Eep! I haven't posted since July?!

wowsa. So much has been going on since then. Good, bad, ugly, thrilling - all of it.
The big news is that the new group of Education Trainees arrived here in Malawi yesterday! So I've officially been here for a year, which is a mind warp. It's also sad because my friends who are a year ahead of me have already started COS-ing (finishing their service and going home). Luckily being in the Peace Corps and getting new volunteers coming into the country three times a year means that three times a year hand picked awesome folks arrive, the new Health group and new Environment group kick ass.
So, the new group is currently at our training location in Dedza and on Saturday will move into three different villages for their 6- 7 weeks of homestay and I'll go with them! Saturday to Thursday I'll be a "PCV of the week," hanging out with the newbs and doing my utmost to be simultaneously informative and positive. It'll be weird to be back in a homestay environment but I'll be armed with a can of doom and I will get free meals and hot bafas everyday so I'll deal :)
My women's group have finished building the khola for the guinea fowl and purchased the birds, but they're not laying eggs! This is a problem for an egg selling business. More to come as we figure this out.
I have a big old project in the works with a PLWA (People Living With AIDS) group in my village. I'm writing a grant to purchase a maize mill, which my community needs because many people can't afford the transport to the nearest mill. The PLWA group will run the mill and use all the profits for transport to get their medications, medicinal garden(s), better nutrition, and a revolving micro-loan fund for income generating activities, as well as support for people affected by AIDS such as orphans and the elderly who are left behind frequently to care for them. I'm feeling a bit daunted, it's a lot to undertake, but hey, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life so I'm diggin it, too. My community is motivated and have already started molding bricks for the building for the maize mill, the chief donated a piece of land, and I'm writing the grant and crossing my fingers. Cross yours too, if this works it will be awesome.
Otherwise, life's just life :) Hot season is upon us and we sizzle at the lakeshore (already 120 in the sun and getting progressively hotter for the next two months). I swim in gorgeous Lake Malawi everyday that I'm at site. I'm building a summer hut so I have a shady spot to sit outside since, with a tin roof, my house is literally an oven. School is going well, the Form 2's are writing their big exams that determine if they can move onto Form 3 next year, and in a couple of weeks the Form 4's will write their graduation exams. My neighbor is due to have a baby next month and I'm hoping she can't think of a name and asks for suggestions (Michael for a boy, Mina for a girl). I miss my friends and my family but I'm seeing how time flies here and know I'll be with them all again before I can believe it. Will try to post pictures next time, I haven't been taking many at all.

love to all from Malawi