NEW ADDRESS

SO Here's my new address:
Me, PCV (swearing in / making it official tomorrow)
PO BOX 28
Khonjeni, Malawi
AFRICA

My Phone number is 09 514 472 - from the states I believe you dial 0112659514472. Ask my parents, Shameen, my sister, or Maureen if you can't figure it out.

I won't be living in Khonjeni, so don't come stalking around there, but that's where my mail will go.
To all at the NCUA: thanks for the good wishes and I hope you'll enjoy a fabulous Holiday Party this December.
To my family and friends: I've received one Birthday card for mail in the last month. This is pathetic. You all ought to be ashamed! Now that you have my new address I'll accept no excuses for lack of mail. GET ON IT! ;)

To everybody: Training is over and I'm swearing in tomorrow. This is a mindwarp. In just two days I'll be at site, fending completely for myself. I'm sorry I haven't yet uploaded pictures but if you're on facebook search around for Malawi PST 2008 Education and you'll see some after you friend the appropriate people, whom I cannot list here. In other news: I have a broken teeth. Rocks in the rice. Hoo ray! Also, to be brief, I love and miss you all and think of home probably a little too often. I hope you're all gearing up for a fabulous BIRTHmas season and staying warm. Please keep in touch as best you can - you have no idea how it brightens my day to hear anything from home.
Lots of love,
Moi / Mimi / Ine / choose your pronoun

Alive and Well!

Quickly, as there is limited time on the internet. I am alive and well and nearly finished with Homestay. I'll find out in about 2 weeks where I'll be stationed for the next two years. I can't post pictures right now but I will, I promise! It's hot season here and the rains are on their way. I'm living in a round, mud hut with a thatched roof and staying with a family of a mom, dad, 2 bros, and a sister or 3 depending on who you ask. It's fun! I'm learning the language and have hitch hiked, been eating goat and NSIMA, and other fun african things like carrying water on the head, etc. I'm getting mail from some of you - SLOWLY. Be sure to put "AFRICA" on the bottom of my address, otherwise it goes towards MALAYSIA. I have sent mail to a lot of you but postage ain't cheap so don't feel hurt if you haven't gotten anything.
I miss everybody a great deal and think of you all often. Send me love!!!!

T - 3 weeks and counting...

Right - so there is a ton to do. I am preparing to leave Albany on Tuesday, and haven't packed a thing! This means that the next 18 hours will be spent sleeplessly separating the things I can logically keep from the things I need to sell or give away and making my apartment somehow conducive to many strangers plodding and prodding their way through my things - and giving me money!
If anybody is in the Albany area, I'm having a "going away" of sorts tomorrow (Saturday) evening - 8pm at Pinto and Hobbs on Dove and State in Downtown Albany. Come prepared to drink a shot and provide my friend Maureen with your contact information for me.
I also have a lot of other preparations to take care of, such as solar chargers to buy, clothes to make or buy, doctor's visits and roommate issues and all the joys of international relocation. I've gotten lots of helpful hints from current volunteers and from returned volunteers so I'm (surprisingly) optimistic about all of this going smoothly.

Special thanks to all my friends at NCUA (today is my last day!) who have sent me off with good wishes and promises to stay in touch, as well as some thoughtful gifts. I will miss you all and know I will think of you often! Remember me fondly at the next Regional Conference ;)

Will post again, most likely, before I leave on 9/26.

also

I've re-enabled comments from anybody, so go wild!

INVITED

Hello everybody! Today I received, and will soon accept, an invitation to serve in Malawi in Community Day Secondary Schools as an English teacher!!!
Staging is 9/26/08
Going to Malawi on 9/30/08, then staying there until 12/9/10!!!

I am:
- exhilerated
- scared
- grateful
- nervous
- sad
- motivated
- did I mention nervous?

I'm currently reaching out to current PCVs, RPCVs, and anybody who'll be joining me to contact me! I need input on what to bring, typical availability of things like electricity, cell phone service, whether it would be worth it to bring my laptop, availability of internet cafes, ideas on useful materials for the classroom, everything!!! There is a LOT to do in the next six weeks so I may not post on here again until.... well who knows. But keep checking!

Natalie =D
Peace Corps Invitee
Malawi, 2008 - 2010

Teaser?

A little nugget - here's a copy and paste of a rushed and crazy e-mail I just shot off to my parents and sister and friend Shameen - forgive the awful grammar and peppering of profanity. Just to let anybody reading this who is going through the frustration of application know that they do not suffer alone!
...
Finally broke down and called the placement office and talked with the dude there for 10 minutes or so - I have been nominated to be an English teacher in ____________________. (a country he can't tell me! AGHGHH). I said 'well, are you guys looking at me for other areas other than English teaching?' and he got my drift and said right now that's where they're looking at putting me, but that could change, and if for some reason I can't take that offer they will look at me for other placements. He said to keep in mind that qualifying as an English teacher is actually a good thing, a lot of people don't, that ______________ has asked for a lot of English teachers and so they're trying to meet that need, and also that if I were to go over as an English teacher I'd have access to a lot of other stuff, since I'd be working in a school I'd be surrounded by teachers and kids and in an environment already centered upon community development / service. he said he'd "guess" I should hear from my placement officer "in the next few weeks," meaning it could be effing August before I hear anything. meaning - F**K. this pisses me off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT COUNTRY HE WAS LOOKING AT! and what I don't get is, if he is saying he knows that they're looking at me for English teaching in country X, why haven't they invited me? What more is there to do?

so there that is.
...
thoughts?

a nugget of information

Just a little piece of information - my friend Nadine has the same type of medical clearance as I do and she heard from a person in the placement office that "our type" usually get sent to Central Africa, and mentioned Botswana. She said he didn't really sound like he knew what he was talking about, so not to take it too literally, but it's a few crumbs of potential information to tease me (and all of you) with. Looking at the map of where PC serves and taking what I'd consider to be "Central Africa," I'd say this narrows my possibilities down to Botswana, Cameroon, Zambia, ... and then it gets a little hazy as far as geographical borders go.

Like I said - just a nugget. It is just a few days shy of being six weeks since I got that email telling me they'd start placing me in 4-6 weeks... so my fingers are crossed to get some real information within two weeks, but I have no idea. I just know that September is practically around the corner, and I'm READY TO GO!!!