17 more days here at site! And I know that will go quickly. Already my paper chain is getting really short.

Today is a holiday, Ascension. Or maybe Assumption. I don’t remember. In any case, I didn’t have to teach and a bunch of people went to church. Its nice, I made a big lunch for Ben and I and have spent the day in relative leisure. I washed my underwear this morning which is very important because I will leave so soon now that I will not have to wash them again and instead will just throw them out after wearing and then will get new underwear upon my return to the US of A. Compared to the many things that go on in America, this may not seem like a big deal, but it is a major occurrence in my life.

I counted last night and I have already read 26 books this year. I will almost certainly read 4 more, making it an even 30, before I leave site. I’m hoping for a total of 35 before returning to the US of A. I’ll probably never again in my life have so much free time to read. Also, I’ll probably never again in my life have reading as basically my only source of entertainment. But never say never.

On Saturday, Ben and I are going to bike to Betanantanana, a town 22K away, for their market day. The other English teacher in my town lives out there so we’ll visit with him and eat lunch there. It is a really big market for a lot of people in the region, so it is exciting out there on Saturday mornings.

Then on Sunday, I have the first of many going away parties. This is being thrown by the Maintirano English Association, and should be really fun. I’m learning a Gasy song to sing at the party as a surprise, it will be fun. Basically the next few weeks are filled with parties, picnics, and lunches. It will go quickly.

Also, one of my major dreams since coming to this country has come true – I’m going to appear in a Malagasy music video!! My friends Savoir is a really great musician and he already has 2 other videos. This one is a love song and I play the romantic interest. I tell Savior I’m leaving for the US but he doesn’t believe me until I get on the plane and leave and he runs after me on the runway. Then he is sad and I return to him in a dream. I’m sure it will be super cheesy… be prepared to be forced to watch it, anyone I might see in the coming 3 months.

Basically I am in a really good state of mind here. I go back and forth between really just enjoying what remains of my time here and regretting all the things I didn’t do here – 2 years, in the end, isn’t as long as it seems, and there were many plans I had at the beginning that never came to fruition. I guess that’s normal, but it’s discouraging now that my time is over. I spent my time here well, however, and don’t have too many regrets. For now, I’m just enjoying this period of calm, because I know a month from now when I am home, I will be busy all the time. No time to read 10 books a month. Thank god!!

Happy Birthday Katie!

20 days left in Maintirano!

I found out Suzi is also going to Clermont-Ferrand, so she, Claire’ and I will all be together. Or at least in the same reagion.

I had the most brilliant idea I have ever had at site, maybe ever in my entire life, today. The fancy food shop sometimes has candy bars, and they had a snickers, so I bought it and took it to my fried banana lady and had her deep fry it! It was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

Also there are tons of shrimp in market every single day and I have eaten so many I am a little sick of shrimp, but I still compulsively buy them because I know I’ll probably never in my life be able to buy shrimp fresh from the sea for 25 cents. I made shrimp and crab pasta today and it was good though a break in routine from my now usual daily lunch at the Rovasoa restaurant. But it was worth it.

What else, what else…. On Thursday’s, I have 6 classes all right in a row (with a break for lunch) and it was all going so well until the 5 PM class, which made me cry they were so bad! I didn’t cry in class, which is good, because that would be the end of all respectability for me, and I even made it to my doorway before bursting into tears. I thought I was done with being so frustrated with teaching but I guess that never really ends completely. It was just so defeating, to have 5 really good classes, and then one final horrible class. But I’ll make it – I only have 3 more classes with each section, only 5 hours total, before the finals. Hard to believe.

I’ve been having an elaborate fantasy about going home, finding my Oboe from high school band, dusting it off, and make being an oboist a serious hobby of mine. I can practice all summer and take it to France and fulfil my dream of playing on the street with a hat out next to me. We’ll see if I even remember to play, it’s been almost 6 years since I played regularly, and for all I know, my brothers mistakenly threw the thing out when my family moved last year. But the dream is exciting, at least.

I wish I had more to say. I eat, read, teach, and run, and that’s about it to my life. That is pretty much my routine here, and I am enjoying the lest few weeks of it before I return to the promised land and resume a busy American life.

Lots has happened in the last week !

First, I found out that I am going to Clermont-Ferrand next year! I’ll be teaching English to primary school kids. And of my four friends that applied with me, so is Claire, and Trisha is going to Limoges, which is near to Clermont-Ferrand, and Suzi doesn’t know yet (but I think she will go to C-F too, we did request to be together). I have mixed feelings about this. Of course, I am really happy to finally know where I am going to France. I am really excited for the next year, and this makes it all feel real. But Clermont-Ferrand is kinda in the middle of nowhere. Its out of the way, hard to get to. Much like this year. I am not very excited about being in the middle of nowhere for yet another year, but I have to remind myself that being in the middle of nowhere in France is not like being in the middle of nowhere in Madagascar. Like, I’ll have electricity and internet and phone access. And public transportation and supermarkets. It won’t be the same. It will just be a little more difficult to get to other places in Europe and France than if I were stationed in, say, Paris or Toulouse. But C-F is near great skiing and hiking, and I will be near my friends. Suzi, Claire, and I could still be stationed anywhere in the region, but we requested to be together, and hopefully we will be in the same town and able to live together. All I want for next year is to be with people I love. I’m tired of being alone all the time. So hopefully that will all work out.

But the BEST news (yes I am more excited about my current gastronomic situation than my future life) is that the restaurant of my dreams has opened up in town. They have a MENU! And, more importantly, they actually have the food that is listed on the menu. And on that menu is French fries, steak, soup, a variety of dishes with rice, pasta… in short, a lot of amazing food choices. Of course, once I get to America, I won’t eat any of these things, but for now, it is really exciting. Dishes cost about 1 dollar each, which, considering I make 4 dollars a day and don’t really buy anything else, is totally within my budget. I plan to eat there for lunch everyday. This will dramatically change my life for the remaining 27 days here.

And not only is Maintirano getting new delicious food options, they are also building an Orange tower, so there will be normal cell phone coverage. And they are actually making progress on the roads, people tell me. Maintirano is catching up to the rest of the country just as I am leaving. Figures. Oh well, I’ll be going to other places that also have cars and cell phones, so it’s okay.

