Thailand!!!

Hello my friends and family. I don’t even know if anyone reads this still but Thailand was great! It is a beautiful country with such friendly, welcoming people. We spent the first few days in Bangkok where we went to markets, MALLS, and did some shopping. Great fun for Seland (enter sarcasm), but he was a great sport about it. We ate plenty of great food including much Thai, Arabic, Indian, sushi and even a burger or two. Geoff arrived an hour early from Australia and we surprised him with a birthday cake and song. We took the train the next evening to our next destination…Chiang Mai in northwestern Thailand. It was a great ride. We had bought tickets for sleeper cars in 2^nd class and it was great. We arrived in the morning and found a sweet hotel and went out to explore. Chiang Mai is a beautiful, laid back chill big town. It was a great substitution for Bangkok which has 13 million people and Chiang Mai 175,000. We rode around in tuk-tuks which are motorized bikes with some seats in the back, like a pedicab but motorized. We saw the sunset on the roof of our hotel, went on a bike tour of the surrounding area for an afternoon, stopped by some temples, went to an elephant farm where we rode elephants and saw them perform a great show, took a bamboo raft ride down a river, and hung out with tigers. Chiang Mai is also known for their Saturday and Sunday Walking Street Market. This was just around the corner from our hotel and it went on for blocks and blocks. Just little stands of clothes and little trinkets. It was an amazing experience. We had great weather almost the entire time. We met some very kind souls along the way. I was very surprised how much Thai people spoke English. We didn’t have a problem at all for not speaking the language whatsoever. We spent about a week in Chiang Mai and I’m really glad we got to spend all that time there, such a great place. We headed back by train to Bangkok to get Seland to his flight back home. We stayed at a different hotel in a completely different area of Bangkok and it was great. The vibe was great, lots of things to do and see. After Seland left, we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us around to see some of the temples. It was our lucky day! The government was giving drivers gas that day or something strange and so we hired a driver for $1 each to just take us around all day. We saw the Lucky Buddha, the Standing Buddha, the Sitting Buddha, and one of the most moving things that has happened to me, we saw a Monk receive his colors. We were also lucky because normally on any other given day, tourists are not allowed inside the temples or to take pictures, but on this day, we were allowed. So at one of the temples a man was dedicating his life to become a monk and we were there to witness the ceremony. It was absolutely beautiful and moving and I’m so glad I was able to be there for it. We then finished up our day of touring around Bangkok with a canoe ride that went by more temples, a floating market and just through some of the more neighborhoody areas. It was an amazing trip. It went by way too fast. I would recommend visiting Thailand at least once in your life if you get the chance. I would love to go back and spend more time there sometime in the future.

I am now back in the capital where tomorrow, 40 soon to be new Peace Corps Volunteers will arrive and get ready for their swear-in ceremony on Tuesday. I do miss my village and am excited to get back and play with the kids. I also received funding to start a world map project in the school and can’t wait to get the kids to help with that. I hope all is well with everyone back home and you will be enjoying some nice warm weather soon. Take care and sending love!

i'll stand by you.

HELLO!!!!! I am reporting from Fianar, MADAGASCAR!!! We made some pretty strong coffee this morning and I am feeling it. I am on my way to the capital to take care of business!! I’m heading to Bangkok, Thailand on Friday and couldn’t be more excited. Two other PCVs, Jules and Esther, will be joining me. We will be greeted by my dear friend Seland at the airport as he arrives 6 hrs before us. On April 19^th, Julie’s friend will be joining us from Australia. We’ve been reading a Thailand guidebook so we have an idea of what we want to do and see. One of the things I’m looking forward to is going to the Peace Corps Thailand Office. I’m excited to see their office and meet some of the staff if they’re available. I also hope we are able to visit with some current PCVs. Esther has a friend who is currently a PCV and we hope she can join us for a portion of our trip.

Things have been really great at site. I have been really happy to be here. I have still been working with Nutrimad, weighing babies and talking about nutrition and family planning. I have also started going into the school and helping to teach English once a week. At first I was dreading this, but it has been a lot of fun and I’ve really enjoyed working with the students.

There are a group of new Volunteers that are getting sworn-in the beginning of May and will be installed near me. The closest one is about 15miles north of me. Alison and I were asked to go visit the village and check on the status of the house. It hadn’t been started 2 months ago and installation is vastly approaching. Catching a taxi to that village is kind of hard because drivers would rather take you another 15miles to the city so sometimes they won’t pick you up if you’re just going a little ways. So we decided to bike it. We left at 6am thinking it would take us quite a few hours to make it to the new village, have a meeting with the appropriate people, visit the house and continue on our way to the city. All in all, it took us under 4hrs to bike 35miles up and down hills the majority of the way and have a quick stop to check on the house, which the frame was up! I had a conversation with another PCV the day before and thought “This is when you know you’re a Peace Corps Volunteer.”

Me: So we decided to bike to Farafangana tomorrow.

PCV: That’s cool. How far is it?

Me: About 35 miles up and down hill. Not too bad.

