lakes that look like the ocean and that one time I attended a political rally as an almost-special guest

~lake salima/paradise~ 

lakes that look like the ocean and that one time I attended a political rally as an almost-special guest

Lots of good things happened last weekend

Lake Malawi/Salima

we spent Saturday at the lake and it was everything I could have ever wanted & more.

the sand was beautiful and the water was warm and clear-ish and there is only a small chance that I got some weird worm from swimming and there weren’t even any alligators in sight.

we went to this really beautiful resort place that looked like paradise and I was just so happy to be in the water and even though it wasn’t the ocean it looked like it so I just pretended like it was

our car battery died and we had to wait around for forever but i was like whatevers we're at this beautiful resort so things could be much worse

~kind of my worst nightmare~

we also went to this fish farm that was cool in the sense that we got to see tons of different fish that they catch and sell to aquariums all throughout the world but no so cool in the sense that it kind of really freaked me out and felt too much like a factory farm for me to love

like I saw three fish float up to the top DEAD just while we were there walking around and yeah call me a wimp but that is not what I am about

i entertained many thoughts of organizing a coup and rescuing all the fish by smuggling them out/breaking their tanks but it turns out fish are pretty hard to rally

but mostly i loved it and everything was real pretty and there were smiles all around

~so many smiles and happiness~

but speaking of rallies

coolest experience of Africa/maybe my life:

Malawian presidential elections were yesterday & everyone is anxiously awaiting the results/causing a ruckus/burning down polling stations (seriously, the embassy just sent us an email to stay far away from the cities) while votes are counted but on Saturday we got to go to a party rally

One of our contacts here in Malawi is the president of party organization (I am thinking that means like campaign manager, yeah?) for the Malawi Congress Party and invited us to attend a rally/SIT UP ON THE STAGE BEHIND THE CANDIDATE AND ALL THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE

Part of me felt really bad because it was so hot and people (thousands of them) had been there for 6 hours and I wanted everyone to be able to have chairs and shade

Another part of me felt super wary considering how little I actually know about the candidate/Malawian politics in general but yeah having nine white people on the stage maybe doesn’t hurt publicity and what if we were helping a really corrupt man gain power?

but after talking with a dozen or so people that I really respect and trust he really does seem like a good option (or at least the least corrupt of all the options).

I still feel a little anxious about it but we were pretty far back on the stage and let’s be honest the other part of me was just like OMG THIS IS AWESOME

I understood about 7 words throughout the 1.5 hours of speeches that we listened to but I was high on political science love and interest

There was so much music and dancing before and after and there was a musician singing Bob Marley and sometimes when people really agreed with what the speaker was saying they would start yelling and chanting and dancing and he would have to stop for a couple of minutes while everyone celebrated.  At least that’s what it looked like was happening.

 The dancing and singing was led by a group of really cool women up at the front and I promise that if i ever have good enough internet i will upload the video of everyone dancing and blow your mind

Campaigning here is so interesting because no one really has a television (there is only one, state-owned channel anyways) and even radio channels are limited so for the last couple weeks I have been here (and I’m sure way before) whenever we go into the city we will see big trucks PACKED with people blasting way loud music and dancing and sometimes throwing out flyers and everyone will be wearing shirts and wraps and headscarves with their candidate all over everything

~putting Obama shirts to shame~ 

I have studied international political systems throughout my undergraduate studies and it has been so interesting and exciting to finally get to experience it first hand

Don’t get me wrong.

It is certainly not all butterflies and rainbow colored party trucks and reggae love.

Corruption is obvious and rampant and so frustrating to see.  This is already long so I’m ending here but thoughts and some first hand experiences about corruption to come

cheers to democracy and Malawi and a good weekend.

~trying not to draw attention to ourselves but "everyone jump in to the picture with the Azungas!"~