coup d'etat continued

today is officially day 4 that i've been staying at the house with our 'refugee' group. the days pass fast, but not much get's done and there's not much to do. i did get out of the house today and we drove downtown and it was very quiet. things have been very calm here the last 3 days. although things got a little more complicated today; the mayor held another meeting and declared himself president of the transitional government-- making it an official coup d'etat. then later today, the president declared that he's still president... the mayor called all ministries closed on monday and the president said they're open... so i guess you're starting to get a sense of the confusion and frustration. i have no idea what's going to happen and nor does anyone else really. the mayor is completely going against their constitution and is technically underage to become president (he's only 34 and the president must be atleast 39) and the president is declaring he is the one with the legal power. most of my days have been filled with conflicting and changing information, lots of card games, making some jewelry... part of the waiting game. thankfully i'm surrounded by nice, laid back people, so i think we've been able to ward off cabin fever. last night, i was interviewed by CNN over the phone and used a webcam, and you can see the 5 minute video clip if you click HERE. i submitted some pictures to the cnn article on madagascar which you can see HERE in the photo section. check back though because i think they'll be writing a new article with the new information that developed today and i might be quoted. this is defintely a very interesting situation to be experiencing, and i'm still not quite sure what to make of all of it. i'm going to try to get working with my organization as soon as possible and hopefully get in on some smaller projects or something while things are still unpredictable, but it would feel great to do something productive! but as it stands now, i have to wait to see how the cards play out and not make plans too far into the future. that's all for now though!

my first political coup

hi everyone-- i thought this was a good time to update. it seems as though the recent news here hasn't really hit the US. This week has been quite an interesting experience, unlike anything i've ever seen and the situation has escalated over the course of the week. i think i mentioned before the feud between the president of madagascar and the mayor of tana, but in the last few days it has become a real problem and madagascar is deep in political turmoil. the important thing is im safe!! so now you can continue reading with interest rather than worry. the mayor has been holding meetings to rally support downtown and starting monday, there was a huge rally that marched throughout the city. the mayor has been preaching a pacifist movement, however he had amassed such support that it didn't take long before things got out of control. walking around monday morning i was watching from hilltops and it was an incredible sight. i actually ran into three of my british friends from my malagasy class that morning (catherine, maia and tom) and we ended up going around taking pictures and videos. the internet is too slow now but i'll try to upload stuff sometime soon. once things started getting intense, shops started closing and since it has become nearly impossible to buy things...most importantly food. but thankfully the 3 brits invited me to stay with them for now, they have food and a kitchen. so i officially left my hotel and stayed with them for the last two nights. the unfortunate thing is that a massive crowd of poor, angry malagasy people has resulted in a lot of looting and recklessness that has ravaged grocery stores and destroyed pretty much all of the president's property including his company stores and the national tv and radio station. it was very bizarre to be looking at the horizon i've looked at for the last month and see various pillars of black smoke. the day after the radio and tv station were burned i walked by and it was truly decimated. the vast majority of this hasn't been violent though, some people have died but the majority of police fire shots in the air to disperse crowds rather than shoot people, something that i think is more linked to madagascar's not so violent reputation. my hotel was very close to downtown where the drama was happening, as was the house i was staying in the last 2 nights so today we moved to the 3 brit's friend's house in a nice section of town that's well guarded and well stocked with food. so i guess we will wait here for now, stay tuned to the news and see how things pan out. the frustrating thing is that its hard to get good information, as the media's interpretation or falsification of events depends on which side of the conflict they support. the saddest thing is the reality of what this is going to do to an already poor country. apart from tana, other people in the cities have been rallying and pillaging and being destructive. basically, the entire island is being vandalized and looted, businesses are closed, and any semblance of economic development is going to come to a grinding halt or go in reverse. what started as a peaceful pacifist movement really just crumbled into anarchy and it became pretty obvious that the mayor had no control over his supporters or their actions. so here i am, one month into my trip learning about transitions in power, obscure democracies and political coups in a developing nation. who woulda thought? it you would like to read more about it i recommend the bbc because i cant find anything on the news elsewhere. so thats all for now.

