Before Swear-In

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I know it looks like all my entries are from Lilongwe, I promise I don't spend all my time here...

Hey everyone! So for the last two weeks I have been traveling like crazy. I first traveled to Blantyre and then to my site in Nsanje. I didn’t take any pictures of my house/site because I didn’t get to stay in it, but I did at least get to get a quick look around. Maybe in the next few weeks I will have some pictures of where I will be living for everyone!
Anyway, Friday July 11th I traveled back from Blantyre to Lilongwe where I found the transit house. I also was able to post my last post about my experiences in home stay/village. Sunday I left with 3 other trainees for Kuti Ranch in Salima to do my “intensive language” training. It was a very fun place, there were zebra, monkeys, kudzu, and apparently the only 2 giraffe in Malawi (imported from Tanzania) but we didn’t see them…we didn’t have too much time to hike around and try to find them. Salima was nice though, but I got eaten alive by mosquitoes (no worries, the mosquitoes at night are the ones that give you Malaria, and I used my net) because I’m sweet. 
Along with practicing Chichewa Chichewa Chichewa, we also visited a traditional healer/birth attendant. She told us that she knew some of her information from a dream she had had once. This actually isn’t uncommon here in Malawi, along with beliefs in witchcraft and “juju” among other things. However, most of the traditional healers have started referring patients to hospitals now instead of just sending them home, so that is good.
We left Kuti Ranch on Friday July 18th for Dedza. My group arrived earlier than some of the other trainees so we were able to study, kuchapa (do laundry) and relax before the others arrived. Saturday July 19th we took our language exam for Chichewa (I didn’t feel like I did well at all, but I scraped by) and present one last culture topic for the trainers that we learned about Malawi (my group taught about weddings here in Malawi).
On Wednesday we will be swearing in as official Peace Corps Volunteers in Lilongwe, so that is exciting. Maybe I will get to post some pictures of the ceremony before I leave for my site later on in the week… Once I move in I hope I will get the chance to go into Blantyre to have internet access about once a month.

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