The first rule of fight club is that you do not talk about fight club. Apparently the rats didn’t get that message cause they threw a rat fight club in my ceiling my 2nd week back at site from Christmas vacation (more on that later). It was loud, annoying and there might have been a casualty, though I have no way of knowing. In the run-up to the WWE main event, there were rats scurrying all over my ceiling (this all happened in my attic space), causing me a few days of little shut-eye just from the noise of their nails click, click, clicking on the wood above my head. Not to mention I think entrance to my attic is right above my head. On the night of the fight, my friend Katie happened to be at my site for a site exchange (again, more on that later) and she and I both listened in mild terror (at least it was mild terror for me, since I thought they were going to come to come crashing through my ceiling) at the fight over our heads. At one point it even woke us up, since during their intermission we had fallen asleep. I was really glad she was there. It helped keep me more sane then I would have has I been by myself. I knew the rats couldn’t get into my house, since there are no holes in my ceiling, but you know what the night can do to you. Makes you think about all the what ifs. Thankfully, I think they are gone. I marched over to my guards house the next day and asked him very politely if he wouldn’t mind plugging the hole that lead into my house. He did, they got in again, though I think only one, he fixed it again (I think. At least I asked him too again) and now I hope they are really gone. I keep thinking I hear a rat, walking along, but I think I am just having flashbacks.

So let’s back up to December and 2011. The big news was I WENT HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! It was so exciting. My dad planned it as a surprise for my mom and we managed to keep it from her, which I think is pretty impressive considering we booked the ticket in late August. Since we wanted to surprise my mom, I didn’t tell any of my friends that I was coming home either. The only people who knew were Eric, his girlfriend (at least I’m assuming Becca knew), Brian and my dad. Any more people and someone would have cracked. I got into Seattle, via Atlanta and Paris, at 12:30am on December 22nd. Eric came and got me at the airport and then we had to be really quiet when we got home. My dad work us up at 6:45am to surprise my mom. And boy was she surprised! Especially since I had lied (sorry Mom!) about my Christmas plans and she thought I was on the east coast of MADA. I hung out at home all day, since I didn’t want anyone to see me (though I did crack and take my dog for a walk around Greenlake, a inner city lake that’s real close to my house. I didn’t think I would see anyone since it was super cold and early in the morning). We then surprised my godfather at dinner that night and then a few of my friends that night at their apartment. It was a great first day back.

The whole trip home was a success. Brian came out for like 6 days over New Year’s, which was amazing. We did a lot of wedding planning stuff, which still isn’t finalized yet, but will be soon, and watched a lot of football (it was college bowl week and I love college bowl week). I also hung out with my family a lot, did some damage at Banana Republic (I felt like I was one of the Bakers, especially since I ended up buy the same trench coat as Katie), had lots of wine and one AMAZING steak (thanks baby!), and overall eat my way through the 2 week trip. I had to stock up on cheese, since there is only one brand of cheese here and it leaves something to be desired. I had a lot of time to just sit and chill, which was nice. I mean I do that a lot at site, but it was nice to do it in front of a TV with dozens of channels. and to be able to get up, grab a diet coke (which they don't have here and it always makes me sad) and sit or lay right back down. I headed back to MADA on Jan 5th and went back to site on Jan 8th.

I came back to MADA at the beginning of a cyclone so my first Tuesday back I didn’t have to teach since school was closed. Monday I managed to make it to school, maybe the eye of the storm was over us or something, cause Sunday and Tuesday were awful. Then Katie showed up! Katie is my friend in Peace Corps who lives in the north of MADA, by a town called Ambanja, which I think you can find on a map. She came to my site to help me paint a giant work map at my CEG. We worked real hard too. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday at my CEG, gridding, painting, drawing, painting again, drawing again. We did have some assistants, in the form of my site mate's next door neighbors, who are 8, 6 and 4, but the two youngest did get bored after awhile with all the blue painting being done and went off and did something. We were exhausted on Sunday night. Katie also taught in my high school classes and work at the health center one day with my site mate. It was a very successful site exchange. We got a lot done and my school loves the map. I see kids looking at it all the time. We also had a lot of fun too. We watched a lot of movies and cooked a lot of food. We can work and play hard. What what!

Katie left last week, so I’ve just been teaching. Nothing too exciting going on. I weird to think that I leave MADA this year. Less than a year left. Less than 8 months left. It’s weird to think about. I will come back to America and have to find a real job and be a real grown-up. My after Peace Corps plans involve coming back to the US as soon as I finished, but I am not sure where I will be for a while. Ultimately I will end up in DC with Brian, but my friend Rachel is engaged and may be getting married in the fall, so if she does, I will have to be in Seattle for the wedding, which I wouldn’t miss for anything since she’s the first HS friend getting married and the first of my friends weddings I can go to since my friend Jenn got married Labor Day weekend after I left for PC (Sorry Jenn! I Hope you got my really, really late wedding present! And I hope you liked it! It reminded me so much of you). I also want to be in DC for Brians bday, which is Sept 16th. Well actually I just want to be with him, so if Rachels wedding is that weekend we will be in Seattle together. I also want to go to the UW-CU game in November that’s at CU and I am going to move mountains to be able to go. I hope Brian can come with me, but we won’t know that until closer to November. I also want to spend a good chunk of time in Seattle, since I have to pack up my life for the move out east. See, I have so many plans, but no real idea what is really happening! I just know that if I want all this to happen I can’t really get a job until January 2013, but I will temp or do something during the fall. I can’t not make money in the fall. I have a wedding to save for!

I don’t have much else to say. I won’t have a book list this time, because I left my journal in the States and my mom is mailing it to me, so the next one will be really long. I mean I could write down most of the books, but I don’t want to get confused. Oh request for all my blog fans: Please feel free to send me CDs with new, current music. Even older music from the last few months would be appreciated. Especially Pitbulls “give me everything tonight”. I love that song and I don’t have it. Thanks everyone!

Yes it’s true. I heart Ewan McGregor. I discovered this love a few weeks ago, when I watched Moulin Rouge two nights in a row (this movie is one of my all-time favorites. If you haven’t seen it, go straight to your local video rental place, or Netflick/Qwikster whatever it’s called now, and rent it. That and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Both of these movies I could watch night after night and never get sick of). My love was further re-enforced when I watched A Long Way Around and A Long Way Down. These are documentaries that aired on BBC w few years ago. They are about the time that Ewan and his friend Charley rode, on motorcycles, from London to New York and then from London to Cape Town a few years later. They are fascinating. In light of my new found love, I decided to re-watch all 6 Star Wars, to see which was my favorite and to see Ewan, of course. Below, after I report on my life in MAD, you will find an open letter to George Lucas, explaining all my likes and dislikes in regards to the Star Wars films (in short, the first 3 are terrible, with a few bright spots, The Empire Strikes Back is the best, and I totally agree with the Ewok line, as put forth by Barney Stinsen). MAD is going well. School is wrapping up. I give my final 6eme exam next Thursday, and my final 2nde exams on Dec 13th and 14th. So close to the end of the first trimester. The first one is always short. I think this trimester, but the time we finally got started, was something like 8 weeks. Not to mention I had to miss a week for MSC (more on that in a second). It will be nice to have a break. For some reason, I have really needed a break at the end of first trimester, but 8 weeks into the other trimesters I’m fine. It’s weird. MSC was a success. So much better than our IST. The sessions were actually useful and there was loads of new information. One bit of information was unfortunate. The next English stages training will be done in a way that they will become TEFL certified by the end. We can’t get TEFL certification, at least at the moment. Our APCD (head of the English sector) is looking to see if we can take the test at our COS conference in June, since we will have been teaching for 2 years by then. We are hoping that he can make that happen, but the TEFL people could say no, so right now I’m not holding my breath. Teaching isn’t in my future anyways, but it would be nice to have, just in case. I ate a lot of food during MSC. It was insane. At site, I do breakfast and linner, with a snack thrown in on occasion. At MSC, I was eating 3 meals a day, plus 2 snacks. It was crazy, but I had to eat. It was a week where I didn’t have to cook. I can’t turn down food I didn’t make. That would be silly. Thanksgiving was not Thanksgiving, again. People need to stop posting all their yummy Turkey Day meals on Facebook cause it just makes me sad. My site mate and I made spaghetti with homemade sauce and chicken biscuits, just like the pilgrims did. I also tutored my friend, so I got to watch Mulan as a special Turkey Day treat. We had to change our tutoring session from Tuesdays to Thursdays because, when I came back from MSC, the CEG had changed my schedule AGAIN. We were what, like 6 weeks into school by this point? And 5 points for anyone that guessed they changed it to times I already worked at the high school. I was pissed. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Again. Ridiculous. I am definitely telling the next person to work only at the high school, since they have their shit together. I finally got everything sorted out, so for those interested, here’s my new, hopefully final, schedule: Monday, 10-12 HS, Tuesday, 7-12 (with a one hour break from 9-10) HS and 1:30-5:30 CEG, Wednesday , 7-12 HS, Thursday 8:30-10:30 CEG. Tuesday is a long day, but it gets easier after that. Yay! My Christmas plans are pretty wide open at the moment. I am still trying to make plans. Im not sure what’s all happening. I’m letting other people plan my life and then I will just tag along. It’s easier that way. We will see what people come up with! And, of course, once I know what my plans are, I will let everyone who reads this know. I probably won’t right another blog post until after Christmas, so you will have to wait in suspense. I know, not knowing what I’m doing is cruel to you, but what can be done? ;) I have found another Xmas movie to watch, speaking of Xmas. Die Hard. You might at first think, really? Die Hard? But if you remember, its set during a Christmas party on Christmas Eve, so it counts! Gots to get my Bruce Willis on. I have already watched Love Actually and 5 of the Harry Potters. I am making progress! And I am listening to Christmas music as I type this. I definitely have more Christmas spirit than last year, when Xmas was Day X (get it?). Last year was harder, since It was the first time away from my family and I hadn’t been in country that long. It’s still hard this year, but I have been here longer and I got to see my family a few months ago so that helps. Ok so there’s my life. It hasn’t been really interesting lately. Sorry! I have just been going to school and hanging out. Below you will find my letter to George and my Book list. Toodles for now! Dear George Lucas, Hello. My name is Megan and I wanted to tell you I am a fan of your work, in particular Star Wars. I recently re-watched all 6 movies and I was truly blown away by the movies 4, 5 and 6. The way you brought all the worlds together and the characters you created will stand the test of time. The first 3 however, while they do have a few good moments, are overall not that great. The plot is shaky and unclear, Jar Jar Binks makes me want to jump through my screen and punch him, and the fade in and outs are overused, particularly in the 3rd movie. It was so distracting I could barely watch the movie. Every two minutes there would be a new fade-out. I feel like you were looking at PowerPoint and attempting to use all the different fade outs they provided (and I believe you may have succeeded). Good moments did exist in the first three movies. Darth Mauls Theme has to be one of my favorite instrumental pieces of all time and the lightsaber battle between Darth Maul, Obi-wan, and Qui-gon (sorry if I misspelled that) was pretty good. The lightsaber battle at the end of Revenge of the Sith was great. I just really liked lava. I thought it added an element of danger that made the battle that much better. My favorite of the three would probably be Attack of the Clones, because Jar Jar wasn’t in it for more than a few minutes, Yoda got to kick butt, and anything with Christopher Lee makes me happy. I am tempted to say Revenge of the Sith but those fade outs really turned me off. A New Hope, the Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are excellent. Empire is by far the best. There is suspense, romance, witty lines, lightsaber battles and one of the best twists of any movie. I would never have seen it coming if I hadn’t already seen the movie. I like the Ewoks, even though I know a lot of people don’t (they must have been born before May 25th, 1973. Watch How I Met Your Mother, Season 7, episode 5 for further explanation). Overall, you couldn’t have done better with movies 4, 5, and 6, yet, for some reason, you keep going back and tweaking them. Some of the cosmetic improvements are fine (better effects when it comes to things blowing up, etc), but some of them are ridiculous. The versions I watched have you first set of changes, but not the newest. For example, it has Geddo shooting first, but not Darth Vadars “No!”. Geddo shooting first makes no sense. If he is a bounty hunter, you have to anticipate that he knows how to use his weapon. He wouldn’t have become a bounty hunter, let alone lasted long, if he didn’t, yet he misses Han Solo from what, a foot, and by a foot. It’s insane. There’s no way that would have happened. Essentially all you did was make Geddo look stupid. You did not make Han look better, but in my opinion you didn’t need to do that. He’s a smuggler. He obviously is going to defend himself if he’s about to be taken to his death. In terms of Darth Vadar shouting “No!” at the end of Return of the Jedi, I cannot believe you added that. Watching it without the “No”, just made my conviction that adding it was the wrong move. The moment is so powerful without Darth Vadar saying anything. You watch him realize the good within himself and stop the Emperor. Adding words to the moment takes away the poignancy of the scene. I hope you will stop altering your movies. Unless you are trying to make images clearer, such as what you did with the explosions, then there is nothing to change. Your movies are a gift to cinema (well the last three) and they need to stay the way they are. Changing events in the movies just decreases the value of those moments. Thanks for listening George, and I hope your day goes well. Sincerely, Megan Books I’ve Read Looking for Lovedu Expat: Women’s True Tales of Life Abroad The God of Small Things The Book Thief (might be my favorite book I’ve read in country. I cried. Enough said) I’m A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I don’t have any cool fact to start this blog post I’m sorry. It would be kinda hard to top last blog entry’s beginning though. That fact still amazes me. It just doesn’t sound like any fun. I am now about halfway through my first trimester. In fact, for the CEG I may have only 1 or 2 more weeks of teaching when I return from MSC. They like to give all their exams 3 weeks before the official end of school, so that for the last 2 weeks of school we can correct the exams with the kids (at least that’s what I think they do. I didn’t figure this out until 3rd trimester last year. This year I will have one day correcting then I will be done. I don’t understand why teachers need 8 hours to correct a 2 hour exam. One of those things I will never understand). I am not sure if everything holds true next year. I will know after MSC. They wont have figured it out til then anyways. So my students have slid down in my esteem. They were doing so well in the first week of school, being quiet and doing their work. Then the novelty of English wore off and now they are talkative, disruptive kids. I have had to get real mean. Its like they think they can get away with anything cause I am the Vazaha (the foreigner). Nope that’s not how this works. In my 2nde classes, I have yelled at them in my scary Megan voice (the one that only comes out after I have tried repeatedly tried to be nice about a situation that’s not going well) and called out kids individually for talking. In my 6eme, I have had the scary secretary lady, who handles discipline, come and talk to my kids and, for the first time ever, I kicked someone out. This boy was goofing off in the back and had been all class, even though I had asked them to pay attention and to be quiet so I kicked him out. When I talked to the other teachers later they told me I should have hit him. So if you think I was mean kicking him out of class, at least im not hitting him. But that’s the cultural thing to do here. I told them I couldn’t because we don’t do that in America and the started laughing. The boy did apologize (I made him so it in English since we had already learned that). Im not sure what all happened once he left my class, but I do know that he had to get his parents to sign his school book (with all his registration info, school info etc, in it), to make sure they understood what happened and he was crying when he apologized. Im not sure if the secretary lady hit him and I don’t want to know. In this instance, I have to be ignorant, cause kicking someone out of class seems to work, from a showing Im serious and ya’ll need to listen to me sense, and if I know they hit the kids that I sent out of class I don’t know if I could do it anymore. Speaking of hitting people, my neighbor tried to steal from me again. I swear he might actually be a klepto. Since last October, when he stole from me, I caught him, and then his dad hit him in front of me, he has only come into my house like 5 times, most of those times within the last month. He always came with his sisters, so I figured it was fine. They would just look through my magazines. So he came with his littlest sister and they were looking at stuff on my table, since I didn’t have any magazines. I was reading but also watching them. I saw him pick up watch to look at, among other things he had picked up to look at. Then I got up and started to make lunch, because I had to go teach at 130pm. They left and I went over to my table to move things so I could eat and, low and behold, my watch is missing. I actually said, in my house, by myself, “that motherf***er stole my watch!” I marched over to his house and said “wheres my watch?” he immediately pulled it out from his pocket. I could not believe it. So after I finished teaching I went and talked to his dad about it and told him he was not to come anywhere near my house again. Since then, even the girls haven’t come by. I think the parents put the kibosh for all of them on coming to my house. I wear that watch every day. I think he was hoping I wouldn’t notice it was missing until later, because then he could show it off and potentially sell it. FML. On to Halloween. I had a very Hanna Baker inspired Halloween. I watched 3 movies that I know she loves and we have watched together: Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I also wore fun Halloween-y socks I had been sent and ate a lot of candy. Overall, it was better than last year. For Christmas this year, I am going to actually get in the spirit and watch/listen to Christmas movies and music. Last year it was Day X and I did not do anything Christmas-y. Not this year. I am going to watch Love Actually, Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the animated version), The Family Stone, The Christmas Story, all 8 Harry Potter movies (in my defence, ABC Family does the 25 movies of Christmas and they include Harry Potter. If they can do it, so can I) and any other Christmas movie I can rustle up. I also have tons of Christmas music now, thanks to Haley, a PCV in Diego. I have Glee, Josh Groban, The Trans-Siberan Orchestra, Frank Sinatra, The Love Actually Soundtrack (which is AMAZING. If you don’t have it, get it NOW), and Harry Connick Jr. None of this can start until after Thanksgiving. Even though I wont be having a real turkey day, Christmas cannot start til T-day ends. That’s the Megan rule and im stickin to it. I think that’s about it. I have just been teaching so I’ve been boring. I should have some good stories from MSC and I will post my Xmas plans (for the actual day. I am going to be travelling somewhere, but where at the moment is unclear. My friends and I have to talk about it at MSC) as soon as I know them. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving and Go Dawgs! (wish I could be at the Apple Cup). Book List Cleopatra: A Life The Emperor of Lies They Poured Fire on Us From the SkyThe Red Badge of Courage

