Happy Halloween!!
So today I stepped in a huge pile of poop. People poop. In sandals. It happened right after I had taken a nap on the taxi-brousse and then got out during a bathroom break. I now understand the importance of remaining vigilant and replacing contacts with a fresh pair before exiting a parked taxi-brousse. Lord there was so much poop. It’s as if all the taxi-brousse drivers in Madagascar had a convened and declared these clusters of bushes as the national pooping grounds. Sweet Jesus was that place a warzone; generous brown landmines covered the hillsides, camouflaged by a smattering of broad, freshly fallen leaves…In a moment of weakness I rubbed my eyes, foggy from napping on the early morning taxi, and then BAM. The second it happened I immediately flashed back to my little kid self stepping in a cow pie in those nice clean white sandals I used to own, being horribly traumatized as my dad hosed off my foot. This was SO much worse.
Thankfully though, I was not alone. Stu and Amanda took the same taxi-brousse as me (today is the first day of our independent study projects where we all split up and do research on our own) and were there to laugh with me about it after I disinfected my foot and said GOOD RIDDANCE to my sandals. Stu pointed out that this is probably just one of those things that has to happen periodically for a person to get rid of all their bad luck, so in the greater scheme of things, the fact that I stepped sandal-footed in a steaming pile of people poo on the first day of ISPs actually bodes well for the project as a whole…Thanks Stu.
Nonetheless, I made it safe and sound to Ambositra, where I will be staying during my ISP. I really really like it. I think it might actually be my favorite town I’ve been to yet. There are about 30,000 people and the roads are nicely paved. There’s not that much traffic or crowds and it’s also the artisanal/ handicraft capitol of Madagascar. All of the people I’ve encountered so far have been exceedingly nice, which bodes well. My pousse-pousse driver carried me and ALL of my bags to the hotel for just 1,000 ariary (I gave him 2,000 because it was uphill and I’ve also been eating a lot of pain au chocolats lately) without even trying to overcharge me. So kind. Also I’ve only been called vizha like 5 times since being here. Incredible!! It’s too late/ rainy to wonder around now but I’m gonna use tomorrow to get myself situated. On Wednesday I’m meeting all the staff of Ny Taninstika (if I find the office that is…) ad will try to figure out what the heck I’m gonna do with my project. They all seem really great so far and I’m so excited to get the opportunity to (hopefully) contribute some good work to their projects. On Thursday I’ll be going out to the sites where I’ll be conducting research and meeting the communities. I hope they like me!!
So before leaving we all got really nervous (obviously) and so all 24 of us decided to write affirmations for everyone (which are basically like anonymous compliments that make people feel awesome about themselves) to take with us on our ISPS. It turned out so great and was really nice considering the entire group has been communicating via nothing but “indri call” (the coolest lemur known to man) ever since we say them in Ambolobe the other day (here’s an idea of what all our conversations sounded like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGdVz8VEQ-M
Affirmation Highlight:
“You are the definition of cool.” (Agreed.)
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