Pleasant Dreams

The evening air stings my face as I step outside into the cold evening air. My breath forms a small cloud in front of my face. I take a deep breath, of the icy air. My lungs scream in protest. Above me, snow gently dances from the skies, leaving the world with a new look and a magical feeling. The street lights cast homey glows on the deserted streets. I pull my scarf tighter about my neck and button my coat. My gloved hands find their way into my pockets as my arms and shoulders tighten into the cold-weather-shrug in attempts to preserve body heat. It is cold.

I wake with a start. Sweat rolls across my forehead and drips off my head. It’s too hot to sleep. My brain quickly switches from my beautiful dream to reality. I’m in Africa. There is no snow on the ground, and there is no reason to even consider thinking about wearing a coat whatsoever. Dreaming of a white Christmas is as pointless as taking home a real, live elephant for my brother (yes, he asked me to bring one home for him...).

I miss being cold. I miss sitting on top of my heater in Foreman as a desperate attempt to get really warm. I miss fog, ice, and snow. I miss the welcoming warmth of entering a building from the cold winter weather.

But at the same time, I love Africa. Rainy season has begun and everything all around me is coming alive with color. The country-side is absolutely beautiful, and the animals and birds here are exotic. The people here are wonderful, sweet, and kind. I am blessed to be here. God has made up for the lack of cold and snow in fantastic ways. Even though Christmas will be extremely different this year, it will be wonderful. :) 

Merry Christmas from Malawi!

Liwonde National Park

Thanksgiving in Africa

I cleaned off my plate and went back for seconds. It was Thanksgiving Day and all the American missionaries got together and had a big potluck. There was a LOT of good food (lots of classic dishes) and I happily followed the good ol’ American tradition of completely over-eating on Thanksgiving Day. Because Malawi is not the United States (haha, not a new concept, I know), Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, and we still had to teach on Thursday and Friday. Teaching on Thanksgiving just felt wrong, and it felt equally wrong to interrupt my Thanksgiving Dinner Coma to get up in time for school the next day.

Beautiful Malawian Countryside

I often feel guilty, eating my fill, living in a house, having a fan and running water. There are so many people who do not have that. So many people live in shacks or lean-tos. Most people pump their water from a well. They cook their meals over a fire and have no electricity. They have no money. Their clothes are worn and tattered. They do not have enough food.

Being here where the people do not even have enough food to feed their children and seeing it with my own eyes has made me more conscious and thankful for what I have. 

So, this holiday season, I am thankful for:

…..having to monitor how much water I use, because it means I have running water.

…..the hot stove burners that I burn my fingers on, even though I turned it off a half hour ago, because it means I have the electricity to cook my food to help avoid food-poisoning.

…..the rooster that cock-a-doodle-doos outside my window incessantly and wakes me up early in the morning, because it means I am still alive. 

…..the terrible heat that proves that my nervous system is still functioning.

…..my fan that brings relief when I feel like I’m going to die from the heat.

…..how sore I get after a session of aerobics with the nurses, because it means I can still use my body.

…..people here who give us rides to places we need to go so we don’t have to rely on public transportation or help us with whatever we need because that keeps us safer and shows that we are cared for.

…..my students who make me smile daily, because it shows that even though teaching is hard, it is rewarding and worth it. There is joy in the difficult.

…..the bad internet connection that will cut out in the middle of a call home, because it means I have a way to talk to my family.

…..the absolutely gorgeous sunsets that completely take my breath away, because it reminds me that beauty is present even in the poorest of places and circumstances.

…..the prayers from all my friends and family at home - it means the world to me.

Most of all, I am thankful for God. He has so greatly blessed me with the best friends and family, both here and at home. He takes the best care of me and loves me every moment of every day, even though I most definitely do not deserve it. I am SO incredibly blessed!