Here it is: strong evidence suggests that one of Hitler’s favorite things was to have women poop on him. Im shocked Im just finding this out. You would think something like this would have come out years ago. And by come out, I mean come out to the general public. Im sure lots of people knew. This interesting tidbit of information came from the September issue of Vanity Fair, from an article on how Germany owns Europe, do to their suave money management through the last few years. Anywho, a fact like that cannot stay buried. It’s too fascinating. On to recent history though. School has started again here in MAD, and boy, is the administration of the CEG trying to give me a panic/heart attack. Every time I go, to teach or to check-in, my schedule has changed. It’s ridiculous. I will get to that story in a second, but first some groundwork leading up to my stress-filled days with the CEG. I am teaching 11 hours this year at the high school (4 hours for 2 classes and 3 hours for the third. I have no idea why one class is only getting 3 hours) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I have had this schedule set since the beginning of October. I come back to site from Diego and I go to the CEG to set a schedule with them. I stand through their first meeting, of which all I understand is that this year there are 4 6eme classes, not 3 like last year. Then we break up into groups according to grade, so I talk to the other 6eme teachers. Nothing is concluded by the time I have to leave to go teach at the high school so I tell them I will be back the next afternoon (in terms of time, this started on Monday, October 10). So back I come on Tuesday afternoon, right when I told them, and there are only like 8 other teachers there. The CEG has a teaching staff of like 30. My hopes were not high that this was going to go well. Well after dinking around for a good 20 minutes we finally get down to brass tacks. I put up a schedule on the big chalkboard and we move it around a little bit, and I end up with a CEG schedule of Monday and Tuesday afternoons, teaching 2 of the 4 6eme classes (what no one decided to tell me was that this year we are teaching 4 hours for each subject. That means I am teaching 19 hours this year, when I thought I would be teaching 17. Well really 15 if you include the high school. Its more than we are supposed to, but It’s not a big deal. I will deal). So I leave, thinking everything is fine. Well silly me. I should have known that that wouldn’t be the case. I go back to the school on Monday afternoon and they have changed my schedule, without telling me, to Wednesday mornings and Friday mornings. I was not happy. I had specifically told them multiple times I could not teach in the morning since I was already teaching at the high school, which at this point had already had a week of school. And I couldn’t teach Friday since we are supposed to try and keep Friday or Monday open in case we need to go talk to the bank etc. So then we had to change my schedule again. Turns out the physical education teacher wasn’t there so they gave me her slot for that day (yes even in MAD there is still PE. At least 2 hours a week. And they have to walk EVERYWHERE. No wonder, and I include myself in this, Americans are so unhealthy). Then we changed my Tuesday afternoons to Thursday mornings (the reason I couldn’t teach Tuesday afternoons? Having students take the same subject 2 days in a row would make them too tired. OMG). So I went back on Thursday and what has happened? If you guessed that they change my schedule again you get a gold star. Im back to Friday mornings. Well that was not ok. So I had to talk to the vice-principal again and get it changed. Now I am teaching Wednesday afternoon, which will make my Wednesday hell, but that’s ok (I work 7-12 at the high school and now 1:30-5:30. Ya I know). The reason they didn’t want to give me Wednesday afternoons originally is they have this thing called Aps on Wednesday afternoons for all the grades but 3eme (the 9th graders). I have no idea what that means. I assume it’s some sort of admin thing. So they took the Aps away from 2 of the 6emes (only for 2 hours), but now they don’t have class on Friday, which I would prefer if I were them. I hope my schedule is now worked out. I only taught on Monday at the CEG this last week, since I thought I was teaching on Thursday and I couldn’t do Friday this week (just for the week to keep it at 4 hours) because I had to come to Tana for our VAC meeting, which is where I am now. I have had a headache for like a week cause of this schedule crap. It just baffles me how no one seems to listen to me when I speak. I know my Malagasy is faaaaaaaaaaaaaar from perfect but I speak it well enough that if you pay attention and inference, you can understand what Im saying. I am speaking like 4-year-old level Malagasy. The vice-principal routinely looks at me like I’ve sprouted horns from my head. This was kinda a long rant and I don’t want ya’ll to think that everything is messed up. Teaching at the high school has been really nice so far. My students are funny and everything has been going really well. I am giving my first exam next week. This first trimester is super short, especially since I have to miss a week for our MSC (mid-service conference) in November. I only have like 6 more teaching weeks for this trimester. I have to give a test in the third week or I will only have one grade. I hope my students don’t hate me! The schools are doing a new thing this year. They are giving everyone a 5 day weekend for the All Saints day holiday (which is Nov 1). It’s on a Tuesday this year, so I figured we would get Monday off, but Friday was a nice bonus. Not that it matters for me but it’s still nice. So schools chugging along. I can’t believe I am already into my second year. The first year seemed to go so quickly, this summer especially, what with all the visitors and going to Diego. Man I wish I could have stayed up there and taught at the university. Those students cared (well more than my high school or CEG, but it’s a new year so maybe these students will care more) and it was so nice, weather-wise, up there. I have a lot of events happening though January, so these nest few months will fly. Once Second trimester starts though, I don’t really have anything to look forward to until my Easter Break. I have some big plans in the works but I wont divulge them until they are set in stone. They are very loosey-goosey at the moment and Im afraid if I write them down then they wont happen! So the other big thing that has happened is my birthday! Thank you to everyone who sent me something: My parents, Joe, Brian; Dolores, Dick and Colleen; Chrissy, Rachel, Katie, Bebe, Corliss, and Brenna, and Hanna (H, as Im writing this I haven’t gotten your package yet, but I know I will! I will let you know when it gets here). I really appreciated those packages. And thank you to everyone who wrote on my FB wall. This year I went into Antsirabe for the day, because the PCV who lives in Antsirabe has my Bday too! She wasn’t in Antsirabe last year, which is why last year I stayed at site. We ate a lot of food, and drank some better than expected MAD-made wine. It was nice. Well that’s it for now. I will post again before my MSC conference, which will be in November. Happy Halloween to everyone and post pictures of all your costumes! Can’t believe I am missing another Halloween. Only my second favorite holiday , behind Thanksgiving (I mean, who doesn’t love a holiday where all you do is eat, drink beer, and watch football? It’s the perfect holiday).Also, real quick, here is a list of things I don't need people to send me anymore, since I have so much of it! baby wipes, hand sanitizer, kleenex, lotion, body wash, razors, basically any and all bath stuff. I have tons of bath stuff! Book List (short this time cause I have been reading a lot of magazines) The Reliable Wife The Rooftops of Tehran

That sentence was actually uttered by one of my C level university students (a junior) during one of my classes. The assignment was to write a paragraph about where in the world you would like to visit. America would qualify, if you knew it was a place. It took everything I had not to make a remark or smirk or laugh. I just couldn’t believe she was asking me that. She later asked me, after I had told the class that their homework was to write an essay on why I should visit Madagascar and then used Seattle as an example (and by example I mean I outlined a whole essay on the board for them to see), if Seattle was a place. I kinda get the feeling that she doesn’t know what a place is. The other blog title for this entry could have been ‘why, hello there invasive diarrhea. How nice of you to stop by’. Ya I got that. Its my first real big illness I have gotten in country. I thought I had malaria. I had the chills, my body ached so bad I couldn’t move, had a low grade fever and like clockwork, every 3 horus I had to use the bathroom. Turns out, not malaria, but invasive diarrhea, which I got from eating street food. This happened my second week in diego so no more street food for Megan after that. That was a bummer, cause the street food sandwiches are so cheap and tasty. I should have known though. Other people have gotten dysentery from that kind of food. I was just holding out hope that I would be lucky and miss out on any illness. No such luck. So this past month (all of September), I have been in a city called Diego, in the far north of the country. If you are trying to find it on a map it might be called Antsiranana. That’s the Malagasy name and the one that is more commonly used on maps. It’s the furthest city in the north and its wonderful. I never wanted to leave. There is so much to do there, so much to see, so many cool things to buy. I was up there for a reason however, beyond sightseeing. I was working at the university. I taught academic writing to C and D level students (juniors and seniors), in a workshop style, for a month. I mostly taught the D students, but the C class got 8-ish hours of my time every week. In total, I worked about 2o hours a week, which is more than I thought I would be teaching, but it was fine. The students were fine. I got to know my D students more, just cause I saw them so much more. I actually knew their names. Since I saw them more, they had more assignments to do. They had to write a research paper for me at the end of the month, where my C students just had to write an essay. Every class period started out with all students writing a paragraph about the topic of the day. I had them write about why they chose to be English majors, what they wanted to do after they graduated, where they wanted to go in the world, what super power they would have, yada yada yada. Then after they finished, we went over the mechanics of writing. One day it was paragraphs, another citing sources, another capitalization. Then they usually had some time at the end (these were 4 hour block classes for the most part) to work on their papers that were due. When my D students were writing their research paper I gave them class time to research, just to make sure they actually researched. I did have to fail half of my C class. My D class everyone passed, except the 2 students who never came to class. They failed. But my C students were a different matter. 5 people didn’t turn in their final paper, so they failed and then 6 people copied and pasted information from online onto their papers. The topic was why a visitor should come to either Diego, Nosy Be (an island that a lot of people vacation on) or to Madagascar in general. So these 6 brainiacs thought I wouldn’t notice that they were writing in perfect English and that the words they were using were words I knew they didn’t know. When I talked to the whole class about this, I told them they should be making mistakes, that even great writers make mistakes and as non-native English writers there are very specific mistakes they should be making. When I don’t see those mistakes and instead see perfect English, little warning bells go off in my head. 2 guys approached me after class to talk to me about their cheating. One guy apologized and asked if he could re-write it and I said no. The second student started arguing with me about how I should have given hi partial credit cause he only plagiarized a paragraph and a half out of 5. I said no, that’s not how this works. He had lifted his whole first paragraph from one source. He kept telling me I needed to give him partial credit and I kept saying no. He finally gave up. Diego the town is really cool. There is a brand new hotel there that has a swimming pool you can use, and I did. Twice. There is also a beach about 20km from Diego that we went to twice as well. I say we because there is another PCV in Diego who is teaching at the university. She is still teaching there through December. We did a lot of stuff together. (wow sorry my English isn’t the greatest at the moment. I guess all the intense English teaching the last month has fried my brain). I also went to my friend Jasons site for a festival. Well it wasn’t really a festival. The town was christening a new monument for women in the town. They even slaughtered a cow right in front of us. It was off to the side a little bit, so we didn’t actually see the animal die, which I didn’t want to anyway, but we saw the pieces of cow being carried off to be cooked. Yummy. We had to sit up with the mayor and other dignitaries, and it was real hot that day. Way too hot to be sitting out but at least we were under some shade. The town had a concert that night but I didn’t go. I was too sleepy. Well below you will find my book list eventually (I am posting it without the book list cause the list is upstairs and I am being uber lazy right now, but eventually I will get up, get it and type everything out). Have a happy day!

