jennynewbold's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member jennynewbold on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jennynewbold en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:18:53 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Last week!!! — Lilongwe, Zambézia, Mozambique http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1249145112/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1249145112/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1249145112/tpod.html Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:18:53 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Lilongwe, Zambézia, Mozambique

Hello everyone! This is very traumaticaly going to be my last ever entry! Which is a VERY strange thought! Only 5 more sleeps until we are home, isnt that totally crazy!! Am having a LOVELY last couple of weeks and am completely torn between dying to come home tomorrow and wishing we had a couple more weeks here!
Finished off our orphanage work last week, was so so so much fun, we played so many games and did so much craft and things, it was just amazing! We taught the older kids the game where you pass the balloon under your legs and over your heads and they went CRAZY for it, it was so funny! And we taught the little ones duck duck goose (except galu galu pusi in Chichewa!) on one day and they absolutely thought it was the coolest thing ever invented, the next day we came and no-one would listen to anything they were all just chanting "galu galu pusi galu galu pusi!" And we even taught them loads of english songs which was amazing (Our God is so Big...Hes higher than Mulanje and hes deeper than Lake Malawi - genius!) and well yes, was just so much fun! Really amazing seeing Gods love for all of those kids there, just really amazing!
So apart from working there we have had a very relaxing last couple of weeks! Saying bye to loads of friends - relalising how many friends we have made in such a short time is so nice, but then really sad to say goodbye to everybody! We have been doing loooaaddss of shopping too which is so much fun, hjave totally got the bartering bug its so good! And we are trading all of the stuff we dont want to take home which is brilliant, all the mozzie repellent we havent used, I traded some shoes, some speakers, my gardening gloves (WHY did I even bring those!) but its amazing because all the market guys loved them and were fighting over them!
Then on Thursday it was my birthday and I have now been on this lovely planet for 19 years! Thanks SO much for all of the emails and cards, especially thank you cyfa for your card, you made me cry you horrible people! Really strange to be all the way over here for my birthday, but it was a really really good day, we went out for breakfast AND lunch, involving sneaking undercover into an exclusive golf club, and did more shopping (the "its my birthday!" argument is a WINNER with the guys on the market, should have saved all my shopping for then and got the birthday discounts! I even had half the market singing to me it was brilliant!) Then the lovely girls made me a nsima cake (mmm!) and a normal cake too! Was a lovely birthday!
Right, well I think that is all I have to say! Which means the end of my blog! Should probably say something deep and cheesy here about how much Africa has changed me...I know its a cliche but its just been the most amazing four months and I have had the best time ever! I really feel such a stronger person and like I have grown so much in my faith it has been fantastic. Its been the best thing ever to see Gods love for the people here, even though they are so poor they have the most amazing faith and I know its such a cliche but its so true and you dont realise it until you see it! Thanks so much to everyone for all the support you have given me and all the prayers, I feel very very loved! Looking forward so much to seeing everyone soon, cant wait!!! Lots and lots and lots of love!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


]]> Holiday!! — Cape Maclear, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1248273455/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1248273455/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1248273455/tpod.html Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:57:09 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Cape Maclear, Malawi

Hello! Hope everyone has had a fab week! We have had the best week EVER by the lake, has been totally amazing!! So not keen on being back in Lilongwe now though, let me go back to the beach!!!
We had the craziest journey there, it was our maiden voyage on public transport which was very exciting! We took a coach from Lilongwe which was VERY funny, the most packed out coach I have ever been on, people were standing crammed up tight in the aisle, I had an old lady sharing my seat for half of the journey and a lady in front of us even had chickens in a basket! It was very cool because all along the way everyone tried to sell you things through the window, like they would attatch their wares, usually single trainers or chicken feet, yummy, to sticks and hoik them up for you to look at, how funny is that! Everyone on the bus bought SO many things, we think its just a new way of doing the weekly shop! Then for the second half of the journey we were in a crazy pickup truck which I really am completely converted to as the ONLY way to travel!
We were staying in Cape Maclear in a place called Gecko Lounge which was the most amazing place EVER! We had a little chalet RIGHT on the beach, with hammocks and duvets and even a toaster, happy happy day! Gecko was jsut the cutest place ever, it had the BEST restaurant and cute little bar and everything all made from wood it was SO cute! Me and Jo had the coolest bed with a massive mosquito net, we actyually felt like Princesses, I honestly only thought celebrities and people would stay in places as gorgeous as that! We had the laziest week in the world, sitting in the hammocks reading magazines and playing baow all day, it was gorgeous! The whole area was just the most beautiful place in the world it was totally amazing. We had a bbq on the beach one night with some guys doing srumming for us, one night we went down the street to a Reggae bar on the beach (that was an experience!) and on the last night we had a sunset boat cruise across the lake in the sunset which was the most amazing thing EVER! We took a boat out to the island another day and did snorkelling there which was SO cool, love snorkelling you feel just like Nemo its brilliant! Oh, let me get my statistics out too...theres getting on for 1000 different fishy species in the lake, which is more than all freshwater fish in Europe and North America, yes! Very cute sparkly fishies, that was amazing! And then we all sat on the roof of the boat and fed fish eagles which was so cool! What else can I say...we met loooaadds of people which was so fun, got to know everyone else straying at the lodge which was cool! Even met a couple from Ghent and some students from Antwerp, quelle small world!
Ok...so think thats all I have to say about our amazing holiday, are you jealous yet? It was the funnest week ever, just really really amazing, want to go back there!! But this week we have started a new program doing a Bible holiday club in an orpahange called House of Hope which is taking up a lot of our time! We went yesterday and again tomorrow and Friday so its a three day program we are doing...we have about 70 or 80 kids from around 6-12 but its really hard to guess their ages...but we split them into two groups to do the activities. Yesterday our theme for the day was Noahs Ark and it was SO much fun! Emma and Katherine and I were on the younger group and it was the most fun ever, we did loads of colouring of animals for a mural and taught them songs (my God is so big, yay!) and an amazing Noahs Ark take on the Port and Starboard game you always play in Brownies and Sunday school (animal actions, genius!) AND we even did the hokey kokey, which drove them absolutely crazy, they LOVED it! Never knew the hokey kokey could do so much, but it was completely fantastic. Tomorrows theme is Jonah, lots of lovely fishy activities, and then on Friday we are doing Jesus walking on the water and also a sports day in the afternoon which is going to be SO much fun! Weve been providing lunch for everyone as well which has been fab, the whole thing is just SO good and so much fun, could do it everyday for ever, honestly could!
Scarily weve only got two weeks left tomorrow, how crazy is that! Trying to pack loads in to our last couple of weeks and just make the most of being in Africa! We went to the immigration office today and finally got everything sorted for our visas which is the biggest relief ever, God has been so good to us with that!
Hopefully will get to write again before we come home! Hope everyone has an amazing week, please pray for our work in the orphnagae that it continues to go so well! Lots and lots of Malawian love! xxxxxxx
]]> Mozambique! — Lilongwe, Lilongwe, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1247056326/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1247056326/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1247056326/tpod.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:36:28 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Lilongwe, Lilongwe, Malawi

