In Madagascar time is coming!

Soon we have been in Madagascar for two months, and we have gotten to know the culture better. Now we know the working-culture as well, and it's nothing like in Norway! In Norway we work in speed because we want to finish fast and start with other tasks. In Madagascar the thought is that you do the work in your own speed, and if you have time you can take a break; and maybe start with other tasks. For us Norwegians this can be hard to get used to, because if we do our speed-working there is a lot of waiting before the others are finished; so we are trying to get our minds turned the Malagasy way.. The Malagasy people have alot of time, and don't stress through their lives.

In Norway: "Time is running"
In Madagascar: "Time is coming"

This week we have been working with the cows, in the dairy-production and in the workshop. The cows are Norwegian (NRF), and the production is very similar to Norway. Even though the milk is not prosessed the way that it is in Norway, and the milk is being sold straight from the farm. We have been working with filling plastic-bags with milk, because here the don't use cartons like in Norway.

In the workshop we have been welding, and just been practicing with different tools, because there are some time since we did that at Tomb. Here there is not so much protection for your body when you work in the workshop, so you can't work that long time without a break, because your body gets really tired. But it's really fun to make stuff, and next week we will go and repair something in the pighouse.

Julie and one of the cows:

What is this cow's problem?

All the machines in the dairy-production is Norwegian..

Handy-girls in the workshop!

This is a dog that comes around our house from time to time, and we feed her with our leftovers.. We named her Skinny; Because she's so skinny..

- Mary Ann

Pighouse and outfit of the day!

We started working here at Tombontsoa on Monday, and we started our work in the pighouse! I have to say that it feels nice to finally have started working, and also to get to know the language better. We learn new words every day, because now we work with people that know very little English, and if they know anything it's only some phrases like; "Good morning" or "How are you?". It's not possible to have a conversation with them in English, so now the Malagasy words start to sink in.

We have also gotten a housekeeper that comes to our house three times a week. It's really nice to have dinner to come home to after a long day of work. Also she don't speak English, so we have to talk Malagasy with her as well.

Our working times is from 07.00 - 12.00 and then from 14.00 - 17.30.. This is really a weird way for us Norwegians to work, with a two hours break in the middle of the day; then to get back to work. We are really tired today, after four days of work; so we are looking forward to the weekend.

And I also have to say that the shower in our house doesn't work.. And when we are working in the pighouse it is really a challenge to get the smell out of our hair, so.. To say it nicely: WE STINK! I feel sorry for our housekeeper because when she works here she eats dinner with us, and to sit beside people that stink of pig when you eat can be a not so good experience.. (All Tomb-students know that..)

Here we are with some of the people we work with (Here you can see how big we are in this country..)

How we love pigs:

I have actually not colored my hair, it's the sun that does it!

And what is a succesive blog without a "outfit of the day" picture?
In Norway we are used to using rubberboots with irontoe in the pighouse.. Here we use sandals..

Our nice housekeeper:

And she made us bread! I really didn't think that I would ever miss bread in my life, but I was totally wrong..

- Mary Ann

Moving!

Yesterday we had a meeting with the principal at Tombontsoa, about what is the plan in the months to come. Now we know what kind of work we will do, and we are really looking forward to starting at monday! We will start with an introduction of the staff here at Tombontsoa and the principal will introduce us for the staff and students. After that we will work with the students at the farm. We still don't know what kind of work we will do the next week, so it will be a surprise.

We have moved in to the house here as well, and it is big! The standard is different than The Norwegian School, but I think we will manage. We used all of yesterday evening to move in and re-furniture the house. And from we moved in until we went to bed the electricity went out three times, and there was no more water in any of the sinks, shower or the toilet. So now at least we will live in really different conditions than in Norway, and that is what we are here for!

Today we went into town to buy some basic stuff like soap and things to clean with, so now we are ready to clean the house, it was actually quite dirty when we arrived here..

We actually managed to get all of our luggage into this small car and with three people in it as well.. I just have to say that our contact-person is amazing at packing cars!