I went out to a town 50K out (along the news road, which was nice) yesterday with the Women’s Association. It was a huge deal – there were like 350 women going. We loaded up at 6 AM in troop transports from the national police – basically semi-trucks with open backs. I am friends with the president of the association, so she had me ride up front with her, which saved me a lot of discomfort. Also, I got to see the view, which, as the sun was rising, was beautiful – mist covered valleys, virgin forests, grassy meadows. It was a 2 hour ride out to Belitsika, a tiny town where there is no middle school, hospital, shops, running water, electricity, etc. We arrived, piled out, stretched, and began stuffing our faces. A lot of these women had never even left Maintirano, and, like me, probably didn’t know how much food would be available out there. I think everyone was concerned that, once out of Maintirano, we would never see food again, so they had brought tons of snacks that they shared generously. Snacks are very important. Basically all we did all day was eat, do some activities, eat, do some more activities, eat, eat, eat… It was lovely. After the first round of snacks, we climbed back into those trucks and drove even FURTHER out along that road to check up on some trees that they had planted in February. My job was to look busy while wandering around looking for saplings and then stand there until someone came up with a shovel and cleared out the brush around the sapling so it could grow easily. They didn’t actually let me use the shovel so I did feel a little bit useless, but that searching out of the saplings was a very important role. Really. Anyways, then it was back to town and more snacks, and 3 hours of speeches. So many speeches. Speeches about nutrition, about AIDS, about education, about vaccines. It was pretty boring for me, since I didn’t really understand it all, but all the Malagasy people seemed to really enjoy it, and the women from the little town seemed to learn a lot. Near the end, they started interspersing the speeches with dancing, which was cool, and more interesting for me. The people out there were surprised to see a white person, and often in the speeches I would be called on to confirm something about the outside world. “Tabitha, all American babies get vaccinated, don’t they”… “Tabitha, do Americans use condoms to prevent AIDS?” At which I nodded. Luckily, nodding was my only role and they didn’t ask me to give a speech. Then we ate the meal that the cooks had spent the whole morning preparing, rice and beef. They butchered two cows and made probably 150 Kilograms of rice for all these people. They had giant tubs just full of rice and beef which they were shovelling onto plates. Once all the rice was gone (and it all got eaten!) we loaded back up and headed back to town. It was a long, really tiring day, but I enjoyed it. It was good to get out of Maintirano and see other places, and to work with the women’s association. There are some crazy women here! But they probably think I am much crazier than they are.

So today I am recovering before another long week of teaching. It passes the time at least, and there are only 3 weeks left. And that will be it for me here. That is strange, but really exciting. It will be so good to be home for the summer and then in France. But mostly, it will be good to just have friends and family and loved ones near me from 27 days from now onward. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder. I’ve really enjoyed being on my own a lot these past two years, but now I don’t really want to be on my own anymore. I want to eat dinner with my family and go to movies with my grandmother and go to happy hour with my friends. I want to go to Target and McDonalds. But I’d better not get started on the long long list of things I want. I’ll have it all, soon enough.

Ive been back at site 2 days and, as always, not much has changed. There is a new “bar” (room with tables and chairs where they serve beer) called the Congo Bar. You know how a lot of places in America will advertise that they are open 24/7? Well, the Congo Bar advertises 5/5. At least they are realistic. There was a big Indian wedding – that is why I couldn’t get a spot on an earlier flight apparently.

I miss my friends already. Ben, the new environment volunteer, will arrive tomorrow, but I still wish that I were with Suzi or Libby or Matt like over vacation. I am really counting down the days until I go home. 43 as of now. I think I’ll spend this crazy Saturday night making one of those paper chains that I can tear a link off of each day until there are no links left on June 11 and I go to Tana to officially COS and get out of peace corps. I am starting to think about the things I will miss, like having lots of time to exercise and to read. And how I am a minor celebrity in town and everyone knows my name and waves at me. But I’m also starting to think about how I’m going to get rid of all my stuff, and things I should take home with me so that I can give interesting talks about Madagascar to schoolchildren. I’m starting to plan my “Welcome Home Tabitha” parties. Sad? Maybe a little bit. Maybe I should hit the bar. Oh wait, they’re only open 5 hours a day. Too bad.

Birthday wishes to my Dad for yesterday, April 28. 2 months from yesterday, he will be picking me up in Detroit, Michigan, in the promised land!

Let’s see let’s see…. What is there to report in yet another weekly posting? What new happened this week? Not a whole lot. Still no beer. Still hot. Still teaching. Still reading excessively. I made crab & shrimp pasta last week, delicious!! Also made tapioca pudding and ate it all in one day. Made popcorn. Today I will have tuna steaks with coconut rice (leftovers from yesterday’s lunch) and tomorrow I will make vegetable soup. My student friend Angelo came over this morning and made Basani, this gooey pudding cake type dessert. It’s cooling and he’ll come over at 4 to eat it with me. Yes, the only thing exciting in my life is the food. Though things got really crazy this morning when I "desludged" my shower drain, removing probably 3 years worth of hair and stinky mud.

I go to Tana on Thursday to go to my Completion of Service (COS) conference. I can’t wait, it is the first time in 10 months and the last time ever that my whole training group will be together again and it will be so fun to hang out with them. I really miss my American friends when I am at site here. Only a few more days and we will all be having fun together! I am a little concerned because I don’t yet have a ticket for Thursday’s flight. I have a reservation but the paperwork for that reservation is in the capital and thus far it has been difficult to get it here. Ridiculous. I long for America where there are no problems like this. E-Tickets!! Amazing!

Ok I guess that’s all. It’s April! I’ve never been so excited at the turning of the months as I am here, counting down the days until I go home to the magical land of 500 different kinds of soda.

Well the new environment volunteer, Ben, finally came to visit and it has been fun to have someone to go out with at night and eat street food with. He smokes and drinks and eats meat and I love him! I had big plans of going out for brochettes (meat fried on sticks, delicious) and beer but, in supreme irony, when there is someone here to actually go out and drink beer with, the whole town runs out. No kidding. There is not a Three Horses Beer to be had in Maintirano. The ship is like a week or two late and everything has gone to hell. Only in Madagascar. But we’ve been drinking the remaining stores of crappy Malagasy red wine. Let’s hope that makes it a few more days.

My students did well enough on their exams and I spent all of Thursday and Friday grading. Or, more correctly, I spent all of Thursday and Friday doing all I could to put off grading and then finally settling down and just getting it over with. I napped, made cookies, went running, read magazines, anything not to grade those awful papers.

And I finished War and Peace!! Only in the Peace corps could you finish a 1000 page book (with teeny tiny print) in 10 days. I really enjoyed it and saw many parallels between reading a looooooong book and spending a loooooooong time in the peace corps. At first, you’re excited and realize you’re making a huge commitment, but you’re enjoying it. And by the end, you still are enjoying it, but you’re kinda ready to just finish. You pretty much know how those last few months/pages are going to go, but you have to actually go through the motions and complete them because you’ve gone so far, you can’t quit now. But you’re just really ready to read the next book. Do you see the comparison or do I still have too much free time here? Probably the latter.

