I just pasted my last group email, sorry, me lazy right now.
By the way, the song I learned is called AFINDRAFINDRAO (bouge).
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Hello my friends,
We're finally leaving Diego Suarez, I'm so relieved! Vanee has already heard my complaints, but this last week and a half has been unbearable; I really don't like this city. My impressions may be completely off, but everything here, in comparison to Tana, just isn't as pleasant, and I am usually very eager to leave Tana because of its size and pollution.
The people I have encountered in Diego Suarez have been, for the most part, much less friendly than in other parts of Madagascar. In Tana or Fianarantsoa you can smile at someone on the street and they will automatically give you a large toothless smile in return. Here, they only frown and walk quicker. Forget trying to take pictures of people at the market, they just yell at you to put it away unless you offer them money. Everything here is for the purpose of tourism and the people are only interested in business.
If you're a girl, almost every man on the street has a reaction to you as you walk by. It's either cat calls or shouts. Some of the bolder ones will follow you and grab you arm or try to pinch your side! They only want a reaction and because of my time in latin america I'm quite used to this, but there's so much of it here it's hard not to get frustrated and bitter first thing in the morning walking to school. The first afternoon I walked home I was almost kissed! A lot of the men here are also "high" on a plant called Khat. It's a stimulant and they have to chew on the leaves for an hour or so before they get an effect from the juices.
The city is right by the water, but there's isn't any access to it because we're basically on a cliff. The nearest nice beach is called Ramena and that's an hour away on a terrible road. It is, however, beautiful and was very easily the highlight of our stay here.
I'm almost done with talking about Diego... ;)
Tonight I decided to rent a hotel room. I don't think I'm supposed to and I felt rather guilty about it, but I couldn't imagine making it through another night at my house. My family is fine, that wasn't the problem. They were helpful and inviting, although they didn't talk very much or seem interested in sharing with me. It was the sleeping situation that was nightmarish. After convincing them to leave the window open just a tad, I though the heat would be bearable, but I forgot about the insects. I would have swarms of mosquitos around me during the nights. They're really persistant little buggers. Around 3 AM I would shine my flashlight on my arm or leg only to find bite after bite with a dead mosquito here and there. Barf. But what can I say, I signed up for it, right? One good thing. I got tons of reading done! I read till 4AM last night and then slept for 40 mins, took a long bucket bath and went to a hotel to have an expresso with two other exhausted students.
Tomorrow we finally leave Diego and head South but car. We'll be camping for about 4 nights first in a park (Ankarana, known for the "tsingy" or limestone formations supposedly millions of years old) and then on the beach for the other 2 nights. During the day we'll either be exploring the park or taking boats to small islands known for incredible snorkeling. We should have a chance to see sea turtles and they say there are often whale sharksthere also! How SWEET would that be! We'll stay in Nosy Be for the weekend (hotel) and then on Monday we'll fly back to Tana. I am thinking of doing my one month ISP in that region, so I'm excited to see what it's like.
Some of you may already know, but I'm almost sure I'm doing my project on small scale artisanal fishing communities of that region.The doors were opening all over the place for that like contacts and research material. I'm really excited, but there's still a week or so to decide so we'll see, eh?
I love you guys, I really do! I miss all of you, especially this last week in (barf) Diego Suarez. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all be in one beautiful place forever and ever? Oooo, like heaven? Heaven...I'm in heaven...
Well, friends from all over the world, I must retreat to my luxury hotel room (6 bucks, but it has a fan and a mosquito net...SCORE!). I would appreciate prayers for wisdom and discipline and also for health. God is SO good though. They should really write a song about that. It doesn't have to be long, just a simple song saying how God is so good and how he's so good to me.
Veloma dudes and dudettes,
Sandra
Hell-Ville, the main city of Nosy Be (which means "big island"), is a little West of Ampasindava. For my project I'm thinking of going to Ambatozavavy and 2 other villages on the round island south of Nosy Be, Nosy Komba. Nosy Tanikely, where we wil be snorkeling, is that little green dot on the left of the A of Antrema (Nosy Komba).
Another map, though not so clear.
Hell-Ville, the main city of Nosy Be (which means "big island"), is a little West of Ampasindava. For my project I'm thinking of going to Ambatozavavy and 2 other villages on the round island south of Nosy Be, Nosy Komba. Nosy Tanikely, where we wil be snorkeling, is that little green dot on the left of the A of Antrema (Nosy Komba).
