Happy holidays!

I'm getting ready to spend the holidays in Ambohimanarina before a long vacation in France and Madagascar.  Here's some of what's going on.


The women's sewing training I helped organized is over and we created by-laws for the group.  They've finished some products and with any luck will sell stuff sometime soon.

I have a new counterpart.  Finally, someone who wants to work in the environment with me!  Wish he appeared earlier, but oh well.  I think of him as Madagascar's MacGyver.  He can create a stove out of just sticks, use bamboo as a bucket...

Cooking with Malagasy MacGyver

The time is sure flying by and I promise to update more next month.  Let me know if there's anything you'd really like to hear about.  Until then, enjoy the holidays!

On the home stretch

I've been struggling a lot lately trying to pick material to post here for those of you who are following along with my PC service.  When Peace Corps guarantees "the hardest job you'll ever love" they may sound cliche but they've pretty much hit the nail right on the head.

I've been in Ambohimanarina for a year and a half now.  This means a lot of things.  I've watched one neighbor's house disintegrate into a pile of old, grey bamboo and a brand new wooden house spring up across the way.  I've made some great friends; we've laughed together, worked together, eaten together, mourned together.  I can cook bananas and cassava, I can plant rice.  I've finally found environmental work to do.

It's easy to feel like I don't just live on the other side of the world from home but on a different planet.  I'm experiencing all kinds of new things, oblivious to what's happening in the daily lives of my American family and friends.  What better snack is there than a bunch of ripe, juicy litchis?  I feel like I am walking through some sort of litchi wasteland with discarded peels and seeds scattered all along the path as I fetch water.  What can be more devastating than watching a man who welcomed you into his family get sick and die?  I've been thinking a lot about how much of our self-expression and the way we voice (or contain) our emotions is innate and how much of it is influenced by culture.  And I've gained a greater appreciation for friendship and the various places it can be found.

I don't exactly miss the stresses of the modern world with its phones and computers and all, but I am missing things.  No, I haven't seen the new Batman movie or the latest episode of Big Bang Theory (if it's even still running).  I've never seen my sisters' houses.  I've lost count of the weddings, graduations, births, and housewarmings that have passed as I consumed yet another bowl of rice.

The scariest part of it all is that it means I'll only be living here for 6 more months.  Yes, I'm excited to get back to my family, friends, refrigeration, toilets, cell phone reception, and washing machines.  But it also means finding a job, a place to live, and re-adjusting to an American way of life.  Eventually it'll mean leaving my Malagasy friends, family, and home.  How am I supposed to split my time now so I can enjoy my time in Madagascar and prepare for life off the island?  How do I connect my Malagasy and American lives when they seem to be so isolated from one another?

Long time no reseau...

My apologies for my long absence from the blogosphere (or whatever you call this place).  A number of confounding circumstances have kept me from modern means of communication lately, and frankly technology is becoming more and more daunting.  Anyhow, I promise a more in depth post ASAP, but for now here’s the brief version of what’s been going on for the past month or so.  Also, my thoughts go out to all of you affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The women’s sewing group here is finally getting their act together.  They are a boisterous bunch, but we arranged and carried out a funded training and they are meeting weekly to sew.  They’ve also started learning a little bit of English to help them sell to “vazaha.”  Turns out my handwriting (not the same cursive as every person who ever went to a school in Madagascar) is somewhat of a hindrance to the learning process, but otherwise things are moving along.

Things in my garden are growing.  I may have summer squash and lettuce soon, along with the possibility of maize, peanuts, melon, and pumpkin in the coming months.  The compost is decomposing and the rains should come in December, so I’m mostly holding out until then to try anything new.  I was hoping to do a school garden but those plans fell through.   However, I have finally managed to find someone in town who is interested in learning environmental things from me.  He has plans to work on a pepiniere (tree nursery) and demonstration garden and starting in the next couple of weeks I’ll be dedicating a lot more of my time to working with him.

There are so many bananas here.  Also the cockroaches are out of control.  Probably unrelated.

English club is out of control—a beginner and advanced class in Ambohimanarina and also in Manantenina once I week.  I maintain that I am NOT an English teacher.

New vazaha in the area!  There is an anthropology researcher from Finland working in Manantenina now (1 km from my village).  I thought my life was hard, but she’s here with a 1 ½ year old daughter and living with a Malagasy family.  We have been having what I call “no-rice-lunch” weekly to relieve her from the thrice daily rice she’s been having otherwise.  Talking in English and about life in the outside world is a refreshing change.

