“Look Lorax,” I said. “There’s no cause for alarm. I chopped just one tree. I am doing no harm. I’m being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed. A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need! It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat. But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that. You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets! Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!”

The Lorax said, “Sir! You are crazy with greed. There is no one on earth who would buy that fool Thneed!”

~Dr Seuss “The Lorax”

A metal so soft it bends to your bite, so hard to find you must dig until night.

Who would want such a metal that’s as soft as a petal? That can’t even be used for a pan or a kettle?

Who would search and dig and sift for these tiny pieces so fine? But look! When it’s polished then oh how it shines, we’ll make a fine sheet and darn all our shrines. Our ears, and our necks, and our fingers and hands will all twinkle and sparkle with this metal that’s grand.

~Me

I recently spent some time in the forest, helping a fellow volunteer gather information for his master’s thesis as well as for Conservation International. He interviewed families about how they use the forest while I ventured out on their foot paths to see what they’re actually doing. In order to get to these towns, though, we had to drive in a bush taxi 40 km on a gravel road (bumpy), and then walk 25km on an extremely muddy road that has been destroyed by semi trucks that transported hardwoods years ago. That was all to get to our base point, a town called Raboana, from which we would then trek another few hours on foot to the starting point of our forest walks. These families are pretty darn remote. As such, they’re the ones that should know the laws of forest use best-they’re the ones actually using it- but are often the least informed or just confused by being half-informed.

It was extremely challenging work, physically and mentally. Trudging through fallow rice fields while my Malagasy counterparts just seemed to flit right over the mud was really emotionally straining too. But we encountered something that I had never seen before; gold excavation sites. It was one of the most shocking things I’ve seen in nature.

Let’s set up the scene.

Covered in fresh scrapes from slashing through forest that slashes right back at you, we catch glimpses of an odd change in the forest floor ahead. A small hole appears and lifting my eyes from the constant vigil of my feet, I realize the ground in front of me has been ravaged. Where ground thick with forest humus used to be, there are only holes as far as you can see. The biggest holes are 3 meters deep and 2 meters wide. Some are connected by tunnels, others are smaller holes dug underneath weak palms miraculously still upright. Small streams nearby are milky with sediment, and cluttered with hastily discarded shovels, buckets, and sieves. “How many holes do you think there are?” I ask our local guide. “There’s no counting them. Maybe a hectare of land is wrecked at this site. There are older sites like this near-by,” he responds.

There are hundreds of gold sites like this one (we stumbled upon two more the next day, and often passed random holes where someone tested their luck to no avail) throughout the rainforest here. I’m not one for anthropomorphizing, animals or plants, but I’ve never seen something so brutal looking as that; the ground was masticated and the rivers bled.

I’d like to think I’m not naïve, at least not as much anymore. People like gold. I have worn gold in my life. I will probably again; it’s just so pretty.

I also know that the people that discover the gold are extremely poor (economically) and earn pittance for what they find. It’s enough to buy the few things they need money for; tools, salt, a new shirt, a “glucose biscuit” for their child. How can we tell people that have no other option (seemingly) to earn money that they have to stop providing for their families in order to save some trees and a few lemurs. Explaining the extreme endemism of their forests doesn’t work. The carbon cycle is pretty complicated to grasp as well. Forget even trying to use climate change as a reason. There’s the added problem that trying to get sustainably produced crops to market (without spoiling or damaging) is not just limited by the time it takes to get to markets, but as well by the amount they can transport. A kilogram of rice doesn’t rake in nearly the amount of dough as a kilogram of gold. It’s the same amount of weight in your backpack on that 25 kilometer walk out of the forest though. An additional tragedy is that the people that dig and destroy the forest looking for this gold get a fraction of a percent of the money that gold will eventually garner when the jeweler sells it to you in all its 24 karat glory. But that’s a whole other quandary I’m not going to delve into now.

Life is full of many such quandaries. I have no answers. I wish I could patch the forest back up. I wish I could change societal desires for pretty things, rare things, precious things. I wish the 300 year old hardwoods would be left to feed the lemurs and house the birds. I wish the rivers would run crystalline, clean, and full of fish. Wishing just doesn’t cut it.

This entry, my first in a while, is not meant to be a downer. It’s not meant to scold or guilt. I’m simply sharing my thoughts with you all (whoever you may be). These are issues that affect us all, whether we care to stop and think about it for a moment.

Also, go read “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss.

Peace and mirary soa.

Until next time...

Let me preface this post with the fact that every Sunday I’m at site without something to do I go to church with a friend of mine. It’s under the pretense of cultural exchange but really I just enjoy singing really loud and they really enjoy having a “vazaha” as a church member. It’s win-win.

SO…About a month and a half ago, my church friend Mamaniando invited me to night time services. For some reason that’s still not clear to me, they have service the 11th of every month. But why have a 3and a half hour service the morning of the 11th when you can have a service that starts the night before and catches the first hour of the day. Especially when the congregation wants to use its new generator that has two light bulbs strung to the beams of the roof. PARTY!

It was a hectic day, and I’m not sure why I agreed to go at all anyway. I had to run home, wash off the dirt, eat a pitiful dinner of cold rice and mushy greens, and hurry over to church half an hour late and services already started. I tried to be stealthy and sneak in the back that way I could sneak out as well if I got too tired and wanted to leave. Trying to be anonymous and under the radar is not really possible when your church is a small shack and you’re the only white person that lives there, so they put me in my regular seat at the very front of the church.

At 8 pm, after an hour of pre-service service, they stopped to have dinner (wish I had known), and play BLARING music over the speaker system also being run on the generator. After an hour and a half break service resumed again, but this time it was more like a regular service. At about 12:30 the generator died and I thought to myself “alright, they’ll wrap up now, they don’t have that many candles.” However, they had more gasoline for the generator- so they kicked that sucker back on and resumed.

I kept looking at all the tired faces around me. I go to sleep at like 9 which is late on average for the residents around me, so I just kept wondering…

Why do they like praying so much? Can’t we go home already? It’s already 1…1:30…2.

Dear goodness they must be about done, I’m exhausted. They already did collection…LET’S GO ALREADY. Man I’m getting a little angry, they lied t me. They said the service would g t midnight. It’s already 2:15 and the pastor isn’t slowing up. Wait what did the pastor just say about me looking tired and angry? Why does he have to call me out. Alright Sara, pull it together. This isn’t so bad, you’re being insensitive and you really should have known…come on just rally!......Phew service is over. What time is it? 2:30!?!?! Man! Alright, let’s all go home now. Wait why is no one moving? Wait why are they fiddling with the speakers again? NOOOO, not the blaring music, anything but the blaring music. No one is leaving. Oy. That’s it, I’m going home. I live right next door. It’s a short walk…But I don’t want to make Mamaniando and her husband leave early to take me home. I’ll stick it out, but man this music is LOUD…Oy 3:10 already? It’s 6 hours past my bed time…

“Hey Mamaniando, when are you guys going home?”

“Oh we’re not going home until the morning.”

“Wait, what? You said this was til 12. I thought you’d be going home.”

“No, it’s not safe out right now, we have to wait for the sun. We can walk you home, you’re close. You look tired and mad. Do you want to go home? We’ll take you hme now. You need your sleep so you aren’t weak again tomorrow. Let’s go.”

…Wow, I feel a little offended by all the unintentional stabs you just took at me, but I am too tired, so yea, let’s go…

End of stream-of-consciousness.

|I got home at 3:45 that night and even though I could hear the music from the church reverberating in my house, I passed out and slept late until 7:30 am.

Lessons learned:

Even church goers don’t necessarily tell the whole truth all the time.

A society where all houses are shut by dusk time due to a fear of witches and bad spirits of the night will not walk home at 1 am, so they will just party until the sun rises.

Never EVER say yes to non Sunday church events ever again (outside of Easter).

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading this confusing blog.

PS thanks to lea and rachel for commenting on the previous blog

One reason why living here is awesome: these guys are my neighbors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyj2jxAtCH8

There are many more reasons, but this is one for right now. Think of reasons why living where you live is awesome and then comment. (i.e. Boston is awesome because..., Coral Springs, FL is awesome because...)

First an introduction…

Well hello dear friends and/or family and/ or strangers, welcome to my house. Please won’t you come join me on my porch…

Isn’t it wonderful weather we’re having here? I couldn’t see beyond this hedge here before 7 this morning! That means it’s going to be hot today.

Oh and hear comes my young friend Naina. He’s certainly a character and maybe the most inquisitive child around. Beware however to guard your shiny things or else he’ll start to tinker…

Please come on into my house. I was just about to cook myself some lunch. Would you like big leaves or small leaves?

Well now that we’re both full off of indigestible roughage, come with me while I go to work. It’s just another afternoon teaching Santa how to graft his citrus trees.

