My apologies for the length of this blog! (It is 9 pages single spaced in word. . .)
Tuesday 9/27 – And We’re Off! (Again)
I had my meeting with the professor! She was incredibly nice and spoke English pretty well. I had some difficulty finding her at first, but we managed. Turns out that she is a plant biologist and she was at UMass Amherst for 5 years, on a scholarship. She has also been back to the US 4 or 5 times. While there, I asked her about the science program at the university. Students choose to go into either chemistry, biology, or moth/physics. For the first 2 years, they take classes together and then choose their specialty within the department. For bio, there were 6 or 7. Right now, student can only take classes in their major, but apparently that is going to change. According to her, assuming that the government gets its act together, the university is going to switch to an American system and all students will be able to take classes in any department (so a physics major could take an anthropology class or something along those lines).
Today we drove to Tsiroamandidy in the Bongolava region. For breakfast this morning, my host mom made pancakes again. She and the kids really, really like them. My host dad drove me to SIT because I had a suitcase to bring with me. The drive down was nice (no one in my van so much as felt sick and I don’t think anyone in the other van threw up, although I know that some people weren’t feeling too well). This ride had significantly less twists and turns than the ride to/from Vatomandry. On the way, we stopped for a picnic lunch. We had pineapple, oranges, bananas, bread, cheese, rice, vegetables, and chicken (what is with the Malagasy and bringing chicken for picnics?)
After we settled into the hotel we had a chance to roam around. My friend Michelle and I decided to walk to the outskirts of town. It was significantly less busy and nice to get away from the hustle and bustle. We decided to take a bicycle pousse-pousse back. When we asked the price, we were told 6000. When we asked if that was in ariary or francs, we were told ariary (6000 ar = $3). That is really expensive for here, which we told the rider and started to walk away. Then he shouted after us that it was 6000 francs (6000 francs = 1200 ariary = 60 cents) which we took. The ride back was nice and scenic.
In the afternoon, we all went to the office of SAF-FJKM, the organization that helped organize our visit and our homestay families. We met 4 of the 5 staff members, who told us about the organization and what they do. While there, I tried tamarind juice, which was surprisingly delicious (it also probably helped that it was cold and I was pretty hot, so it was nice and refreshing). Then we went to visit the pastor of the church (all 21 of us in his office made for very close quarters. Thankfully we were only in there for under 10 minutes). Finally, we went into the church to see it, and were happily greeted by a group of people. We then had an hour and a half free before dinner at the welcoming center of SAF-FJKM. I walked around the market for a few minutes, but most of the vendors were cleaning up and putting away their goods. Then I came back to the hotel for a little while to rest. The girls (16) were all sharing 2 bathrooms while the boys (5) have 2 to themselves. This could be interesting! We’ll have to wait and see.
Thursday 9/29 – Welcome to the Village!
Yesterday we stayed in Tsiroamandidy. In the morning, we were woken up by church bells at around 5:00. Then the city started to come to life and we could hear the sounds of vendors setting up their stalls and of chickens and dogs running around. After breakfast (absolutely delicious rice soup) we had a chance to go check out the cattle market. It wasn’t as exciting as I would’ve expected. There were trucks full of tied up zebu with people standing on top who would occasionally kick them (it was actually pretty sad). Apparently it costs about 3-4 million ariary ($1500-2000) to buy one. On our way back to the SAF-FJKM office where we were meeting, we passed the stadium. Basically, there was a basketball court, soccer field, and carved out bleachers. We also passed the hospital – it was blue and the biggest building we saw in town.
After all reconvening, we split into 2 groups to go on courtesy visits. There were 8 people in my group (there were supposed to be 10, I don’t know what happened). First we went to talk with the mayor of a nearby rural commune. He talked to us about his job and his life. Then we went to talk to the chef du district. This time it was a woman, the first woman to be in this position in town. She talked to us about what she did (she said “my job isn’t hard, but it isn’t too easy”) and about her education. At university, she studied philosophy. We had a long conversation with her about how you can mix philosophy and religion (she is married to a pastor).
After lunch, I spent time studying Malagasy with some other students in preparation for the village stay. In the afternoon, we went to visit the CECAM office, a microfinance organization. I was at the far end of the room and could barely hear the speaker so that was sort of boring. Then we had a meeting about the logistics of the village stay before dinner. After dinner, Michelle and I studied some more before I showered and went to bed.