Hello everybody and hope you have all had a fabby week! Our week has been eventful, thats for sure!
We went on Saturday to cross the border at Dedza into Mozambique, everything was fine on the way through, nice country Mozambique...identical to Malawi for as much as we could see! Had a little tour round a close town and had a Mozambican picnic, well at least now we can saw we've done it! But WOW had dramas on the way back through the border, it was so scary! We were filling in all the forms and stuff and were like wow we think this is going to be ok when suddenly the guard man looked at my passport and then at me and then at my passport and was like HEY YOU LADY and I was like OH my goodness, and we all had to go into his little office and he yelled at us for AGES, it was SO terrifying, actually thought we were going to be put on the next flight home, or locked up in a scary Malawian prison like in Bridget Jones, it was horrible! But wow God is just really REALLY good, all of us were just praying and praying like crazy and then suddenly, it was SO weird, the guard man just drops his nasty tone and everything and becomes reeeaallly friendly, like he starts going on about how we are all Christians and how Malawi loves Britain and how it helps them and everything, he even asked our names and was like oh my goodness, my mum is called Emma too! It was COMPLETELY weird, and then he let us off with our 30 days and everything! Definitely a miracle there, never ever thought that would happen! So we are all back now all safe, and feeling very very blessed!
So that was the main drama of the week really, not much else of spectacular interest has happened! We visited a Pentecostal church on Sunday which was really good, went shopping for material yesterday so now we can wear African wrap skirts and feel very very cool! Oh...sad news though...we do now have a rat again :o( which is not good at all! Our menagerie is growing very rapidly, we have a huge bees nest in the papaya tree which to start with I thought was a papaya it was so big, we have a rather large cockroach infestation, nice, and also the other day Dixon showed us some dead green mambas in the stream which apparently are really scary and if they bite you your tongue goes black and then you die (so says Dixon) So yeah, hardcore Africa here! :p Have put down some more poison for ratty though, although if that doesn't work there is a plan B of catch him, roast him, and flog him by the side of the road to make a couple of kwacha...
We've finished at Biwe now and are starting a new school today called Chilambula, well technically we were supposed to start yesterday but the head forgot we were coming so had sent all the students home...sigh...but TIA...
Ok, think thats all my news for now, thanks for the prayers about the visas, God definitely definitely answered there! Lots of love, probably wont write next week because we are on HOLIDAY yaaaaay, but will write the next with lots of stories to make you jealous! Lots of love! xxxxxx

]]> Another week in Malawi! — Mulanje, Mulanje, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1246538452/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1246538452/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1246538452/tpod.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:10:17 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Mulanje, Mulanje, Malawi

