are we ready for Africa yet? // pt .2

By far, the most stressful part of the entire trip were the days leading up to actually leaving.

Pre-trip anxiety. It's too real. There was a time or two when I just had to stop, take a short walk, and pray. That helped.

Those days entailed:

- Staying on my empty university campus because almost everyone else had left.
- Trying to stay sane despite of the above fact.
- Trying to set up a team bank account with my co-leader. (adulting at it's worst)
- Running to Walgreen's for Malaria pills and mosquito repellent.
- Many stops at Wal-mart for last minute supplies/gifts for the missionaries.
- Paaackinggg alll offf thooose thiiingsss.
- Weighing the baggage.
- Waiting for my team to arrive.
- Saying, "Okay, NOW we are ready for Africa!" but then realizing we had ten more things to do.
- Hoping that my new phone would arrive before we left for the trip, because my previous one got RUN OVER BY A LITERAL CAR.
- (it did arrive)
- Being driven to the airport and remembering why I hate LAX.

It wasn't until we successfully had our baggage checked in that I felt a wave of relief, immediately followed by excitement.

Guys. We're, like, heading to Africa.

It took a while to get there.

Los Angeles ⟶ Dublin
Dublin ⟶ Ethiopia
Ethiopia ⟶  Malawi

The plane was comfortable, nobody got lost, and I got to watch Black Panther again. Can't complain.

I don't think I'll ever forget my first hour in Malawi. Walking off the plane, getting our Visas stamped and seeing a giant grasshopper thing on the wall that nobody seemed to care about, and meeting our hosts for the first time at baggage claim.

Oh, and then there was the drive to Lilongwe (the capital city, where we'd be staying).

First of all, it was beautiful. Second, everyone was in the road. 

I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the highways. Children, goats, bicyclists, chickens, women carrying things on their heads, and businessmen wearing suits were all just walking right along the roadside. Men were selling things right on the highway, hoping a car would pull over and make a purchase. They were selling things like roasted mice on sticks (a special treat over there), little puppies (those were alive, don't worry), and sugar cane.

I saw some villages for the first time, too. Communities of small thatched huts built with red brick, complete with outhouses, goat pens, and roaming chickens.

I don't know what I was expecting before I landed in Malawi. I knew it was a third-world country. Wikipedia had told me it was one of the least-developed countries in the world. But, even knowing that, I was still stunned by what I was seeing.

And then, we arrived at our host's home in the heart of Lilongwe. We fell in love with Matt, Rachel, and their two precious daughters right away - and we felt right at home after being nomads for 35 hours (give or take).

Jet lag soon hit us like a ton of bricks, but we managed to stay up until 7:30pm. Finally, we got to climb in under our mosquito nets and lay our weary heads on our pillows.

love,
me

Photo Credit: Mark B.