Funnies

We have adventures. Of course, with Laurel being a red-head, what else are we going to have? These are a few of our golden moments that I thought you would appreciate :)

Bug Hunts

Okay, so not quite hunts. More chasing is involved than anything. One particular evening, I was trying desperately to kill a certain mosquito that kept threatening my space. I was next to my bed, and suddenly, he was there too. I was all focus. He hovered above my bed. Okay Talea, now!!  It would have worked, I could have killed him, if only my body had jumped when my brain told it to. But no. There was a three second delay between the brain and the body actually moving. When my body finally responded and moved to kill the mosquito, it was in “slow-motion” mode. Needless to say, I missed the mosquito and awkwardly fell on my bed. For Laurel’s viewing pleasure, I tried to kill a mosquito that was far away from me and failed. I’m sure it would have won an award on “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

Emotions

One Friday afternoon, we were watching “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” as we were preparing our supper. Laurel was chopping an extremely strong onion… “Man these onions are strong!” I look over and see her eyes watering. “Quick! Take a picture to prove that I actually get emotional and cry during movies!”

Haha, nice try Laurel, nice try.

Spider Battles

Do I talk about bugs a lot? I feel like I do. I don’t like them, in case you hadn’t picked up on that :)

We were at the lake for Mother’s Day, taking some time to relax during the break from school before the next quarter of school began. Laurel and I being there alone, we were being cautious not to be in any unsafe situations. This means being in our room not long after it gets dark outside: 6:00pm. That leaves us with a lot of time to do absolutely nothing. Laurel had rented downloaded the movie “Second Hand Lions,” which meant we could only watch it once, so we were waiting for the perfect opportunity. This seemed to be it. We positioned ourselves on the cool, cement floor and started watching. Half way through the movie, a big, disgusting, weird, flat (and did I mention big?) spider crawled out of nowhere and ran across the floor. I graciously paused the movie so that Laurel would have the opportunity to decimate the vile creature. She missed, as he was a quick enemy and scurried under one of the bunks. Laurel shrugged her shoulders and resumed her place next to me to finish the movie.

Me: “Um… Aren’t you going to kill it?”

Laurel: “No, I don’t know where he is.”

Me (in desperation): “He’s under the bed.” Laurel didn’t seem too motivated. “I’ll even help you!!!”

Laurel, in a surprised tone: “Really??”

Me: “Yeah! Somebody has to hold the flashlight!!”

As hard as it may be for you to imagine, I reigned victorious over that spider. I don’t remember if I used my shoe to kill it or Laurel’s. But he was dead and we were at peace to finish the movie.

Rice

Laurel loves rice and eats EVERYTHING with chopsticks (except for cinnamon rolls). She’s part Asian, if not all. She is very well disguised with her white skin and red hair. I have yet to figure out how she managed that. I really don’t mind her inner Asian, I like rice, but I roll my eyes at her every once in a while. I can’t let her go too long without somebody giving her a hard time, right?

Well, we have ground breaking news!! On October 30, 2014, Laurel said she didn’t want rice. 

And I have a confession to make: The past couple of days I’ve been craving rice. Laurel may be rubbing off on me. 

Please don’t be surprised to see us at a rice-aholics anonymous meeting when we return to the States.

Battle of the Papayas

Once upon a time, Talea decided she wanted a papaya, so off she went through the yard on a hunt for a ripe papaya. 

Papaya hunting is an all-out battle between the hunters and papayas. So far, the papayas are winning.
























                           

I tried climbing a papaya tree once, but it was really strenuous and painful. Papaya trees are not meant for climbing. The tree was next to a brick wall, so that aided the climbing process to get me high enough to pick the papaya. It works, but only for that one tree in the yard.

Tonight I decided I wanted some papayas to make some fresh papaya juice. There was one really tall tree that had three obviously ripe papayas gracefully hanging from it. Now, this tree was too tall to climb, not next to a wall to help the climbing process, and I was not up for the struggle and pain of trying to climb that tree. It was time for an alternative: a really long pole.

Now, this pole is AT LEAST three times my height. Bianca (one of the children of the Guarino family, the family whose compound we live on) had demonstrated the use of this pole earlier. It can’t be THAT hard, right?

Wrong. Dreadfully wrong. By the time I decided that I wanted papayas, it was already dark. Yet, I was determined to get some papayas, so I dragged Laurel out with me to help me conquer this task. We took flashlights out with us, but they were not strong enough to do anything useful in all practical purposes. Laurel went first, trying to knock the papayas out of the tree with the long pole while I was waiting to catch the falling papaya. 