(cute) kids and obama

today was a very positive day in terms of getting my visa!! domoina and i spent nearly the entire day between three different offices (in the right order), but it was very productive. apparently one of my papers is supposed to stay at the one office for 2 weeks, but thankfully domoina (who credits herself to speaking politely, and me being american and not french) was able to convince them to finish it for me tomorrow so i don't have to worry about my visa expiring. a huge relief for me. i'm by no means done yet, and i'm not going to celebrate til my visa is in my hand, but i'm happy to report something positive for once relating to my visa. and i thought i'd upload a picture of these cute kids i ran into when i went to the zoo the other weekend. they loved my camera and were a lot of fun and laughed at my broken malagasy. they were way cuter than the kids who tried to pick-pocket me yesterday... (they were unsuccessful)

i had a nice weekend, unfortunately my english class was canceled on saturday (narindra's neighbor's house was robbed), and there was some potential political drama (long story short the president of madagascar and the mayor of tana do not get along...) but everything was fine. sunday though, i went to ralphine's house. she's in the picture below and is the former president of coph, the organization i'm planning on working with. i had a really nice afternoon, she lives up in the high city with a beautiful view and i got to sample some real malagasy snacks like manioc (its what they use for tapioca i think) and some great bread. we also had some good conversations about disabilities (she's been disabled since birth) and talked about ideas for me to go and see more of the country. i met her husband and daughters too, all of whom were extremely welcoming.

apart from that, it's all about obama today. i just saw a commercial of people all saying 'yes we can' and the news is all about the inauguration and washington, dc. ralphine was even telling me 'yes we can' yesterday, it seems like its a statement known around the world. i can only imagine what it's like in the US though. i'm going to an inauguration party tonight at the president of the peace corps' house with my friend haddy (a peace corps volunteer i met last week) so hopefully i'll get to see some coverage of the event. but that's all for now, hope you enjoy!

le français and visas

unfortunately i don't have any pictures for this update, but i also don't have too much to update. my week has been taken up by a lot of visits to random offices around tana to get the right paperwork i need to get my visa extended. i'm starting to understand the system, it's just...slow. the process is quite extensive and frustrating, and any foreigner i run into has the same opinions about it. everything has to be stamped by the right office in the right order, it's an exercise in patience. but on a good note, my french has progressed a lot and i use it to talk to people i previously talked to in english. i've still got a ways to go, but it is a lot more fun to be able to communicate. i started malagasy classes too, i don't know much, but i have made some malagasy people happy introducing myself and saying thank you. the woman who cleans at the hotel loves when i speak malagasy, she always is trying to teach me some new phrase. the other day i was walking with narindra up to the palace on top of the hill from the picture i posted earlier, and there were some malagasy men up on the scaffolding who were watching me so i yelled up to them "manao ahona!" and then we continued to have a conversation in malagasy yelling at the top of our lungs. the malagasy people on the street just stared at me and i was laughing. narindra said that if i learn more malagasy, i'll make a lot of people happy here. the malagasy speak french here, but i think there's a little bit of bad blood so any white person speaking malagasy tends to make a good impression. just today walking back from the grocery store there were some malagasy kids yelling 'faza' to me (the word for foreigner) and i turned to them and i said "tsy faza aho" which means 'i'm not a faza', it definitely shut them up and they stared at me blankly as i walked away. it was fun. today i'm going to ralphine's house, the former president of coph, the disability organization i'm going to work with. that and i need to finish my french homework!

le weekend!

