We have been here for a week and one day now! We feel like we have learned so much in 8 days.
Bech has been driving on the “wrong” side of the road now for almost a week and is doing great! I am learning to drive a stick shift, and am doing okay (or so Bech says). The funny thing is since I am learning how to here, I will be so confused trying to drive a stick shift back home where it is to my right.
We have figured our way around town, mostly. The streets here are sooo confusing! But we have been to most places now. We have been to the curio market, and the main market to get fresh fruit and vegetables.. We have been to Olde Town mall (well it has 6 shops…one of them a little grocery. We have also grocery shopped at Foodworths and Shoprite.
We have cooked some. I have made homemade lemonade twice. We have cooked pumpkin, potatoes, spinach, etc.
I have been working on bulletin boards for my classroom. I have the first 3 weeks of lesson plans for the 7th grade and the first month for the 8th grade. I am still working on 9th grades.
Today the men came and worked on our hot water heater. We haven’t had hot water since we arrived. We have quickly found out that when people here say “tomorrow,” as in, “We’ll be there to fix it tomorrow,” they don’t literally mean tomorrow. They mean whenever. But the Ketchums have kindly let us use their shower for the last few days. And if you are wondering how many Malawians it takes to fix a hot water heater, the answer is 6. But Jack, the main guy, just left and told us it was all fixed. Pray that it is!
No word on the container. Laura ChinChin told me last week that we would “probably” get it this week. I am putting a lot of weight into that word “probably.” It sounds more promising than maybe, right? But we are comfortable on our air mattress. We are cold at night, so we are eager for our blankets from the container.
Plus a LOT of curriculum is in there, so we need it before school starts. I have all of mine, but one teacher’s, Vicky, curriculum is all on there. She is teaching 2nd grade, but it’s the first year there have been two 2nd grades, so all her curriculum had to be ordered new. Please pray that customs okays it all soon!
One thing we haven’t really talked about yet is Malawi itself. This is actually pretty deliberate. We haven’t taken any pictures yet either. We are still just trying to take everything in. It is so hard and strange to be surrounded by such intense poverty. We know we have to reach a point, a middleground between being broken hearted by everything around us but growing accustomed to it at the same time. But we don’t want to be too used to it…we just can’t walk around broken hearted 24 hours a day. I know that sounds strange. We are just still trying to figure it all out. But we will take pictures soon of everything. We want to share it with everyone.
We love and miss everyone so much! We are thankful for all the prayer and support. All of you mean the world to us!
***I am actually posting this on the 13th, instead of the 12th. The power went out last night, so I wasn't able to post last night. But we do have hot water now!!!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
an update
okay, well i am trying to upload pictures on the laptop as i type. bech and i are sitting in the teachers lounge at the academy, working on the computer in the room and then our laptop.
we have had a great first week. bech wants to put a post on here as well, so i may be repeating some of what he will say, but oh well! we are borrowing an academy car. bech has driven it around town a bunch and is doing great. in case you didn't know, in malawi, cars drive on the left side of the road...it is so confusing! plus the roads are not in good shape here and people drive like crazy men! i haven't been able to drive on the roads yet, because the car is stick shift. but bech and emily tried to teach me today how to drive on the roads...they said i did great for a first lesson, so hopefully i will be driving in malawi soon!
we are starting to get settled into the apartment. i don't know if i have said this yet, but we haven't been able to get into the carton. something messed up with customs. so hopefully next week we can get our boxes and furniture! i bought some fabric from the market, so bech and i made makeshift curtains out of this great, bright fabric. we both think it looks great! i will take pictures of that this week.
we have gone grocery shopping...what an experience! there are a few semi american ish grocery stores...we have shopped there. also, we have gone to the local markets and bought fresh fruit and vegetables. things at the grocery store send to be more expensive, but the fresh produce is sooo cheap. we also got some glass bottle cokes from the 7-11.
we have both been working on our curriculum. we have to have the first two weeks of lesson plans before school starts and always stay two weeks ahead of time. i am really excited about it all. i have 7th grades first 3 weeks done, and the first 2 weeks of 9th grade. so now i need to move onto 8th. i have been organising the classroom and am about to start hanging posters.
