Penultimate Post

I am writing to you from the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo. I am waiting here for the next week to finish my Peace Corps Service. As such, next month's post will be my final one for this blog, so I hope you join me to say farewell then, but for now, let's see what happened over the past month.

First up was a round of goodbyes. Here is a picture from my last day in Sadjoavato. It was a great time and I'm really going to miss some of the wonderful people that I connected with like Alex standing next to me. Thankfully, Alyssa and Joe are still around to keep the work moving along and to keep the residents of Sadjoavato up to their quota of foreign residents.

I also had to say goodbye to some of the four-legged friends I've made too. It was a little more of a one-sided goodbye as I'm pretty sure they had no idea what was happening, but man will I miss Socks here, and Momma dog, Poppa dog, the new kitten Mimette and many others.

With my adieus out of the way I headed to one of my favorite spots in all of Madagascar to get a little fishing in one last time. It was quite a windy trip, and it sure made casting hard, but I still managed to get a few bites. One was a grouper who took me under a rock, and when I told the guy poling the boat that the fish was under a rock, he did the most logical of things and jumped in and got it out!

Here is the result of my reeling and his diving. A nice Yellowfin Grouper. I had a fun time out on the water, but the winds were so strong that we couldn't stay out for very long.

When we got back to shore there were these two fish to show for the effort. The Yellowfin Grouper or Alovo Boom-boom in Malagasy, and an as yet unidentified fish that they told me was called a Katakata. Katakata translates to English as banana, so I'm pretty sure that no one knew the actual name so they just thought they'd have some fun and call it a banana. Not that Boom-boom grouper elicited any fewer laughs, but it did have a consensus behind the name at least!

 One last walk through the mangroves before I headed out from there and I found this cow skull sitting on the beach enjoying the view. Cows are a very big part of the Malagasy culture and the skulls are often used to denote areas that are sacred or important culturally. I don't know if that's why this one was here waiting on the tide to come in, but either way it seemed a fitting symbol of life on this island.

With that break ended it was back to work. I got a chance to train the new group of volunteers that have just arrived in country. It was a very rewarding experience and I know they will do well with their service when they swear in at the end of September. I was in Mantasoa for their training and so I was able to say goodbye to this sweet girl too. Killer's a wonderful companion and she was stuck to my leg like glue the entire time I was there.

More people going home as Tori left a little early to head back to graduate school. Thankfully I was able to be there for her bell ringing ceremony. In Peace Corps Madagascar, the end of your service is marked by a bell ringing ceremony to signify that you are officially done, and I will be in Tori's shoes in just a few short days!

After I waved Tori off, I headed to my final vacation destination in Madagascar, Tamatave. The first night in town we decided to check out the aptly named New York, New York bar and night club. I was quite impressed by the Statue of Liberty knock offs carved by a Ray Charles impersonator.

The city itself was very open with wide streets and even a very long mall running from the beach where I took the picture above.

To the Hotel de Ville pictured behind the fountain. The mall was constantly full of families pic-nicking or playing sports, or just relaxing and enjoying a sunny afternoon. I myself spent quite a bit of time walking up and down the mall as it was a quite pleasant and serene way to get from one end of the city to the other.

 But there is a little bit of a bat problem in Tamatave. This one even attacked me in my room! As I found out Tamatave was quite the place to catch pokemon, and I had a lot of fun running around to the pokestops all over the city too. In the lower right hand side of the picture you can see me name, PokeMpangalatra, which means Pokemon Thief in Malagasy.

I also took a nice long walk on the beach too. Tamatave is the largest port city in Madagascar and you can see it off in the distance in this photo. I spent a nice quiet afternoon at a beach bar drinking a coke and watching the container ships sail in to dock.

There's even a little carnival set up on the beach too. Also pictured in the foreground is a cycle-pousse, the predominant form of taxi in Tamatave. As many cities around the country switch to motorized forms of transport, it is nice to see a place like Tamatave where the muscle powered modes of transportation still dominate. It provides a very distinctive feeling to the city and makes it very inviting and calm.

With the end of that little jaunt in Tamatave I return to Antananarivo to finish what I started over two years ago. I have no idea exactly how I'm going to feel when I'm done, but right now I'm excited to get back home and see my family. I'm anxious for the trip I'm taking on my way back to the US too, but I'm sure it'll go fine. I really just can't wait to have a goal to work for, and hopefully achieve, when I get back, but for now, I'm going to savor my last few days in my home away from home. 

You'll Never Walk Alone

I've been busy running around this past month, so I decided to try something different with my post. I am putting these pictures up in order of the date taken. Most of the time I arrange the pictures to create a narrative or some form of continuity, but I want to see if I can try to put in perspective how I actually went through a month here in Madagascar.

It all started at the CSB (local hospital). I distributed the last of the LuminAIDs that I got to the doctor and nurses to help them with their work.  The hospital in my town is known for quite a ways as being the place to go if you are having a baby. As such there are always people coming to give birth and also get other basic care and checkups from the doctor. I visited with my neighbor at night when his niece tripped while playing soccer and split her lip open. The doctor had to wait five minutes to get batteries for his lamp before he could help her and look at her lip. It was then that I decided they need the lamps. While the CSB in my town is not an ER, if you have no other options, their care can be life saving. If they need to wait five minutes to get a battery, you might be out of luck. The doctor even told me that this could be the difference between saving a life or planning a funeral. I was very glad to help them out and get them the lights that can make their job that much easier.