Hellooooo!! Computer is being LOVELY to me today, actually a first ever ever but very very good! Hope everyone has had a lovely week! We have had a bit of a nightmare week this week but everything is still going ok!
Nightmare week because of massive visa drama...long complicated story but turns out that the visas the other had to come here (not me, Belgian embassy much more swtiched on than the London one!) were actualy not the right kind and not valid...meaning they have been illegal immigrants here for the last 60 days! Luckily the gorgeous amazing man at the immigration offices let them back-pay for those days, but turns out none of us can stay for more than 90 days without a new visa...long complicated saga but turns out we will be going to Mozambique on Saturday so we can come back and renew our first free 30 days! SO exciting times we are all off to another African country, will literally only be stepping over the border and back again but add that to our stopover flight in Nairobi airport and this is not so much a Malawi trip as an African tour! :p God reeaallllyyy has been looking after us through the whole thing, we have heard so many horror stories of people having massive dramas and although we have had a lot of sorting out to do everything is going to be fine now!
So that has been themajor drama of this last week...weve also been teaching in another school, Biwe, which is SUCH a nice school and making us all really happy! Have done all five lessons in one week and its just worked so well its been really good. They are all proper sweeties in this class, really nice kids, they all call you madam which is very strange and today I even got asked for my autograph!! They are all sweet and innocent too, forget robust hips or whatever, I got "dimples" as my answer to my "what attracts me" question! Very sweet class and made us all very happy! Only one more new school and five lessons next week and then we will be finished teaching for good!
We have started having the Friday night youth group around our house now since the German family have gone away and its been really really good so far, we have five weeks and five of us so we are doing a series on James, a chapter a week, is working out really well! They are just such a cool group of kids, they are all so mature and so committed to Christ and everything its really a lot of fun. The amazing joy of the expat world means I also met someone who lived in Waterloo and went to St Johns a couple of years ago! Really strange how being so far away makes you SO excited about meeting anyone who knows the Waterloo Carrefour and the bowl factory and places, really strange but very true!
What other news...had a nice relaxing Saturday, Rosalyn oiur neighbour is away so we went over to use her pool (we did ask!) which was amaaaaazing, EXCEPT for the fact that it has actually all of a sudden gone FREEZING cold here, I dont want to hear about any heat waves all you northern hemisphere types are having, its gone horrible here! In the mornings and the evenings it is actually arctic, and wearing skirts and sandles for teaching is a nightmare! As far as I know, this is NOT what Africa is supposed to be like! But we are in like the dead of winter here, so hopefully over the next couple of weeks it will get a bit sunnier, it has jolly better because I am not coming home to find everyone else more tanned than me!!!
We went to Aarons church on Sunday which was really cool, he is a SU member and just the nicest man ever, he goes to a CCAP church quite similar to Mthwalos but a lot livelier, it was really fun! Duroing worship they proper cranked up the rave music and everyone was dancing and singing and stuff it was so cool, a real party going on all before 9 on a Sunday morning!! They introduced us to the congregation as "Five girls who are here to represent Europe who call themselves...the transformation team!!!" It was so embarrassing...but then it got even worse and they asked us to sing for them! So we all got up and did a bit of Light of the World, it was just so funny! Definitely another thing I feel we need to learn from the way they run services here, getting visitors to chruch to come to the front and sing a song from their country! :p
Went to Aarons house after for lunch and was really nice, although they did serve us nsima, he has the cutest little house and lovely wife and two kids, Ruth and Philip, although they dont call him Philip they call him a Chichewa word meaning "gift from God", why dont we call Phil that??
Went back to church in the afternoon for a choir festival which was much more dancing and singing and things, the women all dragged us up to dance which was great until we saw Aaron laughing his head off,and its so true, we are compltetly terrible at anything to do with music or dance or rhythm when you put us next to an African!
What else can I tell you...oh we have found a new way to survive morning devotions, buzz words! Ten points for every time you get the word of the day in to the Bible study...Hannah did well last week with "dollop" talking about the gold decorations on the tabernacle, and I got "cheese" in yesterday saying how Ephesians 3 "would be cheesy but its not because its so true!" Good times...not sure how appropriate, but even the holiest man would crack under those morning devotions, honestly!
Hum dum, think thats all I really have to say this week, hope everyone has a lovely time this week! Will write again on Wednesday hopefully and tell you, fingers crossed!, about how stress free and easy our Mozambique trip was! Please pray about it, we cant hack any more dramas!! Lots of love, God bless! xxxx



]]> Muli bwanje from Mulanje! — Mulanje, Mulanje, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1245857801/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1245857801/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1245857801/tpod.html Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:38:32 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Mulanje, Mulanje, Malawi

Hello everybody!! Got lots and lots of exciting news this week so get excited! Hope everyone has had a fab week and is happy this Wednesday! Crazy computer is being crazy again so I really hope this works!

So on Thursday last week we went out for lunch to celebrate the end of our teaching program, we went to a little pizza place down the road in the uber posh area, it was amazing!! Had real live pizza and real live coke, it was incredibly ridiculous how excited we were, but it was just so good! We sat out on a little terracy bit in the sunshine and felt very cool and sophisticated being out for lunch, was just like Sex in the city! Then it was so cool, Mthwalo came to pick us up to take us shopping and because the van was being serviced he came in a truck and we all rode in the back like real Malawians! Was actually the funnest thing in the world, we all stood up and got extremely blown about and waved at everyone and felt like the Queen! Feel very very tame now though whenever we go in the van, that's definitely the only real way to travel!

So Mulanje Mulanje!! Left really really early on Friday morning because its like a 7 or 8 hour drive away, again Mthwalo was a bit fed up with our incredible hyperness and choruss of The bear went over the mountain and Climb every mountain allllll the way there! Was so amazing driving through the countryside again just like it always is, its just such a beautiful country! And there are so many interesting things to see on the way like passing through all the little villages and through really busy markets just in the middle of nowhere, men at the side of the road selling wood carvings and boys selling smoked mice on sticks like kebabs (ooo, yes please, Ill have five of those to take home to my mother!) We also got to go through Blantyre which was really good to see another big town, stopped at Mthwalos grannys house which was really sweet! Scariest thing in the world though driving from Blantyre down to Mulanje…you just see this huge THING looming out of the clouds and as you get closer you are like OH my goodness that is the mountain and as you get even closer it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and you are like what in the WORLD are we doing planning to climb that tomorrow!!! Its so beautiful because all round the bottom there are these tea plantations which are just the BRIGHTEST green in the sunshine and just GORGEOUS! We have some fab photos of the people cutting the tea with secateurs with big baskets on their backs…Jo has an especially interesting one of a woman threatening us with her secateurs…its so hard to not upset anyone by taking pictures of them because everything is just so amazing to see!

We stayed right at the bottom of the mountain in a little CCAP (central church of African Presbyterians) hut which was just SO cute, and extreme luxury after what we are used to, we even got free internet! We were given two rooms with three beds in each but we thought that was far too unsociable for our holiday, so we all squeezed in one room and pushed the beds together, me and Katherine very cosy in our tiny single bed!

