Friday, February 23, 2007

Onward and Upward, etc. etc.

Hello all! This is my beautiful Peace Corps blog, where I'll be posting journal entries/ phun photos/ interesting links and the like for the next few years. I have no idea how often I will be able to update this doohickey, but I will try to keep you informed as much as possible. I should have started this a long time ago cause I've got a lot of infomation to expunge, so I'll just start with the basics.

MY ASSIGNMENT
Country: Malawi
Program: Environment
Job Title: Community Based Natural Resource Management/ Forestry Extension
Dates of Service: April 27, 2007-April 26, 2009 (ish)
Pre-service training (in Malawi): March 1-April 27, 2007
Orientation (in D.C.): February 25- 27, 2007. Yesh, that is the day after tomorrow.

The first two months will be training near the capital, Lilongwe. There are two official languages in Malawi: English and Chichewa. English is not widely spoken outside of the capital, so I'm hoping to check off one of my life's major goals and become fluent in an extremely obscure language. I can already count to nine and say "white man" and "toilet." The Chichewan world is my oyster.

If you should feel so moved as to send me a care package, you may send them for at least the first two months to:

Matt Wisniewski, PCV
Peace Corps/Malawi
Box 208
Lilongwe
Malawi

Finally I would like to say thank you to all of my amazing friends and family members who have shown the most frikkin huge amount of generosity and love over the past 22 years, but especially the last couple months, and especially ESPECIALLY the last couple weeks. I can honestly say that I have been shocked with the amount of support coming my way. I love you all more than you know, and I will miss you.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if you still have internet access or are checking in on this, but it sounds like you're rocking out in the peace corps. I've learned about as much hebrew as you've learned Chichewan.

I have met two people in st. louis who are in the process of applying for the peace corps. [which is not surprising since we're the murder capital of the country]

scme forever,
andy

Anonymous said...

Cindy dreamt that she was feeding you sandwiches. Hope you're eating well. Hope you're eating, period. Obviously a universal worry of moms. Love you

Anonymous said...

If you find a titleist with a 'V'
marked on it in the jungle I believe it's mine. Hit a big slice
at Pebble in December. We are thinking of you and remember...hot water and HD cable TV are highly
overrated.

Be well,
Lynn & Scott

Anonymous said...

Grandma Wiz said... hope you receive your box of goodies before they get stale. We enjoyed your letter that your Dad copied for us.Good luck with the medical stuff, we love you G & G Wiz. 3-28-07

Anonymous said...

Hi Matt Wiz,
Happy birthday! I called twin B to telepathically tell you too (you know, in twin language!)

Please take lots of pictures and have a fantastic time. At least you have endured some SERIOUS Terratopia Club training.

Love ya,
Sarah Bruckner

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday,

Hopefully you have received something non-corn based (or is it called maize there?) for your birthday. Great to hear you are doing well. Take care.

Andrew

Anonymous said...

Hi, we hope you enjoyed a nice b-day with your host family & friends. Do the natives celebrate things like b-days? We are happy the cookies arrived safely & that you were able to share them, great. We are proud of you for developing a mud oven, you must be their hero. You have already made a wonderful contribution in this short period of time, good going. We love you, G & G Wiz.