I’m making good headway on War and Peace. Its actually very readable for being 1000 pages long. It’s helping me to avoid reality. Not that reality is so bad, I’m actually pretty happy, it is just hard to remain focused on the present when there are so many exciting things in the future and I just want to be there now. I’m just kinda tired of life here and am ready to move on. This next week will be fun, though, it is school exam week so I don’t have to teach, only proctor 4 2 hour exams, and otherwise I will have EVEN MORE free time to read about Russian aristocrats in the 19th century and other pertinent matters.

So I’m doing okay except for one little problem – people keep exposing themselves to me. Not in a malicious way, just in an “hey, I’m naked and you happen to be here too” way. It’s freaking me out. Women keep whipping out their breasts around me, not because they are breastfeeding or drunk or any other reason, just because, and the other day a man was taking a bucket bath in the field behind my house. Just showering there in plain sight, not a care in the world. And today on the way to market an old man pulled down his pants and popped a squat right in the middle of my path. This is all pretty normal behaviour here, but usually it doesn’t happen all at once in one week. It’s freaking me out and I just want people to keep their clothes on around me, please!

It’s hot. I want to see my friends. I want to have a conversation in English. I want a cheeseburger with fries.

What is news?

Someone has mistakenly taught all of Madagascar this phrase and it haunts me. What’s up? What’s new? How are you? Anything but “What’s news?”, please!!!

But what is news? I need to think about this since nothing really ever changes here…. I am getting a new environment site partner, Ben. I thought he was going to come visit last week, so I rode my bike out to the airport but no white people came off the plane so I guessed I was mistaken. Turns out he is supposed to come this Wednesday, so hopefully that will lead to some fun as he gets to know the town. It’ll be nice to have an American friend here again.

I just watched Pirates of the Caribbean on the TV in the ECC. The kids thought Johnny Depp was CRAZY. Which he kinda is.

I have read 5 books in the first 10 days of March. And, no, none of them were childrens books or “easy reader” chapter books or even romance novels. All of them genuine works of literature. I think this may be a bad thing… am I living too much in the world of fiction? Maybe. In any case, to slow my progress through the bookshelf, I have started War and Peace by Tolstoy. I figure, at this rate, it should take at least a week or two before I finish this one. The only problem: 1000 pages are really heavy and hard to hold up. I might give up in a few days and read a lightweight (literally and figuratively) Nora Roberts novel. We’ll see.

I had 6 students over to my house on Friday as “students of the month” – the best student from each class. I don(t know if I will continue doing this though because some of them seem terrified to enter my strange house and eat my strange food. I gave them Jell-o and you would have thought the world fell out of orbit, they thought it was so strange! But hopefully they realize that it was meant as a reward, not a punishment. Hopefully they’ll be movitaved to continue their schoolwork and will one day become nobel prize winning scientists or Pulitzer prize winning novelists and in their acceptance speech will say “it all started the day my American teacher had me to her house for lunch and gave me the strange sweet jiggly dessert.” Hopefully.

Alright, I think that’s all the news from here this week. Peace Out! (I’m trying to get that one to catch on here so future generations of Peace Corps will say “Someone has mistakenly taught all of Madagascar this phrase and it haunts me.” But its not going so well so far) Peace out!

Not much to report... I recently acquired a thermometer and it has yet to go below 90 degrees even at night. Except for when I put it in the freezer to see if it was working, that is. Its so hot I can't deal. I can't sleep, don't feel like eating anythign that isn't frozen, and am a sweaty mess when I teach. Soon it will start to cool down and then 80 degrees will feel frigid in comarison and I'll be very happy.

So remember my friend David Russo who sent a nautical-themed shirt back in October? Well I got another surprise package not from David but from his friend (apparently) Nancy Hill. All I know about Nancy Hill is that she lives not in Lake Orion Michigan but in Oxford, but goes to the Lake Orion Post office. Nancy seems to have the same handwriting as David and a suspiciously similar signature. She enclosed a note saying "Just something for the kids to play with, God Bless, Nancy", and a foam pumpkin making an ugly halloween face!!!!!! Who are these people? Why are these people I don't know sending me random gifts? SERIOUSLY, I don't get it. Is it a fan who has read this blog? Is it a friend playing a trick on me? Who is it? Another of lifes many questions...

Teaching is bearable and even enjoyable from time to time.

I've set my COS (completion of service for those of you who don't speak acronym) as June 16. I have only like 3 more months here. Still seems like a long time to me, but not when I consider I've already been here for 20 months. Surely I can make it 3 more. I'm really ready to go home. I miss my friends and family and delivery pizza. Not much longer. If I dont melt first, at least.

It stopped raining here. It had been pouring intermittenly for days on end but today is sunny. There was apparently a cyclone in the area that was causing it. I guess it is gone now. Maybe my laundry will finally dry, you think?

I chaperoned a party for the 9th graders here yesterday. They cooked all day Friday and all day Saturday at my house. I didn't quite realize what I was getting myself into when I agreed to let them cook there, what I thought would be a couple of hours turned into about 20, but they weren't so bad, they were polite and let me eat all the fried goodies I wanted. Then they invited me to their party. It was kinda like the “end of summer” party on the OC. My friend Tiana was like the social chair. And I was kinda like Dean Hess helping them out. Except that on the OC they had a rom full of flowers and a huge screen showing the ocean and they had punch and a DJ. And Dean Hess was actually sleeping with the social chair and was blackmailed to leave town so that Ryan could go to Harbor again. So in the end, it's really nothing like the OC. But I can dream. I imagine I will probably chaperone lots of school parties like this in the future if I become a teacher in the United States of America. But at those parties the students probably won't buy me beer or ask me to dance. Unless maybe it is like on the OC.

I spent the morning in the English Cultural Center. When I went to open the door, there was a crab blocking the way and I had to fight him off with a stick. He was a feisty little guy, too. Then I watched “Under the Tuscan Sun” and now cannot wait to go to Italia in June! Que Bene! Grazie! La Santa Maria! Ok so I dont speak any Italian but If I speak Spanish with an Italian accent I can pretend. So that is what I have been doing all day since.

There are avacadoes at the market!! YUM. I'm going to make guacamole and tortilla chips for lunch then gorge myself. DELICIOUS!!

Happy Birthday to Tess, my friend who has a real job that gives her things like a christmas bonus and a laptop and business trips and a salary. How different our lives are. I bet she doesn't have any crabs blocking the way when she goes to the office in the morning. But you never know, I guess it's possible.

