Thursday, March 7, 2013

There's a snake in my boot (house)!


Apologies to Toy Story’s Woody, but I couldn’t resist. Seriously though, snake in the house.  Those of you who know me should then be saying, “so what?” I like snakes, never had trouble with them and had more than a few as pets. They’re nice, quiet, unassuming pets and feeding them is a snap. All my snakes have typically been a long the constrictor path.  After all, deadly things don’t belong in your kid’s glass aquarium. This one, this one was not.

I’d like to give a shout out to Mr. Kitty, Squiggles, for alerting me to the snakes presence.  I really don’t want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t have said something. But I’m getting a head of myself.

I was making lunch and heard a sound behind one of the clay pots off to my left under my other table near the back door, and that’s when the cat meowed.  I thought he had found a toad and was harassing it.  They hide in the house during the day and make their way out at night to hunt for bugs.  While he never eats the toads he does bat them around a bit.  Remember how we learned in like 4th grade that under the Medieval Feudal system all the deer and wildlife in the forest belonged to the crown? Well we have that mandate in my house, it covers all toads and geckos.  I got their backs.  So naturally I wanted to shoo Mr. Kitty away and let the toad get on with sleeping the day away.

Keep in mind that this next part happens in about 5 seconds flat.  I turn, see a dark shape under the table, think it’s a toad because I’m stupid and didn’t have my glasses on.  At that instant I see droplets go flying past my head, where I had previously been standing. (Keep in mind 5 seconds) I think, toads don’t spit water, sure they pee if you pick them up but I don’t think their range is THAT good.  *Hissssss* Look again, and oh hey, that is a snake, snakesnakesnakesnake and it is kinda reared up, it’s black too.  Back up back up back up, did I see a hood? Where are my glasses? Get the pan off the stove!

By now I’m on the porch while my heart as done a couple laps around the yard and is waiting for me to catch up. I’m also going back and forth on what kind of snake it is and what to now do about it.  Is it a mamba? The mouth tissue looked black, that could be a shadow.  I’m really sure mambas can’t spit, can they flatten their neck some to make a hood? I don’t think they can……oh cobra.  There’s a cobra in the house?! What?!  

I remembered hearing about another volunteer that he saw a cobra and I remember thinking, “aw, I never get to see anything cool.” No, I’m good, changed my mind.  I’ve basically been kicked out of my house by a 4 foot reptile that, if it so chooses, and has decent timing and aim, can render you blind.  Good for you, good job Mary.  See what happens when you say your life is dull. Idiot. On the flip side though, there is a cobra in your house and that’s pretty cool, get the camera.

As I’m standing on the porch watching him in the house I’m trying to decide exactly what to do about it.  I will not send the dogs in after him, I’ve seen too many cases of snake bite in dogs here to do that.  The villagers would love to kill it but I am not dragging someone over here just to get them blinded.  So I decided that the best policy was to wait and see what he decided to do.  I don’t know, it just seemed like the plan with the lease possible casualties. After a couple more moments he left the same way he came in, under the door.  Then I realized I had a new problem, a poisonous snake in my yard, and I have a huge yard.  Thought: do I try and follow him, make sure he leaves the yard? If I don’t see where he goes what are the odds of running into him in the bafa? Or the chim? I do not want him literally catching me with my pants down.

By now I had my glasses on so I figured that afforded me some protection, I guess, and went around the front of the house to the back to see if I could spot him.  Mr. Kitty did! Brave good little Squiggs was running him off.  I started hucking rocks at it too and he left out the bottom of the fence and so far we haven’t seen him since.

I kept thinking about Steve Irwin aka The Crocodile Hunter, he has more than a few episodes where he deals with cobras. As he is holding it and it spits on his arm “Crikey! He’s a might agitated!” hee hee.  I grew up on that stuff, so see mom, I could have turned out worse.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Welcome to Malawi

First off I’d like to say welcome and congrats on getting selected!  You are the few brave enough and crazy enough to wade through the rivers of red tape, paperwork, and trips to the doctor’s office just to find out if maybe you are possibly chosen. 

