The End is Near

Well, my trip to Madagascar is all but over.  On Friday, I’ll be going to Sahambavy to stay at the Lac Hotel with Gabe and Maribeth just for a fun ,relaxing mini-trip.  Saturday I’ll be packing and then going to Karaoke night at Soafia one last time.  Sunday, I’m off to Tana where I’ll stay until Wednesday.  I won’t be doing much there but working on my internship report and avoiding going anywhere in the city.

 

The last month has really flown by, and it’s been a good one.   It seems like just in these last weeks friendships have strengthened, little weekend trips have worked out, and I’ve started feeling more like a real resident here.  Sophie and Zoe had me over for dinner on Sunday, and they gave me a set of beautiful hand embroidered sheets for a going away present.  I was so touched…I didn’t expect anything, and I’m really going to miss having them as neighbors.  It’s been so nice to have 2 girls who are my age who I get along with so well living above me.  We’ve had a lot of nice times just hanging out on my porch talking about our days etc, and a lot of nice Sunday lunches together.

 

I’ll also miss Mariette, owner of the Snack.  She just makes people so happy.  She seems to have nothing but goodness in her heart, and whenever she feels that she’s shown any bit of negativity, she prays it away.  I’ve spent a lot of time chatting with her as I come and go, and when I have a weekly lunch at the Snack.  She gets such delight when people leave her restaurant satisfied (which is always!), and is one of the warmest people I’ve yet encountered.  She’s done a lovely job starting a small business in the Old City, and now that the word is out, business is good.  I hope it continues to prosper.

 

Both Gabe and Maribeth have become quite good friends too, although I wish Maribeth lived closer so that I could have hung out with her more often.  While I’ll miss them both a lot, it’s also likely that I’ll see them again in the states, which helps. 

 

And, of course, Karen and the girls.  I don’t really know what I would have done without them here.  I feel like they’ve become my honorary family here.  Honestly, they’ve helped me on a lot of different levels.  As an American living alone (sort of) here, I’ve appreciated all of the meals they’ve fed me, the places they’ve taken me, and the excitement we shared after the election.  As a student, I appreciated all of the career advice I got from Karen, and the sharing of her own professional experiences.  As a woman, I think it has been immensely softening for me to see an example of a very career oriented woman, with vast professional and educational expertise and experience, who is also a mother.  It’s refreshing to see someone who delights in doing it all, rather than complaining, or declaring the injustices of it.  Her daughters are absolutely lovely people, and it has instilled hope in me that having a family can bring much joy.  I feel incredibly lucky to have become friends with these people.

 

Overall, I’m at the point where I’m ready to go.  I’m very excited for my 5 days in Cape Town, and then to get home and see Patrick, my family, my friends, and my felines.  Fun and exciting times are ahead too.  Even though I’ve been on an adventure the last 4 months, I think that moving in with Patrick will be another adventure, if a different kind.  My experience here has been immensely satisfying – I’ve seen and learned a great deal, developed wonderful friendships, and gained some good experience. But, I think it’ll be nice to stay put for awhile (I haven’t changed that much…awhile means like 6 months).  Finish my thesis, graduate, and move onto the next thing.  Don’t quote me on this, but I’m even looking forward to the coziness of winter.  (I will be well over that by about January 5 I’m sure)  I’m looking forward to getting back into my gym/exercies/training routine (and also dropping the 10 lbs I’ve gained here!), and going for walks in the snow with Patrick. 

 

As usual, I’m getting rambly, so I’ll wrap it up.  I’ll be home before I know it,  and this chapter will be closed.  Onto the next one.  I wonder how the book will finish.

 

Incidentally, if anybody knows of anyone in the Portage, MI area who needs clerical help, French translating services, childcare, snow shoveling, odd jobs, waitress/bartenders, or most anything that doesn’t require some sort of certification, please pass the word my way.

A few more pics

 

view from the top of the mountain

 

classic ring tail pic...

