Hotel Carlton Antananarivo

... Madagascar on Sunday lunchtime having changed flights in Paris and Mauritius. I was met by my guide Claude and driver Haingu and we set off eastward for the four hour drive to our first stop, Andasibe. Admittedly the road shown is not the main highway, but it still took 4 hours to cover the 80 miles as the road twists and turns so much. Only a few major routes have sealed surfaces - the rest are an ...

... afternoon. And, we just had 2 cyclones pass through....one from the Mozambique channel side and one from the Indian Ocean. Always interesting here! Thank you again for all the cards, packages, gifts, etc. And- Girls' Camp 2009 is coming in April, so if you'd like to donate-PLEASE LET ME KNOW! We'd love any help we can get-monetary or otherwise! Much love and God bless, Amy :)

... to a city open air produce market. Lisa (the vegetarian) quickly bailed out of the market after the first butcher stall. I have to say I have never seen so many flies in one place before (and I've been to a lot of these markets....). I asked Babba if he knew of a place where I could get a haircut and since this was his home town he took me to a good place where the locals go. Got a ...

... Meer starten wir eine Whale watching Tour von der Hafenstadt Ambodifotatra. Ueber 2 Stunden folgen wir einem Southern Right Whale in sicherem Abstand: es ist eine Walmutter mit ihrem Baby. Unser italienischer Kapitaen ist begeistert und faehrt mit einem Beiboot dicht an die beiden heran, geht ins Wasser und schnorchelt kurze Zeit mit den imposanten Tieren bis diese abtauchen. Nach einem Lunch am Strand fahren wir weiter aufs Meer ...

Happy 2008 to All! I made it back safe and sound (after an 18 hours flight) to Madagascar after an amazing Christmas with the fam. I got to see some many friends and family, but my sincerest apologies to those who I missed! It was a crazy and hectic 2 weeks. I was truly blessed to be able to have gone home. Thanks again to all that made it happen! Things are going very well here. School started on Jan. 7th and has been in full swing. Both the students AND ...

... Only they do not have any internet. Playing cards on our terrace in the evening is pleasant. Although, I loose, Broere. The last day of diving ends badly for me. I twist my knee 'climbing' on the boat. Badly. Dr T snorkels with a whale shark, I am too late because of the knee. I need his support to walk back to the hotel. The next day it is not better and I spend it in bed with my knee up. Tomorrow back to Anta. Thank God. As you can see, Nosy Be, Not for me!

... you said 'no thank you' to someone trying to sell you something, for the most part they said 'ok' and left you alone. We ended up at Independence Avenue, the main street of Tana, and had a wander around the maze that is Anakely market. We tried to head to Lac Anosy next, but somehow ended up on the wrong side of the next hill ...

I'm not good at keeping in touch, or on-line journaling apparently. I try to avoid using the french keyboards as much as possible. Right now I am stuck in Tana, the capital. I was supposed to come for the weekend, to get the last in a series of vaccines. I flew in Friday with a return ticket home for Sunday. I'm never that excited to leave site, but it's nice to get away for a few days and there's a break this week at school. It's for School ...

... While I was observing all this, Patrick, Maminiaina and I kept up a steady discussion, asking questions, making comparisons and contrasts and so on about our two church associations. Once at the office I set up my laptop and we went through two PowerPoint presentations about the work of UCG, including French-speaking areas of course, and about the structure of our administration since that is an area they wish to understand. I also gave them copies of ...

... moving to Tsiro. Glad to have made decision, but I'm sad to be leaving here. Especially since we went out of the village to meet parents for Anna-leigh's uni essay on primary education in Mada (me on back of host's motorbike (no helmet, eek), and Anna-leigh and Njara on push-bikes - apparently my health still isn't strong enough!) They parents were all really nice and helpful. We spoke to one parent in his rice field, and he explained ...