Two of my good friends died within a week of each other.  Needless to say it kind of sucked, but it’s also been a big learning experience for me both culturally and personally (more in another post).  Sometimes I feel like Peace Corps allows 2 years of my life to pass by while I only get the highlights, but clearly there are still some low points to be had as well.

The days are getting longer and summer’s coming.  This means 4:30 AM morning runs and hotter weather, but also that the litchis, pineapples, and mangoes will be ripe any day now!

That’s the low-down, more later or feel free to send me an email/letter/brousse note and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Help me share American culture!

Can you please send me photos of your cooking pots?

Alright I know this is kind of a weird request to make but let me eplain.  I have a friend named Cyril (photo to come later).  Cyril is from a town near Tana but lives in Ambohimanarina with Angeline, his girlfriend/wife (there's kind of no distinction in Malagasy culture).  Cyril and Angeline are probably my only friends who are peers, as opposed to being closer to parent age.  Cyril does what I consider the "market circuit" where he travels along the road from market to market every day.  Cyril sells pots.  About once a week he goes to Sambava to get more pots.  Almost everyone here uses the same metal pots that come in various sizes.  They melt down the metal or old pots and pour it into molds to make the pots.  These pots are sturdy-people cook rice in them 3 times a day then scrub the hell out of them with steel wool or sand to get off the char from the fire.  Anyhow, Cyril asked what pots are like in the U.S. and all I could say was there are lots of types.  So could you help me out and send some photos?  Thanks a bunch!

Reinvigorated

In case you didn't read the last post, I'm relaxing in Tana after a visit from Mom and Meredith.  Tomorrow I'll hop a plane back to Sambava and return to Ambohimanarina, where it's quite possible they'll be surprised to see me.  There were definitely some people that saw our luggage and thought I had packed up to go home.  Today I marked the occasion, possibly my last time in Tana for about 5 more months, by eating a hamburger and some ice cream.  Not bad.

I'll be back in my village cleaning up my house and enjoying my new American things.  I've got new(!) Time magazines to get me a little bit up to speed and a Kindle full of books, plus so many other goodies that I couldn't be more appreciative of!

I've been a bit uninspired with the blog lately, so post a comment or email me if there's something you'd really like to hear about.  For now I'll add a few photos for your enjoyment...

Photo from a bike ride near my village.  There's a small house wherre I would totally live if it was a few thousand miles closer to my family.

Vingt-six family lunch this year.  Yes, I'm huge.  They tell me all the time.

Morning rainbow!  It was a full rainbow but I couldn't capture it all.

Relaxing on the beautiful beach in St. Marie.

Relaxing.

Oh My God! There's WHALES!

Hiking queens.

Check out the cassava.  And yes, I'm so cool.

Waterfront dinner.

Pousse-pousse.

Supermarket in St. Marie.  Yes, we have a few "vazaha" style supermarkets on this island.

Beach breakfast!

Whales!

Is that a rooster or a really tall chicken?  You decide.

Family visit!

My mom and sister, Meredith, took 2 weeks out of their busy life and work schedules and endured ridiculous hours of travel to come visit me here in Madagascar!  Seeing them was indescribably awesome.  We went to Marojejy National Park, spent an afternoon in Ambohimanarina meeting all my friends and Malagasy family, saw the cities of Sambava, Tamatave, and Antananarivo, and relaxed on the beach and saw humpback whales in Ile St. Marie.

The highlights:

• Lemurs in the wild are really awesome.  In Marojejy we saw silky sifakas, white-fronted brown lemurs, and bamboo lemurs.  Pet lemurs, however, are kind of freaky, especially to Meredith.  For some reason we could not grasp, the tourists in St. Marie find them cute and endearing.

At the entrance to Marojejy

• Whales are also really awesome.  We saw humpback whales a stone's throw from our boat, which was awesome but also a little terrifying since they are huge!

• Another awesome thing: hot water.  We had some mishaps trying to control the hot water flow in our various hotels, but it was definitely a luxury to have even a few minutes of hot water.
• Sundays are useless.  I always forget this because Sunday is the day that everyone in the village is around, but in the city almost everything is closed.  Luckily this allowed us to do some laundry, use internet in our hotel and relax a little after hiking for 3 days in Marojejy.
• Food is awesome.  We ate sooo well! 