To be fair, Im not sure I did gain a full 10 pounds but I definitely gained weight. But that’s what great vacations are supposed to do so im happy and content with it. It just means I need to go back to my two meals a day schedule (which I do cause im lazy, but it seems to work out ok) and I need to start walking again. I get a little bored just walking around my town but I need to do it. Well now that I’ve confessed my deepest secret, its time to tell ya’ll about my fabulous vacations. First up though, I had to kill about 3 weeks from the last day of school/school-related activities till my parents came. I went to Tana for the 4th of July, which was fun. I got a hambuger and a coke for lunch, just to feel uber-American, then went over to the Marine commanders house for dinner and 4th of July festivities. It was bittersweet since the Marine commander and his wife, who have been nothing but wonderful to any and all PCV they have seen, were leaving to go to mainland Africa a few days later for a new job. I also managed to get some work done, a few PC documents I need to do. Then I went back to site and cooled my heels for 2 weeks. I read, watched movies, typed up the 6eme guide that I am going to start working on next month, and took a few hikes. Also made a lot of food and I still worked at the hospital on Thursdays. I left 5 days before my parents came to go to Tana to get my teeth cleaned and finish all my last minute errands. Good thing I went as early as I did since my dentist appointment got screwed up so I had to go back 2 days later. Not really sure what happened but the office is close by downtown, where I had things to do, so it wasn’t a huge inconvenience. My parents got here finally and it was so exciting to have them here! Or course their flight was late so we didn’t get back to the hotel till about 2am. And we had to get up at 530am to go to my site (I usually get up at 6am but my parents wanted the extra time just in case). It was a shock for them to see the condition of Tana and this was just driving from the airport to the hotel. They couldn’t believe the state of the buildings or the amount of trash in the streets. It is shocking if you’ve never seen anything like that before. They were happy to have made it to Madagascar though, and excited to see everything. We had fun at my site. We walked out to the high school and up this big hill so my dad could take really good pictures and made a lot of food. Christiane, my site mate, came over to help with the food and to meet them. My parents stayed at my house and I stayed with C. there is a hotel in town but there’s no reason to go there if there’s not more than 2 extra people coming to my site. after my site we headed to Fianar, since we were doing the RN7 trip. RN7 is the major highway south of Tana. It goes from Tana to Toliera in the southwest. Lots of tourist take RN7 cause there are so many interesting things to see right off of RN7. Anyway we picked up James, my friend who lives in Farafangana, and his brother, who were going the same direction we were and we figured we would give them a ride and save them money and time. And keep their legs from dying in a cramped taxi brousse (I did make my parents take not one, but two taxi brousses while they were here. We took them to get to my site and then into antsirabe where we were meeting our driver. They were a little shocked that that was how I got around, especially when they saw the brousse station in Tana, which is awful. Everyone is yelling at you, trying to take your bags so that you will take their brousse etc. Its not to obad when you go to my site, since there are only like 4 brousses that go daily and they all work together, but getting to my brousses means you have to go through the Antsirabe brousses and that area sucks. I refuse to go from Tana to Antsirabe if I can help it. That’s how much I hate it). Anyway we meet up with my friend Amber in Fianar and went to the really good chicken place, where you pick out your piece of chicken and they grill it right in front of you. Yummmmm. Then Amber cam with us to Anja reserve, which is about an hour and half from Fianar and about 15 minutes from Ambers site. There are tons of ring-tailed lemurs at Anja. In fact, that might be all they have there. Anyway they were awesome and my dad got a tone of good pictures of them. They are so cute! We had to stop at Ambers house on our way, since my mom had tweaked her ankle and I need to wrap it for her. I have become a pseudo expert from watching Hanna wrap my ankle all those times. Thanks girl! After the reserve we went back to Ambers site to see her house and eat lunch then we headed out to Isalo national park, which is basically halfway between Fianar and Toliera. Isalo was amazing. I had heard only good things about it and the park did not disappoint. We stayed at a real swanky place since all the other places my mom had tried to make reservations at where full. We eventually found out that the next day was the Isalo Rock Run, where people run something like 100km and have to sleep in the park and everything. It takes the fastest person like 22 hours. Doesn’t sound fun to me, but to each his own. So this hotel was insane. The rooms were so nice and the food was amazing. And to top it off we got the resident rate cause of me. Score! We spent 2 nights there and just loved it. The park was gorgeous. It is a desert park, not lush rainforest, and had some crazy rock formations. We spent something like 4 and a half hours walking around. Our guide was really nice and informative. We saw lemurs, but this park was more about the scenery then the animals. After Isalo we went to Toliera, were we just had lunch, then headed to Ifaty, the coastal beach town about an hour north of Toliera. We were only there a night but it was nice to just lie on the beach the next day. We were thinking about going to this park nearby to see trees and such, but we were too tired and low on money (we didn’t realize our money situation until we got out there. Oops). We could have gone if we wanted but it wasn’t worth it. Then we flew back to Tana and met up with BRIAN! We spent my mom’s bday together and went to 2 good restaurants and then my parents flew to South Africa the next day. It was a great trip with the fam. The only bad thing was my parents had one of their suitcases stolen, but our driver filed a police report and we (well they) are moving forward filing a claim in America. My dad lost a lot more stuff than my mom and all their souvenirs, but I have been steadily replacing the souvenirs. I have replaced about ½ of them so far. The rest will come. It was so exciting to have Brian here. He was here for like 3 weeks and I think that was the longest time we have ever spent together. Our relationship is weird. We may have been together 2 years now but in total we maybe have spent 4 months together. I think brian has done the math. At least we know we are really good travelling together. We are very go with the flow, though brian might say im not as go with the flow, though here you really have to be. We didn’t go as fancy as I went with my parents. We broussed everywhere and stayed in cheaper places. It was so much fun. We stayed at my site for a while and walked, did laundry, read, played cards and watched movies. We watched all of Game of Thrones, which I highly recommend to everyone. It is amazing. Brian and I are going to read the books together, since I just got like 1300 kindle books from one of the new trainees and it included those books. Our big adventure was to Ile St Marie, the island off the east coast of MAD. It is amazingly beautiful and its whale-watching season right now so we saw a ton of humpback whales. But I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. We stopped in Foulpointe for a night on our way up, which is where my friend Bobette lives and we had crab curry that was to die for. It was so good. And it was just a split second decision to get it. We were both a little hungry and wanted an appetizer so we got beer and crab and we so happy. Fouplointe was a nice sleepy beach town and it was good to see where Bobette lives. Then it was off to Ile St Marie. We stayed at a hotel called Le Libertalia and it was so relaxing and chill. We never wanted to leave. The first full day we were there we went on a whale watching trip, which was so cool. We saw a mom and her baby and the baby just wanted to jump all over the place. We also followed a pod of 6 whales for a good 45 minutes all over the place and one of the jumped so close to the boat I think some water splashed the side. It was crazy and no one saw it coming. The whales had all been on the left side of the boat so that’s where most of us were looking and this whale jumped on the right. We all saw it cause people shouted “whale!” as soon as it started to jump. Lots of tail and flipper slapping. Later in the week we also saw a lot of whales jumping from our hotel, which had this cool jetty you could walk out on and get a really good view of the water. It was crazy to see all these whales. Its whale mating/birthing time, which was why there were so many. Our boat was all French tourists and a French guide so we just sat there and talked to each other. Which is pretty much what happened all week. Most people we ran into were all French tourists. We had a few days of just laying out, getting our tan on, and relaxing. It was so nice to just be for a while. We walked into town a lot, which was only 2km from our hotel. Had a lot of great food, in particular we ate a lot of seafood. We were on an island and I do not trust seafood far from the body of water it lives. As a result I don’t eat seafood at site. no thank you. Brian and I had a crazy adventure one day, though it was mostly brains adventure. We were out looking at whales and all of a sudden a pirate ship just showed up out of nowhere. We never saw it coming. They all were mean-looking and I swear I saw one who looked just like Captain Morgan. It was nuts. They had harpoons and were about to start throwing harpoons at the whales, which included a little baby. Well brian, being the lover of animals he is, just wouldn’t let that happen and as the first pirate through his harpoon brian leapt from the boat and grabbed it with his bare hand and landed right in between 2 whales. The pirates were terrified. They had never seen someone leap like that. Brian came out of the water looking very threating and started yelling at them. The pirates hightailed it out of there. The whales were so grateful they named Brian Protector of Whales and gave him a crown of seaweed. For his troubles brian did get a nasty cut in his hand which required stitches, unfortunately. The hospital was very fast though and they stitched him up real fast. And all for $25. Can you believe that happened? I still can’t Brian and I had a wonderful time on Ile St Marie and we never wanted to leave. Alas, we had to leave and get back to Tana so brian could catch his flight. It was heart-wrenching but it had to be done. He left a few days ago and I miss him fiercely. I want him back. I don’t know when I will see him next. I enjoy being a PCV but I miss brian so much. I am down to under a year of service until I can COS (close of service) so I will be home soon. Ish. I have a to preoccupy myself til then though. I am leaving in a few days to go to Diego, in the far north of the country, to teach at the university up there for a month. I am also working with an NGO, helping them with the schools they sponsor in Diego. It will be a quick month I think. I have never been to the north and it will be exciting. Plus I will be doing work, instead of just sitting at site twiddling my thumbs for a month. I have to be back at site by no later than October 2nd, because school starts the 3rd. Then in October I have VAC, the volunteer meeting, then in November there’s our MSC conference for a week, and after that my friend Katie is trying to come to site to help me do a world map on one of the schools walls. I haven’t figure out which one yet, but I will do that in October. We haven’t gotten permission yet for her to come but I really want her to since she will have done 3 world maps by then and as most of you know my brother got all the artistic genes in the family. People tell me its easy but I know I would mess it up. Then its December and another xmas trip to plan. Not sure what im doing. Depends on who alls here. Then its 2012! Don’t’ have any big plans in 2012 yet. My godfather might be coming to visit and I want to do this river trip to Morondava, but those are the only big things that would be happening then. I think next summer I want to do training, helping out with the newbies who come. I think that would be fun and then I wouldn’t have to search for something to do next summer. Well unless I don’t’ get it. But I have to have the attitude I will. Well im sure everyones eyes are bleeding by this point and I need to actually get dressed and get about my day. Gots lots to do today. I do want to add that in honor of Shark Week, which I am missing for the 4th year in a row (I can’t catch a break!), I watched Jaws. True I watched it a few days ago, so Shark Week was already over by then, but I was on vacation. I think the sharks would understand. Hope everyone is having a great summer, kicking butts and takin names. I will post again sometime in September, before I head back to site. Later! Books The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty The Virgin of Small Plains Murder in the Marais A Thousand Sisters The Secret Lives of Dresses The Other Queen Girls in Trucks Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory In A Sunburned Country The girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing Family Ties The Things They Carried One Day at a Time Shes Come Undone Where Men Win Glory: The Pat Tillman Story Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Dysentery? Check. Malaria? Check. Giardia? Check. Scarlet fever? Check. Crazy animal/insect bites? Check. Daily struggle to find and clean water? Check. Not showering as often as you would like, since it’s out of a bucket and freezing? Check. The same food over and over again? Check. The only thing the Oregon Trail has over MAD is I haven’t had to circle my wagon and defend against a Native American attack, though the equivalent, taxi brousse robbery at night, could very much happen. Not that I’m expecting it to anytime soon since we aren’t allowed to ride taxi brousses at night. Man I wish I had that computer game. If anyone has a copy that would work on Windows 7 I would love to have it. Also Rollercoaster Tycoon. Two great games. (this blog could have had a lot of different titles. It has been an eventful 3 weeks. The alternate titles? I shot the moon! (first time I have ever done that. It was so exciting! And in my first hand of the game. I have tried a few times to do it but always missed a heart or two. This time I didn’t even try and voila! Ps. This is in regards to Hearts) or Wankle strikes again! (I stepped on a rock funny. I am totally fine. Ankle swelled a little but lets be real it’s always a little swollen. I need Hanna and her ace bandage skills! Takes me back to AXO’s formal when Hanna had to wrap my ankle. Good times). So one last little recap of Fianar. It was great! Amber and I got a lot done re-writing the 2nde guide, so it was a good trip. The next weekend was our VAC meeting which was great because Shayla, my friend who is way far away yet still part of my VAC region, actually got to come to VAC. I hadn’t seen her in 6 months so I was excited. This VAC was also fun cause we have 7 new people in our region from the March group that just finished training. They seemed cool. None of them are close to me so I don’t know if I will see them a lot outside of VAC, but its good to have more people in our region. And I think we are going to get more people after the July group finishes too. We went to a new restaurant in Antsirabe that I have seen and known about but never been to. It was good. We all went out Saturday night to the only club in Antsirabe. I use that term very lightly. It was fine. I am not a fan of drunk Malagasy’s. Most are not fun, keep to themselves drunk, at least around Vazaha’s. They tend to get rowdy and fight more than I remember drunk American’s doing and it just gets uncomfortable. It was good to hang out but I wasn’t feeling too good so I left earlier than everyone. Turns out the reason I wasn’t feeling good was that I had strep. My friend Brianna got strep AND scarlet fever. Glad I escaped the scarlet fever, though I have a sneaky suspicion that I gave her the strep. Sorry Brianna! Faratsiho is fine. I am officially done with school! I turned in my grades for the lycee and all I have left to do is give the CEG my grades for my 6eme kids. Its exciting to be done. I have accomplished something! And though my kids don’t care, I do have a few that do and I can tell they have learned something. One girl essentially got me through the school year. She never got below a B average on any test and most of the time had the highest test grade in the class. She even got a perfect score on the last exam. I was so proud of her! It made me feel so good that someone was listening. It was exciting to have someone actually study and pay attention and learn the material. There were a few others, including the woman I tutors sister, who did pretty well and didn’t fail everything. My 2ndes were better, grade-wise, but there was still one very quiet guy who did the best who got me through the semester. He was just like the girl in my 6eme classes. I hope things stuck. I did find out that the 2nde class I teach is the bad class, the class with the worst grades overall out of all the 2nde classes (there’s 4). Once I found that out, which was sometime this trimester, it all made sense. Of course I taught the bad class. That’s my karma. I am getting all the final reservations for my parents trip. Doing a lot of errands for it the rest of this week. I am excited that they are coming. It will be interesting to see how they like MAD and how they get along here. And exciting news BRIAN GOT HIS TICKET TOO! We are going to go to Ile St Marie. I am not sure exactly what his ticket deal is, since he texted me 12 hours ago about it and hes been at a wedding but I will find out. YAY!!!! I am so excited!!!! One year down, one to go. That’s not really true, in terms of actually time, but that’s what it feels like since teaching is my primary assignment. I only have one more year of teaching left. I won’t know what I’m teaching next year til the end of September or beginning of October but I want to work primarily at the lycee, since this year I did mostly the CEG. Trying to make it fair. I am movin and groovin! Book list: The Bitch Unaccustomed Earth The Wedding Let the Great World Spin The Scent of Rain and Lightning The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

This weekend I am in Fianar, working with my friend Amber on re-doing the 2nde curriculum guide. It needs new exercises, more explanations and more Malagasy translations. At least its better than the 6eme guide, which has nothing in it (my goal is to re-do that one this summer/next year). All the other curriculum guides are much better, even the ones for the grades we aren’t allowed to teach. I don’t know how 2nde and 6eme, the two grades PC teaches in the most, got the shaft. Amber is also going to help me grade 130 tests. Yay! For me. Not sure if Amber feels the same way but she agreed to help. Its just 6eme so its easy to grade. Just takes forever. I am still chugging along with school. This trimester I have had a lot of days off so far. I was gone a week for the Education Program review, I had 3 ½ days off from my CEG because they were having some sport festival (and of those 3 ½ days off, I would have had class everyday but one so that was nice, even if it is putting my classes behind in my master teaching plan) and this month I have at least 2 Mondays off, one for Pentecost and one for the National Holiday, June 26th (their version of our 4th of July. And I think I have it off. Pretty positive). Its on a Sunday this year. My high school told me I had it off and they are the only place I work on Mondays, but then this week they told me I have to be done teaching by June 20th, which is the Monday before. And I know my CEG is giving their finals the week of the 27th I just don’t know which day the English final will be given. If I was a betting lady I would say the 30th, since the last 2 trimesters its always been on the last day of finals and it looks like my CEG will have finals on Monday the 27th. I will just be in my house though. I have almost finished the curriculum for my 2nde students so its not too big of a deal to end so early, but it does mean I can’t give them the oral exam I was planning. I don’t have enough time to prepare them. I wish I knew all this months in advance, instead of a week and a half before. Makes life a little frustrating. Site has been fine. I had a bad stomach thing for a day that completely knocked me out. I think my body was protesting the return to food I cooked myself, since I had such good with the Mintons. That sentence probably doesn’t make much sense without the back story so let me tell it. My friend Katie’s parents and sister came to MAD right after the program review so I took my personal leave days and came to Tana to meet them. I also had this weird rash on my ring finger on my right hand that I needed to get checked out (im fine). Anyway, they were awesome people and they took me out for a few very nice meals. I wish I could have an American salary here because you can live like a king. I got delicious duck one night and it was $8. Ya you read the right. Crazy! The Mintons are from Baltimore so we knew a lot of the same places. It was a great weekend. And it was great to see Katie, who I talk to a lot but hadn’t actually seen in 5 months. I also am tutoring another woman and her friend, though the friend hasn’t come yet. She speaks pretty good English and just wants to practice since next year she is going to work at a school in the area teaching English. There is a shortage of English teachers so even though she doesn’t have a teaching degree she is going to teach. Like me ;). She also told me a really interesting fact about the schools in Faratsiho. They are not that hard. She wants her son to go to school in Antsirabe because the schools there are so much hard/better. We got our dates for our MSC (mid-service conference) and the dates aren’t till the end of October, more than a month after our actually halfway point. It sucks cause its another month I won’t see people and I have to miss the first 2 weeks of school to attend, so my first trimester will only be about 6 weeks long. And I want to go to our MSC. I want to hear about other teachers first year and get some new ideas for exercises, group work, etc. It will all work out though. I hope. And to be fair, I don’t actually know when school starts next year. They haven’t set the date yet, im just going based off last year. They also want us to bring our counterpart, our person in our towns that is supposed to be our contact person for any town related issue, but I know mine wont be able to go to MSC if its the first 2 weeks of school. Hes the principal. He can’t just take off for the first 2 weeks of school. And there might be trouble for the health sectors counterparts because my friend Katie says her counterpart, who is the doctor for her town, can’t leave town cause hes the only doctor around. Theres no one else and he serves like 8,000 people. We will see what happens. [****NEWS UPDATE*** so apparently they have moved our MSC date to Nov 6. which is still bad since it still means missing school. I am unclear how long it actually is and whether its with the health sector. If its not with the health sector I am going to be very very unhappy and displeased. ] The big news in my life is that my parents are official booked to come see me in MAD! It is so exciting. I have a crazy time planned for us. We are going from Tana to Toliera and back. Yay! Then my parents are going to South Africa so they can do a safari outside Jo’burg and then on to Cape Town. Wish I could go with them cause it sounds amazing. Brains trip is still being planned, but we will figure it out eventually. He has to figure out what the best time would be for him with work and all. Im confident that in a few weeks his ticket will be booked too. Here are some numbers I thought everyone would find interesting. I will post some more numbers (6eme numbers) next time. Enjoy! Also my book list is below the numbers. And also if you want to make a comment about my blog please do. I like to read comments and it lets me know that people are actually reading my blog. 2nde Class 46 total days teaching 69 total hours (25 2 hour classes, 17 1 hours classes, and 4 30min classes) Started: October 18th, 2010 Ended: June 20th, 2011 9 Units (material covered) 53 students started school (26 girls, 27 boys) 49 students currently (26 girls, 23 boys) Oldest student: 20 (birthday August 8th, 1990) Youngest: 14 (birthday January 1st, 1997) Faratsiho 47km from my town to RN7, the major highway. All dirt 78km to Antsirabe, my banking town 5,000 people (approx. in Faratsiho) 12 hours (amount I teach per week) 1 morning (I work at the hospital with my site mate) 4 pounds of brown sugar I have consumed since being here (and I didn’t start eating it til like February or March) 1 time a week (how many times I thoroughly clean my house) 2 paintings I own 1 time a month I have a person wash my sheets/towels/big items 0 times I have ridden my bike (I am going to give it back to PC) 3.5km to my high school (walked twice a week) #### of books I’ve read (you will have to count them, but it think it might be in the 60s) Book List Beatrice and Virgil The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa Me Talk Pretty One Day The White Queen One Day Emma’s War The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time The Glass Castle The Imperfectionists The Guernsey and Potato Peel Pie Literary Society

Wow it has been a long time since I posted a blog. I am really sorry ya’ll. I promise from now on I will be better. I will be able to type up my posts before I get to a place with internet so I won’t have to spend all that time on a French keyboard, struggling to remember that A is not in the same place and M is way far to the right. Though I was getting pretty good at using a French keyboard. So on to news…

I’ve made it back to MAD. Not going to lie a little sad I’m back cause I had such a great time in the USA. I really do love America. If you are ever having any doubts about America and its awesomeness just go live in a developing country for 9 months and you will return with brand new appreciation. Before I get into my state-side visit, let me tell you about my last days of school (at least for the 2nd trimester) and finals. Yay!

I ended up hosting 4 newbies at my site and it was a lot of fun. They were all cool and very easy to talk to. It was a little frustrating that we didn’t arrive at my site til about 730pm on Saturday, which meant we couldn’t really have dinner that night and we missed market day. Plus by the time the newbies got to Tana and then we got to the taxi brousse station there were no longer any direct brousses to my site, so we had to go to Antsirabe and then transfer. It was an odyssey. I hope that next time, if there is a next time, since this was a trial run, we get them for more than a day. It’s so much traveling for such a short period of time. My sitemate and I made them pancakes and janky Chipotle burritos (they are time consuming to make so I actually don’t know when I will do it again. I have to have a whole Saturday free in order to even try to attempt to make them) and we showed them some of our town. That was the other frustrating thing. We got them on a Sunday and lots of things are either closed all day or in the morning when people attend church. I feel like we couldn’t show them a true representation of what a site could be like. Overall it was a good experience and I think that other stages who come should do it too.

So the last few weeks of school were pretty uneventful. I had classes to teach and rowdy kids to corral. All in a days work. I gave my finals, which meant the week before I left I had 250 tests to grade. Joy. I actually had a better pass rate for my 6eme kids this time. Instead of 90% failing, only 75% failed. We are making progress! I did have one kid just write the test down, not answer any of the questions, and turn in his paper. That at least made my job easy. My head was spinning by the end and I was exhausted. These weren’t short tests either since it was the final. My CEG once again gave their exams 2 weeks early, so that gave me some extra time. I still don’t know what they do those last 2 weeks, cause the students still go to school. No one has ever told me what happens or told me I need to be there. It’s all very mysterious.