You are headed to Malawi soon soon (first thing you should know, people like to say things twice, soon- soon, now-now, slow jam-slow jam, you get it), and you will be the group that replaces mine.  I don’t think I’ll have the chance to meet any of you but good luck all the same. If you are thing like me when I came two years ago you are no doubt running around trying to figure out what to bring and what to leave.  Let me offer some pointers;

Clothing- You need a few pairs of pants, t-shirts, underwear (bring extra underwear) and one nice outfit.  That’s pretty much it..The clothes you bring will not get you through your two years so let go of the delusion right now. You just need to get through homestay.  After that you can buy clothes pretty much at any market in the country or in any of the big cities. 

Shoes- One good pair of sandals, I live in my Tevas, as my tan lines will tell you.  I also have tennis shoes, hiking boots and a good pair of dress shoes.  Personally I just hate washing socks, so I never wear real shoes.  If I were more motivated or had someone else doing my laundry then, maybe I’d wear the real shoes more often. 

Phones- Peace Corps will tell you that they don’t recommend you bringing an internet phone to country, they’re dumb, bring one. Most communication with the office is via email and while it’s true you don’t absolutely need one, they are super nice to have.  I recommend Blackberry, I love mine, I spend 2000 kwacha a month and get all the internet I can use, texts cost extra but for internet it’s good and Blackberry has a good signal here.  You can bring one and get it unlocked in country or you can buy one here in Lilongwe, for about $150 or so. I do not recommend bringing an iPhone, I’ve heard from other PCVs that the signal is not very good. There are also cheaper internet phones you can get here in Lilongwe.

Computer- Yes. Bring one. It is really nice to have some kind of entertainment at site. Rainy days are boring and during the aptly named rainy season there are many, reruns are a great way to kill time and lift your spirits.

External hardrive- Again, yes, bring one. Your computer will fill up quick but bring a case for it because they don’t like being bumped around too much

iPod- I love mine, it has music, podcasts, audiobooks on it and I listen to all of them

Kindle- if you are a reader then I think this is a good one to have. There is a good library in the office but traveling with actual books is hard so a kindle is nice to have, bring a protective case for it.

Headlamp- Bring a good quality one, you don’t want to be out a headlamp, they are really important.

Insurance- insure everything. I mean it, this place is rough on your stuff, especially electronics.

US Dollars- Bring USD if you can afford it, it’s nice to have as a safety net or vacation money to spend or money to bring a pet home at the end of your service.

Solar power- Decide if you want it and get this sorted out before you come.  If you want to buy a panel before you come that’s probably a good idea, better quality.  The set up I have is pretty simple, the panel charges a small 12volt motorcycle battery.  The battery then steps down to a cigarette outlet like you have in your car, then I plug in a USB charger to it and I charge my phone and ipod at home.  If you want to do something like this but charge the computer as well then you will have to buy a charger for your computer that you can plug into a cigarette outlet, like if you were charging it in your car.  You don’t want to mess with converters.  You lose a lot of power running it through a converter like that. 

Solar shower- don’t bother

Pressure cooker- bring one! I love mine, you can cook beans it is way faster than normal (8 min. vs 40 min) and meat comes out really tender
 
A good frying pan is nice to have as well
 
Knife- bring a good pocket knife and a knife sharpener

A basket for the front of your bike- Bring this!!!! I cannot stress this enough, especially for the envrio volunteers!! You will live on your bike and while yes you have a rack on the back of your bike a basket is amazing.  You can carry so much more stuff (read: food) this way.  It isn’t hard to pack, you put it in your duffle and put stuff in and around it, easy peasy. 

Zip Ties/bungee cords- extremely helpful, it’s how I keep my basket attached to the bike

Spices- Two years ago I would have said don’t bother, you can buy them here, then the prices for everything went up a ton.  Bring some kind of flavorful salt, an allspice, basic stuff, parsley, basil, oregano, or if there is anything special you like.  Yes you can restock here, but these will be nice to get you through homestay.

Health supplements- If you have any vitamins you are taking and want to keep taking them then bring a few months worth when you come, this should hole you over until mail starts coming in. I take a multivitamin and Biotin and a hair/nail supplement.

Camping stuff- I recommend a tent, sleeping bag and a sleeping pad.  They come in handy.

Snacks- these will be great through homestay, dried fruit, beef jerky, whatever you enjoy.

What to put it all in?- I brought a backpacking backpack and a duffle bag and everything fit great.