still no hot water, but people came and looked at it yesterday. they are supposed to come tomorrow and finish fixing it. lets hope that actually happens! also the internet people say they will come tuesday.
other missionaries will start arriving next week. right now, most of the long term people are here. but short term (by that i mean 1 to 2 years) people aren't here yet. we are excited to meet our friends for this year! we have really enjoyed getting to know the other short term couple here already...the ketchums. he is doing maintenance and she is teaching 3rd grade. they live in our apartment complex too, so that makes us feel safe.
tonight we had our first friday night potluck...so fun. there are so many young missionary kids here...it is great to get to know them...because as everyone knows, i love kids. the families here are great as well.
we miss everyone, but we love it here. please come visit! you will definately be changed!
we have had a great first week. bech wants to put a post on here as well, so i may be repeating some of what he will say, but oh well! we are borrowing an academy car. bech has driven it around town a bunch and is doing great. in case you didn't know, in malawi, cars drive on the left side of the road...it is so confusing! plus the roads are not in good shape here and people drive like crazy men! i haven't been able to drive on the roads yet, because the car is stick shift. but bech and emily tried to teach me today how to drive on the roads...they said i did great for a first lesson, so hopefully i will be driving in malawi soon!
we are starting to get settled into the apartment. i don't know if i have said this yet, but we haven't been able to get into the carton. something messed up with customs. so hopefully next week we can get our boxes and furniture! i bought some fabric from the market, so bech and i made makeshift curtains out of this great, bright fabric. we both think it looks great! i will take pictures of that this week.
we have gone grocery shopping...what an experience! there are a few semi american ish grocery stores...we have shopped there. also, we have gone to the local markets and bought fresh fruit and vegetables. things at the grocery store send to be more expensive, but the fresh produce is sooo cheap. we also got some glass bottle cokes from the 7-11.
we have both been working on our curriculum. we have to have the first two weeks of lesson plans before school starts and always stay two weeks ahead of time. i am really excited about it all. i have 7th grades first 3 weeks done, and the first 2 weeks of 9th grade. so now i need to move onto 8th. i have been organising the classroom and am about to start hanging posters.
still no hot water, but people came and looked at it yesterday. they are supposed to come tomorrow and finish fixing it. lets hope that actually happens! also the internet people say they will come tuesday.
other missionaries will start arriving next week. right now, most of the long term people are here. but short term (by that i mean 1 to 2 years) people aren't here yet. we are excited to meet our friends for this year! we have really enjoyed getting to know the other short term couple here already...the ketchums. he is doing maintenance and she is teaching 3rd grade. they live in our apartment complex too, so that makes us feel safe.
tonight we had our first friday night potluck...so fun. there are so many young missionary kids here...it is great to get to know them...because as everyone knows, i love kids. the families here are great as well.
we miss everyone, but we love it here. please come visit! you will definately be changed!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
we're here!
We’re here! I am actually writing this post at 2:55 a.m. Tuesday morning. That is about 7:55 Monday night for those of ya’ll in Mississippi. We went to bed at 8:30 last night, and now I can’t sleep! Oh well, I decided I would come write this post right now, then fall back in bed and try to get some more rest. I am not sure when I will be able to post though. We are going to try to get internet set up this week.
We left Saturday at 5:15. The Evans, my family, and Bech and I had a last lunch at Little Tokyo then headed to the airport. We ended up with 11 checked bags total…not too bad. After very tearful goodbyes, we set off. The short flight to Dallas was fine, although I did cry some of it (I know, I am embarrassing…just hope you never have to fly with me when I am leaving for a year!). The flight to London was fine too, just so long. And Bech and I have realized that we aren’t really able to sleep on planes. We actually got about 4 hours sleep on that flight.
