Tuesday, April 20, 2010


CHHEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!












getting congratulated by the US Ambassador.

TSARA BE!

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.Well my time here in Tana is nearing the end. I will be heading back to my village tomorrow morning...Inshallah...It has been a successful trip. I got forms to fill out to receive funding for my garden project at the CSB. Have to get them finished and submitted. Then I got word of a guy that works with Friends of Madagascar I do believe, and I called him and set it up that I will be receiving soccer jerseys and soccer balls for the teams in my village!! They are going to be sooooo excited!! I manuevered my way around the capital. On my own, never being here before and still struggling with the language, well it's different from the language in my village...not too much but enuf for me to get confused more often than not. I met and hung out with some other PCVs. I met all the Admin from the NGO I'm working with Missouri Botanical Gardens (MBG). My are they an AWESOME bunch of people. It was a great trip. I didn't see everything I wanted to, but I'll wait until I have a companion along with me. I will be heading to Fianar tomorrow morning...9.5hrs by taxi. Spend the night in Fianar hopefully with Mike and Ashley and then head back to Farafangana, another 8hrs from Fianar. So I should be in my village by the weekend. I'm glad I got to talk to those of you that I did. I will be returning back in this area in about 3 weeks to do some more training. So I'll hopefully be able to post more and all that jazz. ANYHOO....luv and miss you all...take care...until next time..VELOMA!!!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

So I have made my first trek from my site to the capital. I was lucky and was able to catch a ride with Peace Corps for the two-day trek instead of having to do it all by taxi, which is gonna be miserable. But we'll wait to talk about that until it happens. On the way here, I took lots of scenic pics somewhere around 200. I'll try to get more up while I'm here, which may be all week, it's uncertain as of today. On the way here, I saw things I hope to never see again and I saw things that made me smile. Let's go ahead and talk about the ones that made me smile. I saw a dog sun bathing with it's front paws crossed. I love seeing dogs cross their front paws. It just makes me smile. As we were going up a hill, there was a man, I would guess around 60yrs old along with a 6yr old child, coming towards us downhill on a wagon. He had this amazingly happy expression on his face I couldn't help big cheese extremely big. As we traveled, I enjoyed the fresh air blowing on my face, even though it got cold as we neared the capital. But by doing this, I experienced smells that brought me back to my time spent in Massachusetts, times spent at festivals and just some other memories. Ahhh how peaceful it is to be able to re-experience such good times in my life half-way across the world.

I am extremely happy in my village. I have had my share of ups and downs. When I'm having a down moment, I try to go for a bike ride or visit with the family that lives near me that has become my family. While on my bike ride, I try to smile and say hello to every person that I pass by. This really helps me get outta my slump. I was heading home after a frustrating day and was going downhill when a little girl was at the bottom yelling, "DONA!" (doonah) which is a fist pound that I do to everyone in my village. They love it and so do I. That made me smile so big.

I miss all you a lot. I will be able to have internet for a little while and have great reception so give me a call, drop me a line....OH right before I left to come to the capital I received my first wave of packages!!!! MOM, JULIE, LAURA T, PATTY, JESS....I got them all and as far as I know they all had their contents in them. However, since I was heading to the capital I sent them back to my village with Kabby. Didn't want to have to bring them to the capital and eat everything so I didn't actually open any of them. But they were all in tact. So yes. They were all sent to the Farafangana address. I have minimized my addresses to the two that have been working the best for us. So yeah. Thanks everyone for your love and support. I luv and miss you all....take care.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

This is a common site of a woman carrying her baby with something on her head.Two of my favorite people in my village.Fiena is one of my best friends.Some of the neighbor kids.A view from me and Kabby's bike ride.7km turned into 14km one way.Me and some volunteer health workders starting the garden at my CSB.




This is me and some friends on my bday at the ocean.This is Kabby's village during the flooding. This is prolly 3-5 feet under water. Normally, this is fields.Next, Milo is one of my counterpart's dogs. She was tired and fell asleep on the shelf. So cute.She helps me keep my sanity sometimes.My house.Me and a little happy girl at my CSB.




I was so excited when i had finally bought my first avocado and then i saw this little girl and i had to hand it over. This is one of the views on the way to Ranomafana.Beautiful.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

misaotra betsaka....thank you very much.

heeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooo...as in the Jerry Seinfeld voice...so i wasn't expecting to have internet today much less type up a blog so it will be short.today is my birthday.yes it is...i'm not one to announce that it's my birthday or that it is even coming up..but it's different here.i've been telling everyone and their mother it's my birthday...i've had such a great week.got about 10 letters that i'm so happy and grateful for..i want to rip them all open and read them now but am going to save most of them for site...i keep forgetting it's easter this weekend...happy easter!!! i am buying a chicken tomorrow and giving it to a family that has become my family to prepare and we will all eat it together.it shall be nice.i'm going to the beach today with some new found friends.Kabby is doing site development for a volunteer that is coming in may.so unfortunately she won't be there but it's ok.she made me a cake on wednesday and man was that way too much sugar.i was off the wall.but it's been great.i wish i could be on this high all the time.i really miss you all and know there are many things i want to write but just can't remember them and it's about time for me to head out into the world of madagascar.i want you all to know that all addresses have came through with some sort of mail.well.letters.but alison has received packages at the first long address with environment in the title.the CSB II address i would just send letters to.but they all go to the post office where i end up picking them up.so it's all good.i luv and miss you all.and thank you so much for keeping me in your thoughts.it means so much and i feel it greatly today.until next time....VELOMA! (goodbye!)