Metropolitan Living! of sorts...

After two years of hard, brutal living conditions (in my cute fishing village located on the ocean surrounded by mango and guava trees), I have made the move to the city across the bay, Mahajanga, the place that dreams are made of, where stars go to be born and.. no wait, I’m getting a tad bit carried away. I moved to Mahajanga, the city across the bay. It is a larger city, but nothing too crazy to be had here, although if I wanted to have ice cream and a cold soda every day, I could (although I would run out of money before the month was up). My new housing is nice, an apartment located in the center area of town, not far from the baka, not far from the ocean, not far from three different bazaars that sell more than the two vegetables that I could buy in my old town. On that hand, life here is great.

On the other hand, it’s hard to go from living in a house where I peeled my mangos out the window (compost pile!) and fetched my water from a well, regularly walked an hour on a dusty red road to visit friends, was not just a “vazaha” but someone who actually lived in the community, a farmer, a teacher, a friend. Now I am starting over again, finding my rhythm, adjusting to being indoors more, less in the environment and the field. It is probably a good baby step to heading back to the states, back to the land of offices and AC and shopping in those big, scary grocery stores…

My new job for the next six months is helping to create the new American corner, a cultural center being constructed here in collaboration with the English Teaching Center in Antananarivo. It will have computers, Kindles, Nintendo Wiis, I think iPads, and a whole lot of other cool technology that I don’t even have (or had). We’re going to try and make the environment a big part of the theme of the center, so I am hoping to start some recycling programs, and try to instill a sense of community ownership in the kids using the center.

Wish me luck; I’m hitting the ground running because I’ve learned that time flies and I’ll be moving on to my next adventure before I realize it. The only question is: where will I land next?