If you stay for tomorrow you’ll get to come along with these crazy characters while we plant native forest trees!

You know it’s all just another day in the rainforest over here. Hey Ndrina what is it you smell? Something bad huh?

Yea, look Mampionina smells it too. Just take a look at her face! Probably those fruit fly cultures we started doing the other day. A few of them got a little moldy, but you know it’s all a learning experience.

But you do know what they say, all work and no play makes Tolatra a dull boy. So come on over, we’ll have a fresh coconut break with my friends. They’re great. The goofball with her hand in her mouth next to me is Katie. Smile Mcsmileson in the black sweater is Chantel. Nicki, the red head in a red tank top, is next to her and is receiving lessons on how to properly drink a coconut by my friend Brittany who decided to take a Macarena break as well. Aren’t they all just so crazy? Love them!

Just back from another great vacay but this time we traded me for Kelly and Brittany for Dan. Kelly and Dan are chuckleheads too so we all make a good group. I hope you’re a chucklehead too or else you might not be able to hang.

If you’re not a chucklehead perhaps you could hang with either of these rad fellas. One’s Malagasy and the other Welsh (guess who is which) and therefore not of American decent so probably have a bit more sense to them. Then again, maybe not…

Please family/friend/stranger, won’t you come with me on a bike trip around Madagascar’s largest lake? We can stop at towns along the way to teach the local people about AIDS, safe sex, gardening techniques for an immune boosting diet, and we can dance on stages and purposely act like fools since either way they’ll be talking about us. I promise it’ll be a hair pulling, butt chafing, dehydratingly good time!

Or perhaps you’d like something a little less active? Like sitting in large circles on small children? Well come with me as we join my fellow volunteer Amanda at her children’s environment camp. We’ll teach them about trusting each other and how all things in nature must rely on, must trust in everything else to keep it supported, to keep it from falling flat on its butt!

Hate crushing small children? Yea that’s fair. Well, at this project with a Dutch Habitat for Humanity International group from the Netherlands, we didn’t sit on small children but we did get them to pass bricks and learn some songs!

Or how about this trip with Hope for Madagascar? They took 30 young school kids from across the country to go see the beach, plant trees at a rural school a few hundred kilometers (a big deal to them) and share their cultural differences.

But perhaps sometimes you don’t want to be surrounded by small children. Perhaps you just want to cherish some time spent with the ones you love. Like maybe, kickin’ on a beach with your parents (Hi Mom and Dad)…

Or dancing in the rain on a beach you’re your older brother (hey Matt!)…

Or trekking over spiky things called tsingy...

You decide what kind of adventure you'd like over here in Madagascar and you let me know. For now, however, that is all. Thanks for visiting! Please allow my living alarm clock to show you out. If you ask him nicely he might sing a song for you. Take care!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

There’ll be rice for the planting

And lemurs a’ dancing

And omby out strolling in herds

There’ll be scary brush fires

And farmers all tired

Of guarding their fields from the birds

It’s the hap-happiest season of all

With those mangoes and litchis

Those plums and those peaches

When summer is here

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year family and friends! While you’ve all been bundling up I’ve been peeling off sweaty dirty layers of clothing after hours of rice planting each day. Day to day not a whole lot changes; my language slowly improves, my roof slowly leaks, my mind frame and emotional health have become much more stable- still crazy, but mainly happy.

It hasn’t changed much but what is it that I have been up to? Well aside from the aforementioned rice planting (walking 8-20 kms each day to go be bent over for 4 hours planting rice really wears a kid down), my “primary project” has actually been working on finding a way to get some form of watering system for the orchard that I work at. So you all may be hearing about that again as it comes closer to find ways to fund said project ::wink wink:: Our current situation is very difficult. We have one worker that has to water over 200 trees over about 3 hectares of very hilly land by carrying two 15 liter watering cans to and from the little puddle a 10 minute downhill walk (therefore uphill on the way back with full cans) from the start of the park. It’s damn hard work that I can’t do but have tried my darndest to help. Even carrying one of those watering cans up and down the hills just once is exhaustingly difficult. He can only reach about 50 trees a day so it takes half a week for each tree to get water. Thankfully, the rains are just beginning to start again- but it was a very, very dry and exhausting 3 months for him.

Back in October (has it been that long since I last posted!) I went on a work trip with an NGO called Hope for Madagascar. We took elementary school kids on their first and maybe only field trip to a beach town for an exchange of cultural and a tour of various environments here in Madagascar. The program is called Life Experience Exchange Program and it was maybe my favorite project to be involved in so far in Madagascar. Growing up in the states, I got to go on field trips all the time. They were a highlight of every year and there were often several each semester, but here it’s a completely foreign concept and I’ve never seen happier kids than those kids. It was also a platform for me to interact with the principal of our elementary school and we’ve done a few other programs since then; environmental camps at Mitsinjo- a local park run independently of the neighboring Madagascar National Park, and I’ve given a few simple English lessons to the kids each week.

Aside from work I’ve also been blessed with two wonderful visits- first my older brother Matt came for a week and then my parents for 2. It was really great to get to see them all after a year of being away from home, but it was also a reminder that life as I had known it is so far from life as I live it now. So for all those wondering if I’ve changed since being gone- well I guess the answer is yes... But no worries- I’m still a goofball. I have come to appreciate how special and privileged it is to be an American.

That’s my recap. It really is true what they tell us at the beginning of service. It may take a year, but eventually we each hit a stride, each find comfort in our home here. I finally and honestly feel “tamana” or well settled here. I love spending time at site with my Malagasy friends and family just as well as I love hanging out with fellow volunteers. Sometimes, I’m sad to be away from home but other times I dread returning as it means I will never be able to live what I’m living, interact with the people I do on a daily basis, live in this culture, speak in this language like I do today and every day for the next year. For now I savor each and every day as it comes.

Thus it is that as 2010 draws to a close I would like to thank all of you, my dear family and friends, because without your love, support, encouragement and contact I wouldn’t be able to be where I am, be as happy as I am and I can’t thank my lucky stars enough for this experience I'm living. Thank you, thank you. Tratry ny Krismasy ary ny taona vaovao. Mirary ny fety sambatra ary fahasalamana mandrak’izay!

Hello all it’s been a while and i’m now typing on a french key board I can’t change. Please be patient with any typos.

So a lot has happened these past two months. I sent an email detailing my first vacation- if you want to be on my emailing list and I actually know who you are- comment on this blog post or send me an email at tolliver.s@gmail.com and i’ll add ya!

Anyway, I got back a few days ago from a sweet awesome bike ride. It was an HIV/AIDS awareness ride that stopped in 9 towns around Lac Alaotra, the largest lake in Madagascar. I sadly had to come late and was only there for 5 presentations, but I learned a lot, worked a lot, sang, danced, and made a fool of myself on a stage more than ever before in my life. It was fantastic. So what’s the difference between cycling across the United States and biking around the largest lake in Madagascar ? I’ll tell you in my go-to form of a humorous list.

1) Road biking and biking on a "road" is not the same. The RN 44 (yes Route Nationale- aka National Highway) is not paved on ¾ the circumference of the lake. I wasn’t there for the paved part so I can only say with confidence that at least ¾ of that ride was bumpy, sandy, rocky and to top it all off windy. Think biking through the corn fields of the midwest but with rice paddies replacing corn fields and ox drawn carts replacing tractors.

2) Due to above detailed terrain and a not-so-recent spill on the highway near my house, I was overly cautious going downhill, at least in the begining. I slowly grew confident and embraced my usual reckless downhill speed and ended up really enjoying what was, by default, the best mountain biking I’ve ever done. (and made it back in one piece Mom and Dad- no worries)

3) Hoping that the showers in the next town would be hot was a laughable desire. Many went over a week without a proper bathing. Those that did brave the cool air for health and sanitation sake took a freezing cold bucket bath- who know’s how ‘clean’ they really got.

4) No peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. No donated day old Panera or Wholefoods bagels, breads or snacks. No pasta, no lasagna. It was rice and loaka (side dish- oily meat, maybe cucmber and vinegar salad if lucky) or it was fried street breads and bananas. Some tried to subsist primarily on THB the local beer (not unlike Bike and Build actually).

5) Biking across America required the biking of a ridiculous number of miles each day, passing out, eating , and maybe giving a brief presentation to a church group about why we’re riding. This time we biked a reasonable amount of kilometers, had a 2 hour raffle where each of 5 tables had to present a topic and drunk guys went from table to table asking for you to sign their raffle ticket so they could qualify to win, then a 2.5 -3 hour performance on stage complete with singing, dancing, condom relay races, and other fun games. Finally the day ended with a Malagasy movie whose message was if you cheat on your significant other wear a condom. We usually packed up our tables, pitched our tents, and got some beer during the movie.

