The Weekend

This weekend I was able to sit back and relax a bit, mostly on Saturday. Sunday was kind of full of eating after 12:00pm that is. Not gluttonously eating, trust me. I'll get there. Sorry about that.
Let's just start at the end of last week.
On Thursday and Friday we were working hard on the solar dryer as I posted before. We got our readings on Friday. Finally on Friday the internet was working again so I found out that Dhuka, my friend's friend was going to come this weekend! Yes! I have been wanting to meet him so badly! So I told our group that I was not going to go on our Saturday day trip to Salema to see the sights because I wanted to be around in case Dhuka came then. I wasn't sure when he would be coming. I found out today that he had some trouble getting out of Mozambique and that he is still planning on coming. So that's good. I hope he is safe!
So, on Saturday whilst I stayed at SAFI, I decided to read outside. It sounded so delightful to just sit in the sun and read for a while, so I executed this plan. Once I sat out, some of the little kids noticed me and wandered their way over to see what I was doing. I was suddenly crowded by about eight curious children. There wasn't going to be much reading going on. I did notice an older boy that was understanding some of the words I said. I showed him some of the chapter headings to see if he could read them. He did really well and read every heading I showed him. It was impressive. After a while I decided to read inside.
Then I got a nice nap in because reading always makes me fall asleep. But, I missed lunch. That's okay though because I have some granola bars, so I just ate one to tie me over until dinner.
I did not have much to do, so I decided to check my email after doing a workout. Then I realized I could work on downloading the movie that I got on iTunes. Here the internet takes a while, so downloading takes a very long time. It goes a lot faster on Saturdays though! That was pretty exciting.
Then, dinner time!
Adam stayed back from the day trip too to work on his research proposal, and Camille stayed back too, but she's been sick and was not feeling up for dinner. So...it was just Adam and I for dinner. I was kind of wondering how much talking there would be going on at dinner because Adam doesn't seem to talk a whole lot, and I can only ask so many questions because I don't just like talking and taking over or else it's so one sided. Turns out, he felt like talking so that was really nice! AND, we even got a Cadbury chocolate bar to share for dessert! We never get those! It was so exciting!
Then it was a pretty calm night.
Sunday:
We went to the Chichewa speaking Presbyterian service. That was pretty interesting. There was a lot of exciting music for sure! We were hoping that we would be able to just slip in the back and stay there on the concrete rows...no such luck! We got moved to the front to the front of the concrete rows...and then they decided to move us to the very front just behind the speakers where the minister and others sit in the plastic chairs. This Sunday, they were working on their fund for their new church building. We donated money at the beginning of the bowl coming around. Then they were kind of pointing at parts of the congregation after the bowl had gone around to come up and donate. We were all immediately worried that they would call us up...and they did. Oh boy...so we explained to one of the men with us that we just gave it all in the bowl that they pass around, we didn't know that it kept going. They understood, so that was good...phew. We came to learn that it is a sign of joy for them to go up there and dance and give the money. We even found out that you can get your 1000 kwacha and kind of trade it in for 20s and then throw those so it looks like you have a big wad, but you don't really have as much as it seems and then you can stay up there longer to dance and throw money.
At one point when the choir was singing songs, the preacher told us that they wanted to see how we dance and everyone stood up to dance to the song, so we participated as well. It was pretty funny! This is definitely helping me to get out of my box amongst strangers.
After all of this, some of us were getting headaches (me included) from the loud music especially since we were right by the speakers. We were then invited to the ministers house. He provided us lunch! We were so grateful!
When we got back to SAFI, we had been gone for 7 hours!! Whoa. It was about 3:00 and Sarah, Betha, Aida, and Joyce had made us lunch. So in order to not offend them, we ate that too. Then we had dinner at 6:00! Oh boy! That's what I mean by Sunday being a lot of food for the second part of the day. AND, I actually forgot to take my malaria medicine after dinner...so I ended up swallowing it with another granola bar because if you don't take it with food, then you will feel sick.
Last night after dinner, I wanted to go see if I could download my movie some more while I checked my email and such. When I turned to see the door to our 'lab', which was the classroom I planned on going to, I saw the dive bomber bugs! Not just a few though...there were TONS!!! They were swarming around all of the lights hanging from the ceiling outside. It was crazy! I saw Emily in the room I was headed for. She obviously made it alive. Hopefully she did not have any injuries. I had to prep myself and hold my laptop firmly. Once Renee saw the bugs she goes "Aw, seriously!? That totally ruined my day!" She was planning on joining the computer party, but she has a history with the dive bomber bug (full story in a previous post). It is known as the only bug I have ever seen that can make Renee scream. I guess that sums up her desire to avoid them completely.
Anyway, so I prepared myself and sprinted for the door avoiding any dive bombs from the bugs. I swiftly opened the creaking wooden door and hear Emily say, "Hurry! Go go go!" I quickly closed the door and breathed easily. I didn't let any in! Phew! BUT, the windows don't close all the way...so one would get in here and there, and so Emily and I would have our weapons nearby and ready to swing!

Okay...here are some random pictures...

Crazy flavored crackers! Even in Malawi!

I want to make this board by myself out of wood and everything and then I can teach everyone how to play! Woot!