The holiday season away from home, again

This is my third consecutive thanksgiving away from home, and going on my fourth Christmas away from home. There are many things that I enjoy about living abroad, however the holidays are not one of them.

You have to learn how to make traditional traditions and different family traditions into a special day. Holidays need to be celebrated. They are major mile stone in the year. It would be easy while away to not celebrate the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving, but I need to celebrate those to bring more stability and familiarity to my life away from home.

This year for thanksgiving I will be spending Saturday with several other Americans, trying to make a traditional thanksgiving feast. Instead of turkey however we are doing chickens, there will be mashed potatoes, green beans, cooked carrots and hopefully if we are lucky pumpkin pie. It wont be the same as sitting around Aunt Betty’s table but I will still be with good people, sharing good food and giving thanks for the things I have.

Lake Malawi

Malawi is known as the “Warm heart of Africa.” It seems as though everyone you meet is excited about life and willing to open their heart and home to you. There are many things to do and see in Malawi, I however have only been here a short while and have seen very little but something I am glad I did early in my stay here was go to Lake Malawi.



Lake Malawi is one of the largest fresh water lakes in Africa. It provides fresh fish for thousands of people who are fighting protein deficiencies; it is also a major tourist destination. I went to a lake side sleepy village called Cape Mclear which is on the cusp of the national forest and the lake.

Inside the national forest there is an amazing place called otters point which is a secluded section of the lake that has a rocky/boulder shore line. Mark and I met with some of our friends and colleagues there and spent the afternoon in the water, swimming among the fish and jumping off the rocks. It was a grand time. We also taught Able, the head teacher of Nanthomba primary school (the school I work with) how to swim.



All in all it was a fantastic day and a good get a way.

First day of work

It has been about three weeks here in Malawi now. As in all jobs the first few weeks are difficult, learning the ropes, finding your way around, and memorizing everyone’s names can all prove to be very overwhelming; but I’m starting to settle in, find a routine and make new friends.

My first day on the job in country I got a tour of the school I will be working at, met all of the teachers and played around with some of the students, or as they say here, learners. Next I got a tour of a fantastic health center with maternity ward 4 Km up the road the HELP has helped to build. I met Frank and Impatso, the local nurse and midwife. They showed me the vegetable garden they want to use as a nutritional showcase for malnourished children and mothers, and I even saw a first time mother, hours after delivery holding her first born baby son.

As the day was wrapping down I got to take a real “out of the Lion King” style safari. A group of us jumped into a safari vehicle and our amazing guide, Henry showed us several groups of elephants, including baby elephants, warthogs (little known fact, baby warthogs are the cutest thing in the world), bushback, impala, monkeys, baboons, and tons of other animals. Just as the sun was setting we parked our car, jumped down and shared an ice cold beer and popcorn watching the sun set over the mountains down river.

When we got back to camp we had a delicious dinner while overlooking the Shire River listening to the hippos in the distance. I must say, that was the best first day of work I have ever had!