I also recommend a regular backpack that can fit all your electronics, laptop, camera, kindle, ipod etc.  You do NOT want to be separated from these during the flight over.  In Johannesburg they love telling people that the cabin is full and they take any rolling suitcases or dufflebags and check them.  Odds are extremely good that if your electronics are in these that you will not see them again.  You want to keep them with you at all times.

 If you haven’t looked for discounts for Peace Corps volunteers then google it, there is a wiki page somewhere with a huge list of who offers discounts and how to get them.  Big names too, North Face, Coleman, Teva, Chaco, even Apple and Dell.  You should look into it.

You are bringing your life with you for two years, many of the things you bring will break or wear out over those two years but you do your best when you start out.  If you have to cut something out, cut clothes. Clothes are easy to get here, other stuff not so much.  Enjoy the time you have left in America. See your friends, family and have fun. Try not to stress about it and enjoy yourself!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Christmas on the Indian Ocean

So one of my favorite kids movies is Muppet Treasure Island, come on, it's a classic, and the line that always struck me the most out of it was when Gonzo says, "Off to Zanzibar to meet the Zanzi-barbarians!" I remember asking where Zanzibar was and the best answer I got was, "It's a tropical island."

Fast forward a little bit and guess what Zanzibar isn't all that far from Malawi! Vacation engage! I went to Zanzibar with Shira Stites from my environment group for Christmas and New Years.  getting there was quite the battle.  Once we crossed the border and paid a ton of money for our visas we got on a bus to Mbea where we spent the night with every intention of taking the train the following morning to Dar es Saalam.  Well, all good intentions aside, that kinda failed.  Come to find out the train left yesterday, sad.  So we got on a bus to Iringa which is basically the half way point from the border to Dar and spent the night in Iringa.  The next day the bus to Dar, which should have only taken 6 hours was a whopping 14 hours thanks to two back to back traffic accidents going through the mountains. If you think traffic sucks in America well quite frankly, you're wrong.

Dar was huge! Coming from the village in Malawi it was super impressive, any building over 3 stories is basically a skyscraper now and that place was loaded with them.  We spent a couple days in Dar, long enough to poke around a bit and buy tickets for the ferry out to Zanzibar.  The ferry to Zanzibar was really nice but getting on it was a mess.  You almost felt like a man in combat fatigues stood up with a bull horn and announced that this was the last boat out of Vietnam.  People everywhere, well dressed people too, all shoving and pushing to get through this tiny door at the security checkpoint. Which was pointless because the ferry wasn't even there yet! It was still coming back from the island! People jumping in line and no one saying anything either, that would not fly in America.  If you had tried that in America the other travelers would declare you an
 enemy of the state and then fight over who got to keep your three piece set of Samsonite luggage.

The ride to Zanzibar took about an hour and a half and finally getting there was great. We checked in to our hotel, Zenji, which was really nice and then wandered around.  Stonetown is beautiful, just the city itself and I don't often say that about cities.  We walked around looking at the old buildings and, as strange as it sounds, the doors.  Stonetown is known for it's beautifully carved, antique doors. It's easy to get lost there too.  The little back streets and alleys twist and turn between tall narrow buildings and the only way you can back track it by trying to remember if you turn left at the carved hippo or if you have to keep going until the hindu temple.

At night we went to Forodani Gardens, the park along the water front where the local restruants and fishermen set up tables for you to wander around and pick your dinner.  Lobster, mussles, squid, octopus, all kinds of fish, breads, fresh juices, everything.  You walk around and point and they grill it right there.  It was fantastic, people always say they never eat street food when they travel because they don't want to get sick but when it's fresh caught and fresh cooked it's just perfect.

We also went on a spice tour, Zanzibar is also known as the Spice Island and they grow all kinds of spices there, vanilla, curry leaves, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, nutmeg and on and on and on. 

After Stonetown we split up for a couple days, I went north to Matemwe to go scuba diving and snorkling for a couple days. There were so many fish and different types of coral to see, it was beautiful.  I've loved diving in lake Malawi but the Indian Ocean is really impressive. 

After diving I went south to Paje to meet up with Shira for a couple days where we chilled on the beach before going back to Stonetown and flying out on the 1st of January. 

After getting back to Malawi I was promptly sick with some kind of stomach bug for a few days, urgh.  I will never miss being sick here, it's so much worse here.  A week later it was time for Close of Service Conference and drumroll please.......Monday April 15th I am out! I can't believe how fast two years have gone by.  The next few months are going to fly by as well.