Well, my last blog let you in on our flight travels to Madagascar. Our experiences change everyday here. I had originally intended to write a blog a day...ha! I'm having trouble writing a blog every 2 weeks.
I've met some really nice ladies (and guys) here. We've been golfing, swimming, morning walks on the beach (great for the feet) coffees, lunches, shopping, weddings, suppers and having just plain fun. Haven't even started bridge playing, going to the gym, aerobics, yoga or half the other things I had planned.
Last Saturday, they had a Blessing ceremony for all the ex-pats that are living in the village. It was 2 houses down from ours, and was quite interesting. Everyone was handed a glass of rum, to celebrate. They had a Malagasy priest come and give a blessing to the zebu (cow with a hump on its back) that was laying down and tied up. It was all in Malagas, so I didn't understand what he was saying, but you could kind of understand the jest of the blessing. It went on for almost 30-45 minutes, then they sacrificed the zebu. We were allowed to take pictures, so I video taped it. It's kind of hard to watch, as its not very humane. (I have to learn how to insert videos in this blog.) Afterwards they dug a hole, put rocks around it and boiled the cut up zebu in a large pot. I left (as did all the other ex-pats), but the locals stayed and had a bite to eat. No hanging of the meat here, as the zebus aren't vaccinated so they would get full of worms and parasites if they were hung, so they have to eat it right away. - this is not for me.
Later on that evening we had Denis, Joyce and Shane over for supper. Thought we would cook sweet and sour pork. Sounds simple enough, so went to the store (actually 3 stores) to find brown sugar. Apparently brown sugar isn't popular here, and when we did find it they wanted $9.00 cdn for a little tiny box. I told Rick we'll go home and google how to make brown sugar. (thinking that white sugar with vanilla or something)...well, you need maple syrup. They don't have maple syrup here, so we ended up back at the store and paid $9.00 for a little, tiny, weeny box of brown sugar. (hope everybody enjoyed the sweet and sour pork!) I have discovered that most things here just isn't that easy to do and takes a looooong time....
Supper was good, company was good, and all went well.
Sunday we ended up golfing at Foul Pointe. only +36 with 100% humidity. About 1 1/2 hours drive. Roads are unbelievable. You could loose a vehicle in the holes. It was a bit overcast, but everyone kept telling me I was lucky, cause otherwise I would die from the heat. (which I did anyways) It ended up raining a bit and at one point I didn't know if I was wet from the rain or the humidity or both. We did 9 holes, and you hire a caddy and a kid to carry your beer cooler. The cooler is bigger than the kids. They each get paid 10,000 aireyairey, which is equal to $5.00 cdn. A good caddy wipes your golf club after every hit, moves your ball onto a piece of grass (the course is like a farmers field), tells you where to stand (to me anyways) and locates every ball for you. Apparently there is no ball they can't find. Last year there was more water, and if your ball landed in water, they took off their shirts and dove in the water to get your ball. Now that's a caddy! All in all, golfing was fun and Glen, Cynthia and Shane came back to our house afterwards and had left overs. It was a great day!
The following week had coffee with BetteLou, who just arrived a couple of days after me. We're part of the "new blood", and the other girls are fantastic with helping us know where to shop, get certain items, etc. Went to the local market and bought a "few" items for the house. Had coffee at Elizabeth's home in town with Deb, Patricia, Bette Lou, and Suzanna. Very nice place with local culture all around. One night had Joan and Clint over in the evening. Joan just arrived as well. We're all in this together, which is great! Each time one learns something, we share with each other. 9 of us had lunch at a quaint little restaurant called Piment Banana. Lovely decor and wonderful atmosphere. Good food, good company, lovely day. Went swimming in the pool, to cool off, as most of this week has been late +30's up to +40 degrees, not to mention 100% humidity. It's nice living 100 metres from the ocean though, cause at least you have a bit of a breeze sometimes.
The people here are very friendly, although it's sad to see some of the poverty. There's a local orphanage just outside of the village that I'd like to visit and hopefully do some volunteer work there.
This week has been so busy, just meeting new people, going for walks, visiting the Tiki bar, the village bar, going out for lunch, having coffee with the girls, walking on the beach, shopping at the market and 3 local grocery stores. You usually need to hit all 3 stores, as each one will have limited amount of product, and not necessarily stocked with what you need. This takes time, as the posse-posse and cycle-posse drivers are everywhere and traffic sometimes comes to a halt. You have to be able to deal with Malagasy time and I'm learning. (yes, folks, I'm learning to be patient!!!!!) I haven't even started the other activities yet. Not quite sure how to fit them all in.
There is so much more to tell, about the hospitals, jails, robberies, etc., but that will be next time. I'll also let you know how the Malagasy wedding was.
P.S. I found peanut butter that's not too bad.
Sherry
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