 

siesta

Anja Reserve

On Saturday Karen, her youngest daughter, and I went to Anja, a pretty well established ecotourism site about an hour and a half South of Fianar.  The small hike goes through a small forest which is home to 400 (that number seems like a lot to me, but that’s what the guide says) ring-tailed lemurs.  The big hike goes through the same forest, and then up to the top of the mountain behind the forest.  We did the big hike.  I was totally in favor of it, not realizing that the way you get to the top is by walking up the granite rock faces.  Physically, I was fine, but I have to say that I was a bit nervous.   The view from the top was worth it, and I managed to prevent myself from having any embarrassing freak-outs despite the nervousness.

 

call me a wuss...but in my Keens, i was a little freaked out - it stayed like this all the way up the mountain

 

looking down - probably a mistake, although i don't know that the photo really does the slope justice

 

they have their babies in september, so there were quite a few carrying little ones piggyback

 

i named this one dopey

 

coolest grasshopper ever

The internet’s not working for crap, so I’ll post the rest of my pics tomorrow.  Silly rainy season.  Although, actually I rather like the warm rainy season.  Everything’s so much greener, and lots of good fruit has come into season.  I’ll especially miss the mangos!

A failing lemonade stand

A hypothetical:

Let’s just say, that when I get home, I open up a neighborhood lemonade stand.  Hmm…northern hemisphere…how about a hot chocolate stand?  I will make my hot chocolate with inexpensive Sam’s club cocoa powder, sweetened condensed milk, and hot water.  I will sell it for $1.50 per cheap styrofoam cup.  For the sake of argument, let’s say that I’m selling it on a street with a lot of foot traffic, and this little business really takes off.  Feeling quite secure, I leave the hot chocolate receipe as is, and begin using the profit to buy expensive shoes, go to concerts, and finally buy a $30,000 car.  (I guess I’ve sold a lot of HC)  Now, once all of these people walking around in the cold get used to the idea of buying hot chocolate, suddenly another hot chocolate stand appears across the street.  Jill the barista makes her hot chocolate with 2% milk, sugar, and fair-trade Madagascar cacao, and serves it in a recycled, biodegradable paper cup, also offering a $.25 reduction for those who bring their own mug.  Her beverage sells for $2.  I’m not worried – the walkers of Portage, MI are already comfortable with my product – they will stick with what they know.  Also, it’s cheaper.  Jill will be out of business in 2 weeks for selling her élitist, expensive drink.  After a couple of weeks, less people are buying my hot chocolate, and I see them lined up on the other side of the street.  ”This cannot be”, I think to myself.  A once regular customer stops by one day to say hello.  I ask him why he has switched to this foreigner across the street, and he tells me, “Well, Callista.  Jill’s product is just better.  It tastes better and is made of higher quality ingredients.  Even her cups can be thrown into a compost bin and used to fertilize my garden in the spring.  It’s a better product with a smaller environmental impact.  Sure, it’s a little more expensive, but it’s worth it.  I’m sorry.”

“Hmph, I think.”  Phooey on these élitist, disloyal hippies.  I will continue to invest in my inferior product, and wait for everyone to come back around.  Problem is, nobody comes back around.  I begin missing car payments, and toss my credit card bills in the shredder.  Finally in a dire situation, rather than sell my car, or try to adapt my business to consumer demand, I go to my parents and ask for $40,000.  They laugh in my face.  Jill has prevailed.

I’m sorry Detroit.  I know I’m from MI, and that many people I know have family members who have at some point been employed by the Big Three.  The Big Three has probably put many of my friends through college in some way.  But.  The automobiles coming out of Detroit have been seen as the inferior products they are for quite some time now.  Given alternatives that are better for the environment and of higher quality, the public has made their choice.  The Big Three hasn’t sufficiently adapted to customer demand.  While they have offered things like the hybrid Escape, they’ve continued pushing the Yukons and Suburbans, and haven’t offered small, high gas mileage options to anywhere near the extent that their Asian competitors have.  It seems to me that bad business decisions have been made, and I’m not quite sure how that’s the American taxpayers fault.  I’m glad this hasn’t made it to vote yet.

Amazon is Amazing

Maybe it’s being in Madagascar where the postal service is anything but reliable.  Where you have to pay the post office in order to pick up packages, where there isn’t a neighborhood mailman, where things take a month to get across the ocean, where mail often gets lost…

but I think that Amazon shipping is amazing.  I ordered a few Christmas gifts yesterday, and they will be arriving on Patrick’s doorstep today.  And that was the free Super Saver shipping (which it says takes 5-9 days).  As much as I think work and rules are extremely over emphasized in American culture… this is an example of American efficiency at it’s best.  Wow.

