Internet Finally

20+ million citizens and only 100,000 internet users… I am not sure I will be able to update this blog like I was hoping. I am writing this on Monday 8/29 and not sure when I will actually get to post it but hopefully it is soon.

So far we have just been going through our orientation at this hotel on the outskirts of Tana. This place is pretty nice and I assume it is very nice relative to its surroundings. Our orientation has been quite structured and unfortunately involved a lot of time sitting in a classroom and listening to instruction but I guess it is necessary. We did get to take a small trip into the city center, which was very interesting. The poverty is unlike anything I have seen even amongst the nicer buildings. There are all kinds of chickens and wild dogs roaming around without anyone paying much attention.

The roads are absolutely insane! I have heard that car accidents are one of the biggest killers in this country and that does not surprise me at all. Most 2 way roads I have seen only fit about 1.5 cars next to one another and in the city it is so packed that we are always nearly avoiding collisions. The standard driving move is to honk once and continue driving in whatever manner you want to, be it entering a crowded intersection, speeding around a blind turn or anything else.

We will be moving in with our first family on Wednesday but we still haven’t heard anything about these families. It will certainly be a tough experience but we have begun our Malagasy language classes and I have my dictionary (thanks dad!). Our Malagasy class is taught in French so it is a great opportunity to practice both foreign languages at once.

The food we have eaten has been pretty traditional cuisine. Standard rice, vegetable and meat although I think the proportions are much different than is standard. Here we are able to eat equal parts of all 3 if we want but I am guessing that when we move into a family’s house that rice will be the majority with some veggies and maybe some meat as well but I’ll see. Standard is zebu meat which has pretty good flavor but can be fatty as well. I’ve had a zebu steak, zebu meatballs, zebu sausage, grilled zebu strips, you name it, and I’ve only been here a week!

Overall, just basics to report for now. I’ll try and post some pictures eventually although I hear the cyber cafes are terribly slow, so I’m not sure how possible that is. I’ll try and get some good stories to tell as well.

Im one of the tallest people here hahah and everyone calls us “vazaha” meaning foreigner but it isnt a mean thing

Amymanaraka! (next time)
-Ben

Day 1 of Traveling: Not Great but Not My Fault..

6:53 am EST: First off, our travel agent forgot to mention that my tickets to Madagascar (through New York and Johannesburg) were on separate reservations… meaning that my bag can only be check through to Jo’burg and I will have to get it, go through customs, re-enter through the security line and catch my last flight to Tana in roughly an hour and a half. It is 6:30 am NY time as I write this and I am far too early for my flight to get to talk to any representatives. The SA Airline counter in the terminal doesn’t open until 9:00 am and so I am now through security hoping that I can find any representative of SA airlines to find any help.

Flight here wasn’t too terrible, however I happened to be sitting directly behind a crying baby! I still managed to grab a 3 or so hour nap and am gonna try and tough it out until my flight to SA. At least I wasn’t the guy next to me! Not only did he have that crying baby to deal with but the overhead compartiments were full and he had to stick his larger carry-on between his legs! And the guy next to him actually slept on his knees with his feet under the chair in front of him and his torso and head resting on the seat bottom. I had never seen that strategy but it honestly did not look too comfortable. It’s a little early but I may just go and try and find a bar. I’ll update as I can.

7:25 am EST: I found 20 minutes of free wi-fi complementary of AmEx but after that, gotta pay. Still no SA agents and even worse, the bar isn't open! btw, I promise/hope that my blogging will get a lot more interesting once I get to Africa.. Now I am going to start watching either "Bored to Death" or "Boardwalk Empire" thanks to my cousin Matt. I definitely shoulda stole more of his TV shows tho...

Ready to Go

Ready to Go, a photo by BenjaCohn on Flickr.

All packed up, leaving tomorrow! :) / :(

Always and Never

Cannot believe I am leaving for Madagascar in 2 days! I am currently down in LA for my cousin's wedding and it has taken my mind off of my upcoming journey but I know when I get back home that I am going to have way more stuff to do than I remembered...

Part of me is in awe that I chose this time in my life to go to Africa for 4 months because I have a lot of great stuff going for me back home. But I can't really imagine a time that would be ideal. When will I be ready to pick up everything and live in Madagascar?? As my dad tells me, "always and never are the same". So here I go.

Leaving in 9 Days

I am pretty f#@%ing scared/nervous/excited/anxious