Play or Pray

So the other night when we got home Johanna took some coffee to our night gaurd. When she was getting ready to leave she asked if there was anything else we could pray besides his house. He kind of hesitated and said no. Well, Johanna started walking away and Nota asked "when?" Johanna ofcouse confused by this asked him what he meant. He then asked her "when are you and Kym going to come to my house to play?" So Johanna after saying "yikes" in her head had to quickly tell him pray... not play and she added motions.

With all that said, try to make sure you are being understood. Here in Malawi play means many things that we wouldn't really want to be associated with. =)

Say Cheez!!

On Thursday after lunch we were hanging out with some of these sweet kids and I asked to take a picture. If you look on the end (left side) there is a girl with a brown purse over her shoulder. That is Ellizah beth. She is the nicest and smartest kid. In this picture she wanted to hold my purse and be like me. I know.. can you believe it….a cute precious girl wanting to be like me. She hasn’t seen the krazy Kym yet. Are these students not beautiful?? The girl in the middle with the big smile and braids, her name is Kathy, and she has the best laugh. Very loud and contagious!!! The guy looking off to the side (there is always one in a picture), he throws the best paper airplanes. We made a really good one today and played catch with it. Don’t worry, I am taking Frisbees tomorrow. =) The other girl in the middle with her hand by her mouth, she is so shy, but one of the brightest students. I could go on and on, but just want you to enjoy these smiles I see everyday.

Fried Bananas...yum yum

A couple came down to Lilongwe for a visit. This is Susan and her husband is eating fruit by the foot in the blue shirt. After dinner at this great restaurant we were served fried bananas. On the plate it look just like donut holes (which I was secretly really excited thinking that that was what is was). I am glad someone warned me or I would have been completely surprised and possible disappointed. Anyway…they were awesome. If you cant tell we are really enjoying them.

Anyone have an aloe vera???

At school there is an hour in a half lunch break. Since we are in the middle of a village, the students walk home for lunch. They cook, eat, and then come back. Today we ate our lunch outside and hung out with some of the kids. We didn’t realize that we were baking like a toasted cheezer (If you can name this movie, you get some brownie points). Johanna and I were only outside for about an hour and here we are nice and pink. Who would of thought on January 21 I would have sunburn. Fun times!!! It rained today too, but then after the rain….hello sun!! The high was 28 degrees, Celsius that is. Which I would tell you how much it would convert to in Fahrenheit, but I have no stinking clue. I would like to say somewhere around the low 90s, but its very humid!!! So, here is our first Malawi sunburn.

Fruit by the foot…..Priceless

So my mom bought me some fun goodies to bring with me and because I am such a kind person I decided to take some fruit by the foot with me to a picnic we were having and share. It was very entertaining watching one of the kids eat it because he was only three but the true show was this!!! Fruit by the foot…$5.00, suitcase to put it in …$50, gas to drive to the picnic….k2500. (2500 kwacha= about $20). Watching two grown men look ridiculous eating it….. Priceless. They said…please no autographs. They already are too famous!!

Ngala Mountain

So every Monday-Thursday Johanna and I drive to school. This is what we see. Can you even believe it??? Reminds me even more of God's beauty. The road that we have to go on into the village is very ruff and sometimes stressful. You think.... Do I swerve around the person and hit another car?? or do I hit the huge(I mean huge) pothole to miss the car and the people... Or what about the goats and chickens?? And you can't forget the little kids who are runningto our truck and yelling "mzungu" "mzungu" "mzungu" which means "white person." You definetly don't want to hit those cute little guys.. And let me tell you, they are stinking cute!!!! So...after a day at school of 7-3:45, we drive home and see this. WOW!!!!!

Explorers of Tomorrow

Here is the school that we teach at. The students are standard 1-8. Johanna and I teach standard 7 and 8. They laugh at me daily, which isn't any different from the youth I worked with in the US. I am really enjoying the pupils!! (that is what they are called here...not students) They are always smiling even when they are confused and don't understand what I am saying. (Which happens often because I talk too fast for most of them. I am learning to slow down) I must be really good though because the chickens even try to join the class when I am teaching. =)

Nsima anyone???

So this is Efisy dishing up Nsima(in-seam-a). It is made of maze and water. maze is kind of like flour... but it is corn grounded up really really really small and then it is stired with water on the stove over and over until it thickens. It really doesn't have much flavor at all, but it is the signature dish of Malawi. and you eat with your hands...no silverware. Fun fun!!

Geckos are our friends

Besides having Kiyara I have had my fair share so far of meeting many geckos…today I met this one. Most of the ones in our house are about an inch long to maybe 2 inches, but every once in a while you are blessed to see one like this. I was walking out the front door and this one landed on my shirt and let me tell you what a glorious blessing that was. =) After being completely caught off guard, I managed to get a cool picture. Geckos also eat insects, so we are very thankful for these great creatures.

Roundabouts are of the Devil!!!

Today I drove our car for the first time. I drove it all around town and only almost hit a car once. We have lots and lots of roundabouts here and I am not used to them at all at all at all!!! Well, it was my first day driving, so I should get a little bit of grace, and Eric (our teacher) was very understanding. He calmly told me to watch out for the car that I almost turned in front of in the roundabouts. All is good and I start again tomorrow practicing my driving. Prayer is good, it’s always good. Here’s our cool ride. I have always wanted to drive a truck, and its 4 wheel drive. whoo hoo!!!

Christmas Potato Salad

Today at Mat and Janet’s house we had hamburgers, potato salad and Greek salad. I bet that sounds very American, well it was. It was a great lunch. Well, part way through Johanna asked what were the green and red things in the potato salad. Naturally I thought they were peppers cut up really small. Janet’s house helper Efesy was the one who made it. Janet looked a little closer and figured out what it was. Can you guess??? Any takers?? It was green and red sprinkles that you decorate cake with. We all were very amused and were trying to figure out why Efesy would of put sprinkles into the potato salad. Any of you Sherlock Holmes or Nancy Drew fans figure it out? So here is the case…on the recipe Janet gave Efesy it had everything normal on it….but when you kept reading, it said to add a sprinkle of pepper. So, Efesy searched high and low and finally she added some “sprinkles.” All to say, when you make out recipes, make sure that you use words that can’t be misinterpreted. But, I must say, the salad was really good and very colorful. If you find you need to spice (not literally) your potato salad up to make it festive, the simple solution is spinkles!!

Hope you all have a day full of Sprinkles and Laughter from the Lord!!! (I know…way cheesy, but had to do it!)