Splat!! 



Okay, so I’m not an athlete…. I took over the “pole operation” when Laurel was not getting the papaya down. It’s hard. And the papaya did not gracefully fall down to Laurel’s patiently waiting hands. Instead, a different papaya than the one I was trying to get down fell and met it’s doom on the ground. Oops. Finally, the one I was working on came down. And it landed on a branch of the tree that split it right in half. 

Can you say “entertaining”?

Did I mention that it was dark when we tried to do this? Laurel and I obviously need to practice, and continue the battle in daylight. Thankfully, there are many more trees in the yard, some of which are short enough for me to pick the papayas with my own hands without any climbing or poles!!

Success!!!!!

With our pitiful spoils of war :)

Fail.

Me, Julian, and our papaya pole.

Yeah, my game face didn't help us out much. :)

Connections

What should we do with ourselves??  We found out we had a whole week off of school in-between the first and second quarters in honor of Mother’s Day, which fell on a Wednesday. We needed something to do or else we would be sitting around for a whole week with nothing to do. We had been told that we HAVE to go to Lake Malawi since it is so nice there. Hmm… that’s a thought. Then we found out that they offer SCUBA diving courses.

YES. SO MUCH YES.

So we went. And I am proud to say that I am now officially a member of the SCUBA diving world!!

While we were at the lake, we met some other people who were there to dive as well, though they were already certified. When we finally were able to claim our own certifications, they were excited for us and what we could now do with it. They were excited for us. There was a couple at the lake from Zimbabwe who did five dives with us. They were so cool! She was a conservationist - awesome!! They gave us lots of good tips for when we travel around southern Africa come Christmas. By the end of our dives we were friends who had just a had a ton of fun together, and I was sad to part with them.

As part of the SCUBA world, I now have a special kind of connection with thousands of people, most of which I will probably never meet. But for those I do, we have something in common. We will have things to talk about and will most likely part as friends. Why? Because we share a love for SCUBA diving. 

It’s the same with Christians. We are all connected through God. We get excited for other people when they meet God, experience His love, and commit their lives to Him. We pray for other people and teach them about God. We reach out to people who need our help.  We hurt for people we don’t know; we rejoice for and with strangers; we talk, we cry, we laugh, we sing, with people we don’t know because we have the love of God in our hearts. Coming to Malawi, I already had common ground to stand on with the other missionaries here because we claim the same faith and we are all here to help others. There are thousands of people in the world that I have a connection with, even though I’ll never meet them. Why? Because we serve the same True God and devote ourselves to serving Him, whether it be at home or overseas.

But, in a larger sense, I have a connection with everybody in the world. I imagine you’re thinking to yourselves, What? Talea! What are you thinking?! There are BILLIONS of people in this world. What on earth Talea?! You have a connection with ALL of them? Yeah right!

No, I do. And so do you. Please allow me to explain…

Not wanting to take a bus or mini bus the four hours to the lake by ourselves, we asked the lodge where we were staying if they had any better ideas for a ride up to the lake. They sent us contact information of some people who were going up from Blantyre. We contacted them and they were fine with us riding with them! We helped pay for gas, and overall, it was a much nicer, non-stressful, and more financially pleasing ride than we would have been able to get otherwise. On the ride up we were talking with the people in the car, and one lady asked how we were liking Malawi so far. Laurel said that she loved it way more than the United States. The lady was surprised to hear that and asked why. Laurel said something to the effect that there wasn’t a social norm that she was expected to live by here. The lady then explained that there were social norms, just not for mzungus (foreigners), and told us how much she didn’t like expectations the culture held for her. She would feel the same way as Laurel does here if she went to another culture. 

Really, we aren’t so different from the people here, and they aren’t so different than us. We live in different cultures. Daily chores are done much differently. The food we eat is not always the same. We speak different languages and have different knowledge bases. But really, as people, we are the same. We are people, living as we know how. Because of sin we are confused, hurting people searching for answers to whatever questions lie in our hearts and minds. We find answers in different places and live by different sets of values. But deep down inside, we are all the same - we are all human. 

