Life in Ampasimanjeva

Akory aby!

Whats up everyone?! Hope all us well with everyone back in the states. I am back for another post. You'll have to excuse any spelling mistakes because I am doing this on my home once again.

I have been at my site, Ampasimanjeva, for a little more than a month now and so far it's been great! The people have been extremely nice, including or of my fellow teachers who took me to his brother's wedding in a town called Manakara a few weeks ago. We actually were biking the 72 km trip until his back tire blew out with about 30 or so km left to go. Biking everywhere is huge around here for the obvious reason that cars are a luxury, but it appears most people would rather endure a grueling (but very scenic) bike ride than fork up several thousand ariary to go on a taxi-brousse which I believe I have already mentioned is an experience in and of itself. The volunteers in my region (about 15 of us) also just had a meeting last weekend in a place called vangaindrano. I biked half of that trip too, which was 80km in one day. By the end I could barely get off my bike my legs hurt so bad. The meeting itself was awesome though. Got to meet more all of the volunteers in my region and all of them are really cool people. One of them lives about 12km from my house and he has been really helpful. I am actually headed to his town after I finish writing this to help with a project he is working on.

My town is fairly large (as far as small towns with no electricity go). There is about 8,000 people in the main part of town and then another 22,000 in the surrounding villages. I live on the lycee compound, which is really convenient now that classes have started. I walk about 100 yards to the building. I teach three classes, each twice a week. Two seconde classes, which is live the equivalent of a freshman or sophomore in high school, and one premiere class, which is like a sophomore or junior. Each class is 2 hours long and I speak in English so you can imagine its probably pretty difficult for them. There is a lot of acting out words to make it a little more fun. The other day I acted out dancing for them instead of just giving the translation because what could be better than watching a tall, lanky, white guy dance on a Wednesday morning? Exactly, nothing. So far the kids are doing really well and I haven't questioned my teaching capabilities, although I'm sure that will come in time. I really like all my coworkers and I'm happy classes have finally started.

My house is a small building made of ravinala trees with a tin roof. It has two rooms, but I bought a double bed, so one room is basically just my bed. Oh well, it's comfortable. The other room has everything else, including a desk, a table I cook on and a small shelf. I have a serious rat problem although I think I may be going away. I found a tail in my rat trap the other day and a trail of blood following it. Maybe he learned his lesson or went off and died somewhere. Ants are always a problem. Quite frankly it's a house made of trees, so it's probably more theirs than mine anyway. No electricity hasn't been nearly has difficult as I originally thought. I have candles I use at night and I usually cook before the sun goes down. I have a small solar panel to charge my phone and iPod and that's really all I need. I have noticed that I go to sleep a lot earlier. A typical day is waking up at 5 or 6:30 and then going to sleep around 9 or 9:30.

Quick sports vent: I hear the Tigers are in the ship, but down early. Hoping everyone is enjoying some good playoff baseball and hopefully we can turn it around and win this thing. That would be a hreat thing for the city. Also just saw that the NHL cancelled their November games which is ridiculous. If they cancel the winter classic that would be a tragedy. Hurricanes, come on fellas. I realize this wasn't supposed to be our year, but a big loss to ND and a another tough loss to that team in the godforsaken town in northern Florida. Let's get back on the saddle here fellas and close this season out on a good note. I'm sure I missed an epic reunion in Chicago which was a big low point here, but I hope you guys had an awesome time minus the score.

Speaking of sports, I've been playing soccer with the local team. They practice tues-sat at the lycee field at noon and they do not mess around. We usually do conditioning drills for an hour and then play for the last half hour. (a regular drill is to put someone your size on your shoulders, run 100 yards, do 10 squats, then run back and do 10 squats and then switch). I'm sure i nearly had heat stroke the first few times, but I've gotten better and I think my soccer skills have actually gotten better too. (Ben, I can hear you gloating all the way over here).

I will be here at my site until december 12th when my training group all heads back to the training center for a week long meeting. We also present a report on our sites that we are all working on now. It will be good to see everyone again when that happens. After that, hopefully a little vacation before coming back here for the second trimester.

My Malagasy is coming along, but still has a long way to go. I hopefully will be able to hold a conversation without asking what certain words are by the end of this whole experience. Rainy season is coming up. I've been told that it can rain here for weeks at a time without stopping. I am trying to build a gutter/water collection system for myself. I'll let ya know how that goes.

A lot of people asked about my address before I left so here it is:

Rory Lincoln
Lycee du Faraony
Ampasimanjeva 316
Manakara
Madagascar

This address can take letters only and there is a good chance it will never get here. Sorry. I had something sent in country to this address and it took a month. Anything else you might want to send would go to an address in manakara. I am going to ask if you could wait a few months before sending any pkgs to this address because it is expensive to take them out of customs (15,000 Ar, which is food fr about 3 weeks) and I just got a few and we don't make much money.

Matthew Simms
Attn: Rory Lincoln
BPN 101
Manakara Sud
Manakara Be 316
Madagascar

Thanks so much everyone! Miss you all! Until next time.

Rory