i'm starting to figure out how to work these malagasy computers and figure out how to get pictures uploaded with some success! i had a really fun weekend and wanted to share. on saturday evening, i met up with my friend narindra (he's the one standing on the left in the photo below) to go to his church's english club where i taught english first to a group of kids, then to the group in the photo. it was pretty fun, i taught the kids about the parts of the body and played a game (it took some effort, these kids were ridiculously shy). with the group in the photo below it was fun because the level of english was higher and i taught them about the american education system, talked about obama, etc. it was cool because they seemed really interested in learning about the US and excited to have me there. the kid next to me in green was a crack up though (for an idea of how much i'm crouching, he comes to about my shoulder). anyway, when i mentioned that i had a boyfriend, i started hearing this chatter in malagasy and laughing. obviously i had no idea what was going on, but finally one guy from the class pointed to the guy in green and said "he is disappointed". so everyone was laughing when narinda (he's the one all the way to the left in the picture) piped up, "you better watch out! her boyfriend looks like the Rock!" (this was narindra's first reaction seeing a picture of garth last week, and yes... the rock like the wrestler, so idea how they know about him here). but anyway, it became the joke of the entire class, and being that garth is probably the most difficult name for non-native speakers of english to say, so he is now soley referred to as the Rock. so the questions became "is the Rock coming to tana?" "if the Rock comes to tana can he come to our class?" and everytime everyone was laughing. it was pretty fun. so after all this teasing, the kid in green asked if i had a younger sister, but i'll let you all imagine how much everyone erupted with laughter when i informed him my little sister was 3. oh man, it was quite an evening and i plan on going back this saturday.

then on sunday i went to the zoo with two americans from the hotel. it was pretty fun to get a glimpse of animals but it made me want to get out of the city even more!! i was so close to this ostrich it was pretty crazy (there's a lot less space between the animals and people in a low funded zoo). i'm cracking up though as i write this and look at the picture of the ostrich. it was pretty funny for me to take pictures of it. i already tried to upload a video of it that i took but it wouldn't load :(

and on the walk home we took some fun pictures like the one below. it was fun to explore a new part of the city and take some pictures. overall it was a pretty fun weekend. hope you enjoy the pictures!

slow saturday and small world story #2

i thought would take some time on a slow saturday to try to get some pictures up to make this blog more exciting. things are going well in tana-- i've made good progress on working on my visa, i'm teaching some little kids english tonight, hopefully seeing some lemurs with two americans who are staying at the hotel tomorrow and i've been improving my french a lot. (oui oui!) overall i can't complain (except about the speed of the internet here, each picture is almost taking a half hour to upload!!!)



anyway, the picture below is of one of the hillsides near the lake by my hotel. if you look, you can see that tana has taken hollywood to a whole new level. on top of the hill is the presidential palace which is under construction after damage from a fire. i haven't been up there yet but i hope to soon.



while i'm waiting for the next picture to upload i have small world story #2 already. i was in my hotel yesterday and 4 or 5 girls came from the island of réuion (they teach english there) on vacation and i started talking to them. the majority of them were british, but one girl was american and started telling me how great it was to hear an american accent. anyway, turns out she's from NYC area and i told her i graduated from harvard and her face brightened and she starts telling me people she knows from harvard, turns out she went to high school with my friend camille from the rugby team. so again, here i am in antananarivo, madagascar running into far too many circumstances where the world feels like it's the size of a soccer ball.

and here's the last picture i have time to upload today- this is from last week when domoina (girl who works at my hotel) had me and another american from the hotel to her house for lunch with her and her boyfriend. this was taken with the automatic timer, but i think it came out pretty good. so there you can see one of my first malagasy friends! she really has been so helpful to me and has helped me feel at home here.


well hopefully this blog entry is a bit more colorful atleast. i have so many more pictures i want to share but i guess it won't happen this time! off to teach some kids!!

island time and disabilities

it's quite a rainy day here in tana. its technically the rainy season, but honestly no one i know would be complaining it rains a lot. i don't mind the rain here at all because it usually comes with awesome lightning. things are going pretty well, but my biggest concern is prolonging my visa to be here for one year. i could go into details but i'll spare you. i have people who want to help me so that's good, i think i'm just learning that things get done a lot more slowly here than what i'm used to. we'll call it my first cultural lesson in island time. but in good news, i found an organization here that i would love to work with called COPH (collectif des organizations des personnes handicapées). it's a malagasy run organization that is almost like an umbrella for numerous disability organizations all over madagascar. i've been going to their office a lot, and the people there are so nice. it's almost like a little oasis in the bustle of downtown tana. they have never had a foreign volunteer before, but they seem pretty eager to have me help with english and to just work with them. they're partnered with the branch of handicap international here, so that's good too, and hopefully through this i will be able to get my visa, but again i will spare you :) whats great about this organization is that they are linked to initiatives everywhere with all kinds of disabilities, which will give me a lot of freedom here to find somewhere that i want to stay more long term (think: near the beach). but they were telling me a lot about disabilities here, some of which is pretty depressing- kids with disabilities are taboo and often hidden from sight, the only school for kids with disabilities is private and really expensive, and the government does not help with any sort of funds or have any policies for disabilities. i'm really excited to dig into the situation more and work with these people because they are really motivated to change some of the things i just mentioned. so cross your fingers that i get my visa and i'll be great! i've also officially started french class with madame hanta who comes to my hotel room and teaches me every afternoon for about $5 an hour (what a deal right?) she's a sweetheart and i think it will help a lot. so i'm trying to use french as much as possible. so that's where i'm at now, trying to just let things fall into place. sorry for the lack of pictures but sometime i'll try to upload some more (it just takes forever). but i have to get back to my "home" (the hotel) because i promised domoina i would teach her to make a bracelet with some of the beads that aunt peggy gave me for christmas. i'll try to update again soon!

