2.5 weeks and 20 speeches later

I've been at site for 2.5 weeks now. My village is Ambohimanarina. The people have been incredibly welcoming. About 200 people showed up on my first day for my official presentation to welcome me. Malagasy customs involve a lot of speech giving; I have given at least 5 speeches to introduce myself in the various villages near mine and we aren't even halfway through. If nothing else I will be an aweso,e public speaker when I leave this country.

My site has no cell phone reception (a lot of Madagascar actually does) so I am totally off the grid. I have to send messages via taxi-brousse or go to town to talk with people. The village president called a meeting two nights ago to announce that cell phone service may be coming soon... I hope so! He also proceeded to introduce me to the community once again, saying "she is very white but she is one of us and we need to watch out for her safety." The Malagasy are definitely direct in talking about appearances but it was nice to be welcomed as one of the family.

Well this french keyboard is really hard to type on so I will keep it short today. Miss you all but love hearing from you!!!