Marojejy breakfast!

• I can still use a fork.  Just barely.  Here everyone eats with just a spoon, so I found myself struggling a little in the fancy places where they gave you forks and knives and often no spoon.
• I eat a lot of rice.  I didn't quite realize this until I saw the expressions on Mom and Meredith's face when I started serving giant spoonfuls of rice onto their plates.



Cramped car ride.

• I can't take a serious photo.  I don't know what it is, but I can't help myself from making silly faces.

Nothing better than drinking a coconut!

It was super awesome to see my family and also to have a nice vacation.  I was certainly sad to see them go, but it won't be too long before I see them all in America.

Hanging out with both my American and Malagasy family!

Canoe trip in St. Marie

Family time!

Enjoying the beautiful beach

Best car ride ever.

I rode in a VW Beetle last week.

OK, so if you're in America you're probably thinking big deal?  And you're right, it was a fantastically big deal.  It might have been the best car ride I've ever had.  There were seat belts, and a digital read out of the time and outside temperature, and air conditioning vents, and air fresheners clipped to the air freshening vents.  It smelled good.

To put it in perspective, I went to another village about 30 km away for an exhumation celebration (explanation to come in another post).  I went with my Malagasy "mom" and another woman from Ambohimanarina.  We spent over an hour in the morning waiting by the road and flagging down car after car that didn't have room for us.  Finally we caught a brousse and they squeezed me into a spot where 2 people were already occupying 1 person's seat.  I spent about an hour perched awkwardly forward on the seat with the old lady next to me constantly jabbing me with her bony hip (sorry, I know I'm a giant but this is where they told me to sit) and I know one of my travel mates stood the whole ride.

So in the afternoon when all the cars were passing by full mom started to get worried that she needed to get back to her shop.  The VW drove up and mom said, "hafahafa tomobily, fa tsara!" ("It's a weird car, but it's nice!")  She asked the driver of the Beetle if he could take us; and he could fit 2 not 3.  It was quite the opposite of our morning ride.  But somehow I couldn't help but wonder why we couldn't fit all 3 of us, I mean I had an entire seat to myself.

Moving along in year 2

Last month I requested a community meeting to discuss my work for the second year.  I launched right in with the list I helped the community members compile of needs in Ambohimanarina, asking which ones I should focus on.  Great, everyone said.  First, low vanilla prices are killing us, if you could just find someone from abroad to come pay top dollar?  Second, we’d really like electricity.  (Note: I don’t know of any towns within about 20-30 km that have electricity.)  And if we have to pick a third, could you deal with our water problem by getting dams built to flood the rice fields?

Um…

To make a long story short, I realized that I can look forward to another year of trying to explain what the heck Peace Corps is and how I can work in the community.  I’m still searching for the people who want to work with me rather than just collect on the bundles of (imaginary) money my white skin says that I have.  And until I find them I’m trying to start some small things on my own with the hopes that people get curious.  So far I have a new garden and I’ve talked to the carpenter about building bee boxes so I can try beekeeping.  I planted beans in the agroforestry demo, maybe they’ll grow.  I’m trying to re-start a women’s group that sews items to sell at the Marojejy park office (this has been full of obstacles that would require a separate post to explain).  English club is on hold due to the lack of students and I’m hoping that I can use that time to work on environmental education.

Village life continues to roll along and it’s still unclear what the next 9 months have in store.  In my free time I’ll be catching up on American news thanks from the months of May to July, thanks to the Time magazines that my mom sent.  If you have any news to share from those months let me know, and sorry to anyone in Mom’s waiting room who gets stuck with a Parenting or something instead of the Time they wanted.  I’ve also FINALLY finished my embroidery project (a bedspread and pillowcases), so now my friend has upgraded me to a new sewing thing that creates a gathered pattern in the fabric (really hard to explain and I’ve lost my grasp of English, sorry).  And I can say I’m a little bit relieved that if anyone else I know gets pregnant I won’t be around to select baby names or take photos, but I’m glad I’ve still got time to hang out in Ambohimanarina and maybe get a few things done too.

Working in the new garden

Site of my new garden...nothing growing yet

Vanilla's back and smelling awesome!

Sewing success!  Yes, I embroidered that.  I'm told it could pull in a whopping $5 here.