Ciao!

Internet is back!! After weeks of it not working for some mysterious reason, it miraculously is back!!! Yeah! Renewed contact with the outside world!! Yipee!

So lets see... what new exciting news can I share about life here in Maintirano?

It's raining a lot. The schoolyard always seems to turn into a lake just when I need to walk across it. Drainaige seems to be a concept they haven't yet perfected here.

The rain is bringing out bugs. I sometimes can't deal with all the “wildlife” in my house with me. Spiders, cockroaches, millipedes, grasshoppers. The grasshoppers, oh my God. There were like 100 buzzing qround my house the other night, jumping and buzzing and hopping and flying all around. Disgusting!!

Today is the big grand opening of the “English Cultural Center” of Maintirano. Xavier, the associate peace corps director for education is here, the chef de region will come, there will be fancy speeches by important people, lots of elbow rubbing.

Otherwise I am really just ready to be done. I've been here 19 months!! I got my statement for the money in my readjustment account and its like at 4,000 dollars!! Yipee! That'll buy me a fancy little laptop computer and some pretty clothes and a plane ticket to france and not a whole lot else. Only 5 more months. These last few monthss will go quickly, I know, but right now, when I just want it to be over, it feels like forever. I have unbearable cravings to go to Target and walk around or go out to lunch with a friend or go to happy hour. I am tired of teaching and eating rice and living all alone by myself. I was watching the OC on TV the other day (thank god for the ECC, and allowing me to escape from reality through moving pictures) and couldn't help thinking that if I were in America, I, too, would be slow dancing to that “forever young” song next to an infitiy pool, rather than wasting away my youth here in Maintirano all alone. For now, I can only imagine.

Happy Birthday to my "little" brother rickie!

The title is a shout out to my dear friend Meghan Harshman who is now rocking to david bowie in the US of A I am sure.

So the other day i woke up and thought "I want to be blonde." So I walked into the salon, showed them a picture of Jessica Simpson, pointed to her hair, then pointed to mine. And said "I want this." Two hours and a few bowls of blue peroxide later, I was blonde!! And I mean BLONDE. Kinda along the line of Eminem. Its a little wierd but Im getting used to it. Its a good time to do such a thing here since I dont really care what I look like and I actually think that most of my friends would have MORE respect for me if I dyed my hair a riduculous color and it looked like hell. Which I dont think it looks like hell. But it's a little intense.

Im in Tana training for the newest group of education volunteers. Its fun to be here but wierd without all of my group around like they usually are. Then after that this week, I begin my wonderful vacation journey accross Madagascar. We're taxi broussing up to Mahajanga, staying there a few days, then taking a boat to Nosy Be, this big fun touristy island up north. We'll be there in bungalows on the beach for a week, including Christmas and New Years. Than my mom and step-dad are coming and we'll go south. SO I'll get all over this crazy island in the next month. It should all be relly fun, I'm looking forward to it.

So thats the news from me. If you're in Madagascar, keep an eye out for the blonde girl wearing green elf shoes and a mistletoe hat. She'll be having fun. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

I think after today I’m not going to write for a little while. The laptop Ive been using here was Michela’s and before that it was her brothers. The thing is like 8 years old. It only has 4 GB of memory… my iPod has 40, for comparison. So it’s no surprise that it’s dying bit by bit. For awhile the L key didn’t work, then the o key. Now the screen is going. You know how you have to tip laptop screens to the right angle to see the screen well? It’s like I have it tipped to the wrong angle but I can’t tip it right. So I just have to really squint at the screen or view it in reverse color. It hurts my eyes. I can only look at the screen fro like 10 mintues and then I get a headache and have to take a nap. Or so that’s really just an excuse to take naps but still it’s tough.

And as if that weren’t making typing difficult enough, I’m doing it by candlelight tonight. Last night was the first big rain of the year here and it softened the ground enough to let loose these termite-type flying bugs. They crawl out at twilight and swarm any light so they whole town goes dark tonight to avoid them. They are really gross. Tomorrow morning, the ground under the streetlights will be covered with their little wings as if it had snowed. So I closed my doors early and have my candles in bowls of water so that the few little bugs that get in will dive bomb into the water. I am so clever it kills me. Ok, not that that was actually my idea – my students who were studying at my house when this happened last year told me. But I still feel pretty good about myself.

This is exam week which I really love because, one, I don’t have to teach, two, I only work 2 hours a day in the afternoon administering exams, and three, kids are really nice to me because they want a good grade on their test. Just now, a bunch of 6eme (6th grade) boys brought me a basket of mangoes. Now, I certainly cannot accept bribes to help their grades and I told them that. And I kept the mangoes to teach them a lesson.

Carol and I celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. We killed two chickens and made mashed potatoes, pumpkim bread, etc. Delicious. And we had wine and beer just like your usual family thanksgiving. Right? I ate so much that I still feel like I am going ot pop.

The ECC is finally coming along. The electricity and window bars should be done in the next few days and we had a meeting yesterday for people to sign up to work in the center, so it should be good. I’ll be training them this week on check-out procedures. Hopefully it wont all fall apart when I go to Tana next week. We’ll just see wont we?

Happy Birthday to Gibbons and Christine, two of my Tipsy Chick friends. Freshmen year of college I was jealous because I didn’t get invited to their joint 18th/19th birthday party. I didn’t get invited to a party this year either but this time I’m not jealous. It’d bea bit of a trip. But happy birthday to them nonetheless.

I am going on a fabulous beach vacation in just under a month, so in preparation I would like to lose a few pounds. I read about this diet that Maria Shriver went on at the beginning of her career when she was told she had to lose 25 pounds – eat watermelon one day, cheesecake the next. But I don’t have watermelon or cheesecake so instead I thought I would eat papaya one day (even a giant papaya has like 150 calories) and fried street food the next day. Unfortunately I had to abandon that diet after day one because a day of eating only papaya sent me to the Kabone (latrine) a few more times than I would have liked. So I returned to my previous diet: the “eat-anything-I-want-which-isn’t-very-much-because-I’m-too-lazy-to-cook” diet. Which has treated me just fine.