The Small Joys

Last night I went over to one of my coworkers house, along with a few of my favorite people from the équipe.  We grilled 3 whole chickens, and had head cheese (I had some, but I don’t really know what it is…), salad, Malagasy rum, and a cake I baked too.  10 of us were eating around their coffee table, and Rivo was in the corner with the electric piano facing us.  He played, and we all sang for a good 2 hours.  Malagasys can sing…can hardly get people together without hearing 3 part harmony.  I sang along with even the Malagasy songs I didn’t know, and Rivo played a whole bunch of American stuff too.  He even played “America the Beautiful” and our national anthem for me.  Towards the end, we started in on Christmas songs, since everyone knew them.  We all joked that the neighbors were probably checking their calendars wondering if a month got skipped.  It was just so wonderful to be surrounded by great people, happily making music together just for the fun of it.  Everyone was making jokes, laughing, singing, and having a high ol’ time.  Laughter and music are about all most of us need…

What to do?

Not Madagascar related, but I am torn about what to do with my hair.  It is too long, and hasn’t been trimmed since April.  When I get home, I will at minimum get it cut a little, but I have another idea too.  I watched the film Chocolat recently, and think that I could pull off Juliette Binoche’s hairstyle from it.  So, here’s a pic of my current (ratty) hair:

something must be done

and now, a few of the lovely Juliette Binoche from the film Chocolat:

 

i wonder if johnny depp will whisper sweet nothings into my ear if i proceed with this haircut?

 

i could wear a headband/scarf on low maintenance days

 

i really think this style might work for my hair type

So…what do you think?

 

 

 

 

And now, the news from Madagascar…

Where the lemurs enthrall, the people are strong, and the toilets are below average.

Driving to Ambalavao a few weeks ago, I saw this sign warning drivers to slow down before a dangerous curve right before a narrow bridge:

 

maybe such a menacing sign should be put up in walker on roads people drive too fast on - dad, time to send another letter to the mayor!

Also, I found an article being passed around via Joseph’s blog about world reactions to the election, and our newfound status as non-idiots.  The article did a good job of summing up my feelings about being abroad as an American, although I’ve certainly not spent as much time out of the states as the author.  Since my adult international experiences began in 2003, I’ve grown accustomed to apologizing for my country, telling people, “No, I don’t understand why we’ve made all of these bad decisions either!”, and in general rolling my eyes when discussions gravitated towards American politics.  I never had to resort to saying I was Canadian, or any other nationality for that matter, but I did often follow admitting American citizenship with an immediate dismissal of our president.  When I was teaching in France, often the first thing people would ask me was, “What do you think about Bush?”.  When I replied that I didn’t support him at all, and that I didn’t vote for him, that usually made me a much more credible person in their eyes.  Now, already, French people around here (even ones I just spoke to briefly on the train) have had nothing to say but words of congratulations and praise about last week Tuesday.  Regardless of what Obama does or does not do, with one nationwide decision, the world has forgiven us our blunders of the last 8 years.  Back home I’m sure that this difference isn’t felt as urgently, but I feel it, and I like it!  People like us again.

Community-based Ecotourism in Andrambovato

 

On Thursday-Friday, after election day euphoria, I took the train to Andrambovato, a village along the FCE, to check out their ecotourism hiking circuit for one of our success stories.  We did quite a long hike, up to the top of a cliff, and back down through the rainforest.  As far as wildlife goes, there were no lemurs, but it was an awesome circuit!  Money to enter the community managed forest is gradually going to help build a new school in the town. 

Looking up at the cliff we wound up on top of 

D

on top of aforementioned cliff – they don’t do swichbacks here…just straight up the mountain!

 

this spider is really neat - the little triangle on his back is supposed to make him look frightening to predators

 

this one was just...huge...

 

also huge

 

big black milipede

 

red and black millipede - like my use of of scientific names...?

 

this chameleon looked just like the leaves he was sitting in

 

well camouflaged frog

 

not as well camouflaged

 

mongoose - normally nocturnal, but awake for some reason

 

outside the borders of the community managed forest, people are still burning...