So I submitted my grades and made my way to Tana, where I was obviously super excited to get my vaca started. I headed out to the airport only to find out that Air Madagascar, my flight carrier, had changed my flight by 20 hours to the next day. THE NEXT DAY. Who does that? Needless to say I was pissed. You would think that this kind of drastic change would warrant a phone call a few weeks in advance. Nope. I got an e-mail about 32 hours before my flight, and a text the morning of and finally, a phone call while I am waiting in-line at the airport the night of my flight asking me if I knew if it had been changed. With the e-mail and the text I didn’t look at the date, which was my bad, but I didn’t expect the date to change. I was excited that my flight was going to get into Paris 4 hours earlier. Which of course, wince it was a different day, it didn’t. I will never fly Air Mad again. It was a disaster. If I look for a silver lining, they did put me up in a hotel back in the center, so I could hang out with other PCV’s the next day and they paid for my meals (at the hotel, which meant I only had dinner since I headed out real fast in the morning but still free dinner. And a mini beer).

So you may be asking, well Megan, what did you do about your connecting flight? Well I called my dad crying and my parents took care of changing it. I had first called Brian bawling, which is not how you want to start any conversation. Not to mention by emotional state did not help the way his day was going so no good. I eventually made it to the US though, it was just a day later then I had anticipated.

America was amazing. I ate a ton of food and definitely gained weight, though I would have considered it an offense to nature if I hadn’t (I heart you Chipotle). I was mostly in the DC area with Brian, but I did cruise on into Seattle for 3 days to see the fam and the other Fam. I didn’t do anything real epic, like go to Disneyland or Gettysburg, but it was so nice to just chill and hang out with people. I didn’t need to do a big thing. It was incredibly hard to leave. I think I had forgotten how hard it had been the first time and this time I didn’t have something new to distract me. I had my MAD reality to remember and Brian standing in front of me. Ultimately I had to come back (I left my pillow here! I have a real weird attachment to that thing. One time, I left it in Vegas and I had the hotel mail it to me. I know). I couldn’t stand the disappointment of my family and friends if I had quit then or anytime in the future (even though I know they would understand or at least pretend to to my face, which is all I ask). Also, my parents and I planned out their whole trip and I really want to do it too, so I couldn’t not come back (also on a practical money side I paid for a round trip tix so I needed to round trip it). I cried at the airport, but I really broke down once I got into the cab in MAD. It was 330am, I was alone and exhausted. All I wanted was to cuddle with my man, but no, he was half a world away. You know, if Brian was here, I may be able to live here forever. Well him and Chipotle.

I am back at site right now (I got a mini comp so I can type blog posts at site and not have to worry about French keyboards. Yay!) and school has started again. Nothing new going on there, though my horrible 6eme 3 class actually behaved this week. It was a miracle. You know if they just were quiet I wouldn’t dislike them so much. By the time I post this I will be in Antsirabe for an education program review meeting. Now that I have caught everyone up on my life, I need to post the books I’ve read. There haven’t been that many lately, what with tests and people, but I have read a ton of mags so I will write down all the titles of mags I’ve read since coming here.

The Known World

Plague Ship

Treasure of Khan

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage

The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million and Bucked the Medical Establishment in a Quest to Save his Children

The Lost City

Little Altars Everywhere

Sing Me Home

Mags: People, US Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Discovery, Life and Style, Vanity Fair, Star, Brides, Bridal Guide, Self, Glamour, Lucky, Cosmo, Martha Stewart Weddings, Martha Stewart Destination Weddings, Sports Illustrated, In Touch, Reader’s Digest

P.S. so I wrote this a few days ago and since then I have gone to Antsirabe for an education program review and am now in Tana. Every 5 years they review the education program to make sure things that are being taught in training are still useful. It didn’t take too long to go over and wasn’t exactly what I was expecting for a program review but I am sure everything will turn out fine. I am in Tana right now for my short term personal leave and I had to get a flu shot, which still hurts a little. Plus I had a rash on my finger that I needed to get checked out. Actually it was fine and I was already doing what I needed to be doing to make it better but I figured when in Rome… My friend from the south was also here and I helped her sell scarves. She works for a silk weavers co-op and they make beautiful work. We sold in a 5 hour period approx. $500 and got free food. I even put in a special order for my own scarf, since I didn’t want to take away from the sales that were happening. Plus I wanted a different color. The silk weavers can literally do anything as long as they have a picture. If anyone is interested in purchasing a scarf or anything else (bags, belts, bed covers etc) let me know! They are awesome. In a few hours I am heading to dinner with my other friend, Katie, from Diego, cause her parents landed in country about 2 hours ago. It will be fun. I am basically waiting for a call from her to head on over to their hotel. Hope everything is going well in America and I promise I will have a other blog post soon!

I feel like, once again, I have nothing new to report. I just chug along out here, teaching, reading, walking and watching movies. I have to say I have been very good about my movie watching. I only watch movies when its dark out and I haven’t cracked. I have read a lot of books, which I will post at the end of this blog. Lets see, what are a few new things I could tell you.

First, I gave my 6eme kids a test and, surprise surprise, 95% of them failed. What a shocker. Not. These kids just don’t care. I took to giving out little prizes to the top tester, hoping that would motivate people but no. I gave a test to my 2nde students and only about 45% of them failed, so I count that as a success. There is no impetus to learn here. Parents aren’t pushing their kids to do better (at least, it doesn’t seem like they are) and the kids don’t have any desire to do better for themselves. I have a few standout students who work hard and do well, but they are few and far between. A lot of kids (about 15-20) in total from all 4 of my classes have dropped out of school. I don’t know why and no one has said why. One guy who dropped out was one of my troublemakers and since he left class has been a lot calmer.

I have to give my final for my 6eme classes in just under 2 weeks, on April 1st. I am very confused why we are ending 2 weeks early (class is supposed to end on April 15th) but I have learned to just go with it. At least this time I wasn’t surprised since I decided to ask last week about the finals. I had a feeling they were going to do them early again. Maybe people just really don’t like teaching. I don’t like that I am losing 2 weeks from my curriculum. I have lost a month so far and by the time the school year is over it will 6 weeks. I could have done a lot in 6 weeks.

We had our VAC (volunteer action committee) meeting at the end of February and it was a lot of fun. These meetings are a chance for us all to get together, talk out any problems we have, and get information from our VAC rep about whats going on with PC. It was good to see a lot of other volunteers, from our stage and other stages. We have these meetings every 4 months so the nest one is in June. Yay!

So a new group has arrived in MAD. They are all environment and SED (small biz) people and they arrived March 2, if I’m remembering correctly. I will actually be hosting 4 or 6 them in a week and a half (well me and my site mate) so they can see how we live. We are going to cook them our tomato pasta sauce and garlic bread (our oven has a toast function and we made garlic bread the other day and it was sooooo good). I don’t have that many details yet but I am excited to meet some of the new people. No one will be in my VAC region so I may never see them again, but that’s ok. Its still fun to meet new people.

March Madness is going on right now and I filled out a bracket. I have no idea what happened this year so I pretty much picked by who I know from there, whose name I liked, ya know, typical girl stuff. I am glad I sent with my gut and didn’t pick Villanova. They broke my heart last year so I couldn’t support them and they last this year too. At least my heart is still in one piece, though Georgetown put a crack in it. I am curious to see how I do. I had so much fun last year and this year is veryyyyyy different.

I am all set on going coming back to the States in April. I will be in DC from April 13th to April 29th, with a 3 day cameo appearance in Seattle from April 18th-22nd. If you are interested in booking time with me in either of those 2 locations please contact Brian for DC and my Dad for Seattle (I am that classy that I need two different event planners. Hehehe). Priority will be given to those people who have made an effort to stay in touch with me while I am halfway around the world. J.

Well I think I am done right now. I will post again sometime in the future. I will be back in the US of A in less then a month and I can’t wait. Chipotle here I come!

Here are the books I’ve read:

Tortilla Flat

Black Friday

How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization

Plainsong

Trail of Feathers: In Search of the Birdmen of Peru

The Lonely Polygamist (Brian and I read this one together, though he may not be quite done with it yet)

One for the Money

About a Boy

My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-up

The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany 1941-1945Eeeee eee eeee (DO NOT READ. It was horrible)

Happy February! hope everyone had a nice VDay (I, unfortunatly, had to spend my away from my valentine) and presidents day. its the same old same old here. I have been teaching, sleeping, watching movies, reading up a strom; and just hanging out with myself. my site mate and I did buy an oven so we are now official bakers. i have made 2 batches of peanut butter cookies and ly site mate has made like 11 batches of chocolate chip cookies. i htink my cookie quota was reached for february.

Teaching has been interesting. i dont think my 6eme kids had ever seen an analog clock before last week when i taught them. i was a wee bit caught off guard by that, since i thought i would just have to teach them the number in english, but no. wrong. I had my older kids write a dialogue for their last test and some people wrote really good dialogues, but didnt include any of the things i asked for so they failed. i felt bad but they didnt do what i asked. then another girl wrote/i know copied a dialogue about yearbooks for the assignment and i know they dont know what a yearbook is. i have to give my little ones another test this week, so it will be another round of grading tests where most people fail. I literally cant make my tests any easier. they just dont study.

So this last week i lived through a cyclone which was pretty cool. very wet, wind, and cold. its lasted like 4 days, cause it came through once then boom-a-ranged back once more. so now i have lived through a coup and a cyclone. wonder what other C events I can live through? Cattle stampede? Collapsing building? Car accident? Corruption scandal? so many possibilites! i have been cooking a lot recently and have perfected a tomatoe spaghetti sauce. its so yummy. its spicy and has got a kick to it. i am going to make imitation tacos this week so Im hopin those turn out ok. not that I have the oven I am going to make banana bread and other delicious things. i have read a lot but i am going to put up that list next time I blog, which will be the first weekend of march madness. gots to check how my teams are doing. plus by then I will need money.

wow im kinda boring. sorry my life isnt more exciting to read about. let me try and think of a few more things to tell yall.... Im coming back to teh states in April! i am very excited. i will be mostly in DC with brian but I will be making a 3 day cameo apperance in seattle. I wont have a lot of time but enough to see those people that really matter. i cant wait to get my grub on. chipotle, CPK; Wendys; 5 Guys, Matchbox, Panda Express here I come! plus a host of other places. I am going to ea till i burst. my tummy will be happy while im eating but probably not too much a few hours later but if will be totally worth it. PCs 50th anniversary is coming up so there will be some sort of party here for that so that will be fun. god I really dont have much else. i know I will get back to my site and say ugh i forgot to say that but cest la vie. I miss everyone and i hope everything in the states is peachy keen. I am going to post my predictions now, which i made back in august, for my 2 years here. I have been meaning to post it and i finally remembered to bring the sheet this time! if there is a name in parenthesis after the prediction it is that person own specific prediction. all the rest were general consensus

1. Lindsey Lohan dies

2. Prince William gets married- holla got that right!

3. Angelina Jolie has another kid, natural or adopted

4. Major natural disaster in usa, hurrican katrina sized

5. USA sends troops to another country

6. A USA political figure gets assassinated

7. Bill Clinton dies (katie)

8. Attempted, but failed, attempt on Obamas life

9. Pope dies

10. Fidel Castro dies

11. Terrorist attack in France (katie)

12. Major terrorist attack in the USA

13. Earthquake high than 6.0 in Cali (josh)

14. A horse will win the triple crown

15. New major social networking site will make it big (james)

16. Mt Rainer blows up

17. Jennifer Aniston has a baby

18. A Seattle sports team will win their respective sports championship

hello new March Stage! You only have a few more weeks til you leave the USA to come to good ol MAD. please eat lots of Chipotle for me! Here is a list of things to bring, things that are your choice, and what not to bring. I hope this helps and see you in MAD!

BRING

Deodorant: you can only get the rolling kind in country, which I personally hate and dont think works

Sweatshirt: it gets cold, especially in Mantasoa and in the highlands

Sleeping Bag: doubles as a blanket and very very useful

Jeans: at least a pair

Tie (boys): for swearing in

Solar Charger: make sure its compatible with the electronics your bringing

Digital Camera: kinda a no brainier

Headlamp (2): you WILL need this, even if you have electricty. I do and I still use mine every night. they are just so practical. i recommend 2 just in case yours breaks

Books: you will have lots of free time

E-Reader: ditto above

Rain Jacket: it rains a lot here, especially in the highlands. there is a rainy season

Dri Quick Towel: good for trips to visit friends. you can get bath towels in country

Double FItted Sheet: no fitted sheets in country, unless you want to pay out the nose for it. bring one and you will be so happy. regular sheets are easier to find and cheaper. I brought one from home but not a must

Favorite things from home: cause you will be homesick

Batteries (AAA): not easy to find here

ONe NIce Outfit: for swearing in and any other special occasion

FLat, nice, closed toe shoes: practical and then you dont have to bring heels!

Duct Tape: also good to have

Flash Drive/External Hard drive: to move documents etc? most important you bring the external hard drive if you have a computer cause there is a lot of movie sharing

Hair Control Devices: you will not be washing your hair a lot fo you need something to keep it tamed

Travel Mirror: so you can look at yourself

Travel Alarm Clock: to wake up for events

Sewing Kit: to repair clothes. I already have clothes with holes I have had to sew

Lots and Lots of Underwear: take whatever you were going to bring and double it at least. I would even say triple it

Ziplock Bags: to keep out bugs from food

YOUR CHOICE

Computer: I dont have on and I have gotten along fine. I am, however, going to get one to bring back here because they are useful to have. you wont die without one though

Make-up: i never wear any, some people wear a little everyday here. its up to you

Rain Boots: i like having mine

Umbrella: you can buy here, but if you have a small one already you might as well bring it

Diva Cup (girls): now these freak me out so i dont have one but people who do swear by them.

Pads (girls): very very hard to find so if thats you thing, bring a supply

Tape/Glue: cheap and small, so easy to pack if you have space

Gum: love me some gum and really dont like the gum in MAD

Food: like bars, powered drink mixes stuff like that. comfort food

Pens: you will get some but not right away so bring a few to get started

Jewelry: just a few pieces for formal occasions

Pillow: i love my pillow so i brought it but I was one of the few who did. bring if you are really attached, like me!

DONT BRING

Bike Helmet: PC will give you one

Lots of CLothes: you can buy stuff here thats funny and cheap.

High Heels: everythings a dirt road. nuff said

Cell Phones: you will get one here for cheap

Short Shorts: shoulders are ok to bare but knees not so much. i have not felt comfy wearing short shorts anywhere. that being said, bring a pair of running shorts for loungin around you house or working out inside your house

Mosquito net: you will get one from PC

Lots of 1st Aid: you will get from PC

Lots of hygiene products: you will get from PC/ easy to buy

Hope this helps!

Hello family and friends! this will be a real short blog post cause i am only in town for a few hours to pick up stuff then its back to my site. It will be a real long day by the time I get back!

First, the mail. Apparently, there was a delay for some reason but I called PC today and they said the issue, whatever it was, just got resolved, so mail should be going to the USA this week. incoming mail was affected too, but not packages, which i found strange but Im not the leader. so I got aunt danas and moms packages today (thank you!) and no letters. the following people have letters coming (this is on top of the people I wrote on my last blog): Hanna, Erin, Erin, Diana, Laurie, and Brian. hopefully everything will get to you, but we shall see

Second i forgot to write down the books ive read so here it goes!

Handle With Care

Matterhorn

Dead Until Dark

River Town

The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Magicians Assistant

A Gate at the Stairs

White Tiger

Peony in Love

No Place Left to Bury the Dead

Bitter is the New Black

Unlikely Destinations: the Lonely Planet Story

The Emperors Children

Where the Heart Is

The Secret Life of Bees

Seabiscuit

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha

The Rossetti Letter

Never Let Me Go

School is going fine. just cruisin along. I will write more about it next time. I will post again the weekend of Feb 25 so come back and check then! miss everyone!

A lot has happened since I last blogged so this could take awhil. Then again, I am feeling really lazy right now so I might not be able to make it that far. Here I go!

I got to Tana on Dec 9th, where I stayed in a hotel for 2 days cause there wasn't enough room in the MEVA. I ate a lot of hamburgers, at a place called Speedy burger, which is like burger King. it was so good. Well not really, if I compare it to America, but I try not to do that cause then everything is worse. I also went to the Cookie Shop, which is the American bakery here in Tana. They have bomb brownie sundeas. i get one everytime, though they are really expensive. good thing I dont make it Tana that much, otherwise I would be broke. We also all went out to the club in Tana, called Le Bus, which looks like an American club in Seattle. There was virtually no one there but PCV's, which was fun. The few Malagasy people who were there all crowded around the mirror, watching themselves dance. It was funny to watch them, watching themselves. I got a hoot out of it.

We left Sunday morn for IST (In-service Training). It was 6ish days long. There were a lot of seminars, half of which I didn't go to (dont worry we weren't required to) and lots of eating to be had. It was great to get some pseudo american food, but it made a lot of tummies a little rumbly. There was a lot of reading/hanging out to do, since I hadn't seen all my friends since Sept. There were a lot of stories to catch up on, a lot of horror stories to here. IST pretty much ended on Thursday night, since Friday morn we headed out to Tana to take a tour of teh Embassy. Its brand new and looks like America. It was so exciting to see it and hear different speeched from the different departments. All the embassy people were really cool and they all want to help us out however they can. I got all the info I need to take the State dept exam next summer. well this summer, since its now 2011. (PS Happy New Year!). and the best part? we got to swim in the Embassy pool! It was so nice. I actually felt like I was back home at an outdoor swimming pool (though technically the embassy is america so i was there).

