem for his movement to protect cultural artifacts.

In 1935 a pact initiated by Roerich was signed by the United States and Latin American nations, agreeing that "historic monuments, museums, scientific, artistic, educational and cultural institutions" should be protected both in times of peace and war.

Roerich described the circle as representing the totality of culture, with the three dots being Art, Science, and Religion, three of the most embracing of human cultural activities. He also described the circle as representing the eternity of time, encompassing the past, present, and future.

The Peace Flag - The international peace flag in the colors of the rainbow was first used in Italy on a 1961 peace march from Perugia to Assisi organised by the pacifist and social philosopher Aldo Capitini.

The flag commonly has seven rainbow-colored stripes with the word "Peace" in the center. It has been explained as follows:

In the account of the Great Flood, God set the rainbow to a seal the alliance with man and nature, promising that there will never be another Flood over the whole earth. The rainbow thus became a symbol of Peace across the earth and the sky, and, by extension, among all men.

Then for homework, the kids drew their own peace symbols.

Our classroom Wall of Peace! :o]

Thanksgiving (Ziua Recunoștinței) Lesson

For Thanksgiving 2015, i taught it to my kids - the history, where it's celebrated (USA & Canada, but different dates), and why it's celebrated. To keep the spirit of gratefulness alive in their minds, i had them start Grateful Journals, that they will write in for the rest of the school year (at least, hopefully). They are supposed to write 3 things they're grateful for everyday - trying not to repeat themselves too much - and then i have them read aloud 3 things they are most grateful for from the week, and they receive a sticker. My 5th, 6th, & 7th graders are most compliant, but my 8th & 9th graders aren't. So for them, in the beginning of class, i ask them to say 3 things they are grateful for at the moment. The point of the Grateful Journals are to bring to their conscience's reasons to be grateful on a daily basis - especially for the small things, like pumpkin porridge and soft warm jammies. Another motivator for my 5th-7th graders is that i keep a Grateful Journal too, and read to them 3 things from it every week also (i read it to my 8th & 9th graders too, but they still don't care, ut o well...maybe it's reaching 1 kid, which is a success in my mind). I always include "normal, every day" things (like my pillow, socks, or the color green) in the hopes that they'll also start recognizing "normal, every day" things from a grateful perspective too. 

For the activity of the day, i taught them how to make the traditional Thanksgiving hand turkey, and had them write something they are grateful for on each finger feather. Below was my example (I wrote Fall, my dog, my students, and God's love).

This is the end result. I didn't even receive a quarter of my total number of students, but i knew i wouldn't, which ended up working out anyway for the space i had to hang them on the wall.

Both my partner teachers LOVED the hand turkeys, and took my example to make for themselves and use in future classes! :oD  It was pretty cute.

Mango Alipo

(Translation: mangos are available. In Chichewa "mango" is both singular and plural, and "alipo" means available or around or here.)

Even though I have been eating mangos for a couple months now, it hasn't felt like mango season because the giant mango tree in front of my house didn't have any ripe fruit yet.

All that has changed now. Throughout the day I hear ripe mangos falling into my yard. And I find this:

They lay in the grass like yellow Easter eggs, just waiting to be eaten. Which I am doing my best to comply with, but it's difficult. (What a great problem to have, right?) Today about eight mangos fell to the ground. I grabbed a couple for myself and gave the rest to the kids. They love them! I'm eating them Malawian-style now, mango skin and all except the pit. They are so good!

There aren't too many strangers climbing the tree to get ripe mangos now. The kids told me the men did that last week while I was away. Mostly the women come with long branches and bamboo stalks to knock out the ripe mangos, or the kids throw rocks and unripe mangos to knock out the ripe ones. It's a big old mango party here!

I was thinking about making something with them, like mango coffee cake, but we're having a bit of a heat wave now so the thought of standing over a fire for hours is not appealing. Anyways, I'm too busy marking exams and preparing final grades for school. Our new term starts on Monday, 4 January (that's how we write dates here). But there are still a fair amount of mangos to ripen, so maybe later this week.

And a Happy New Year

Hello, 2016! This year will start in Malawi for me and end in the good old US of A. It's kinda hard to believe.

New Years Eve in the village is like a big party. There was music late into the night, and people were out and about, laughing and talking into the wee hours.

When the kids came by this morning, we all wished each other a Happy New Year in English, and talked about our Christmases. Then we decorated a little  Christmas tree, since I didn't have time to do it before I left for the holiday. They got a little carried away with the stickers.

Then we collected fallen mangos, practiced some English vocabulary with the flash cards I made, and I gave then some biscuits. Cuz it's a holiday after all!

In the afternoon I went to my neighbor's house to chat. They were preparing their New Years meal of chicken and rice. These are both expensive foods for villagers so they are usually only served on special occasions. They gave me a small piece of chicken to eat since I said I was making beans and rice for dinner. It was boneless and soft, and I have no idea what part it was except it wasn't a wing or breast. They use the whole chicken here, feet and all. It was well-cooked and tasty. Then they gave me a mandazi (donut) to take home with me.