This morning, we were again woken up by church bells at 5. After breakfast, we headed outside with our luggage to wait for the taxi-brousses which were going to take us to our villages. The first one showed up and was a truck with an open back. 8 students went on this taxi-brousse. We were expecting something similar and were surprised when a van, like the taxi-bes in Tana, pulled up. 12 of us loaded up all of our stuff and took off. I was the fifth person to be dropped off. I was greeted at first by my host aunt who speaks French. Then I met my mom and siblings. They are 14 (Mendrika), 8 (Kanto), 6 (Mahefa), and 8 months old (Rotsy), so I again have younger siblings which is nice. The oldest, a girl, speaks a little bit of French so that is nice.
All of the village kids wanted to crowd around me. They are cute, but it was awkward to just be standing in the middle of all of them. I have a room in my house and a bed made of straw (with a sheet over it) but I’ll have to hang a mosquito net. After a while, they asked if I wanted some noodles. They were good, it almost tasted like they had been mixed with pesto. As I am writing this, people are leaning against me and looking over my shoulder (note: I wrote this journal by hand and typed it up later), but I know that they can’t understand what I am writing. It is a really strange feeling.
For lunch, we had rice with broth/potatoes. The broth had dried fish in it, and I could only barely bring myself to eat the potatoes which tasted pretty fishy. In the afternoon, I went to the river with my host sister, her 16 year old friend (who speaks French!), and her 8 year old cousin (at least I think she is her cousin. . .)
To get to the river we had to walk down the road and then through some fields, but it was worth it. It was really, really pretty. There were all these big rocks to climb on and I found one in the shade that almost felt like it was carved just for me, it was so comfortable. I would love to go back there to read.
Before eating, I was asked to help cut potatoes. I have yet to be asked to help prepare anything while in Madagascar so that was exciting. Before being asked to help, my host mom handed me her cell phone. She wanted me to watch a music video in English. So random! While dinner was cooking, we went to the school down the road. At first my host sister and some of her friends danced for me and then a lot more people showed up. I thought they were going to play a game (one man seemed to be explaining something), but then they ended u p doing some sort of improvisation. It was apparently funny before they were laughing a lot, but I couldn’t understand anything so who knows.
Dinner was rice and fried potatoes (not exactly French fries, but almost). After dinner I showered. The showed is up against the kitchen (so that is one wall) and there are 2 and a half other walls. My host mother hung up a blanket on the wall facing everyone and thankfully no one walked on the other 2 sides. We went to bed at 7:30. Around 9 I woke up really hot and my eyes hurt. I rearranged the mosquito net (they actually had one for me) which solved the first problem, but I think that I am slightly allergic to the bed.
Friday 9/30 – Hanging Around the Village
This morning I got up at 5:30 (although I had been awake before that). Right away when my host siblings heard me moving around they all came into my room. Breakfast was rice again (notice a theme?) and these dried shrimp things (at least that is what I think they were). I could barely handle the smell, so I didn’t try any, because I don’t’ think I could’ve stomached them. After breakfast, I went down to the fields with my host siblings (not the baby though of course). I basically sat there braiding plants while the kids played around and ate chives, onions, and apple-like things (needless to say, Madame Bakoly was there to check in. Apparently Roland and Rivo are going to stop by tomorrow morning (I’ll be the 2nd stop).
Before lunch, my host sister and I hung out in my room. I did Sudoku while she used one of my English-Malagasy dictionaries to write down vocabulary words in English. It was super peaceful and much better than sitting outside with a lot of people staring at me.
After lunch, a lot of people came into my room. Someone would say a word in French and then I would translate it into English and someone else would give the word in Malagasy. During this time I also showed them my camera, because people randomly started asking me about pictures. After this, I went with a bunch of kids over to the school where I taught them to throw a Frisbee. A large group broke off to play soccer while I continued throwing the Frisbee with a few of the teenagers. Then I watched kids play a game that I can only describe as being like tic-tac-toe, but with a twist.
