First Week as a PCV
It finally happened! I swore-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on August 15th! Swearing-in marks the end of training and the beginning of the two-year service. The next day, I moved to my permanent village to begin my service. I’ve been here for about a week now, all on my own. This is my first real taste of freedom and independence since I arrived in Malawi - and it’s been very nice!
I won’t start teaching until the new school year begins in September; so until then, I’m just settling into my house, getting used to living on my own, and attending community events.
Here are some random pics to document my first week as a Volunteer. Scroll to the bottom for a tour of my house!
On Saturday, the Head Teacher (aka Principal) at my school very generously offered to drive me to the market in a neighboring town, since our small village does not have a market. I snapped these pics along the way. Our area is hilly and scattered with jutting, rocky “mountains”. Quite scenic!
Homemade potato chips! It took me, like, 4 hours to make this one bowl of chips - but it was worth it. Lays are pretty expensive here.
My kitchen setup / making of the potato chips. (Lighting a charcoal stove is the bane of my existence, but I persevered in the name of crunchy, familiar snacks.)
My new besties who come over daily.
I finally managed to find someone in my village who sells eggs! Yay! I made fried eggs for breakfast this morning to celebrate my win.
“Over-medium” turned into “scrambled” real quick.
HOUSE TOUR PHOTOS!!
Disclaimer: I have almost no furniture and very few possessions, but I figured I might as well show y’all my living conditions. I’ve spent the past week trying to make it as “home-y” as possible.
The view from my front patio.
Front door
“Main living space” aka living room, dining room, and indoor kitchen.
Note: The outlets and electrical box are just for looks. My house is wired for electricity, but is not connected to any power source.
No one in my village has electricity, though rumor has it my school might get connected sometime in the coming months.🤞
Indoor kitchen / pantry / dining
Makeshift sink
Also, please ignore the white powder all over the floors. It’s a chemical to prevent ants. A never ending battle :(
The lounge area. Where I like to sit and watch TV on my laptop while I drink my morning coffee.
(Shoutout to Andrew Bastian for setting up my hard drive with enough shows and movies to last me for 2 years! It’s been a real hit with the other volunteers too.)
“Guest bed” aka junk room
Indoor plumbing - Malawian style
Hallway, with storage closet straight ahead and my bedroom to the right.
My bedroom
My ingenious closet system
Really proud of that
View from back door
Outdoor kitchen (left) & bathing room (right)
The real kitchen! Where I cook on the charcoal stove.
Boiling water for a bath.
The bathing room where I take bucket baths.
And last but not least, my pit latrine!
You walk in, turn to the right…
…and there is a hole in the ground.
That’s all for this post! I hope it was interesting to see where I’m living. My day-to-day life feels so busy - everything takes so much longer to accomplish here. Just heating up water for a bath or simply making breakfast can be a 2 hour ordeal. Washing laundry is a half-day event. That is why my blog posts have been few and far between. I am hoping, though, that as time goes on and I adjust more, things will become easier for me so I will have more time to put together posts.
See ya soon!
