peace corps journaling kept me sane. i was journaling a lot. i was also writing TONS of letters. my mom and dad (and even a few friends) kept them for me. and they returned them when i came back to the us. i am reading them for the first time since writing them!

enjoy this letter from me to my mom and dad!

mom and dad!

so i’m back in my village, in MY house! i’m glad i’m back. and i haven’t died yet, so it’s good news all around.

my house is getting allergy-proofed. which is hilarious because it is made of grass and dirt. but i’m giving it a go.

i really just wanted to go home but i have a much better attitude about things now. and it has also helped that i haven’t been really sick. only one morning was rough when i woke up and couldn’t breathe all that well. but it had rained 2 whole days prior to that.

i’ve been working on finishing the planning and preparations for your trip. i think we are going to have a lot of fun and i’m really looking forward to you guys coming!

and work is looking up for me too.

i’m working with the gama cuulu club. it means ‘always speak the truth.’ which is an awesome name for an aids action club. the kids came up with it themselves. i’m just excited to actually be teaching the kids real information about hiv and aids.

girl guides is getting a slower start but the girls are really excited about it and i think next term we will really get going. last week i taught them the friendship circle and then gave them those early bird patches. they were pretty excited about it. i’m hoping that they will be reminded and want to come every week.

i took jacqueline to prenatal at the clinic last week. she is doing well and her hiv test came back negative – this time. so i was really relieved about that. i’m not sure if i’m supposed to be telling people that but i did ask her if i could see her results and she said it was ok.

i barge in on people getting tested at the clinic all the time. the ministry of health has made it mandatory testing for all women coming for prenatal. i go to prenatal every week so i see a lot of women being tested. i actually got tested myself a couple weeks earlier with a grade 9 girl who is pregnant.

but i still haven’t seen anyone give birth yet. i have, however, weighed babies! so when i see a birth, my peace corps experience will be complete!

yesterday the choma high school choir came and sang at church. it was really cool. plus it gave me something to do, other than read. but they made me stand up to be acknowledged, right after the headman, which was embarrassing.

i was just glad that they didn’t make me speak tonga. which in large crowds, i find it best to not let anyone know that i know some tonga and understand a lot more than people think. even my own family.

i planted a field of maize. popcorn actually. and let’s be honest, when i say ‘i’ i mean i gave my family a kg of popcorn and they planted it for me. it isn’t doing well because i refused to buy any sort of fertilizer. and i’m too lazy to make a compost pile. because there is a reason i’m not an agriculture volunteer! so my venture into farming was a bust.

but i did plant and manage to grow some very beautiful flowers.

well i think that’s it from me. hope things are going well for you all. don’t work too hard! and start thinking of where you want to go for my birthday celebration! miss you both TONS!

love,