Before dinner, I went with my host sister, the 16 year old from yesterday, and another girl who is always around (I would guess that she is about 10 years old) to get water. We walked down a hillside to a river type thing. There was a corner carved into the hill where water collected in a basin before going into the stream through a pipe. They washed their arms and legs before getting water from the pipe. All 3 carried their water back to the village on their heads. I don’t know how they weren’t dead by the time we made it up the hill, because I was feeling it and I didn’t even have water on my head. To balance the bucket, they take a shirt which h they roll up. They then take this roll and wrap it around their hand, so that it is a spiral. This goes on their head, followed by the bucket. It is crazy to watch. I wonder how long it took them to develop this skill, because I know that I’d be awful at it.
Before dinner, I showered, but the shower is progressing. Now there is a wooden platform to stand on, instead of an empty rice bag, and there were blankets hanging on all 3 walls (of course, I’m taller than the average Malagasy person, so I had to hunch over). Then it was dinnertime. We had meat! I think it was some sort of sausage (no idea what type of meat), but I’m not totally sure because it was hard to see (the sun sets before dinner and we eat using a propane lamp which was made using an old light bulb. Pretty cool!) Before bed I did some Sudoku while my mom and sister watched. I tried to explain it using Malagasy and gestures, but I have no idea if I made any sense!
Saturday 10/1 – Raw Peanuts are Gross
I woke up around 5:15 this morning, but my siblings didn’t realize that I was awake until just before 6 – the free 45 minutes were nice and relaxing (to be alone is considered undesirable in Malagasy culture). After breakfast (rice with meat [again! They told us to expect just rice for breakfast]) I decided to work on some homework: a family tree going back 4 generations (to great grandparents). At first it was super hard to convey what I wanted to my host sister, but then my dad shoed up, who speaks some French, and set me on the right track. After that, my aunt, who also speaks some French, showed up and I was set. I ended up letting my sister write all of the names (some were super long and confusing) but it was finished.
After this we had to kill time until Roland and Rivo came (I had been told yesterday to stick around this morning because they would be coming). While we were sitting around (me and a group of girls), a group of boys came back with bugs (everyone here likes to play with them). When Roland arrived, all of the little kids flocked to hear us speaking in English. We ended up going in the house (me, Roland, Rivo, 2 SAF-FJKM people, my mom, and my aunt) to talk. He first thanked them in Malagasy and explained what the program was about and why I was in the rural homestay. Then he checked in with me about how things were going. I told him about what I had done so far and about my health (I was a little sick yesterday but took some medicine and am feeling great now). He was happy to hear that I am getting along with my sister so well (it is definitely making my village stay a lot better).
After Roland left, my aunt commented on how well he speaks Malagasy, and was super surprised when I told her that he was married to a Malagasy woman. Then I went to sit in the kitchen with a bunch of people. People slowly left until I was the only one there, so I left. When my mom came back, she grabbed me and gave me a knife to cut carrots (I got to help again! So exciting!)
After lunch, a bunch of people came in and we did more vocabulary for a long time. Afterwards, we moved outside and talked. It was mostly 1 man asking me questions in Malagasy which 2 others than translated into French for me. We talked about salaries and ages. Apparently most people get married between the ages of 13 and 17 and start having kids right away. There was a 25 year old there who was pregnant with her 6th child (the oldest is 8). It was during this conversation that I learned that the girl from yesterday (whose name I now know to be Lova) who went to get water with us, is actually 10. I guessed right! I also learned that my host mom is 29 (but she looks so young!)
After this conversation, I went with Mendrika and Lova to “manasa lamba” = do the laundry. I don’t know why Lova came, she didn’t do her family’s laundry, but I did notice that my sister did all of my and her parent’s laundry while she did the kids’ laundry. To get to the river, we walked down a hill, then up a hill, then down that hill. I t was so pretty! To do the laundry, they put water in a bucket, then add powdered detergent. They soak the clothes for a little while, before rinsing them off. They then get down to scrub. They rub soap on the piece of clothing, then scrub it vigorously. It was incredibly effective. They then leave the clothes on rocks to dry. After all of the clothes were washed, they swam/washed themselves for awhile while I saw with my feet in the water and washed my sandals (they were really dirty!)
When we got back home, I did a little more vocab with Mendrika, then was left alone for a while (I think they realized that I don’t mind if I am left alone!) Vola, my host mom, came in at one point to offer me what I thought was a peanut. She took it out of a shell like a peanut, but it was really white and kind of tasted like grass. Maybe it was a peanut and I just wasn’t used to it because it wasn’t roasted. There is really no way for me to ask to find out.
