Hey guys,
Just another quick update on the happenings in Madagascar. Things have beenreally good still. I mean, there are a few things Iwish for in terms ofpersonal comfort. For example, I wish I had some more of my own privacy (toplay guitar...) and hm...another biggie is showering. I wish I had some hotwater to shower in. I’m pretty dirty. I take a shower almost everyday but it’sFREEZING cold so I barely have time to really scrub. I would do anything for abathtub. A warm, bubbly bathtub. My feet are perpetually dirty because I'malways in sandals, but that doesn't bother me as much as being body bodydirty, you know? I can't believe that in Colorado I was always too lazy totake daily showers. I don't care how annoying it is to take my clothes off! Iwant a Colorado shower now!I've also become an expert squatter. I mean the peeing kind. NO toilets inMadagascar have toilet seats. It could be worse (not toilets, just holes,which I'll experience soon enough outside the city), but because of this Inever sit on the seat and instead squat for extended periods of time. Myquads...
Today is Monday. On Friday our class got on the Tata (big mini bus) and drove5-6 hours to Andasibe. There's a national park there and it's known for allits Lemurs, especially the Indri, the largest of all the lemur species in theworld. They're pretty frickin' cool. Oh, but wait, on the way there we stoppedby a "farm". There they took us on a short hike into the forrest and gave usbananas and after a while 10-12 lemurs (incluyding the sifaka) came out andnearly toppled us over for the food. They were leaping from the trees onto ourback and fighting each other for the food, it was somewhat chaotic andsurprising. After several lemurs had jumped on my back I started feeling likethere were little things crawling ALL OVER my body and, sure enough, therewere little things crawling all over my body. I grabbed one and it looked alltoo similar to a teeny weeny transparent TICK. (Ahhhh Vanee!) I was a littledisenchanted by the furry lemurs and wanted to soak in Windex. Istarted picking them off and after about two hours I think I got them all. Idon't think they were ticks because they moved too quickly but...I don't know,maybe I'll find out one of these days.
At the farm they also had tons and tons of reptiles. I was in paradise! I hadchameleons all over me and got to hold a boa and a leaf tailed lizard and thesmallest chameleon in the world and so much more! There weren't any rulesabout not touching the animals. In fact, our guide would pick them out oftheir enclosures and force us to handle them. Of course, he didn't have toforce me. I'll try to post pics as soon as possible. So that was a highlight.
We eventually got to Andasibe, a little village on the east of Madagascar,though not on the coast. It was a relief to go to a place where everyonewasn't begging for money, like in Tana. We were still the spectacle of themonth and kids were following us around, but it's only because we are Vazahand not bc we're rich.In our group, we paired off and had to go around the village and askquestions. I found a chameleon early on and put it on my head. I didn't knowit would get such a reaction! Everyone was scared of the chameleon! Not onlywere we Vazah, but we were carrying a chameleon! I thought at first that maybea chameleon was "fady", but I really just think they have never interactedwith them even though they're absolutely everywhere!The next morning we got up early and saw the Indri and heard their hauntingcries...It wasn't really haunting. If I may, I'd say they sounded more likeAmelie-type orgasms. I got them on voice recorder.After that we headed back to Tana and got home around 5-6pm. We have 3 days inthe city and then on Thursday we're off again to Fianarantsoa (sp?) wherewe'll be sent of to different villages with a French-Malagasy interpreter. IfI'm desperate for a good shower now, I can't wait to see how I am after those10 days! Woohoo...On Sunday I accompanied my host mom to her church. It was all in Malgache butI recognized some of the songs and I especially liked one in Malgache fromPsalm 43, the last verse or two. A young girl with an excellent voice sang it.I'm going to have to ask about it to learn it or something. Then, at 2pm I metup with Rachael and Josh (2 other Christians with SIT) and we went to aMalgache church we were invited to by some missionaries. Everything but thesermon was in Malagasy, but almost all the songs we recognized (like "HowGreat Thou Art" 4 times its normal speed). This church was a lot morecharismatic than the one I went to earlier that day, it was fun! Then Josh andI joined the pastor that spoke (from South Africa) and his wife for tea andthen we all went to a missionaries praise and worship night, the same one wewent to last week. This time there were fewer people (due to weather), whichwas actually nice because we were able to talk to more of them. They're allmissionaries doing so many different things. I was talking to the SA pastor(whos name I can't spell) and he was telling us some incredible stories aboutwhat happens in the isolated parts of Madagascar. It really sparked myinterest in doing some kind of research on that for my ISP later in thesemster. Perhaps I could travel along part of the western coast to differentvillages and conduct interviews on how missionaries have affected localpopulations or maybe do something on sycretism. The pastors wife, who was theone to invite me to that church, has lived in Madagascar all her life, thoughshe's originally from the states. Her parents are missionaries in theNorthwest and she already told me whe could hook me up with differentfamilies, which would help in logistical terms (I could probably stay at theirhomes).
Anyway, there's so much I could write, as usual, but I feel like I've gottenthe highlights of the week out. I'll probably let you all know how the village stay went. We're expected to help them with the rice harvest, that should be interesting. By all, love you guys,
Sandra