Unfortunately (I mean REALLY unfortunately), right after the increased trips to the Kabone, some more drama took place there on Sunday morning. As usual, I rolled out of bed and went to the Kabone to do my business, but this time, my left flip flop was knocked off of my foot and it fell – you guessed it – right down that hole. Had this been a plain old Malagasy flip flop, I would have chalked it up as a loss and gone on with my day… but this was a reef flip flop. It was from America. It cost $11 ($22 for a pair!). I could have bought like 50 Malagasy flip flops for that price. I literally wore these shoes everyday. I wouldn’t have been more upset even if it had been a Manolo Blahnik stiletto down that hole. So I wasn’t going to take this lying down. Instead I devised a plan. First, I swept the kabone to have a clean working environment (as clean as a pit latrine can be at least). Then I taped together 6 long sticks to make 2 REALLY long sticks and I attached an old pitcher to the end of one. Then I used the other stick to push the flip flop into the pitcher stick and pulled the pitcher stick out. It sounds simple now, but during the 2 hours I spent trying to do this it didn’t feel so simple. But finally I got it out and was so happy I could’ve kissed it. But I didn’t of course because it was covered in shit. Instead I rinsed it off, scrubbed it, let it soak all day, then scrubbed it again. It is on my foot at this very moment, good as new. In fact, it looks a lot cleaner than the right one now.

Other wise, my weekend consisted of quality time with a bottle of wine, 400 papers to grade, and Desperate Housewives: Season 1. The intrigue on Wiseria Lane makes grading piles of quizzes not seem all that bad. All in all it wasn’t too crappy of a weekend (excuse the pun).

Back at site after a crazy few weeks in Tana which I won’t get into here… it takes too much energy. And I have been supremely lazy in the 4 days back here. I arrived on a Thursday and don’t teach Fridays, so I had a 3 day weekend ahead of me. It was a lovely, lazy weekend. I slept a lot and read and also caught up on all that stuff I had not done while I was away like grading and writing the semester exams. Ick. Oh and started watching my new Desperate Housewives DVDs. It is not as good as the OC but I still am enthralled by the moving pictures.

I was pissed off all Saturday afternoon because my iPod click wheel stopped working and I wanted to throw the piece of junk down the latrine. Good thing I didn’t since it miraculously started working again, who knows what’s going on. These things are supposed to last longer than a year, I will freak out if it really stops working for good. My life will be so sad and quiet.

I mysteriously received a package from someone names David Russo who lives in Lake Orion, Michigan. Inside there was a red and white striped shirt with gold anchors embroidered on it and a note saying “Just a surprise gift. Best Wishes, David.” I’ll say it’s a surprise gift – I don’t know anyone named David Russo! Or anyone who lives in Lake Orion, Michigan. So, David Russo, thank you, but WHO ARE YOU??

I have to teach today and stop being lazy. But only 2 more weeks then it is exam time, and then it is almost vacation time again, and then my 2 years are almost over, and then I get to go to live at an Italian Villa. But perhaps I am looking to far ahead

By the time I put this online I will be in Tana. I will have eaten delicious food from restaurants and I will be with the lovely and vivacious Meghan Harshman! I can’t hardly wait. But for now (I’m writing this on Monday, October 24, 2005) I am still stuck at site a few more days. Which is okay because I’m pretty mush stuck in my house with a sprained ankle. I feel like such a klutz. I was running on Friday, stepped on a rock, heard a pop, and the rest is history. It is the same ankle I sprained last year during training. I rested pretty much all weekend and iced it using popsicles (can’t buy ice anywhere, but those little fun-pop popsicles are all over the place). Now I’m soaking it in hot water. I had to be on it a lot today for teaching but I think it’s doing okay. No running for awhile though. I think by the time I go to Tana it will be ready.

So I spent the whole weekend in my house pretty much, reading, planning the upcoming WID/GAD training in Fianar, playing on the computer, and watcing movies. And staring at the wall and nursing my ever more realistic delusions. Seriously, not really speaking English to anyone for a few days will get your mind tied up in knots. I really can convince myself that even the most ridiculous situations are definitely going to happen. Some examples of my more elaborate delusions.

1. After receiving the Britney Spears Greatest Hits album, I write Britney and tell her about how I understood the philosophical evolution of her work through the years as evidences by the placement of her songs on the album. I also describe for her my selfless, world changing work here in Madagascar. She is so moved by my profound fanhood and my unselfish service to mankind that she comes to give a free concert to the impoverished citizens of Maintirano, elevating me to a newfound status as coolest girl in town and best PCV ever. Britney writes about me on www.britneyspears.com, and she and I appear in the “star tracks” section of People Magazine alongside Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Brit and I become fast friends and she employs me as her personal companion and translator as we travel the globe and rub elbows with famous people. Her son comes to know me as “Aunt Tabbie.”

2. After returning home, I come across my discarded and now obsolete computer from college and think of the many impoverished residents of Maintirano who would have doors opened to them if they only had the most basic computer skills. Frustrated by the lack of options for computer donation online, I launch my own non-profit organization specializing in sending used computers to Africa. Donations pour in and word spreads and I am featured in the human interest section at the back of People Magazine, standing smiling in my warehouse with piles of crates ready to ship behind me, alongside pictures of happy African orphans using their gateway 2000s to solve the problem of world hunger. I am invited to meet the President, the Queen of England, and Britney Spears.

3. During my free time here in Madagascar, I use locally available materials to crochet myself a bikini. On a beach vacation on Nosy Be, the other volunteers are awed by my amazing skills and other PCVs ask me to make them bikinis as well. This continues by word of mouth once I return to the US, and I begin to sell my hand-crocheted bikinis for $75 online at www.Tabibikini.com. Interest continues to grow and I open Tabi Bikini boutiques in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Worthington Square Mall in Columbus, Ohio. I expand to create purses and beach wear. I return to Madagascar to employ the women of Maintirano in crocheting my bikinis in a sustainable manner, thus revitalizing the local economy and becoming a national hero. Britney Spears is spotted wearing one of my creations and they become a craze in Hollywood. I appear in the “Style” section of the People Magazine, praised for my creative designed and humanitarian efforts.

And that’s only the beginning. After sitting around my house all weekend due to my sprained ankle, I have come to the conclusion that I should A) Stop looking to People Magazine as my main source of news from America and B) Find a new role model besides Britney Spears.

So I go to Soavinandriana Itasy Wednesday to spend a night with Meghan, then we go to Tana for a day where I will prepare for the WID/GAD training, then Friday we go to Fianar for the training and the Halloween party. Tuesday, back to Tana for the WID/GAD committee meeting and buying stuff for the ECC. Finally, Tuesday, November 8, back to site. It’ll be a busy week and a half, but it’ll be so fun to see friends again! I can’t wait, though I also can’t believe it’s already time to go to Tana again. I feel like I just left, but I guess that was the end of August. Time flies.

