First Week

On Sunday, our third day in Madagascar, we saw a performance from a group that dances at festivals around Madagascar called Hiro Gasy. They danced and sang songs in Malagasy that were parables for young people. For each song the group changed their costume and style of dancing. Pictures can sum up the aesthetic experience better than I can describe, so viola.

 

 Throughout the performance, there were two small boys running around the outside of the tent, occasionally dancing around or covering their ears because the music was too loud. They might have been the cutest children in existence.

On Monday we went on a 3-hour tour, which might have been about as much fun as a trip to Gilligan's Island, considering it was narrated by a professor from the University of Antananarivo who spoke almost entirely incomprehensible French. We were outside during the hottest part of the day; no one wore sunscreen; and as our red-hot sunburn can attest: we're not in the US anymore. Being in direct sunlight for small chunks of time is enough to completely fry the back of your neck, or in my case, give you a super cute V-neck burn on only one side of your body. Super chouette! I took some pictures out of boredom and inability to focus my attention on listening to our chatty mcchatty tour guide.

Our group attracts a lot of attention, because, not only are we the only vahsa in the area, but being in a group of 17, that often walks in single file lines, is not the best way to blend in. Hopefully as we become more familiarized with Tana, we will be given more freedom to attack the city in smaller groups or alone.

And of course, I enjoy taking landscape pictures, so here is yet another one of those.

To finish up this post, I'll show you my latest creature discovery. So far I haven't come into close contact with one of these guys, but it sure is comforting to know that they're out there... waiting. This picture was taken with ultra-zoom due to my trepidation.

P.S. As I'm typing this, someone in my house is listening to the new Avril Lavigne song "What the Hell". Apparently music travels INCREDIBLY fast to Madagascar. I heard the new Britney Spears on the radio yesterday. Can't say I expected that.

P.P.S. For clarification, no I don't have internet in my house, I don't even have a shower with a shower head, but due to my family's insistence that all of my valuables will be stolen if I leave the house with them, I'm transporting blog entries via USB thing-y for the time being. Being a complete internet geek, I'm not sure how I'm feeling about complete disconnection from computers and internet, but it's part of the experience and I'll try to get to an internet cafe at least once a week while I'm in Tana. :)