6)It was no longer Mika that serves as a sound track but rqther Shakira’s WakaWaka (with the chorus changed to be about AIDS in the Malagasy language), Rihana and Eminem’s song (which Steph would sing on stage even though she didnt know most of the words nor did anyone in the crowd understand), and other hits from Tom’s CD he brought back from his trip to the States.

7)On our last day of the trip, instead of going to an Indian restaraunt and singing Mika’s ‘Happy Ending’ we had a bonfire, smores and then went dancing. It was then that I found out a surprising number of Malagasy men know how to swing dance. Roger, the Gasy guy from PSI, the NGO that supplied the sound system and the movie for our trip, threw me around the dance floor for a good 10 minutes of jumpin’ and jivin’.

8)I brought home an ornament from Santa Fe for my Mom and chocolates from Ghiradelli when we left San Fransisco on Bike and Build. This time I brought home for my neighbors a live goose inside a rafia bag that was sewn shut to serve as a travel carrier for her. Chris named her Lucy. She is loud and not a fan of soggy bread.

And now to round out a list of ten with two similarities…

9)Water bottle. Chain Reaction’s cycling sports water bottle- still awesome.

10)Bike and Build jersey. That’s right. I wore it-under my rain jacket. Those pockets are just so darn useful. But really I just wanted to be the cool kid in a cycling jersey.

Like I first stated I had an awesome time. I love riding, I love spending time with friends, and I love feeling like I have useful work to do. We decided our Peace Corps service may be better spent as a 2 year AIDS bike tour around Madagascar. But as soon as I got home from the trip I came down with a head cold- ratsy be! For now my garden is growing, my nose is running, and I’m looking forward to Amanda’s environmental summer camp I’ll be helping out with and Matt’s visit soon! Good things on the horizon. Here’s hoping all your hoizon’s are bright too.

Vacation is over and boy am I exhausted. Our planned “mirelax” (pronounced me-relax and actually used here as a verb to relax) vacation to the beach turned out to be ½ taxi brousse and ½ doing really cool stuff. But let me start at before leaving. For those that don’t have time to read turn back now- all others, take a bathroom break, grab some coffee and dive into my story.

The day before I left site was the Malagasy Independence day- the 50th year at that. There were firecrackers, parades, speeches and cooked meat for dinner. So very much like the American 4th of July and man do Malagasy people know how to party. Unfortunately, I do not, and went to bed before 7:30 pm that night. My neighbor’s brother came and knocked on my door at 7:30 to give me some food to share the joy of eating meat on the holiday. I was slightly embarrassed as I un-tucked my mosquito net to get out of bed. I’d like to say I was preparing for my impending travel or exhausted from festivities but even for me 7:30 is early.

It had been a long month of 12 hour long meetings every day for 3 days a week, so I had worked hard and was ready to go on my first vacation. It also had been super rainy and cold at site as winter has hit the rainforest and as I hung my moldy clothes for the 4th day in a row to dry (unsuccessfully even then) I thought only of the beautiful beach to come. I got up bright and early on the next day to catch a taxi brousse to Tana. We passed by the scariest and worst accident I’ve seen in the country and instead of slowing down and being even more cautious on the windy roads in the area, our driver seemed to get more bold and reckless. Or maybe I got more paranoid and scared. Either way, I got to Tana safely though still a bit shaken from the scene. So to calm my nerves, I made my friend Nicki birthday chocolate chip cookies using the oven in our Peace Corps hostel. I used butter and everything- they turned out pretty good and got us through some difficult travel to come. I also had taken the previous month to make her pineapple wine which will reappear in this story a bit later.

So Nicki and I left the MEVA (aforementioned PC hostel) bright and early Monday morning so we could catch our 8 hour taxi brousse to Mahajanga to meet up with Chantel. This is when the real headache that is the taxi brousse started. Even though unlike most white people in this country we speak the local language (which people get a kick out of and appreciate, usually) it did not help us negotiate for cheap fares and good seats. We were charged what we thought was a reasonable price (though turned out to be about 25%-50% more than all others in the car), told the taxi would leave very soon (not) and that we could get the seats with good leg room (which we were kicked out of about an hour later). None of this was unexpected, so at this point we were still in decent spirits- though I had come down with a rough case of giardia, which causes nausea, lack of appetite and intense stomach cramps among other symptoms. We got there at last, got a hotel, found some dinner (I didn’t partake in) and passed out. The next morning Tizzy met us from her site, and we spent Nicki’s birthday in Mahajanga, walking around, shopping, getting ice cream, and popping open that pineapple wine I had lugged hundreds of kilometers. So to make pineapple wine, you mash up a pineapple, add lots of sugar, and let it sit in a big bowl for weeks with a cloth protecting it from bugs and dirt but allowing air to pass through for fermentation. But I couldn’t transport it in a bowl, so I put the pulp/wine in an empty water bottle. Well, fermentation continues when you put it in a sealed container. So 3 days after being placed in a plastic water bottle, the bottle was hard as a rock with pressure. We tried to slowly let a little air out at a time, but as I gradually open and closed the bottle to release the pressure, the top flew off and half the pineapple sludge/wine erupted in a fountain in our hotel room, spraying the ceiling, bed and floor with what looked like pineapple vomit and was super sticky. It was quite amusing and a pain to even attempt to clean up.

The next day was the worst day for a brousse. It was this day that I got so angry I snapped with rage unlike anything I’ve ever done in my life. That’s what happens when your body is loaded with giardia and you keep getting exploited and lied to by the brousse station people. We made it to our destination in time and slightly more sane (though definitely more sick) than we left Mahajanga. The next day we swung by and picked up Katie- it was neat to see her site briefly and meet her crazy (and the first nice) brousse driver that honks at everyone he passes on the route and waves with both hands shouting “Arahabaina!” which I thought translated to congratulations but perhaps has another meaning. We finally got to Diego and met up with Mbôty, who took us to her site to do a cook stove project. I also gave a grafting demonstration to Santa (Malagasy farmer wearing a Santa hat- it’s hot in Diego too). Her town is super great and motivated to work and her Malagasy family there is super sweet. I fell in love with her “brothers”- the younger one, Gaiely aka Baby Charlie, is the boy in my new facebook picture. We were given Malagasy names there and mine is Soa-riziki which means good luck. I like it. We also got to watch the World Cup semi finals in her counterpart’s house (he has satellite TV and a generator- a weird amount of wealth out in the sticks 8 km from any road). It was fun to work but we had to get back to Diego to make an appointment with an NGO that had already been rescheduled from a few days ago due to some complications. The NGO we met- SunforLife- is run by this French man that focuses on making solar ovens and teaching about the benefits of Moringa- though the solar ovens have hit a road block as there’s a serious unavailability of card board boxes- they’re trying to find a solution in locally produced materials. But we did get some really great information about Moringa oleifera (please check it out if you don’t know about it) and about 16 kilos of seeds.

So after some productive work, it was time to start vacation. We headed straight to the beautiful beach, where we hung out testing the underwater powers of my sweet camera and watching the sun set over the clear water. It was Mbôty’s birthday, so we went out for dinner, karaoke (Tears in Heaven and other power ballads were the chosen repertoire by the Gasys) and dancing and had a great time. After Diego we broussed our way down to the national park Ankarana for some hiking in the forest. We watched the soccer games the night we got in and headed out early in the morning for our 7 hour hike in the forest. We saw tsingy (really awesome rock formations), 2 huge caves full of bats (a caving experience unlike anything you would ever have in America), 3 new species of lemur and I saw 6 new species of bird that I added to my list. It was beautiful, rugged, and unlike the forest by my house.

From Ankarana we headed to the small sleepy beach town known as Ankify. There is a port there that is the jumping off point for the biggest tourist spot in the entire country- Nosy Be- but we opted to go for the cheaper, quieter but still breathtakingly gorgeous beach a few kms away on the main land. We spent some time just relaxing on the powder white sand, swimming in the clear blue ocean (you could still see your feet treading water) and eating the freshest most delicious fish you can imagine. The best thing about this part of our experience was night swimming and seeing your ripples light up due to phosphorescent dinoflagellates. It was by far the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in life EVER!!!!! From Ankify we headed back to Mahajanga, spending a night at what seemed like the voandalana (souvenirs… kind of) center of Madagascar. At this point we had dropped Katie off and Nicki had to go south to Tana instead of north to Mahajanga, so Mbôty, Tizzy and I enjoyed the Mahajanga scene and the last two games of the World Cup (go Spain!) on our own. It was fun and a nice end to our vacation. Now I’m back in Tana for some meetings and a doctor's visit (I'm still sick with giardia) before heading home and getting back to work. I will welcome the change of pace with open arms and can’t wait to get back to my friends and neighbors in my town.

