Oh, there goes a window....

Day 8
05/13/12

I was originally planning on going to church this morning with my friend Brittney and Professor Mboko, but I was too tired and with how much we've already done, I really needed the sleep! But it was probably for the best I missed out: they didn't exactly have the greatest experience. One of the ladies they sat by apparently smelled awful, and the mass was WAY too long. It started at 9:00 am, and but the time we got there around 10:20, it was still going on. They didn't get out of there until about 10:40ish. I couldn't sit in a church pew for that long. However, we kept ourselves entertained in the meantime. There were some cute little boys outside of our bus that wanted our attention!

On our way to the Liwonde National Park, we visited a Secondary Girl's Boarding School called Saint Monica's. It was so inspiring seeing these girls. There was one girl who asked so many questions! One question really got me thinking, "How do I get to the United States?" It seems like such a simple question, but it's so complicated. I hope she finds her way one day. This girl was a refugee who escaped from either Burundi or Rwanda. After a few more questions, we got to have a dance party with them. I was surprised to hear American music, like Rihanna. I forgot how much I miss American music! And trust me, these girls can move! This was our first service project where I felt hopeful. don't get me wrong, going to those other places was a good eye-opener and very heart touching, but I'm an optimistic person and I want to help those that really show potential and structure. Don't worry, we'll be back on Monday to give them a few surprises!

After yet another 2-hour wait for our lunch, were late for our visit to the Lilondwe National Park. This is on the south end of Lake Malawi and has everything from swamps to woods and grasslands. It's not commercialized, so not very many visitors come here. It's a nice secret. They specialize in elephants, hippos, and bird watching, but they also have other animals such as crocodiles, leopards, zebras, and lions. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sadly, we saw no lions or zebras. And the part of Africa we were in didn't have giraffes :'(
We had to cut our safari tour short due to time. And while we were trying to navigate our way through, our window fell out. It made our day even more interesting.....
On our way back we stopped at the market. BAD IDEA. If I thought the merchants were pushy during they day, it's worse at night. They swarm you and keep pestering you to buy. And they don't know personal space at all. Our tour guide for the day Constance (or Candice, Constantine, Constantinople, we could never remember her name) was terrible. She wasn't trying to get rid of the merchants at all. Our bus driver was shaking his head thinking "I told you so". It was very overwhelming.
When we got back to the hotel, the room next to us caught on fire! Our power went out for a little bit, but they had to switch rooms. The electrician who tried to fix their A/C unit clearly had no idea what he was doing. And the room they were moved to wasn't any better......crickets, holes in windows, fans that caught on bed nets, no table......
Ugh, it was a long day. But, nothing cheers me up like watching foreign Spanish men play soccer and figure out with my best friend Rachel who is cute and who gets to date who!