Site announcement!

I hope you are all healthy and happy! I want you to know that I think of you all daily, but that I am healthy and love it here. I just finished my first week of practice teaching. We are still in training, and still living in our training town. I have 2 more weeks of practice teaching and then I get to visit my site for a week! I’m really excited. Right now I am teaching all different levels of students, from ages 11 – 20, at a summer camp-like English school. It is winter here, but it is the “grand vacation” for the students, so like our summer in the US . I teach either a 2 hour or a 1 hour lesson everyday, and it takes tons of time to plan a lesson. I have been able to transition from teaching Social Studies to teaching English. We are observed everyday by our trainers, who are Peace Corps Volunteers who have taught here for a year already and they give us feedback on our lessons and teaching. So far, I have had positive reviews which feel good to know I am capable at this job. It builds confidence for when I leave this group of people and am on my own. My days are extremely busy lately because of practicum. I wake up at 5:00am , teach from 8 – 10, have class from 11 – 12:30, then lunch, and then Malagasy language class from 2 – 5pm . Then I go home, eat dinner/help prepare dinner and plan lessons from 7 – 9. I go to sleep very easily J at 9:00pm . Anyways, back to my site. Our swearing in day is scheduled for August 28^th. If we pass our language test and are qualified as teachers, we are sworn in as PC Volunteers that day! Wahoo!! My site is a big town called Ambatondrazaka. It is 260 Kilometers from Tana and northeast of Tana as well. It has 70,000 people in it, which is very large for a Peace Corps site. I have the second biggest site of our training group. It is located on the edge of the biggest lake in Madagascar , Lake Alaotra . I will live in a house on the grounds of the Lycee (or High School). My house had 2 rooms, running water, electricity, a simple shower, and a flush toilet! I will be living in luxury compared to my host family’s house! A flush toilet is almost unheard of here for Peace Corps Volunteers! I lucked out! Also, my city has cell phone reception, and internet cafes! Most other sites have to take a taxi-brousse hours or even days away to have internet access! Again, I lucked out! So, please do not email me until the second week of September, because I will not have internet access until then. Right now my dad is typing up this letter I mailed to you all and emailing it to you. So please wait until Sept. to email me. But, I would love to get hand written letters until then! I can still get all of the letters addressed to me at the address I gave you even after I move to my site, so don’t worry about it no getting here in time. They go to the Peace Corps office and they send them to me. At my site I will teach at the high school. The city is just off the plateau, so has seasons and doesn’t get uncomfortably hot, which his good. My city has large rolling-hills, forests, terraces of rice fields, the lake and the largest rice growing and harvesting industry in the country. There has not been a volunteer there for 10 years, so it will be weird. If you are white or a foreigner here, they call you a “Vazaha”, even when walking down the street. I think it’s the 3^rd word they learn after mom and dad, because even infants yell it out at us! I didn’t have much space to write a lot about here, but once I get to site in September, I will update you all and write on my blog as often as possible (Depending on how much internet costs.) I will add pictures too! I can’t wait to show you all my life, and Madagascar ! It is a beautiful country, with hospitable kind generous and loving people!