Human. We all mess up, we all make mistakes, and by the Grace of God, we are made new again. With God’s help and understanding, showing love to other people who live completely different lives than what we’re used to doesn’t seem so difficult and impossible.

Though SCUBA diving has nothing to do with my work here in Malawi, it is a great experience - seeing God’s creation up close, in their own natural habitat, is quite the breathtaking experience. And, IT IS SO EXCITING!!! Going places, meeting people, seeing new things, and learning through it all is so valuable, completely fantastic, and life changing.

One of the many, absolutely gorgeous sunsets we watched.

A local dug-out canoe

Duck Duck Goose

I woke up with a headache. It being a Sunday morning, I decided that was a good enough reason to stay in bed a little longer. I had been invited to go and help with a children’s ministry down the road. I didn’t know what it would be like. I didn’t know what I would do. I don’t know their language. I didn’t really want to try to help, being the shy person that I am. I was scared. I was selfish. But the headache was a good excuse not to go, right? Wrong. I didn’t go, and have felt completely terrible about it ever since. I came here to serve, and what did I do? Stayed in bed for a few more hours. Lame Talea, really lame.

After about a month, I finally asked to go and help. I worked up the courage and talked to the lady in charge Sabbath night, volunteering my help Sunday morning. 

Sunday morning came, and I went.

These kids don’t have money, they don’t have food. They belong to a village that used to be full of thieves. The church here worked with them, teaching them about God, and now they don’t steal anymore. God is so good!! Since they don’t steal, they don’t have money to buy food or other things they need. They try to find jobs, but it’s hard to get a good job here without an education. 

On Sunday mornings, there is a group of missionaries here that goes down to this village and teaches the children there about God. We sing songs, they listen to a Bible story, they learn a simple memory verse, they color a picture, they learn a little bit about the body, and they play a game. I was in charge of the game, and hadn’t come up with anything cool. At all. So “Duck Duck Goose” it was. I have NEVER EVER seen kids have so much fun with that game. They loved it so much!! Their joy at such simplicity was contagious and I felt myself relax and enjoy it just as much as they were.

Then we gave the children food. That was an adventure. They are all hungry, and they all try to get their hands on as much food as they possibly can. I was passing out pieces of bread and one little boy held out his hand for another piece.

“Did I already give you a piece?” I asked suspiciously, pretty positive that I had. 

With a full mouth he emphatically shook his head no.

“Open your mouth,” I told him, pointing to my mouth and demonstrating so that he would know what to do.

He opened his mouth. There was bread. I wanted to give him another piece so badly. These kids really need the food. But there was only enough for one piece of bread per person. So I said no and went on to the next child, all the while wondering which boys I had already given bread to that were crowding around me and demanding bread.

They demand things. They don’t say “chonde” (please), and nobody said “zikomo” (thank you) after I gave them bread. But they don’t know any better. And my heart breaks for them. Why are some blessed with so much, yet others have next to nothing? It isn’t fair.  Not fair at all. I don't like it. I wish there were more I could do. For now, getting myself out of bed and walking down to play games, hand out food, teach the kids about Jesus, and loving the kids is going to have to suffice. And it will, because God will take care of everything, way better than I could ever imagine.

   

The story was about Captain Naaman.

  

They got rather excited about my little camera.

And really excited.

Visas

Visas can be a scary thing. To legally be allowed to stay here and teach for the year we need to have a special visa, a TEP (temporary employment permit). Though it can be done with a visitors/tourist visa that gets renewed every month, it’s better to get the TEP.

Laurel and I were in difficult locations this summer. She was at Rosario with bad service, and I was in Alaska with no service half of the time, at least. Needless to say, we got our paperwork mailed in no more than a month before we arrived - in other words, late. Not exactly ideal. We got here and our passports were stamped with the visitors visa, valid for 30 days. Okay, no problem. Everybody else who has come doesn’t get theirs until AT LEAST December, and not even always then some never get them.

The doctor in charge of the school (in other words, our boss) sent somebody with our passports to get the visitor's visas renewed. He came back and announced that both of our TEPs were approved. What?!?! It was only the end of September, and we were approved to stay the whole year. We don't even have to think about Malawian visas any more!! Our boss told us that in her twenty years of living in Malawi and working with the government for TEPs, she had never ever seen it come through so quickly, or even both of them at the same time.