Sat morn a group of 10 of us headed out for our vaca/biz trip. We hired a private taxi brousse to take us to Fianar, which is about 9 hours south of tana. Private is the way to go. you can have them make stops whereever you want, or not have them make stops (regular taxi Bs stop all the time. drives me nuts). you have way more room and you dont have to worry about anyone stealing anything. its magaical. so we spent the night in fianar and then headed to ranomafana, to hit up a rainforest. We meet up with another PCV who lives in ranomafana and he took us to this awesome waterfall. we hiked up onto the actually waterfall and it was so beautiful. then, since its was raining and actually a trifle cold, we went to the hot springs, which is somthing else Ranomafana is known for. it was nice and toasty and we stayed for about an hour. then it was off to dinner and then bed, cause we had an early morning wake up call to go to the rainforest where we ended up seeing.....

LEMURS! yes ladies and gentleman, i finally saw a lemur. more then one, actually, and 2 different types, the golden bamboo lemur and another one that was red/brown. we had to hike up far and wide to see them, but it was worth it. we also had a lemur spotter, as well as a guide, who ran ahead to try and spot the lemurs. hence the name lemur spotter. it was so exciting to finally see a lemur. I felt like my experience wasn't complete/official till I saw one. we were in teh park for about 2 hours cause we though thats how long we had, cause our brousse to farafangana was supposed to come pick us up. 2 hours after the car was supposed to come it finally showed up. this one wasnt a private brousse, but it was mostly us so thats nice. Though no space since we were all squished. thast ok though. i did feel a little bad for the people around us, since we probably smelled from our trek through the jungle. oh well what can you do.

we finally made it to farafangana, where we had our biz. we got in late, so we went straight to the bungalows to stay. now my friend James, who lives in farafangana, told us they were nice and that everyone stayed there when they came. we should have known not to listen to a boy. They were fine bungalows, if i was only staying there one night, but we were going to be there 7 and this place was not acceptable. there was no running water, which wasn't that big of a deal, but the bathrooms were gross and really far away, the mosquito net did not cover the bed, it was dirty, you couldn't hang out there, and there were no outlets. now i know that last sentence may make me sound really prissy, but i would have stayed there if i was only there a night. one night vs 7 is a big difference. oh and there was no fan and its hot hot hot in farafangana. so us girls made an executive decision the next morning to change hotels so off we went (this decision didn't sit too well with teh boys, but they were staying at James house, where there was a fan, outlets, running water, and a decent bathroom). the reason this was a tiny issues was the new place was more expensive but like $10usd more expensive. a fan is worth that to me.

We had monday to relax and hang out in farafangana and then tuesday-thursday we had english club. not as many people came as James had expected (he set it up, what with it being his town and all) so we were able to do individual lessons. it was fun. my girl who I tutored the whole time was the most mahay (best, knowledgeable etc), though she wasnt that good. I'd liek to think I helped her out, at least a little. the boys went up to another PCV's site about 2 hours away for a night to install handwashing stations and give health presentations. since english club was in teh evening we had all day to tan and hang out, which was nice and fun to do. I did get a sunburn, even though i was real good about putting on sunscreen. probably the best I have ever been about it. the sun is just so strong here. on the plus side I am now real tan, which I like because I no longer have funky tan lines. we had a lot of good meals (though the buirgers we had were not tasty and did not sit well), a few laughs, and lots of sleep. 2 of the days we didn't even leave our hotel room to go to teh beach, since we were so burned and hot.

On christmas, which we called Day X since we were all sad panda bears, was ok. definitely very different then being in the states. that was one of the days we didn't leave the hotel, since we know that that night we were going to have a bonfire on the beach. we ate at the hotel as a xmas treat (which then turned into eating our breakfast there every morning) and read in our rooms. I also opened presents from my mom that she had sent, that i had carted all the way from my site just so I could have something to open on Day X. that night we did go and have a bonfire. Abe, the PCv whose site people had gone too, had come down the day before so he hung out with us too. my friend shayla and i left at about 2 but everyone else stayed to watch the sunrise (when they came back they said it wasn't that good so im glad i missed it).

we headed out of farafangana on teh 28th to go to montakara, another beach town about 3 hours north. we spent the night there and then caught the train to fianar. that train is the only passenger train in MAD and it was really fun to take it. It took us about 12 hours to get to Fianar (and if we had broussed it would have only taken us 5-6hours), but it was so much better. we had tons of space, food we could buy at every stop, a bathroom on the train (which is just like Indias system where you do your biz on the tracks) and a beer guy who would bring us cold beers when we wanted them. it was the life. i will never take a brouse back that way. i will always train it, though the chances of me coming back down this way aren't the highest, since there are a lot of other places to see.

so right now I am in fianar, which is where I spent new years. A lot of the poeple I went to the beach went actually headed back to tana early. 2 b/cthey had to fly back to their site, one b/c her house got broken into and all her stuff stolen so she has to deal with that (I feel really bad for her cause she had xmas packages waiting for her at her house. PC should be moving her though, cause who would want to stay there after all the stuff gets stolen), 1 had a med thing and 1 was already supossed to be going. the group quickly dwindledm but thats ok cause other people showed up. there were about 12 people together for new years. we went to a brothel for samosas and brochettes, which are little meat sticks. the brothel is the only place close by to go so off we went. I was back at the MEVA, where I am staying, by like 1130 cause we want to put our pjs on and countdown to the new year with youtubed music videos. i know i am so hardcore. things werent that hoppin here so it was no loss. the last 2 days i have been reading, using the internet and watching season 3 of true blood (everyone in that show has lost their minds. ppl be nuts).

I leave tomorrow to head back to site. I do and dont want to go back to site. I do cause i want to cook for myself and have my own space and not live out of a bag. I eat way healthier at site, cause i actually eat fruits and veggies there and i haven't been walking as much, what with all the sitting around and poor eating. i dont want to go back cause i will be alone at site again, and i will have to teach. My one class is about to get a rude awakening if they dont shape up. should be fun. my english club is going to start this month too and I need to find a malagasy tutor. I have realized that my malagasy is not up to par, which is probably b/c i haven't been studying. that all has to change. i need to step it up. well thats been my last month. next month I will have more stuff and hopefully I will have some good stories from class. I miss everyone and keep sending me things/letter! Mail makes my week!

and the title of this blog? totally true

So i forgot to write a lot of things I wanted to say yesterday, hence the reason why i am bloggin again so soon. not to mention I have about 4 hours to kill till my taxi brousse shows up so I need something to do.

So there are more items to put on my wish list. they include...

Glee season 1 (i am very glee dreprived)

Glee season 2 when it comes out

True Blood season 3 when it comes out

Mad Men season 1 (i need to watch this cause everyone talks about it and it looks so good! and then of course all the other seasons of Mad Men)

thats it. I know only TV shows but i need something.

I havent said much about MAd in general lately and I got to think about generalities the other day because I had to write to my 7th grade class pen pals. i told them generalities so I figured I would qlso write about them on my blog

So MAD is a cross between Asia and Africa. apperantly a lot of people in MAD dont consider themselves to be African. They just think of themselves as Malagasy, which i can understand. it is a big island and they are far away. Malagasy the language is actually based off of indonesian languages and people in MAD eat the most rice out of anywhere in the world (my rice intake has dropped significantly now that i cook for myself). The Malagasy people are a mix of African and Asian and you can see both characteristics in people. Kids run around here all alone, even toddlers, which facsinates me. most people here are farmers and nothing runs on any sort of a schedule; that aspect can be frustrating sometimes. We are entering teh rainy season right now, so i am preparing to be wet. the seasons here are wet/dry, not so much Fall/spring. lets see what else can I tell you.... the pres is a former DJ (brian told me that one) and elections are supposed to happen in May but who knows. maybe thats it for now. this internet cafe is really hot and i cant think right now.

Hope everyone is doing well in the 24 Hours since I last posted. I will post again soon!

thats right everyone. Brian is cheating on me with Chipotle. I guess I really cant compete. Chipotle is there and available, whilst I am far away and most definitely not available. He had just better never go there alone again when I get back or I might get jealous......

So a few business things to take care of. First of all, MAD decided for some unknown reason to suspend mail going to the USA for " weeks, from Nov 18th through today, Dec 8. so the following people have letters in the mail that should have gone out a long time ago and will get to their humble abodes sometime between xmas and the first part of Jan (unless in the last week you got a letter from me then never mind): Diana, Hanna, Jenn, mom and dad, grandpa, joe, sally, erin, richard and dolores, and i think thats it. there are some people (whose names i wont mention except there intials begin with K, R and G) who havent written to me yet. just to throw it out there. also thank you to my Parnets and Diana for packages! (Brian yours hasnt come yet but thank you in advance!)

Last time I forgot to post my books Ive read list so here it is!

Skeleton Coast

Eleventh Hour

Born to Run

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

Little Bee

Mother of Pearl

My Horizontal Life

The Adventures of Flash Jackson

The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Also heres an updated wish list:

Toms in any color though i would prefer Plum, Navy or Black

Tims cascade jalepeno chips

Smartfood

ummmmm well maybe thats it. for now. and keep sending the candy! me likey!

Happy Birthday to all my Nov/Dec Bdays! Rachel, Bebe, Chrissy, Corliss, Becca, and if I left you out Im sorry! its hard to think on the spot!

so I gave my finals this last week to all my kiddies and my 2nde class did well and my 6eme did not. Whats depressing is that most of my students failed an exercise that they had seen at least twice, if not three times before. ugh. I dont know what to do with them. I honestly dont think I can lake the tests any easier then they already are. my 2nde kids are smart so they will get harder tests next trimester, with an emphasis on reading comprehension and writing. joy! I am glad this trimester is over and i have time to breath. it was a stressful 3 months. I had to get my house organized, my lesson plans done, try and fit in, and not explode all at the same time. I am excited for my month breather. beach here I come!

I leave tomorrow to head to Tana then on Sunday its off to Mantasoa for training. Im there a week then on the 18th or 19th its off to farafangana, where I will get ride of my sock tan. not that its not attractive of course. I will be teaching an english club for the elected officials of the town while im there so that should be fun/interesting. i will be there till about new years but new years itself i will be in Fianar. I am just really excited to speak english and see friends and eat good food and have a beer or two and not feel bad. small victories.

I dont really have much else to say at the moment. I will try and post pics later this month, if I can, so everyone can see where I live. i will be able to check my email again in like é weeks so if you have anything send it my way! peace!

So before I get to the coup, a few things to say first...

Happy Thanksgiving all my American Friends! i hope you ate some turkey and drank some beer for me. i had to work so no Turkey for me. plus I wouldnt even know where to go to find turkey in my town. im not even sure if there is turkey. so instead I went italian and had pasta. what can you do?

Next CONGRATULATIONS to my Eric, my bro, and Becca for getting into Teach For America. Its so awesome that you got in (though i didnt have any doubts about you getting in) and am excited you are both going to do it. keep me updated on how its going and what you have to do.

so on to the coup. last Wednesday, which i think was the 17th, MAD had an referendum election for a new constitution. key changes were the lowing of the age to be president (the current one is 36 and you are supposed to be 40. he took control during the last coup so of course he wants to be eligible to actually run for president when there are elections) and the 6 month rule, which means you have to live in the country for 6 months prior to the election (which makes the former pres, the one ousted in the coup, ineligible cause he isnt here and if he comes back, he will be arrested and serve the rest of his life in prison). anyhoo a group of soldiers decided that they didnt like the new constitution so they hold up in an army barrack by the airport and stated that they had taken over the governement, were dissolving/halting government institutions and forming a military committee to run the government for now. what happened next you ask? nothing. absolutly nothing from a operational standpoint. people in my town had no idea there was a coup, or if they did, dismissed it as a little coup that was all tanas problem. I still had school to teach and everything ran smoothly. The end result of the coup? the 20 military people were arrested after other military stormed the barracks and at no time was I in danger. it was basically a lot of smoke. boring! hehehe

that was the big event since last time I blogged. teaching is going ok. i love my 2nde class and 2 out of my 3 6eme classes. I think the third 6eme class is actively trying to give me an ulcer. They are never quiet, goof around all the time, and love to tattletale on each other. my angry voice has come out more times then I would have liked and next semester had better be better or they are really not going to like me. i will start moving kids around, sending them to the office and docking points from their tests. shits about to get real for them if they dont start listening. They are by oldest 6eme class so maybe that contributes. who knows. i just know that i dread teach there class cause it takes so much out of me.

I did give all my classes a quiz recently, which was fun. I caught 10 cheaters in my 6eme classes but none in my 2nde. my 2nde students did pretty well, for the most part. Here its just passing or failing. ABCD doesnt matter, at least as far as I can tell, and more people passed then failed in my 2nde class. the same can not be said for my 6eme. most of them failed and i gave them that test on a silver platter. i had a review the class before where i gave them the entire test and more then 50% still failed. they really just dont care. at least thats the theory Im going with, since i hand feed them the test. I have to give the 6eme kids their final next week (which i didnt know till this last thusrday. the last day of school in dec 18, according to the MAD govt and we are ending 2 weeks early. absolutely no idea why) so we shall see how that goes. thay donùt have that much material to review so they should do ok. SHOULD being the key word. im not holding my breath. I give my 2nde kids their final next week, since i have to miss the last week of school for out IST (inter service training).

I am getting excited about IST. i cant wait to see everyone and trade stories. also to just chill with other Americans. i am supposed to be going to the beach for xmas, so that will be fun. it will be a good chance to even out the tan lines i have from my socks. nothing else is really going on right now, besides school. I am tutoring 2 different woman. ones a teacher at a private school and we usually just chat. the 2nd is a university student on break right now, who really isnt that good. i am tutoring her as a favor to my counterpart. we spend a lot of time on vocab and things like that. i made pancakes for the doctors family one friday and they loved it. it was really fun to cook american food for them. ummmm been on a lot of walks, cooked a lot of food, and planned out a lot of lessons. thats it!

i will be coming back into town on Dec 9th so if you have news send it by then. i will be checking my email and hanging out. I miss you all (and america) and will talk to you soon!

Greetings one and all! and no you didnt read that title wrong. I have already had one incident of hitting in my 6eme class. FML. anyway more on that in a second...

so I am in Antsirabe for the night to bank. I thought i was going to be able to get my debit card today but nooooooo. i have to get it in Tana, since thats where i signed up, even though PC had told us we would get it at our sites. so know i have to deal with the stupid checkbook, which i have to do all in french, for another 6 weeks til i go back to Tana. yuck. it takes forever to get out money with the checks. good thing i always have reading ,aterial on me or i may have lost it. then it was off to the post office, lunch (which took a ridiculously long time. they must have had a turtle making the food) and then to our hotel for some R&R. after this, its off to the grocery store. so exciting i know :)

so this was my first full week of teaching and i would have to say it went well, minus the hitting thing. I love my 2nde class. they are smart, laugh along aith me when i goof up, and are willing to try new things. I think we are going to get along well. right now, we are reviewing the simple present grammer tense, greetings, and question words. fun times. my 6eme classes on the otherhand, are very hit or miss, depending on the class, the time of day, and what stage the moon is in. I consitently have to tell them to be quiet and I have my fair share of jokers who like to repeat everything i say, especially ahen i say things like 'silence' or 'be quiet'. one kid likes to say 'fermer la brouche' which means close your mouth in french (though i may have misspelled that). the classes are split roughly along age and the class with the joker is the oldest class. they cause me the most trouble, but not that much more. and we are only in week one so we will see what happens. my angry voice has made an apperance multiple times already. these kids are going to shave years off my life i swear. oh not to mention the CEG switched my schedule again so mow i teach there Tues morns from 730-1130, wed morn 930-1130 and kept the thurs 130-430. they are so disorganized. so the hitting....

The hitting incident happened in my middle class, which is just a little bit older then they should be for the grade. I didnt see it happen, unfortunatly. i always walk around the room, to see how they are doing and the boy hit the girl when i was passed his row and was looking at the people across from him. i start to go down his row and i see this commotion so i go up and ask what happened. i got that the girl had been hit (in the face with a ruler if i understood correctly) but they pointed at 2 different boys, so i took both of them, plus the girl, to the office, cause my malagasy is not good enough to deal with that. plus the school has a lady whos job it is to discipline people. the girl and one of the boys eventually came back, but the one boy was still sitting in the office over an hour later when i finished teaching.

This week i also did a lot of cooking, making my english muffins and pasta a lot. and looked through bridal mags! (thanks Jenn)! if anyone else wants to send me some bridal mags i am having a blast planning and thinking about different things (dont worry brian we will talk it all out. i just have ideas.) also any PB m&ms anyone wants to send my way would be much appreciated. oh and brown sugar. theres none here and my oatmeal just deosnt taste the same! well thats it for now. i will be checking my e-mail and posting again Turkey day weekend. Miss everyone!

so i have a few minutes of internet and i wanted to relay a few things

1. i had my first taxi brousse break down yesterday (some tire issue), so a 3 hour ride became like a 5 hour ride. not to mention we sat for an hour in the actually taxi brousse station waiting to leave and then had to stop and pick up dried fish on our way out of town. joy. Anyway I officially do not like the Tana taxi brousse station, not because of the broken taxi brousse but because they are so pushy. They kept trying to grab my bag and hustle me into a car. oh and they tried to swindle me. Not a happy camper by the end.