Before dinner I showered. Today’s addition to the shower: a ladder type thing, laid on the ground, so that I cam walk out of the shower without walking through the mud I just made. Dinner was rice and roasted peanuts (so the thing before was a raw peanut – pretty gross compared to the roasted ones [note: this was written in 2 different sittings]). I guess that is to make up for the meat I had (but hey, at least it was more protein, something I thought I’d be lacking during this homestay, which thankfully didn’t end up being the case).
Sunday 10/2 – Technology and Long Walks
Last night while I was in bed, I could hear my parents talking. The topic of conversation? September 11th and Barack Obama. No idea why these topics came up or what was said about them, but that is what they were talking about before sleeping. This morning I was up by 5:15, but my siblings slept in. They were silent until 6! Breakfast was vary soa-soa and meat, but the meat was hard and tasted like burnt bacon, but I know that it must have been zebu. After breakfast was another vocabulary lesson. We stayed in the kitchen until my mom did something to the fire which made my eyes hurt, although everyone else was fine.
When we went outside I became the village photographer. Random people would ask me to take their picture and then I’d show it to them on the camera screen. At the time I thought we were supposed to go to church (at least it was the time when they had told Roland we’d be going), my mom grabbed my arm to take me upstairs. A bunch of people followed and then someone asked for my SD card. Turns out that we have a gas-run generator and a TV, so they plugged the SD card into a DVD player and we looked at the pictures on the TV. Then we watched some music videos off of a DVD (my family is definitely the richest [or one of the richest] in the village).
I watched some people play cards before lunch. The game was sort of like rummy, but there were some differences. Lunch was rice and lentils (Rivo explained to them yesterday how to cook them, because they had no idea what they even were) and then it was time to hang out. I let my siblings use my camera, so I have some pretty adorable pictures that they took. Then I got sort of bored when I was alone so I started making origami flowers. When my sister came back, she liked them so I taught her how to make them. During this time a few teenage boys came in and one made an origami box.
After our origami fest, I went with Mendrika and Lova to the next village over, about 3 km away. We went to buy potatoes and green beans. After that excursion we went to watch a soccer game. The teams surprisingly had matching jerseys and one team had matching shorts. During the game was the first time I felt really overwhelmed. I had been standing with my sister, but then a few people got between us. I was sort of tired so I decided to go sit next to the 8-year-old I’d gone to the river with on the first day. After a few minutes, all of the kids came and stood around me at once. I couldn’t see the game any more, only a wall of kids a few feet away in all directions. Thankfully the game ended soon after and I got to go back and hang out with Mendrika and Lova. During the game, I again noticed how popular my mom is. When she says something, everyone stops to listen and if she takes me away from a potentially overbearing situation (she’s done that a few times) no one dares to follow her besides my sister, Vola, and a few other villagers that I’ve come to know (and obviously none of them overwhelm me).
Instead of having a ladder to get out of the shower, today there was a log to use for walking out. Dinner was rice, fried potatoes, and the leftover lentils, which were better the 2nd time around I thought.
Monday 6/3 – Lots of Sitting Around and Sudoku
I went to bed late last night! I didn’t go to bed until 8! (How pathetic is it that here, 8 is late?) I got up at 5:15, but my siblings didn’t get up until 6:15, when my mom came up and yelled at them to get up because the rice was getting cold (mangatsika ny vary!) She got embarrassed about yelling when she saw that I was up and just sitting there doing Sudoku. Breakfast was rice with that same meat again, but now I’m thinking that its actually smoked. The meat had been hanging above the stove and because they use fire to cook, a lot of smoke is generated.
Today we went to do laundry again. This time it was me, Mendrika, and her aunt, who is always around (she tried to talk to me all the time, but I very rarely have any clue what she’s asking so I just smile and nod. She sort of gets of my nerves sometimes). We went to a different place along the river this time; it was close to where we went on the first day. After about 2 hours, Kanto and his friends showed up, but before that, my aunt asked me about (in order) Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, and Michael Jackson. Once the boys showed up, we all washed our feet, and my aunt gave my sandals a much needed good scrubbing.
When we finally got back (more than 3 hours later) it was time for lunch. Like we have had before, we had rice with carrots, green beans (a woman came this morning just to sell the bean to my mom), and potatoes. After lunch we did some more origami (I taught my mom how to make the flowers). After a while, it was just me, Mendrika, Lova, and the 8-year-old from the first day. I gave them all a Werthers to try and I think that 2 of them liked them (the 3rd gave a weird, mixed reaction).
