world cup.

General Update.

As my my bottle of antimalarial medication empties, I am realizing
that time is really flying around here. "Like sand through the
hourglass". My time with my village host family is almost up and I am
not yet sure what I'm doing for living arrangements in July/August.
All of the Junior Fellows will be meeting in Lilongwe next weekend for
the mid-summer retreat and I'll be talking with Jolly Ann about where
I will be most useful for the rest of my placement. Funding has just
been approved for CLTS trigger meetings in my district and it might be
more convenient for me to live in Mkanda because it's closer to the
where the triggers are going to happen. If that's the case, I might
stay with my host family or find another family to live with. I'll be
figuring this out in the next week or so.

What I've been listening to (rarely): Modest Mouse: The Moon and
Antarctica, Good News for People Who Love Bad News. Spoon:
Transference. This American Life Podcast. Yo La Tengo: I can Hear the
Heart Beating as One

What I've been reading: Cannery Row- John Steinbeck, The
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz-Mordecai Richler

Football.

I pass by a football field on my walk home from work every day. People
arrive at the field at about 3pm and play until sunset, so I always
get to catch a glimpse of a game when I walk home at 5pm. On Monday,
the scenery was a little different- the world cup had finally begun!
They had set up a projector screen and giant speakers in the middle of
the football field and about 100+ people were sitting and waiting for
the game to start. In a town without electricity, this is a pretty big
deal. This is when the spark of football ignited in my soul. I wanted
to stay and watch so badly but I had to get home before dark.

I've been keeping track of who is playing and nagging my colleagues to
come and watch games with me. Because we are without electricity, it
costs 20 kwacha (15 cents) to watch a game and that can buy tomatoes
or oil for an evening so it's a luxury that not everyone can afford. I
found out yesterday that the projector people travel to different
towns and project the games so they aren't around every day but
different cinema houses in the market run generators at night to power
televisions. Last night, I went to see my first game (South Africa
vs. Uruguay) with Alfred, a cousin to my host father who is about 15
years old. It was my first time out of the house past dark and I had
no idea what to expect. I was actually pretty spooked.

We got to this shelter type joint with reed walls and a tin roof held
up by tree limbs and they charged K20 at the door. We went in and
there were rows of wooden benches set up in front of a crystal clear
picture of South Africa vs. Uruguay. We sat at the back and settled in
for a 90 minute match ( I didn't even know soccer was 90 minutes!
Ha!). My host father ended up being there and he bought me and alfred
each a bottle of coke and I felt like I was in the 1950s. Whenever I
drink a glass bottle of coke I feel like I'm stuck in a time warp.
Watching TV and drinking a coke was luxurious.

Every time Uruguay scored (which was 3 times in total) the house
simultaneously said "eeeee" as if they just watched someone get
punched in the face. I wanted SA to score so badly, but no luck. The
game ended 3-0 for Uruguay.

We walked home and I looked at the sky the whole time. I hadn't been
up past 10pm since arriving in Malawi and I'd certainly not been out
before at 11pm. The night sky here is scattered with millions of
stars. I can't tell you how many times I tripped over my feet because
I was so captivated. I walked straight into bed and passed out until
7am. The last time I woke up at 7am, my host mother peeked into my
room and said "Malaria?".

If you want to feel connected to Africa, you should watch any world
cup match with an African team playing. Every African game has the
entire continent watching/listening. There is an amazing world cup
commercial with different African football players wearing Africa
United jerseys and it's exactly how it is over here. If there's an
African game on somewhere, I'm probably tuned in so if you tune in, we
can spend time together half way across the world!

People were asking me if I wanted England to win last night's game and
then my friend leaned over and said "She's African, she wants Algeria
to win".

keep on keepin' on.
Love kate