crazy small world moment

this story is just a little crazy but worth writing about, but mainly for those from PA. i was on the main avenue of town around new years where there were carnival games and tons of people, but i was at a booth and i look to my left and i saw a springford sting sweatshirt, hailing from collegeville, pa written on the back. not only was i stunned to see collegeville, pa on a sweatshirt halfway around the world, but katie u., one of my friends from high school played for sting!! unfortunately my lack of french kept me from talking to the guy and my slow hands kept me from taking a picture, but i told katie that the shirt said 'sarah' and #21, apparently one of her old teammates ironically enough, so she emailed sarah, and sarah apparently left it at a goodwill at some point, so i will leave it up to all of you to decide how the heck it got to anatananarivo, madagascar on a guy standing next to me. so, i hope you all like my story, that's all for now!

paris + week 1

bon jour! manao ahoana! i figured i'd see how writing a blog goes, it's a bit easier than e-mail updates.

somehow i've already been out of the us for more than a week, it hardly seems possible. i had a nice, easy time in paris and hit all the major spots in an afternoon. it was horribly cold, but i made it and otherwise just relaxed. it wasn't long before i made it to sunny, 85+° antananarivo ("tana"), madagascar. it was a nice break from the snow in seattle and the cold in philly right before i left! tana is a pretty cool city, very green for a capitol. buildings are set in the hills, making for some great views. (see picture) this is the view out my hotel window. the lake is called lac anosy. i watched fireworks from my window over the lake on new year's eve.
despite my pretty poor sense of direction, i've finally gotten a hang of the main downtown area and make my way around ignoring the people who follow me and sell me stuff because i'm a "faza" (foreigner). unfortunately, there's a decent amount of begging and street kids, the poverty is pretty evident. i made the mistake of eating my sandwich as i walked by begging kids, and it was quite a difficult situation. the kids are well trained, they jump up at the sight of a faza and follow you only so far as they are told. walking by certain places enough times, I have begun to learn the patterns of the kids. the city's pretty safe though, even for me as a woman alone, so that has made things easier. i've had to use my very broken french a lot, but i'm starting classes or going to find a tutor asap. i also got my first lesson in malagasy the other day, which seems like a pretty cool language. i'm excited to learn that too. english definitely doesn't get me far here, so it's a good incentive to get moving so i can communicate, especially if i want to move out of the capitol and start working with disabilities. i'm living in a hotel now, but it's beginning to feel like a home. the girl who works there everyday during the day is named domoina and she's 23, so we get along well and she has helped me a great deal. she even had me to her house for lunch and is trying to help me with disability connections. i also have a friend of a friend of a friend here named narindra, and he's been extremely helpful to me too getting me acquainted with the city. i had dinner with his family the other night and they were very welcoming. i have met a few other people also who are helping me out, so it's been nice and i haven't felt too lost here. i've been looking into other places on the island to call home (meaning closer to the beach!) but i'm in tana til i get my visa extended for the year and get a better handle of french. but as i look back over the first week i can't complain. i feel like i've been very lucky with the people i've met. although at this point i have no idea what will come of this year, or even what will happen tomorrow, i'm confident things will work out. i like this challenge of getting my life oriented in a new place. but that's all for now i guess. au revoir! veloma!