An unexpected birthday present

It’s official—I spent the entire 25^th year of my life in Madagascar.  Last month I celebrated another birthday here.  I’m not going to lie, my birthdays have not been a highlight of my time in Peace Corps for a number of reasons.  The Malagasy don’t really celebrate their birthdays, so this is the second year I’ve spent with my birthday passing like any other day in Ambohimanarina.

This year my birthday fell just after a 3 week absence from my village and the day before a big party for World Environment Day, so leaving the village just wasn’t realistic.  I spent the morning cleaning up my house and yard.  Everyone else was doing the same—they even lined the streets with flowers for the holiday—so I don’t want to look like the chump with no village pride.  By the afternoon I had pretty much forgotten that it was a special day.

Every holiday means a “soma” from the women’s groups, and my adopted group takes this incredibly seriously.  Personally the dances amuse me because they remind me of something you’d perform at your middle school talent show.  But the women take it as seriously as the middle schooler would—people will be talking about your soma for days to come and why risk your reputation with a half-assed soma? So I try to take it somewhat seriously too.  On the night of my birthday we had our final practice for the soma.  My neighbor passed by, saying “I am going, my daughter.”  I took this for what it really meant—come on, you need to learn the soma too—and followed her down the road.

The party, and therefore the soma, was for World Environment Day.  So, our soma was a song celebrating Madagascar’s green environment, its various plants, and Marojejy National Park.  I have to give the women credit, they are very creative with their somas.  For this one we all carried a plant grown here in Madagascar—everything from vanilla to eucalyptus to native “tsararavina.” As we were gathering for practice, half the women were frantically searching for their plant and/or a receptacle to hold it.  So of course it was dark by the time everyone was ready to actually practice.  Someone produced a small light and I handed over my headlamp.  There was a shuffling of the plants and I ended up with cassava.  The cassava they collected was a long stem with 4 or 5 large roots hanging off the bottom—by far the largest and most ridiculous prop.  It was made doubly funny by the fact that the “vazaha” was carrying it, and the thought of a white person eating cassava is hilarious to any Malagasy person.  Here are some stereotypes that you just can’t seem to bust, and I’ve come to realize that a large part of my life here is spent as an entertainer.  Thirteen months of life in Ambohimanarina had prepared me for being the comic centerpiece of the soma.

Before long the singing and dancing was underway.  Here I was, carrying someone’s dinner and dancing with it like an honored partner.  Up ahead, Zanamine (the soy tea seller), dressed in her usual “kisaly” wrap, had my headlamp on and an entire vanilla plant balanced in a bowl on her head (a point of argument later, because everyone should be carrying their plant in their hands for uniformity).  Mama nyFredo, the lead singer, was shining her lamp down the row of plants to direct the song.  In addition to singing, Mama nyFredo takes the dancing part super seriously, and she was hopping around and shaking her booty like her life depended on it.  To add to it all, the group’s president took the opportunity to tease Mama nyFredo.  The pres, in her hot pants, was booty shaking in circles around the singer for an entire verse of the song.  Like I said, I try to take the soma seriously, but all this was too much.  I couldn’t stop laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation until long after rehearsal ended.  I’m pretty sure the women thought I had lost a few marbles, but really I’ve come to a point where I can’t hold the laughter in.  Sometimes the customs here are so foreign that I find them hilarious.

So thanks, ladies of VLF, for putting a smile on my face for my birthday.  I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard.  I don’t think any birthday party can match the truly special (and silly) experiences I’m having in Peace Corps, and until next year, when it’s back to cake, that’s enough.

It's been a while...

Sorry for the long hiatus.  First there was training, then vacation, then I came back and disappeared to the land of no modern communication for a busy couple of weeks.

I went to harvest the SRI rice.  Beating the rice off the stalks put my body out of commision for most of a week.

Madagascar National Parks had a party for World Environment Day which was very well attended, but a slightly stressful day for me so I didn't manage to get too many photos.

The Environment Day parade of women's groups, soccer teams, students.

Madagascar's Independence Day, commonly known as "vingt-six" was on June 26.  It wasn't quite as "miresaka" (noisy) as last year, for a number a of factors.  The vanilla market hasn't started yet so people have less money and we had just had the MNP environment fety.  I enjoyed myself.  There were a variety of "soma"s (song and dance numbers), including performances by kids along with the women's groups, and I spent the rest of the day being stuffed with food from every one of my friends in the village, so for me it was more "miresaka" than last year.