PCV: Yeah that’s not bad.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m thinking 35miles up and down hill isn’t bad?! I love that.

I recently celebrated my birthday in my village. Thank you to all who sent love and thought of me. I had a great day. I went to visit Alison and she made me sushi….DELICIOUS!!!! She pays this woman to wash her laundry for her and she stopped by and asked me if I was Alison’s mother?! Am I really getting that old? Later that day I got my hair re-braided and I asked a little girl how old she thought I was and she responded with 100! It was a funny day.

2011 marks Peace Corps’ 50^th anniversary so we are in the process of planning a big party in our banking town for mid-May. It will be an afternoon event with speeches, information booths, a raffle and some games to name some of what may be happening. We’re all excited about that. And yeah, that’s about all I can think of for the time being. I hope all is well back home and know that I love and miss you all dearly. Take care!

pics!!

group pic at our mid-service conference.

me and alison made sushi!!

kids coloring.they thank you for the books and crayons!

near my site.

the kids made a fort.i told them they needed a roof to keep the rain out.creative kids.

PITA!

CYCLONE

Today is February 16, 2011. I am waiting for my taxi to take me to Fianarantsoa. This will take me two days. Not two full days but just long enough that we can’t take it all in one days travel. In Peace Corps Madagascar we are not allowed to travel at night. There are many reasons why this is a rule. There are thieves out on the roads at night, the taxi drivers drive like there’s no tomorrow and a number of other things could happen. So we are waiting for our taxi to take off and I can’t get our tri-annual Volunteer Reporting Form to open so I thought I’d jot down a blog. Things have been good. There is a cyclone that is currently hitting parts of Madagascar. Bingiza is its name. We've had a lot of rain and wind....scary rain and wind. My house has thus far been leak free which is a huge relief.

I know it’s been quiet on my end but that’s ok, no news is good news. I started working with an Organization called Nutrimad. I go with 1 or 2 other people into the villages surrounding mine and give talks on nutrition. I tend to throw in talks about anything and everything as well, hygiene, prevention of diseases, family planning, etc. After this talk, we then weigh babies one by one. Life would be easier if it was just a regular scale that we’re used to but it’s not. It’s one of those that hang from a branch or a board and a “diaper” type thing is hanging at the bottom. We put the children in this and then mark down there weight. Easy enough right? Wrong. These children, ages ranging anywhere from 3 months- 5 years, are sometimes terrified. Sometimes it’s because “there’s a crazy white person trying to strangle me” or sometimes it has nothing to do with me, they just don’t want to do it. So there is a lot of screaming and crying and yelling and whining but then there’s the few in the group that willingly climb in the shorts and have fun swinging. They always make me laugh. I’ve went to my now favorite village, Rorobe (rooroobay). It is one of the most beautiful places I think I have ever seen. There are always little gazebos that we do all the weighing and talks in and this one was right on the beach. The view was spectacular, amazing, wonderful, all those fabulous words. My breath was literally taken away by the beauty.

I wrote down some things at my site that I wanted to post on here. One of them included putting on a pair of new socks on. WOW!! I forgot how wonderful this is! My foot has gotten infected…again so I cleaned it, wrapped it, and covered it with a FANTASTICALLY feeling new sock. Nice! Also, being a Peace Corps Volunteer in a country where fashion basically does not exist I tend to put on anything that is clean or rather doesn’t smell too bad. Not that I had any sense of fashion in the States but the other day I was walking when I realized what I was wearing. I had on a black and gray horizontally striped tank top with a blue and white polka-dotted skirt, a scarf with orange flowers wrapped around my head, socks and clogs. I just giggled at the thought of what I was wearing. I also started this new thing where I taught the kids in the village to say “Silly Goose.” I ask them, who am I? (in Malagasy) and they respond with “Silly Goose!” It’s so cute and makes me laugh. Also two of my biggest fears while at site have to do with my kabone or outhouse. I have always had the fear of falling in the hole and not being rescued for awhile. During the night here, I may have explained this already, it is taboo to go outside. So I have to use a little bucket if I get the urge to use the restroom. In the morning I make the trek to my outhouse to dump it in my hole and clean it out. The trek there is about 50 feet or so and the ground is quite slippery after it rains. And so, my other fear is slipping and falling dumping all the contents of my bucket all over me. Scary. Hopefully neither of these happen.

