Christmas is Coming! (Amy's Goose Story)
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2006
1
10
22
Trip End
Sep 2008
Antananarivo,
Madagascar
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Hello again everybody, hope this upcoming Holiday Season finds you in good health and happiness! We had the opportunity to speak to Amy on Saturday 12/16 following our family Christmas Party. Amy was in good spirits and was able to talk to several of her relatives who all enjoyed speaking with her immensely. We also were informed that Amy earned a goose as a Christmas bonus! (Amy has since named the goose, I think she calls it "Dinner" or "Supper" depending on what time of day it is.) The goose was delivered to her by representatives of her teaching community and is quite large and also serves as an additional wake up call, along with the village roosters. "Cock-a-doodle HONK" in Amy's words.
Amy also informed us that a beautiful peach tree in her yard delivered her some fantastic fruit. (Some of which was stolen by a sneaky little boy who wriggled through her "fence" (see photo), whom Amy, after a line-up of all the boys from her school, discovered to be from a nearby village and not her own. Amy then picked the remaining fruit and made delicious jellys and jams, and then used the left over peaches as a reward / incentive in her English class for those who could correctly say "May I have a peach, please." Smart girl that one...;)
We also received the memory card from Amy's camera in the mail, which is very exciting and has provided us a glimpse into what her daily life must be like. Pictures have been added to previous entries and will be updated within the coming weeks, so check back often!
All our love, Merry Christmas,
The VanC's
bizjvc@hotmail.com
(630) 209 - 4389
Comments
Merry Christmas from the Lerdals
Dear Amy and Dinner (the pet goose),
We love you very much, maybe not the goose so much! We hope that our Christmas wishes for you find you well. It is hard to think of killing a goose to get a good meal but when I get hungrey I almost kill Kirk so I think I might understand a little. When I was a kid I wasn't for killing any animal no matter how small, now, I'm for not killing any kids. I guess that it comes with getting older and becoming a mom. Jonny and Rachael had their baby girl on Monday. (someone prob. told you) I haven't met her yet but she looks beautiful from all the pictures Aunt Merry sent over e-mail. We really missed you during the Freedlund Christmas Party. I think that your parents need a big hug from you when you get home! You are very much loved! I also want you to know that another big box will be coming your way after Chrsitmas. I'm going to get all of my side of the family to help. I will call your parents before we send it to make sure that we have things that you can use and need. I don't think that you will be needing a snowblower in Africa but you might need a pig roaster to cook that goose! (I'll talk to Grandpa about sending one to you!) (I'll talk to my parents about paying for it!) :) Anyway, We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
God Bless You and Everything that you do!!!!,
Kirk, Britt, Ben and Alex
Merry Christmas from Lemurville!!!
Merry Christmas everyone! Here in M-car it is hard to believe that it is Christmas, with the 90-ish temps and no crowded malls with never ending Christmas carols :) So, I'm sad that I can't make it home for the holidays, but I am going on a great adventure with 9 other volunteers to Nosy Be, a tropical resort in the north west of M-car. It should be quite the adventure that involves a 24 hour ride in a taxi-brousse AND an interesting cyclone that keeps circling back towards our tropical destination. No worries, we're in the clear to go and it should be great material for my book!
I miss you all and may God bless you this Christmas and in the New Year!!!
Things are pretty much the same as my last post in Nov. with the addition of my Christmas goose....apparently instead of a Christmas 'bonus' we get geese here in M-car! It was quite funny when a couple of the teachers showed up at my house with a LIVE goose....and I was thinking, what the HECK do I do with a goose? What does it eat??? Anyway, it turned out fine and I did have to have it butchered (because I had to leave for vacation and didn't really feel like travelling all the way to Nosy Be with a LIVE bird).Hey, never a dull moment :) It's nice to have a real vacation from school and get to see more of the island.
Thanks for all the Christmas cards, packages, boxes of candy canes, prayers, and well wishes! It's actually quite nice that it's hot and there's no snow because I don't get too sad about not seeing all of you for the holidays! I miss you all everyday and hope to give another update from the fabulous island adventure :)
Much love and God bless,
Amy :)
Happy 2007!
Hello all,
Just wanted to say Happy New Year! We made it back from our beautiful island of Nosy Be. It was quite the adventure that involved a 24 hour brousse ride, a class 1 cyclone, a sea urchin in my friend Aya's toe, and her also coming down with malaria. No worries, she is fine now, but let me just say that I hope I NEVER get it!
Vacation was great and we were able to feed lemurs (which hopefully you already saw from another e-mail), snorkle, lay on the beach, get a great burn on your back (oh, that was just me) and ride it a mini-bus for 24 hours stopping about 2-3 times to eat and when you have to pee on the side of the road. Man, I think I could do the Amazing Race with my eyes closed! Anyway, I'm headed back to Anjozorobe tomorrow so it's back to planning those lessons!?!? Thanks again for all the mail, prayers, and well wishes. I'm sending a CD of pics home with a volunteer's parents that are visiting, so hopefully those will be up in a couple of weeks!!!
Much love,
A
Happy New Year
Dear Amy,
I'm so happy that you had fun on your excursion!! and that you finally got to see the lemurs!!. Santa gave Jason, Mandy, and Shelley shirts that have lemurs on them. Things are well here. We're busy planning the retreat. We'll let you know all about it. God's Blessings for a great year. Let us know about your library as soon as you know.
Hugs, Cathy