2. a few more wish list items: Brown sugar (for oatmeal), hand sanitzer, lotion (it is super dry here and i look like an alligator), reeses peanut butter cups, bbq sauce (especially wendys bbq sauce) and thats it for now on the wish list front

3. thank you to everyone who sent me a package or letter. I picked up everything that has arrived yesterday. If you sent a pacakage after Oct 1 i probably didnt get it but everything else i did. I got letters from like oct 5th. Send everything to the new address!

4. Happy birthday to all my OCT bdays: Katie, Kathy, Troy, Kyle, Zach, Blair, Tali, Ryan, Brittany, Sam and anyone else i forgot

5. I will be checking email next fri so if you have something to send do it by thursday night your time!

Peace!

Yep thats right. 2 army men rode in my taxi brousse for about 30 minutes and they were fully equipped with the weaponry. on the plus side, no one messed with us, but no one had been messing with us so really its a moot point. kathy, another PCV with me, hearts skipped a beat but she later recovered. and that was my morning. on to other news...

I have been at site now for basically month and I am still not fully used to everything. I am still getting into the routine of early mornings and early evenings, bargaining for food, not going outside after its dark and peeing in a hole (which, when your kabone [bathroom in Malagasy] hole is as small as mine, presents some difficulty in the aiming department), though it is nice to be able to go to the bathroom in my kabone at night, since mines close by, as in its in my backyard. My house is slowly starting to come together. I have a couch and a love seat, though they are not American sized. People are smaller here so my couch and love seat are smaller. I have to get cushions/foam for them, so they are comfy to sit on, but they aren’t too bad right now. I have 3 tables, one I use as a table, one as a desk and one to put all my dishes etc on. I have a nifty cooking stand, with shelves underneath for food, which I love. It’s the perfect height for me and makes life so much easier. I have a bed (duh) and shelves built into the wall for my clothes. I have an indoor ladosy (shower), which now has a shower curtain up. Yay! The carpenter had to come and make a frame to hold the curtain but it was worth it (the carpenter was a hassle though. He was a week and a half late on the shower, couch and sofa. Good thing it wasn’t essential). I also have 4 chairs and 2 paintings. Plus a partridge in a pear tree. Syke! My house is big, nice, has electricity and I love it. It will be just fine for the next 2 years. I have become quite a cook since I’ve been here (pretty much because I’ve had to or starve) and I really enjoy cooking. I have made pancakes, English muffins, spaghetti (I made the sauce from scratch too. Im the next Guy Fieri), home fries, scrambled eggs, fried rice, mac and cheese, “reeses” peanut butter balls, tuna burgers, fries, pounded my own peanut butter and coffee, and have made multiple times a delicious banana/pineapple fruit salad. I am going to buy enough ingredients to make more dessert things, like fudge, oatmeal, no bake cookies and lots of other stuff. PC gave us a cookbook which is how I know how to make all this stuff, though the spaghetti sauce was created with the cookbook and trial and error. Brian and I will not be lacking in the food department when we finally live together, since he’s learning how to make different foods too. I haven’t tried anything that an oven, cause I don’t have one, nor have I tried anything with a long ingredient list, but that will come. I do know that I will never not make pancakes from scratch again. They are just too good when you make them yourself. Plus, I love adding a splash of vanilla to them. Makes them even more nummy! Also fun fact I now like yogurt. In fact I have a yogurt lady! I go to her pretty much every day, cause then I don’t have to worry out not getting my calcium. If anyone knows of any good recipes that you make in a frying pan and that’s easy send them my way! So from the time I got to site (which was September 23rd, though my first full day alone wasn’t until sept 26th) till October 18th I had nothing to do but cook and read and watch movies and take 2 hour walks (yep that’s right. I literally had nothing to do/was so bored that I voluntarily took 2 hour walks, which happened about 5 times a week. And the real crazy part is that I want to continue to take 2 hour or longer walks once school starts cause it’s the only way I get exercise. Plus I eat a lot of peanut butter and nutella and I have to work that off somehow). I have made it through 2 seasons of Friends, countless movies, and have explored all the major roads leading in and out of town. I have found some beautiful views and I lost my watch, which is a bummer, but my mom is going to send me a new one. Kathy and I hung out a lot, going back and forth between our sites and my site mate showed up a week after I got there. Its been going pretty well, better than I expected. Its nice to have someone to speak English with and to share the stares. Though some days I just like being by myself. I have read quite a few books since I last posted and here they are… The Wild Things Bacchus and Me The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, book 1 Mountains Beyond Mountains Chuck Klosterman IV (which I forgot to put on my list last time) The Last Templar Cutting for Stone Sh*t My Dad Says The Immortal Life of Henreitta Lacks Bite Me: A Love Story School was supposed to start on Oct 11th, or so I thought, but no, I was wrong. Well it did sorta start on the 11th, but more on that in a second. I am teaching mostly 6eme, 3 classes worth, on Mon, Tues and Thurs from 1:30-5:30, but I am also teaching a class of 2nde (which is 10th grade) Mon 9-11 and Wed 7-8 (also fun story. They originally told me that I was teaching 4 classes of 6eme, which is why I am only teaching one class of 2nde. I only found out there was 3 classes of 6eme, not 4, when I went to find out where the 4th 6eme class met and they told me that there wasn’t a 4th class of 6eme. Needless to say I was really confused for about 5min then was like oh well. I do feel a wee bit bad, since I know that the lycee wanted me to teach another class of 2nde, which I couldn’t do when I thought I had 4 classes of 6eme. Now its too late, since school already stared). I had to go to the CEG (the middle school) at 7:30am on Monday the 11th, for what I wasn’t sure. I showed up and was stared at by all the kids. That was to be expected though. I could not tell you for the life of me what happened for the first 2 hours I was there. The kids eventually started to move around, out of there lines, and around 8:45 these 3 girls came over to talk to me and ask me questions. They were 3eme students, so they knew a little English. They would ask me questions in English and I would answer in Malagasy. Well, their coming over to talk to me was the straw that broke the camels back. All of a sudden, a stampede of kids rushed over to where I was standing, not to talk to me, but to stare at me. For an hour this went on, with them staring and me smiling uncomfortably, with the occasional brave soul piping up to ask me the same set of questions: whats your name, where are you from, do you have any brothers, how old are you. Yada yada yada. None of the teachers came to rescue me, even though they were standing 10 feet from me. Finally, at 9:45am, all the teachers got called into a teachers meeting so I got to make my escape. Then, for the next 90min, I once again had no idea what was going on, since it was all in Malagasy. I introduced myself then whoosh, incomprehension. I had to go to the high school, the Lycee, on the 12th, which went a wee bit better. I actually talked to the teachers more, and one guy, Mister Eddy, spoke very good English, which was a plus. I had to introduce myself again and then the teachers talked for awhile, then all of a sudden, there was a rush for the blackboard. I sat there, trying to figure it out and finally it hit me; they were making the schedule for the year. My principle did mine so I just sat there for 90min, writing a letter to Brian/staring out the window. My lycee is a 40min walk from my house, so I get my exercise every time I go. Yah On the 14th I had to go back to the CEG for I had no idea (it was nice that I got my b-day off, which wasn’t planned. Thanks for all the b-day wishes everyone!). I was there from 7:30-11:30 and did 2 things for a grand total of 20 mins. That’s it. I introduced myself to one class of 6eme and watched while they elected a head student then had about a ten minute teacher meeting about something. I did talk to more teachers, which was cool. And later that afternoon another English teacher from a private school came by and asked if I could speak English with her. Now so far I have had 4 people, including her, ask me to tutor/speak English with them and I turned down all of them but the teacher. The other 3 were students and I told them that I wasn’t allowed to do anything besides teach my classes for the first 3 months (which is true, though there is some flexibility in that, but I didn’t feel like using it with the 3 students. 2 came and talked to me while I was washing my clothes. Not the best time to ask me for help). I said yes to the teacher cause she’s a) a fellow English teacher b) she already speaks good English and c) she was nice and accommodating when I said I didn’t want to start till November. We shall see how that goes. So I finally made it through the first week and was ready to start teaching. My first class was the 2nde students and I was just giving them an assessment the first week, to see where they were at. So I took attendance, read my classroom rules and went straight into the assessment. When I saw them again on Wednesday they still had 3 more exercises to do and once class ended I collected all their copybooks and brought them home with me so I could look them over. There were definitely exercises that few people did (even though all my exercises came from the curriculum guide for troiseme, the grade before and one girl wrote on the first page of her copybook that she doesn’t like speaking English and wants to just speak Malagasy. What I thought was interesting about that is she didn’t do half bad on the assessment. I have a lot to go over with them next week, but that’s ok. Almost no one got the advice exercise I gave so good thing there is unit on advice this year. The kids seem like they will be fine. The CEG is a different story, however. So I get there on Monday at 1:30 ready to go. I had a lesson all planned out (hi, how are you, goodbye etc) and I was curious to see how these students would be compared to the 2nde kids. Well apparently the schedule wasn’t set yet so for the first 30-40 minutes the teachers had to create the schedule (even though they had already given me my schedule the week and a half before, no one else got theirs. Apparently). Anyway then they tell me that this first week of school I wasn’t supposed to teach, just introduce the class and myself. Well that does not take up 2 hours so I sorta started to panic. So I introduced myself, went around and made each person introduce themselves (for the 2nd and 3rd class I taught they also had to tell me how many siblings they have and how old they are. I have quite the range of ages. I have anywhere from 10yr olds to a 17ys old. I know. Crazy!). I read the classroom rules in my limited Malagasy and then I taught them the ABC’s cause I couldn’t think of anything else to do. They have a hard time with H-K. not sure why, but that section really trips them up. After that, I went over the difference between good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. I still had time left so I played a game with them. I asked them yes or no questions and if their answers were yes, then they raised their hands. Some kids raised their hands every time but oh well. That kept them occupied (for my 2nd and 3rd class I ended up letting them out an hour early, though in my defense I only did that cause other teachers were doing it too). I have a joker in one of my classes and he’s the head student (at the 6eme level its an elected position. Afterwards, it’s the top student, grade-wise, how is the head student). He is going to be a pain in my butt I can already tell. He kept yelling the words I asked them to repeat and making jokes on the sly. I have already had to tell him multiple times to stop doing something. Oi vey. I am going to have to be really stern in that class since any wiggle room there it this kid will take it. He is ruining it for everyone. So my CEG still doesn’t have a schedule. I found that out yesterday when I was supposed to show up for what I thought was my first day of teaching (even though they had told me not to teach the first week what else was I supposed to do with them for an hour?) and they said it was ok if I didn’t come. I think they were going to clean the school, which I thought happened last week, since most of the students were carrying branches of leaves. Basically I am still real confused when it comes to the CEG, but I will show up on Monday at the time I think I’m supposed to and that will have to do. So thank you to everyone who has sent me letters and packages and facebook messages. I really appreciate it. And just to repeat, my new address is Megan Van Aelstyn, BP 26, 114 Faratsiho, Madagascar. Write to me everyone! I LOVE mail and I haven’t gotten any at my new site yet. Miss everyone and hugs and kisses to all!!!!!

Hey West Coasters, NGPers, ex-Buffaloes and More,

This is Brian. As always, I am happy to serve as the conduit between Megan and the States. She wanted me to pass on her new address:

Megan Van Aelstyn

BP 26

114 Faratsiho

Madagascar

However, if you are going to send a large package, you still want to use the previous Tana address. Hope all is well.

B

thats right, according to the US embassy security team, we Peace Corps volunteers are unofficial Americans since we have to take taxi brousse rides. Apparently its official US policy for official americans to stay out of taxis and taxi brousses. well we can't do that. we have to take taxi brousses to get around. hence, we have become unofficial americans. i expected nothing less. speaking of expectations.....

I AM NOW AN OFFICIAL PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER!!!!!!!!

(im using the word official a lot. sorry bout that). I swore in this morning in a ceremony that was short, sweet and to the point. loved it. we had to dress up so we all looked fancy. because the ceremony was in Tana, we had to get up at like 530 this morning to make it into Tana by the 10am ceremony. it was brutal, especially since we all stayed up late the night before to be together one last time. we had a reception right after the swear in and then it was off to get my mail and my money! i had a lot of mail (once again, from just brian and my parents so people PLEASE step it up!) and i got the next 9 days living allowance. i then headed off to the cookie shop, which is basically an American coffee ship that has delicious food. its kinda embarrassing how much money i spent there so im not going to say how much it really was. i did have an amazing bbq chicken sandwich and a brownie sundae so i was supremely happy. then it was off to jumbo, a big target-like store, to pick up a gas stove and other essentials for the next 2 years. then back to the MEVA for some r & r. i think we are headed out to dinner later, though i am running low on funds after the cookie shop.

the fact i am going to be here for 2 years is hitting me hard. i can't believe that i haven't even started my countdown yet, since my COS date is sept 29. so I have another week to go before its 2 years. crazy! I am starting to be realize i really must be crazy for coming halfway around the world (cause i am literally halfway around the world) to work for free for 2 years in a country where i don't know the language and won't know anyone. im nuts. so send me food so i don't go crazy. and books, and dvds and anything form america. my friend katie had a great idea, which was to write down all the books she will read here so she knows. i am going to steal that idea and post it all on here, so you can see the ones i have already read and know not to get those books. so here they are!

East of EdenThe Sun Also RisesThe Inheritance of LossA Walk in the Woodsa trashy romance novel whose name i can't remember and i have passed on the book so oh wellDrink, Play, F***The English PatientBrazil

I think theres more but im blanking. i will fill it in later if i remember. ok well i guess thats all i have to say right now. i will post my new address as soon as i have it! miss everyone!

Dear everyone!

long time no post I know. A lot has happened but also a little. A lot, in that I have been in Mantasoa for a month and have had stuff to do everyday but a little because I have basically been doing the same thing for the last month. So first I am going to post my wish list, since that to me is the most important thing right now. There are a lot of things, both big and small, that I want so everyone can send me stuff, if they want. If you send something, post what it is in the comment section so I don’t get duplicate books or movies. Really, the food can be duplicated so if someone says they have sent me a pack of Orbitz gum, feel free to send me another pack. So without further ado, heres my list!!!

Peanut butter or plain m&m’s

Granola bars

Brown sugar pop tarts (or any that sound like they should be dessert, not breakfast)

Beef Jerky (there is brown sugar beef jerky but its very tricky to find, but if you find it…..)

Cake/cookies/brownie mixes

Orbitz gum – sweet mint, strawberry mint, bubblemint etc.

Movies (hit up the $5 dollar section at target. Would love new movies too though)

Magazines (Time, People, US Weekly, anything trashy really, Newsweek, the Economist, Vanity Fair etc)

Rainbow Chip Frosting (This one is for Katie, to take you back to our cabin days, though I actually do want it)

Old Navy Flip Flops

Target Leggings

Anything cheap and cute, clotheswise

A plain baseball cap, any color but orange

Instant Quaker oatmeal (brown sugar. notice a theme?)

Condiment packages: Ketchup, maple syrup, mayo, taco bell fire sauce, teriyaki)

Johnnys seasoning salt

Gorilla pod

Mac and cheese cheese packs from King Arthur. You can find it online somewhere. White cheddar too!

Easy Mac

Nail polish

Baby wipes

Sudoku and crossword books

Cds (I have a dvd player that also plays cds so I would love new music or any type of mix you want to send. Dad, would you burn a copy of the last 3 glee cds [Madonna, showstoppers, journey to regionals] and send me them?)

Books: Crime and Punishment, wuthering heights, jane eyre, the namesake, the book thief, the old man and the sea, listening to Duran Duran, one flew over the cuckoos nest, the shining, thunderstruck, it, Cinderella (from the guy who wrote Wicked), don’t wake me at doyles, my friend leonard, the mists of Avalon, the blind assassin, handmaidens tale, west with the night, out of Africa, the last king of Scotland, kiss the girls, along came a spider, fried green tomatoes, fear and loathing in las vegas, fist stick knife guns, northanger abbey, guns germs and steel, angela’s ashes, david copperfield, oliver twist, collapse, John Irving books (not cider house rules), anything interesting and good. Joe, if you could send any old paperbacks you don’t want anymore that would be great. Go to used bookstores to find these, since that will be real cheap

Send all of this in PADDED ENVELOPES. They have a better chance of going all to my site then a boxed package, which will get stopped in my banking town and I will have to go there and pick it up. Or, for the next 2 months, you can still send padded envelopes and packages to the Tana address (which if you really want to send me a boxed package, always send it to tana) Send anything to the Tana address no later than NOVEMBER 1, 2010. After that, all padded envelopes/letters to my new address if you haven’t started doing that already, which I will have within the next week.

Ok so that’s the wish list. I hope that this helps people decide what they want to send me, if you are sending me anything. Speaking of sending me things, brian is in the lead with letter (surprise surprise ;)) with my parents and Diana pretty much tied in 2nd. And that’s it. So friends and family of mine, please send me mail. I really really like when I get it. It makes me feel loved (Selena and Brenna, you have a get out of jail free card right now in letter writing, since you are both leaving the US of A soon. But as soon as you get back, the card is lifted). And when you send stuff, if you could throw in a news story or a sudoku/crossword that would be amazing.