After being away for a week two weeks ago, this week has been busy! I got back and was behind in everything – didn’t have anything planned, graded, cleaned. So I feel like I was always working this past week. Seriously, I work from like 5 AM to 8 PM everyday! Ok, but included in those hours of “work” are usually 2 hours of exercising, a couple hours eating meals, at least an hour nap, plus showering, going to market, etc… so I guess it’s not exactly work all of it, but I am at least occupied from that time. Anyways, the last week flew by. I gave my first quiz to the 6eme and 5eme classes (6th and 7th grade) and they did pretty awfully. As expected. Hopefully this will make them study more for the next one, but grades are never all that great. They don’t really seem to care, either, so I decided this year I won’t care either.

I did get some really wonderful packages last week from Nana Bets, Mom, and Christine. It was really wonderful – they sent underwear, candy (including pop rocks!!), ranch dressing, magazines, granola bars, and other wonderful, wonderful things. I spent an afternoon eating jelly belly jelly beans and reading the best and worst dressed edition of People. It was wonderful.

Of course, there STILL is no electricity installed in the ECC so I still have the TV, DCR, and DVD player in my bedroom. What a shame!! It made grading papers last night a lot more fun. I am so spoiled, I love it.

So really, all in all, nothing much to report from the middle of nowhere in Madagascar. I go to Tana in only 10 days for a WID/GAD (women in development/gender and development) meeting and training, so that’ll be fun. Restaurants! Bars! Free Internet! Friends! I can’t wait.

Wow so much has happened in the past week, where to start!? Well, in important world news, my good friend Britney Spears had a baby boy on September 14 (a virgo just like me!) I knew it would be a boy and even bet my friend Libby a German beer that it would be. Silly Libby thought it would be a girl. But you see, Britney (Brit, as I like to call her) and I just have such a good connection that I sensed the gender of her little bundle of love.

Speaking of having babies, my neighbor’s daughter had a baby boy. My neighbor is like my Malagasy Mom, and the whole family is so generous with me that I feel like part of the family, so it’s exciting. He is so little! I feel like a total idiot because I didn’t even realize she was pregnant. She has always been wearing Salovas, these big sarong-like tubes of fabric that hide your stomach so I never really noticed. DUH! They told me she had given birth and I was totally shocked! Apparently she had been pregnant for something like 9 months even!

I started teaching this week and it was really fun, if exhausting. The students are good and the classes are a little smaller than last year, no more than about 50 students, which is really good. I’m looking forward to getting to know my students better and build a good relationship. I also started clubs this week – one for high school students, one for middle school students, and 2 adult classes. 10 of the Chinese engineers who are building the roads here came to my adult classes, which was crazy. It’ll make class more difficult because I can’t translate to explain things (not speaking Chinese and all) but they brought a lot of energy to class. It’s good because now when we practice speaking I can match up Malagasy people with Chinese and then THEY can’t translate either so it forces them to actually practice English. And it’s nice because the Chinese bring a very different perspective to class, so it opens us up to good discussions.

Some really exciting news that improves my life here by like 500% is that I bought some of the electronics for the ECC on Friday. I went to the store, spent the equivalent of $400 and walked out with a TV, VCR, and DVD player. Actually, I didn’t even actually pay yet because the bank had closed, so basically they just gave it all to me! You can’t do that at Best Buy in the US of A, can you now!?!? It was so exciting – I’ve never owned a DVD player in the states even, and never even a new VCR or TV. And never a TV bigger than about 12 inches. So it was pretty darn exciting. The ECC dosen’t have bars on the windows yet to keep out thieves, so (sadly) I had to set it all up in my bedroom. I celebrated by watching a tape of Friends that my wonderful friend Christine sent me. I was painting my toes at the same time and it felt so much like my normal life at home, it was great. So I have like 10 other movies to watch so that’ll keep me interested for awhile. Anyone feel like sending packages, send movies and tapes my way, esp. if you can copy your DVDs and save your hard-earned dough.

A big highlight of this week was last night I went to the ‘discotheque’ in Town last night for the first time and it was actually not super sketchy. A lot of the women weren’t even prostitutes I’m pretty sure. I was with Carol, my 55-year old site mate, 2 16 year old students (who I are really cool and fun despite being 16) and my 23-year-old friend Julio. A little bit of a strange group. It was fun until Julio proclaimed his undying love to me, which I probably should have expected, but I didn’t know he would be so persistant. He says he ‘has never known a girl as me’ and that he will ‘not love me for only one day but for everyday.’ His “heart don’t accept that” I don’t love him. It was around the time that I realized that most of the conversation I was correcting Julio’s grammar and trying to teach him English that I realized the conversation wasn’t going too well. Oh my oh my… he wanted an explanation for why I don’t love him, but wasn’t happy with any I could supply. I tried to explain to him that he didn’t really even know me because we have never really had a conversation longer than 5 minutes, but he didn’t really get that idea. He came over this morning and returned my flashlight and a book he had borrowed, so I think maybe the friendship is over and I’ll never see him again. Which is too bad because he is fun in adult English class. Poor Julio, I think I broke his heart. It’s a lot easier to be told that someone loves you than to tell someone.

I think that’s about it for me this week. It was a good week. Happy Birthday to Suzi “Smells like bacon” Carr.

Surprise, surprise, class still hasn’t started. Though it is supposed to start today… I’m planning on taking things easy and basically just tell rules and class procedures this first day. I think the students need to ease back in to school. Okay, the teachers, too. Though this specific teacher is feeling more than ready to teach… 2.5 weeks is a long time to be here at site with no job to be done!

Last weekend the twins who live next door cleared out the bushes in their yard. The twins are both named Justin – Big and Little Justin. Though they are both the same size. Whatever, poorly named or not, they are lucky to be alive – in some places of Madagascar, twins are Fady (taboo) and they’re left to die! I don’t think that happens that much anymore, though. Anyways, they cleared out the bushes and bracken and whatnot, which, were I an environment volunteer, would be upsetting to me, what with the destruction of living, growing plants. Luckily I am not an environment volunteer and have become accustomed to the custom of “cleaning” one’s yard by pulling up everything that is green and burning it. Besides this wanton destruction of the environment, the clearing of these bushes has led to something else – now I can see the Mozambique Channel, in all of its brown, river run-off glory, from my very own back porch! If the Justins would have just gone a little farther, I would even have an unobstructed view of the sunset every evening… but that would require clearing the bushes in the yard of a different neighbor, which I don’t think particularly interests the Justins, so I’ll just take what I can get.