London was fine. We got to go into the city, but after going through customs, checking our bags, taking the tube in from Heathrow, etc., we ended up only getting to spend about 3 hours there. My friend Liz Anne is in London right now, so we were planning on meeting up. But when I tried all of the numbers, I couldn’t get them to go through. I don’t know if I am just an idiot about international codes, or what. That was disappointing, but I guess it just means now she will have to come visit us in Lilongwe. We wandered around London for a few hours. We peeked into the National Portrait Gallery and saw a Lucian Freud (along with some other good paintings). We needed lunch but wanted something local. We asked somebody at the museum and he sent us across the street to St. Martins. It’s an old church with a crypt below it, and in the crypt, they have a café set up. We ate there and enjoyed it. We stopped in Trafalgar Square then headed back to the airport.
We left at 7 that night for the long flight to Johannesburg. It was exactly that…long. This time we both only got about an hour of sleep. We got to Johannesburg at 6:50 a.m., and didn’t have to leave until 11:30.
We got to Lilongwe on schedule, about 2 in the afternoon. Only one of our bags was lost, which is quite a big deal (I mean that only one was lost, and not more). It is full of academy stuff, and will get here eventually. Its probably just stuck in one of the cities we flew from.
Sam and LeAnne and Amy Louise (another ABC missionary) picked us and all of our luggage up and took us to our new apartment. At this point, Bech and I were both exhausted, in cultural shock overload, and probably a little smelly (we hadn’t been able to shower since Saturday morning). They left us at our apartment for an hour, and I was able to take a shower. It was cold…turns out our hot water heater has its own switch, but when its turned on, it trips out all the other electricity. We will get that fixed this week. It’s a good thing I grew up going to Kanakuk, because I can totally handle cold showers.
We started unpacking…it definitely makes a difference to put our stuff up. We have been living out of a suitcase for almost 2 months now, and it is fun to know we won’t have to pack up anytime. Then Sam and Leanne came and got us and fed us dinner (plus Bech got to shower at their house). We came home at 8 exhausted…it may be the one and only day I go to bed earlier than my Nana and Papa! Of course now I can’t sleep, but I am starting to feel a little tired. Hopefully as soon as I finish this, I’ll fall back to sleep.
A lot of our stuff was on the container that left the states in May, including lots of kitchen stuff, clothes, furniture, our beds, our sheets, etc. We had been told it wasn’t here and probably wouldn’t be here anytime soon. Well guess what??? It’s here! Yay! This is a huge blessing. It is so hard to be in this apartment and not have a real bed, our own sheets and towels, our own everything. But the container is here, and now we will have those things. Plus, the school will have all of its supplies before school starts!
Today we have lunch and dinner with two different families at ABC. This morning, I will go visit our neighbors, the Ketchums, who are also ABC missionaries. They live in the same complex as us and have just done all of the basic stuff, getting internet, figuring out how to pay for electricity, etc. Hopefully they can help us do some of that stuff!
I’m off to bed. Please pray for us…we are nervous about everything! I will post pictures soon!
***added later…
okay it’s now Tuesday afternoon. I did finally get back to sleep about 5:15, after listening to the first prayer from the mosque close to the apartment complex. we unpacked more this morning then went to campus. we saw my classroom and got my curriculum. we ate lunch with laura chinchin and are eating with another couple tonight.
We left Saturday at 5:15. The Evans, my family, and Bech and I had a last lunch at Little Tokyo then headed to the airport. We ended up with 11 checked bags total…not too bad. After very tearful goodbyes, we set off. The short flight to Dallas was fine, although I did cry some of it (I know, I am embarrassing…just hope you never have to fly with me when I am leaving for a year!). The flight to London was fine too, just so long. And Bech and I have realized that we aren’t really able to sleep on planes. We actually got about 4 hours sleep on that flight.
London was fine. We got to go into the city, but after going through customs, checking our bags, taking the tube in from Heathrow, etc., we ended up only getting to spend about 3 hours there. My friend Liz Anne is in London right now, so we were planning on meeting up. But when I tried all of the numbers, I couldn’t get them to go through. I don’t know if I am just an idiot about international codes, or what. That was disappointing, but I guess it just means now she will have to come visit us in Lilongwe. We wandered around London for a few hours. We peeked into the National Portrait Gallery and saw a Lucian Freud (along with some other good paintings). We needed lunch but wanted something local. We asked somebody at the museum and he sent us across the street to St. Martins. It’s an old church with a crypt below it, and in the crypt, they have a café set up. We ate there and enjoyed it. We stopped in Trafalgar Square then headed back to the airport.