I have no more words. I am humbled. I serve an incredible God. Absolutely incredible. 

Mother's Day

I was told in a preparatory class for this year as a student missionary that when living in a different culture I would find things about that culture that are better than my home culture. Though I can not articulate most that I’ve found as of yet due to the slow brain processing of culture shock, there is one that I can: Mother’s Day. Here in Malawi, Mother’s Day is national holiday. Yes, it’s a national holiday in the United States as well, but here in Malawi it isn’t necessarily on a Sunday. October 15 is the official day every year. And, there’s no school. Malawi has it right - mothers deserve this much celebration - plus more. So please, fathers, bear with me as I rant and rave about how wonderful mothers are. Fathers are wonderful as well and do a lot of the same things as mothers. However, it is Mother’s Day today, not Father’s Day. So though I have no favorite between the two, this post is celebrating mothers.

Mothers are one of God’s greatest gifts to us. Can you imagine a world without mothers? For one, it would be less populated, very much so. But other than that obvious fact, I imagine the world would be very bleak. Whose heart will swell with love when their baby wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming, for the second time that night? Who would be proud of a 4-year-old’s picture she colored that resembles nothing in this world? Who would gently wipe tears away and kiss the imaginary boo-boo that has caused a world to fall apart? Who else would be your best friend and play dolls with you even when no one else wants to? Who else is going to read Christmas stories to you as you and your siblings sit around a lit tree sipping hot chocolate? Who else is going to come into your room and put all of the toys that are still on the floor hours after she asked you to pick them up in a big garbage bag and keep them until you earn them back? Who else is going to quiz you over your science material before a test the next day? Who else is going to ground you and make you ask permission before you read a book because you just HAD to keep reading and completely overlooked your ridiculously simple chores for far too long? Who else is going to make you your favorite food or dessert when you’ve had a terrible day and are in need of some encouragement? More importantly, who is going to love you always even when you most definitely do not deserve it?

Yes, mothers are definitely a huge blessing and an incredible way through which God shows His love for us - by providing earthly parents that can dry our tears and laugh with us, hug us or spank us when we need it, and scold us when we need to learn a lesson or listen to us when our world is falling apart and we need somebody to rant and complain to.

Now, I would like it to be known that I, unarguably, have the best mother on the planet. No question about it. Not only did she, along with my dad, raise me to be the person that I am today, but she has always been patient with me and some of my crazy ideas and a major encouraging support in my life. She has taught me many, many things: from to not leave your dirty panties on the floor and to not leave your church clothes in a heap on the floor to get all wrinkled, to the importance of responsibility, manners, and modesty, being thorough, and how to be thankful for everything I have. I cannot imagine all the stress and difficulty I have caused for my mother over the years, and I feel bad for all the times when I have not treated her like the queen she really is or when I did not do anything to be helpful when she really needed it and there was a boat-load of things I could have done. Thankfully, my mother is a forgiving person and loves me anyway. I do not know what on earth I would do without her.

Thank you Mommy, for being the wonderful mother and godly example that you are. You are the best mother ever and I am SO GLAD that YOU are MY mom. And to every other mother who reads this, you ARE appreciated and loved - thank you for your love and commitment. Happy Malawian Mother’s Day!!

Familiarity

“Hello!!”
I looked up and saw somebody walking towards me that recognized me, and what’s even more exciting, I RECOGNIZED HER TOO!!! Laurel and I have gone with some of the doctors and nurses when they go out and do free medical outreaches in nearby villages where evangelistic meetings are also being held. This lady was one that had been at both and I worked with her taking people’s blood pressures. Though we really did not talk to each other besides, “Hello, how are you?” we knew who the other was. As I saw her on the street she gave me a very warm, Malawian greeting, and it felt so great. SO GREAT. 
Another day we was walking through town to a store to buy butter and a lady in a car was driving down the street and waved at us, and I knew exactly who she was!!!!! Yes, we did wave back, rather enthusiastically.