And then the next day…dum dum duuuuum, the mountain!!! We set off really early with our guide Lewis and our porter Aufan, they were really cool and really friendly and stuff, even though we made poor Aufan carry all our heavy things! WOW though climbing that mountain was hard hard work!! Was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be, was pretty much scrambling on hands and knees for a lot of it, and climbing over huge rocks over rivers and fighting your way through jungley bits, was actually really really tough! And sooooo hot, sweated more than I have in my LIFE! (nice!) When we finally got to the top (hooray!) Lewis admitted that when he first saw us he thought we weren’t going to make it, which we were a bit insulted about…but thinking back to Hannahs pink trainers, me and Emma with our hippo and penguin (oh yes, Cyril made it too!) sticking out of our rucksacks, and with our supplies of jam sandwiches, orange squash and multicoloured sweets, Im not actually that surprised!! Was the most beautiful scenery in the world though, actually just GORGEOUS! And really crazy varied terrain as well it was so strange, like one minute you were fighting your way through a rainforest with all like lianas and buttress roots and everything (plenty of time to remember the technical names!) and then the next you were in a savannah type place straight from the Lion King, and then the next you were hanging off a rock face wondering where all the trees had gone, it was very very strange! We kept meeting all the time women who had been collecting firewood up there, which was just DEPRESSING, they would trot past you with a huge pile of sticks on their head and a baby on their backs, not at all breaking a sweat, before you could even pant a muli bwanje! It took us about seven hours to reach the top, which was just the best feeling to see our little hut sitting there! It was really cool, you came over the top of this peaky bit and down below there was this massive plateau bit which was all grassy and savannah-y, expected to see zebras trotting about but sadly no, and there was our hut down there! After getting there and getting our breath back, Jo and I went with Lewis to a viewpoint about half an hour away across the platuea, was tempted to just stay at the hut but OH my goodness it was so worth it to go! Was one of those moments where you walk and walk and youre like, where are we even going, and then suddenly you just come to an edge, and it was the most beautiful view I have EVER seen in my WHOLE entire life!! Because Mulanje is the only real mountain around and all the rest of the country is so flat you could just see for MILES and miles and miles, was the most amazing thing EVER! And the sun was setting and everything and it was just so perfect!! My new favorite place in the world is up there now, just wish everyone else could go and see it!! Was AMAZING.

So then after spending faaaaar too long there meaning we had to walk back to the hut in the dark (scary stuff) we got back and it was just fab, the cutest little place ever! Theres no electiricty or water or anything, so we had to cook spaghetti on an open fire which was AMAZING! Then we all sat round a campfire with Lewis and Aufan drinking hot chocolate and marshmallows we made the poor lad carry up the mountain, and we were all singing songs and telling stories and stuff and it was soooo cool! Like Aufan had all these really cute stories like African fabely things like how did the Lion get its mane sort of thing, which was so funny! They kept asking us for stories in return and we were really stuck, we gave them the hare and the tortoise but they were not impressed…definitely need to get myself a repertoire in case such a situation arises again! SO so nice sitting round the campfire with them, just the best thing in the world. Have never eeeever seen so many stars either, was just FABULOUS! Even saw my first shooting star! And then we all went to bed in our little bunkbeds and it was very cosy although VERY cold! Just the weirdest feeling in the world, like once we had blown out the candles and everything it was just PITCH pitch dark, like darker than you can ever imagine, and it was just US on a mountain it was the WERIDEST feeling. Very very strange. Really really makes you remember though how blessed you are though staying somewhere like that. Like, for us cooking on a campfire and going to the loo in a crazy outside hole (NIGHTmare in the dark, don’t even ask!) is a bit of an adventure, but for soooo many people its just totally normal, like the one in three people who don’t even HAVE a proper loo at all, its just crazy when you think about it. Really really remember everybodsy just how blessed you are!

Then the next day we all came down again!! Made you VERY proud scrambling down all the really steep bits thinking of how you climbed up them yesterday! And was very amazing because it was really cloudy and misty the day before but then on Sunday it was really sunny, there were all these rando,m other mountains and things that you didn’t even know were there and then on Sunday it was suddenly like, ta-da, a mountain! And on Sunday we saw looooaaaddsss of baboons just hanging out in the wild which was pretty cool, and we even saw leopard poo! Exciting times, I know! Also oin thew way back we made a detour to get to this waterfall Lewis was always going on about – craziest detour of my life, basically STRAIGHT down a crazy cliff, absaling down the grass and praying its going to hold your weight! And then we had to basically climb down a little waterfall, felt very Indianna Jonesy! And we were all getting SO cross and like, this darn waterfall hgad better be worth it, and Katherine was going on about how amazing Niagra falls were and how she was not going to be ahppy if this waterfall wasn’t ten times better, was very funny…but it turned out the waterfall when we finally got to it was SO worth it!! It was huuugggee, and just so gorgeous with the mountains all behind it, and it was so sunny and there was this massive pool at the bottom and then all these natural water slide things like in Swiss family Robinson, was the most beautiful place EVER!! And Lewis said that the pool at the bottom of the waterfall was 60 METERS deep can you imagine that!! We said to him are there any creepy animals living in there, imagininy all sorts of horrible dinasoury things lurking at the bottom, but he was like no, its too cold for anything to live in there…that probably should have made us listen…but we went swimming anyways! And yep he was right, it was FREEZING!!! Me and Jo and Hannah all went into the big pool and me and Hannah jumped off huge rocks into the water, (no-one tell Tearfund) SO scary but just amazing!!!

So yes, sorry for wittering for so long, but it was just all so so amazing! SO sore afterwards though, never been this achey in my life!! On the way back we stopped at a tearoom place in Dedza, which is like a little pottery place a couple of hours away from home, and we were all limping around through the gardens, it was so embarrassing! I said that we looked like a hospital out on a day visit and all the other customers looked up in surprise like, oh…aren’t they? That was a very cute place as well, they even had cheesecake which is apparently famous and was AMAZING!! For the loos they had one for women, one for men and one for women with babies, disabled people and others in a hurry! Very cute place!

