Bri is ridiculously tired...

Currently hanging out in Lilongwe.  Just finished IST... the training we are supposed to get after 3 months living at site, but in fact got after 4.5 months.  I'm absolutely exhausted.  It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone that came to country in Feb.  Some people I'd not seen in a couple months... so... good to catch up.  Honestly don't remember much of what we did the first week, except a bunch of stuff in the classroom... a little bit of medical stuff.  And on Saturday met 2 RPCV that finished thier service and just decided to stay in Malawi and work on nutrition and food security.  They do a lot with permagardening/permaculture, and composting toilets... some really neat stuff.  Also went to thier house today.  Its BEAUTIFUL!  and is kind of inspiring.  Hopefully will get a project going related to that.

This past week has been interesting.  Each of us picked a member of the community we are in to attend some workshops with us as our counterparts.  I picked Alex, the forestry extension worker I'm "officially" assigned to attend.  This probably wasn't the best choice seeing as he's come to this portion of IST with the 2 previous volunteers... but... seeing as i'm passive aggressive and non-confrontational... it just sort of worked out that way.  Really think I should have brought a woman though.  Only 2 of the counterparts were women.  Additionally, we had a little tension thru the week between counterparts and volunteers based on women's empowerment/development issues that occured in group discussions.  Back in the US, I never really thought about those issuse.  In fact, I avoided them b/c I think most feminists take themselves WAY too seriously.  But here... wow... new focus.  The environment girls in the south (including me) are going to get GAD (Gender & Development committee) started in the south... and probably as a part of that get at least one camp started for girls...

Learned a bunch of cool things otherwise... Jam making... another way to make PB... some oil pressing info.  Went to Ed's way too often... Kicked Tom and Sam's ass in pool with Amy... 3x.  Read the Lorax by Dr. Seuss and thought of Erin :)  Read the letters from Kim, Becky, and Jess... and realized I really need to write back (Sorry... working on it!!!!!!).. Was elected to be the south's VSV rep... which is volunteers supporting volunteers.  Really excited about that.  Realized I'm going to be 27 in 2 weeks... and sold all but 2 of my peanut butter... to answer comments... I eat PB almost everyday... after 4.5 months... no problem... in 2 years... I dunno... could get interesting.  But, just found out you can make jam with BANANAS!!  so... perfect combo might make things ok :)