The Adventure French

This weekend, I had my first extended time away from the group and was technically "libre" which only applies to Saturdays since Sundays seem to be a family day... and well, I'm part of the family. In hopes of buying a bag that my family wouldn't tell me would be slashed by theives (they do this a lot, if you've noticed, and I'm not sure if they're being overly protective, or if there are theives everywhere who want to slash me and my bag) and flip flops. Despite SIT's suggestion that everyone wear's closed-toed shoes or rugged sandels, flip flops or "tongs" are all the rage here.

 I road the Taxi-Be into town with C (I'm using intials in the blog because it's quicker), one of my classmates, where we met up with A and wandered around our little part of Tana called Isoraka. In spite of trying to immerse ourselves culturally, we found ourselves frequenting what I would call "vahsa shops" which sell the same things as the street vendors but with the luxuries of set prices, English speaking employees and pretty much feeling like you are no longer in a developing country. Fail on this aspect of immersion.
Having started the day around 8:30 AM, by the time we finished shopping in the vahsa shops and being fried in the scalding sun, it was only 11:30 AM. Too early to return home or eat lunch... but too early to start casually drinking? Apparently not in Madasgacar. We went to an outdoor restaurant, more closely resembling a "beer garden" which was frequented by many Andventure French (!). I need to quickly explain this term and then I'll get back to drinking in Madagascar.

Who are the Adventure French (!) you might ask and why do I include an exclaimation mark after their name? First of all I have to give props to L for coining the term and providing the perfect visual description to accompany it. The Adventure French (!) are the only other vasha who are so far found in Madagascar. They ride motorcycles, frequent vahsa restaurants and closely resemble Leonardo DeCaprio in the movie Blood Diamond. We're talking about grizzled and tanned men who wear white, blousy Oxford button downs, khaki or travel pants or artsy Parisian women with frizzy hair and leather-y skin. There is an exclaimation mark following their name because it's exciting exciting when we spot them. Since Tana is pretty much 98% homogenous, spotting other vahsa is a fun Where's Waldo-esque game that we have created. (This also explains why the Malagasy always say or shout "Vahsa!" when they see us. I have to admit, it's rather exciting)
Interjection! Laiz, my host bro who is not really my brother but his actual relation to the family has yet to be determined by me, is home! He just told me I spent too much on my new bag, laughed at my sandels, but also fixed my broken phone, so I'm currently his biggest fan. Since I'm also currently reading Lolita, courtesy of C who brought it along, he began to read the back cover and asked me what a "nymphet" is. We're now having a strange conversation about old men who love little girls (this is the premise of Lolita in case you aren't following...). Laiz is my favorite person to talk to, aside from Marie's husband John who speaks fluent English, because he's closest to my age and thinks everything I do is strange but entertaining. He also just asked to read my blog and I got awkward and tried to explain that he could read another entry. Oh Laiz. He likes to say things like "Tout le monde est etrange" (Everyone is weird) when I say strange things, but also called me bizarre when I told him that I talk to my electronics. He has also invited C and me to go kareoking and I think I will take him up on it. But I digresce...

Back to the Adventure French (!). It seems that if you come to Madagascar and you're spending time in Tana, you're not down for typical beach-side vacations, but rather you prefer to ride motorcycles in crazy traffic and drink beers at 11:30 AM with your adventure French (!) buddies. It's an interesting population and I hope to interact with one soon so that I can see if they live up to their newly coined name.

Other than the Adventure French (!) spottings, some other recent developments here include:
- My entire Malagasy family learning that I have a fear of getting fat while abroad so now all we talk about is obese Americans
- I'm back in the sick stomach club, which we (the students) call "the Double Rainbow Club"
- My mom, Juliette (our femme de menage) and Laiz caught me looking at pictures and asked to see them. We went through about 15 albums that I found on my USB. They now think I'm a crazy vahsa who jumps off cliffs in Greece and plays a strange game called "beer pong." Oops.
- There's a mouse in my room. I've only deduced this fact from the turds next to my bed. I've yet to actually see the little guy(s). Awesome.
- There are 6 spiders the size of my hand that live outside of my window. My mom opens the windows everyday to let in air... any most likely the spiders and their spider babies. 1000's of spider babies.
- My mom told me that she's going to serve me progressively exotic foods because "my stomach will adapt" ...I fear that this will not be the case at all.