Monday, March 31, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURYN!!!!

Today my sweet cousin Lauryn is 9 years old. I miss you and our great sleepovers sista. Hope you had a great one!!!

Friday, March 28, 2008


So the last day with the kids we were taking lots of pictures, here is one of the many. These are some of the standard 8 students. The one on the bottom looking like he is throwing up a gangster sign is Watson. He is really funny. Most of the time he enjoyed making gestures that he thought looked American. It was quite entertaining. The girl that is actually shorter than me, she is Charity. She was the smartest in our class. Very impressive, and so polite. The guy smiling right by my ear is Dennis. He was always willing and ready to do anything we asked and one day when we played hangman he picked Jet Lee for me to put on the board. Nice! The girl in black is Mercy, and she is 6’1. She is funny, smart, and a very good netball player. We have decided we need to find a recruiter to come to Malawi. The guy sticking his tongue it is Lupakisyo. (lu-pa-kiss-e-o). I always wanted to call him Picasso, so he laughed with me all the time and by the end of our two months there, I did actually get his name right. The guy in blue and orange is Ishmael. He has the most beautiful smile, and he was such an actor. You couldn’t help but be entertained by him. The guy right behind me is Yorram, and if he could be in the army he would. One of the strongest and tallest guys ever. He was also the “popular” one. He could easily get everyone’s attention. The other girl with her tongue sticking out is Apatsa. In Chichewa apatsa means, to give. And Apatsa lived up to her name. She has the sweetest, giving spirit. Next to Apatsa with the blue shawl is Naomi. Anytime Naomi saw us she greeted me with “what’s up?” I taught them that phrase the first week and from then on, she always asked me. It was so sweet. On the very bottom chilling out is Andrew. Andrew was I think by far the hardest worker. Even when he didn’t understand something, he kept trying and trying. If only all students would do that. Last is Charles in the white shirt in the back. Charles was an entertainer just like Ishmael and Watson; together you could have had the three amigos. What a great crew.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Friday, March 21, 2008

Are you nkhuku? (koo koo)


What you are looking at if you didn't figure it out is a a chicken foot and in chichewa a chicken is called a nkhuku. Which is what I was feeling when I ate that thing. Here's the story....our teachers threw us a going away party because Thursday was our last day at the school. When I was fixing my plate I grabed what I thought was a leg, and then I noticed after it was already on my plate that it was a foot....YIKES. So what is proper etiquette here, I have no idea. What do I do??? I asked one of the other teachers how to eat it and she gets one and procedes to eat the feet, finger nails and all. WOW!!! What in the world do I do?? I picked that thing up and ate it. "She ate it bones and all!" Fun times.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Wheres Kym???? Oh wait…she’s the mzungu (white person)


So everywhere we go in the village, even though we have been going there now for 2 months, they yell mzungu, mzungu. We find it quite entertaining. I feel like I am in a parade everyday. I have perfected the beauty pageant wave and now I will have to find a year round parade or something when I get back. I wont know what to do when people don’t wave at me when I drive by. =) Ok, so on this particular day, we were waiting for our class to start with standard 8 and these sweet kids surrounded me. OK, so I admit it, I know you are not supposed to have favorites, but I love the kid on the end in yellow. The first day we met, I didn’t mean to but I scared him pretty bad. We actually didnt meet, I was running around a building and when I reached the other side he was there and when he saw me, he screamed and went running. I didn't know I could have that kind of affect on kids, but it happens here quite often. But, then the next day he thought it was a game and we have been playing chase ever since. I LOVE IT and I don’t know, I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure he loves it too!!!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Hand stacks... Is that what you call it???


This is one of my favorites. Johanna took it for me. I love how the little girl has leaned forward at the perfect time for the picture!! So cute. I really wanted a picture of my hands surrounded by all their sweet hands. The contrast in our skin color I think looks so cool. I am gradually getting darker from the sun, but I still get burnt, and the teachers here laugh at me regularly. The first time I started peeling, one of the students told me I was like a fish with scales (this was right before I peeled and my skinned was kind of bubbly), and then when I started peeling they told me I was like a snake. Pretty cool that I ended up being two different animals in one week. And the teachers helped peel the skin off of my arms. I know, kind of gross, but they were very helpful.
Hope you enjoy seeing the picture as much as I did playing the game with them. If anyone can tell me the real name of this game, that would be great. Hand stack was all Johanna and I could come up with.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Cheeze it up!!!


This is our standard 7 students. They are the most well behaved students I have ever had. The one if the front raising his hands in the air is Chefoma, he is so funny. Would definitely be the class clown back in the states. The tallest boy in the back is Isaac and he loves to smile. And his favorite song is baby shark. He especially likes when we have a “shark attack.” Down towards the front in the middle with the red shirt is James. He is I think maybe the most polite student I have ever met. He always wants to help and has a smile on his face all the time. (he is very good in math too). Last, I want to tell you about one more student, he is in front with a plaid shirt on and is not looking at the camera at all. That is Chembekezu (chim-ba-ga-sue). He is so smart and a really good speller. He really likes it when you give him challenging words, he also tries to teach me a Chichewa word everyday. Pangona pangona (little by little) I will have it down. Thanks for reading a little about my students that I love getting to work with everyday!!