Need for Divine Intervention

Wow! It's been a few days since I've received any comments on my blog. Are my 3-5 faithful U.S. readers (plus 1,000 or so Malawian readers) still out there? Am I just writing to myself? Or maybe the length of my postings is just too daunting for the average blog-reader. Plus, nothing too controversial as of late. Is it getting too boring now? Hmmm...

Actually, I don't have too much to say today, so this should allow all of the faithful out there to catch up with all my other ramblings. I do still need to add a few more of my pix from the weekend at left, but I'll do that tomorrow, as it's time to go home already (almost 7:00-- dinnertime!)

Today I had my first experience of driving 25 minutes to Zomba for a meeting at Chancellor College, and then there was no meeting. The reason was that one of the lecturers is currently on strike, and the meeting could not go on without her. I think my director felt a bit embarrassed that I'd made the trip, as Tuesday is usually an off-day for me at Chancellor College, so he treated me to a drink (don't worry, just an orange soda) in the "Common Room." For the Americans out there, this is sort of like the student union (or 'Campus Center') on campus, but for instructors and staff only. Ya, a true utopia (or dystopia, depending on how you look at it). This one is quite special, as it also serves alcohol, though Sydney (my director) assured me that instructors are "not allowed to go to the classroom drunk." He did, however, clarify that one beer was o.k. before teaching. Hmmm... Food for thought.

OK, I just typed an entire paragraph, and then somehow erased the whole thing while inserting a period (don't ask me how), so I'll try to write it again in the same grain, as it turned out nicely. I wonder if I can do it again. OK. Here goes. So, Sydney and I did not drink alcohol, partly because he's a 7th-Day Adventist, which is a religion that follows both the old and new testaments almost equally. I've only met one Seventh Day Adventist in the past, but I found him too strange to talk religion with, so I decided to ask Sydney more about his faith. He explained a lot of it to me, and really made a lot of sense. I've gotten into several discussions of religion while I've been here, and what I really appreciate about the faithful here is that they don't preach or try to convert you, or pass judgement on you if you are not religious. They simply explain where they're coming from and why, and leave it at that. They also acknowledge and understand questioning one's faith, as well as validating a feeling of frustration with organized religion. They just simply seem to 'get it,' regardless of their own beliefs. Again, I appreciate that.

The other thing Sydney explained to me was the reasons behind the Jewish Kosher diet, which the Adventists also observe. It actually made a lot of sense to me... for the first time, despite having spoken with both Jews and Muslims on the subject, someone was able to explain that with clarity. I'm thinking of going Kosher myself. Well, I am Kosher here, actually--no pork, no shellfish. The only thing I really miss is shellfish. Not sure whether I could give that up forever. I'll keep you posted.

One last thing I learned about Sydney is that he belongs to a gospel band, and they recently recorded their first CD, which he gave to me (actually he gave me the cassette, hoping I'll eventually buy a CD). As I mentioned last week, I do appreciate all Malawian music, even the religious tunes I've heard in church, so I'm looking forward to listening to it. Plus, it's in Chichewa, so I won't be too put off by the religious lyrics. It turns out that Sydney's quite the Renaissance man, a self-taught guitarist with his own recording studio. He even offered to give me voice lessons to help me actually bring my singing talent up to the same level as my love for singing (my friends/family, as well as some radio listeners in northern California, thanks to my brother working in radio there--never mind the details of that-- can attest to my serious lack of singing prowess). But oh, how I do love to sing! Hmmm... that may be a problem he'd definitely need divine intervention to solve. Again, I'll keep you posted. Tiwonana mawa!