Reading what I just wrote, it sounds like no big deal at all. Come on, Talea, get over it. That’s no BIG deal. 
NO!! It IS a big deal, it IS exciting. More than five weeks ago I arrived in a place where I knew nobody - not a soul - besides Laurel. We know our students and their families and a few other people from the hospital here, but not a lot of people. So finally recognizing somebody when we were were merely walking down the street? I was so excited one might have thought it was Christmas morning and it had just snowed two feet. As we’ve been adjusting to the culture over here, it has often felt like everything about every moment of every day was something completely new. But now I’m starting to know what to expect in certain places and EVERYTHING isn’t quite so new. Some things are becoming familiar. Familiarity is a powerful thing. It makes living easier, it makes interactions more meaningful, and it just helps life overall. It is so wonderful.


Yes, I still am finding many, many things that are not familiar to me at all due to still more culture shock, but at least bits of life are becoming familiar.



These pictures are from the second free medical clinic that we helped with. It was in Khola, a village about 45 minutes from Blantyre. At the medical clinics, the doctors assess what the problem is and prescribe medicine for whatever they need. We provide the medicines too. This particular day we served around 200 people (we don't have an exact number, we served a lot of people that did not sign up).

Waiting for the Medical Clinic to begin

Taking blood pressures!!!

The Many Moons of Africa

On Sabbath, for the first time ever, I had a chance to gaze upon the natural beauty of wild, African animals in their wild, African habitat. The Sandoval family took Laurel and I for the day to Majete Wildlife Reserve here in Malawi - a Sabbath WELL spent among some crazy-awesome animals, to say the least. Sure enough, down the road we drove until we saw an animal, where we stopped so Laurel and I could snap a few shots. Everybody in the car experienced my excitement as I sprang across the the backseat of the car and those sitting in it to take a picture. We drove on and came across a waterhole with A FAMILY OF ELEPHANTS!!!!!!!! Oh my word. They are SO SO SO SO COOL!!! And photogenic - that’s always convenient. As we kept driving through the park looking for more animals, we would stop to photograph when we saw some, and more often than not the animals would turn and head into the brush. It very quickly became a joke in our car that we could get some great pictures of animals’ cabooses (not the photogenic part I was referring to). Toward the end of the trip we came to a lookout tower that was nearby a waterhole. We heard elephants in the bushes, so we waited for them to come out and drink water. Another detail from the day: it was about 110 degrees farenheit. And now we were watching animals drink. We left our water in the car. BAD IDEA. Now, the car was only 15 feet away, but when you need to be as quiet as possible as to not scare away the animals before you can get a good shot, 15 feet and the noises that the trek will add are just not motivating enough to go grab a water bottle of warm-almost-hot water. As we were silently waiting, as to not scare off the elephants or other animals, this wonderful breeze rushed past and caressed my sweat glistening face. I breathed in deeply. The air smelt of adventure, of life, of beauty, of joy. In reality, it was probably only good, African air, but I refuse to believe it.

When we got back I looked through the thousand pictures I took and reveled in the fact that I actually got to observe these animals in their natural environment (not in a zoo) and up close! I got to watch the elephants splash water on themselves and pull branches off of trees. I saw baboons running across the road and climbing trees and baby baboons chasing each other’s tails. I got to see the hippos napping in the river, and I got to see those black and white stripped “horses” (according to my childhood associations of animals). Zebras are beautiful.

At home it wasn’t uncommon for me to google pictures of animals I longed to see and places that I would only dream of going, and then sit and desperately wish I could go see the world with my own eyes and take pictures with my own camera. Though Malawi is not the whole world, it’s a start - and it is SO EXCITING!!

My pictures are not that great. My camera is not the best and my photography skills have not exceeded too far past the “Sports” and “Automatic” modes. But I got to take them myself and am experiencing a whole new world over here in Africa. I am so incredibly blessed. 

Our list of animals for the day: impalas, kudus, water bucks, wart hogs, guineas, cute little baby ducks, other birds, one unidentified animal, BABOONS, ZEBRAS, AFRICAN ELEPHANTS, AND HIPPOPOTAMUSES!!!!!!!!!!!