Blogs from Madagascar, Africa - page 25

Hey all, Very sorry for the extended absence. I had a little while with nothing very exciting going on, as well as being quite sick for the past few days. Here is a short update on what's been going on. Work has been "interesting," to say the least. I had been working on the website for the Ankoay and Carton Rouge projects and finally finished that up. I did run into a bit of a brick wall however. Working in Madagascar is a very different experience. It's been hard getting used to the relaxed time schedule when it comes to meetings (i.e. being told to show up at a certain time to meet with the boss and sitting there for an hour and a half waiting). Also, Madagascar seems to me to have a bad case ... read more

Antananarivo 16 - 20 June 2008 Bang! I was wrenched from a blissful sleep by a sudden pain in my knee, which had slumped into the aisle and copped the full force of the air hostesses drinks cart. ‘So sorry!’ she exclaimed, blinking a hefty set of eyelashes at me. It could be worse, I thought. I could be working, rather than on a plane to Madagascar for 3 weeks. ‘Its okay,’ I squeaked. I should have known it would be a challenging day when it took two hours to check in at Joburg airport, thanks to a downed computer system. We finally got through after changing check-in counters 8 times, and the plane left more or less on time, but the time we’d hoped to use for breakfast had been swallowed and the aircraft’s light ... read more

What a weekend! Friday night was a great time at Mojo (the popular ex-pat bar). I've started making friends beyond the couple people I knew before coming. I had a great conversation with two guys, Patrick and Warwick (both are 6'6), and people in the bar thought it was the funniest thing they'd seen in a while. Most Malagasys are quite a bit shorter than the three of us. Everyone I've met here has an incredibly interesting story. Many work for AccessBank (a micro finance company), and many others are involved in projects just like mine. It's pretty interesting coming from college where my group of friends is very homogeneous when it comes to age. I've found myself hanging out with kids my age, and married couples in their late 30s. Everyone seems to connect because ... read more

Yesterday was quite the day. I decided that the one thing I wanted to do was to visit the school I attended when I was here. I only went to K-3rd grade, but my memories of the school are as strong as if I had just been there. I walked the two blocks from the house to the American School of Antananarivo, and was immediately overwhelmed. The place had changed so much! Many new buildings had been added (but the place still seemed smaller for some reason), and it wasn't a little five year old me running around, there were new kids...and many new teachers. I found out that only four staff members remained from the old days. The reason for this is that the American teachers spend a few years in Madagascar and then move ... read more

May 8 - 15 Well, the rest of this week (or rather, the last four days as we left BV on the 12th) was also science. Dives during the day, and data entry on the computer at night. And we got everything we needed to do for the expedition done, with a day to spare! I was feeling better for most of this week, but then, on the last day of diving, I was ill again. I dove, but upchucked at the end. Ick. It was a shame too - the dive was fantastic, at a site that doesn't get dove usually because it's too fragile. Well, a bittersweet ending to the diving, but the job got done, and that's the main thing. The other highlight this week was the "Condom Play." As part of ... read more