Fat?

Today I went to Rasta Mike's restaurant after not been there for some weeks and the first thing he says is "Ah, you are fat." What? Are you telling me I am fat? "Yes, you are fat now". Thanks man, really what I wanted to hear... 

(Here in Malawi women likes it when the men tell them they are fat as it means you are wealthy and can eat all day.) 

I have, I guess officially now, gained some 3 kg after all the rice and beans I am having every day....

Everyday life in Nkhata-Bay pictures

I have taken a lot of pictures here in Malawi but not been able to upload them onto my picasa album as the internet is just too slow. However, here are some I have hand-picked from my every day life in Nkhata-Bay. 

This is Chikale primary school, where I volunteer as an English teacher for grade 7. There are 70 kids in the 7th grade but divided up to 7A and B. So I only have 35 in each class, which in enough :) All in all there are 720 students and 10 teachers at this school. There are many more schools and nurseries in Nkhata-Bay, even though it is a small town. Can you then imagien how many kids they produce here!

This is the classroom I teach in and this is Mr Daniel Nkhoma, the class teacher for grade 7. When I teach English he teachers math to the other half.  He is a very lovely and friendly person. He made the naught kids dig a 1m deep hole the other day as punishment for fighting! :) Better than spanking right!

My student are showing me some singing and dancing. These are some of the 7th grade boys.

Here are some of the 7th grade girls singing for me :) They are all around 12-13 years old. Moureen in the middle with the vest is sort of the class president and a very smart girl as well.

One of the students at school made this beautiful camera out of mud!

Here I am at Mayoka Lodge (where I live) marking the English exam I had with my students. It took me a week to correct 70 papers! Not sure if I would want to be a full time teacher...

This is Mayoka Village Lodge, where I stay. A beautiful, beautiful place! Owned and run by a South-African/English couple and they have around 40 Malawian employees.

This is the view from the restaurant at Mayoka. On the other side of the bay is Nkhata Bay city centre, a 20 minute walk away. Some times we take the boat over.

Here I am with some of the Mayoka kitchen staff. They made good pizza last night!

Another view from Mayoka. Pretty nice or what?! I love swimming in the lake and read a book on the cliffs. You can see the city center on the other side.

The dorm I am staying in at Mayoka.Sometimes I get to have it to myself, sometimes it is full with 7 other people sleeping there.

On a boat trip on the lake :) Love it!

Walking to town. They say that there are crocodiles in the grass down by the lake to the left. So far I have not seen one, thank God!

On my walk to town. Farming fields. Here they grow cassava, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, onions, garlic, etc. Now it is even greener as it has been raining.

My friend Gift carrying a full case of Coca-Cola on her head. Can you imagine how heavy that is??? I was soo impressed I had to take a picture of her. Girt works at Mayoka as a waitress.

So this was a glimpse of my life in Nkhata Bay. I can only say that I have a good life! Africa's best probably! It is a beautiful town and a beautiful place with friendly people. So if you want to visit me "you are most welcome" as the Malawians say!

Muli Banji! 

Examination time

All last week was examination time for my primary school at Chikale. I was supervising a lot and don't know how many times I have said "be quiet, "sit down" and "no cheating" to Standard (grade) 7. They can be quite naughty these kids. But I guess when you are 12, 13 years old you tend to be naughty all the time. And having 70 kids in two classrooms with one teacher is not the best either or yet worse 70 kids cramped in, in one small classroom so the kids have to sit on the floor. Here is Malawi everything is possible. You also got to be creative to solve problems you encounter every day at school.

For example, last Monday the students had their first exam, which was Science and Agriculture. This was the first time they were going to write an exam on paper. Before they wrote the questions on the board and the student wrote the answers in their notebook. But this year they have enough money to print out a proper exam. So everything was new to the kids. Also that you have to be quiet during exam and sit far away from each other so you could not cheat. Anyway, the teacher had not printed enough exam papers and five students got left out. So what to do? Well, let's go to town and print some more at the internet cafe (there are no computers at school). But then someone realized that there is a power cut and with no electricity, no printers or computers are working. Hmm..then what do we do?? The kids are waiting...maybe these five kids have to write it tomorrow then as by then power should be back and we can print.. but then they will cheat and get all the answers from their fellow classmates..not fair. Well what to do?? (This discussion went on for like 1 h) Ah let's write the questions on the board... but the board is too small for all the 20 questions. Not fair or easy... So what to do?? Then I came into the room, asked what the problem is and they explained and I was like " why dont we write it by hand, there are only five students so shouldn't take too long and we are already 3 teachers here that could write it". Great idea they thought and then I ended up writing 3 exams by hand... and the other teacher 2 and the other teacher left ( I guess he thought that was too much work). But we got it written, the students got to write the exam and I got a soar hand. The easiest problem can just become the most difficult here do to lack of resources.

So all week the students had exam, a new subject every day. I supervised the English exam and then marked 70 papers which took me like a week. Gosh so much work! I am glad I am not a teacher (in real life). Today I handed the exams out and the kids got excited but hmm they got really low scores as their English is really not good and the exam was pretty difficult. Some of the kids can barely read and write English never the less know what a noun and a verb is.

This week is the last week of teaching for standard 7, then they are off on Christmas holiday. I plan to go on a "holiday from volunteering" myself  next week for 1 week and then come back and volunteer over X-mas maybe painting some more or tutor some kids. Have not yet decided. Painting sounds good right now as that is theraputic to me and usually pretty noise free. Kids can be noisy man!

I hope I can blog some more soon again. For the last week we had no internet as problems with the internet provider and then there has been constant power cuts too.