arrived
Sunday, 16.07.06
“Manao ahoana” everybody!
…finally I find some time to write you! I’m a bit tired cause I had to go to church at seven a clock in the morning but beside that I’m fine.
I don’t really know where I shall start to tell you about my trip, but maybe I’ll start with my journey. I almost missed my flight from Paris to Antananarivo. But after running over the airport I finally got it. In the bus from the airport to the plane I set next to the minister of finances from Madagascar and later on, in the plane, I set next to a doctor (who was born in Madagascar and now lives in France). Reading the newspaper and talking to the doctor I got to know that out of 1000 people down here, 200 will get infected with Malaria. I got really scared! Well, …until today I did not see a single mosquito and the people here told me that I don’t need to worry!
Arriving at the airport, I didn’t have any problems to get into the country (just needed to smile and they stopped checking my luggage).
Some of you might know that I’m living with a family with five boys. The two oldest went to catch me from the airport but did not see me. After looking around for hours I found them and they brought me “home”. The first evening I was left alone with “my new brothers”, because the father (a doctor and very religious man) was “on mission” and the mother (as well a doctor) was working. I had a wonderful dinner and went on talking with them ‘til 03:30 in the morning.
I live in a small house just next to a market and have a great room (never expected such a nice place). I’ll try to scan some pictures so you can see where I live. We have two dogs, three cats, about 40 chicken and some other birds. Since my arrival I did see maybe 5 other white people (they call us vazaha) and I think I’m the only one here in the area. Beside everybody looking at me I can move around freely.
The family I live with is wonderful. The younger boys have winter-summer-holidays (they have their long break in winter, which is now) and so we’ve already spend a lot of time together. The youngest one, Jonathan, teaches me to talk Malagasy, because everybody communicates in Malagasy. The grammar is really easy but I keep on forgetting the words.
The first day Rado and Gabriel (the two oldest boys, 22 and 25 years old) showed me the city. We went there by Taxi B, these are vans (like the ones we used when we were in South Africa). The only difference is that down here, even more people fit in one van (about 35). The city is about a 10 minutes ride from my house. It is not really beautiful but you can find everything you’re looking for.
The everyday-live is quite uninteresting. We chat and laugh a lot, listen to music and of course, watch a lot of television. Cause I don’t like it I invented some games and bought a pretty cool card game with pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio for 0,11 Euro. Some things are quite strange here: you go to sleep with all your clothes (there are now pajamas or anything like that), you don’t clean your teeth (at least I never saw them doing it – and for sure they don’t do it before going to bed), you can’t hold the cats (they are too afraid) but instead you can walk around with a chicken and, finally, I think it is real cold. I never leave the house without four or five pullovers.
On Friday was my first day in hospital. Normally I should have already gone there on Tuesday, but because Justin, the man who should show me the hospital, was on vacation I had to wait til Friday. The hospital is real nice. I guess we have about 100 people working here. The first two days (Friday and Saturday) and I spent looking around and listening to doctors. They are very patient and after talking to their clients they start explaining me every case in French (because I don’t even understand half of the talk going on in Malagasy). The next week it looks like I’ll be working in the “Sercive de Toxicomanie”, that means I’ll be working with people who are mostly alcohol addicted. Later on I’ll be going to the “Services de Chirurgie, Urologie, Dentisterie, Radiologie” and maybe in the “Laboratoire”. Beside that I’ll see a lot of children getting born (right here in the house).
That’s the news so far! I send you lots of kisses and: “Veloma!”
“Manao ahoana” everybody!
…finally I find some time to write you! I’m a bit tired cause I had to go to church at seven a clock in the morning but beside that I’m fine.
I don’t really know where I shall start to tell you about my trip, but maybe I’ll start with my journey. I almost missed my flight from Paris to Antananarivo. But after running over the airport I finally got it. In the bus from the airport to the plane I set next to the minister of finances from Madagascar and later on, in the plane, I set next to a doctor (who was born in Madagascar and now lives in France). Reading the newspaper and talking to the doctor I got to know that out of 1000 people down here, 200 will get infected with Malaria. I got really scared! Well, …until today I did not see a single mosquito and the people here told me that I don’t need to worry!
Arriving at the airport, I didn’t have any problems to get into the country (just needed to smile and they stopped checking my luggage).
Some of you might know that I’m living with a family with five boys. The two oldest went to catch me from the airport but did not see me. After looking around for hours I found them and they brought me “home”. The first evening I was left alone with “my new brothers”, because the father (a doctor and very religious man) was “on mission” and the mother (as well a doctor) was working. I had a wonderful dinner and went on talking with them ‘til 03:30 in the morning.
I live in a small house just next to a market and have a great room (never expected such a nice place). I’ll try to scan some pictures so you can see where I live. We have two dogs, three cats, about 40 chicken and some other birds. Since my arrival I did see maybe 5 other white people (they call us vazaha) and I think I’m the only one here in the area. Beside everybody looking at me I can move around freely.
The family I live with is wonderful. The younger boys have winter-summer-holidays (they have their long break in winter, which is now) and so we’ve already spend a lot of time together. The youngest one, Jonathan, teaches me to talk Malagasy, because everybody communicates in Malagasy. The grammar is really easy but I keep on forgetting the words.
The first day Rado and Gabriel (the two oldest boys, 22 and 25 years old) showed me the city. We went there by Taxi B, these are vans (like the ones we used when we were in South Africa). The only difference is that down here, even more people fit in one van (about 35). The city is about a 10 minutes ride from my house. It is not really beautiful but you can find everything you’re looking for.
The everyday-live is quite uninteresting. We chat and laugh a lot, listen to music and of course, watch a lot of television. Cause I don’t like it I invented some games and bought a pretty cool card game with pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio for 0,11 Euro. Some things are quite strange here: you go to sleep with all your clothes (there are now pajamas or anything like that), you don’t clean your teeth (at least I never saw them doing it – and for sure they don’t do it before going to bed), you can’t hold the cats (they are too afraid) but instead you can walk around with a chicken and, finally, I think it is real cold. I never leave the house without four or five pullovers.
On Friday was my first day in hospital. Normally I should have already gone there on Tuesday, but because Justin, the man who should show me the hospital, was on vacation I had to wait til Friday. The hospital is real nice. I guess we have about 100 people working here. The first two days (Friday and Saturday) and I spent looking around and listening to doctors. They are very patient and after talking to their clients they start explaining me every case in French (because I don’t even understand half of the talk going on in Malagasy). The next week it looks like I’ll be working in the “Sercive de Toxicomanie”, that means I’ll be working with people who are mostly alcohol addicted. Later on I’ll be going to the “Services de Chirurgie, Urologie, Dentisterie, Radiologie” and maybe in the “Laboratoire”. Beside that I’ll see a lot of children getting born (right here in the house).
That’s the news so far! I send you lots of kisses and: “Veloma!”
Pia.H - 20. Jul, 20:20
