Running and Some Chichewa

As I was on a walk with Nicolle and Renee, we ran into some little boys who were up for a walk as well. They started walking with us. I tend to walk fast anyway, so I was getting a little bit ahead of Nicolle and Renee in the group and I had a little group of boys with me. One of the boys looked over to me and made a running motion in place. I said to him "Race? Running?" He said yes. I don't usually shrink from a challenge since I'm so competitive, so with that we were off! I was in my pants and chacos and was running on uneven dirt, so I wasn't going full speed, but I sure was bookin' it! The young boy who has shorter legs than me and is skinnier than me kept up with me really well! I was so surprised! We slowed down and the other little boys were running to catch up and laughing about the race. The boy I raced and I 'high fived' and then I noticed a boy holding a sling shot.
It looked something like this:

They told me it was a catapult and they started giggling after I grabbed a rock and asked to use it. The boy handed it over snickering. I'm guessing they thought I didn't know how to use it. Once I shot it the boys all went, "Ohhh!" It was so funny and they are just so fun! They have so much energy and such a desire to explore. After that, the boy wanted to race again. We were going up a hill this time, but that didn't stop us! He stayed with me really well in the beginning but tapered off a bit. As I stopped at the top of the hill, he was jogging after me and there was a group of women that were at the top of the hill that had seen me running. They were laughing and motioning running to me and speaking in Chichewa. I was nodding my head yes. Women hear don't run, they have a lot to do each day and the women here have such strong arms! It's amazing! Their arms are so toned! What they do each day is hard work enough, there's no need to run. It was pretty fun though. One of the best walks I've been on.

When Akim was driving us back to SAFI, he started teaching me some Chichewa. I'm still not very good at it and don't understand much of anything, but it was really interesting.
He taught me 'nose', which is 'puno'. Also, if you say 'campuno', it means 'little nose'. And if you say 'kancampuno' it means 'one little nose'.
Some of the little boys taught me the word for 'dirt'. It's 'ulime'.

As I walk around SAFI, I don't always hear 'azungu!!' yelled at me anymore. Now I usually hear 'Whinny! Whinny!' It's really funny! They just have a way of saying my name that just makes me smile. And then I say the names of the kids that I know and ask the others what their names are to try and remember them too. It's really fun. We have a good time saying words to each other that the other doesn't understand but repeats anyway.