Just Another Day in Paradise...er...Malawi

Today I waited for more than 2 hours in a cue (line) to get fuel!  There has been a petrol shortage a little over a week now.  We were stuck on campus all weekend because we weren't sure how long our tank would last us - thanks to our broken gauge that claims we are always full.  So, you can imagine my excitement when I spotted a fuel truck at the BP in town on my way back to work from the bank.  I quickly made a B-line for the pumps making second in line!  At the same time this mini bus comes barreling up in the lane next to me and parks itself about 1 foot away from my back bumper.  The driver immediately throws the van in park and swings open his door right into the side of my car.  He just looked at me for a second and walked away.  The nerve!

It was only 10 in the morning and the sun was already blazing hot so I was tempted to leave the car running with the AC cranked up but I was trying to be responsible and conserve gas.  The first hour went by and I started getting antsy because I was supposed to be back at school for a meeting with the superintendent.  I started looking around for any sign of what was taking so long but everyone was just hanging out, like this happened all the time or something (which in their lifetimes it probably has - but not for me)!  Another 45 minutes went by and I was ready to forget the petrol and get back to work but I was blocked in by a line of cars from my bumper to - no lie - several kilometers down the road.  By that time I was hot, hungry, and stuck.  Fortunately, I had just bought some strawberries from a guy on the side of the road!  Strawberries are a tricky thing here.  The guys selling them run around with cardboard trays full of these amazing looking strawberries.  I don't know what they do to them, the sun must hit the strawberries just right so you think you've never seen a better looking strawberry.  You can't resist them but you should.  This is the 3rd time I've bought strawberries and every time I tell myself it's the last time. I say that because at some point between agreeing to buy them and actually being handed your bag of strawberries 2/3 of them are slimy with big nasty chunks taken out of them that you swear weren't there a minute ago!  Every time.  Without fail.  It is a mystery to me!  So anyway, I salvaged the 10 good strawberries left out of my bag and roll down the window to rinse them off with water from my water bottle.  I'm sure the Malawians who happened to see this thought I was a weirdo.  30 minutes later the pumps were up and running and I was on my way :)

[Moral of the story: in case you are ever in Malawi, save yourself a lot of trouble by always keeping a full tank of petrol and think twice before you buy the strawberries] 

GO ABC LIONS!!

Thursday night was the first volleyball game of the season and WE WON, 3-0! I was so proud of the guys because they played really well. We've had nothing but practices for 3 straight weeks now so I thought a game would pump them up to play hard and play well in practice but for some reason it did the opposite. I was frustrated all week because they were showing up late, goofing off, and not performing like I know they could. Somehow they pulled through anyway!
We did have a bit of an advantage since we were playing ABC staff and as of right now they aren't an actual team that has been practicing together or anything - just a random crowd who wanted to play some volleyball. Still, my team didn't play down to the staff's level. They played hard, kept their serves in, went after every ball, had some good spikes, and stayed out of the net (they struggle with this a lot!).
Friday's practice was 100 times better too. I think they have just been tired...a lot of the guys are night guards during the week on top of going to school which means they must stay up all night from 9 p.m. - 6 a.m. patrolling the campus then get to chapel at 7 a.m. followed by classes!
I wish all of you could meet my team. They are a great group of guys. A few of them are already married with kids so it feels strange to be telling them what to do in practices, but they take it well. The rest of them are the normal college age group. I have about 15 guys who show up regularly to practice. It has taken awhile for us to get used to each other but I think after our VICTORY they accept me :) I'm excited for the rest of the season!

Mount Nkhoma Climb

Just want to say a quick THANK YOU to everyone who wrote a comment or e-mail, it was great to hear from you!

Tomorrow begins my sixth week here in Malawi and my first day of coaching ABC's Men's Volleyball Team! I'm excited and nervous at the same time. It's been 2 years or so since I've played organized volleyball so I'm a bit rusty. Thankfully, I was able to spend sometime this afternoon putting together a practice schedule - hopefully all will go as planned and the biggest challenge I'll have will be learning all the guy's names! :)

I'm having a hard time remembering what all has happened since the last time I wrote! Let's see...this Wednesday afternoon activities began. The teacher in charge of netball with me was 30 minutes late leaving me to referee a bunch of middle schoolers playing a game I'd never heard of before! I tried stalling until Joy came by making the girls stretch and run a couple laps. After Joy was still nowhere to be found I asked the girls to explain the game so we could play. We didn't have enough players for a real game so we only played half court, 4 against 4. One girl named Ama got really into calling everyone out on their fouls (there's always one!).  Monday's we teach it to the younger girls. Most Americans have never heard of the game but Malawians are very proud of their National Netball Team who placed 5th in the 2007 Netball World Championships. 

Wednesday night's ABC staff get together for Bible Study at Jack and Nell Chinchen's (founders of ABC). Their son, Paul Chinchen, introduced this semester's topic of study, the parables. We also spent some time in prayer for the Bartletts, an American missionary family whose kids go to ABCCA. The mom, Katie, suffered the worst of the injuries and was taken to a hospital in Blantyre (a good driving distance from Lilongwe). Last I heard she had a broken pelvis and platella. What's worse, two years ago Katie's husband was killed in a car accident here in Malawi. The family went back to the States and had just returned in August now this happened. Her three girls are split up between families on campus while Katie finishes recovering. There were several other requests I can't recall right now. I'll try to post them later.

From what I can remember, Thursday was pretty uneventful. I worked late to finish writing letters to all the parents who haven't paid tuition yet. Yuck! So dinner at the Chinchens and helping their youngest daughter, Bess put together party favor bags for her birthday party were easily the highlights of my day.

Friday was only a half day at the office because I was put in charge of picking up my 3rd roommate, Danie, at the airport. Melissa (my other roomie) came with me. Melissa was stressing out the entire time because we were running an hour and a half behind schedule but I kept trying to tell her - we were just running on African time! What's funny is, Melissa told me she was picturing Danie waiting in line to buy a ticket straight back to California like she would have done if she had been stranded at the airport too long! lol Thankfully, Danie is a little less emotionally driven than that and we found her waiting in the lobby for us safe and sound (only a little wide-eyed and panicked!). 

We hurried back to campus for the college's back to school ice cream social. Every year at this event the upperclass men play a prank on the freshmen. Two students from each class are chosen to come to the front. One student sits in a chair blindfolded while the other stands behind them. Supposedly, they are in a race to eat the most bananas but when the whistle blows the freshman is the only one who remains blindfolded while the others smash bananas all over him. It was pretty entertaining...the Africans LOVED it! 

Yesterday was incredible! My roommates and some of the other teachers on campus packed our lunches and drove an hour out of Lilongwe to Mount Nkhoma to enjoy a day of hiking. Owen, who has made the climb several times, assured us it would only take 45 minutes to get to the top. HA! I don't think he realized he was taking up a bunch of out-of-shape/picture happy Americans. We got every angle of that mountain possible on camera :) I think we started quarter to ten and reached the top around two o'clock minus an hour lunch break halfway up. I'll post pictures on facebook sometime this week! The long hike was worth the amazing view! Places like that make me realize how small I am and how GREAT God is!

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all." 1 Chronicles 29:11

Miss you all!

Amanda