So that was our exciting weekend and had a LOT of fun, was just the most beautiful place EVER! As for the next plan…turns out Amon has planned for us to take our teaching program to three more schools around Lilongwe! To start with I was a bit grumnpy with that plan, just because we thought we had finished the teaching and were ready to put it behind us and move onto the next thing…but now Ive been thinking about it it really is a good thing…because we don’t have to do any preparation or anything it’s a really god use of our time, and its such a good program its really going to be good to reach more people with it…all in Gods plan for what we are doing foir him here so must be good anyways!

Ok, wow I have used up so much time and written so much today, very sorry!! Lots of love to everyone, hope you all have a fantastic week! God bless! xxxxxxxxxxx
]]> Nearly finished teaching! — Lilongwe, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1245259115/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1245259115/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1245259115/tpod.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:03:30 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Lilongwe, Malawi

Helloooo! Hope everyone has had a lovely week! Back in the SU office today and hallelujah the internet is working today so I am very very happy! Has been a busy week too so lots of news!
Just had some reeeaallllyyy annoying news...we were supposed to finish teaching tomorrow but Mthwalo told us the van needs to be serviced before we go to Mulanje so we have to cancel the lesson...so we wont get to finish teaching this week which is a bit frustrating! Especially as the van has been falling to peices for the last two months (probably years really, you never know!) and we have been nagging them to get it fixed for a while! But never mindy, tis Africa! We are still going out for a celebratory meal tomorrow night, Italian and pizza, aahhhhhh! which will be fab!
Teaching has been going reeeaaalllyy well this week, lesson 5 is all about decision making and how to make good decisions and stuff and its been going really well so thats good! Had three lessons today all in our most horrible classes but they all went soooooo much better than we thought they would, especially in comparison to last week, so prayer really really works! Actually feeling really sad to be leaving some of the schools, we've built some really good relationships with some kids it will be sad to leave them! But we have had SO much positive feedback about what we've been teaching and things, from the teachers and from the students, so its really really fab.
Still very very nervous about finishign teaching though...no nothing has been planned for next week yet! We are getting a lot better about being patient about everything being done sooooo slooowwwwly here, but we are getting a bit frustrated now! Amon said we will know tomorrow what the programme is going to be, so just SO hope we will! Hopefully we will be doing this thing helping out at a teacher training college that one of our friends is the principle of...we went to visit it on Friday and it looks amazing, its so new and gorgeous, so that would be really good to get involved with things there...not 100% sure what we would be doing but sure it will be good! Please keep praying something really great will show up thats perfect for us to do! We are really confident something will, know God wouldnt send us all the way to Malawi for us to sit around and doing nothing, but as ever he is cutting it very fine with letting us know!
What else have we been up to this week? We went to our friends house for a bbq on Friday night and then again on Saturday and used the washing machine, oh it was amazing! Never thought I would actually get so excited over a washing machine, but it really was an amazing amazing moment! :p Then we had a binbag party on Saturday night which was the funnest thing ever...yes it did involve dressing up in binbags and having a catwalk and lots of dancing...and yes it did involve sitting playing uno in our binbags afterwards! Really truly are having to make our own fun...who needs a tv? :p
On Sunday we were very holy and went to three services, CCBC in the morning and then to Kapita for a youth service in the afternoon...it was like a meeting between a couple of different youth groups so all in Chichewa, lots of dancing and things which was quite cool, and then me and Katherine playing LOTS of I-spy during the sermon! Then we went to a youth service at CCBC in the afternoon which was a lot more interesting, again lots of dancing which is just amazing! I am going to be so bouncy in church when we get home, am totally into all of this dancing and yelling HALLELUJAH and AMEN after everything the preacher says, its brilliant!
What else what else can I say...oooooo on Monday afternoon we went exploring by ourselves into the market, it was AMAZING!!! We started in the clothes bit which was just the MOST exciting thing ever, lots and lots of tiny little stalls all crammed together so you can hardly even walk between, and just so so colourful and sparkly and exotic and just AMAZING!!! Everyone was so friendly as always, and some of the clothes were actually quite nice, Jo bought a really cool skirt and we saw loads of brands and everything we knew it was great! Just walking through amongst all the hanigng materials and all the yelling and colours and everythig just felt BRILLIANT, just makes you remember how exciting this country is and makes you wonder why on earth you would ever feel homesick or want to leave! Then down at the bottom of the market there was this huge barn place with looooaaadddss of people on sewing machines and sorting through hgue piles of clothes and things, and looooaaaddds of gorgeous materials and everything it was SO cool! And THEN because of Lilongwe river it cuts the marker in two, so youve got the clothes bit and then on the other side of the river youve got the food bit...OH my goodness to get from one to the other you have to cross over these CRAZY bridges, I mean totally crazy, like just made out of sticks and full of holes and crreeeaaakky and wobble like crazy and bits falling off all over the place...you literally have to just keep going and pray it doesnt collapse, and you have to pay 10mk (about 5p!) for the privilege! But WOW once you get into this city it is SO amazing, very very cool and that market is now my new favourite place in the world!
Yesterday afternoon after teaching me and Jo went on another adventure just exploring around our area which was reeeaallly nice...we went to the post office and outside there are all these stalls with wooden stuff so we looked at those for a bit and then these guys showed us how to play bao, which is actually the best game in the world, you have this tray thing with all these little dips and then you have beans that you have to move around into the different pots, its SO complicated if you play with al the rules and can be very very technical, like chess or something when you have to be thinking 20 moves ahead...was so funy though because one guy started teaching us and then all these other guys came and stood around and watched and it was like the world Olymipic final or something! Was sooooo fun and just felt amazing sitting on the pavement at the side of the road playing an African game with all these African lads in the sunshine! Am so getting a bao and teaching everyone to play, get excited!
Ok...think I have probably waffeled for long enough now! EXCITING, we are going to Mulanje on Friday!!! We are going to climb the third highest mountain in Africa HOW amazing is that! We are all VERY hyped up for going away its going to be amazing! Getting so excited to see some more of the country on the drive down, and we are going to stop off in Blantyre which is like the business capital place which will be cool, and apparently the mountain is like the most beautiful place EVER, its going to be sooooo good! Think we could possibly be a bit naive about how scary its going to be though, one of our friends drove by it the other day and she was like you guys are COURAGEOUS to be climbing that! But will be fun fun fun and I am soooo excited!! Will let you know all the excitements next week! Lots of love to everyone, thanks so much for the prayers and support its so amazing. Have a fabulous week! xxxxxxxxx







