Second and nextmost, I walked around town today FINALLY!!
The first thing I did today, though, was Chichewa lessons. One of the interns here at the Centre met with most of us to go over a few basics in the language. I really enjoyed this... And it made me wish I could have stayed longer...
After that hour lesson, Ana and I were on Animal Care duty. This chore was new to us! The first thing we did was feed the vervets and the baboons. Each get a few buckets of corn, cabbage, and a potato-like vegetable called uhhhhh I'm not sure.
Next, to clean a couple of enclosures. Coming from where I work back home, these enclosures were incredibly spotless. Usually I have poo all over my shoes and even up to my knees by the end of the day. Here, I only found a few droppings... So cleaning was a breeze. We cleaned a monkey enclosure and a serval enclosure. Then- we made straw beds for the lions!! I hope they sleep comfy tonight.
Looking back, this morning was pretty uneventful. Sorry about that boring paragraph. :-(
Maybe I'll talk about town now. Several of the newbies went together with the volunteer coordinator to have a town tour in order to get us aquatinted with the city. After this, we can go by ourselves.
The mini bus mass transit system in this city is notable. Here are three pictures of my bus ride to the center of town:
This bus ride was a hoot. First thing that happened was the sliding van door fell slap off as the door guy opened it for us.
There aren't any bus stops here; just flag a driver down! I think that's convenient! Also make sure you tell them where you're going. Don't pay over the price because they won't give you change. And you may need to sit in laps.
Our driver dropped us off next to a mega grocery called Shop Rite. Step one, help people exchange money. Two, withdraw money. Step three, pharmacy. This was neat. Step FOUR- my favorite step!!!! The craft market.
The craft market involves many craftsmen trying to sell their crafts. Trying HARD. SO HARD! Harder than I've ever experienced it. I loved it.
I've discovered that I have a love affair with haggling and bargaining. It's a psychological tango, in a way. It's fun to me. The major note with this is make sure you know how much the money is worth. From there, have a blast. Oh, I could do that all day!! The others here at the Centre HATE HATE being there- hate the the trouble, the haggles, the pressure, the lies and price surges. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt like I was holding our group up, so I stopped. Guys followed us and found us another whole hour later, which I actually thought was impressive.
Next- the grocery store. YES!! That was exciting... I inherited a fancy for grocery stores from my father. I love just looking around kind of like a theme park. But, I'll say... This store was so close to those at home. Seriously. I have no further notes there. Maybe just that most things come from South Africa. (I've heard SEVERAL times this trip that South Africa is not really considered by the people as a part of Africa.)
We took a tuk-tuk back. Which was a BLAST. Open air, loud Malawian music, and cool traffic!!
Tomorrow we have the day off. Ana and I are going to town for the whole day!
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