 

post-tavy

 

rice pounding in the village of andrambovato

Pride and Joy

For the first time in awhile, I am proud of my country.  Now, before you go accusing me of being an unpatriotic anarchist or something, don’t think that means that I hate all that America’s accomplished.  I’m not proud of the direction America’s headed since at least the time I started voting.  I haven’t been proud of the international reputation we’ve acquired, or much of anything that our current administration has done.  

First, a recap of election day festivities:

On Tuesday, I could hardly concentrate on anything, but of course nothing had even begun in America yet for most of the day here.  After work, I headed over to Karen’s to help her bake and cook for the party on Wednesday, and I was pleasantly surprised to catch the election day Diane Rehm show while we were puttering around the kitchen that night.  If anything could make me feel at home and not like I was missing out, it was Diane talking to guests and listeners about their individual voting experiences etc.  We made pesto dip, 3 carrot cakes, 2 chocolate bundt cakes, and a giant vat of chili.  Once that was done, I began work on my Obama tank top, and continued listening to NPR election pregame until about 1:30 AM.  I got up around 5AM, and turned on NPR in time to hear them call Ohio.  Karen, the girls, and I headed to her satellite TV friend’s house with muffins and coffee just in time to see them call the whole election, and then to see both speeches.  I thought McCain’s speech was nothing but elequoent and gracious, and despite some nasty campaining he really took the high road.  It was a shame that his crowd booed everytime he congratulated Obama on anything.  

We watched the footage of Grant Park, eagerly awaiting Obama’s appearance.  During his speech, we all had tears streaming down our faces, along with much of the live audience.  It was moving on so many different levels…  Of course we especially appreciated his address to those of us in “forgotten corners of the world, huddled around radios etc..”.   After the speech and a little more footage, Karen and I went into town, high on the adrenaline to buy supplies for the party.  (because at that point, the party was on for sure!)  I then went to work to set up my computer to download footage of the speech to project onto a big screen at the party (which took about 4 hours, but did actually work!).  I got a notice from the post office that I had a package, and when I picked it up, what did it contain, but an Obama t-shirt from Patrick’s parents (along with some sweet treats)!  How perfectly timed…I also got a card from my parents, so that made it just a little more like Chirstmas day!  After picking up the package (which was SO much easier than I expected… the customs guy didn’t make me open it in front of them, and I only had to pay 11,000Ar, which is nearly half of what people have sometimes paid), Maia, Brendan (a peace corps volunteer who was in town) figured out how to get the video footage working with the projector etc, and we started decorating for the party.  It’s best described with photos I believe:

 

the banner we hung in the garden

 

the voting booth - you had to vote to enter the party - karen photocopied her electronic absentee ballot!

 

the t-shirt that arrived just in time...thank you medlands!

 

my hack embroidery job, started before the t-shirt arrived...

 

carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting (all American food at the party)

 

was it too much to decorate ella the pet tortoise? i think not!

Despite all of the hope about change that Obama brings, and the confidence that I do have in him to govern our nation, from an overseas perspective, it’s not a new president immediately rescuing us from all of our current problems that makes me the happiest.  It’s our global reputation.  At the victory party, there were a few Americans, and many French and Malagasy people.  They were all just as happy as we were.  Rivo received a text message from a friend in France – “On a gagné!  Vive l’amerique!”.   The whole world seems to have been pulling for Obama, and even before he takes office, they already have a different view of America.  Our global respect has already been restored, and to have every French person I’ve encountered since the election offer words of congratulations and excitement has been quite something.  I don’t naively hope that the financial crisis or war in Iraq will disappear with Obama’s inauguration.  Those are incredibly difficult problems that aren’t going away any time soon no matter who’s in charge.  But, I do believe that we can now be part of the world, rather than an independent entity seen as not giving a shit what allied nations have to say.  America has stood up and declared that they are fed up with the way our country has been managed in the last 8 (or even 20) years, and that we want to evolve.  We have declared in one voice, that race is no longer an issue here, and that the hard work of so many black Americans has culminated in breaking the final race barrier.  And all of these things, my friends, makes my eyes brim with tears, and my heart swell with pride.