April 21, 2012
Helloooo!
So the trainees made their first trip to Tana this week,
which was pretty exciting, even though we didn’t see a whole lot of it. We went to a government appointed children’s
home, funded by international donations.
It is really nice there; I was really impressed with the work they
do. The courts send youth there for
foster care or because they have committed a crime. The center feeds, houses, and educates them,
and when they turn 18 (if they stay that long), the center sets them up with a
potential job.
Then we went to the Tana Meva, which is housing for
volunteers while they are in Tana. There
are ones in Fianarantsoa and Diego as well.
Hung out with two Michigan alumni, one who graduated with me (woot!) and
has been here since July in health, and one who is in her third year of service. Geeked out a bunch about U of M stuff,
including my first mention of “the Michigan difference” for the first time in
forever haha. Also, one told me they
like my ring from San Fran on Pinterest, so well done Erica and Helina, we have
awesome taste and are starting a trend.
Additional small world info: the CED trainer for this week, Al, grew up
in Buffalo, NY. However, he lived for
about a year in Ann Arbor while his dad finished up school, the summer I was
born! They lived in Northwood, and my
parents lived in a condo near North Campus.
We may have known each other.
Parents? The name Fertig ring a
bell?
So then we went to see the Peace Corps office, which was
really nice. They have a ton of really
cool Peace Corps posters that I sooo want to find. Favorite—the corner office can wait, some
corners of the world can’t. We had an IT
session there with David McAfee, who is a returned PCV who now lives here in
Tana. He quoted Gabe (another RPCV from
Mada) almost to the letter about winning the Peace Corps lottery with
Madagascar. It is a wonderful place J
Upon our return to the PCTC, a few of us decided to play
some poker. You would be proud Tina, I
won VS 6 other people. A whole 3 dollars
haha. But to us, that is currently a lot
of money haha. Then, on Friday, we had a
language session on invitations, so we talked a lot about weddings. RACHEL YOU GET MARRIED IN ONE MONTH!!!!
AHHHHHH that’s so exciting. During the
weeks of Rachel, Megan, and Tina’s weddings, I will be watching a whooole lot
of girly wedding movies, mostly courtesy of my friend Christina here.
Last night, our language trainers decided to set up karaoke
for us, which was pretty hilarious. The
backgrounds of the songs were the absolute worst synths ever, and Gabe, you
were right, the Malagasy love karaoke.
No shame and they have pretty awesome voices. They also really like slow songs, which is
hilarious. Not too many Americans
participated, but it was fun nonetheless.
Today, we are continuing our April birthday celebrations with a BBQ for
Anne and our PCV trainer Tara, which should be fun. Then tomorrow I am going to visit my family
in town again. We give a presentation on
Thursday for our families about potential income generating activities, so I
will be giving them the presents my parents sent from home. Excited!
Less than two weeks left!
Love,
-Sarah
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