Back problems and a good school term

Well everyone, I thought I would write a bit more about the action here in the big MW! School is in full swing even though the school is not close to being finished. For those who don’t know, I want to tell u a bit about my lovely school. First of all, when we were doing site announcements I was told that I would have a fully stocked lab with electricity and running water. Awesome right! WRONG… I am supposed to have those things since the date of completion for the construction is October…2007!!!!!!!!!!!!! As it stands right now, it isn’t even remotely close to being finished. And now the builder has gone bankrupt. “Well” you say “that is a relief, because now we can get a good builder who can finish the project”. My thoughts exactly… then I found out that the law says that you have to give him 90 days to earn the money before you hire a new contractor. AWESOME – that is one whole term! I now hold out no hope that I will be able to see the completed school before I leave Malawi.

School is going very well this term. Going home and getting a fresh perspective was really good and this year starting out I knew what to expect and how to manage the classes in Malawi better. I really wish I had known that teaching in Malawi is a totally different profession than in the states. I knew it would be different just not how different. I am really having a better time this term and part of that is the fact that I have figured out what really works as discipline in my classes. Since I have 100+ students sitting on the floor at any given day, if a student is talking, not taking notes, doing the exercises, etc…I tell them to get out because they obviously don’t want to be here. It works like a charm. If the whole class is acting up, I leave until they come and apologize and ask me to come back. It all helps with classroom management and making the classes a more manageable size. I would never do any of that in the States but here there is no other immediate recourse. Grades don’t matter and they really don’t care about any other recourse that I can think of.

I am in Lilongwe, the capitol city, right now because of my back. I have had a bad back since I was 18 and it has been getting worse here. Normally I ride my bike about 55 Km/ week (roughly 35 miles) but now I cannot even ride for more than 10 minutes without my back really starting to tighten up and spasm. I am getting an X-ray on Monday and going to an orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday and maybe getting an MRI soon. From there I may have to have surgery but we will see. If any Peace Corps Volunteer is out of the country for 45 days then that Volunteer is medically separated. I don’t want that, and if I have to have surgery it might be cutting it close. The timing might be strange as well because I am getting married to the most incredible woman on the planet in 6 months!! Woot woot! I love you Sarah.

I think that is all for now. Please feel free to send me any questions or comments and I will talk at yall later!

Back in the big MW what what!!!!

Wowowowowow So, I must beg, plead and otherwise ask forgiveness for my egregious lack of blogging. Sorry all, I have been a bit busy. “What?” you ask incredulously, “Too busy for your thousands of devoted readers?” “Well”, I respond bemusedly, “First of all stop exaggerating, Secondly, yes I have been busy but mainly I just didn’t take time to write my blog.” “Oh,” you respond understandingly “well what has been going on then?” So here it is, in response to your questions and wonderings; a bit of my life.

For all of you who contributed to Camp Sky thank you so very much. It went VERY well aside from a bit of theft and a pretty scary time involving an HIV exposure scare (it ended up being no problem) it went off with a bang. The student enjoyed themselves and I speak for other teachers when I say that I enjoyed doing the first bit of real science that I have had a chance to do in the classroom as of yet. Ian, MaryBeth and I team taught a physical science class and were able to do some inquiry based labs that worked out really well. I really enjoyed it. I think that I can say from a teaching science perspective it is the first time I have really enjoyed teaching in Malawi just from a teaching/learning perspective (there have been plenty of classes that I have enjoyed but this was the first time that students were able to go beyond the material etc.) unfortunately, in my classes at site, they are too big and the students aren’t remotely motivated and I don’t have 2 other teachers to help.

After Camp Sky I headed for the US of A, and for anyone who didn’t know (which at the time I am pretty sure it was just Sarah), I proposed to Sarah at the airport making use of a basketball team who was on the same plane with me. She did not say yes….. as a matter of fact she yelled YEAH!!! So we are engaged. Huzzah!!! Lord willing, we will be getting married on August 1st in Lubbock, going on a week long honeymoon (Mexico???) and then embarking on a 3+ month long honeymoon in Beautiful Malawi, Africa. It will be the last 3 months or so of my service in Malawi and our first 3 months of marriage. I am looking forward to it. the best thing about all of this, I have the best excuse EVER to skip out on wedding planning (just kidding Sarah).
Anyhoo, I don’t have time for more now because I have to ride back the 13 Km to my house before the rain hits. We are in FULL swing of rainy season now and everything is SO green. I love y’all and if able any prayers sent our way for the 7 months of separation before the wedding and our upcoming marriage will be much appreciated. Thanks and Zabwino Zonse (all the best)