Barack Obama
by Dom at 6:18 pm on October 16th, 2008
I was curious if it was “ck” or just “k” and all I had to do was look at the shelf next to me. There’s like 8 different books or movies or something for sale on him in this little shop. I also heard some crazy regae song here in the airport earlier. It was naming all the states and saying vote for Barack Obama. It was amusing. I guess they like him here in Nairobi. As I type this there’s a news report on it with excerpts from CNN about the debats on the tv here. They’re in Kiswahili so it’s not very helpful but still…
Return Trip Interlude 1
by Dom at 6:11 pm on October 16th, 2008
So Nairobi airport is infact pretty boring. I think I’ve looked in all the duty free shops and done like 6 laps down the one hallway.
I made it out of Malawi ok. I did almost miss my flight though, that would have been amusing. No one informed me where the boarding area was or when it was time to board, just when it was leaving. So I was just hanging around drinking some beers. I just finished brushing my teeth and came out of the bathroom when this exasperated lady inquired if there were any more Nairobi passengers. There were. I pretty much ran through the metal detector. She told me I was the last passenger. Ha. Oh well, let’em wait we still got off early. So now I’m here and really bored. My flight leaves in like 2 - 3 hours and they haven’t even told me which gate to be at yet so I can’t really like nap or anything. Oh and it’s hot as crap. Stupid equator. Rainy season has started here too.
This morning was a bit crazy. Apparently my meeting with Dale, the CD, took like 2 hours. I was surprised. It was just a lot of form questions like “what do you think was your greatest achievement in Malawi?” Fun stuff. It actually made me late for the transport to the airport so I was running all over the place. Probably forgot something pretty important. Actually I know I did. I forgot to leave my house keys with Dora. That’s funny. Sweet memento. I hope that’s spelled right. They’ll figure something out. There’s an extra set with the Headmaster.
One thing I think is funny about this airport is there are no clocks anywhere almost. They only seem to be on these flat panel displays that show the flight information but there are only about three of those. Even in this big coffee shop here, obviously the hangout, there’s no clock. Ridiculous. I hope Amsterdam is cooler.
It was funny. PC gives me travel allowance, and in dollars at that. Except they didn’t have any one dollar bills this morning. So they asked if I wanted kwacha. Why would I want kwacha? I told him I did not want kwacha. MC ended up helping me out by making a little forex swap where she got kwacha for dollars from PC and I got her dollars. I used it to buy a Bitter Lemon soda. Ah Zanzibar. I’ll miss Africa. I like it’s ridiculous style. More later I’d guess.
Oh I also had the ending of that Pink Floyd song stuck in my earlier. “Good bye cruel world, I’m leaving you today, good bye, good bye, good bye.”
This is the end
by Dom at 7:00 am on October 16th, 2008
My only friend, the end.
I still have to see the GSO, AO, CD, Cashier, AI, Dr. Rollin’ north at 11. And then my new journey will begin. See you all soon. I’m getting ready. You should too.
Today, and many other days like it.
by Dom at 9:51 am on October 13th, 2008
I feel the boredome creeping up on me. It’s like warm feeling right between the eyes. I’d like to do something about it, but, eh, it just seems so futile. So here I sit. Slowly being overtaken (not overtook just learned) by this warmness. It moves slowly like a highly viscous fluid. It seeps. I have enough time to tell it’s happening but it’s already taken my mind and my ability of thought with it. Now I can only sit and let the thoughts fall out of my head all willy-nilly. If only it wasn’t an American holiday and the office was open. Then I could get motivated to do something. Otherwise it’s all been done or scheduled for another time. I guess I should have scheduled this time for boredom. Why can’t Lilongwe be a more interesting city?
Photos could be taken. Some have been but some still need to be. Knowing that they won’t take themselves is my only motivation. The sun, dirt, noise, distance and stench are my anti-motivation and they seem to be winning out currently if only from their strength of numbers.
The thing about boredom is it can only go on so long. So if I wait it out motivation will eventually turn it’s hat inside out and rally back. Then things will happen again just like they should. I’ve just got to wait…
It’s like punishment for an interesting life. Terribly vexed. I guess I’ll look up who won the first world series of poker, or how many spider species there are in Malawi. Something interesting you know.
