So I'm going to start with today because it is fresh. Literally it is fresh! This morning I had breakfast with the fam, including malformed banana bread that I made yesterday after school with my friends. Our Director actually has an oven that he has let us use on occaison. Surprise for the family! and delicious! It was interesting trying to get all the ingredients together and improvise a bit. So far the goodies that have been made include carrot cake, grilled cheese, and cookies. I think the carrot cake and banana bread turned out the best.

So I had breakfast this morning and then went running on the beach (Sarah, Breanna, Julia, and Lauren). Then we went for a quick swim. I love swimming out past where the waves break to just chill. Plus getting out there is a bit of work. I returned home to a locked house....Quick change of plans and walked to the doctor's office to chat about health here. I'm doing a nine week observation project on public health and sanitation.

But you have to imagine all of this with a backdrop of a BEAUTIFUL DAY! I don't really know how to describe. Maybe I'm finally falling in love with the culture? People selling peanuts and bananas, women washing clothes, sweeping the house and their little front stoop, women carrying really large loads of anything balanced on their heads, men making bricks and hauling wood boards that they probably cut themselves, children playing soccer with strofoam, twine balls. Not only that but I have to say, i'm really proud of myself about the whole interview thing. I called the doctor yesterday, set up the appointment, walked there (without getting lost), and then had the interview. All in French! Yea! I've found i'm not really using a lot of my strengths here (econ, math, micro-type science) but I'm trying to embrace this as am opportunity to improve on things i find difficult (like directions, languages...) Besides, i don't want to work in a lab.

So to backtrack a few days: We went on a 4-day trip to Berenty Private Reserve to do a comparative habitat and behavior study on two species of lemurs (malagasy names maki and sifaka). I like the sifaka better. We stayed in 'bungalows' for four days that were nicer than out homes here in Fort Dauphin. Real flushing toilets and a shower! It was nice to be pampered for a few days and the food was delicious. After the studies we came back and did oral presentations with our field groups and then wrote up papers (again, in French...).

It was really neat and great to get the field experience, but honestly I still like plants better. The highlight of la sortie for me was the last night there. We went on a night walk to attempt to see two species of nocturnal lemurs (a mouselemur and a lepilemur). We sort of saw the lemurs, but on the way back we had to walk along a long dirt road. There was arboroeuse savanna to the left, spiny forest to the right, and wide, starlit sky above. I was so filled with joy thatI flipped on my headlamp and ran the whole way back. It was great!

I've also realised that a part of me really wants to return home-- that working/living in Wyoming has become a home for me. That I need to really be able to receive God's love before I can share that with other people. I guess really all this means is that, although I will probably journey outside of the US in life (and maybe even for most of it??), I need to return to my spiritual home for awhile before I do that. I don't know if that makes sense...but there has been some sort of breakthrough in my mind. All that being said...I really DO like it here and am enjoying my time!

Latest food breakthroughs: mofokondro (literally bread-banana) are AMAZING. it's basically just a fried banana but it rocks my socks. Also bonbon koko...sugar + coconut. yum! By body has been craving sugar and fat like no other recently. What else is really good? There's lots of rice... and the fried eggplant is pretty decent. Citrus Fanta is delic, but being discontinued. Someone should petition against that.

We're leaving tomorrow for a week-long village stay in Faux-Cap. I'm nervous but also excited. I guess I am mostly nervous about the general lack of communication there will be. But we'll see! For a part of our time we will have some of the CEL students with us to help translate...so I"m hoping to be able to ask some health related questions, maybe go and see the traditional healer. Learn about some plants??

I guess that's all for now. I've gotta walk home, get some lunch, wash clothes, etc. I'm going lamba shopping this afternoon with Sarah and a girl who lives in her house who's hilarious. (She always is laughing about some inside joke with herself...) A lamba is just a brightly colored piece of cloth that can be worn in many of different ways.

I would like to talk about the health issues that I've learned about here, but maybe I'll save that for the next post. Gotta run,

Peace and Love, Em

so i spent a long time typing a blog update and now it's all gone!

2-17-08
School is going pretty well. SOme of the lectures are difficult, but others are okay. VEry dependent upon the speaker and the time of day (French in the morning!!) On weekends and sometimes after school I swim at the beach, hang out at a cafe, or play beach soccer. I gave my 'little bro' a frisbee the other day. he really loves it, but is also really bad. I guess i shouldn't expect much from a 4-5 yr old. At first he was pretty shy, but now he's really bold around me. Yesterday he got me to draw cars and a motorcycle for him. He really loves MOTO's.

I've been to church twice now. I don't understand any of it as it's all in Malagasy, but I do recognize a couple of the tunes. I'm learning how to read and sing along, even if I can only recognize a couple words-- Jeso; Ra ny Christy; mofo. My family goes to a Catholic church, I think. They know that I am protestant, so my cousin picks me up at 5:30am and we walk. I'm pretty sure it's early to avoid the heat. People dress nicely and cram in shoulder to shoulder on small wooden benches. There's a lot of music, which most people just know. My cousin has a small taped hymn book that we share. After the sermon pretty much everyone is required to put money in the offering. We get up in rows and walk around behind the alter and put money in a basket. There are many baskets of different colors. My cousin always instructs me to put my money in the purple basket, but I'm not sure why. Last sunday I took communion. I was a little worried about the sanitation issue, fearing a communal cup. Lord protect me! However, when I got up there each of us got a small cup that the wine was poured into.

