Are we there yet?!

I'm sitting at 2 weeks to the day that I hop on a plane to head out to Philly for staging.  I'm pretty well finished putting things together that I think I might want for the next 27 months of my life.  Being this organized this ahead of time doesn't happen for me very often.  Thanks to my mother asking every day "so what's on your 'to do' list today?"  Yes, sometimes I want to just spend the day looking at the beautiful Colorado Rockies, but it sure is nice to feel like I have this much accomplished more than 2 days before my departure.  (Yes yes...thanks mom).

In the past week or so I've felt extremely confident and ready to dive in to Malawi.  I know it'll be quite a wake up call once I arrive there and more challenging than anything I'm anticipating.  I'll be honest to say I've gone through cycles of "woooohoooo!!" and "holy crap, am I crazy?!"  And quite glad to say I have embraced them all and moved through the emotions.  (Ha, how do you avoid them when you don't sleep through the nights and it shows when mom comes in in the morning and my blanket is half off the bed and I'm sleeping diagonal?!)  Now I'm ready!

I'm doing my best not to adopt the whole "can't wait to leave!" attitude.  From past experience I have found that doing so causes me to miss out on time spent with people as well as fun and new experiences.  February 25th will come eventually, regardless of how much or little I want it to.  In the mean time I will do my best to enjoy the following (and already do!): Watching my friends dance Blues and Lindy Hop while smiling inside to see the joy it brings them; unlimited sushi (when mom and dad pay, of course); warm running water; driving to places I want to go at my leisure; freezer for ice cream; grocery stores with lots of varieties; birthday cake; macaroni and cheese...  Ok, I'm going to stop now because I'm getting hungry.  But you get the point.  The 25th will come soon enough!

Mail? Yes Please!

I am assuming all of my fans will be wanting to send me lots of letters and packages full of yummy goodies, right?!  I sure hope so ;)  I've done some reading on other peoples' bogs about sending letters/packages and thought it'd be best to share it with all of you.

• Be sure to write "Air Mail" or "Par Avion" on the letter/package
• Letters ($0.98) take 2-3 weeks; packages 6-9 weeks (for airmail)
• When sending letters, please date and number them.  Sometimes things do get lost in the mail and it would be nice to know if I have missed one of your letters
• It is best to put letters and packages in padded envelopes, as envelopes then are treated more like letters
• Super important!  If you do send a package please do not declare anything more than 15 USD.  Otherwise I have to pay a hefty duty tax on the value (and sometimes the contents), and I don't get paid much :)
• If you send a postcard, please put the card in an envelope to send it.  Post offices here have been rumored to put the "pretty picture" on the wall, thus never actually being delivered.  Thanks :)
• Requests: powered cheese packets, spices for cooking, beef jerky, protein bars, crystal light, Reeses PB cups, Hershey kisses (they travel well!), Starburst and anything else you can imagine me enjoying

For important or valuable items I would suggest sending with DHL or FedEx.  Address the package to:

Mary Kuhlke, PCV

c/o U.S. Peace Corps Malawi

Area 4 Plot 70

Across from Oilcom Depot

Lilongwe

Malawi, AFRICA

*You will also need to include the Peace Corps/Malawi phone number on the package, 265-1-757-157

Any and all letters and package will be most appreciated.  Don't be shy about sending chocolate.  I will lick the melted bag if necessary!  I will respond as much as possible :)  Thank you every one for your support!

If you are trying to figure out some good things to send, check out this blog post.  Thanks!

Also, write your return address clearly (or include it in the letter).  If I can't read it, I can't write you back!   

What's all this about Malawi?

Being that all of this information about Malawi is new to me, I thought I would post it so you all have a little bit of an idea of where I will be living for the next 27 months.  Enjoy!

Geography

• Land size of Malawi is about equal to that of Pennsylvania (seems appropriate our staging is there then!)
• Lake Malawi (aka. Lake Nyasa) is about the size of Vermont
• Climate is subtropical (rainy season November-May, dry season May-November)
• Terrain consists of plateaus, highlands, and valleys
• Current environmental issues: deforestation, land degradation, water pollution from agricultural runoff, siltation of spawning grounds (endangers fish population)

Population

• 15,028,757
• Life expectancy for males and females is right around 50 years old
• 11.9% adults living with HIV/AIDS
• Nationality: Malwians
• Religion: 79.9% Christian, 12.8% Muslim

Government

• Multiparty Democracy
• Capital is Lilongwe (centrally located in the country)
• Time difference is UTC+2, or 9 hours ahead of Mountain time
• Declared independence on July 6, 1964

Economy

• Agricultural products: tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, corn, potatoes, cassava (tapioca), sorghum (a type of grain), pulses (a type of seed rich in protein), groundnuts, macadamia nuts, cattle, goats
• Industry: tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods

Transportation

• 32 airports, 6 with paved runways (ha!  No excuses to not come and visit!)
• Railways: 797km
• Roadways: 15,451km (lots of hitch hiking to be done)
• Ports: Chipoka, Monkey Bay (this sounds fun), Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Chilumba

So there ya go!  Some quick info for you all about Malawi and where yours truly will be spending quite a bit of time these next few years. You can also go here to learn even more than you ever wanted to know about Malawi ;)  

So much to do!

Time keeps ticking, and it's officially 3 weeks before I am on a plane to Philly for my staging.  I'm definitely excited, but feeling a bit spread thin between packing, seeing family and friends, and giving myself some of my own "bubble" time.  So I'm feeling a bit warn out at the moment, but trying to keep things moving a long and not get behind on stuff I want to get done.  It always seems there's just another thing to add to the list!  I'm beginning to wonder if I'm over stressing myself or simply trying to prepare as best I can (in that case I'd be happy once I got to Malawi and did all of this stuff).  As one of my brothers said "It's as if you are preparing yourself for a 2 year camping trip."  Ha, and with that, how do you not over think things?  Ahhh well, doing what I can.  Most definitely excited to go, but I wish I had everything packed already so I didn't have to worry about it all anymore!