For dinner I made lentils and brown rice and veggies. It took a long time to cook on the hot plate, but it was worth it. And I made extra so I could share some with my neighbors too. They said it was "kucoma" (tastes good).

Oh, and this evening I saw the first toad of the year! It was two inches long. So cute-- look at it's little feet!

Transport in Malawi

For my journey up North last week I traveled by big buses and mini-buses. I had a lot of time to think as I travelled up and down Malawi, and I came up with this comparison of buses and mini-buses here.

Big Buses

There are three types of big buses here in Malawi.

1) High Quality - The first type are the expensive buses like those operated by the Premier Bus Company. They leave at scheduled times, make only one stop, and leave regardless of how full they are. It's one person per seat, and no standing in the aisles. They also give a little snack and a drink during the ride. This is my favorite way to travel, but the price means I can't always use it. Also this particular bus only goes between Blantyre and Lilongwe. It takes about four hours to go from Blantyre to Lilongwe on these buses.

2) Medium Quality - The second type of bus are less expensive, but still out of the price range of the typical villager. An example are most of the Axa buses. They leave at scheduled times, but make stops in all the major towns to pick up and drop off so it takes longer. These buses also leave regardless of how full they are. It's one person per seat, but they allow standing in the aisles. Or sitting, as the case may be, since people are on these buses for hours. This can make the bus feel really full. These buses travel across most of Malawi. It takes about five hours to go from Blantyre to Lilongwe on these buses.

2) Low Quality - The last type of bus is a low cost transport option that is typically used by the average Malawian for long-distances. I only took one once, on the way to visit my site for the first time in July 2014. And there is a reason for that.

These buses have no scheduled arrivals nor departures. They don't leave until they are full. That day we waited for the bus to fill up for over four hours before it left the bus depot. And when I say full, I mean every seat and packed aisles full of standing passengers. These buses make stops anywhere there is a person, a bus depot, a vendor selling stuff, or I don't know, a maize plant growing. It was ridiculous and frustrating. All told it took us 10 hours to go from Lilongwe to Blantyre that day. I didn't get any photos though.

Mini-Buses

The other major type of public transport used here are mini-buses. I've posted a lot about them, so I won't say too much more. Suffice to say, they are usually run-down vehicles the size of a VW Bus with anywhere from 16-25 people crammed in them, plus chickens, goats, fish and whatever else people need to carry. They cram in as many people as they can, sometimes even making people sit backwards in the first row, or having people stand (or crouch). It's not uncommon for doors to be falling off, pieces of metal to stick out inside the vehicle and bags of maize to be on the floor so you have to step over or on it to enter and leave the vehicle. They go short and long distances, leave only when they are full, have no scheduled times, and stop anywhere there is a person wanting a ride or needing to be dropped off.

Here is a pic from a mini-bus I took last week. I love the expression on that lady's face. She was probably wondering why this crazy azungu was taking a photo of the mini-bus. You can't see it here, but there was a guy standing just to the left of me too. Just a typical mini-bus ride in Malawi.

Mmmm, bugs

I'm in the last seven months of my service now, and I still have a few things on my PC Malawi bucket list to do. One of them was to try nsima made from cassava flour instead of the usual maize flour. Another was to try the flying ants that people eat here. I got to do both last week.

Good old nsima. It was served with a tomato and egg relish as well as cooked cassava leaves. A classic Northern Malawian meal, and pretty tasty.

Afterwards the owner of the restaurant showed is where they were drying the flying ants in the sun.

Here is a closer look. They are about an inch long and have about two inch wings.

Just remove the wings and eat. Here is me about to eat one.

And here is me after. Really, it didn't taste bad. Kinda flaky, crunchy and salty. But the legs got stuck in my teeth and that freaked me out a little bit.

I'm glad I tried them, and I would eat them again. Especially if they were prepared in some dish. Maybe a flying ant burger?

Happy Boxing Day from Malawi

Boxing Day is a National Holiday in Malawi. It has its origins with the British. There are different accounts of how it started, but it seems most likely that it began as the servant's day to celebrate Christmas, the day after the actual Christmas.

For my last Boxing Day in Malawi I went up to a place called Mushroom Farm near Livingstonia in Malawi. To get there you need to go up a very steep, winding road. We caught a ride on the back of a matola (large pick up truck).

The views here are incredible. You can see mountains and the lake for miles. At night we could see lightning far off in the distance. It was gorgeous.

Here is the little mini-dorm tent we stayed in. It looks like a little fairy house from the outside.

We hiked to some nearby waterfalls the next day. We were in a low cave when I took this photo.

This is on the way back to Mushroom Farm. Those spiky plants in the foreground are pineapple plants.

In the evenings we read and played Bananagrams and watched the lightning. And enjoyed the delicious food. Lentil dahl, salad, eggplant curry... so good.

On the way down we didn't get a ride, so we walked down. It took around two hours or so. We had some great views and I got to use some neglected muscles.

It was quite a journey to get up North, but I'm really glad I went. I saw a new and unique part of Malawi, met new people, and had some new experiences. That's what being in PC is all about.