The doctor insisted that we take an action shot too, so we pulled in the next lady in line and he had the nurses pose for a picture. After I took the picture the doctor and nurses all crowded around my camera to look at the result while the lady was left in the chair with the blood pressure cuff still attached to her arm! I was very happy to be able to provide them with another tool to do their job, and hopefully they will use it with success, even if they leave you sitting in a chair to check out their picture every now and again.

 I've also been helping Alyssa out a bit to get settled and happy in her new home. I told her that I still didn't have a good picture of her in her new house and here was the result. She was cooking beans for lunch on her new gas stove and I was working on some new shelving for her. The shelves took a little while longer than planned, but it was also a teaching project, so now she can build her own after I go if she needs more!

You might recognize this dirty dog. It's Stuffy! I was back in Mantasoa again for a training event and of course Stuffy was there too. He'd been sleeping in the fireplaces to keep warm and as such was covered in ash as you can see. They also got him a collar recently which is a nice touch. The training was nice and much like Stuffy, we were all huddled around the fires all week to keep warm.

Then it was time to get back to Diego and try out the new Carousel! A fun new neon-covered addition to our city, the Carousel is open to children of all ages and also has a churro stand out front. To make the ride even more magical, they started playing I Believe I Can Fly as we were going around. I can honestly say that this was one of the true highlights of my time in the Peace Corps thus far.

Although views like this don't hurt either. This was taken in Ankify, the port city that leads to Nosy Be, where we had our VAC meeting. The hotel we stayed at overlooks the Mozambique Channel and it was a pretty spectacular view if I do say so myself.

I decided to do some fishing in the early morning, and I didn't catch any fish, but I did see some beautiful things, like this boat headed out to the fishing grounds for the day. It almost makes up for the lack of catching anything. 

Same with this view of the sunrise coming over the rest of the island. But not catching anything makes it hard to justify being out for too long. Also, we had a fourth of July party to get to, so I came in from fishing and got into my patriotic get-up.

Head-to-toe America.  Our goal was to come up with the best American themed outfit, so I had a "1776-USA" hat, American flag sunglasses, red white and blue glitter makeup, a red white and blue dress, American flag air freshener necklace, American flag tote bag, American flag Engrish swim trunks and American flag flip-flops. I am happy to report that I won the contest. Still no word on what I won, but that's really beside the point isn't it?

 Here is the group picture from our VAC meeting with us all decked out in our America gear. This was my last VAC and it was lots of fun and a little sad to think I'll be leaving these guys so soon!

And of course no VAC would be complete without the stop at the beach too. We played frisbee and Wiffle-ball at the beach because 2nd goal.

 And of course no 4th of July celebration would be complete without some fireworks too. We launched off a bunch of bottle rockets and had fun running around with sparklers too. Here's Darcy having some fun.

And me having entirely too much fun! It was a great weekend at Ankify, but then it was time to return to site.

Hanging out at Alyssa's house and helping her with her shelf some more got tiring so I decided to take a break and pet the kitty. She laid on my lap for about 10 minutes purring away contentedly when I decided to try and Lion King her. Needless to say, she was not impressed.

Then it was back to shelf time, and I am proud to report that we finished one! Here Alyssa is proudly Vanna White-ing her first new shelf.  Now we just need to finish the second one we started and she'll be on her way to having too much storage space to handle.

Speaking of storage space, I've been freeing mine up. Getting ready to leave in a little while has made me clean out the clutter from my own shelves, and I've found a lot of unused wood scraps and Peace Corps manuals that gave me a great idea. The nights in town are at their coldest and so I decided to have a bonfire for warmth and enjoyment. Also catharsis. Here was the second nights fire blazing away and keeping me warm in the process. 

 Also, the neighbor's new kitten, Mimette, decided to stop by and check out the fire too. She's a tiny little bugger and she meows all the time, but she makes up for it by being unbelievably cute and cuddly. She's taken to exploring my house which is fine by me, because maybe she can help with the rat population.

I finished what will most likely be my last project at site this month too. A new wind chime made from scrap metal and a spare chunk of wood. It turned out really well, and I'm very happy with the sounds that it makes. It hangs on my porch, and will hopefully be there for some time to come.

 Speaking of noise makers, here is the neighbors Vasa Parrot. I've been trying for months to get a picture of this guy, but he is as camera shy as he is loud. I saw him hanging out on their porch the other day and was able to get close enough for a few snapshots by whistling to keep him interested without running away.

But why run away when you have places like this in your own town? One last trip to the grotto was in order as we are out of the rainy season now, and its once again possible to get there. The waterfall was in good form and it was a relaxing short hike.

I hope that you enjoyed my month as it happened to me. It was quite fun and I can't wait for the next month and a half so I can finish out strong and get back home to my family!

Puppies and Kitties and Fishes, Oh My!