So for all of those wanting to come to the green island of Madagascar- Google Antsiranana, Ankify, Ankarana, and Mahajanga or check out facebook where those with computers have uploaded a few pictures (especially my friend Nicki). It’ll give you a good idea of some of the things Madagascar has to offer. Also don’t forget to check out Moringa- the “miracle” plant.

Until next time- much love, health and happiness to you all.

PS- I really really really enjoyed the comments on my last blog- please keep them coming!

PPS- Thank you for all the comments on the last post. They make me happy please keep them coming!

PPPS- Sorry for rambling- but you know me…

Have you ever been high on life for 2.5 weeks non stop? It’s exhausting! That’s why even though I had electricity and computer access that whole time (even free shaky internet for a few days) I didn’t write a blog. I much prefer to hand write my blogs by candlelight with music playing on my speakers (thank you Laurin- those speakers have been such a life saver). Currently (when I wrote this) I am listening to a genius Genius playlist of The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Andrew Bird, etc. But if you wanted to read about folky indie music you can check out any ol’ scenesters blog- I’m sure there’s plenty to be found. Though if you don’t know those artists- check ‘em out. Seriously. Also K*naan- “Take A Minute.” So good.

Instead let’s talk about the Malagasy music scene.

First of all, and probably most hilariously, there is a very popular artist here named Poopy. I sh*t you not. They also play Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” every 5th song or so. If you do decide to brave a Gasy night club, you might be surprised by the wall of mirrors everyone is pressed up against. It’s as though you’re in a jazzercise class- everyone sweating and staring into a mirror to see just how fine they look. Gasy fight for prime position right in front of the mirror so they can check out their own sweet dance moves. If there’s one thing Gasy’s love more than dancing in front of mirrors it might just be singing in front of mirrors. Karaoke (in Malagasy, French and English) is HUGE here. My first experience with both mirrors and karaoke was at this bar called Cool Cocktail (yes the name was English) where later that night 2 Malagasy women got into a cat fight, all music stopped, the people in the bar all poured outside into the cold night air to watch these two girls (one was the bartender) rip each other’s hair and push each other around. I hear the argument was over a guy. Another example of how people are the same no matter where they are. At any rate my first experience at Cool Cocktail was one to remember.

This is a sloppy segue into IST (in service training) stories- but I’ll take it anyway. So the second time going to Cool Cocktail was during an IST tech trip. The environment sector came to Moramonga and as it is my banking town I was responsible for providing our entertainment that night. We took over Cool Cocktail with our melodious renditions of “If You Wanna Be My Lover” by Spice Girls and the Queen classic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” We also tore up the dance floor when the Malagasy song “Za tsy kivy” (translates to: I’m not discouraged) imitating the music video and singing along- shocking the few Gasys in the bar that Wed night. It was a fun night, but the bumpy 10k ride out to see a vetiver demonstration field early the next morning did not sit well with most people in the van. Thankfully, most recovered by the time we had to load into the CUTEST Tonka like train to go to another vetiver field. The ride was amazing, but the vetiver was even cooler. To let you all know- vetiver is a power plant with incredibly strong and deep roots (up to 7m deep) that help control hillside erosion and create viable farming terraces on steep inclines. Totally awesome.

As a quick recap of other IST events… I learned some really cool things. Bee keeping, VIH/SIDA (HIV/AIDS) games for sensibilizations, new techniaues for teaching English, a technique of farming using natural mulch known as ‘direct seeding’ and also I learned just how hilarious the show 30 Rock is. I also helped (sorta) lead a session on tree propagation at the SAF/FJKM nursery in Moramonga. We also re-established the WID/GAD (Women In Development/ Gender And Development) committee with hopes of girls camps, co-ed sports teams, and overall examination of the relationship between gender roles and empowering both men and women to be active in their communities. I also became the VAC (Volunteer Advisory Committee) representative for the volunteers in the Moramonga region. As such I will serve as a liason between the volunteers in the field and the staff in the capitol. I’m super psyched about all of these things.

I was also a dancing fool- and my friends and I resumed our obnoxiously ostentation love for each other, making 2 rooms into one by moving 2 beds into one room (how they fit is still astounding) we then called “the orphanage.” We couldn’t stand to be apart anymore than we had to. It’s amazing how life carries on as though it never left off- and this fact is most apparent in Peace Corps. Being at IST was almost like the 4 months at site away from each other never happened. But we brought our Malagasy counterparts along and we could all speak Gasy a little better than when we left. Katie’s hair had grown into a sweet Ace Ventura mullet-ish style, and most were quite a bit tanner. So things had changed, but it was hard to tell. By the end of the two weeks however it was nice to get back home. Other than the rotting banana I had forgotten to take before leaving, and the extra couple pounds I had packed on eating the good food at Montasoa - everything there resumed just the same, as though IST never happened.

@ menaraka indray!

1 Even if you run out of oil, eggs, and sugar you can still make pancakes. All you need is a banana, some honey and a little creativity.

2 Eating healthy by default is a whole lot easier than being healthy by choice.

3 Stewed pumpkin and beans is delicious.

4 So is stewed dried fish and potatoes.

5 There are many many ways to eat a peanut. Boiled with rice, roasted and chopped with rice, made into peanut butter with rice…

6 Pounding rice is a good work out before eating rice.

7 When ‘bread’ is the ariest, driest most bland version of baguette you can imagine- you start to crave a whole wheat sandwhich more than an ice cream cone…well maybe that’s not true but man do I miss bread.

8 One end of a cucumber is different than the other. They cut off the thinner end and “scrape out the bitterness” with the cute piece. Try it out- perhaps American cucumbers are different- let me know!

9 When a cucumber is about 1 kg and has started to turn yellow on the outside it’s getting super super bitter on the inside and the seeds are now tough. I may have cucmber vine growing in my stomach as I type. Scary.

10 Cassava root- a huge staple in Niger, Madagascar and I’m pretty sure many other places in Africa- is one of my favorite staple foods here. Most think it tastes like nothing- but I’ll grow it in America since I won’t be able to find it at the grocers. The leaves are good too- pounded with peanuts and served with rice (see number 5). Mmmm cassava.

Well I’m off to IST (in service training) and I can’t believe it’s been over 3 months at site now. I would like to change the saying “Time flies when you’re having fun” to “In retrospect, time has flown.” I find that to be more the case-though don’t get me wrong- I’m having plenty of fun. Three months in means I’m 1/8 done with just over 20 months left to go- for those that have asked. I’m sure that time will fly as well.

So what’s been up? What’s the news (as they say over here)?

Well, I’ve started my compost pile- a necessary project even if just a way to dispose of food trash and paper. I have also planned and dug out my garden- it’s going to be rockin! I’ll plant once we get back. Tantely (my neighbor/ counterpart) have also decided to test out these hot boxes and cookstoves that we were taught in training to see what works etc so w can teach other people in the village. The cokstove project will be especially helpful in this town 15km from me that I went to a couple weeks ago.

The town is Mahatsara (which means to make good) and it’s right outside of National Park Mantady- a 10000 hectare reserve of primary rainforest where SAF/FJKM is collaborating with other organizations for a reforestation project.My trip out there was pretty sweet though I got a stomach bug and had to walk back the 15 km still sick- not too fun but still beautiful.

We also had a Cinco de Mayo party- not on the 5th of May. It was sad because it’s the last time I get to see a new friend of mine. Her work here is done so she’s going home, but I will be at IST when she leaves. So we celebrated with tortillas and beans. It was great teaching Gasy friends also in attendance to make food from a different culture. Americans are lucky that they are exposed to such a wide variety of not only food, but music, culture and styles- even if it’s not quite authentic (Taco Bell?) it’s still more than most are exposed to. So go enjoy some Daal, or Pad Thai followed by Gilato or Flan!

Mazotoa and until next time peace!

Tomorrow. This is a shout out to my Mom.

Dear Mom,

Sorry I never became a ballerina. Now that I am in Madagascar, I have found my dancing skills to be seriously lacking in the booty shaking department. Perhaps if I had taken your advice and been a dancer instead of a soccer player I could have represented better when made to dance with my Malagasy friends. I don't know how it's possible but it's truly as though their butts are not attatched to the rest of their bodies when they're dancing. Quite the site to see.

This is a quick post because frankly it's impromptu and not much exciting or funny has happened and why fill this blog with dribble? I'm healthy (ish), happy, working hard and most excitingly about to see all my fellow PCV from training at IST in a week! I'm so excited!

I promise a better post to follow. Everyone wish your mother a happy day- and appreciate the fact that you're in the world right now thanks to her. Give her a hug- and if you see MY mom- give her a hug too- from me.

LOVE

Man oh man so much has happened since my pre-Passover post!

