Le Taxi-Be

6:00 - Wake up to mini travel alarm clock. The beep is obnoxious, but it does its job.

6:10 - Get dressed in 1 of 5 outfits. Brush teeth with boiled water--now at room temperature.

6:15 - Clean up room since it doubles as a dining room.

6:20 - Eat Malagasy breakfast with Mom; it includes biscuits with unidentifiable jam spread on top. Also coffee, to be drank from a soup bowl. This seemed preferable to the option of plain rice.

6:30 - Prepare to leave with my host brother for bus 117. Luckily my number comprehension in French is sufficient.

6:37 - Find unmarked bus stop. Bus 117 drives by. Brother says it is full. Hmm...

6:40 - He decides to get on another unmarked bus. "Which bus is this," I ask. "Je ne sais pas" he responds. Great, just great.

6:41 - We enter the mystery bus from the rear door.

6:45 - I rummage for 300 Ariary (15 cents American) to pay for bus fare, which is collected in a church-basket fashion. I wonder how often people still from it.

6:50 - The 4-year old who is sitting with her dad is singing the first line of the song "Alouetta, alouetta" on repeat... for about 20 minutes. It's comforting.

6:54 - Someone hops out of the bus in the middle of the road--probably exasperated by the frequent "emboutiellages" (traffic jams).

6:59 - Stand still traffic

7:05 - We've moved about 100 feet.

7:10 - The bus driver turns off the engine whenever we sit too long or are going down a hill. Quite the gas saver. I guess I would be too if gas cost over $5.80/gallon.

7:15 - Host brother decides we're getting off the bus near a large phallic shaped statue. I'm not sure how he knows this.

7:20 - We walk through streets and dodge cars.

7:26 - More walking; I'm confused about our location.

7:30 - Spotted: Hotel Colbert! The posh hotel for vahsa that is nearby our classroom. According to my host sister it has the best pattisserie in all of Tana. Having eaten an éclair from there yesterday, I concur. We have French colonialism to thank for that.

7:37 Host bro literally walks me up to the front door of my classroom building. He clearly thinks I'm a hopeless vahsa. I feel like a 5-year old.

7:41 I learn that I was the only person to take a bus to school. Everyone else was driven or close enough to walk. C'est domage.

17:39 My host family learns of the Taxi-be 117 mix-up. They tell me that my host brother will accompany me to school again.