A few more kids came in and started playing cards (with my cards no less) but didn’t invite me to play, which was sort of awkward. A weird thing that happened during this time is that Rotsy (who had been napping) woke up and another person there, who has a 4 month old, tried to nurse her. Rotsy wanted nothing to do with it, but it was sort of weird to watch.
After this I saw my mom really work for the first time. She was sifting rice (to get rid of rocks?) Then someone showed interest in Sudoku. Somehow (although I really don’t know how) I managed to explain how to play and I started a Sudoku craze (literally). A ton of people would work on one at once (at one point I counted 7!) When I finally went back upstairs, I found Solofo (24, who speaks French) and his wife Sisy (16) (who are an adorable couple expecting their first baby) working on one, so I joined in to help. The village is getting pretty good at Sudoku (at least the easy ones).
Because of all of the Sudoku, I didn’t start my showed until later than normal, so my siblings and dad were already eating. I ended up having a nice candle-lit dinner with just my mom. Before my sister keft I had asked what something was and she said “trondro kely, petits poisons” (little fish). Later on, my mom, who basically speaks no french, says “tsara, ny petits garcons” which was something I never thought I’d hear anyone say (=good/tasty, the little boys). I corrected her, but she didn’t actually know the meaning of what she had said. I still can’t believe that she’s 29 though! At one point today she had on a dress and baseball cap and literally looked about 15. Its crazy!
Tuesday 10/4 – The Last Full Day. What? Sad!
Last night when my mom came in to set up my mosquito net, she spotted my chapstick on the bedside table. She asked (in French!) what it was and then coyly put some on. Super cute! When everyone was in bed I could hear my parents and sister practicing my full name - “Rachel Elizabeth Osofsky” – but with an adorable Malagasy accent.
This morning I woke up at 4:45 to my parents going out. Around 4:50, Rotsy started making noise so that was it for sleep. For breakfast, we had rice with what you could probably call peanut butter. It was pulverized, roasted peanuts, with a little water and sugar. While eating breakfast, I was sitting sort of cross-legged, but with one foot up and my siblings were amused, so then I did it with both feet up. Kanto was the only one who came even close to be able to do it, and it took him a long time and he could barely hold it for even a second. After breakfast, my mom cut up meat for lunch, but there was a part with a big bone across the back so what did she do? She overturned the little bench and used an axe (the one they use to chop dead wood). Super amusing to see her reacting to my reaction.
After that I hung out in the kitchen with Mendrika, Lova, Solofo, and Sisy. Solofy translated everything for me/them, so conversation was actually possible. After a while we got my cards and when I shuffled they were super amused. Malagasy people shuffle cards differently and had never seen anyone do it my way, so of course they all had to try (no one came even close). We played cards until lunch. While talking I pulled out my chapstick and my mom saw it and put some on, so of course Sisy, Mendrika, and Lova all did too, but then Vola couldn’t figure out how to close it. She was trying to twist the top on.
After lunch I hung out for about half an hour and then my aunt invited me to her house to eat corn. I was still full from lunch so I ate as much as I could but had a lot left over. After I watched people playing cards for a while before I went to play with my sister. After that we went fishing. It was me, Mendrika, Lova, my aunt, Kanto, and 2 of Kanto’s friends. It was in nasty water, but they actually caught a fish. When we got home Mendrika prepared it.
Before dinner I showered (today I had a big rock to step on to avoid the mud). Dinner was rice, leftover beans, the fish (I didn’t have any), and sausage (but they gave it all to me for some reason, even though I only ate about a third of it). I can’t believe I leave tomorrow! I am going to miss everyone a lot. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am seriously considering coming back here for my ISP.
Wednesday –Friday 10/5-7
Last night I could again hear my parents and sister talking in bed. This time they were going over “jack, queen, king, ace, clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.” We had talked about that while playing cards and apparently they decided to practice. This morning Kanto watched me pack and started to cry (but he tried to hide it) which killed me. After breakfast, I thought I had about 2 and a half hours left (I was told the day before, by Madame Bakoly, that they’d be coming around 9:30 to get me) so we started playing cards and then around 8:15 someone pulled up on a motorcycle and asked if my bags were ready because the van was almost there. I barely had a chance to say goodbye to people!
