January Update

Happy February!
I have almost been back in Malawi for a month and wanted to give you some details on what has been happening.
Everyone is getting sick, including myself, with some stomach bug. Don’t worry, its not malaria. As I sit here at home while my kids are at school, its not as fun as I thought it might be. My first day of skipping school ever, and it stinks.
A new law was passed in Malawi last week. It is now illegal to “break wind” in a public place. These are the laws they’re working so hard to pass when we still never know when we’ll have petrol available for our cars.
It was my new roommates birthday on Friday so we had a surprise party! She coaches volleyball at the college so the men’s team and a couple others showed up. My friend and I made a cupcake display that we were very proud of. I’ll try to put up pictures when I get them.
The college is starting back this week and my roommate and I have planned to storm the dorms with cookies on Thursday for the girls! I’m super excited to make more college friends!
I haven’t been to the village since December. The only campus car allowed to drive on dirt roads has been broken for 2 months. I have heard rumor of it being driven around town but who knows if it is actually fixed this time.
I had a fundraiser for ballet on Saturday night. We were in an outdoor pavilion watching Princess Diaries from a projector. We made popcorn and Sobo (thick sweet liquid that you dilute with water) and sold leotards that I brought from the states. Since there aren’t any movie theaters yet around here, most of the little girls from school came. I became worried when the rain began to blow sideways into the pavilion and made the kids and leotards wet! They handled it well. I became worried again when the power went out in the middle of the movie and some girls knocked over a tall speaker on accident. Thankfully it wasn’t broken. I distracted the girls with simon says, Father Abraham, and If You’re Happy and You Know It. Finally, the power came back on and we finished the movie with the few girls who were left. It was an adventure for sure. I’m trying to raise money for our end of the year ballet costumes. We have charged the girls a small amount for the costumes each time so we haven’t been about to keep them for the school. This time, I’m hoping to buy costumes for at least one dance so that we can have them for next year. I really hope I don’t have a costume fiasco this year!
My new found food is chimanga. Chimanga is roasted corn from the side of the road. It is crunchy and chewy and reminds me of popcorn. My roommate loves it and gets it everyday for her birthday week. It only costs 30 Kwacha which is like $.20. I’ll post pictures of chimanga too when I take some!
My kids are awesome as usual. It was poring rain yesterday during recess and the kids were sad they didn’t get to go outside. I turned on DC talk and we turned our class into a dance party! It was great! We also had fun last week planting sunflowers in my backyard. Some have begun to sprout, and some will probably never come up due to poking giant holes and packing the dirt down very tight.
I could use your prayer in a couple of areas:
*for my own spiritual growth as I get busy with things that seem important
*for my students to soak in what I teach
*for everyone’s health right now
*for details to work out so I can get started on the village ministry again this year.

Thanks for all of your prayer and support!