[Continuing…} The next morning, during our breakfast we got to see a man leading three donkeys up the road with supplies on their back, it was really cool. I was kind of relieved that today was the last day of flying we had to get through. We took a plane from Ethiopia to Malawi. Unfortunately today was pretty rough; when I got to the airport I was extremely sick from the very bumpy bus ride to the airport. I get motion sickness very easily so it was extremely bad. Checking in felt like a slow death, I have not felt so sick in a long time. After getting settled in the airport and taking some medicine I felt better. Some interesting things I learned in the airport were that oranges in Ethiopia are green on the outside and orange in the inside and I must say I got the best orange juice ever from those oranges and the second thing was that the airport does not have any rules on smoking which I hated so much. I was also excited to have soda in glass bottle like the olden days.
I had a pretty good flight to Malawi. I sat with two men named Arron and Charles; Arron was from Malawi and Charles was from Nigeria but now he lives in Malawi. We had pretty good conversation about numerous topics. Arron was the funny one; him and I went back and forth trying to teach each other words. He taught me some Chichewa and I taught him some of the little Spanish I know. I also got to see all the different money bills he has collected from all the countries he has visited like China, Egypt, and 4 or 5 other countries that I can not remember the name of right now.
Arriving in Malawi was not the greatest moment since I found out that the airlines lost my luggage along with several other people that were on the flight. There was this strange moment when this Malawian woman came up to me and asked me my name and age because she said I looked just like her daughter but she has not seen her in a while. I was not sure what to say, but she was real nice when we were talking while waiting.
The rest of the day was pretty cool. When I was leaving the airport my car got stopped to let the president of Malawi drive by along with his many police and military men. I also got to see a lot of the city we were in as we were driving to the lodge. I learned that it is common to catch mice and fry it on a stick, that during the winter season they burn the grass to kill bugs since their grass does not get frost like ours, that women would often go into work with a machete in one hand and a baby on their back, and that they have really large advertisements on the wall for everyone to see. It was also very hard to get use to the fact that everyone drives on the left side of the road. I kept feeling like we were about to crash. And I will always be amazed at how much people can carry on their heads.
Finally we reached Annie’s Lodge where we will be staying for the next couple of days till we travel to Zomba. My roommate is Danielle who is also an A&T student.
After getting settled in our rooms we got to go out and exchange our money into Malawian Kwachas. Tonight was cool too; we got to mingle and get to know the other students on the trip from Radford University and Virginia Tech. The only part about tonight I did not like was that our bathroom had ants everywhere and we did not have a real shower. Our tub had the hand shower head which only spray cold water. So you had to take your shower standing up in a tub freezing and as you washed you had to hit yourself with the cold water. At one point I just jumped because I could not believe how cold it was, I was mad because I accidently sprayed my clothes that were sitting on the counter next to the tub.
Oh and I had a clumsy-slow moment! I was paranoid about getting malaria because this girl was telling stories about another girl who got malaria so I ran and frantically put on some deet bug wipes, but then an eye lash fell in my eye so I tried to get out, but then I put deet in my eye! It was the worst feeling ever!!
