Either way, ultimately, it's those experiences that make your time abroad so delightfully (or even not so delightfully) different and necessary, because without them, you might as well have never left America, darling.
1) It is hearing Ke$ha playing outside your window and slowly losing your faith in humanity as you bob your head to a mixture of conversational Chichewa and catchy little phrases about Mick Jagger and alcohol.
2) It is getting ridiculously excited about toast, because the toast comes with jam on it, and you have been eating nothing but plain hunks of bread for the longest time (because anything, anything is better than bread with peanut butter on it).
3) It is eating the fat and gristle and spitting out the bone chunks in the meat without batting an eyelash (even though it's still unpleasant).
4) It is looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking you look good, even though you haven't worn makeup in months and haven't showered for three days.
5) It is that slow realization that the only reason that you are still taking your doxy is because it keeps your skin clear. Not because it prevents malaria. Because heaven knows you'd have started to forget to take your doxy weeks ago if that was the case.
6) It is choosing to eat not one, but two fishes, with your nsima, even though their eyes are blatantly (and blankly) staring out at you. Miracle of miracles. Glory be, oh omega-3 fatty acids. Please get in my belly now before I come to my senses.
7) It is going to the market and bartering. It is actually getting a good deal. Repeatedly.
8) It is going to Malawian hospitals with an intern, where she was stabbed multiple times by doctors who couldn't find her veins. When they finally drew enough blood to do blood tests, she was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. She was fed antibiotics through an intravenous shunt and was given four different types of medication. It is realizing that all the drugs, plus the consultation and all the needle-stabbing, cost 2500K, or about $8.00
9) It is trying to do research when it is so frustrating you could tear your hair out by the fistful. It is doing yoga at the end of the day on a dirty cement floor and feeling your heart rate begin to slow. It is realizing that even though half of the things here are frustrating, it (it being everything? I'm still not sure what it is) is still worth it.
10) It is spending three months with the same exact group of people. It is not going crazy. It is becoming and making friends.
11) It is not being fazed by slight tardiness. Or even extreme lateness. Or the no-show.
12) It is laughing with the cleaning lady and throwing up your hands because you have no idea what she wants, but she still keeps talking at you. So you give her two pieces of bread, and somehow the problem is solved, because she nods and leaves the room. (?) Food. Food is always the answer. For everybody.
13) It is that inexpressible joy that only comes when the toilets will flush.
14) It is seeing hundreds of children with vitameal, and just feeling really, really happy about it.
15) It is trying to do traditional Chichewan dances and failing miserably. How is it that I love to dance so much and am still so bad at it? It is deciding not to care. It is shaking your body to the a capella music anyways, like self-consciousness isn't a thing and embarrassment doesn't exist. At least not in this special little circle of happy people.
Well, that's fifteen things out of the thousand or so things that have made this experience what it is. We're wrapping up this experience. This week is the last push to get all our research done. Next week, we're taking off to Zambia to see Victoria Falls. The week after that, we're going to Nkhata Bay in northern Malawi. And then we come back to SAFI to pack up all our things, and we go back to Lilongwe. One morning, we'll pack up for good and board a flight for NYC, and that is that. The summer will be over.
And the craziness that will be next semester will ensue. But let's not think about that just yet.
Until next time! I'm off to buy bus tickets to Zambia!
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