So my life here in MAD. For the last month I have had training, which has had its ups and downs. I had Practicum for 2 weeks, which meant that I taught willing children from Mantasoa English in every grade level. I don’t know why the volunteered, cause lets be real I never would have, especially to take a test, which they did do at the end cause we (PC-ers) made it, but a lot of people did. I had to teach all sorts of things and was scared each and every time. I have so much more respect now for teachers in America. Making lesson plans is hard work, harder than I thought it would be. I still am not sure what grade I’m teaching at site, but I am like 75% sure its sixeme, which it basically our 6th grade, so they will just be starting English, which is the best thing for me since everything will be basic and I don’t know English grammer. That also means I have to deal with 11 and 12 year olds every day. I plan on being quite strict, especially at the beginning, otherwise they will eat me alive. There is a girl in our group who is super nice and has accepted that the kids are going to destroy her cause she’s so nice. I am lucky cause I think I am only going to be teaching one grade, which means one lesson plan for the week, instead of 2 so yay! Still though 6th graders. They scare me.

Every day was real long and tiring. We were go go go all day long. In addition to teaching, we had language every day, some days more than others. Some days, I was in language for like 5 hours. It was awful, but necessary. We had to take a language exam a few days ago and I passed, which I know I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had so much language. And I needed to pass. If you didn’t pass, you couldn’t swear in as a PC volunteer. I am writing this on my friend James computer and few days before we swear-in, so Im not sure what that will all entail, but I will keep you updated. We have to swear in saying the official government oath, which will be fun. We did find out that the ceremony was televised and like 350 people will be there. I know nuts!

Right now we have a free weekend at the PCTC, where we can do laundry (check), read (check), watch movies (another check), eat till we burst (semi-check, haven’t burst yet) and just relax (real big check). We had one 45min session sat morn and have been free since then. We have some sessions tomorrow but im not really sure about what or when or why. Really I don’t know anything. I just go with the flow. I do know I am leaving on Wednesday to go to my site, which I am semi-glad/semi-terrified to do. Glad, cause there are a lot of people I want to kick off the island and I don’t like being stuck with (though this weekend people have really only been hanging out with their friends, so that’s been nice) and terrified cause I don’t want to leave my friends and the people I do like. I am really nervous to be by myself in Faratsiho with no one around (and yes, that girl really did switch into my site, but I want to pretend like shes not there for the first month so I have the PC experience I thought I was going to have). I already told Brian I was going to call him crying every night for awhile so lucky him! Oh that reminds me. B-day shoutout! Happy birthday to Brian, Gabe, Selena, and Grandpa. If I forgot you, im sorry. My brain is a little unclear at the moment cause im real sleepy while I type this but those are who I remember at this point. Also hello Mrs. Janz! I really like your daughter! And hello to everyone else who reads my blog who I don’t know. I hope no ones offended by anything I write.

I have already started to make a list of things I want from the USA when my parents/brian/eric/anyone else comes out and visits. If anyone is going to come, let me know and I will give you a list and send you money. I would literally give up my dvd player without a chord for a Chipotle burrito right now. You never realize how good we have it in America, food wise, until you leave. Plus I love the USA’s electricity and appliances and stores that are open 24hours and movie theaters and real beds. I feel like if anyone is pissed off at American commercialism go to a non western euro country for awhile. you will grow to appreciate you washing machine and sit down flush toilets real fast. Or clean water for that matter. It sucks having to filter your water and then add chlorine to it. It can sometimes taste like a pool.

In case you’re wondering what the title of this blog meant fear not! I will explain. We were listening to the political/econ guy from the US mission (there is no embassy here in MAD right now. The ambassador hasn’t come back since the coup, since the US govt doesn’t recognize the current govt. yet we’re still here. Go figure) and he was telling us how he is an RPCV (returned PC volunteer) from Morocco. Basically, though his talking, we discovered that morocco was the Gryffindor of PC (the cool, brave, house that gets all the good people and wins) and that MAD was the hufflepuff b/c we are the loser country cause we are in a country that has the talent/ capability/potential financing to not have PC in it but just cant get its act together (his words, not mine). And I really can’t take credit for saying that, since my friend Katie (who is from b-more and goes to the same chipotle that brian and I go to) said it. Im just stealing it. Hufflepuff had been popping up a lot in my life cause I won a $20 bet with hufflepuff. My friend Amber and I were discussing harry potter and somehow the question came up “what house was cedric diggory in” and I said Hufflepuff (cause that’s what he was in) and she said Gryffindor (which is obvi wrong, at least to me) and I said I would bet $20 on it, thinking she wouldn’t do it and she did. I called Eric and made him google it at 9pm at night his time and she got her sister to google it later, so we would see who won. I did! That $20 will be my water heater and I am really excited about it. Wow just looked at my skin and it is really dry. Not attractive

In other non MAD news, just essential news about my life, Brian and I have picked a date!!! YAY!!!! The date makes it so much more real. We are getting married August 11th, 2013. Yay! In Puerto Rico though we don’t know where yet. Those details haven’t been worked out yet, though I think we may have some time. We have our colors (Black, Cream and Plum, with silver if need be) our save the dates, our venue list, our guest list, our honeymoon spot (a year later, so august of 2014, in the south pacific. We need time to save up money but more importantly for me to save up vaca time from my job so that we can go for 2 weeks), our basic outline of the way the nigh will go, our bachelor/bachelorette parties and I have my spa day all planned. The only thing we need is our first song and I am open to suggestions from the peanut gallery. Yay! I love planning this wedding and talking about it and pretty much anything that has to do with it. But its not just cause I want to get married, its because I really want to get married to brian. Awwwwww I know we are so cute J. And in love. And I probably just grossed people out but whatever.

Ok well that’s all for now. My fingers hurt and I need to shower. Its been awhile. Over and out!

Hello again! I figured I would post again since the MEVA house (the PC house in Tana) has internet and there is basically no one here right now. I know come this afternoon that a ton of people will try and use the internet and it will jam it up real bad. The internet is slow even when there are only 2 people on it (like now). anyways I made it back to Tana alive and well. It was another 5am taxi brousse ride so I had to get up at 4:20am. ugh I hate early mornings. the one good thing about this early morning is that the hotel we stayed at in Antsirabe makes AMAZING banana juice and they made us a huge batch before we left. it is so freakin good. I had to stop typing for a second and take a swig of it. I still have about a liter left but I know that won't last long. Pretty much everyone is coming back to Tana today, so I am excited to hear about their sites. I just re-read my blog post from the day before and there is a lot I left out about my site. oops.

So Faratsiho (far-a-SEE-ooo) is in the central highlands of MAD, on the plateau. it is a huge veggie and fruit producing area so food is cheap (just the way i like it). I am actaully very excited about that cause now I can save some money for travelling to visit other PCV's (well, hopefully. My sweet tooth might interfer with that dream). I am about 2 1/2 - 3 hours from Antsirabe and about 3-4 hours from Tana. I am glad I am close to Tana cause that makes it easy to travel! Right now its winter, so it was very dead and brown looking, but you can tell that some summer, it will be so beautiful and green. Faratsiho is also pretty big. there is a gas station, a hotel, a huge market every sat and there is a pretty busy taxi brousse station. my sheet of paper with all my site details said there were only 8000 people there but I think thats wrong. I think there are more like 15000-20000 people there. It is the seat of the edu district so its got to be the largest town in the area. and the dirt road to get there isn't half bad. Waaaaaaaaay better then the dirt road to Mantasoa, which I am not looking forward to (BTW I think i may have misspelled Mantasoa wrong in early posts. its definitely MA, not MO). I was only in Faratsiho for about 12 hours, but I felt like I saw a lot. Plus I wanted to really get the feel of my banking town, since I will only be there for short amounts of time and i will have to get a lot accomplished. Even though I was only in Faratsiho for 12 hours, I still managed to tweak my ankle. You know me and my Wankle. Nothing bad came of it, I just stepped wrong on a rock, but my ankle swelled a little bit. any little misstep and BOOM swelling. oh well. Note to self: wear brace when hiking.

Speaking of hiking, there are apperently a lot of trails in the Faratsiho area and I intend to utilize them. I need to get some exercise in cause I have been eating way too many mofo balls and chocolate. once we get back to Mantasoa I am locking all my money up and very touching it again. I just cant have it on me or I will go nuts and buy all this junk I don't need. Anyway, we found out its a 2 hour walk to Kathy's (the other PCV who is 10km away) site, but if its 2 hours based on the way MAD people walk it will take me an hour and fifteen minutes. People were walking so slow in Faratsiho its was crazy! and it has been confirmed, there is another PCV at my site. I think it will be fine. She is not someone I hate, but she is not one of my best friends. IT will work out fine. I hope. Kathy is really chill and we have already made plans to visit each other a lot. thats a really good workout for the day, if I walk to her house. It will be through rice paddies but thats how I like walking in MAD. There are beautiful sunrises and sunsets here so it will never be an awful walk.

Overall I am adjusting well. I have made friends, come to accept the amount of rice I will be eating for the next 2 years, and only had a minor freak out when I got to my site. I am doing ok. Most everyone that I have talked to so far got at least a tad overwhelmed at their sites. I just met so many people and had to do so many things on a little amount of sleep that my emotions were on the fritz. I am fine now and excited to live in my community. I don't really want to go back to Mantasoa, cause it was cold and muddy when we left and I have to do so much laundry when I get back. all by hand. ehhhhhhh. I am excited to see everyone though. Most people are coming back later today but there were people that had to fly to their site and they won't be back till tomorrow or sunday. One group may not be back till the middle of the week. MAD likes to change domestic flights a lot, so everyone who was flying flights changed about 2 days before we all left. you just have to roll with things here. and be positive.

When we get back to Mantasoa it is mostly technical training from here on out. We shall see how that goes. we had some before we left but it left much to be desired. its a combo of a lotof factors but a big one is people asking stupid questions. I know, you're thinking 'but Megan there is no such thing as a stupid question'. WRONG. there are a man oh man, people have been going through them all. You can tell who has looked at the material we were given and who hasn't, which also holds true for any sessions we have where we go other things period. We were all given a Volunteer Handbook that has most everything we would ever need to know about MAD in it and I think maybe 4 people read it. Which is fine, just don't ask questions until you have read the document. Its really starting to get on my nerves. another factor is that some people really like to hear themselves talk. very long winded. I am all for having presentations, but please, short and sweet. There Im done. thats my rant for the day. I don't want to seem too negative, cause Im not. I look at these irritations as good training for future jobs/endeavors. well I am not sure what else to say. a few things to individuals

Erin: Sorry my internet cut off when I was chatting with you. I hope soccer went well and that you aren't dreading school too much.

D: I saw your comment that you were sending me a letter. I haven't gotten it yet (its probably here but all the mail they took up to the training site already, even though we are all in Tana where the mail comes), but as soon as I get it i will respond. I already have the paper I am going to write your letter on all ready to go.

Eric: I put on your FB when you should call me so check there.

Dad: while the FedEx package isn't in my hands yet, I know that PC here has it. I got confirmation from them so no worries about that.

Brian: I love you.

Thats all for now folks. tune in again to see what else has happened in my crazy MAD life.

ps. one month in and no lemurs. I have a feeling I am not going to see them for awhile.

so this blog post might take awhile, as the keyboard is different but i wanted to post real quick about my site visit. I went to Faratsiho and, while I was a little overwhelmed at first, grow to really love it. It will be perfect. I have a big house, with 2 rooms, though they do have a lot of work to do before my arrival. right now there is a ton of extra stuff in my house. I think they have been using it as storage and a classroom. I couldnt get a super clear picture of what it will look like but i am excited to see it again in a month. Right now I am in my banking town, Antsirabe, which is where i will come about once a month to get money, processed food, meet other PCs and do internet. I had thought I might have internet in Farastiho but alas i do not. Thats ok though, but starting in Oct I will only be posting about once a month. There is another PC who is 6 miles away so hopefully I will get to see her about twice a month. The newest news is that a PC in health gt switched into my site as well, but we will see if this is true. I think it is but I havent talked to her yet to get teh reason behind the switch. I am not sure how I feel about it but I think it will be fine. We wont see each other everyday so it should be fine.

I am here in Antsirabe till friday morn this its back to tana i go. On sat we head back to Montasoa and training. I have discovered i need to learn more malagasy so i will need to get my study on. i have taken a ton of taxi brousse rides in the last few days so i am super happy that i dont have to take one tomorrow. I can just chill. taxi brousses are the main form of transportation in MAD and they are crazy. they jam a ton of people into them and then set off over mostly dirt roads (MAD didnt get the memo from the Romans that good roads are pretty essential when establishing a country and commerce) that are full of holes, dips, and wash outs. you had better have a strong butt and pee before you leave cause you may never move again till your destination. every time i leave one i always wish for more paved roads.

I am tired and cant really think (I got up at 4 this morning and it is 11) so this will be all. Just a few more personal shoutouts. Brian: thank you for the email. I loved it. would you print it out and send it to me? I want to be able to look at it always. Eric: write me b:c I want to hear all about you new apt and life. Everyone else, I miss and love you all. Check back soon to see what will happen next in my crazy MAD life!

Greetings,

So I have almost made it through my first MONTH here in Madagascar. I can't believe it. it seems very very surreal. I am sitting in the MEVA house right now, which is the PC transit house in Tana, hanging out until I leave tomorrow morning to go visit my site. YAY!!! I can't wait to see what it looks like. My site is Faratsiho (that may not be exactly how you spell it, but its close enough), which is in the central highlands and about 5 hours, i think, from Tana. I will blog about my trip there as soon as possible, since thats where I will be for the next 2 years!

the last few days we have been at the PC training center in Mantasoa, where we have been experiencing what other PCers before us dubbed "Camp Peace Corps". the site is huge, with dorms, a mess hall, a tv room, a library and canoes, which yes I did go out on, though we are not allowed to swim in the lake, due to these foot snail things that can give you a clubfoot if you don't treat it fast enough. We have gotten great meals, from fried chicken to lasagna to, of course, rice, though all the PCers steered clear of the rice. I have pretty much lounged around for the last 2 days, since people have been going to Tana in stages and I was in the last car of people going. its been great. I got to talk to Brian for an hour, watched a few movies, played my first game of hearts not on a computer, played scrabble and took long walks. its been a great few days and a nice break after all the training we have had. We do always go to the training center on Thursdays, so we will get to return there sooner rather then later. on that note, every time I go to the PCTC I have to get a shot. I have gotten 3 rabies shots, a southern hemisphere flu shot, a meningitis shot, a typhoid shot and other things that I can even remember right now. and I was one of the people with the most complete vaccine records. others are getting yellow fever and polio boosters and hep A & B and tetanus shots. its madness!

Language class has been moving along. I took my first assessment the other day and I am at novice high, which is right where I should be. I have to get to intermediate mid before training is over so I have some studying to do. My EDU tech sessions have only been ok. There are people in EDU that ask a lot of unnecessary questions and talk way to much and its very frustrating. Also the tech sessions have not been going as I would have liked, in terms of what im learning, so thats also been a little frustrating as well. I am hoping they get better once we get back from site visits, since we will actually be starting to mock teach, which is really scary but very useful. from what i've heard, PC host families are the people we are going to be doing all our mock teaching in front of, so it will be a lot more nerve wrecking that way.

I am doing well, health-wise. I have only had one cold so far, which I think was brought on by my typhoid shot, since i got a fever from that. no weird stomach bugs yet, knock on wood, though a lot of people have had those stomach bugs and i am praying i don't catch any, though i know at some point i will. "double dragon" is our new term for real bad stomach issues that require both ends of your body to be used as exit points. a little graphic for this blog i know, but i just wanted to let everyone know. I miss everyone, of course, but i know that each day that goes by brings me closer to seeing everyone again. I have NOT received any letters from anyone yet (though in fairness I know that brian has sent me 3 and my parents at least 2 they just haven't arrived yet) so get on that! If you want to get a piece of mail from me, send me something with your address clearly visible so i can write back.

I definitely have a lot of stories, some appropriate to blog about, others not so much, but do know that I am having fun. Mantasoa has been a muddy hole since we got here, which has lead to lots of falling in rice paddies and into muddy roads, but it looks like summer is coming so that will be good. A fire broke out at the PCTC this week while we were there, which caused a lot of excitement. the fire started in chimney, while a bunch of us were in a big room doing our nails and cutting hair, and we were all told to run toward the fire, which we thought was odd till it was brought to out attention that there isn't a fire dept and everyone has to help put fires out. I didn't contribute anything, since it was a little fire and there were boys dealing with it already, but it was interesting to watch. I also went canoeing, like I mentioned earlier, which was a ton of fun. I didn't really have to paddle, since i was in the middle seat, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the boat ride. thats how I like to canoe. we also went to a famindhana, which is a turning of the bones. basically once every like, 7 years a family breaks into their ancestors tombs and takes the bones out, dances with them, then re-wraps them and puts them back in the tomb. this is all accompanied by lots of drinking and dancing. 2 girls from the village passed out, though to be fair im not sure if it was b/c of the alcohol or the emotions of the event, since women really aren't supposed to drink here (and no I haven't been really following that culture norm). it was really interesting to see. there is a big party at night, which we couldn't go to, but i saw them take the bodies out and dance with them. never thought I would see that, but they do it to celebrate those who've died, which is cool.

