As of yesterday, we've been in Malawi for one full week. And it has been a very full week indeed! Last Sunday, we traveled from Lilongwe to Zomba. We spent about nine hours on the bus, reading our books, eating tangerines and boiled peanuts, and appreciating the landscape changes as we moved from the central to the southern region. The central region is relatively flat, and this time of year it is very dry. Zomba district (where we're staying) is more mountainous, and this area gets a bit of rainfall all year round so it is very lush. 
We arrived in Zomba late Sunday afternoon. After taking a few wrong turns, we eventually found our guest house and met the guest house supervisor, Mr. America. Mr. America stops by the guest house every day to make sure things are OK. As he leaves, he likes to say "any time, any day, we shall meet." Despite all the mystery he tries to create, it's nice to know we will see him the very next day. He looks out for us and for the house.
After our Sunday arrival, we spent Monday getting acquainted with our house, finding the market, and meeting our local counterparts. Terence and I went to the Centre for Language Studies and met Alick and Arnold, who are my Chichewa tutors. Each day, I get four-hour lessons, usually two hours with each tutor. Terence has spent his week conducting research with a Malawian named Francis whom he met through the African Library Project. They're collaborating to evaluate how book donations are being used by primary schools and to design appropriate training for teacher librarians. Terence is working on this project for two weeks before beginning another research project exploring assistive technology for visually-impaired individuals. 
We spent our Saturday morning doing laundry. Doing laundry by hand really isn't something that I've missed, but it sure feels like an accomplishment when it's done. I'm just so glad I no longer need to draw water from down the hill!

"You're so excited and ready to get started.  I'm going to punch you."
These were Alyssa's words for me at three in morning earlier today, when I was getting more and more stoked up for being in Malawi and the work that we'll do. She had to remind me that even though the rooster is crowing, day time might still be several hours away, and I realized that . I was sitting in the darkness of our friends' lovely house in Lilongwe, thinking about all of ways I was ready to get started: It's avocado season! Maybe I'll work with the Malawian Union of the blind! Listen to all of those different kinds of birds!
This over exuberance is familiar to me (and all of the folks that traveled with me when I first joined Peace Corps), but I know that Malawi has the antidote: lots of calm, slow days, and many interesting things to look at, think about, and listen to.  Already, I've been so happy to see kids pushing wheels down the dusty back-roads, chat with my friends while idly watching the many varieties of birds, and talk with Alyssa about all of the ways we're surprised and what we're each looking forward to. She does prefer those conversations to take place during the daytime, though. 

Thanks for checking out our website. We're hoping to be use this space to share info and pictures with everyone during our summer in Malawi. We'll be in Malawi May 17 through July 29, staying in Zomba on the campus of Chancellor College.

We leave for Malawi tomorrow. Our plane takes off at 11 am. We'll fly through South Africa, and get into Lilongwe (Malawi's capital) at 12 pm on May 17 -- that's 5 am EST.

We're both so excited to reunite with Malawi!