Halloween

11/19/12

Halloween, while not celebrated in Madagascar, was an absolute trip with American volunteers.  There were a whole lot of us, probably more than 30, in Tana for our VAC meeting, which happens every 4 months.  The original plan was to dress up in costume and go play lazer tag.  The lazer tag ended up being really far away, so we all dressed up and went out on the town to our usual hot spots.

I found a dress about a month before that looked like it could be a sailor or a pirate.  I ended up going with sailor, making a paper hat out of a Peace Corps newsletter, and finding some awesome boots in Tana.  Emma didn’t end up finding a costume, so she wore a dress of mine and we found a tiny little sombrero from a tequila bottle and she went as a giant Mexican.  There was a whole crew that was the cast of the Wizard of Oz, as well as 3 girls that were “dahalo,” or cattle thieves that have recently been plaguing the south in Mada.  There were also some Disney princesses, as well as cowboys and Indians.

But the winner, and champion of the world, was my friend Nick who came in with my training group.  He made a cardboard version of the markers you see along the roads every kilometer.  He was the RN 7, which is the road that runs south from Tana, and he was the marker for Ambositra, which is the larger city near him.  The best part about it was, all of the Malagasy and Americans alike knew exactly what he was, so we got a lot of questions (and laughs) allowing us to share the reason we were all dressed like lunatics in downtown Tana.

One of the volunteers parents had sent them all kinds of Halloween goodies, so we each got a gift bag with a little bit of candy, a glow in the dark bat, and bat rings, which was pretty awesome.  I also stole some pretty sinister looking black vampire teeth form a friend, so then I became an undead sailor.  We all went out dancing, and had a pretty awesome and hilarious time.  The next day, the day of our actual meeting, a couple of the volunteers made us popcorn, hot chocolate, and amazing pumpkin crepes.  All in all, a good rendition of the American tradition I hold so dear.

Also, yes Nicole, I watched Hocus Pocus with Emma and Eric before he left for the states.  Tradition upheld J

Hope you all had a fun Halloween as well!

Love,

-Sarah