February 26...or is it February 27?
I don't even know where to begin - I'm jet-lagged and sleep deprived. Let's try again tomorrow.
February 28, 2011
I've been in Malawi for less than 24 hours and I already have stomach problems. To be fair, they started on the plane mid-Atlantic Ocean. Thank goodness we have flush toilets at this training facility.
Four hours before the plane landed, I started getting cold feet. Um, Kathi, good time to want to turn around and go home...All I kept thinking is what the hell am I doing? A mini-panic attack was forming in my chest and I had to remind myself to breathe.
When the plane landed in Malawi, it was too late. My feet hit Malawian soil (actually, it was tarmac at the Lilongwe airport) and I could hear cheering from the roof of the airport. I looked and saw what seemed like hundreds of Peace Corps Volunteers (actually there were maybe 20 or 30, but with enough enthusiasm to make it seem like hundreds). Not gonna lie, I had tears in my eyes and at that very moment I knew I was meant to be here. Best welcoming committee ever, I must say.
Sleeping vertically that night was the greatest treat of all - I was so sick of sleeping slouched over on my tray table, drooling all over everything. There is something very comforting about sleeping under a mosquito net. I feel like a princess in a canopy bed. Or, at the very least, free from bug bites and giant spiders.
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