The rainy season has begun! Technically speaking it had already begun in November but lately it's actually living up to its name and giving us some water to deal with. This also means dealing with holes in my roof, because, in a sign of true integration with my community, I have mostly just moved things out of the way of the water until now. However, there comes a time in every man's life when he must make a stand and say "No! It is no longer acceptable for me to get wet when I'm trying to sleep!"
The rains also mean "rain days" at school. In the South East US they have "Hurricane Days", in the North there's "Snow Days", the West gets mudslides and El Nino, but here in Madagascar some nice heavy rain is enough to keep all the teachers and students out of the classroom! This is mostly due to the fact that all of the rooms leak to such an extent that anything more than a moderate rainfall causes most of the rooms to flood and become unusable for class. Cue the Alice Cooper and let's see what the photo replay shows...
Here is the view from under the eave of the school. I really wanted to get out there and get shots of the kids running through the puddles which were as much as knee deep in places, but I didn't think my camera would've liked me very much if I did so excuse the long shots!
Around this field is an olympic sized track made of dirt which is great when it isn't raining, but becomes a mud pit in a deluge. I took a page of inspiration from a teacher of mine in high school and since I couldn't teach decided to join the kids in playing in the mud pit. I tucked my valuables into my raincoat and put them in one of the classrooms and took off for the alluring vision you see here!
The kids were cheering me on because it's not an everyday occurrence for them to see a crazy white guy start running laps in the mud in a downpour, especially when that guy is your teacher. As I ran, I found a nice section of really squishy mud with no rocks along the track and made my move. I lined up, ran a little and dove for all I was worth. I arose, about 10-15 feet from my starting position, with mud in places that had not believed in its existence mere moments before. The kids all gathered around and had a go at the mudslide as well and all together it was a great experience!
The rains have also been affecting some other members of the community as well. Namely my intrepid puppy friend Snow! She has taken keen to naps on my porch, and when the rains start, if I am around she likes to hide out there to keep dry.
One day it was falling so hard that even the porch wasn't safe so she tucked herself into a little ball underneath my table. She didn't particularly appreciate the thunder that came with this storm though and showed her displeasure by peeing on my floor. I felt bad for her and kept her company so she wouldn't be as scared.
Here's a little video I took of her as she was curling up. After this I cut the video to give her some back scratching because she was not having any fun with all that booming going on outside!
Of course it doesn't rain all the time, and sometimes she just stops by to say hi, grab a drink of water and maybe even beg for that delicious looking food that I happen to be eating! What a beggar...
Here's a lazy afternoon nap time when Papa came along to sample the delights of my porch to see if they lived up to the hype. I think he approved!
Dogs aren't the only animals we have here in Sadjoavato. We also play host to a menagerie of reptilia like this here chameleon. I saw him crossing the road and went to inspect closer and all of the people near me ran screaming as I approached. As I found out, chameleons are fady (fady = taboo) animals here in Madagascar just like snakes. I don't particularly understand why since neither animal is particularly dangerous - none of the snakes on the island are venomous - and plus these guys look awesome!
I've also been helping to house some other local animal life. The volunteer living nearest me is doing a project with rabbits and needed a place to store them, so we are constructing a rabbit hutch. It's still in assembly stage, but here are a few pictures before I post the finished thing next month... hopefully!
Here's the back side with the proud owner holding it up!
Naturally construction of this sort has made me desire to expand my tool collection and as I found some spare Ariary I've finally been able to acquire the last few major pieces of equipment needed to tackle some of my planned projects. Above we see my hanging tools: rope, tape measure, wire, handsaw, protractor and squares, plane, drill bits, combo pliers, hacksaw, and hammer. Not pictured on my nearby shelf is my drill, wood glue, RS-20 (WD-40 competitor), jars of nails and screws, machete, and screw drivers. As soon as I locate a nearby source of wood I'll post pictures of projects that I complete!
I don't just construct with wood though, I also happen to take a turn creating in the kitchen every now and again too. Here is a red bean and vegetable soup that was absolutely delicious! Red beans, hot peppers, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, green onions, garlic, and a healthy helping of salt, cumin, coriander and ginger. As the Malagasy say "Matsiro be!" ("Very delicious!")
All that food fuel helped power me up to the top of the big hill right near town. I took two panoramic shots and pasted them together to make a 360 degree picture. Sorry about my lack of photo editing, I was feeling lazy when it came time to do the photoshopping and you can still get a good idea of whats going on in the picture!
That's all for this month. I love it more everyday here even with all the little challenges and bumps in the road, but it's hard to resist a place with the beauty and charm of Madagascar.
