No Bodza

In April, some other PCVs and I hosted a week-long education camp called Camp Sky. The camp hosted 80 students from across Malawi, and aimed to better prepare them for their important and challenging final exam and their futures beyond school. Two students from my school were selected to attend the camp, and my school chose to send the intelligent, hardworking, and entirely wonderful Ester and Diness:

The national exam was held in July and now the results are out! So, how did these two rockstars do? AWESOME, of course. They achieved competitive scores  of 19 and 20 which will allow them to pursue paths of higher education or careers or more. In fact, with the help of an organization called CAMFED, Ester is already looking over college applications for schools in Malawi and the US! 

I am now a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, and it is ALMOST time for me to say goodbye to this blog. I just spent a few minutes scrolling through my archive and reflecting, and I've collected some of my favorite posts here under the #bwana. 

I think in my first year I was a more active blogger, things surprised me more, I drew more comparisons to America and I had more heartfelt  stories about warm people. In my second year not only did I become much busier, but my writing style seems to have changed. I think this is because living there just became my reality. I stopped comparing things to home, because this was my home; I stopped being surprised by things because I came to know this place so deeply. 

I think this is why now, back home, I'm having a hard time talking about my service in Malawi. Perhaps 9-months-in-country-Rita would have been more eloquent when a friend said, 'Tell me a story about Africa,' whereas 26-months-in-country-and-now-returned-Rita is at a loss. Africa is not some abstract novelty. It was my life, my friends are there, two years of my work is there. 

I closed my service in Malawi a little more than a month ago on August 12. The next day, me and three friends headed out for a three week adventure through SE Asia. 

Our last nsima in Lilongwe

First we flew from Lilongwe to Joburg for a 23 hour layover. Went to an all you can eat buffet for 180Rand and DID WORK. Then Joburg to Qatar. In the Qatar airport for 8 hours, slept and ate BK. Probably the nicest airport & plane from Qatar to Bangkok. BANGKOK! Street food, temples, tuk tuks, first thai massage, more street food, and even a Thai rockibilly swing dancing punk band.

The Reclining Buddha, who is awesome, and as it turns out is my buddha After 3 days in Bangkok we took the overnight train to Hogw  Chiang Mai in the north. Chiang Mai was also super cool: more temples, street food, markets, a fish pedicure, ELEPHANTS, natural waterfall, ziplining through the jungle, and petting tigers.

At this point we've been in Thailand for almost a week, and head down to the south of the country for the famous beaches. Spent a couple days on the beautiful Ko Phi Phi island, island hopping & swimming & snorkeling on a longtail boat, scuba diving (saw an octopus and sharks!), and drinking cheap liquor out of a plastic bucket.

I adored Thailand. It's paradise with great food, good people and lots of diverse fun to be had. 

Next stop: Siem Reap, Cambodia. We came here for the famous Angkor Wat, stayed a day and a half longer than planned while waiting of our visas to Vietnam, but enjoyed wandering around the city, exploring ancient temples, eating more cheap food, meeting nice people. 

From Siem Reap we took an overnight bus to Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam. The bus got a flat tire on a bridge and was less than ideal, but we made it! (What would a COS trip be without a little transportation hassle?)

HCMC formerly Saigon- really developed with big buildings. Stayed in the backpackers district, went to the Viet Cong cu chi tunnels & the war remnants museum. 

dong

Then we flew to the north of the country and saw the city of Hanoi. Less developed, more trees. Got pick-pocketed at the night market by 3 crafty little women, went on a 2 day cruise to Halong Bay where we saw a sweet cave, kayaked, partied. Spent Indepence Day in the city wandering the streets, went to a movie and the zoo

Now our adventure was coming to a close, and I was feeling ready for America. Layover in Seoul (tried the soju) before the long time travel back to America (landed in Dallas an hour BEFORE we left Korea...)