Many times when I get back from school I hang out with a couple cousins and help them learn English. I think they have a pretty decent vocabulaire, but their pronunciation is horrible. It's a struggle to understand, but I want to help. Learning English is a way out. People who speak English can get better jobs, and those that are most proficient can get jobs as translators.

So other than classes, we've also taken an overnight trip to Andohahela Parc National. Due to a mountain range (Anoosyenne??) there is a dramatic rain shadow effect. Pretty cool to have distinct zones in such a small area-- foret humide, transitional, et seche. Rain forest all the way to spiny desert. We split up in groups with the CEL students (Centre Ecologie a Libanona) and did an inventory on a 10m x 10m plot of transitional fourre. Talk about amazing sic wicked cool plants!! Madagascar has a whole family to itself-- Dideracea. Crazy Euphorbes, Malvaceae, and Cucurbitaceae that you can't recognize. It was pretty difficult to communicate with the Malagasy students as French is also their second language. Even if our inventory was less than perfect due to communication difficulties it was still worthwhile and really fun! That night I also saw a tenrec on the way back to my tent. DOn't know what kind as it was dark, but still really cool! I guess I'd imagined that they would move differently. That night we also danced to American and Malagasy music. Ghost Busters theme, EVERYBODY DANCE NOW, all the music here is pretty upbeat.

The next day we went on a short guided tour, followed by swimming in a natural piscine. (Mom, fresh water's okay as long as it's not stagnant where a certain type of snail can live... ie i'm okay) Pretty decent sized waterfall into a pretty decent sized lake. I got to jump off a tree, swim, sit under a waterfall, climb up a small cliff, jump off a small cliff, etc. It felt like home! It was also cool to hang out with the Malagasy students, encourage them to jump-- Alefa!

What else? Madagascar smells different-- charcoal, outhouses, frying food, fish, soap-- warm, think smells. Can humidity effect smells? I do all my laundry by hand. We were taught in Manatantaley by several women who laughed at our ineptitude. Honestly it's something that I enjoy-- soap that's different but perfect, my own green plastic bucket and orange plastic cup. Small pleasures. If I weren't in Madagascar I would also have some strange dreams worthy of mention... Je pense que c'est tout.

Tomorrow we;re going on a day trip to QMM, a mining companny with local projects that are rather controversial. BUt maybe I can say more afterwards....

Update 2-21-08:
I got sick and could not go on the day trip...diarrhea. But I got a debrief from a friend. Basically QMM spent the whole day being politicians towards us students. Later I found out that the same company has mining project all over the globe and is going through some international law suits right now. DOn't have time for details, but if you're interested, I'm sure you could look them up online.

I'ts been raining alot (and windy!!) due to hurricane Ivan. Tana (Antananarivo) is being flooded! We're leaving tomorrow for a 4 day trip to Berenty. I hope it doesn't rain the whole time. Lemurs, yea! So far I've only seen one in my friend's backyard in a cage...

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to combine plant research with public health for my ISP. (Independent Study Project). I love plants...now I want to see how I can help people with that love.

much love, em

post one

Salama! So much has happened already... what do i say? The travel was exhausting but the people have been extrememly nice and welcoming. I spent a few days at a small village, Manatantaley, where we began learning Malagasy et some local danse. We also took a hike with a local forestry emp[loyee. (I've officially hiking in a tropical rain forest!!) We saw our first chameleons== one about a foot long. Most of us also had run in with some leeches. They were [pretty small and thankfully are not dangerous medically, just rather strange to feel and experieince.

We made a few friends with the local villagers== exchanging the few Malagasy words that we knew. They also got a good laugh watching us learn to dance and sing Malagasy at the same time. Our next adventure was going to market with a little money to buy food for a dinner. My partner and I bought a live chicken for 4,000 Ar (less than 2$)

Now I am in FOrt Dauphin, a larger city in the south. THe town in surrounded by the Indian Ocean and mountains. I"ve never seen mountains so close to the sea before! It's absolutely beautiful! I walk about 30 min to school every day, part of which includes a crossing a small beach where fishermen park there dug out canoes. We've heard talks in French about local NGOs, the history of the city, and various conservation issues, etc. We've also had French and Malagasy classes as well.

My homestay father works for a local radio station, and my homestay mother stays at home. They have one child, Alain. Kind of strange as most \Malagasy families have many children. They are very friendly, welcoming, and patient with my French. (only the father speaks French). Their home is small, clean, and modest. Kenny (the dad) loves country music! and knows more about country musiciennes that me! We spent some time this morning listening to and talking about American music== Nickelback, Kelly CLarkson, Cat Stevens, Black Eyed Peas... comme ca. So ironic! I was surprised, but apparently there are a lot of Christians in Madagascar. \Kenny is Catholic and his wife (i forgt\et her name) is protestant. We pray together before we eat (althugh I don't understnad any of it). I only wish I'd brought some music with me to give to the family! Ce marche bien!

We've been eating alot of rice usually with beans or some sort of sauce with cooked vegetables. There have also been alot of cucumbers and carrots (prepared safely and in the unique malagache way). Breakfast is baguettes or la riz rouge avec le miel... a different riz with honey or sugar. There's also plenty of tea, coffe, and rice water. Meat is mostly fish or shrimp with the occaisional zebu. Zebu is the traditional cow== owning a herd of zebu is money in the bank. It's your prize possession. ANyway they are cows with significant horns and a fatty hump just after their neck. The zebu is on most of the currency. Desert is fruit.

Welll...that's all for now I need to get back home for dinner and maybe a bucket shower. The peple are awesome and all goes well. I haven't even gotten majorly sick! Grace, peace. and love...