Dzina lake ndi Chuck

Her name is Chuck. The puppy, that is. Thanks to Kristen for the name! Also, people in my village, mostly my counter-parts daughter-in-law named her Bridget after she explained that she should just have two names. I will call her chuck and people in my village will call her Bridget....or Chuck. Done.

The puppy is doing well, despite the fact that she spends the nights making noise. On the bride side, I'm learning all kinds of new chichewa verbs, like to make noise (Kusokosera) and to stare (Kukang'ana). Thanks puppy for helping me communicate more thoroughly with my community....except for the fact that she keeps me up all night so I'm tired and incompentant during the day. She'll learn. Pong'ono pong'ono, as they manage to say here (little by little) in every sentence.

Check out the new picture up top, I figured I should have one of Malawi. This was my first view of Mt. Mulanje before coming to site. A big thanks to Diana for bothering to do it for me! Anyway, I'm in town for Halloween hanging out with some other peace corps volunteers from the south who didn't want to travel for three days to make it to chitipa (next year). The usual antics have occured and will continue to because we attract interesting people.....who like to hang out with us. Its cool. We're kind of a big deal, peace corps, that is.....or peace corPS, as they say here (they're over-pronouncers in this country). Gotta love it.

Yesterday I hit the Limbe market, which is a MASSIVE clothes market wtih giant piles and piles and piles of clothes to look through. I love it, I don't know how I'll ever go back to shopping in the states, everythign is too convenient there. I would take pictures of it but that would cause CHAOS! Because people LOVE to have their pictures taken here. I got some much needed clothes yesterday, a cool summer dress (so I don't die of heat) and some other things.

I got a tip from a friend today that there might be funding available in my area for a women's beekeeping group so I'm going to try to talk a group of women in my village into working on that. We'll see how that goes.

All is well here! Wednesday I go off of Mefloquin (because of how crazy it made me) and I go on to Doxycycline, which I will have to manage, somehow, to take every day...so that should be interesting. Don't worry, Mom, I won't get Malaria. I hear it sucks. I've officially been at site for 6 months...half a year. That blows my mind. I love this country. I got a ride into Blantyre yesterday with a man who spent the entire 2 hour car ride telling me I should just get citizenship and move here because I already speak the language, and I said it was a beautiful country, what is stopping me? Don't worry, I told him I would miss my family. He said I should be more independent. Sure.

Okeedokey, that's all I have. I'm just too excited about the chicken cheeseburger I'm going to have for lunch to post anymore. You know why? Because I found a restaurant with HEINZ KETCHUP! Yes. You read that correctly. Delicious. I love the city.....for a bit...then I get sick of it and just want to go back to my village.