Cool Nights on Nyika Pleateau

As per usual, a little longer between posts then I had planned. I am now blogging about the end of July, so only 4 months behind! No bother, keep on plugging away. 

After a quick stop in Lilongwe, we packed up Blanche one more time. We were headed north, to Nyika Plateau. It was a long haul, 6 hours from Lilongwe to the park gate alone. From there, it was only 60km, but that took four hours!

Treated to quaint and lovely accommodations, and a doting staff as we were the only guests there. A small fire place greeted us as we pulled up in the dark that first night. Perfectly delightful.

Over the next few days, we biked, drove and walked and explored the big skies and beautiful views and wildlife. Friends had told us it was like being in the Scottish Highlands. Not sure if that's the case, but it was quite unique to the other places we've been in Malawi.

Lots of beautiful antelope, and plenty of zebra. We didn't see a leopard as we'd hoped, but that didn't take away from our overall pleasure and satisfaction while we were there. Kate and I say it again and again: we are blessed to explore and travel. 

Since we were already in the north, we stopped at Mushroom Farm to stay a couple of days before heading back to Lilongwe. It is a cool backpacker spot situated on top of a cliff on the way up to Livingstonia. It overlooks Lake Malawi, where you can see Tanzania to the north and Mozambique to the east. 

We also explored Livingstonia, which is a fascinating historical town build by Scottish missionaries. I'm reading a book right now called "The Scramble for Africa" which talks about the late 1800's and the imperial powers trying to establish colonies in Africa. It makes me feel a little sheepish that I knew so little of the history here, but I suppose now that we're here it's as good a time as any to learn.

My next post should be the South Africa trip, where Kate's parents, Charles and Melanie, joined us for 18 days of exploring in a really fantastic country. Needless to say I could be better about timely posts, but like anyone, it sure is easy to find ways to fill your time. I have been doing some unpaid work for UNICEF Child Protection here, so maybe a post in the future? I won't make any promises.

School's Out- Time for some travel and adventure

Despite my best intentions, here we are, three months after the last post. There was a conscious attempt at posting a video of one of my motorcycle day trips, sped up a few frames a second and with some music added. I thought it would be a good chance to get a feel for what the countryside is like as I ride along, the colors, the faces. Copyright issues per Youtube with Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away" stopped the completed product from making an appearance in July, perhaps another time.

So much has happened, but it doesn't feel that much different here in August than it did in May. Life just flying by. It is solidly in the dry season now, and the lush countryside of Malawi has lost its rich green hues and shrunken into a variety of browns and yellows.

Kate finished her first year teaching at Bishop Mackenzie in the middle of June, and her second year just started last week. I believe I can safely say she is very happy she is teaching here. I think she really likes her kids and the curriculum at the school. It's always nice to see anyone really enjoying going to work every day. During her break, however, it was time for some exploring. Mujete Wildlife Reserve was first on our agenda.

While there were other more expensive lodging options, Kate and I chose to pitch a tent at the campground at Mujete. It was my first chance to use my campstove that my sister Kara got me for Christmas, so that was exciting! You can also see some of the safari tents the campsite offered in the background. .There were a bunch of volunteers at the reserve helping a team from South Africa with some of their research counting wildlife. Pretty cool way to spend 6-8 weeks I'd say.

It's pretty interesting that when you talk to people who've had the chance to go on many safaris while living in Africa, whether it be here in Malawi or somewhere else, many people will talk about how seeing certain animals is very boring or passe to them now. Unless they are seeing a lion making a fresh kill or a leopard dragging an antelope up into a tree, the heart doesn't quite get to pumping like they want. Even elephants, zebra, giraffe, nothing seems to get them that excited.  Not me; even the small stuff brings back the child in me.

I can only begin to describe how special is is to see these animals in their native habitat. Also, tough to grasp how awesome it was being within 5-10 feet of a full grown elephant. I didn't even know that was acceptable to be that close to these giant beasts. My assumptions were clearly based on some sort of distorted reality, because while there is an absolute gravity to being this close to such a behemoth their personality tends to be more gentle and rambunctious than aggressive in any way. They have their moments (and I may or may not have completely lost my cool one particular time), but it's mostly just the pomp and circumstance of them trumpeting who the boss really is.

Absolutely massive. It's always hard to have perspective about how close we really were, so the picture on the right helps a bit. This was while we were on a game drive with a professional guide, in this case Jimmy who was one of the B.A. Baracus guides we had the fortune of learning from.