I went down to Ranomafana with the NGO I work with to see their arboretum there. Ranomafana is a beautiful cloud forest that I would say is maybe even more beautiful than my rainforest- and that’s my home! So maybe I wouldn’t- but it’s still gorgeous out there. I didn’t see any lemurs but I was about 15ft (5m) from a Madagascar Harrier Hawk, picked up (oh yea) a 6 feet (2m) long boa (freaking out my Gasy coworkers- who are terrified of snakes), and saw the COOLEST chameleon- more then a foot long without counting the tail! That last bad boy was actually in the arboretum- they have a beautiful space there. It had been Dan Turk’s (NGO guy) experimental site for his doctorate 15 years ago so now it’s full of big, beautiful native tree. Now they’ve added an orchard and have made it a tourist friendly area to learn more about the trees you see in the forest. Every outing spent with Dan, Germain, and Rolland (two aforementioned Gasy co-workers, they work with Dan in Tana) is a learning experience, not only trees but my language also seems to improve after our trips. I’ve received a lot of positive reinforcement lately and I attribute to those outings and to my rockin’ neighbors that always talk to me.

After Ranomafana, I got to meet the new PCTs while they were on a tech trip in Andasibe. Ryan and Letti were there too giving a presentation on VOIs (community based conservation associations) and Amanda joined me in a presentation of what life is like the first few months at site. We spent the night with them and went on a night hike (though 30 loud people traipsing through the forest don’t usual see much- and we didn’t), a morning hike (the next day) and wanted to follow them to the beach. We weren’t allowed to go which is sad because Madagascar has pristine beaches which I still have not been to. Bummer! It was however nice being ‘home’ after so long away.

A couple weeks later SAF/FJKM celebrated its 20th anniversary at Moramonga (my banking town and our supervisor) so there was a big party! I wore a skirt (which made my neighbors ‘gaga’- the Malagasy word for surprised) and all my coworkers were all spiffed up for the festivities too (making me ‘gaga’)! There was prayer (it is a Christian NGO after all), speeches, tours of the tree nursery, slideshow presentations and a FEAST! Sooo muuuuch fooooood! Dan and co. were all in town for the festivities so they took me and my neighbors back home and assessed the condition of the nursery there. Their recommendations for the site have been keeping us very busy lately.

I pitched an idea about using the empty space in between the trees of the orchard as plots of land for the landless community members to use for crops. It’s a start and perhaps we can tweak it and make it more sustainable or try it out and see what exactly the flaw are and hopefully be able to fix them up.

So that’s work life. As for culture, I spent Easter with the family I go to church with every Sunday I’m in town which was really nice. I made guacamole and tortillas for my neighbors, and pancakes for the orchard workers. I got a break down on the different types of witches that are found here (yea we got witches) and my neighbor has been teaching me French in addition to Malagasy. I’ve been trying to learn about the trees I’ve been planting and the Malagasy names of birds I’ve been seeing.

So life is has been good, educational, difficult, fun, lonely, comfortable, busy, cold, hot and basically just life, but with cooler fruits. I recommend persimmons, annonas, carambolas (aka starfruit), ramboutans (crazy looking litchis) and the number one fruit I’ve been eating here (besides soooo many bananas) guava! YUM! Until next time…

As my friend Lupe Fiasco says: Peace and much love to you!

Hello everyone! My name is Jazz. Lars Jazz. Most people call me Jazz, some people call me Lars and everyone else call me Lars Jazz Monkey. I am a special envoy, chargé d'affaires, internuncio and substitute correspondent on temporary assignement for Sara. She's bummed out that her computer crashed so she has engaged me to assist in updating her blog. Enjoy! It's a good read! All the best! LJM_________________________________________________________________

Well it’s getting close to that time of year again, when Jews stop eating bread and start drinking wine. Four glasses per sedar to be exact. It’s got me thinking of that magical story of Passover. In particular about the story of the 10 plagues. So in honor of the season, I’ve composed my own Madagascar version. Enjoy

The first plague God turned water into blood for Moses but for me it’s swept floor to dirt in seconds flat. I’m not sure how it happens as I sweep it out it blow right back in. My concrete floor is perpetually covered in dirt.

The air shall be filled with mold …”that it shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed.” Exodus 8:3

“All the dust of the earth became [poultry poo].” Exodue 8 :17 My neighbor has a goose and 3 chickens. Their favorite thing in the world to do is defecate on my porch and in my front yard. I have a special chicken poo broom now.

Guess what thinks chicken poo is just tops? Ants! They’re everywhere inside and out. I had a friend buy me Muesli while she was in Tana- it’s the equivalent to about 3 weeks worth of groceries at site but it’s delicious and I savor it. After eating it once I found the next day that where once there was delicious oats and seeds there now was ants. I may have cried- I’ve tried to repress the memory.

Thankfully spiders eat ants. Unfortunately I’m freaked out by large spiders at night time. I slammed on in my door one night and found it the next morning being devoured by a swarm of ants. Then a battalion of spiders set up webs to combat the ants. Everyday I am plagued by stepping through their delicate and sticky webs.

Thankfully my skin remains boils free unlike the Egyptians of yore at this point in of God’s wrath, it is however torn up by thorns. It used to be just around my ankles as I trek through thorny brush a lot. Now that I’m spending a lot of time in the tree nursery though, my arms have fallen victim to the thorny wrath.

My number seven plague is not hail, but hail in it most liquidy form- rain. There was a hurricane last week and has been raining every since. Perhaps I should allegorically be refrencing Noah instead…

They swarm when I’m at my smelliest, dirtiest, and most disheveled state. No- not locusts, but young Malagasy men. By virtue of being American and white I’m whistled at and hit on constantly. Despite inadequate and inconsistent bathing, lack of deodorant and the general even-though-I-just-washed-this-shirt-it-still-smells state of my wardrobe I’m batting them away! I must be irresistible.

Exodus 10:22 “So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch black in all the land of Egypt three days.” Here in the heart of darkness, I can’t even see my hand if it’s touching my nose at night time. But this isn’t a plague- even dark, dreary days offer rain yoga and puddles to play in. It’s more something to wonder at- nighttime in a rainforest is really dark.

And finally…

Death of the first born…mosquito. And the second born, and the third born… We have several different species- some bite in the day some at night. Some can give you regular run-of-the-mill malaria, some cerebral malaria and yet others a slew of different diseases. Plus as any outdoorsmen knows- even without the threat of disease- their bites itch like crazy!

So I hope my list was more funny than concerning. Life here is really great despite these pesky problems. I’m finally receiving letters and packages (thanks Staci and Gabe, Kathy and Larry and who ever this new package I have yet to pick up is from!). Thank you all for keeping in touch- I love hearing from you and my mailman laughs at me every time he drops off a letter because I do a little dance. I write everyone back (I have 4 letters to mail today!) though it sometimes takes a little while for me to get a chance to buy postage.

In other news, there was a big celebration here for Women’s Day on the 8th of March. It’s great that it’s such a big part of culture here. There was a parade and speeches and women’s only basketball game in Andasibe. I went to be a spectator, but was ushered up to the stage by my vice mayor as an impromptu female VIP. There was a reception afterwards for all the VIPs on stage. I got cake and coke- it turned out to be an awesome event.

Last weekend, Amanda rode her bike to my site and stayed the night. We made chocolate chip pancakes (courtesy of her sister’s care package) and toured the orchard. It was serendipitous that Dan Turk- an American man I’ve been working in association with due to his role with SAF/FJKM- and his family were visiting the park that same night and invited us to spend the evening with them. They treated us to a delicious dinner, and we played games with their 2 kids. It was really great to spend time with an American family. Plus we got hot showers, and to use their hotel room’s electricity to charge our phones! So things have been really great. I’m spending a lot of time with the trees- getting dirty and working hard. I love it. I’ll be traveling to another part of the country soon for work so I’m really excited to see a new place! I also get to meet the new stage in about 2 weeks and talk to them about life in the first few months. I hope I can excite them, assure them, and calm any nerves they have- because although the first 2 months have been really difficult- they’ve been so wonderful at the same time.That’s all for now. I wish happiness and health to you all! Salama tsara!

...just kidding that would be a super boring post probably. Unless you really really like trees. In which case call me up and we can chat grafting techniques.

At any rate- that's what I've been doing for the past week at my 7:30 am- 5pm job. It's been a 4 day long training workshop (though it's just me and one other Gasy guy getting trained in Malagasy by another Gasy- so that was tough) in all things trees. I get to take these skills I now have back to my home and propagate trees on my compound. Rockin'! If anyone wants hot chili peppers let me know- though it would be illegal to send them to you. Oh man do I need to share my hot chili pepper story with you all. Not my most brilliant moment- but entertaining nonetheless.

