Merry Christmas!

Now we have been a couple of days in the coast of Madagascar, for Christmas-holiday. Even though we thought we would have a bungalow on the beach, a hotel in the town is not so bad either. The hotel is really nice, with a pool who is used by us every day. It’s really not possible to go out here without swimming because it’s so warm!

We have celebrated Christmas a bit here in Madagascar too, even though the feeling is left out.. Which might be good, because if the feeling was here it would be really sad to not be with family. Our Christmas eve looked like this: On the hotel with breakfast in bed, watching “Tre nøtter til Askepott” on the computer. After a while we went out swimming in the pool, then eating lunch at the restaurant. Got in and watched “Sex and the city – The movie” (Yeah, a real Christmas-movie!) got dressed for the night and Skyped with some of our family home in Norway. Went to the restaurant which we had ordered table, and there were good singers who sang Christmas-songs in Malagasy, French and English.. And then we got to the food. It was a 4-courses meal, the first one was actually with raw meat! The rest was ok, but the raw meat was really awful! And after we ate we went to our room and Skyped some more with our family, then went to bed.

Even though this is not the Christmas we are used to, it was quite nice as well. But I think that next year, I want to celebrate with my family.. 

Here we are on the 15-hours drive to Mahajanga, the city we are in. I was carsick almost all of the way, because the mainroad here in Madagascar is not like Norwegian E18 and E6, it is full of turns and even if you are not used to getting carsick, you will here.. 

Even though we didn't get to stay at the beach, this hotel with pool is not so bad either.

Here we are watching "Tre nøtter til Askepott" with really morning-faces

 Here I am in my new Christmas-dress, waiting for the food.. Julie and I were joking about how the waiters would have santa-hats, and when we got to the restaurant, they actually did.. You can see one of the waiters behind me..

Don't this look delicios? This is supposed to be a real delicacy, but not for me!

This is the choir, they are the best choir I have heard here in Madagascar.



Merry Christmas to everyone, all over the world!

- Mary Ann

Madagascar - The Movie!

Friday was the last day for the students before Christmas, so there was a big gathering at the school; to give thanks for the year and for celebrating christmas together. Of course the Norwegians were asked to participate on the celebration, to sing a Norwegian Christmas-song and tell about how we celebrate Christmas. We got our friend Stine, who is from Denmark and works for NMS to help us to sing and talk about christmas. We sang “Du grønne glitrende tre” and I think it went ok, because some of the students asked to get the song on CD when we were finished.. And after 4 hours of sitting and listening to Malagasy songs we were going to eat together; rice, meat and some vegetables and a banana for dessert!

There is a tradition in Madagascar that says that if you have guests at Christmas-time you give them a turkey or a chicken as a gift. This celebration was no exeption, even though they gave money to buy a turkey instead. And we, as guests got money to buy a turkey. And as participants at a program like Green Network we think it’s quite weird to recieve money from the people we are here to help. So the next time we attend a morning-service we will give the money to the offering.

Yesterday we had a baking day and we made brownies, cupcakes and made animals and christmas-stuff out of almond-fudge. (marsipan) We had made a suggestion to have a movie-night with the students that are left here because they can’t afford to go home during the Christmas-vacation. So we took the cakes and went to the hall to watch a movie, and of course the movie was; Madagascar! It was a huge success, and they want to watch a movie tonight as well!

Here are the boyschoir:

Some of the teachers dancing

When we went shopping for ingredients I saw one of the coolest cars I've ever seen..

Julie putting frosting on the cupcakes

Me and the almond-fudge. Yeah I were kind of tired..

Our creations.. The snake and duck with santa-hats was my idea!

This movie is funnier when you actually have been in Madagascar!

The movie-watchers..

- Mary Ann

Teachers, painters and Christmas

Now we have started working as English-teachers here at Tombontsoa, we have until now had two classes. The first one was really horrible! We were so nervous before we got there, and when we got there and started what we had prepared; the other teacher that was there told us that these students knew English from before. Then we stood there and had no idea what to start with... So we started with grammar. After a while we understood that these students didn’t know much English after all, so our first class as English-teachers did not go so well. The second one went a lot better, because we stuck to what we had prepared.

We only are English-teachers at Wednesdays, and the rest of the week we paint some houses that the students next year will use. I have painted houses in Norway, and compared to this, painting in Norway is easy! The brushes are so bad that after half an hour of painting it looks like they have dreadlocks.. And the paint is also really thin, so it’s hard to get the paint to stick to the wall. But in spite of this I really like this job because we can work in our own speed, and I have to say that is faster than the Malagasy way!

And yes, soon it’s Christmas, and I don’t have that feeling at all! We have decorated the house as well as we can, but still the christmas-feeling is left out. We will celebrate a white Christmas though, at a white-sanded beach in the coast! Looking forward to that! This Christmas will be different, but an experience i wouldn’t be left without.

The rainseason have at last started, so here we are on our way out to paint

Here you can see our livingroom table with some christmas-candy, cloves (nellik) and floating candles.

Our kitchen also have some Christmas-feeling

Julie and I are going to fill up eachothers stockings.

We have also been on a visit to our friends Silje and Marte in the capital; Antananarivo. Here we are at a picnic with pancakes, pineapple and homemade smoothie!

There was some children walking by, and Silje got to hold the baby, cute or what? The older girl joined us playing cards, she was also really cute.

Some ducklings were walking by..

There was fireworks in the city for an whole hour, really noisy; but nice.

I have finally finished my first book here in Madagascar, and it was really good! I strongly recommend it! And here you see my new favourite-fruit; Litchi!

- Mary Ann

Everyday life!

It's funny how fast things go from unfamiliar to routines. We have now been in Madagascar for two months, and are getting to know this country better and better. There is not so much new things that have happened since last time, so I will just put out some pictures from our daily lives..

This week we have been fixing up some of the boxes in the pighouse.

How many Malgasy farmer-students is needed to give a piglet his iron-injection?..

Some cute piglets:

Now we have to wear masks when we are working with the electrical tools, because it's not healthy to breath in the air of melted metal..

Here we are having food-break with some of the workers..

In our break in the middle of the day we decided to climb up to the watertower.. Me, who isn't that afraid of heights; actually thaught it was a bit scary..

I went on the bus here alone for the first time, and got a new little friend who really wanted me to speak Malagasy, so I tried as well as I could..

In the weekends we go to Antsirabe, the nearest town. To go there we take the bus, and after we have been grocery-shopping we go home with a Kinga, a cute and windy type of taxi.. They look really slow, but they are really fast; and there is no security except that some of them have a "security-chain" on the sides..

Here is Julie and me inside the Kinga on our way home..



- Mary Ann