1 month!?

WOW! I’ve been here for a month!! This week my family goes to Quimby’s in Vermont and it’s the first year that I am missing the vacation. I’m kind of bummed but on the other hand I’m having a great time. The rest of the fellow/scholars are getting here this week and next. I’m excited to meet everyone. Life has been kind of quiet though since the fuel shortage continues and I’m too lazy to go wait in line for 10 hours to fill up and hope there are drops left. Plus, were I to go out of town, I would have to find petrol again since we would use it all getting to wherever we went and back. Apparently the government’s lack of foreign exchange is due to the really really bad tobacco crop this year so I might be dealing with petrol issues for the entire year.

The last weekend in August I’m hoping to go to the Lake – maybe Nkhota Bay in the north – since there’s a holiday (Eid) that Tuesday. If I take off Monday, I’ll have a nice 4 day weekend to relax and explore. We’ll see though…

Getting started on the study has been slow – we’re still working with the database guy to get that finished so I currently don’t have much to do besides hassling him to make the changes. On the one hand, no data to enter (yes!) but on the other hand that means I’m going a little crazy from boredom (nooo…). Also, if I come up with a good idea, I might be able to do my own project (with potential funding)!!

In other news, I’ve failed in my attempts to coffee detox so I’m now drinking really awful Malawian coffee since that’s all I can afford (ahem Mom, if you visit, please bring me some good coffee!!). I’m playing ultimate Frisbee and I went on a 3 mile run the other day! Big progress, I’m pretty stoked. The guesthouse is right beside the Wildlife Centre, which has about 6km trails through the woods. It’s gated off and safe so I can run with an ipod and in shorts, instead of running on the side of the road with no music and wearing leggings with shorts on top so people won’t yell at me. People also try to hug you. This doesn’t go over very well considering my suspicious attitude towards strangers… Although Lilongwe is a pretty sleepy town/city, there are a couple clubs and bars. The other night we went to pub quiz, which was pretty fun. There’s also jazz at one of the hotels on Sunday evenings.