So many animal encounters this past month. I traveled around quite a bit, and got to see new places and more of the wonders that are Madagascar. As I'm on the road back home this post will come out for you all to see and you can commiserate with my 24 hours on a bush taxi!

Let's start at the end with this cute little fluff ball. My latest stint at the training center got me a glimpse of Killer and Stuffy's latest kids. They were very skittish around people, so this is about as close of a picture as I could get, but they were super cute! I'll be back in a little while though and hopefully they will be more receptive to petting then.

This little cutie is definitely a snuggler though. Meet Socks. Last month she lacked a name, but Ashley has decided to adopt her and as such gave her a moniker. This is the first meeting of Ashley and her girl. She has to finish weening, but then its off to Ashley's house for good.

I'll miss her for sure! She likes to come over and lay on my lap, and who am I to turn her down?

Also, if you don't pay enough attention to her she barks at you! It's super cute and her whole butt wiggles as she does it. I wish her lots of luck and fun at her new house in Anivorano.

I also made a little detour to Mahajanga on the west coast for a few days before I made it to the training center. My breakfast companion was this beautiful girl. She was very insistent about the head scratching when I was eating. As soon as I finished eating and had time to spend on petting her, she would lay down and look at me from a distance. Crazy cat!

This is a neighbor's addition to my monthly tally of animals. She loves fried bread balls! We were making some on their porch and sitting around having a chat when he decided to show us how much she likes them. He would pull off a small piece and hold it over her until she stood up to try and get it. She was on her hind legs for minutes at a time trying to get the bread, and eventually she realized that all she had to do was claw his hand and the bread dropped! Cute and smart.

As I passed the two years in country mark this month, I also celebrated my birthday. A friend decided to make me a present of a pipe-cleaner fish! It's kind of an angler/parrot fish. Either way I was very pleased with my gift, and I've been carrying it with me for the past couple of days.

Speaking of fish, fish tacos! My most recent culinary expedition came in Diego when I got inspired to do some cooking. Here's the result, lemon pepper fish filets with papaya lime salsa on home-made tortillas with hand squeezed lemonade. A very delicious adventure if I do say so myself.

That's a lot of animals, living or otherwise, so let's get back to school!

 This past month saw the annual sports competition. It was hosted by my school this year which was very exciting. The kids from all the schools in the district came to my town to participate and cheer each other on. Here's a group of kids watching the handball match from a tree to get better views.

The handball match was Sadjoavato, my school in yellow, versus Bobasakoa. We won! The girls were very intense and showed a great drive to win.

Here's a shot on goal from after the half when they switched sides. I sat next to a crazy mom the whole match, and I learned that sports parents exist across the world. She kept shouting strategy and attack hints at them the entire match at the top of her lungs. I was doubly entertained by the girls and the mother!

Then it was back to the classroom. Here are my sixieme (6th grade) students taking a test. I don't have much time left with them, so I wanted to get at least a few pictures of them behaving in their seats!

The same goes for my cinquieme (7th grade) students. At least they have a nicer classroom to work in. I won't really miss the teaching itself, but the kids could be nice to work with from time to time and that will be something to look back on fondly.

After school I was back to working on Alyssa's new house, and here's the finished product. I forgot to get a picture with Alyssa actually in it, but maybe I'll remember this coming month. Still a little bit of work to go, but its all little things like shelving and the like, so welcome to town and hope you enjoy the house Alyssa!

Of course I couldn't stay too long, so here's so more pictures from Mahajanga. The port at low tide when all the boats were resting on the bottom. The fishing fleet was refitting for the flood tide to come so they could get back out to the fishing grounds. I sat and watched them for quite some time as they worked. It was relaxing and interesting to see.

Just a short walk from the port is the boardwalk, Mahajanga's beach side walkway and hangout destination. This is the end of the walk with a cool little lighthouse. It wasn't actually functional at night, but looked neat anyway.

Here's a picture looking over the boardwalk and out to the ocean. I liked walking the boardwalk at night to see all the street vendors and food trucks. I did get to do some fishing here too, but nothing to show for it beyond a few good pictures. Overall it was a very pretty city with great water access, and if I had the time to return I'd definitely try to get out on one of the fishing fleet boats to try my luck.

 Let's end this post with a profile of two of my favorite neighbors, Silvio and Anifa. They were both around 6-8 months when I arrive in Sadjoavato, and now they walk and talk and stare at me to no end. Anifa in particular has taken a liking to me. She enjoys walking up to me and standing on my feet then taking my hands so we can dance! Shortly before I left for Mahajanga she was in my house asking me the name of everything. When she saw a bag of candies I bought as a reward for my students she asked if she could have some. I had to say no so I would have enough for my students, and she ran out of my house! A few minutes later she returned and walked right to the bag on my table and slapped down a few hundred ariary and looked at me. I tried my hardest to contain my laughter as I opened the bag to give her some candies. I also returned the money because anything that precocious deserves a few candies for free!

It'll be hard saying goodbye to all of that in just a little while, but I'm looking forward to getting back to the US too. Look for more next month as I wrap up my last little bits of work and start getting ready to take a little international vacation before returning to the States!