Peanut... peanut butter and Jel-... i mean bread... b/c jelly is expensive

So, survived Mulanje if anyone was wondering.  Its a really, really, REALLY tall mountain!  The most physically challenging thing I've EVER done.  Decided that its ok to be the last person as long as you make it up!  Anyways... its absolutely beautiful.  The way we went up is this really cool forest.  Its on the rainer side of the mountain, so super green and very picteresque.  There were some areas at the beginning of the trail where encroachers had cleared land to farm... lots of PINEAPPLES!  which grow from a bush!  It sucks, but with the huge increase in population over the last few decades, plus the tea companies buying more community land, space for farming is limited... One of those situations where its hard to be mad at people for encroaching on forest reserve land when its how they can grow food and get money for thier families... Anyways... top of the plateau was completely different.  Lots of super grassy open areas and a few smaller forested places.  And the infamous MULANGE CEDAR!  Its beautiful in a really wierd way.  They are very unique looking trees.  And the wood smells great. 

The past couple of weeks have been super busy with actual work.  I'm "financing" mushroom farming for my women's mushroom group.  They have only been able to get one batch of spawn to produce mushrooms under the previous volunteer, Jenni.  But, everyone assures me they have the technique down and if it does work, the condition is that they pay me back (if they make a profit), and they have to put aside the same amount of money for the next batch.  Theoretically, they should be able to do both and make a few thousand kwatcha.  If not, I'm only out ~$30. 

I've also been scrambling to get supplies together for a few tree nurseries in my area.  Two village Natural Resource Management Commmittees (VNRMC) have started construction.  And, last but not least... the Phwera peanut butter group has made a shit ton of peanut butter!!!!  They are such a fun group.  The chairwoman is AWESOME and kind of intimidates me.  I don't think she likes me much at times... or she's just annoyed that I don't speak Chichewa well yet.  Dunno... either way, she is really cool and also is on the VNRMC for the my village and under my TA.  So, she rocks. 

Off to Mzuzu and then the lake.  Mel, a PCV, has a tradefair going on Saturday... so I'm selling the PB.  A lot of it.  When i told Phwera I'd sell it for them, they were excited and said they'd make a ton.  Did not anticipate how much that would be.  They sent me with 69 bottles (typical batch is 18).  And my box is falling apart.  Literally being held together with duct tape.  But I've sold a bunch already (which is good b/c the box is also slowly getting lighter)!  Maybe I should have gone into business!  :) And for the record.  Jelly is actually pretty expensive here.  So just peanut butter sandwiches. :)

Coming soon: A kitten!!!!

Got back to my house from Blantyre on Sunday to discover that I now have a resident RAT!  Not cool... Had a really bad experience from homestay in Dedza during training where a rat decided to hang out in my room at night... and then go through my backpack... for about a week.  And on top of that had a probably Mefloquine induced dream of it crawling on my while sleeping... So, in short, I was not excited to discover that my peanuts were half eaten or to wake up at 2am to the sound of bottles falling from shelves and something rummaging through my trash... Need to get something to take care of that... And for future rat problems, thankfully Amayi Rose, one of my friends in Maliera (my village), has 2 kittens for sale!!!  So, I'll be buying one for K350.  Which amounts to a little less than US$2.  And will say good bye to Mr. Rat...

Also, super excited because Sunday I'll be climbing Mulanje for the first time!  Also kind of scared.  This mountain is HUGE!!!  I'm used to little mountains... The Appalachians and the mountains of the Allegheny Plateau near me are babies compared to Mulanje... So, to say I'm a bit intimidated is an understatement.  Also, Amy (my site mate with a lot more climbing experience) scared me because she was going on about how everything I own clothes-wise is not appropriate for this... I guess we'll see.  I'll be on the top for only 3 days, so I'll survive.  That is if I make it to the top in the first place... :)

Anyways... things are picking up work wise... Trying to get information on an oil press for the peanut butter group by me... and getting materials together for a tree nursery... and getting some boreholes (where we get water) back to working condition... So... yup...

Oh my god... I have a blog!!

Oh yeah... that's right... I've joined the dark side.  Actually, the more I thought about it, and the more I realized the mass emails I told random people I'd send out was never going to happen, the more this seemed like a good idea.  So... let the blogging begin...

Thank you Mary Clare for the fabulous URL.  And for just being fabulous in general.

So... For those of you who have not heard... I'm currently living in Malawi (that's in southern Africa) and working as a Peace Corps volunteer... I live in Mulanje district, pretty much at the Mozambique border.  My official job is a community based natural resource management extension worker... or something like that...  I forget... I'll clarify in the future as I figure this thing out.  Anyways...