In Country Training (ICT)
on Rachael's VSO experience (Malawi), 08/Feb/2011 19:06, 34 days ago
Well how can I sum up ICT so far......Basically sun rises around 5am here so most of us seem to be awake around 6-6.30. We then get up and dressed (obviously!!) and head to the restaurant for breakfast. We then start ICT at 8am. The first 15mins are normally summing up what has happened the day before they are very keen on positives and negatives from the previous day. Today we then had language sessions from 8.15 till 9.45 where I found out that I am now learning Chitumbuka not Chichewa although having spoken to volunteers being able to say basic greetings in both languages is useful. After this we had a session on Malawian politics, then a break, then we had brief sessions from each of the programmes about their role in Malawi, then lunch.Food in the hotel has been a mixture of traditional Malawian food which is Nsima, it's made from maize and looks like a huge pile of mashed potato well maybe not huge but big!! It has basically no taste and is a bit like raw bread dough I guess. It's weird and Malawian people make the Nsima into small balls and dip it in relish or sauce. They basically have that for lunch and dinner the simple answer in Malawi so far is just try everything and see what it's like. I had some fish yesterday and I think the chef specifically went out and bought fish with no meat on it at all!!! They are big on onions here we are offered fried potato slices and onion for breakfast most mornings!!After lunch we had a talk from the VSO medical officer, then we had a talk on security and vso's strategies and what to do when things go wrong ect. Then some of the volunteers arrived to give us a volunteer talk and gave us the contact name of our 'buddy'Once that was all done it was 6pm and dinner is at 6.30. then the evenings are a bit weird. Basically we've been advised that we shouldn't really go outside the hotel so once we've eaten there really isn't much to do. Luckily there is wi-fi here but it makes you very isolated when everyone is sitting in reception on their laptops but theres no TV room or anything so its that or people go to their room. That can be a bit difficult as we are all sharing a room so you don't want the other person to be too annoyed by you!!So to sum up it is weird, we basically haven't seen Malawi. Yesterday we went out to buy local sim cards and went to one shop and then straight back onto the minibus. So really I could still be at home aside from the heat!! I think things will start to improve tho as tomorrow night we are going to 'the shack' to watch some of the volunteers play volleyball I believe it is a bar too. Friday night we are going out as well and then Saturday the drop us in town and we have to buy some things and then get the minibus back to the VSO office. I have to go to the nursing council tomorrow to be officially registered as a nurse in Malawi and then to the embassy and get the visa. Sounds like a fun day!!Well it's 9pm and the sunsets by 6pm so I'm tired and off to sort out my mozzie net and then get some sleep. Evil mozzies seem to love my arms, bloody painful but no Malaria yet!!!