May 21: BLISS

I was originally worried that today was not going to be good. I got less than 6 hours of sleep last night, which was concerning since I’d been feeling tired for the past few days. But today ended being amazing.

While I woke up around 9, I didn’t get out of bed until about 10. I took a shower and then headed out to breakfast to discover that Felita and Chancey had made SCONES. For any of you who are unaware, I LOVE SCONES. I don’t actually eat them all that often, but when we have them at camp, I’ll often seek out leftovers if possible. This was the second time they’d made us scones and I was so pleased. They were sooooooo good.

I mostly read and killed time until our shuttle came around 1:30. We stopped at Shoprite (of course!), where I employed my new tactic of going to the nearby Airtel to mooch their free wifi while everyone else shops. It’s a stellar technique because it provides an opportunity for me to check about med school pretty much every day and briefly check my facebook messages. Once everyone was done, we piled back in the bus, grabbed a couple of the students from the other house, and headed toward the beach! This time, we stopped en route at a craft market, which was really interesting. There were a lot of handcrafted wooden artifacts, and you knew they were really handmade because each stall had some partly made ones lying in the corner. After a quick (but very efficient for many people) shop, we continued onto the beach. In the end, we stopped not at a beach, but at a lodge that was on a bay. This is another experience that I couldn’t do justice no matter how long I spent trying, but I’ll just do my best.

This lodge is owned by a couple from the UK who’ve owned the property for 18 years. They’ve adopted 3 adorable Malawian children, and they have at least 2 (domesticated!!) dogs and 2 (semi-domesticated?) cats. These were the first animals we’ve seen that we felt comfortable petting, so we all really enjoyed that. The really amazing part of this lodge, though, was its natural beauty. Each hut was built into the hill, so it looked out onto the bay and still somewhat blended into the lush fauna surrounding it. There were a bunch of stone steps and pathways leading between all the different huts associated with the lodge, though we spent most of our time in the dining hall. Alex and Aileen discovered that they had free boats, so most of our class ended up taking boats out. At different parts of the afternoon/ evening, I got to paddleboard, canoe (originally I was sitting princess, which I hated. After not too long, I got to move to steer, which pleased me), and swim. It was EXACTLY what I needed today; some fun and exercise in an absolutely stunning setting. At one point, I was paddleboarding around as the sun set, and the clouds reflected its light, shifting from yellow to orange to pink. Unbelievable, really. Hopefully unforgettable, too. Being in the lake means that I’ll have to take an antibiotic, but it was 100% worth it. Eventually, the sky was starting to darken, so we decided it was time to make our way to shore. By that time, we’d all basically abandoned the boats, and I think I might have been the only one who knew how to get back into a canoe from the water, so we didn’t bother. Kelsey and I swam one canoe to shore, and Akkila and Natalee took the other. When we got to shore, Akkila and Natalee were talking about what a workout it was, but I think my time swimming with Mars has benefitted me because I found it rejuvenating rather than tiring.

Once we’d all dried off, we got smoothies – I got banana honey, which was phenomenal (this day was so great that I’m running out of positive adjectives!) – and eventually dinner. The food was amazing! And on our tables they had lanterns that appeared to be turned on by a magnet…I couldn’t quite figure it out. I’ll have to explain the concept more in-depth to someone who understands science better than me so they can tell me.

Another highlight of the day was the bus rides. I’ve often been using the bus rides as solitude time, where I think and/or listen to music. But today, Mary, Marlo, Natalee, and I listened to music together and talked and it was a lot of fun. It also occurred to me that an experience that would have terrified me 2 weeks ago is now completely normal: I’ve gotten used to sitting on a seat without a back and with no seat belt as the bus I’m in flies along a road with pedestrians without streetlamps at night. This is just a Saturday night now.

I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep today now that I got some real exercise other than strength training, dancing, and walking. I’m also in such a good mood that I’m expecting to sleep well.

-Jen