When we got back to the hotel we all talked for a long time with eachother. There were 2 students who left their homestays early. One left on Saturday after her host father sat her down and basically told her that because she was now a part of the family, she had to help him become rich, or otherwise he would be the laughing stock of the village. She ended up getting really sick that afternoon after leaving anyways so it was good that she left. The other one was handed a letter on Monday night asking for money so that her family wouldn’t be poor and she was picked up on Tuesday morning (families are specifically told not to ask for money).
It sounded like I had one of the best times in the village, which I think had a lot to do with my family and how small my village was compared to the others, which allowed me to really get to know some people. It also helped that I had a few people who could translate conversations for me so that I could actually talk with people with whom I had no real common language. Today was the birthday of a girl on the program, so Roland bought her 2 cakes which we had with lunch after singing to her.
Before lunch we had a debriefing session with Roland, but he had to relay some bad news to us: one of the girls on the program, who had returned to Tana instead of going to her village because of back problems, had decided to go back to the US. She saw 3 different doctors in Tana and no one could figure out what was wrong. We weren’t able to say goodbye to her (she was flying out the day before we returned) so that was pretty sad. That afternoon Roland and Rivo left to go see her the next morning and we had the whole afternoon/night to ourselves.
The next morning our drivers helped us pack up the vans (they came back to Tsiroamandidy on Wednesday) and then Madame Bakoly saw us off. We were headed to Ampefy! When we got there it was gorgeous. The hotel was located on Lake Anosy and they had done a ton to make it beautiful. We hung around until lunch, which was huge! There were a ton of whole tilapias (probably 1 per every 1.5 people), rice, curried beans, French fries, cucumber salad and salsa. And then we all got dessert too! I had a crepe with ice cream in it which was delicious.
After lunch I hung out with 4 other people for a long time before Roland and Rivo arrived, and then about 12 of us sat with Roland in my room (there were 4 of us staying in the room) and he told us about seeing off the girl who had left. When we thought everyone was back we went to place orders for dinner and then had another group debriefing session. We started outside but it was ridiculously cold and windy so after about half an hour we decided to move back into our room for another hour or so. After that was dinner time. We got pizza! It was delicious! And then we also got dessert again. That night we were all really tired and went straight to bed.
Friday morning we had breakfast and then headed back to Tana, where we had lunch at the SIT center. After going to a cyber café and hanging around for a while, I headed back to my host family’s house, but they weren’t there, only their new maid, who seems really nice, but doesn’t totally understand that I understand some Malagasy, but definitely not even close to all. My family finally got back around 6 (all of the kids started school while I was gone) and so of course I had to put all of my pictures on the computer to show to them. After dinner I showered and went straight to bed because I was really tired and had a little fever (100.6, not too bad). I slept like a log for about 10 hours straight and woke up feeling much better and with no fever any more.
Unfortunately though, come Saturday afternoon, the fever was back (this time 101) and I wasn’t feeling all that well. I talked to Roland and decided to start taking Cipro. I basically was in bed from about 2 pm on Saturday to 7:30 am on Sunday, both reading and sleeping, but I woke up feeling so much better on Sunday morning after having taken 2 doses of Cipro. My family was worried because I didn’t have dinner with them on Saturday night, but I explained that when I’m sick, I often don’t want to eat that much and would rather just rest (of course, I did have a granola bar in my room because I was a little hungry, but I really wasn’t feeling like going to dinner).
Don’t worry though because I really do feel a lot better now and the fever is gone (hopefully for good) and I have my appetite back! The only bad thing is that I didn’t think to put down my mosquito net until about 8 last night and when I turned on the light this morning, I realized how bad of a mistake that was because I have a few nasty bug bites (for some reason, I am allergic to the mosquitoes here and the bites get way bigger than normal) but it isn’t anything that I can’t deal with (and I have been using anti-itch cream which helps!).
Thankfully Sunday I felt a lot better! My family was worried I hadn’t eaten but I explained that I don’t like to eat a lot when sick and they understood. In the afternoon Hannah and I went on a walk setting out in some random direction, figuring we could always take a taxi back if we got lost. Well, we didn’t, we just don’t know how in the world we ended up at café de la gare, where we had chocolate mousse and cold, fresh squeezed juice and then chatted with another girl from the program who was already there. For dessert last night we had mangos! We all got out own and a knife and it was amazing!
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