This is our house, and it is a lot bigger than it looks..

My room:

And our livingroom.. We haven't tried the tv yet.

-Mary Ann

Comments!

I understand that some of you have had trouble leaving comments on my blogentries, so now I have edited the settings on my blog so that everyone can comment as anonymous or with just a name.. No need for having accounts anywhere to comment on my blog now! But if you post as anonymous it would be nice with your name in the end of the comment..

- Mary Ann

Bicycleride, flirting-sounds and farmertan

Yesterday me, the Connect-students and a former Connect-student named Tsanta went for a 45 kilometres bicycleride from Antsirabe to another town. It wasn't that hard road, it was straight ahead almost all the time, with a few up and down-hills. When you ride a bicycle it is so much more you get to see than when you drive a car, both for good and for bad. We saw alot of cute kids, and everyone wants to talk to the Vazaha (foreigner), even though we don't speak Malagasy that well yet they want to talk to us. And they always try to speak French, because they think that all foreigners here are from France; but we can't blame them, because most of them are.

And then we have something that is not that nice. And that is men whisteling and making "flirting" sounds.. Maybe it is normal to like that men do that to you here, but for us Vazaha's it is really uncomfortable and we don't want to talk to the men that does it. And they teach their children to do it too. We have experienced boys that looks like they are five years old whisteling after us when we walk on the street, and for us that just feels wrong. But the cultural differences are big, and we don't know how it's normal to react about those things here. But for now we have just turned our backs on the men who does it.

And when I got home from the bicycleride and out of the shower I saw that my sunscreen didn't work that well; My arms were red as tomatoes and with a really nice line, It actually looks like I am wearing a t-shirt!

Here we are looking for a place to have our lunch, after we had been riding 23 kilometres:

We found a nice spot:

While we were eating lunch we had a view over the water, and here are some kids trying to catch fish, unfortunately with no luck..

The bicycles didn't have a cover for our legs, so this is how my leg looked after 10 minutes on the bike..

And here you can see my nice farmertan, really sexy!

- Mary Ann

Roadtrip to the south!

Last Wednsday after some struggle with Nyaina's car, we finally got on the road to go to Toliara, a city in the south of Madagascar. But the road there was not an easy task, it was a lot of turns and bumps in the road, so you couldn't drive that fast; and also there is always people walking by the street that you have to watch out for. We stopped at a hotel in Fianarantsoa on the way to have some lunch, and in the bathroom in that hotel there was alot of things that wasn't allowed to do..

When it was beginning to get dark, we were on a really nice road that was just straight ahead, with no bumps at all; and we were happy. But when we least expected it, there was a sharp stone in the middle of the road, we hit it and it maked a huge hole in the tire. So then Nyaina had to show his skills and change it out.

After 15 hours in the car we finally get to Toliara and there it was a really cute dog that was waiting for us.. He was one of the most cuddly dogs I have ever met!

For going to the beach in Ifaty you have to have a four-wheel drive, because the roads there are just sand and stones. But to get that without paying a lot of money you have to look for a long time, but at last we found one, and the morning after we left for the beach. I was so lucky that one of Nyaina's friends wanted to go there with a motorcross-bike so I could join, that was really fun; even though I broke his tires because I ran over a cactus. but of course I forgot to take a picture of it..

The beach was really beautiful! Here you can see a picture taken from the water and up to our hotel:

Like a dream, or what?

We slept at the hotel for one night, and the day after we went back to Toliara, slept there for one night and then we drove to Isalo, a nationalpark in the south, there they had natural waterfalls and of course Lemurs! But this time the lemurs were living in the wild, so we didn't get to pet them; but we got to go pretty close to them because they were used to people.

A picture of the magnificent nature in Isalo:

Julie and me in the waterfall:

A lemur with her baby:

We slept one night in Isalo and then we left and drove for 5 hours, then we were in Fianarantsoa again, slept there and went home in the morning.

- Mary Ann