One nice thing about Mujete is that you were able to drive yourself as well, during the day anyway. It was our first chance to try out Blanche, our new (ancient) Rav-4. She handled herself well, even when Kate and Jon accidentally took a wrong turn and drove for three hours on the worst roads I have ever seen. Thinking back I am still shocked we didn't get a flat, or destroy the suspension, or simply never be heard from again.

As far as the total animal viewing experience, between our self drives and the guided drives we took, we were covered.  While Mujete boasts a small number of lions as well as a small number of rhinos, no luck with either of those two (perhaps a little later...) We did see lots of beautiful creatures: warthog, hippos, crocodile, zebra, tons of different types of antelope, as well as a cape buffalo. The goal on safari seems to always be Elephant, lion, leopard, cape buffalo, rhinoceros-traditionally referenced as the Big 5 not for their size but for the degree of difficulty and danger involved in hunting them on foot. No desire to hunt these majestic creatures, but I'd say seeing two out of five on the first go round was not too shabby.

On the way back to Lilongwe, we had the chance to see how long Blanche's fuel light could stay on while driving through the middle of nowhere, and made it to a filling station on the far side of a mountain pass on fumes. We headed back to Lilongwe to get ready for Nyika Plateau, Livingstonia, and the next leg of our summer adventure. Next post (hopefully not three months from now), the solitude of the Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier and the epic view from Mushroom Farm.

Lake Malawi is gorgeous! (aka Kate and Jon toiling away in Africa!)

Easter weekend (almost six weeks ago already!) Kate and I took the time to head down to Cape Maclear, a beautiful village right on the southern shores of Lake Malawi.  We had originally planned on a different itinerary for the week, including three days on Mt. Mulanje and then staying at Cape Maclear the weekend after, but because of the advocacy training I helped with we had to adjust our plans at the last second.

As it was a holiday weekend, our options were limited, but we did get a room at the Gecko Lodge.  Little did we know, that the Gecko was to be the site of a two- night, all-night dance party, with bumping bass until four in the A.M.  The accommodations were very nice, but we didn't sleep that well :/

 Even so, we had a chance to enjoy each other's company in a beautiful setting, and eat some fresh chambo as well!  We took a whole day and rented kayaks, getting a little too much sun in the process.  Really, really gorgeous here!

Plenty of wildlife included uncommon birds (to us!) such as fish eagles, and of course lots of tropical fish. Apparently, Lake Malawi has one of the best freshwater ecosystems in the world for tropical fish.  It's really cheap to get scuba certified here, so maybe that's something we should do next time?

 Every evening at sunset, the local fisherman paddled home while the sky behind them offered up the beautiful canvas you would expect in such a tropical paradise.  Even in my wildest dreams, I never could have guessed moments like this are what Malawi held for us.  Peaceful, tranquil- you would have to work hard to convince me at that moment that there is anything more beautiful on this entire earth.

It's pretty easy to always blog on the positive, the beautiful, the adventurous, the exciting.  Certainly most days don't hold that much excitement once you get settled here, but I will say I am struck almost every day by the beauty of the country here.  It's also easy to say things such as life is short, stop and smell the roses, etc., but I am really thankful that I have the opportunity to really appreciate what a splendid country I get the chance to live in.  Also, was pretty sure we could have found Kong on that island to the right had we looked!

Family and friends always inquire how I'm doing, or if I'm happy.  Kate's colleagues here are always asking, "How's Jon getting on?" It seems like a common inquiry, and if I'm not careful it's pretty easy to always be in my own head, questioning and asking about the decisions I've made to leave my career for a while and head here.  Purpose in my life and what I do is important to me, and simply living a vacation lifestyle is something that gets old (see Steamboat, Hilton Head, etc.)

Some days I miss my job, some days I don't.  I'm sad that I wasn't there for Sean  Pharr's two (two!) Walkers, as well as the opportunity to keep Fred Moore humble after he picked one up as well.  I'm bummed that I wasn't there to see my classmate Adam Braunbeck try his first Circuit case, and from what I hear do a good job with really, really tough facts (I mean, what else?).  I can't believe I'm not there to keep Carlos Wood in line now that he's back at the office, and miss my daily bull sessions with Aaron Dyke. I miss the heck out of each and every person at that office, because I believe in what they are doing with their lives, and enjoy the people they are.  I know that there is endless work to be done at the Louisville Metro Public Defender, and every other PD office for that matter.  I know I love that work, and it was tough leaving it.  I believe I will do that work again some day, just not right now.