So about 2 or 3 weeks ago I was preparing my dinner of spicy beans and rice. I take 3 of those tiny peppers we call "sakay" and tear them up with my fingers because I don't have a cutting board. I would like you all to keep in mind that I had never cooked with these peppers before and therefore didn't know what I was getting myself into. So I throw the peppers into my simmering beans and wipe my nose (i had previously chopped onions and my nose was all runny). About 20 mins later my nose begins to tingle. Then it begins to hurt. Then it feels like I have flames shooting out of my nostrils and I'm a mythical dragon freak. So I of course try to wash my face with buckets of water, but where ever the water goes the burning seemed to spread. As a former chemistry student I know that water dilutes things, but it doesn't neutralize acid burns. Bases do- like milk. But I don't have milk, I have powdered milk. So in a stroke of pure genius I decide to put powdered milk all on and up my nose to see if that will help. It didn't. Now, in addition to the virtual flames shooting out of my face, I had cheese paste in my nose making me nauseaus. At this point my food is cooked, and I've been in pain for a good 40 minutes. So I call up our doctor over here (probably disturbed his dinner) and asked what I could do. "Wash with water" he says "it may take several buckets full." Great. After 2 full buckets of water my face calms enough to be able to sorta eat dinner, wash dishes, and crawl into bed. I'm in bed reading Dune (at that point I was reading about the gom jabber- I think you should look that up right now bc it adds to this story) when all of a sudden my hands have that same on- fire feeling. It hurts so bad I untuck my mosquito net and bring my bucket of water next to my bed, all the while using the light of my candle to check and see if my skin was blistering from the 'burning.' Everytime I took my hands out of the water it's excruciating pain, so I lay half in bed, half out shaking my hands in my bucket of water- for a good 2 hours. I was so exhausted at that point (it was close to midnight) that I was able to fall asleep half in bed half out. I woke up the next morning completely fine, my hands slightly dried out from keeping them in water all night long.

I'm completely fine now, though I may forever be a little emotionally scarred from the powdered milk failure.Two weeks later I braved the chili peppers once again, using only one this time. Delicious!

I've had a great past few weeks, and I great few weeks coming up. We are getting a new group of trainees in (today actually!) and the environment volunteers will be taking a field trip to see my tree nursery and the national park I live next to. I get to tag along with the newbies for a night hike, teach them all about grafting (maybe?) and show off my super awesome home. I'm super excited. We've got St. Patrick's day coming up (we will partay), Passover (I will make people get together for a sedar), Easter (probably a rockin' time with my villagers), and my bday! (see below for possible care package ideas :)

Peace and much love to you!

-Photos! Of you right now, of us before I left of us from 1st grade(shout out to Jillian- your pictures are so very amazing it’sfantastic)

-Reading Materials! Magazines like Time or Nature or NationalGeographic are great. If you just read an awesome book send that too!

-Any Gators paraphernalia- it makes me ridiculously happy. I specifically could use a pillow case or blanket if anyone can findthose. But anything would be awesome

-Funny shirts, movies, Q Tips, hand made crafts (noodle frame to go with the pictures you send- absolutely!), or anything silly.

And now that I’ve waited an appropriate amount of bullets to make me seem less the glutton I am…the food category!

-Condiment packets- BBQ, ketchup, mayo, etc. Extremely useful here.

-Anything sweet- cookies, gummies, frosting, starbursts, m&ms, reeses- anything chocolate, really anything sweet.

-Dried fruit- blueberries, apples, mangoes, etc

-Trail mix! Granola! If it has oats and or nuts and/ or dried fruit its for me!

-Beef Jerkey! I never liked it in the states but Teryiaki BBQ sooo good!

-Tuna in water! It’s impossible to find here!

Just some ideas. Don't feel like you have to send a care package, letters really make me super happy and are $0.98. I have successfully received my first package (thanks Staci and Gabe) though it was sent to the address below- which still and will always work. My new one has so far been pretty unsuccessful- but you can try (my new one is on the right hand side of this webpage and on facebook).

(old address- still works well)

Sara Tolliver, PCV

Corps de la Paix

BP 12091

Poste Zoom Ankorondrano

101 Antananarivo

Madagascar

LOVE YOU ALL! Healthy and Happy Passover and Easter!

1 Birds don’t like 6am rain showers either, so you’ve instead spent 2 hours discovering how many leeches you can accumulate on your legs. 2 You may think you’re going to collide with oncoming traffic in a capital city without traffic lights, but never underestimate the skills of a taxi driver. He’ll get you from A to B without even nicking an ox cart. 3 Along the same lines- just because your van piled high with mattresses and tables and your life for the next two years gets stuck in a mud divot 5 k away from your off-the-beaten path town doesn’t mean you won’t get there. You’re driver will take out a shovel to dig out the tires while you walk to find nearby townspeople to help push the van out of the ditch and then construct a make shift bridge out of rocks. Amanda made it to her site and all was well! 4 Hand washing a wash cloth is really something to ponder. 5 Eating rice at every meal is not weird. But not great for your waist line. Unless you’re a Malagasy rice farmer. 6 English is hard. How do you explain the difference between “to say” and “to tell.” Finally and most importantly… 7 Communication doesn’t depend on fluency of language. Mimes get their point across too. I in much the same fashion- gestures go a long way. So I’m in my new village and have been there for 2 weeks. I have awesome neighbors that are taking very good care of me and I’m making friends with locals and park guides a like. I really really really miss home- especially when I have time to sit and think. Time has slowed down since the whirlwind of swear in and installation- now I spend time cooking, sweeping, washing my clothes, winnowing my rice, reading, and walking EVERYWHERE. I have a bike that I ride into the National Park a couple times a week and will be making a serious 20 mile hike into my banking town every few weeks over some really gnarly hills. Language is coming in leaps in bounds but it’s still so frustrating at times. Especially when you have a farmer that wants Peace Corps to give him money to buy 150 chickens to start his own chicken business. I went to this massive tree planting the other day where the planted 2,000 endemic forest trees as a reforestation project. There had to have been about 1000 people there so it took about 2 minutes to plant the trees (I did 3) and it was the most amazing, massive, well coordinated event I’ve seen. Complete with hand washing station, sandwiches and water for all participants. Truly amazing! So for now I’m trying to get “tamana” or well adjusted. It’ll be interesting to see what I decide to spend my time on for the next two years (which is so daunting to think about) since I have a lot of possibilities. My computer died and with it went many of my photos and all chances of possible skype to skype connection for now. SUPER sad! But I have a new address and a post man that delivers my mail to my door. Sara Tolliver, PCV SAF/ FJKM Antsapanana- Andasibe Fokontany Ampangalantsary, 514 Madagascar So I miss home and all you wonderful people so much. Letters, emails, blog comments, facebook, all of it makes me happier than you could imagine. If you have skype and can call my number is the same (country code 261)341890626. Even texts make my day and they’re either free or really cheap from skype so check that out too! (include your name in those texts though)

I want to hear about life in the states- even the mundane! Like this: Current book I’m reading: Dune (it’s awesome) Last meal I cooked: my breakfast 2 days ago of leftover rice and roasted salted peanuts (a nat’l dish and surprisingly delicious!)

Last cool animal I saw: The biggest, greenest chameleon you could imagine- it was like 10 inches long and maybe 5 inches high. Likewise if you have specific questions about my life here send me an email or blog comment and I’ll answer them as best I can. I miss you, love you, and think about y’all all the time.

After 3 long months of training they decided to let us volunteer! Hi all! Just wanted to make a quick update while I had access to my APCD (PC jargon) computer and internet access. My computer died 2 nights ago so instead of a well thought out and elaborate post full of pictures you get this hastily made entry.

So this morning was swear in. I made it through training- 3 countries, 14000 miles of flight, 2 hemispheres and countless parasites later. We had a big party, sang a Malagasy song (Salakao), and then binged on pastries with our staff, embassy personel, some counterparts (mine included!), and about 10 Gasy journalists. The wandering turtle stole the show though as it did laps around the "stage" (grass lawn of the ambassador's house) eating the decorative rose arrangements. It's ok because it's a protected endangered species of turtle being kept as a pet- over 100 years old too!

So life right now is a whirlwind of confusion as PC tries to work out the logistics of sending 36 people around a nation the size of California with only about 9 mains roads and the most discombobulated routes imagineable. We also have to open our bank accounts, withdraw money (all in French) and buy our beds and cook stoves before leaving the capital because our local banking town wont have it.

Anyway have to go. More to come soon hopefully. This was just a taste.

Miss you all so much. I got an abundance of letters today and cried with excitment so keep them coming.

