A Busy/Lazy Weekend

Saturday 10/22

Saturday morning I got up around 8 to have breakfast and then hung around for a while. Both of my older siblings were gone so I just read a lot. A little before lunch time Joelle got back and it was time to prepare lunch. We ended up eating a little late and then had to rush to go. Joelle was meeting in town with one of the students from my program to talk about environmental issues, and I was going in with her to introduce them. We waited for Miangaly and Raida (Zack’s niece) to come back and then the 4 of us left. We got on the taxi-be and then Fabien got on after us. He had fallen while skateboarding and his hand was bloody.

When we got off the taxi-be we walked to the Alliance Française. The girls went into the library and I introduced Joelle to the student and they went across the street to talk. I checked some different things on the internet before the girls came outside. I took them across the street and then went back to my computer, but then soon realized that they were probably being really annoying while they were trying to talk, so I went across and got them so that they could play with photobooth on my computer. They loved it, so now I have a ton of adorable pictures on my computer.

After they were done talking we all went to get icecream and then headed back home. We were all pretty tired (no one had slept well the night before) so we helped prepare dinner and then called it a night.

Sunday morning I got up and had breakfast and then waited around until Joelle was ready to cook. We prepared a picnic lunch together! We made 3 different tortes (sort of. . .) The dough was made by literally just mixing flour and oil and then we made a sauce with tomatoes, onions, and a mixture of boiled milk, sugar, water, and cheese. On top of the sauce we put on more cheese and zucchini, and then on one we put fish and on the other we put chicken. On the fish one we put on a top layer of dough and glazed it in egg wash so it would brown. We also made a strawberry tart and packed everything up to go to the beach.

The program had organized the afternoon at the beach so when we got there we found a lot of people already there eating with their host families. We sat down to join them before going in the water. It was really fun to go in with so many people who all were comfortable with one another (all of the Malagasy people were more or else accustomed to us being vazaha so they just played with us like it was no big deal). I saw a lot with Miangaly, who would come up behind me and just jump on me. It was fun. We hung out a lot on the beach and swam a lot and then people started leaving. My family decided to stay to watch the sunset so we stuck around and were the last ones to leave by a long period of time. Before sunset I swam again with just my mom and Miangaly and then we got out to watch the sunset. I was sitting on the beach farther down from my family and a Malagasy boy came up to talk to me. He was 13 and wanting to practice French so I talked with him, but I could never hear what he said on the first try and so I had to constantly ask him to repeat himself.

That night we walked back home in the dark and then prepared dinner, but it turned out that the huge fish we made was bad, so dinner ended up being bread and cheese.

Monday morning was a normal class day, starting with languages and then we had someone come talk to us about the economy in Mahajanga. After lunch, rather than being free, we had a session on ISP, and then we were free for 2 hours. I went to the internet café and then headed over to the port where we had our next session. We got to go on one of the boats there and see a lot of different things. Then Cara and I went back to my house to talk with my parents about the education system. We ended up talking for a while, until about 8, and then Joelle and I walked her home. When we got there Cara’s dad invited us to eat dinner with them, which we declined, but then insisted that we stay to eat mangos, so we did. Then we went home to actually eat dinner, but it wasn’t ready until about 9:30 because Fabien didn’t start cooking until we left with Cara. I was really tired so I showered and fell asleep right away.

On Monday afternoon, I received some good news! Roland had heard back from Madame Bakoly and my family in the villages is excited to have me back! But according to the other girl who is going back to the villages, Roland said that there is no internet in Tsiroanomandidy, so if that is the case, I may be sort of cut off from communication for most of the month of November. But I will have my phone (and ideally will be getting another SIM card so that I will always have service) so phone is always an option! I will post my numbers (I will have 2 assuming I do get another sim) before I leave incase anyone wants to call/people can give me their numbers if they would like me to call (I think that it is a lot cheaper for me to call, although I know that skype credit can make it a lot easier to call from the US).