P.S. there are more pics posted on facebook

Hello again, apparently the link to the pics isn't working so I'm going to try again. It actually isn't a link, you have to copy and past the url address into the above url address space, conprenden? So do that with the following:
http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025369&l=69595&id=10209965

Oh, actually, maybe it's a link now. So first just try to click on that and if that don't work try what I said earlier.

Otherwise...this weekend was good. Me and some of the other christians went to the English Chapel and met vazah. Then we were invited by them (Sharon and Don) to a missionaries praise and prayer night. It was a fun time, though the music was kind of old and cheesy, hehe. I also met a lady who invited us to different things so I feel like I'm getting more and more connected.
I'm trying to download a short videoclip of these huge turtles that were humping at the zoo but it isn't working.
This Friday we're taking a trip to the rainforest to see lemurs and camp, it should be a lot of fun. Then at the end of the month they're dropping us off individually to live in some remote village (no French!). My host mom warned me to take flea powder with me when I go, but the ironic thing is that my bed here is flea infested. I couldn't tell her that though. Don't worry mom, I already sprayed the whole room and it was better last night.
There is an epedemic going on in Mauritius and Reunion that is killing many people. It's like Malaria but much worse and is also carried by mosquitos. Old people and children are mostly affected and it hasn't reached Madagascar, but if it does it's going to be pretty bad. I'm not worried really for my own safety (yet), but there are so many people here, including mqny mqny children, with poor immune systems. I hope it doesn't reach Madagaskari, though it is very likely that it will.
Anyhoo, I've had frequent interenet access now so feel free to send me an email. Love you all, check out the pics!
I guess I might as well put these pics on, they're many other pics I've taken, but I haven't sorted through them yet:

http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025370&l=283f6&id=10209965

http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025372&l=fc7e1&id=10209965

http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025373&l=f7cc3&id=10209965

See yous

to see some pics online:
http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025369&l=69595&id=10209965

Hey guys! Wow, I'm in Madagascar! Who would have thought it would happen for reals? There's so much I could write about what I've already done and seen, but there isn't enough time to get it all down here and I also don't want to make this too long.
Madagascar is absolutely beautiful! It's exotic and colorful and crowded and poor and smelly and vibrant...I think I'm actually just speaking about Tana (Antananarivo) because we haven't gone very far from the city. The poverty here is extreme. Costa Rica is like a country club in comparison, and I'm not even going to talk about Boulder. I've seen poverty in a lot of places but this might just be the worse I've seen.
I've been blessed to be hosted by a Christian family, and not just a nominally Christian one. Last night at dinner we had a great conversation about religion in Madagascar. They gave me a lot of insight as to how the Christian tradition is merged with the traditional beliefs still widely adhered to by the Malagasy people around the country. Though the country is half Christian, there is a great need here for the Gospel. Clearly something is not right if the Gasy in the rural areas believe they must petition both the Christian God and the traditional ones.
Anyway, I think I might do my ISP (Independent Study Project) on sycretism in Madagascar, but there are still other topics that interest me.
The academic part of the program hasn't been bad at all. There's a lot of reading and we have a crazy busy schedule. We have had several guest speakers already from the University of Tana and from the american embassy. It isn't that the information is boring, but it's so hard to stay focused when you know there's a whole country out there waiting to be explored (I've been zoning out a lot).
There are several other christian students in the program (Josh, Rachael, Katie) and we've planned to visit the american church here once we locate it. It's a relief to have them around.
Like I said, there's so much I could comment on or describe, but I don't think I'll be able to do it right now. I should probably keep a journal or soemthing, huh?
Anyway, I feel so blessed to be experiencing what I am and to have gotten a Christian family (it makes all the difference) and friends...the blessings are innumerable., they really are.
Please keep me in you prayers, love you all,

Sandra

Oh, Vazah is the Malgache word for foreigner or "gringo". It's about all I hear when I walk down the street until I say"Manahoana". And Wazzah is, uh, "what's up".