*edit* look what I found…I dig it.
Big toe
by Dom at 11:16 am on October 10th, 2008
So I had to get my toe cut open this morning. Just a little bit. Apparently I have a pretty deep infection from some stupid cut where I kicked a stump and it just hasn’t healed. So the doctor re-wounded it and now I have a huge gauze toe and can’t bathe for a few days. Hopefully I’ll be allowed to before I come home cause it’s hot season and that tends to also coincide with stinky season!
Nalua
by Dom at 11:14 am on October 9th, 2008
Oh yeah, I posted some knew pictures of that hike I went on and of my village farewell…enjoy.
Peace Corps.
by Dom at 9:28 am on October 8th, 2008
Yeah so Peace Corps being Peace Corps. It’s great. I think I’m coming home even earlier! They can’t connect me between Atlanta and Augusta on the 17th. So they said either the 16th or the 19th. Why not the 18th I asked. Apparently it’s all crazy, I’d have to fly through Blantyre and leave late or something ridiculous about money too. Whatever. I was curious if I was even technically allowed to leave a day earlier, but a short call to the country director relieved me. So now I just have to tell someone I want the 16th so it can be finalized before Peace Corps happens again. hehe.
Some post-return thoughts.
by Dom at 1:25 pm on October 7th, 2008
I’m a bit scared to come home, I’ll be honest. I mean, I can’t really form cohesive sentences to explain my probably now more strange thoughts. I use Malawian English. That includes a lot of pronouns and use of the words “just” and “somehow.” An example “My school, they have just somehow managed to build shelves.” As opposed to “My school built some shelves.” So yeah visiting schools is going to be fun talking like that! I’ll be honest I don’t care what words I use as long as I can think of them when I go. It’s worse when I sit there for like 5 minutes trying to think of a word I used to use fairly often. That’s definitely more awkward.
Of course most of my fears don’t lie in my now jacked speech. I’m more worried about what is going to annoy me. I mean stupid things annoyed me before like french fries and people who wear bluetooth headsets when not in use. Now I think I’ll be annoyed at plastic wrapped tomatoes and too much air conditioning or something. I don’t know. Then there’s the economy…
So if you think I’m acting funny, don’t be surprised.
Of course I also have come to like Malawi; I mean I dont want to stay a volunteer teacher but I like the weather and the market and other things. The lifestyle is nice. I’m going to miss my friends and my leisure time. It’s going to be very different. I think what it comes down to is when I came I was happy to be leaving America and happy to be coming to Malawi. Now I’m only happy to be coming to America. So we’ll see how it all goes. Again though, if I act funny, don’t wonder why.
Done
by Dom at 1:02 pm on October 7th, 2008
That’s what I’ve started signing in the log books instead of Dom. I looks pretty similar in my scribble. So I’ve moved in to Lilongwe yesterday and started my finalizing today. Sweet.
Saying good bye to my school was surprisingly easy. There were no last minute beggars. No super awkward gifts like a guinea fowl or something. Just a lot of people asking for penpals, so if you guys want a penpal…For real though it was nice. They mixed my farewell party in with the form four graduation so they could basically just add a few more lines into their speeches and cover all their bases. There was some good food and I had to give a speech as well. Took a lot of pictures, some with people, some just of people, some even just of things. I really can’t tell if I can speak/write well anymore even when I try.
The last night at site Yorgos and Mary Cate came up and we had a nice time. In the morning it was a bit weird when some, like 30, students decided to come up and just watch me pack and finish cleaning my house. I gave some last minute things away like extra toothpaste and matches and the like. I went down to the school when I was finished with my house and shook all the students hands, said some words and then got escorted out to the bus stage by a teacher and two students carrying my bags. It was nice. Then we sat for two hours waiting for a ride.
I won’t say my last ride into town was bad, just scenic. After the two hour wait we got a nice ride to Yorgos’ site and so that was nice to be able to hang out there with him for a little bit. Got some chips and a coke. Then MC and I rolled out, with a ride that we talked out of having to pay for, to Kasungu. Bike taxi-ed it from the middle of town to the junction and got a ride pretty quick that ended up buying us pizza and milkshakes at this first-world-ish place. Pretty awesome. And no truck bed rides at that!