I went on a bike ride the other day to a little town 6K outside of Maintirano. Usually there are about 10 people sitting around this little town, but today they were all out in full force, with a sound system rocking and a huge crowd milling about. I asked someone what was going on and apparently there was a boxing match. I kinda wanted to stay around and watch, but by this point the crowd had turned around and was watching the white girl on the bike instead of the boxing match, so I biked back to town. On the way, some kids who were playing in the dirt saw me and yelled frantically to their brother inside the house: Malaky, malaky, misy vazaha!! (Hurry, hurry, there’s a white person). I waved, they squealed, and as far as I can tell, my riding by pretty much made these kids day. What am I going to do when I go back to America and am just another boring American walking around?

Birthday wishes this week to my Tipsy friend Michelle. She’s wonderful.

I am back at site after a looong time away – after three months, I was actually a little ready to get back here and have time to sit around my house and do nothing. Not much changed in the three months I was gone – I don’t imagine much ever changes here. The puppies that were so adorable in May have grown into what just might be the ugliest dogs I have ever seen, and they travel around town in a mangy pack, howling. Most students still seem to remember our usual “What’s up?”/”Nothing much” exchange, except for one group of middle school boys who didn’t remember that but did remember “I love you, teacher.” I guess I should be happy that they learned something.

The biggest change is that my wonderful site-mate Michela is no longer here. I really do miss her. I didn’t realize just how much time we spent together – I saw her everyday, we usually had at least one meal together, we worked and taught together. It was so nice to have someone to rely on like that, and I’ll really miss having one of my best friends here with me next year. But I do have other friends in town, and they’ll be more important to me in the coming year. This includes Carol, my new site-mate, who is great. I went over to my friend Dr. Jeanne’s house the other day for lunch. Sometimes I get a little uncomfortable going over there because she and her husband are always fighting and I end up in the corner playing with the kid, but they have a TV and an excellent selection of VCDs. This time they were perfectly civil, and then I got to watch like 3 hours of music videos which was great. Then I went over to Doureya and Abasse’s house for lunch another day. They are Indian, which means they have really great Indian films. (Maybe I just need a TV and some movies, not friends?) the one I watched this day was a particularly exciting one about this girl Ungini who is in love with her friend, but he and his girlfriend Tina are in love with each other, so Ungini leaves town and the other two get married. Unfortunately, Tina dies in childbirth, but she names the daughter Ungini and leaves a diary to be given to little Ungini on her 8th birthday, in which she instructs little Ungini to get her dad and big Ungini together. By this time, big Ungini is already engaged to another dude, but it’s okay, because it’s an arranged marriage, and she is still in love with dude #1. Anyways, after lots of mix-ups involving big and little Ungini, little Ungini gets them all together at a summer camp (I don’t know why they are at a summer camp, it’s Bollywood!) and dude #2, seeing that big Ungini loves dude #1, agrees to give up his place in the upcoming wedding to dude #1. At the wedding, big Ungini and dude #1 get married and everyone cries with joy. It was thrilling, all three hours full of intrigue and large-scale dance scenes. TO be honest, by this point, anything with bright colors and moving pictures will hold my attention.

I have been back at site for a week and a half now, and haven’t done too much of anything. Mostly I’ve worked in the ECC (English Cultural Center) which I received a grant to set up. It’s looking really good and I think it’ll offer people in town really good opportunities to learn independently. I’m still waiting for the electricity and bars on the windows to be installed, then I’ll buy the computer, TV, VCR, and DVD player that I got funding for. And then the real entertainment will begin (I have to at least TRY to remember that this is for the whole town and isn’t my own personal entertainment center, but it’s hard).

School is supposed to start today, and I’m glad to start teaching and have something to keep me busy. I’m teaching the equivalent of 6th and 7th grade this year, so it’ll be fun and not too complicated in terms of grammar. Lots of vocabulary and games. If classes would ever start, that is. I didn’t think they would actually teach today, needing to clean the classrooms (no janitors here to mop the floors and empty the trashcans. No mops or trashcans, for that matter – just brooms made out of sticks. Which actually work quite well), but it turns out, they aren’t even cleaning today, they are just finalizing class lists. Who knows when they will actually start classes, maybe not even until next week. It’s okay, I’m sure the day will come soon when I will wish I didn’t have to teach and could just sit around all day.

Birthday wishes to Amita in Washington DC and to Mr. Tom Chew down south in Ampanihy. More news next week… I’ll be better about updating every week now that I have a good routine again.

So I'm still up in Diego teaching English with Meghan and Suzi and Karen. At this point we've all been away from our sites for almost 3 months and I think we might secretly be ready to get back there. We're really bored but it's fun because we're all bored together. We've been finding creative ways to keep occupied. How have we graqsped at streaws to keep busy? Let me tell you....

We have played 3 full games of Monopoly in the past week. Each game keeps us busy for like 5 hours. It was but even though I didn't won once!! Good thing I'm in the Peace Corps and not in the real estate business.

We've also been cooking elaborate meals - we had pesto, coconut rice with crab, fried rice, sheet cookies, brownies, mexican night, and mediterannean day. It's fun to cook all day, especially on the weekends when the power is out all day so the electric company (which is bankrupt) can save gas. Yesterday, we had run out of themes, so we each just made foods we were craving, which resulted in us making refried beans, hummus, and mashed potatoes, which in the end did after all result in a theme: foods y ou don't have to chew!! I think that may have been the best meal of all. Except all those beans made us a little bit gaseuos... eww...

We've watched every one of the 7 movies at the house: tommy boy, gladiator, skulls, coyote ugly(twice), down to earth, harry potter, and Lord of the rings:the two towers. It's been really thrilling. Down to earth, starring Chris Rock as a black man who accidentally gets reincarnated as an old white dude, was particularly enthralling.

We went to visit our friend Paul in Ramena... but we found that Ramena is even more boring than Diego so we started drinking at 3 in the afternoon. You can imagine where that went from there, can't you?

So that's that... bored but happy. I go back to Tana on Wednesday, where I'll probably still be bored, but with more people around, so that'll be fun.

I have found a new passion... the OC!!! In the past three days I have watched all 27 episodes in season one. To be more exact, on Tuesday, I watched 5, on Wednesday I watched 4, and on Thursday I watched 18. That means, estimating each episode at 43 minutes, I have spent 19 hours and 20 minutes of the last 72 hours engrossed in the world of Newport Beach. And, 13 of those hours took place between the hours of 4 PM yesterday and 10 AM this morning. I was up until 5:15 AM watching all the intrigue! Then I had to stop because the power went out but when it came back at 7:30 I promptly returned to my post on the couch in front of the laptop. It was exhausting but well worth it. I have concluded that Seth Cohen is my soul mate. Unfortunately, my friend Suzi came to the same conclusion, but what with him being a fictional character and all, we’re not going to get all catty along the lines of Summer and Anna!