A brother duo dancing their "soma."

One women's groups learned drills with wooden guns.

Some girls doing their "soma," complete with homemade grass skirts.

Family dinner (lunch really) on "vingt-six."

I thought it was funny that this girl's Independence Day shirt was actually an American Independence Day shirt.

I also accidentally managed to teach someone that "Jewish" meant "religious" (why the hell was I teaching the word Jewish to a bunch of people who have never seen a Jewish person, I will never know) and almost fell into my latrine.  I wish I was joking.

The news of late

I’m headed out for a small break from village life.  I’ll get some training from the PC, spend some time in Tana, and get a little breather.  A short update on what’s been going on to hold you over until I’m back…

Our new PCVs arrived safely in the region.  They have all been left to figure out what life is like out here ambanivolo (in the countryside).  It was interesting to reflect on what I was like a year ago and where I’m at right now.  I also celebrated one year at my site!  I fried soanambo (breadfruit) with a friend, while wearing a new dress she sewed for me.  Soanambo is quickly becoming one of my favorite foods and I’ll be sad when it is out of season in the near future.  I finished the day by being invited by to eat at my Malagasy mom’s house.  It felt like I came full-circle, so to speak, because she also fed me dinner on my first night in Ambohimanarina.

Cookstove interest is ramping up.  I just completed a training in Amboangibe, a village 7 km west of mine.  People seem genuinely interested in learning so I’ll be headed to a couple other villages for more trainings in the future.  Building the stoves is becoming like second nature to me, and I hope it helps save a few trees here.

The rice is ripe!  This is excellent news—the price for a cup of rice is less than half of what it was last month.  I harvested rice with my neighbor on a hillside overlooking Ambohimanarina—beautiful!And sweaty.  I’m really sorry I forgot my camera, but the day went well.  I had some flashbacks to fieldwork in Florida, but couldn’t help but smile to myself about the glaring differences in my Malagasy and American life working outdoors—especially when I ended the day carrying a basket of rice on my head.   Unfortunately my agroforestry demo plot rice is looking pretty sad.  However, in the coming weeks the SRI rice will be ready for harvest and I hear it’s looking like it will be a good yield!

I’ve left a few other things to linger in the planning stages while I’m away, and I know the few faithful English club students will be chomping at the bit when I return.  I only wish I was a better instructor.

And now, I’ll finish with a few random side notes on life in Madagascar.

Transportation:  I’ve decided that SAVA is where automobiles come to die.  They make it across the terrible road that connects the paved road to Tana to our region and stay here until they can’t run any longer.  I’ve ridden in permanently hot-wired cars, taxis where the gas is in an old water bottle up front, watched the road passing below me through the floor (when I’m not too crammed in to get a peek).  Then there are the few anomalies when I am able to hitch a ride in someone’s private vehicle.  On this trip to town I caught a ride with a local driver who often transports the local researchers.  I’m pretty sure I’ve never owned a vehicle that nice in America, and couldn’t decide if I found driving fast mildly terrifying because (a) I’m no longer accustomed to it—broken cars can’t handle those speeds, or (b) the roads are so curvy and just big enough for 2 cars, but really probably (c) all of the above.

Food:  I’m still a big fan of the coconut.  My newest coconut adventure: zucchini cooked in coconut water.  Yum!

Newest topics of conversation with Leslie in Ambohimanarina: No, I don’t know what I’m doing when I get back to America.  It will not involve marriage.  My family is very far away, so I am not likely to ask for another 2 years of service despite all the encouragement from my Malagasy friends.

The kids are currently on hiatus from playing with toys at my house.  The house next door finally gave up and fell down, which left lots of old bamboo for constructing ramps.  After the kids returned the cars but left the bamboo ramps and went home, this was not looked upon as a good idea by my other neighbors.  We’ll play again when I return.

Another PC milestone...

I’m in Sambava to welcome two new environment volunteers to my corner of Madagascar.  Having more Americans in the area is exciting.  Ultimately, it means that I’ve been a PCV for a year now.  Thursday will officially mark my one year anniversary in Ambohimanarina.

What does one year of Peace Corps service mean?  It means halfway to the end.  It means 12 months of living in the midst of a foreign culture.  Hundreds of cups of rice and dozens of new foods.A new language.Many new friends and family members.