]]> After our two month anniversary! — Lilongwe, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244606400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244606400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244606400/tpod.html Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:13:53 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Lilongwe, Malawi

Hello everybody! Computer being a PAIN today so I will only write a short blog! Not much has really been happening this week so it will be short anyways hopefully!
Teaching has been going really well, we have finished lesson 3 now and onto our last week and a half of teaching which is a SCARY thought! We are giving out all the asnwers to the questions in the last lesson and also a summary sheet of all the lessons so hopefully they will understand those even if they had no idea what we were waffling about for the whole teaching period! Jo has been poorly this week so we have been only three of us teaching while someone stays at hgome with her - she is better now though we went to a clinic yesterday and so we are back to teaching as a team again which is great! One worry we do have though is what we are going to do after we have finishe dteaching...in true Malawian style nothing has been arranged by the SU for us so we asre really praying that God will land something in front of us that he really wants us to be a part of...we have about four or five weeks to fill and would really appreciate your prayers sabout that!
Otherwise what have we dont this week....we have had a bit of a spring cleaning week purging the house of horrible bugs and cobwebs...chores like washing clothes by hand in the cold water sink outside have now definitely lost their novelty and are a PAIN now :p, as is food shopping - never realised any form of shopping could be a chore but it really is! Entertasined ourselves last week by splitting the shopping list and having a mad trolley race to see who could finisgh first...but from the mild chaos we caused I dont think they will look kindly on us doint that again this week!
It was our two month anniversary on Sunday! VERY scary to think that we are over half way therough now! So weird thinking about it...ha;lf of you is just desperate for the time to go quickly because you miss everyone so much and just want to get home, but the other half is FREAKING OUT because everything here is jsut so amazing and theres a part of me that would be happy to go home never ever! We had a Tearfund representative come to visit us today called Vincent who asked us loads of questions about how everything is going, was cool.
What else can I say about this week...there have been quite a ferw school holidays in the past couple of weeks so we have had a few days off to explore Lilongwe...we are begninning to understand what wthe guide book meant whe it said, I quote @It wouldnt be a disaster if you just gave Liloongwe a miss..." Because its quite a new capital and because all the business and estuff is in Blantyre...tehre is not a LOT to do in Lilongwe! :p Bobe took us yesterday to a memorial for fredom fighters...a marble pillar in the middle of nowhere...was very nice and he was very prioud of it bless him, but it wasnt really an Eiffel Tower or a Buckingham Palace...or of course a Manniken Piecve! :p We are also realising why we havent seen many white people...because Lilongwe is not the hottest spot of tourism in the world! Malawi seems to be a really undiscovered country, which is very strange as it really is BEAUITIFUL. We hgave a theory that it will be one of those paces that sudfdenly gets found, like a celebrity will have a holiday by the lake, then all the cekebrities will be doing it, then everyone willk be doing it! Tis our theiry anywas. You will have to weait to see my ohotos before yoiuy decide whether you want to goliday here!
Ok, thinkthats all Ive got to say this week, hopefully something more exciting will happen next week so thw blog will be more intieresting! lots of love to everyone, your prayers about our programme would be really appreciated! Have a lovely week! xxxxxxxxxx
]]> Nearly two months!! — Lilongwe, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244041628/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244041628/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244041628/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:23:24 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Lilongwe, Malawi

idaHello everybody! Wow this website has done a revamp of itself and it is now really really confusing! I am hoping this works as I am not 100% sure what I am doing now! Hope everyone has had a lovely week and lots of exciting things have been happening! We have had a lovely week this week, v exhausting but v busy! Last Thursday I think I said we went to see Blessings in the Sound of Music - it was amazing! Definitely put to shame all the school plays we ever did...was SO strange as well because she goes to an international school so in the audience it was like..white people!! It was SO weird, you really dont realise how strange it is to be the only ones and then suddenly there were loads of us! Not sure where they have all been hiding all this time...but the sound of music brought them all out of the woodwork! On Friday night we went to our friends house for a barbeque...the girls got very excited over the meat...carnivores...was so so nice and really fun, although our friend Serena was leaving to go back to Germany so it was really sad! What else has happened...ooo wedding on Saturday!! Really really bizarre experience...REALLY embarrassing to start with, because we were all like AHH we have nothing smart to wear for a wedding, so decided to wear our Malawian outfits (VERY exciting but also possibly the most uncomortable thing I have ever worn in my life...think the tailor may have gotten my waist and ankle measuremtns muddled up judging y how tight it is..but apart from not being able to breathe the dresses are all very cool!) Anyway, we thought that they would be appropriate to wear...but when we got there it turned out NO-ONE was wearing anything so posh, everyone was in jeans and trackies, one girl even rocked up in a freebie phone t-shirt...so everyone was giving us the weirdest looks it was SO embarrassing!! Wedding very evry cool though, SO many people, hundreds and hundreds...and during the reception they do this thing where everyone has to dance up to the front and chuck money in this basket the bride and groom were holding...so we all grooved on down and threw in some little notes, some people were chucking hundreds and hundreds though, they must have been rolling afterwards! Seems they do that instead of presents though, we told Bobe about how English people give each other irons and cutlery and he thought it was the funniest thing ever!
Lessons have been going really well...weve been a bit stressed with timings and being late all over the place and teachers randomly deciding we couldnt do the lesson, or forgetting to tel us about holidays or something - but we are slowley learning patience so its getting better! We had our first last lesson on Monday, about decision making, which was actually realy sad to finish with a class! Mkwichi (our favourite school) yesterday was SO good, it was the HIV lesson and we had this huge debate going about whether you can get it from a hair cut or the dentist or all these different things, it was really really good. Even the dreaded drama is not as bad as we thought it was going to be - the students absolutely LOVE it, although Im not sure whether thats because of the lesson or because they enjoy watching us make fools of ourselves...they always give the hugest cheer at the end when Emma dies of the Flu Frog though...which although it is pretty funny is not the point! Its going really well though, we are getting so much more confident in what we are saying and all the prayers about the questions weve been getting have really really paid off - we have written out loasd of answer sheetsthat are going down realy well...today someone put a note in the question box saying God bless us, we were realy speaking the gospel or something like that, and someone else put thank you so much for all you are doing for us...so so nice to hear things like that and really know you are making an impact on someone, its really really great.



