Making Friends is Beneficial and Mosquito Nets Only Worked When Closed

I have figured out how to get by around here.

You just latch to the people that know what they are doing!

Apparently there is a kitchen, grocery store, meat cookouts, and places to order take out from.

I learned this all from Naomi.

I believe that if you look free spirit up in the dictionary you will find Naomi's picture next to the definition.

So naturally I really like her.

Naomi is Swiss, but attended some high school in the states, and has spent a couple of years being a missionary in both Ukraine and in South Africa.

She is now working on getting her pilot's license, and looking to buy land to start a lodge for missionaries who are burnt out. 

To sum it up, she may be the coolest person I have ever met.

I had invited her to go to the futbol game with me and she agreed that it would be fun.

When we asked where the stadium was they told us it is not safe for two women to go without a man.

Of course no men wanted to go with us. 

So we walked to town instead.

 Then the boys that work at the camp (of course she has connections with everyone) picked us up and we went to the grocery store and got food for a cook-out.

We got vegetables to grill and while I was cutting them up I was talking to some locals.

They said I was a nice girl and gave me some of their fish!

It was delicious! 

The boys cooked meat and more meat.

We all ate and ate some more.

Then we all sat around while the guitar was played.

I headed off to bed early because I needed to wake up at 5:30 am to be at the nursing council first thing in the morning.

Well my room was full of a group from Holland.

So I proceeded to shower and get into bed by about nine. 

I do not think I fell asleep till 12, and it was very restless all night.

The person on the top bunk kept snoring, and his friend across from him was doing some weird throat clearing thing all night.

I was very close to beating somebody's ass.

So through all of my tossing and tuning I must have opened my mosquito net.

Yeah not good. 

I even have a bite on my eyelid. 

Good news is after 5 hours and 43,000 kwacha* later I am have a green light to start orientation!!!!

I told the cab driver to come get me at 6:30, in true African fashion he showed up at 6:50.

I was quite proud of myself for remembering to tell him earlier than needed.

We got in the car and were off.

Well kind of, the car did not sound quite right and he was not going very fast.

I kept telling myself when we break down I have at least given us extra time to get there.

He pulled up to the first gas station and got out and started running.

He ran back with a can of oil and popped the hood, put the oil in, and off we went.

I am not confident this fixed the issue.

But we made it, and I was literally the first person at the nursing council.

I waited outside her door for almost an hour.

Then she said she did not get my emails. 

I even sat there and emailed again from my phone.

Nope she did not get them.

Thankfully she allowed me to sign on and print off my documents on my own.

I thought I would be smart and also print off my CV, which I had forgotten about.

I quickly changed the dates, address, and phone numbers.

Twenty minutes or so later I realized there was no need to be quick.

She finally came back, took care of other people in front of me, and also got snippy with her coworker who I am assuming is new.

This made me feel a little better, I do not think she was ever mad at me she is just a woman that while doing business, she means business.

She then told me I had to pay 20,000 kwacha and go get passport photos taken.

Of course I did not know of the fee so I did not have enough kwacha.

So we went to the photo studio.

It was hilarious, I tried not to laugh the whole time I stood in line (this would not be culturally sensitive).

Every picture on the wall could have been featured on awkward family photos.

I wish I could have taken pictures for my coworkers (also would not have been culturally sensitive)!

My favorite was a picture of the studio workers, it was a huge banner.

On it were about 20 African men, most looking serious, some smiling, and some not looking at all.

The best part was the Asian man that was much larger than them all sticking out of the top.

I'm assuming that is Lee, it was called Lee's photo studio.

After getting my passport photos I headed back to Mabuya to get more kwacha.

Then it was back to the nursing council.

Oh yes, of course she just went into a meeting.

I paid my fees and then waited for another hour.

Finally she gave me my packet and said I would be doing my training in Mzuzu Central Hospital.

The cab driver then took me back to Mabuya.

I noticed smoke start coming out of the hood of the car, I was pretty happy the ride was successful.

I asked him how much for the cab he said, "Twenty three."

I said, "Twenty three what?"

He said, "Thousand."

I about shit my pants.

So whatever I paid him and am learning a very valuable lesson.

Always barter every individual ride.

He did spend a lot of time waiting for me today, but I am pretty sure I paid for his new engine. 

The breakdown of where I will be spending my days at Mzuzu Central Hospital for training are;

Under five clinic-2 days

Medical ward- 3 days

Surgical- 3 days

Pediatric ward- 3 days (Can't I just stay there the whole time?!)

Light House/ARV- 2 days (If anyone knows what this is, feel free to share.)

ICU- 2 days

Emergency- 2 days

I'm so excited to be doing something again! 

I miss working!

The only thing that is not good about this is the hospital is two and a half hours away from RIPPLE.

That means I will have to be paying to stay somewhere else for four weeks.

It is very stressful spending money while not having a way to earn money.

I am trying to have faith that it will work out just fine.

I tried to pay my hotel fee with my Visa tonight, all of the machines in town are down.

So I made a quick run to town to the ATM.

Well apparently you have to use an international ATM, 

I learned this after trying three then started to panic.

While walking down the street a local says, "Kendall!"

I cannot believe I am already known in this city.

It was a man who is a member of Mabuya Camp and comes here to hang out.

He took me around the market and showed me everything that is made here.

He is very friendly, maybe too friendly?

It is hard to tell when there is a cultural gap.

But I am definitely playing it safe.

He says he is coming tonight to tell me goodbye and that I need to come back to the city a lot during my stay here.

I will make sure that he and I are nowhere remotely alone together at anytime!

I guess I should go cook my dinner, shower, and repack all of my bags.

Tomorrow I have a lovely 8 hour bus ride ahead of me.

Thankfully I bought peanut butter and bread yesterday so I will pack some sandwiches to go.

I'm so excited to finally get to RIPPLE tomorrow and see the work that is done there.

I will only stay through the weekend then it will be off to Mzuzu.

Thanks for all of the comments! 

I like knowing you are enjoying hearing about my days.

I love that I can blog so I will always be able to look back on this trip and not forget the funny little details.

I may be absent for a while because there is very limited internet at Mwaya.

But I will update you when I can!

*350 kwacha = 1 usd

I'm pretty sure I got a shitty exchange rate at the airport though, and I refuse to remember how much I spent on everything today, so I will let you do the math.

I will leave you with a picture of the most delicious fish ever!