We left at 7 that night for the long flight to Johannesburg. It was exactly that…long. This time we both only got about an hour of sleep. We got to Johannesburg at 6:50 a.m., and didn’t have to leave until 11:30.
We got to Lilongwe on schedule, about 2 in the afternoon. Only one of our bags was lost, which is quite a big deal (I mean that only one was lost, and not more). It is full of academy stuff, and will get here eventually. Its probably just stuck in one of the cities we flew from.
Sam and LeAnne and Amy Louise (another ABC missionary) picked us and all of our luggage up and took us to our new apartment. At this point, Bech and I were both exhausted, in cultural shock overload, and probably a little smelly (we hadn’t been able to shower since Saturday morning). They left us at our apartment for an hour, and I was able to take a shower. It was cold…turns out our hot water heater has its own switch, but when its turned on, it trips out all the other electricity. We will get that fixed this week. It’s a good thing I grew up going to Kanakuk, because I can totally handle cold showers.
We started unpacking…it definitely makes a difference to put our stuff up. We have been living out of a suitcase for almost 2 months now, and it is fun to know we won’t have to pack up anytime. Then Sam and Leanne came and got us and fed us dinner (plus Bech got to shower at their house). We came home at 8 exhausted…it may be the one and only day I go to bed earlier than my Nana and Papa! Of course now I can’t sleep, but I am starting to feel a little tired. Hopefully as soon as I finish this, I’ll fall back to sleep.
A lot of our stuff was on the container that left the states in May, including lots of kitchen stuff, clothes, furniture, our beds, our sheets, etc. We had been told it wasn’t here and probably wouldn’t be here anytime soon. Well guess what??? It’s here! Yay! This is a huge blessing. It is so hard to be in this apartment and not have a real bed, our own sheets and towels, our own everything. But the container is here, and now we will have those things. Plus, the school will have all of its supplies before school starts!
Today we have lunch and dinner with two different families at ABC. This morning, I will go visit our neighbors, the Ketchums, who are also ABC missionaries. They live in the same complex as us and have just done all of the basic stuff, getting internet, figuring out how to pay for electricity, etc. Hopefully they can help us do some of that stuff!
I’m off to bed. Please pray for us…we are nervous about everything! I will post pictures soon!
***added later…
okay it’s now Tuesday afternoon. I did finally get back to sleep about 5:15, after listening to the first prayer from the mosque close to the apartment complex. we unpacked more this morning then went to campus. we saw my classroom and got my curriculum. we ate lunch with laura chinchin and are eating with another couple tonight.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
less than 2 weeks!
Okay, well we are leaving in less than two weeks! panic mood has set in. I wake up in the morning and wonder what in the world we were thinking, leaving our families for a year! We are both excited, and i know we will be fine when we get over there, but right now we are both so nervous!!!
We just got back from a trip to St. Louis and Branson. We needed to pick Blaise and Ansley up from K-2 (Kanakuk), and dad wanted to take us to a Cardinals game. We had a great time. I got to visit friends at K-Kauia (spelling?) and K-Kountry...but it made me homesick for kamp!
Dad got his first senior coffee on the trip! At McDonalds, you get the senior discount when you're 50, and he has been so excited about this!
Dad and Bech in front of Busch Stadium!
Here is Papa and me on my birthday.
Mom and Dad went to D.C. this summer to visit Katy, my sister. She is interning at the Heritage Foundation. They are with Ed Meece (spelling?) in this picture.
For Bech's moms birthday, Bech and his brother made homemade pasta...here it is drying out...it was amazing!
Here we are at Cantina Loredo, at the Branson Landing, after picking Blaise and Ansley up. This is one of Ansley's favorite restaurants...she LOVES the guacomole.
And, finally, one more picture in front of Busch Stadium... On another note, Bech and I have figured out video chatting on skype. We also set his mom and my mom up on it. If you want to talk to us next year, get skype...our name is "marleyevans"...okay, so it's not very original!
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