Tuesday 8 October

 Apologies for no blog entries yesterday. Encountered technical difficulties and then a typical Malawian experience, power cuts for a couple of hours. So 2 posts published today: Monday 7 October & Tuesday 8.

A classroom at St Peters with 75 pupils

 

"After a wild night out last night the bells waking me up was to be quite frank, rude. All the same an exciting day lay ahead. Coming in for breakfast all the students were in school uniform ready for a full day of learning at St. Peters Secondary. On arrival we were lead to our classes by the head girl. Heather and I were in class 4B. We sat down the front of the class and I started talking to the people next to me. Soon our first teacher came in and a day of madness began.

After double Social (more like business) and double Biology we were allowed to take the first of our 15 minute breaks. It was roasting outside and sitting in blazers was quite challenging. All the children were gathering around us getting photos taken with us. I felt awkward and like a celebrity all at the same time! The 15 minutes didn’t last long and we were back into class for double Physics (yay!!) and a free period of study. During our free period Heather and I worked our way around the class chatting to people discussing football, jobs, school and would we come back to Malawi to marry in the near future. You won’t be surprised to hear that we were glad to take our 15 minute “lunch” break.

The rest of the day was filled with double English which was hard to sit through without correcting but as soon as the final bell rang we left for the house. Miss McArthur suggested we took a walk down to town to get some food. This sounded a good idea at the time as I was starving but after walking for near enough an hour in the sweltering heat without getting food I regretted my decision to come.

We had been in the house no more than ten minutes when the teachers from St. Peters arrived. The house was busy with talking and laughing. Bob came to show us the things we could buy when we go to Lake Malawi and most of us bought things then. After everyone had left we settled down into a quiet night. Quote of the night came from Heather when she said “the apples taste really appley”. The rest of the night was spent playing cards and relaxing before another busy day tomorrow. "

 Sophie Lewis

 

 

"After learning which class we were all going to be in last night we were all very excited but nervous! Waking up with the bells at 6 wasn’t pleasant but we somehow managed to be ready and showered for 6.30am. We plodded down to the school for 7 and were taken to our organised classes by the head girl. Being in the classes was an interesting experience which neither of us ever wishes to repeat. We were stuck in the same classroom for eight hours and were delighted when Miss McArthur came to collect us at 2pm. After no scheduled lunch during our school day (living like a true Malawian), Miss McArthur thought it would be a GREAT idea to walk through Mzuzu city to get ‘lunch’. This was a BIG mistake! Once in the city centre we realised that there was no electricity in the full city therefore no food for us. However, all was well as we got our hands on some munchies and stuffed our faces walking back up the road! Once returning to the house, we were swarmed by our teachers from St.Peter’s Secondary school. We hosted a small gathering for all involved in both schools, we had some food, drink and got to socialise with our guests. At 6:30pm we all gathered round for our usual supper. To our dismay, Jotto the chicken (the live chicken we were given at the local village) was lying in the pot! Safe to say neither of us had the heart to eat poor Jotto. If this wasn’t bad enough, after eating our dinner we all heard another chicken last screams, coming from outside, as it was killed for tomorrow’s dinner. Yum! We finished off the night by all playing cards on the floor and brushing up on the Espanola thanks to Miss Henderson. We had an amazing yet tiresome day! Our time in Malawi has been truly amazing and we love every minute of it! We are especially looking forward to tomorrow as its Art Time!!!!!!!!

  

Sophie Fulton & Megan Dillon