What else can I say...oooo hyeenas we saw the other day how exciting is that!! We were driving at night and we saw something in the heaadlights and Mthwalo being Mthwalo and a man did this terrifying u-turn into the other lane and swooped back round...and there was a whole pack of hyenas in the headlights at the side of the road! They are actually a LOT cuter than they are in the Lion King...and really really BIG its so weird...but Mthwalo says they are actually really dangerous and if you were walking by yourslef then they would probably eat you, and they have crazy strong teeth that can just chomp off your arm in one bite!! So a bit scary because that was the road right next to our house, so definitely no-one allowed out at night!! We always hear them at night time, they make this really weird noise like woooooUP...I guess I will have to do it in person for everyone when I get back :p, its really loud and really annoying when you are trying to sleep! Its worth it though just to be able to show off and say oh yes, while I was in Africa we couldnt sleep ebcause of the hyenas!
What else what else...oo we got a parcel from last years transform team, THANK YOU GUYS if anyone is reading this, it was so exciting! They sent chocolate and a gossip magazine, definitely people who know what we needed!
Hum dum...think that is really all I can think of for now, Jo is a bit poorly this week so please pray for her...and also for the SU who are still struggling financially! Also we only have a couple more weeks before the eaching project will be finished...we have about a month free after that but no idea what to do with it...please pray God will really give us a project we can be really useful in helping with! Cannot BELIEVE we are nearly halfway through already, its so scary! Lots and lots of love to everybody, God bless and hugs and kisses! xxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> Jun 03, 2009 — Lilongwe, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244041618/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244041618/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1244041618/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:06:58 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Lilongwe, Malawi

idaHello everybody! Wow this website has done a revamp of itself and it is now really really confusing! I am hoping this works as I am not 100% sure what I am doing now! Hope everyone has had a lovely week and lots of exciting things have been happening! We have had a lovely week this week, v exhausting but v busy! Last Thursday I think I said we went to see Blessings in the Sound of Music - it was amazing! Definitely put to shame all the school plays we ever did...was SO strange as well because she goes to an international school so in the audience it was like..white people!! It was SO weird, you really dont realise how strange it is to be the only ones and then suddenly there were loads of us! Not sure where they have all been hiding all this time...but the sound of music brought them all out of the woodwork! On Fr
]]> Teaching and Saliiiima! — Lilongwe, Malawi http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1243436520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1243436520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennynewbold/1/1243436520/tpod.html Wed, 27 May 2009 11:44:27 -0400 Malawi Tearfund Trip 2009!
Lilongwe, Malawi

Hello everybody! Sorry I didnt write last week, was trying to go on the
computers at the offices but there was a crazy powercut so I didnt get
to write in the blog! We havent had a powercut for ages though so cant
really complain! Just got lots and lots of news to tell you all now!
Hope everything is going well for everyone at home! Am back in the
internet cafe again and my keyboard is so old and rickety all the
letters have worn off the keyboard so sorry if I make loads of typos!

So, lots of news! We went to the lake last week because it was Mthwalos
birthday - it was AMAZING!!! We went to a place called Salima so you
can google earth it if you want to! It took a couple of hours in the
car which was v stuffed with loads of people and Mthwalos cousin and
his friends and everyone, down all of these windy roads on the
mountains and stuff,. saw some REALLY cool scenery...oh yeah we ran
over a goat :o( :o( :o( which was gorrible, poor Mthwalo, so many women
in the car so LOTS of screaming, but it was horrible! Ok, dont want to
think about it! The lake! Was gorgeous gorgeous and amazing! SO so
beautiful and all proper like tropical with sand and rocks and palm
trees and stuff, it was AMAZING!! We just lay around all day in bikinis
(nearly had a heart attack to see so much flesh...scared I will begin
to forget what a thigh looks like...am getting REALLY fed up of being
so covered up and wearing such horrible clothes the whole time!) Me and
Hannah and Emma also did go in the lake...after all our lectures on
bilharzia it was just TOO tempting and we really couldnt resist! There
were such huge waves and when we went in it was all sunsetty and
sparkly and just the most magical thing EVER...may have lots of nasty
wormy things living in my liver now but it was SO worth it!! After the
lake everyone came back to our house for a birthday meal for
Mthwalo...dont really know what to say about that...:p was very VERY
funny...justlots of differences in culture and what people do at dinner
things! Was good though, and Mthwalo said it was a really reallygood
birthday so thats the main thing.