I have picked up some freelance legal work through a couple of websites I am on, which doesn't sound like much except for when you account for some money coming in when you haven't had any income for three months. I'm very proud to say that one client I did some work for has asked for some additional, so that makes me believe I can do some of the civil stuff I had tried to forget.

Is it my dream job to work on trusts issues from Utah, and civil procedure questions from Illinois? Clearly not.  But I can say I feel more balanced than I have in a long time.  It's been great to work out more, play things like Gaelic football, and be more healthy.  Kate and I seem to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables in a week here than we did all year when we were home.  I have really, really enjoyed having time to read, watch movies, and catch up on lots of good music.  And sweet Lucille is providing more and more adventure by the day (btw, RIP BB King, what a morbid coincidence!).

After the initial newness of Lilongwe wore off, after my terror that I wouldn't be able to pay the bills started to subside, after I learned not to worry about how I would fill my days, after taking some time to build perspective on this entire adventure....life is good. Am I happy?  What an odd question.  Do you mean at this exact moment?  Do you mean generally satisfied with life?  Is anybody happy all of the time?  I would be skeptical if someone said they were.  Am I happy?  Most of the time, yes.  I am really happy that I took the chance to move here, am thrilled that the seven months away from Kate is over, and am excited to see what else Malawi has to offer that the first three months haven't already produced.

Will I always be happy living far away from family and friends, doing freelance legal work while a career I care about is waiting back in the States?  Not sure: ask me in six months, or a year, or five. And if you happen to feel a little down, a little lost, and little confused about what's important in life, there are always scenes like this to offer a little perspective.

"Lucille"

When this whole Malawi adventure started to materialize, plans were made, different contingencies were considered, certain aspects of life were shifted around.  Part of that process was letting the imagination run wild and coming up with any ideas, crazy or not, for how we would like to live this part of our life.  One thing that always seemed to be in the back of my mind for my adventure here was getting a motorcycle (sorry mom).  Riding on the open road, coutryside wizzing past, that's what I'm talking about.

Here in Lilongwe, buying a motorcycle is not always as easy as going to the local dealership.  That can happen, but you are pretty much stuck buying new with a couple of Chinese brands that I wasn't all that familiar with, and for that matter had pretty consistently terrible reviews from people.  My perfect world was finding a used bike, as it would be easier on the budget, and probably a Yamaha or Honda or Suzuki.  Once I arrived here I started to keep my eyes open, but used bikes seem to be at a premium here.  I finally saw a local notice for a used Suzuki TF 125 for sale, and sent a text.  Over the next five weeks and dozens and dozens of texts, phone calls, and emails, I finally saw her....

"Lucille"

Now, for those of you that don't know, BB King named his guitar Lucille years ago.  And since we have Lucy the dog, it seemed like a nice pseudo-homage on a couple of levels (also, apparently both Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers have songs about Lucilles, but...no).  But naming her didn't come until later.  My buddy Dan drove me over to meet Asher, the guy who was selling the bike.  He lived in Area 18, and neither of us were that familar with the area.  Part of me was convinced somebody was trying to pull a fast one, so when we met him and followed him through a maze of streets, winding farther and farther from our familiar, I feared my suspicions were going to be confirmed.  But lo and behold, he opens the gate up and there she is.

Now unbeknownst to Dan (and something he asked me about later) was that I don't really have a ton of "experience" when it comes to motorcycles.  I rode a minibike around my grandfather's farm when I was a kid (with my cousins Adam, Jason, and Cory), and had been on plenty of scooters and mopeds, but most of my motorcycle experience was when I accidentally bought a motorcycle when I was in law school and living in Minneapolis.  It needed work, which I knew when I bought it, but getting that work done never seeemed to happen and two years after I bought it I sold it and pretty much broke even.  I had ridden it around the neighborhood, but due to some faulty exhaust I never really went all out.  So, not all that much experience at all.

