A week at site

Salama! Hello again all!

So, I'm sitting in an internet cafe in my town, Ambatondrazaka... you can call it Ambato for short, It is pronounced um-BAH-too. I have survived the first week here alone in this town in this crazy new country and am super glad that its over. It has been the longest week of my life.. and its so hard to put it all into words. Being dropped off alone in an empty house in a town where you know no one, being the only american.. and almost only white person.. and not being able to fully speak the language... well you can imagine how it was difficult. So.. I made an effort to leave my house as much as possible and talk to as many people as possible. I would walk into as many little shops as I could and chat it up with the owners and introduce myself and stumble through conversations in malagasy and buy one thing at each shop. It worked though.. I have met a lot of people. I will admit, there have been numerous times where I have wanted to leave.. and I keep thinking about how easy it would be to just be back in the US. But, then I met a strong group of friends here.. and it has been going a lot better the past few days. The people I have met have been extremely helpful and welcoming.. they have taught me how to cook dishes.. how to bargain for things in the market... where to get the best vegetables and rice.. where to find a carpenter to build shelves, a bed, and a table and chairs for me. I am slowly learning how to live like a malagasy person and it feels amazing. My house is slowly coming along.. I bought cloth for drapes and table clothes.. and built a clothes line outside my house. Today I washed all of my laundry by hand which took about 3 hours.. then dried them on the line! It really is starting to feel like a home! I can't wait til I get access to fast internet in the capital to send pics to you all. the internet here takes forever.. so you have to read a book while you wait for the pages to load.. and I'm not joking at all when I say that.

I started teaching on Tuesday and it was crazy. I have 8 classes of the level that would be the same as freshmen in the US. There are 65 students in each class... so you can do the math on how many papers and exams I"ll be grading!! There are so many students and not enough classrooms or teachers.. so I only meet with each class once a week for two hours. Its going to be very hard to teach them much, but I will do my best. Schools here are way different than in the US. First, the students have a schedule like colleges in the US have.. where they don't study the same thing every day. And, they don't leave their classroom.. the teachers rotate and the students are kind of like owners of the room. They are in charge of sweeping it and erasing boards every day. I have mondays and fridays off.. but my tuesdays wednesdays and thursdays I am teacher from 7am-12pm have a 2 hour lunch then teach again from 2-6pm. Its a hectic schedule.. especially considering there is no premade food here and I have to cook everythign from scratch, which usually takes about 2 hours to prepare and eat. I love my students though.. they are amazed by me and love to hear me speak english. They really want to learn how to speak.. and want to learn the meanings of the english songs they hear everyday here on the radio. So, imagine the classrooms here.. they are cement buildings with wooden windows.. small wooden desks... cracked and broken chalkboards that aren't really slate, but just painted black concrete, and then the students sit like four people to one desk, which should fit two people. thats all I have to work with.

I have met an amazing family here that have treated me like one of their own. The head of the teachers.. or Vice Principal, called the Proviseur Adjoint, has helped me with my house and other things as well and speaks English extremely well. His name is Gerry and he lived in England for a year.. so I can talk to him when anyone else is confusing or I'm frustrated with not understanding. He jokes all the time with me.. and I make him coffee everyday and he loves it. He has a daughter that is my new best friend here.. she is a year younger than me but way different than the other females her age here. She is the only one that does not have kids or isn't married yet.. because she studied at the university in Tana. Her name is Felana and she is also really good at English. I went to a cabaret with her last night and had so much fun. I am extremely lucky to have found their family. They have me over for dinner a lot and are always asking me how I am doing.

This is all I can think about for now.. but I will write again in the next week and explain more that has happened in the past few months. No matter how lonely I am.. I know all of you are out there to support me! This email is a good example of how crazy the ups and downs are here.. but this truly is an amazing country and I am happy I am here.