I don't really have much else to say right now. life is good and everything is going well with my host family. My oldest sister had her 16th bday on monday, and boy are those different. they didn't really do anything special or different. i bought a big coke for all of us to share and my host mom made some bread thing we had never had before and thats it. I didn't see any presents and she still had to do all the normal chores and things. It wasn't a big deal, her birthday. let me see anything else...... I want to thank Brian for typing out my last blog. I had a horrible time getting on the Internet the last time we were in Tana and I had to send my blog post to him as an attachment to post and then, of course, it wouldn't copy and paste so he had to type the whole thing. Thank you so much sweetie! my dog can now swim, which is good, and my bro just moved to West Hollywood, just to give you an update on family life (so bro, send me a letter with your new address). I have been eating mofo (bread) and chocolate like its nobodies business. they have these great mofo balls, doughnut-y things, and i eat them all the time. not to mention my phone is sucking up my ariary ariary like mad (thats the money) with my texting to the USA. (I am only texting Brian and my parents so send me texts all you like just don't expect me to text back, though little texts about the world and whats going on would be much appreciated). all in all thats my life. Veloma!!!!!!

PS. Still no lemurs. boo!!!!

Manohana!

Hello everyone from Madagascar! I have now been here 2 weeks and I am still in shock that I am halfway around the world from the West Coast. And Madagascar is literally halfway around the world. Sorry that i haven't posted sooner, but this is the first chance that I have had to use the internet. In the interest of time (mainly mine since I don't have that long) I am goingto copy and paste my last 2 weeks from my friend James email to his friends and family. Don't you worry, I will add little Megan-isms as I go, which I will put in parentheses so you kow it's me. First though, I am doing fine. I did get a cold, which I partly blame no the typhoid vaccine I got the day before and partly on the five other people around me, including my host mom, who were sick. I am better now and have just a few last sniffles to get out. Speaking of my host mom, my whole host family is great. There are six people in my family; a mom, a dad, a 19-year-old brother and three sisters, age 16, 10 and 7. They have been super nice and accomodating with me, which I definitely need. They only speak Malagasy with me, which means I have had to learn at least a little bit of Malagasy fast! I know my brother can speak a little English and a little French, but it's a no-go when I am around. In terms of food, I have been eating a ton of rice. Like ridiculous amounts of rice. There is rice at every meal and sometimes there are also noodles. I am in a carb overload place. I do get some veggies, some meat and great pineapple, but it will be nice to eventually cook on my own and cut down on the rice. Peace Corps diet my ass. That is not hapening for at least the next 8 weeks I am with my host family. Those are the basics, so on to my journey here.

Yay! Let's begin the day I left the US of A. the next part will be all me BTW. Leaving the USA was one of the hardest things to do. Brian was able to be at the hotel to say goodbye to me and leaving his arms took every ounce of strength I had. I couldn't look back at him or else I would have cracked and never made it back to the hotel. I am so thankful that my staging miraculously happened to be in DC. I needed those two extra days with Brian in order to say goodbye for a year. After Brian left, I went back in and started talking to the other people in my group. There are 42 of us, 21 education volunteers and 21 health volunteers. It was crazy trying to get us all to the airport, checked in and through security. I was gradually making friends and figuring out what the hell was going on. Then we got to the actual flight. Oi vey that was a long flight! It was something like 20 hours. Around hour 12, I lost track. I just know we were delayed an extra two hours in DC and then an extra hour in Dakar so we pulled into Jo'burg behind schedule. Now I will start copying and pasting from James' email, so unless it is in (), it is all him. We had a one night layover in South Africa which was also slightly a debacle because they had told us that the hotel was part of the airport and we wuoldn't have to go through customs, which we most certainly did have to do. Whatever, if you had to let 40 people into a country, I guess the best people to let in would be us. The hotel bar was fun, though. More hanging out and getting to know the other volunteers (I dropped $30 on a buffet at our hotel in South Africa and it was so worth it. One last night of American-ish food--it was heavenly.)

We spent the first night in madagascar in Antananarivo (abbreviated Tana), going through some basic language training and pre-oreintation things like vaccines, basic health requirements, etc. (I had to get shots in both arms and they gave us this comprehensive medical kit, which I am hoping I only use a fourth of. Also that night, 16 of us had to stay in a hotel in Tana, which I volunteered for, since I wanted to see more of the city). the next day, we left for Mantasoa, where the Peace Corps training center is located. It's probably not more than 40 miles or so from the capital, but the roads here are not the best, so it took us about 2.5 hours.

A few notes on the roads in Madagascar: First, there are no stop signs, street signs, street lights or any other type of traffic control (there is no way I would want to drive anywhere, at least not any time soon, so I'm glad I'm not allowed to. Makes it easy for me). Most roads are also dirt (and since it is now the winter here, mud) and cars get stuck frequently. The main type of transportation is something called a taxi-brousse, which is basicaly a bigvan that fits 14-17 people, depending on how big the people are, and goes from city-to-city or to different parts of a city. The main road in Mantasoa is dirt and has holes and dips. Because there is no way for drivers to tell how deep the holes are, most of the time spent in the taxi-brousse is spent weaving back and forth and from one side of the road to the other. So far, only three of the volunteers have puked in the vans, and I've managed to avoid all of those cars, luckily (so far James and I have managed to be in the same cars, so I have also avoided the puking people. Even for someone who has a strong stomach, it is rough. I'd like to think my stomach is fairly tough and I am getting sick on these roads).

Anyway, after the 2.5 hour trek to Mantasoa, we finally arrived, tired and car-sick. Of course it was pouring (I'll get back to the weather later. Just an FYI, right now it's cold and rainy), and of course all of our host families had been waiting there for an hour or so. they were good sports about it though, and welcomed us warmly. We wanted a few minutes to collect ourselves before going inside the local elementary school for the host family ceremony, but it was not to be. Normally I'm a pretty confident person when it comes to awkward situations, but when they asked for a volunteer to go first for their host family to claim them, I didn't budge from my seat (I will forever be impressed with the girl who went first. No way oculd I have done that). Standing up and meeting my host mom for the next three months was definitely one of the most nerve-racking experiences of my life.

(Just a quick side note to me for a paragraph while I tell you about my house, since my situation is completely different from James's. My family, and now myself, lives in a two-story house that has no electricity or running water. I get my room, PC requirement, which is nice, but I do feel bad, since the other four kids share a loft area, and my host parents' bedroom is connected to both the kitchen and the dining room, so I walk through it about 20 times a day. My room is also the one with a door, besides the outside doors. My bathroom and shower area are both located outside, and let me tell you, taking a shower has not been my top priority since it is so cold here. Don't worry, I have showered, but only when my host family has heated up water for me and it's waitig for me when I get home from school. Or I'm at the PC training center, which I will get to later. The toilet is a squat one, so the hope is that I will have good aim and strong thighs when I return. This type of environment was what I was expecting and I do have electricity at my site, so I only have to rely on candlelight for eight more weeks. Also, since my family doesn't have running water, they have to get it from a well, which is really a rice paddy 200m away. I only have been once to get water and I would rather not make the journey again, but I will if I have to. It's over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go. I do help my host family out with chores, like washing the dishes and sweeping the floors though. We are supposed to be treated like family members, not guests, so we have to pull our weight. Also, my family has two pigs, some chickens who like to wander in and out of the house, whose name is not Fritz, but that's what I call him. he's really cute and small, but I don't pet him too much because he's def not vaccinated and I'm not trying to get worms).

(on to the weather) The weather here is terrible. Mantasoa is right at the beginning of the high plateau of Madagascar, which basically comprises the entore middle part of the island. As a result, a ton of clouds roll in every day from the Indian Ocean and make it just over this city and then get stopped by all the higher mountains a little farther inland. It may rain here four or five completely separate times every day, with completely clear weather for 20 min intervals. This means that (1) our clothes take about three days to dry and (2) we're always cold and wet, since heating hasn't quite made it here yet. I've been assured that this is the worst weather all year, so I'm looking forward to a nice, long hot tropical summer.

My typical day begins around 6:30am, getting ready for the 7am breakfast of.....guess what? Rice. (My family loves coffee, so we usually have that every morning, which I love). We clean every day because a ton of mud ends up getting trekked into the house, and after that, I leave for elementary schoo for four hours of Malagasy language lessons. I'm learning quickly and it's a pretty easy language other than the fact that all of the verbs start with the letter 'm,' which makes them very hard to keep straight, and that the subject goes at the end of the sentence. There's a two-hour siesta for lunch and relaxation, followed by another three hours of technical training, which for me is learning abou the Malagasy education system and the English curriculum they use in the schools here. Afterwards, I usually hang out with a couple of friends and then head home for dinner and then bed. There is absolutely no night life here to speak of (and I am home by 6pm, in bed no later than 7:30pm. I go to sleep between 8 and 9. I am rockin out I know).

Last Thursday was exciting, though, because we found out already where we're going to be stationed for the next two years. (I'll be in Faratshio, which is a town in the middle of Madagascar, southwest of Tana. I'll be living in the district minister of education's compound, right behind the middle school I will most likely be teahcing at. Yay!!). I visit my site in two weeks, so I'll have more details about where I'm living pretty soon.

By the way, I have a cell phone here. It's pretty expensive for me to call home, but it is possible for people back home to get an international calling card. skype or google voice and use it to call me if anyone's interested....it doesn't cost anything for me if someone calls my phone. My phone number is 261346059184. Just remember there's a 7-hour time difference from the east coast (and 10 hours from the west coast. And yes, that's my phone number. I changed it from James's).

One more funny thing, the Malagasy people are all incredibly short (My host brother is my height, which is on the tall end). I literally hit my head two or three times a day on a door frame or something else. One of the volunteers is 6'4 and can't stand up anywhere indoors. That, coupled with the fact that these people don't see many white people, means that when we walk around town, people stare at us and say hi literally non-stop...There's also some differences in culture when it comes to interactions between boys and girls, so when I'm walking with a friend hwo happens to be (male), we tend to get a lot of cat calls or "knowing" looks even though we're just walking to class.

So that's the ends of James' email, so from here on out, it's me. A few things to add on. Please please send me letters. I so far haven't gotten any (and I know there are two in the mail. Thank you Brian and Mom and Dad) and other people have and I have gotten jealous of their letters, not going to lie. Please write to me, even if it's short and sweet, just so I feel loved. I know that sounds ridiculous and petty, but I want mail! Also, anytime you write, say one thing that's going on inthe world in one category. I have been very news deprived, and if anyone wants to send me some old Times (dad....), I would really appreciate it. I miss everyone like crazy and wish you all could be here with me in Madagascar. The dollar is strong and we could eat $.25 pineapple 'til the cows come home. I love you all and I have no idea when I can write again, so be on the lookout.

Hugs and Kisses,

Megan

PS: I have made friends, so no worries about me being lonely. We have already made xmas plans so we do not have to be alone. And since I get off all the holidays that Malagasy teachers have off, I can travel to see everyone. Yay!!! First stop, the west coast to see the avenue of baoboails (that's not how you spell them, but I have no idea how) and some lemurs.

PPS: I havem't seen one lemur yet. I've seen spiders, cows, stick bugs and pigs, but no lemurs. Boo!

Hello again. I am kinda excited that I am posting again in such a short time. hopefully this means that I will keep blogging while I am gone. I have a few more things, as you can see from my title, that I need to pass along. so lets just jump right in!

1) if you are sending a package, be very vague on what your sending. Don't write down, for example, 3 dvds, 2 cds and a dvd player. just say entertainment items. I have to pay the tax to get the packages and its all based on whats in it and the value. that being said, aim low in price. I found this info out reading another persons blog, so I figured if they said it to thier people, I would say it to mine.

2) that being said, if you ever buy mags and when you are done think, oh I should throw these out now, STOP! and instead, send them to me! I would love to get mags and read them, especially vanity fair and people. oh and time. so send them my way if you want. and PS Katie (hoseit) I know you are obsessed with Perez like I am, so would you send me regular updates on whats going on in the entertainment world? like if Lindsay lohan actually goes to jail for the full 90 days etc. thanks girl!

3) I should have asked for this earlier, but if you want to bring pics for me tomorrow or send me pics that would be great! pics of you, pics of you and me, pics of us and friends in social situations etc. I want to be able to look at people from home and miss you. also, if you are coming to teh party tomorrow I may Flip you so I have a video recording for you and what you look like. you have been warned......

4) please also send dvd's, snack foods, Emergen-C, peanut butter, fiber one bars, anything else you can think of to me. Ken B, since you know a guy, I would really really like the second season of Glee as soon as you can get it in the winter and any other dvd's you can get (incepetion, despicable me, salt etc.).

I think thats all for now. knowing me, I will have forgotten something so I will post again in like 2 hours, but I do need to keep packing. one bag down, 2 to go, but I think I have to re-arrange so really I am back at square one. Ciao for now!

Hello Everybody......

On Sunday, July 18th, 2010, I will get on a plane and head to Washington DC, where I will officially begin my Peace Corps service. I am just really glad that it's in DC, so I can see my fiance one more time before I go. I will then get on a plane bound for Jo'burg at 5:30pm on Tuesday, July 20 and make my way to Madagascar. My plane makes a pit stop in Dakar before I get to Jo'burg, where I will change planes and head to Madagascar. I am not anticipating getting to MAD, my new shorthand for Madagascar cause lets be honest, its a really long word, till Thursday night. Very, very long flight. I need to get some sleep aids. I have so much to do till then. I just finished cleaning out my e-mail accounts, typing up all my reciepts for my taxes, filling out forms for the Peace Corps etc. Tomorrow, I need to pack. I need to figure out what I'm taking then pack. and do laundry. the list never ends I feel like. Oh and talk with my dad about Power of Attorney, health care directives and all the other legal documents that make my head spin. I have a lot of stuff to cover on this post though, so time to move on to more important things.

I just got back from a 3 week vaca to my future home on the East Coast to see my fiance. We had crabs 3 times (YES!!! Thank you baby!) and boy oh boy do I love crab, drenched in butter with a hint of Old Bay (for those of you like me 7 months ago that have no idea what Old Bay is, its a seasoning. its like Johnny's). We also went to Ocean City for a 6 days, which was amazing. Played acarade games, mini golf, tanned and burned, mostly burned the first day but I stopped burning by the 4th day, ate lots of food both in and out, and played in the waves. The best part was my fiance's children came with us, though I was not prepared for the sort of tantrums a 3 year old throws. Lets just say you should never let them lose at Candyland. or not have Key Lime Pie yogurt readily available. or not letting them go first at mini golf. Ahhhhh memories. hehehehe. Balitmore and Ocean City was so much fun. I can't wait to go back to the beach and the city. Though by the time I get back, my fiance won't be living in Balitmore anymore. sadness. It was a great 3 weeks and I just wish I could re-live them again.

A couple of admin things before I continue.

1) I have to mention that the contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.

2) I am an ok typer but I don't always look back at what I write to see if there are any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. so please forgive me and my errors. I just get going to fast. hopefully you will be able to decipher what I wrote!

3) I will be able to get mail while I am at training so please send me some! I want updates on everybody's lives, from the mundune to engagements. I mean it too! I want to stay in contact and connected with everybody. it takes 2-3 weeks to get mail to me, so plan accordingly. please make sure to number your letters and include "Airmail" or "Par Avion" on the envelope. I will also gladly accept packages if you want to send them.....,.. my address for training will be

Megan Van Aelstyn, PCT Peace Corps

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 12091

Post Zoom Ankorondrano

101 Antananarivo

Madagascar

4) letters are the best bet, cause I have no idea what my internet will be like. I will update this as much as possible. Please feel free to e-mail me though. I am not sure about my phone service, but it would be really expensive so probably not an option. my e-mail in madagascar will be pcvmeganvmg@yahoo.com, so send it to this e-mail address.

5) If you have an emergency and need to get a hold of me, you can contact Brian (my fiance) or John (my dad). they will know the best ways to get ahold of me. Brian's email is bburden1721@hotmail.com and my dads is jlv333@gmail.com . yay!!!!

I guess thats all I have for now. I will add more as I think of it and I will have a final USA post before I leave. I won't be able to post on this for at least a week after I leave (so a week from Tuesday July 20) but I will try and post as soon as I can. See everyone on this thing later!

Dear Friends,

This is my first blog of what I hope will be an actually blog. I have a horrible track record with things like this and I am hopin that this time I will actually follow through. If you don't already know I am leaving in 3 WEEKS from today to go to Madagascar for 27 MONTHS to teach english to middle/high school students. I should be back in September of 2012. Everyone start plannin my coming back party! hehehe. I will post more info on how to get in touch with me while I am literally halfway around the world (I seriously think that Madagascar is the furthest possible place from Seattle before you start getting closer again) when I get back to Seattle in 2 weeks so watch out for those instructions. I do know the best way to get ahold of me is through mail, so start savin stamps! I will post my address for my months of training and then once I get to my official teaching site I will post my permanent 2 year address. Just a reminder if you are in the Seattle area, on Saturday July 17th my parents are having a "Peace Out to the Peace Corps" party for me. It will be very casual and feel free to stop by anytime between 2-6pm. They wrote on thier e-vites no presents, but if you feel compelled I did just buy a Kindle...... syke you don't have to get me anything. Well this is all I have for now. I will post again soon!