Before we went, I did a little internet research on what to look for when buying a used bike, so I tried to apply that as best I could.  When we showed up, I gave the bike a once over, but in all honesty was so excited I didn't really even look for half the things my research had told me to.  Either way, I took it for a test drive, and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't crash the thing into the side of Asher's house.  After taking maybe a couple of seconds longer to get it into neutral than it should have taken, I started it, put it into gear and turned out on the road.  It was about 5pm, so lots of people on the road heading home for the day. I didn't get any strange looks at all......  Avoiding disaster, I headed back to the house and pulled in.  Pretty sure the smile I couldn't wipe off my face destroyed any bargaining power I would have had.  It still took another week or so to transfer the money, get her looked at by a mechanic, and get some of the paperwork in order.  But once that was done, I was off.

My first destination was Kumuzu Dam.  It was south of Lilongwe about 30 km.  I took my time getting out, soaking in the villages I passed through, the beautiful countryside, the dirt road seemingly headed to the horizon.  So many friendly waves and smiles from people, and plenty of those stares again with hardly any reaction at all.  I had spent that first week of getting paperwork in order riding around the neighborhood, so I was somewhat familiar with the bike by then, but this certainly took it to a whole new level.  Riding was awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a better place to do it.  And life was good, and the African red dirt found a temporary resting place on my teeth, as once again I couldn't keep my mouth shut with the smile on my face that wouldn't quit.

 Once at the dam, I spent an hour or so hiking around and exploring.  There is apparently some sort of Lilongwe Sailing Club here, I didn't see any sign of it.  There was a class of local school kids that were on a field trip there.  Covered in dust, I'm sure I looked like a strange sight.

There are a lot of things about life that are tough when you live this far away from family and friends.  My younger sister Abby just had her seond child, a boy this time!  I'd love to see Brooks, and how his older sister Amelia interacts with him.  I think one of the things I'd like to be there for most is seeing Jay and Abby and all the love that is in their life.  It stinks not being there.

Mother's day was yesterday, and I put in a call to my Mom.  I didn't get a chance to talk to Abby, or Kara, my older sister with three kids of her own.  It would have been nice to give all the favorite moms in my life a kiss and a hug and tell them how much I appreciate them,  I try not to spend a lot of time focused on missing all of those things, because if you do you'll miss the experiences and opportunities that are right in front of you.  But I do think about them, and miss all of those guys every day.

With all that said, it's nice to have destractions.  It's great to have things that take your focus away from anything that is bothering you.  I've always had buddies that had motorcycles, and I was always jealous, although I don't know that I could have told you why exactly.  They all seemed to love it, however, and some seemed almost obsessed.  It has only been a short time for me, but I think I'm now officially in the club.  Riding on a Malawi country rode at 60 kmh, grass huts wizzing by, the sun lasered on my forearms as my palms sweat from holding on so tight....I think I may be spending a little time on Lucille while I live here in Malawi.

Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary

We had the chance to take a Saturday a few weeks back and head to the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre and Wildlife Sanctuary.  The Centre specializes in rehabbing injured animals before returning them to the wild, but also has some other animals there that spent prior lives in the circus or zoos.  Those animals don't have the ability or instincts to be returned to the wild.  We first spent some time hiking some trails in the sanctuary on our own, and then went on a guided tour through the actual centre where they rehab animals.

 I can safely say that we did not see a crocodile.  If we would have, Kate would have had to drag me away as I would have clearly needed a picture for the blog. As a matter of fact, we didn't see much wildlife at all when we hiked on our own.  It really seemed like a hike in the woods you could have taken in Kentucky, or Iowa, or anyplace, really.  You could have almost convinced me we were not in Malawi at all. We kept our eyes open, and were really jumpy at first (expecting a leopard...or something...and not we, just me), but soon just enjoyed the view and the exercise.

Once we got to the guided portion through the centre, we saw some vervit monkeys (on the left with a baby hanging on on the monkey on the far right as well as chilling on the right).  Vervits are native to Malawi, so there were some inside caged areas that were rescues, as well as some roaming all over the place.

We also saw some olive baboons that were gorgeous up close.  At first it seems sad to see them "behind the fence," but when you hear the story of the baboons, for instance, being brought here from a circus in Spain, it's easy to see that their lives are much better now.  Their tales had been clipped when they were used as performers, so they can't be released back in the wild.  Luckily, there were 12-15 of them, so lots of company!


This guy on the left was quite striking, and I certainly don't think the picture did a good job of showing just how big he really was.The centre had a one-eyed lion that had come from a zoo in Romania, as well as some crocs and some hyenas as well.  Unfortunately, they didn't cooperate all that much so no pics!  After we got done walking through the centre, we stopped at the cafe near the entrance for a quick drink.  Charming atmosphere, with some of the free roaming vervits feeling quite comfortable making their way up to tables to look for leftovers.

