Yum.

I made this the other day

2 scoops of chocolate ice cream that was getting freezer burnt, instant coffee powder + some leftover coffe, & topped with whipped cream and Nesquick to make it look purdy.

~

Proceed to drink and not spill on your shirt. 

Malawi: Part 2

And here's part two! Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, staying in the village for three days.

The wife of the couple we were staying with (Lina is her name) planned a ladies' seminar out in one of the villages.  It was arranged that the ladies would come in on trucks and stay for about three days while the seminar went on.  A grass fence enclosed a large area where the ladies listened to lessons, ate and slept.  

There were about 750 women, so I couldn't even get a picture of them all! This is Sunday morning as we were all gathered after Church.  Those brown things hanging are fish from the lake.  They'd hang them up to dry.

Thankfully, Lina, my mom and I were able to sleep in this brick house that belonged to one of the church members.

This is the room we stayed in - this is the view with my back to the door.

This is looking towards the door.  People here usually don't have wooden doors, lots of times there will just be material or an old lace curtain.

No indoor toilets, so this was our toilet for the time we were there.  Alot nicer than most, actually!

Often times the little buildings that the toilets are in don't have doors, so they design them so that you can't see right in.  This is how it would look from above...

You have to ask to "enter" before you walk in, or else you could have an unpleasant surprise, heh.  Almost happened to Mom, but thankfully not me!   

Funny story: There are cockroaches in the choo (toilet), and, of course, they would come out at night.  One of the nights we went out there and I went in first.  I started stomping around, trying to scare the roaches away from the hole.

Mom: "Linz!! What are you doing?!"

Me: "There are tons of roaches in here and I'm trying to get them away from me!"

Later that night Mom had to use the restroom, so she got up and walked out to the choo.  What she didn't know was that the door automatically locked from the inside, so when she tried to get back in she was locked out!  Thankfully there was a window in our room she could knock on and and tell me to let her back in.

The ladies were nice and heated some water for us over the fire in the mornings so we could bathe - this was our shower.  Again, this had the same building design as the toilet, so there was no door.  

We were right at Lake Malawi, and it was beautiful.  You'd think it was the ocean!

This is the kitchen that the ladies cooked in

There would usually be ugali (similar a thick clump of cream of wheat), beans, cooked cabbage and goat.

One of our translators was due any day with her baby, and surprise! she went into labor on one of the days we were there.  Lina took her to the hospital in Lilongwe, and the baby was delivered that night.  So for quite a while Mom and I were in the village, with no car, and not able to speak the language.  The weekend went fairly well, except for not really knowing what we were supposed to do since we couldn't talk to anybody!

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What's a weird experience you've had?

I don't think this one really counted as weird, just interesting!

_

Go check out Stefanie's blog where she's introducing me!

Malawi: Part I

Sorry for being a bit late in getting this post up - our internet wasn't working, and then out power went out...anyway, finally here it is! I missed all of you and reading your blogs while we were gone, but we had a really great trip.  We visited Malawi in 2006 and it was so good to go back again.

We left at 3 a.m. on the 12th, and got there at around 7:45 p.m.  We drove for a long time...

 

Hopefully Malawi won't become a complete dustbowl.  They take down the trees for lumber, and don't do hardly enough replanting to balance it out.  We'd drive along the road and it looked like a tornado came through.  Or the part in Lord of the Rings where Merry and Pippin take Treebeard past where Saruman has destroyed the forest.  We wouldn't go too far before we got to where they cut and stacked the lumber.

These are what most of the little towns look like

It's interesting because Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa, and yet because of foreign funds Lilongwe, the capitol, is actually quite a modern city.  Compared to Tanzania, anyway.  See, there was even this modern pizza place in town we went to on one of our days off. "Pizza Inn - It must be the pizza!"...I guess it must be since that's all they serve.  I guess Luke wasn't feeling too good.

There were fuel shortages in Malawi, so people would line up along the streets in  long queues to get diesel and petrol.  

 ...

On weekdays besides Wednesday (our day off) we'd get up early and go to different villages and teach for four hours from 9-1.   Thankfully there were breaks - I'm used to sitting on wooden benches for a long time without a problem, but sitting on plain concrete can get uncomfortable after a couple hours.  Last time we visited my dad taught the men, my mom the women, and my sister and I the children.  I really missed teaching the kids this time - they're just too precious.  This time around everyone was together and Dad taught a class on personal evangelism\how to share the Gospel with others, and it was fantastic!

Saturday classes were actually in town, so they went from about 1-5, and on Sundays we would visit different congregations.

Luke, Jake and I would pile into the back of the truck...

...and we would stop to pick up our translator, then be on our way.  The drive would usually be around an hour - an hour and a half. 

It was so frustrating, because people don't speak Swahili down there, so we weren't able to communicate with anybody past a hello.  

We weren't able to do any running while we were in Malawi, but the people we stayed with actually had a pool so we went swimming alot in the evenings even though it was freezing!

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I'll have to post a part II a bit later since it would be too long for now - stay tuned, because it may be the most interesting...it involves staying in the village for 3 days with over 600 women!

If you could go anywhere in the world, expenses paid, what place(s) would you go?

I would love to visit Egypt, Greece, Italy, Ireland - pretty much everywhere if I could. 

Is anything exciting happening with you all?

 

 

We're back! New post coming soon

Hey friends! Just a quick note to say that we made it back to TZ safely, and had a great trip.  I'm going to do my best to put up a real post tomorrow with a bunch of pictures.  I've missed reading your blogs, and I'm excited to catch up on all of you!

Just to tide you over...

I just can't help myself.  This pup went wild when I got back home - isn't it nice when pets miss you like crazy?!

 

Facts about Folic Acid

Folic Acid (or Vitamin B9) is a vitamin that's extremely important for overall health, but a lack of it is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies there is.
 
Your level might be low if...

If your diet is lacking in certain vegetables, you have celiac's disease, are obese, an alcoholic, or are pregnant or breastfeeding, you might be prone to deficiency.  The elderly have an increased risk as well. 


Symptoms:

Some symptoms of low levels of Folic Acid can include: Diarrhea, headaches, weakness, appetite loss, thinning hair\hair loss, insomnia, dry skin, weight loss, paranoia, irritability and depression. 



Recommended allowances:
The recommended dietary allowance about 400 mcg\day, but can vary from person to person - especially women.  For example, women who are planning a pregnancy or are breastfeeding should take in a little more than the average adult.  

Can I get too much?
Since Vit. B9 is water soluble, any excess is usually flushed out of the body, so the risk of toxicity is low.  However, if a patient is taking anti- convulsant medication, there is evidence that extreme levels of the vitamin can produce seizures, so those patients should be sure to check with their doctor before taking any supplement!  As a general rule, you shouldn't consume more than 1000 mcg a day.

The best way to get in a good dose of the ol' Folate is so eat a diet full of different kinds of vegetables (especially green leafy ones!), and a take a multivitamin.

What really brought this post on is that I've been having a few symptoms of low levels, so I've started taking a supplement...I'll give it a month or two and I'll let you know if I see a difference!

Do you take any supplements? If you do, what do you take?

I usually try to take a multivitamin, and now a Folic Acid supplement. 

{I've just been able to quickly pop online here, but we made it to Malawi safely! We just got back from spending 3 days in the village doing a seminar for ladies - can't wait to get back and tell all about it and show pictures!!}