A few weeks ago, Madagascar was hit by a giant, swirling mass of water and wind. I am talking about a cyclone, a category 4 when it hit the east coast of the MADA and a category 1 by the time it meandered to my site. (Just a fun, nerdy note: In the Indian Ocean it’s a cyclone, the Atlantic Ocean a hurricane and in the Pacific it’s a typhoon. I do believe that cyclones at least spin one way, a different way, than hurricanes. Not sure what way typhoons spin). It was real bad at my site, so I can’t even imagine what it was like on the east coast. All PCVs were evacuated from the coast to the highlands, which was good because by the time Cyclone Giovanni headed out to the Mozambique Channel at least 16 people died, hundreds were injured and an untold number of homes and businesses were destroyed (for more details just google cyclone Giovanni). At my site part of my front and back fence fell down, the corn crop was flattened in many places (I’ve heard different things about whether this was fine or bad. I am going with fine cause people don’t seem to be freaking out about their corn), and the power was out for close to 9 days. I know I can’t complain, cause I usually have electricity, but it was still hard. Made me very glad I have power. Giovanni did come back to MADA. She headed towards Africa, then changed her mind and came back to wreak havoc on the very south of MADA. She was a real mean b****.
(PS. Who can name the movie the title of this blog is taken from? Hint: Its one of my favorite movies)
The weather has finally started to improve. So far we have had 4 straight days of sunny, hot weather. Before this stretch of good luck, it was cold. Summer vanished and I’m not holding my breath that it has returned. It could start raining tomorrow and not stop for days, as the last 6 weeks have shown. Cloudy days, with wind and rain, though even the rain isn’t as much as last year, which is not good since this is the rainy season. Last year, it was sunny and hot all morning and then around 2 or 3 it would start raining, like clockwork. This year the weather is all over the map. We have had at least 2 cyclones so far, along with a tropical depression and a “mass of dense clouds” to quote directly from the MADA weather service, which bought high winds and rain. Things just aren’t normal. Though what would I know? I have only lived here 19 months (holy crap I have lived here 19 months!).
(Still don’t know the movie? Another hint: it’s an animated movie)
School is almost over for the trimester. Then there is only one more left before its back to America. I can’t believe it. Time has gone fast and slow. It seems like days go slow, especially those days where I have nothing to do, but the weeks and months are zoomin. I have one more week of teaching/reviewing and then its exam time. The last official day of school is March 28th, but I will be done, with all my grades turned in, by March 26th. That’s my goal at least. This year the CEG isn’t doing their tests so early. Instead of 3 weeks before the end of the trimester, it’s only a week before. In this case, after the exams, there’s only 3 days left! They finally saw how absurd is was to have exams so early. Next trimester I only teach 2 months, because of the schedules at the schools and my schedule with Peace Corps. Exciting!
(Hint #3: I wish I lived Under The Sea)
So my mom and my MOH got mad at me because in my last blog post I forgot to mention that I FOUND MY WEDDING DRESS! So exciting! My mom, Hanna and I went to 3 different places and I found it at the last one. I am still glad I went to the other stores. It helped me figure out what I really wanted. I thought I wanted something plain with a natural waist. What I got was a form-fitted, beaded number. That’s all I can say, since I don’t want my fiancé to know anything. He knows those facts so that’s why its ok to share. If he really wanted to see it before our wedding, I could probably be persuaded to let that happen. My dad hasn’t looked at it yet either, but I hope he comes to see it when I pick it up in September. If he doesn’t want to come, I won’t force him. We have also chosen a venue. We are going to get married at the Seattle Aquarium. My dad is just hammering out the contract with them. Thank heaven he does contract reviews for a living. Brian and my first day date was at the Baltimore Aquarium so it’s fitting. Plus the Saturday before, the 3rd, is our 4 year anniversary. You may be wondering why we aren’t getting married on the 3rd. Well to be weird, I think the 10th sounds better as a number, and now I get to have an anniversary week! Which I am really excited for and have already thought about.
(Hint 4: The main boy has the same name as my brother)
I still don’t have my journal from my mom (I should get it next week when I go to Tana. I hope. Letters have been taking forever to get here so my box might not be here either. I’m hoping that’s not the case. I have valentine’s day candy in there! And brownie mix!), but I am going to post a book list this time anyways. If I don’t the next book list will be wayyyyyyyyyy to long. This one will already be pretty long. I read like a book a day during my electricity shortage and that lasted nine days. Plus I really like reading and a lot of books have been keeping my attention. Sorry this is so short but there isn’t anything too exciting going on. Besides my friends buying a dog for a dollar off the street from some ragamuffins, nothing else has happened (true story. This happened. The dog is named Paco, is a girl though we kept saying he, is a quick learner, and lives in ankazobe, about 2 hours north of Tana). Next blog post will be in about a month, after my Easter Vacation. That one should be long since I am off to EUROPE! Berlin and Prague to be exact. My godfather didn’t want to travel all the way here and suggested we meet in the middle. Fine by me! Going to eat good food, drink good wine and beer, and hang out with my bro, godfather and one of my best friends, who just so happens to live in Berlin at the moment. Holla!
The move is The Little Mermaid! Gold star to you if you guessed it!
Book List
Dragon
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
America on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
The Poisonwood Bible
Irresistible Forces
The Lacuna
Slaughterhouse Five
Unbroken: A World War Two Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
Some Girls: My Life in a Harem
The Botany of Desire: A plant’s-eye View of the World
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You’d Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
You Might be a Zombie and Other Bad News
The Interpreter of Maladies
A Prayer for Owen Meany
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