Days turn into weeks, the slow, warm pace of Malawi soaks into your bones, and every day is another chance to see and explore more.  The rainy season officially ended here in the last month or so, but we have been lucky to get a few storms here and there.  I'm told they don't have the same bite as the storms in December and January, and they are more and more infrequent.  I took a video of one the other day, and it seems like it was much more fierce as I was filming; perhaps just something else not able to be 100% translated through picture or film. Still nice! This time of year, the temp is regularly in the low to mid '80s, so pretty tough to complain.  The sun shines pretty much every day, but this close to the equator, watch out! Very intense!

And as always, Lucy is in charge.  I try not to stray to her side of the bed, it's very important she get her rest.  Life is good, family and friends are missed, and I am beginning to focus on what will fill my days more regularly.  Last week I had the chance to take part in an advocacy training here in Lilongwe for both prosecutors and defenders, so maybe next time I'll share more about that.  SPOILER ALERT...I managed to make myself look like a fool in front of the Irish Ambassador to Malawi!  Until next time.

Learning to Relax Again

Days just keep flying by, and here I am in Lilongwe for more than a month already!  I've had friends and family ask what I am up to every day, so here is a little taste of what I do most days while Kate is at school.......

Yep, that is a pretty fair representation; just trying to find as much time as possible to lie in the hammock and learning to relax again.  It's been a strange transition, working at the public defender in Louisville, never having enough time to get the work done that you have in front of you, transitioning to pretty much having endless time to fill.  The first two or three weeks I found myself regularly thinking about what I should be doing, what was next on the list, whether I was needed somewhere..... madness.

Now, I'm certainly not complaining.  Catching up on reading, listening to music, studying the local language, spending time walking around and exploring: all these things are great, and I appreciate the value in them and the luxury I've got right now to do them.  It is interesting, though, that our brains are programmed to always be moving, always thinking about what needs to be done, to always be in a hurry.  Part of that was probably the culture of the job I was at; part of that is just the American mentality I suppose.

 Malawi is not that.  People that have traveled in the Caribbean or Hawaii know what "island time" is: never getting too stressed about a schedule and simply going with the flow.  Malawi generally fits that attitude as well.  A 6 pm meet up inevitability happens at 6:30, or 7, or 9.  And that's okay, because nobody seems all too worked up about it.

One thing that is in my (almost) daily routine is walking with Lucy.  We live a few minutes away from the Lilongwe Golf Club, and spend an hour or two every day walking there.  It is not very busy, but we typically see a few people here and there playing a round.  Wish I would have thought to bring the clubs to Malawi?

That being said, lots of beautiful trees and flowers, and always a great chance to check out some of the local creatures.  My intention after seeing some of these and taking pictures, is to go home and do some research about what I have just found, scientific names, ...not enough of that so far.  But here are some cool pics nevertheless.  On the left is a millipede that is probably 6-8 inches long.  It's called a Choungololo or "Giant African Millipede." Apparently, some keep them as pets?  Not necessarily my cup of tea now, but could definitely see the appeal of having one of these in the terrarium (http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/centipedes/a/millipedes.htm)


On the right is a pretty nice size lizard.  It's too bad I didn't have a little more courage, so that I could have gotten closer and put something next to him to give him some scale, but yeah, not quite. He was probably a good 18-24 inches long, and looked just menacing enough for me to keep my distance. Not sure if he is part of the iguana family?  type of chameleon?  Haven't figured it out yet; if anybody knows, feel free to fill me in.

Always beautiful trees, flowers, etc.  Everything here seems so exotic at first, but even in the month I've been here, that starts to fade.  I've had the conversation with Kate before, about how people back home always want to see more pictures and hear about the interesting things you are doing.  There are many things that seem to fit the bill, particularly at first.  But like any place or experience, familiarity does set in.  Our day-to-day becomes so normalized to us, that sometimes it seems hard to remember to pull out the camera.   Reminds me of living in San Diego and sometimes people hadn't been near the beach for months and months at a time.

