19 August 2018

Although our work in the villages is complete for this trip, we still had some time to spend in this beautiful country. We planned an early start to the day to look for souvenirs to bring back to the states. However, when we got to Blantyre most of the shops were closed for Sunday. Thankfully we were able to meet one last time with our drilling contractor, Mozagua, and settle everything for the project. We then stopped for lunch at Gelato Carnival. Let me tell you if you aren’t sure whether to get Chinese, Italian, Mexican, or American food, it’s the place to go! Everyone had different types of cuisine and it all tasted AMAZING. After lunch, we attempted a second round of shopping at an open market in Blantyre. It had everything from paintings, to jewelry, to notebooks, to wood carvings all hand-crafted. It was interesting to see how some of us had improved on bargaining skills so that everyone was able to go home with the pieces they loved. Finally, we ended our day back at our hotel for the night in Blantyre by playing a game we had created a couple days earlier in the trip which we have now named “Nkhondo”. Similar to Pokémon, we created cards for all of the colorful characters we have come into contact with throughout the trip. This includes students, interpreters, animals, and many more. Everyone has powers that relate to the person (or animal) in real life. Although some of the cards can seem complex the game is fairly simple and was a great bonding experience for the team. I cannot believe the trip is so close to being over! It has been so fantastic and I will definitely miss everyone I have meet while being here.