I also now can enter my second year with some sense of what to expect.  I already know the name of that strange fruit in the market.  On vingt-six I’ll be ready with my new outfit and Malagasy flag hanging in front of my house.  I’ve gotten used to shopping in the market.  The kids have gotten used to visiting to play with my HotWheels.

My life here is one where a neighbor girl runs down the hill with a grapefruit peel hat, a sight as absurd as it is hilarious.  I stop on my walk to take a video of a chameleon slowly crossing the deserted road.  It’s normal to have a conversation about the chicken standing nearby—how it’s beg enough to eat, how you would cook it.  Somehow I don’t think I’ll every quite know what’s coming next.

Fety Be

As a PCV, I’m finding out that there are a lot of holidays out there that I’ve never celebrated before.  A while ago I heard on VOA that I missed out on peanut butter and jelly sandwich day.  Sad, because I’d probably appreciate the holiday more than many of you out there, but not a tragedy since I probably would have needed to bake the bread myself.  The plethora of new holidays is a product of living in a new culture with different traditions and with a habit of extending most holidays well beyond their typical American length (think New Years in March).  I’m also sure my altered lifestyle opens to door to formerly irrelevant holidays.  “Remember how clean you used to be?  International Take a Shower Day is next Friday.”  “Don’t forget Monday is Hug a Subsistence Farmer Day.”  “Celebrate your low latitude on Tropical Fruit Tuesday!”

All jokes aside, I looked back at my calendar for April and it seems like the month was one long holiday.  We started off with a celebration of International Women’s Day.  The regional and commune-level celebrations came first, so in true Malagasy style the village women came together about a month after the real holiday on March 8.  The women took the opportunity to parade through the village in new matching outfits, sing, dance, and of course eat lots of rice and pork.

Next came Easter and Piknik, the Monday after Easter where people head out to the countryside to picnic.  Unlike most holidays where the village fills with people who are generally living and working in the forest, this oneleft the town eerily quiet.

The Sunday after Easter was the local FJKM church’s “fetynybatisse”—aka the one day a year to get your baby baptized.  I unknowingly headed to the service to watch over 100 baptisms and pray for 6 hours.  I’m pretty sure I’ve had enough religion for the rest of my PC service.

I followed up the next Sunday with a celebration I planned for Earth Day.  We discussed the holiday Earth Day, since it’s not one they usually honor here.  Then I taught cookstove building, we ate rice, and watched some environmental films in Malagasy.  A good way to wrap up the month of endless partying.

Me with my adopted women's group.

Our parade through the rain.

Teaching cookstove building on Earth Day.

Completed cookstove!  Big credit to all the villagers who participated without concern of dirtying their fancy outfits.

World Malaria Day

April 25 is World Malaria Day.

Malaria is the number one killer in Africa.

I haven't figured out what I'll be doing this month to raise awareness of malaria, but I'll keep you all updated.

Thanks Mom!

Special thanks to my mom and her friends for sending Hot Wheels. You can only imagine the reaction to toys in a village where almost half the population is 10 years old or younger and they think the best toys come from my trash pit (no lies). So, the gifts are much appreciated and my house has become even more popular with the kids.

Diego

I’m coming to the end of a week of vacation up in Diego-Suarez, a city at the northernmost tip of Madagascar. It’s definitely been a relaxing week. I’ve enjoyed delicious food and drinks, time spent at the beach and poolside, and seeing the sights of the city. It’s really nice to get out and away from my village for a little bit.

Busy streets of Diego.

In the market.

Diego is a really cool city. The city is a pretty popular tourist destination, which means there are a few more white faces around. Though this means it can be pricey for someone living on a Peace Corps salary, it’s also nice to not be called “vazaha” or stared at as much. I’m realizing that I really don’t know much French, while almost every other white person here does. It gets confusing when I don’t know what the waitress said to me in French and my head starts to hurt while I’m trying to decide which language I should respond in. But I’ve also enjoyed a few precious moments where I forget I’m still in Madagascar. I’ve spent an afternoon by the pool reading a book without any children staring at me; I drank a cappuccino.

I baked cookies! It's like America in here.

Cappucino! Am I still in Madagascar?

Luckily there are still the reminders of the pleasantries of my Malagasy life. I sat in a brousse and slurped down a slice of watermelon bought out the window; I strolled through the bustling marketplace. And I’m glad to have every one of these experiences.

Ramena beach, as the fishermen bring in their daily catch.

Out near the Emerald Sea.

Boat ride to Emerald Sea.