To be honest, when it was all over, I was happy to be able to get on with my life. Until I get my hands on season 2, that is!

I spent the day at the pool today pretending I was at the club in Newport. There was a beautiful view of the ocean and I ate a hamburger and banana split poolside. Life in the Peace Corps is really tough... I’m really roughing it this summer. Actually, I will have to soon if I continue to spend all my money on pool admission and delicious food. But, hey, why shouldn’t I take the chance to live the high life? Marissa, Summer, Seth and Ryan would, wouldn’t they?!?!

After several crazy, party filled weeks in Tana, I am up North in Diego-Suarez on the coast. I used to think Tana was the best city in all of Madagascar – so much to eat! So much to do! So many fun PCVs!... but I really just couldn’t take it anymore after the past two weeks, I needed to et away. Not that it wasn’t a ton of fun. Not that I didn’t love spending time with Libby “old ironsides” Cox at her hovel (fondly known as the “lovel”). We had a jolly time reading, listening to our iPods, and having a cocktail hour/tea consisting of melba toast and processed cheese.

A highlight was the night we stepped out of the lovel, speaking English, when the door of the room next to ours opened and a dark handsome head popped out. “Are you American?” asked the cute boy. Flabbergasted to see a cute American boy literally appear out of nowhere, we promply lost all use of language. Here’s how the conversation went:

Carlo: Are you ex-PCVs?

Tabbie: Yes!!!

Libby: No were not!

Tabbie: oh…. No, current PCVs

Libby: Want to come eat and drink with us?

Carlo: What?

Tabbie: Would you like to have dinner and go out with us.

Carlo: yeah sure. (pops inside to change)

So Carlo quickly took on the ultra desirtable position of “Tabbie and Libby’s Boy Toy.” You know how Gwen Stefani has those weird Asian girls follow her around? It was like that. Only he wasn’t Female, Asian, or wearing a plaid miniskirt. And there was only one of him. But Libby and I are really similar to Gwen Stefani so we at least have that.

Another highlight was the day we spent 2 hours filling up a kiddie pool at the peace corps house. This was no ordinary kiddie pool, however – it easily fit 6 of us. We thought this would be awesome until it came time to fill it. It literally took 2 hours to blow it up and carry water, pot by pot to the monstrosity. Plus it was a little chilly out so we were trying to heat water using the electric kettle and the stove that shorts out the electricity anytime you turn it on. It was totally worth it however once it was somewhat full and we could relax in the lukewarm pool on a chilly day. Ok doesn’t sound that great I know but it was totally worth risking frostbite for the novelty of a dip. We stuck it out in the pool for a good hour and a half, amusing ourselves by reading romance novels out loud, feeding each other butterscotch pudding (which was floating around in a bowl) and huddling the the fetal position whenever our cabana boy (or girl, I am on the WID/GAD (womens development) committee after all!!) brought new kettles of hot water. All we wanted was for someone to come home and be jealous of us having a relaxing day in the pool, but no one came home. So we went inside, took hot showers, dressed in all of our clothing, and drank hot cocoa. You’d be amazed by how cold it gets here in the winter up on the plateau. I thought I was signing up for life on a tropical island!!!

Which actually is what it is like on the coast. Its warm right now in Diego, not too hot. Its so nice to finally be warm after shivering in Tana for 2 weeks. I got here on Sunday morning and have been enjoying my time at the beautiful Diego peace corps house ever since. I’m up here teaching English to employees at ANGAP (an environmental organization) and PSI (a health organization). Also I am having a lovely time hanging out with Suzi, Meghan, and the rest of the crew up here. Finally, I am thoroughly enjoying the coconut and seafood cuisine (yes, the real reason I came). How can I ever live somewhere where I can’t eat shrimp, crab, and tuna everyday!?!? It sounds just awful. Of course then Ill have delivery pizza and Chinese food so I suppose I can deal.

Suzi spent the afternoon yesterday using the food processor. The whole afternoon, you might ask? Yes, the whole afternoon! She made peanut butter that is so creamy it looks like liquid chocolate. Also an amazing pesto sauce and (maybe a little too potent) garlic paste for brushetta. YUM. We also made coke floats. I love being an education volunteer in the summer when we can just trot around the country and hang out with our friends. But I’m excited to get back to site in 3 weeks as well – I’ve been gone for 3 months!! I actually miss my boring one-horse town (actually, no horses, but a ton of cows). I’ll be a good year there.

Okay off for coconut fish and rice at our favorite Malagasy restaurant in a shack. Maybe I’ll sunbathe this afternoon. Or nap. Or read. Or play with the food processor. Life is good here.

Hey Dudes....

I've recently come to the realization that I will have a laptop at site this year... and it plays VCDs. Which means I can watch Malagasy music video CDs. Since having this realization, I have purchased three different VCDs which, together, give me almost all of Britney Spears' Videos.

I'm concerned that now I will have no time at site. So English club is cancelled, Adult classes are suspended, and the girls club will spend every meeting learning a different Britney Spears dance.

I'm actually a little excited to go to site now.

Is that sad?

But for now I have WID/GAD stuff to look into this week and lots of quality time to be spent with my friend Libby

One of the best parts of being home... I realized that I wanted to come back here. Meaning I must actually be happy here in Madagascar. I never realized. But it is really good to be back.

I kinda slacked off on writing at home once I got over the thrill of having a lightening speed connection available to be 24-7. Also once I re-discovered digial cable. Nevertheless, America is great. I went to two wonderful weddings - congratulations to Jeff and Ashley, my two friends (not my ONLY two friends) from Miami University and to Mom and Dan! They were two very conveniently scheduled events - I got to see all my college friends at the first and all my family at the second. A highlight was hanging out with all my cousins. Particularly taking tequila shots with eveyone at the rehearsal dinner. Family and friends are going to be what I really miss here for the rest of my service. If I could just have them all ehre with me in Madagascar, everything would be great. But I don't think any of them are willing to make the move so I guess thats how it goes.

I've been back here just under a week and it's been fun. The WID/GAD (Women in Development / Gender and Development) commitee has been meeting during the day and partying at night. It's gotten a little crazy, especially with the addition of a new Britney Spears video VCD. I am so OBSESSED with Britney I don't know what to do.

I'm afraid I have to go now since the Peace Corps Tana house has just acquired a kiddie pool and I want to go splash around while it's still sunny. It may be winter and all but when you have opportunities like this you make it work.