Day 27
We continued working on our project today. Since everything was all good on the breadboard, we decided to go ahead and start soldering all the components together on a PCB board so that we could start testing the accuracy of the thermistor on the skin. On the board we could only detect ambient temperature. I think I burned myself ten times with the soldering iron but it was all done. We will see how it works tomorrow. Oh we also ate at the school cafeteria today instead of our usual spot and there were no utensils so we had to eat with our hands. But it was REALLY good food.
PS Karen doesn’t really know how to eat with her hands so Kristoffer made her a makeshift spoon out of the container.
Day 28
We went to Mikos (again) and got some really REALLY good ice cream (I got a flavor that tasted very much like McDonalds soft serve). This was after I got really frustrated because the soldering was so bad that our thermistor was reading really wrong temperature readings. We spent all day trying to fix it, but in the end we just took everything apart and agreed to re-solder everything the next day. I took my frustration out when we went rock climbing that night. There is a boldering wall in a field behind a high school (kind of random) and it was so fun.
Day 29
We soldered our device once again and are hoping to see if this time, we get accurate readings (it took ALL DAY). I was really exhausted after burning my hand four times and wanted to just sleep, but we stopped at a café near our lodge. There was a poetry reading there, and it was actually really great. I’m not a huge poetry fan, but everyone that was reading a poem was from Malawi and talking about Malawi. It was really moving hearing what they had to say about their country and lives. I liked it a lot and we are definitely going again.
Day 30
Today was the last day before the three day weekend. We finally got some right numbers on our thermistor (yay thank you Matthews for helping me do a MUCH better soldering job this time). What a satisfying way to end the week and start a three day break. Hopefully next week we can start testing our device to see if it measures accurate body temperature (fingers crossed).
Day 31
We woke up early this morning and it was cold and rainy. But I was really excited because we were going to Lake Malawi! It was a five hour drive (I never get car sick but the road was so rocky at the end I almost threw up). We got to Cape McClear and passed by a bunch of SUPER PACKED lodges. I was a little worried that we would be staying at a super crowded part of the lake. But when we got to our lodge I was so happy. There was literally NO ONE there. It was quiet and empty and so pretty. And it was warm! That night was probably my favorite experience in Malawi. The five of us went to the beach right in front of our dorms and we laid down on the sand and looked at the stars for such a long time. It was so quiet and we could see parts of the Milky Way! I’ve never seen so many stars in my entire life it was amazing. It got kinda cold but we all huddled close to one another and just stargazed. It was the best.
Day 32
We got on a boat today that took us to an island off the coast. Apparently it’s a really great place to go snorkeling! I was really scared I’ve only been “snorkeling” in our pool, and the water was really choppy. ingested a lot of lake water. And I almost got hit by a boat while I was underwater. But it ended up being super awesome! We also fed eagles, and two eagles ran into each other mid air while diving for some fish it was wild.