Ok...so will tell you all about the teaching now! Its all going really
really well in general...we have started the sex lesson and also the
HIV lesson, both have been really good. Had a REALLY nightmare day last
Friday...we asked for no more than 120 people per class but this is
Malawi we are talking about...when we saw the HUGE number of people
filing into this massive hall we asked the teacher how many and he was
like/...well, theres 400 in the form but probably a few wont come...!!
Really good to get our message to so many people but really tough
teaching that many, they were so noisy and horrible was really a hard
lesson! Otherwise though, the kids have all been REALLY good, although
today some lads were messing about a bit and I was like Excuse me, can
we please concentrate and show some respect in my class!! I actually
said that! Feels great, could get used to such power! :p The sex lesson
has been REALLY hard to teach, we revamped the whole lesson plan
practically because we didnt like the way is was presenting some stuff,
and now its a really good lesson we think. The kids are SO mature about
it though, no-one giggles or makes stupid comments or anything, and its
really really good. The first time we did it everyne was COMPLETELY
silent I have never seen them like it, all just staring at us and we
were like,. oh good, just shows how they are concentrating...but then a
teacher afterwards told us that sex ed is a really new thing in Malawi
and so a lot of things are still quite taboo...and our lessons
are...well, pretty explicit really, not like TERRIBLE or anything but
we do say it like it is and were not using euphamisms or anything, so
we think they may have just ben compltely shocked into silence! Has
been really good though. Theres also this thing we are doing now where
we have a box that people can write any questions they have and put
them into it...SUCH a good idea because we are getting LOADS of
questions. Really hard reading them though, loads ask stuff we thought
we had answered in the lesson whcih is a bit gutting because obviously
they didnt understand what we were saying...there are loads of just
normal teenage questions about love and sex and things which are really
good...some though are SCARY, like you know all the myths and stuff
about HIV, so the person will write it and say is this true? And some
of the rumours and things that they believe are just SCARY, likebeing
on your period and not getting pregnant, or somethign about you cant
getAIDS if you have sex on a ful stomach...really reallty scary stuff
but SO good because we have made these great long sheets
answeing all the questions so we are going to give those out in the
lastclass. Scary though some of the rumours we are getting here, and
just because AIDS is so high its not liek at home when it doesnt really
matter if people dont know all the facts. So yeah, prayers about all of
that please, that we can really be clear in what we are teaching and
that we can really get through to the kids!

What else can I tell you...elections last Tuesday all went really well,
which is fab! Mister Bingu back for another five years, which seems to
be what most people are very keen for, well obviously seeing as he won!
Was v funny, in devotions Mthwalo was like, I am SO HAPPY today, God
has answered all of my prayers and Bingu won!! to which half of the
staff cheered and the other half looked very very stony! Was v nice
though, got the day off because of elections so went to nature reserve
and saw a lion called Bella and lots of cool animals! Turns out (no,
no-one told us!) that schools were closed for the rest of the week
after the elections so didnt do much last week! This is the crazy thing
about Africans...they are so so lovely but everything here is just SO
unorganised compared to at home...we a
egetting used to it now but it
can be really frustrating sometimnes...it is a good thing and it is
making me realise that the paceof life at home is just FAR too fast and
thats really not good for people...do think sometimes though how they
would get a LOT more done a LOT quicker if they faffed less and spoke
more than three words a minute! Love every Malawian though, they are
just the nicest friendliest people in the whole world itsamazing.

What ELSE can I say...have made SO many friends while we have been here
its really amazing. There is this amazing lady Rosalin who lives behind
us, she is like our Malawian mum and we love her! Yesterday we went
round to ask her about some of the cultural things about some of the
questions we had been asked and what to say to the difficult ones, was
really good. She has a daughter Blessings who we rae really good
friends with...and you will NEVER in a million years guess where we are
going tomorrow night! To see Blessings in The Sound of Music! In
Malawi! Its SO cool and we are all SO excited, well we havent had a
night out in nearly two months! There is also two American girls and a
Canadian girl all our age staying with Rosalin, so its really cool! And
yesterday instead of going all the way round by the road to get home we
just jumped over the wall which was vry cool! We are also really good
friends with a German family down the road who run the CCBC youth
group, we led it last Friday night and it was so funny, we had this
amazing metaphor about folllowing Jesus being like the way an ostrich
takes care of its egg (google it!) and we made a papier mache egg it
was great! They came over for tea and scones (very african!) on
saturday and We are going to theirs for a bbq on Friday which will be
great! What other friends have we made...oh a student said the other
day she wanted to be my penpal! I told her my name and she was like,
wow, lik Jennifer Lopez! and then she wanted to be my pen pal. V V
cool. We have made LOTS of friends with lads who live around us and in
the market...youget a LOT of attention being white which is sometimes
cool and sometimes just annoying, it VERY strange being the only white
people, I didnt realise how weird it would be! They all have names like
James Bond and Respect and what was it...oh, Easy Tiger! and other
suspect names...very funny!

Oh YES we bought some Maklawian dresses! They are FABULOUS!! We chose
the matrial from a shop and then went to a tailors and they are
BEAUTIFUL and only cost in total about 15 euros! not sure we will be
wearing anything elsefrom now on, they are so so great!

Right right right...think that may be everything I have to say for the
moment! Thingsare going really really well, we are almost halfway
through now which I just cannot believe! Really getting inot the
Malawian lifestyle...we are going to have an Afrcican food week this
week to save money...lotsand lots of nsima :o( :o( :o( but then when we
go on holiday we can go out for dinner more is our logic! Really hope
things are going well at home for everybody...as far as prayer requests
go please please the lessons and us being able to get our message
across tonthe kids...and also SU is having MUCH financial trouble so
would be really good to pray for allof them as well! Please please
leave me lots of messages on my blog, they are so nice to read, and
also add yourselves to the mailing list to get my fantabulous
fabby
updates! Oh and if you look on my friend Emmas blog (her name is Emma
Jenkins, I think youll be able to find her! then you can see a couple
of photos hopefully shes been able to put up!) Think thats everything I
have to say for now, loads and
loads of love to everyone, God bless! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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