Much Love

Merry Christmas! And a soon to be Happy New Year! As I type this I am listening to Kaley’s Bachelorette CD (shout out- miss you girl!) with my roomies Katie and Nicki here in Mantasoa, Madagascar. We live in a beautiful paradise that looks a lot like Washington state (so I’ve been told). We live on a lake in the rain forests outside of Antananarivo where we can go canoeing, mountain biking and hiking everyday. There are rice paddies, fresh fruits, gorgeous flowers and beautiful birds. It’s almost as 180 as you could get from the deserts of Niger- and our clothing reflects it. We are currently all housed together on a single compound that is reminiscent of sleep-away summer camps, complete with chefs that cook our every meal, and cleaning ladies that also do our laundry once a week. We are being spoiled rotten right now, and we know it. Today, as a Christmas present, our training staff is taking us to Andasibe Nat’l Park. It’s the only home of the indri- the world’s largest lemur whose call is said to be one of the most haunting noises in nature. It will be the sound that I will be waking up to for the next two years as my post is in a small town right outside of Andasibe. Yes, I found out my site placement finally, 2 months and 1 evacuation later! For the next two years I will be living in Antsapanana, with a lot of available projects at my fingertips. I could/will be doing some tree nurseries and fruit tree grafting, setting up vegetable gardens and working with ecotourism. I was told by my APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director) that I will be working closely with an NGO known as SAF/FJKM around the Andasibe area. I’m really excited by the prospect of my future job and projects and the fact that I’ll be able to go camping with the lemurs every weekend. I’m also super psyched that I share a banking town (Moramanga) with Katie and that we’re not too far from Nicki. I actually have a sweet “cluster” of people nearby; Amanda is within biking distance of me (I think) and Monica lives in the banking town. Kelly, Tom, Jaja, Jackson, Aaron, Dacia and Hannah are all pretty near too so we’ve got a great group. I’m sad that Chantel and Steph are pretty far away, but now I’ve got great excuses to visit the rest of the country. Mike is also set up in a sweet national park position right outside of Ranomafana- 11 lemur species, bird watching, beautiful botanicals and rare orchids. Others have great posts near the beach, or near dinosaur fossil archaeological sites or even in the unique spiny forests in the south where the various baobabs give it a Seussian appearance. Most are very excited about their posts and prospective jobs so it was a good Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas we also did a “Secret Santa” which has been tons of fun this past week. Mine got me a cute turtle figurine made of conch shell, a great wrap skirt, a beautiful hand crafted Malagasy kerchief, and this beautiful stationary with pressed flowers in the paper. We made paper stockings for each trainee and LCF here for ‘Krismasy’ and hung paper snowflakes and had a small decorated Christmas tree (just a large pine tree branch). We had our morning classes all snuggled up by a fire. And all day long we ate. It was a ridiculous amount of food- complete with sugar cookies on Christmas Eve, pancakes for breakfast, fruit cake for ‘morning pause,’ hot dogs for lunch and for dinner turkey, ham, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. They even rounded up some coconut ice cream from the capital for us, made us apple pie, mango cobbler and mint brownies. American gluttony at it’s finest- but we will soon be in the community eating rice for every meal until post so we enjoyed the feast tremendously.

In other news, we had our first market experience (a very successful one), learned Malagasy carols, and have started a most epic game of “Mafia.” Throughout this holiday season I have somehow managed to become our stage’s representative of the Jewish religion. I’ve regaled the Malagasy and my fellow trainees (some of whom have never known a Jew before) with the story of Chanukah and the other Jewish holidays. I’ve also given a few presentations on bike maintenance and repair to my fellow trainees. We also got a brief history lesson on Madagascar and I would recommend anyone looking for a chuckle to check out the latest in Madagascar politics. A year ago a radio DJ decided to declare himself president (though there already was one and had been on for several years) and due to technical difficulties surrounding a speech made by the then president, the DJ has somewhat succeeded at becoming the president. It’s certainly interesting, and I wish we had internet and news at our fingertips to read more about it.

Though it’s been two long months of close quarters and consolidation, many of us have formed really strong bonds and friendships. Our impending departure from the training sight is both sad and exciting. Our language will improve in leaps and bounds once we move off site into a host family for the last three weeks of training. It will also make swear in that much more sweet as it will be the last time we’re all together again, at least until IST (in service training). I’ve got a good group of friends here that will be a great support for me especially in the beginning, so I’m very thankful. I’ve also been healthy ever since Niger (a little bit of hip pain- probably over exercising after being sedentary for so long) so that’s been great too. Life in Madagascar is pretty great right now though the holidays were a challenge for me with home-sickness. I miss you all and am glad to have been able to chat with a few people this past month. Send me text messages or try and call me on Skype. My phone service will be pretty good at site and I won’t be changing my number after all.

Sorry if this entry doesn’t make the most sense or flow very well. As I work on learning another new language I find my English skills lacking. Anyway, I miss you all. I hope Santa was very kind to you this Christmas/ Chanukah season and that you ring in the New Year (new decade) in health and with your loved ones all around. I know I miss mine. Next time I post it will be 2010 and I could be a sworn in PCV! Woohoo!

So much has happened since last I wrote in Konni. Let me first give a picture of daily life for the first month of training here in Niger.5 am- Call to prayer and loud animals wake me from sleep. I sleep outside under a mosquito net and a bat infested Neem tree. 6:30 ish- Go for a run with some of my fellow trainees.7:30 ish- bucket bath in my outdoor latrine

8:00- head to the main street for some breakfast. Usually either fried dough covered in sugar, fried millet covered in spices or delicious Solani- yogurt in a bag.

8:30- language classes begin. I have class with two of my fellow stage members in my host family’s concession. We are constantly and hilariously distracted by either the braying donkey or crying goats, and it took a while for the mean guard turkey to leave us alone. Classes go until 4:15 everyday and we have an hour break for lunch in the middle.

For the rest of the evening I either chill by the seasonal lake of Hamdallaye with some of my friends or I chill with my family and play with Aicha, the 6 year old daughter.

7 pm- Dinner! Lunch and dinner are usually either rice and beans or rice and ‘sauce’ or the occasional pasta and oil. My roommate and I actually eat pretty well (and always with our hands) compared to our fellow trainees that often times have Tuwo for dinner- a pounded millet dish that doesn’t compare to anything American. They tell us we will grow to love it- but for right now it’s not my favorite Nigerien dish.9pm usually finds me in bed already, reading, studying, or writing in my journal.

That was my routine until November 15. We were put under consolidation and have been confined to the training site just north of Hamdallaye. There was a security issue involving Americans in a region a few hundred kilometers away from the training site, but it was serious enough for them to put a lock down on all the volunteers in country. So we have not been living with our families or able to go into town (aside from going to the market). We had a trip to the capital of Niamey scheduled that was cancelled as well. For the past two weeks the administrative forces of Peace Corps Niger have been working hard to asses our safety and our status. They came to the conclusion on November 25 that as trainees with limited language and limited knowledge of what is normal and safe and what is out of the ordinary that it would be in our best interest and for our best security to evacuate us from Niger and send us to a different country.

So we are going to Madagascar. From desert to rainforest. From land locked, to island. From millet tuwo and onions to abundant fresh fruit and vegetables. From ‘hard core’ to ‘beach corps.’ Despite how hard it may seem to live in Niger and how intimidated we all were 6 weeks ago when we landed- Niger and it’s people have this amazing charm and we are all terribly sad to be leaving such a wonderful country. If given the option to choose between staying and going to Madagascar it would not be an easy decision. Our supporting staff was beyond amazing, our host families so hospitable and the volunteers in country that we are leaving behind (the volunteers in country get to stay if they want- just us trainees are being forced to leave) will be so sorely missed. I hope to be able to keep in touch with a few- especially one guy that was an evac from Guinea that went through training with us but has already been sworn in and is therefore staying. We will be leaving Niger Sunday night at midnight, arriving in Paris Monday morning, flying out of Paris Tuesday and landing in Antanarivo Tuesday night. A lot of travel but I’m just excited to get the opportunity to be reassigned so quickly and with my ‘new family’ of fellow trainees. We also get to spend a full day in Paris as a layover. Party time? Excellent! As a farewell to Niger, here are some highlights of the country and the people. The country looks a lot like Arizona, red sand, some small brush and a few trees (depending on region) It’s gorgeous at sunrise and sunset and the nights are lit by a thousand beautiful stars that we sleep under. The people are so welcoming and always laughing. The women here do this throat click or swift inhale when they agree with you which took a while to figure out, but it’s something I love. Market days (Tuesday for Hamdallaye) are the most amazing days when the town transforms into this bustling hullabaloo full of beautiful fabrics, cheap flip flops, live animals and interesting foods. There’s also a ridiculous amount of Obama paraphernalia here; Obama wallets, Obama shirts with a clock in the background (Obama time!), and more. Half of conversations are taken up by greetings, Ina kwana, ina gajiya, ina gida, ina aiki. How’s you sleep, your tiredness, your home, your work. We just celebrated the holiday of Tabaski (Salla laya) where families slaughter a ram and cook it all up and share with their neighbors and the needy. It’s a lot like Thanksgiving, lots of food and family time. We also had a Nigerien Olympics where the Americans had to run an obstacle course with buckets of water on our heads and 'babies' strapped to our backs, we had to pound peanuts to peanut butter and make the best cup of Nigerien tea with authentic technique. Then we made our teachers and staff go through an American Olympics with pin the tail on the donkey, tug-of-war and the most awesome game of musical chair. The Nigeriens really loved musical chairs. It was fantastic fun. I love this country and am sad to leave but look forward to working an environmental job in Madagascar. Send me mail there! Danny and Jillian I've loved getting your letters they brighten my day. I know others have sent me mail and I anxiously await the arrival of mail each week. Thank you all for your love and support so far, I'll be chatting soon!

