Tuesday, December 9, 2008

On our way

We swear in today in about 2 hours. We are excited, nervous, exhilarated and basically bursting with anticipation.

I've loved the comments from everyone especially concerning the last post. I still need to process everything that was said but know that I am thinking about your comments and that is good. One of the goals for me in Peace Corps is to actively Think. Or actively assess how I think, so I thank you all for your help in that.

No deep thoughts today though. I'm to focused on swearing in and then shopping for some stuff for site afterwards and then we leave at 6:30 in the morning but we have to [pick up our bank cards and we might need to stop tomorrow for so furniture...in other words I'm too busy to think.

Talk to you again. (a month or so Maybe Christmas we'll get in to the city.)

Oh I don't know if Tina had this in her blog but I'll be teaching Form 1&3 English (freshman and juniors) also Form 1&2 Life Skills and Form 1 math. That's right ladies and gents Zeb is teaching Math. Its scary I know but you gotta do what you gotta do. School starts the 5th of January (here they write it 5-01-09). It is rainy season so it rain everyday, but the entire country is becoming green instead of brown. Gotta go.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Man, I can't believe it. I thought to myself, I need to "blog" today. So, I come and check it out and you have already had another entry.

So...MERRY CHRISTMAS

It is so cool you are all sworn in and official now, and perhaps even presidents. I hope you got some amazing furniture. If that is a plush leather couch or a double wide hammock...I guess I will have to wait until next time.

I tried to find Kachechea on google maps. I don't know if I found it, but I must have been close according to your directions. From satellite, it looks pretty awesome - river, small mountains.

I hope you have adjusted to your new home.

About your real stuff:

I think everyone experiences real. You have been taken to a point with a different kind of real. Generally, Americans have the reality of convenience, provisions, and luxury. It sounds that Malawians have the reality of working much harder to get their provisions and have luxuries at a much different level.

We all face hardships, and we would all face each other's hardships in different ways. I would think that the things that we are accustom to greatly make up our view of hardship. In my teaching a few weeks ago, I was talking about storms of life and the perspective that we have on them. The storm of a toddler not getting their way is a huge storm for a toddler, but nothing for a mature adult. And the storm of cancer is a huge storm for a mature adult, but neither are a storm for God. Because God cannot be shaken. People in scripture had a range of realities. From king Solomon and all of his wealth, to slaves in Egypt, to fighting gigantic armies to get your land, to Job who hit every point on the spectrum. The sun rises on the good and evil and rain comes for the righteous and unrighteous.

You are in a situation that probably calls for you to rely on God far more than in the US. It sounds like you have one garden and a market to get a chance to get your food, but in the US you have about 4 grocery stores, a few farm stands, dozens of restaurants and even the Internet. So, it is a bit more critical that you are relying on God for provisions there than here, where it is pretty tough to not find an outlet for food.

So the conclusion: I thanked God for my barely passing D+ in philosophy. And getting this philosophical has probably left you striving to make some sense of what I may have just said. It might be best to just forget it ever happened.

Have a great Christmas.

Unknown said...

MERRY CHRISTMAS WATERBURY'S

We have a radio station here that plays all Christmas music. They love to play this one that says how they wonder if people in Africa even know it is Christmas time without having snow and all. (First I think, "how stupid, it doesn't take snow to know about Christmas" then I think "O crap what if it is true, I better tell Zeb and Tina so they know!" So, that is what I am doing...

In case you did not know it is Christmas.

I am kidding, I know you know. SO, Merry Christmas. I hope you are having an awesome time. Good luck with the new school year. We are praying for you guys. Have an awesome African Christmas... and an awesome Malawian New Year.