There have been trips to the market, grocery store, and simply wandering around to get lost. I'd like to do another post on the market, but am working out how to take pictures there the right way.  Not sure what the etiquette here is on taking pictures in public spaces, so I'll work on that.  So much energy and life there. Some more traveling coming up as well, so we'll hopefully be seeing some more exotic locals.
I have met with a couple of people about doing some volunteering, and just starting to trickle out a couple resumes here and there.  The initial plan was to take 6-8 weeks to decompress- might be cutting it short, might not.  For now, enjoy the peace, and the relative stillness in my life.  Enjoy walking in the golf course with Lucy.  And enjoy whatever comes next.

I finally made it to Malawi! (Part 4/4 - Zomba Plateau)

As I wrote before, Kate was very thoughtful and set up a 3 day holiday for us to relax together right when I got to Malawi.  After a few days of decompressing in Lilongwe, we hit the road for Zomba.

When we got to Zomba, we met up with Emma, Dani, and Louke.  Emma, of course, is the Canadian teacher who lives in the same compound as us, Dani is from Ireland, Louke is from Holland, and all three teach with Kate at Bishop Mackenzie.  We dropped off Emma's smaller car at a lodge in Zomba, hopped in Dani and Louke's Rav4, and headed up the mountain for the Zomba Forest Lodge.

The lodge was simply unbelievable.  It is run by Tom and Petal, a lovely couple who have essentially turned their home into a guest house.  They are both Brits, although my understanding is that Petal's grandparents were missionaries here in Malawi and that she spent quite a bit of her youth here. (http://www.zombaforestlodge.com/)    There was another couple staying there as well, for a total of 7 guests for the time we were there.  The word on the street is that the lodge is especially known for their amazing food.  It is all situated right in the forest, with hiking paths running right past their property. They have also done a great job decorating and setting the atmosphere.  Also, no electricity, so they mainly get by on solar lanterns and candles; we hardly noticed.

 Once we got settled that first evening, Dani and Louke pulled out Kubb (aka "Viking Chess").  We all had a beer and settled into what was the first of many rounds of this entertaining lawn game.  For fans of bocce or bags, I highly suggest looking into it. Much fun, very strategic, and like I said before, we ended up scheduling much of our time here around when we could get another game in.

After a few games, we headed over to one of the overlooks to take in our first sunset on Zomba Plateau.  Beautiful, and at times like this it was easy to feel very lucky about where we were at in the world, with the opportunity to meet new friends and simply soak in the adventure.  Like I have said before and will probably say many times again, not the pictures I had in my mind when I envisioned Malawi.  Stunning.

After watching the sun set, we headed back to the lodge for what was the first of many amazing meals.  While I know it is in fashion to take pictures of all the wonderful food people eat, I forgot to take any.  Perhaps that is a testament to how good it really was!  I can say that every morning we were treated to local coffee done right with the french press, homemade cinnamon roles, muffins, fruit, everything you'd want.  Lunch was packed sandwiches and fruit for our hikes, and dinner every night was what could be described as gourmet food fit for kings.

We spent the days hiking up to the top of the plateau, exploring, eating great food, and simply relaxing and enjoying each other's company.  It is always nice to meet new friends, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to help me celebrate my first week in Malawi.

I know that my time here will be spent with many days that are not quite as exciting as the first few that were spent here.  There will hopefully be much travel and exploring, though, as that is one of the best things about Malawi, all the places waiting to be discovered.  Trying my best to absorb the culture and understand the people here will undoubtedly be a large part of the process as well, but one that I look forward to.  Learning the local language (Chichewa) is definitely on the list, and so far I am happy to report that I have a dozen or so phrases that are helping me get by.

There will also be the upcoming challenge of figuring out how to really spend my time here, other than simply being a house-husband (which does have its appeal). I miss my work at the public defender's office in Louisville, but know there are plenty of opportunities to have impact here as well. My initial plan was to spend 6-8 weeks simply relaxing and decompressing before I start the attempt at finding work.  I don't know if it is simply my inability to stay still, but I have a feeling that time frame will be pushed up just a little bit.
As of today, I've been here 22 days. Some days it feels like I just arrived yesterday; others, it feels like I've been here six months.  While I miss my friends and family, that is sometimes the trade off: exploring and having new adventures far from home.  There's an energy and life in Malawi that is hard to really explain (although that is exactly what I will continue to attempt).  Many people say that Malawi is perhaps the easiest country in Africa for someone new to the continent, and thus far that is exactly what I've found.  Looking forward to today, tomorrow, and everything after.