Ok so I made it to Fianar. That was a journey. The road outside of Farafangana was started to flood. It took us awhile longer but we got across. Then the road was pretty good the whole way with the occasional landslide here and there but the road had already been cleared. We had to wait for a few hours at one point with 5 or 6 other taxis because the road was impassable. When we took off to brave the road, we came to a point where the road was completely covered by the overflowing, moving river. There were a couple groups that had started up a little business. They would push the taxi with no one in them across for a small price. Unfortunately, ehem enter sarcasim, I got out of walking because my foot by this time was pretty infected and swollen. I didn’t want to risk it getting worse so I comfortably rode in the taxi while all other passengers waded through mid-thigh deep water while a group of men pushed the taxi. There were a couple sections of the road where it was covered by water that was about 1 mile long in total. This was all about 30 miles or so from Fianar. We did make it. It was a huge sigh of relief to know that we were in a Peace Corps house now instead of stranded somewhere along the way, which we would have been completely fine it’s just easier because we now have internet and can cook delicious meals. Like last night for example, we made homemade pizza. So delicious. And today, we’re making a big salad for lunch and tacos for supper. Unfortunately some of the other volunteers down near Farafangana are stuck. There is a Peace Corps car with the head person of the Health sector in Farafangana but the road is completely washed out, concrete slabs washed away, about 3miles north of Fara and again 6 miles north of there. Where we were wading through water yesterday, there is no water on the road. So Alison and I are so thankful to be here. We may be here for an extra few days depending on the road condition. But things are great for me lately and I love hearing from everyone from home. I hope all is well. Love you and miss you all.

pics.

a family meal.


drive from mahajanga to tana.

oh the way from mahajanga to tana.

emarld sea.

a really dirty street in mahajanga.

the view of a market in diego from above.


hugging one of madagascar's oldest baobab tree.



new years eve.

emerald isle.

on the way to emerald isle.

a hotel in diego.

lemurs!

Christmas tacos with friends.

some scenery.

onward and upward.

So our training at the good ol' Mantasoa was good. I did get my first illness where I couldn't keep any food down for a few days, but am feeling completely back to normal by now. Besides that, our training went well. It was great to see everyone and catch up after 9 months! After our training we were back in the capital for a few days. On Sunday, my old Country Director from Guinea and his wife had a potluck/bbq at their house for all RPCVs and PCVs. It was really great to see them and catch up. And their dog, PITA, has gotten so big and fluffy. He reminds me of my parent's dog, Samson. We left the capital today, me, Alison, Brian and Ralf. We are in our Regional Capital, Fianarantsoa and are taking the train to our banking town on Thursday. I'm excited for that. Enuf room to get up and walk around rather than being stuffed in a seat way too small for any person taller than 5'5" to sit in.Not much more to report. I'll try to get some pictures up while I'm here. After we leave here I won't have good internet until mid-April.

Which brings me to another point. I booked my ticket to Thailand! Me and 2 other Volunteers are going over Easter for 2 weeks! We leave April 15th and fly back on April 30th. It's a 8.5hr flight so not too shabby. One of the girl's parents sent her the Lonely Planet Thailand book and we were reading thru it at our training and I absolutely cannot wait! I wish it were next week. But I'm not ready yet. I'll be back in my village and hopefully the beans and corn that we planted before I left are sprouting nicely. However, there has been talk about how late the rains are. They were supposed to start in November and have barely been falling. So this could cause a huge problem in the project but I guess I'll find out soon.

But yeah not much else new in this girl's life. I won't be able to skype until mid-April again but add me if you haven't. I think my full name is my first and last name. Otherwise my username is my first and last name backwards without a space. I luv you all and thank you so much for all your letters and packages. They all mean the world to me. I am very grateful for all the luv and support I get from all my friends and family. It helps me get thru the tough times. Sending much luv your way! LUV YOU ALL!!!!

Happy holidays and happy trails.

Back in the capital again. Man has the last couple weeks been great. Me and Julie and Esther went up to visit Diego, north Madagascar. It was a long journey but well worth it. I didn't feel like I was in the same country. Became jealous of the volunteers that live around there but am happy we took vacation up there. We hung out with another volunteer that lives there and she was a great hostess....Dorothy what what!!! But we spent a little over a week up there. Went swimming in a fabulous pool with a marvelous lunch to go with it. Saw lemurs while on a walk. Met some guys from Tanzania on vacation that treated us to a few fancy meals and beverages. It was overall one of the best times I've had yet here in country. Oh saw my first Baobabs!!!! Didn't get a picture because my battery was dead but it'll be in my mind FOR-EVER!!!! We celebrated Christmas at the volunteer house in Diego by making homemad TACOS!!!! Yeah it was delicious. We had a really relaxing day and it was great and much deserved.

After a little over a week there we started the trek to Mahajanga. This is Northwest of the capital. It was HOT there. Oh my!!! I think I may have gotten heat exhaustion after a couple days. But nothing rest and relaxation couldn't cure. There was a huge baobab tree there and it was so beautiful and amazing. That's the word I've been using the most to describe my trip....amazing....it was nothing short of it! But yeah. We then made the trek down to Tana to prepare ourselves for our Mid-service conference. Whoohoooo. Yeah it's another week of training at Mantasoa. All us volunteers that were transferred from Niger will be together. It shall be a week of chaos and hopefully volleyball and chilliness. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrr!!! I am never prepared for the coldness of Mantasoa. But I'll deal. It was great to be able to skype with the few of you that I was able to. So lovely to hear your voices and see some of you! But anyhoo. I hope all is well and Happy Holidays to you all! Hope they were full of luv and happiness and good food. LUV YOU ALL!!!!!