New address:

Ms Sara Tolliver, PCT

Bureau de Corps de la Paix

B.P. 12091

Poste Zoom Ankorondrano

Antananarivo 101Madagascar

Hi friends and family. Internet is frustratingly slow here but we have a new motto in Niger. Sannu Sannu, sai hankuri. slowly slowly, have patience. i miss you all. im running out of time online but i want you all to know i'm happy and healthy and having a good time here, everything is so different (even this keyboard). i can't wait to contact you all and let you know about my adventures.

know that although its hot the nights are cooling. i'm learning to garden and learning Hausa. the culture here is so different but people are the same the world around. it's amazing!

letters are expensive to send from here (3 coca colas = 1 letter to the states or to cameroun) but i loooooooove receiving all forms of mail. so please do it often. i will be getting a cell phone soon and may be able to access the internet more frequently in about a week and a half and up until training is over. if you want to ever be able to talk to me sign up for skype and find out how much it cost to call a cell from the internet. if not send letters and ill send some back though you might not get african postage. also respond to this blog or send me emails or write on facebook. ill respond to what i can when i can!

i miss everyone a lot!

all my love

Hey guys! Last contact from me for a bit. I'm sitting in JFK airport about to board onto AirFrance. Soo exciting! What a whirlwind the last 24 hours have been. I've met my group of 38 new friends that will be traveling and training with me. They're all super nice, super adventurous, and it seems like each person has their own great story. I'm so lucky to get to share in this experience with great people. Orientation and Yellow Fever shots, I'm now officially a PCT (peace corps trainee) and ready to go. I love you all. Thank you for the goodbyes and well wishes. I'll be writing, especially if you write me!

Brace yourself- this post is a long one. I'm terrible at recapping. I'm sure I'll hone those skills while abroad but please endure for now.

So, I went to Boston last week. It was amazing. The weather was gorgeous- like a glorious mid December day for south Florida but it was September.

I spent Friday walking all around with my cousin Amy. We saw Beacon Hill, Newberry Street, the commons, a man doing tai chi in the gardens, and flocks of old people passing through Harvard's undergrad campus.

Friday night I met up with the most amazing people. I'm so thankful Danny came in from NY, and that CC, Lea and Neil were there too. They made my visit so special. I haven't seen Neil in probably 4 years so that was so cool! CC was the champ of the evening, enduring a crazy change of bars, finishing off my first crappy drink, and walking all the way back to HBS with me. Thanks CC!

Saturday, Matt and I went apple picking with the Rubins of Braintree and we got ice cream at the most bizarre ice cream shoppe/ family fun park ever in Harvard, Mass. It was great to spend time with them. Saturday evening I got to see some Bike and Builders! Rachel made the trek in from NY. Spending time with her, Matt and Anahita was a blast! Especially since we got to watch some pro-cycling. The B and B gang along with Matt's friend Robert (who witnessed me befriend a subway full of people in 10 mins- awesome!) met CC, Danny and Neil (and Neil's posse) Saturday night over beers and $1 hotdogs.

Sunday morning/afternoon brought the first of my rough goodbyes ("see you later"s actually). Danny had to head back to NY after the gang brunched together. Danny if you read my blog- I expect mail in the form of awesome cartoons. I'll need them! I spent the rest of the afternoon chillin' with Lea. Sun night my brother, his wicked awesome roommate, and another of their friends met the bike and builders and some of Anahita's friends at a restaurant called Algiers cafe. Algiers happens to share a border with Niger, so it was perfect!

Monday I sat in on a HBS class with Matt. I read the case the night before so I understood and really enjoyed the class discussion. Everyone that spoke said something relevant, succinct, and intelligent. But what else is to be expected from a grad class at Harvard? Matt and I also, unintentionally, wore matching shirts. I reveled. We caught 3/4 of a classical piano concert on campus and then I headed over with Lea to bother CC at work. We sat there without ordering because of the fast and were a complete distraction. I broke fast that night with my brother and family in Braintree. Kugel, bagels, salad and tuna- can't beat it. My aunt also made apple coffee cake from the apples we had picked on Saturday. Mmmm.

Tuesday came too soon but was the end to the perfect trip. Lea, CC and I got lunch (I saved my sandwich for the plane ride- delicious!) and shared some blackberry ice cream. I met Matt on campus to have lunch with Matt in HBS's main dining hall. It looked like it belonged in the magical school of Hogwarts- the hall was gorgeous and the food was delicious.

Boston was great and I'm so happy I got to go visit before heading off to PC.

Since Boston, I went mountain biking with my friend Jay. Terrifying and exhilaratingly fun at the same time, though I certainly did wuss out quite a bit. Thanks for taking me Jay!

Jillian came down from Gville and Laurin came up from Miami (with Kimbo in tow!) ad we hung out Friday night. I miss S167 like crazy, so it was nice to be reunited with my roomies again. Laurin spent the night at my place and hung out for a while on Sat before heading back south. Glorious!

Both of my brothers came in for the weekend too! All 5 Tollivers together in one household for the last time in the next 2 years. I love my family so very much. My Mom hosted a dinner bash for my family and close family friends on Saturday night. I need a new synonym for great/wonderful/glorious but it really was just so special to have everyone over.

It'll be strange to come back in two years and my cousins will have shot up like weeds. As will my neighbors' kids. Even my younger brother still has some growing left to do. My older brother will have an MBA from Harvard. My younger brother will be nearly done at FSU. Jillian will have her MSM. Lynn will be done with OT school. Hopefully the Gators will have won at least one more championship (Go Gators) :)

Today both my brothers left to head back to school. I won't see them again for a long time. That's really hard to handle, but I have to. I love you both so very much. You mean the world to me and I hope your academic endeavors prove to be fruitful as well as fantastically fun. You better write back to the hundreds of letters I'll be sending your way.

Goodnight for now and salamu alaikum!

I will be in Philly for orientation in a month. It's so crazy soon, I feel like I have so much to do still! Things are starting to come to order, as I have started to amass the things I'll take with me for the next two years. I need need NEED to make a scrapbook- and by scrapbook I mean photo album. I'm not nearly crafty enough for scrapbooking. Let's be honest.

I also have to continue eating delicious food that I won't have for a while. Mom made a delish mock Thanksgiving dinner tonight- since I won't be home for turkey day state side. Sooo yummy. I love my family. Is that corny to say? Who cares.

I've been reading up on tree planting and goat milk processing as well as 3000 other things I find relevant/interesting.

I need to find some books to bring with me that I want to use my awesome Barnes and Noble gift card on. Recommendations?

Last time I posted I was headed to Gainesville. That was a ton of fun- I love my 'family' there and, boy, I do love my Gators.

This time though, I'm headed to Boston... on Thursday! I'm very excited to see my "peeps" up there. It'll be sad to say goodbye- but it's only for a few years. There's a pro cycling race, a potential birthday celebration, possible "free cupcakes" from a local bakery, Harvard business school classes to sit in on, and hopefully a holiday to spend with my Northeasterly family. It will be good times.

à plus

So, I'm going to Niger!

"Oh wow!! Wait...where is that?"

Niger is north of Nigeria, landlocked, 80% Sahara Desert and one of the poorest African nations. I'll be heading over there on October 19th to train for a few months before heading to my small village. I will be trying to develop irrigation farming, planting of fruit trees as well as focusing on small animal husbandry. No, not marrying animals. Jokers. I'll be promoting chicken vaccinations, and the healthy raising and utilization of goats in all their caprigenous glory. I'm soooooooooooooo excited!

Until that time I'm takin' care of business...

Today I got the last of my medical paperwork done, took care of my passport and my visa, and read a whole lot more.

Tomorrow I head to G'ville to say goodbye to my former home away from home before leaving for Niger. I'm so excited to see everyone and go to a Gator game, even if it's against Charleston Southern (who?).

Zo-cial, gator game, and Bob's riverplace. It's going to be a pretty sweet weekend.

Au revoir!