Pre-COS Conference Awesome

Day 76

Today in between rain drops, I went to visit a gogo Ruth.  She was wearing “trees” (small twigs, actually) in her ear holes where earrings belonged.  At 70-something, I figured she deserved to feel beautiful, so I brought her a pair of earrings that my friend Mary gave me during training for my first birthday in Malawi.  They were turquoise and shaped like hearts.  I handed them to Ruth and her eyes lit up.  Her hands shook when she tried to put them on, so I helped her put them in her tiny ears.  She couldn’t stop chatting about how happy she was and how beautiful the earrings were.  They dangled from her ear lobes and she kept shaking her head to make them swing.  True beauty is an elderly woman grinning ear to ear over heart-shaped turquoise earrings. 

Day 77

Shelly is back from Tanzania with fun stories and pictures and lots of laughs!  She came to Dwambazi, which was a trip long overdue.  Ian, Shelly and I visited the natural medicine garden with the HIV Support Group and we busily worked.  It was so nice to hear Ian and Steven chatting about their big plans and Shelly laughing and joking (in her practically fluent Chichewa) with the women as she picked weeds.  I looked at my friends and our progress and for a minute, everything was aligned for perfection.

Day 78

Girls Night with Shelly and Melissa – and some random travelers who showed up.   They were walking from Cape Town to Cairo and heard an American lived in this village, so they stopped in.  At first awkward, we soon found a way to continue our girls night with the random travelers and it proved to be fun and tasty (hummus, chili and brownies?! Woo!)

Day 79

Ok, last night was late and Shelly and I spent the day watching movies and being lazy.  It was perfect and effortless and everything we needed.

Day 80

We woke up early to travel to Cape Mac.  Transport was hardly exciting (besides taking a mini bus through a ravine) but the destination was sweet.  I finally visited Cape Mac!

Day 81

Rainy day served as a lazy day (no thanks to the stomach issues I still faced) but I had a tasty, fun lunch with all my friends ( A lunch that I later threw up – but the company was nice for a while).

Day 82

Feeling much better, but still cooped up because of the rain, I got to eat a pizza and cheeseburger dinner with all my amazing friends around me.  Feeling nostalgic.  It’s crazy to think this is all coming to an end so soon.