Most of my blog titles will be the same, my current life status.
I made it to Fort Dauphin last night. I'm living in a bungalow for the next two weeks here. I thought it would be less and that I would be in my forest next week, but there are holidays this week so it will be postponed. Last night I was met at the airport by a large group of taxi drivers and then QMM (the mining company I am collaborating with). I was surprised to see him, but relieved. He gave me a tour of the area and dropped me off at my hotel. I then met some ex-Oxford Brookes students and we had a delicious french dinner with Skoal (beer). I learned a lot about the language, Malagasy, the area, and the problems here. We take a taxi most of the time, always at night, and it is 1000AR per day/per person and 2000AR at night/per person = 50c -$1. My meal last night was about 17000AR = less than $10. This morning we got up early and went to the market. That was an experience! They do this thing called "frip" which is where people sell clothes for really cheap. The clothes come from charity drives in the UK so I recognized most of the brands (H&M). So if I ever need new clothes I now know where to go! We also visited the fruit section, veggie, beans, bread, and I briefly passed by the meat section. I LOVE meat, but the smell was horrid and I was trying not to gag. I promise to get a picture sometime while I am here just so that you can see it (including intestines and brains). I was told that sometimes hammerhead sharks are there!
side note: while writing this blog I just met another student from a different program who is from Seattle! Small world for sure.
Anyways, after that I went back to my hotel and accidentally took a nap while trying to read up on the Malagasy language. Then I walked to a store to get some bottled water, the ATM (which always has guardians at), and now I'm eating shrimp in a hotel that has wi-fi. DELICIOUS by the way. PS Guardians are basically security guards. Almost every store/restaurant/bank has them and I think I may even have them at my field site. Here is a picture of the beach near me:
I made it to Fort Dauphin last night. I'm living in a bungalow for the next two weeks here. I thought it would be less and that I would be in my forest next week, but there are holidays this week so it will be postponed. Last night I was met at the airport by a large group of taxi drivers and then QMM (the mining company I am collaborating with). I was surprised to see him, but relieved. He gave me a tour of the area and dropped me off at my hotel. I then met some ex-Oxford Brookes students and we had a delicious french dinner with Skoal (beer). I learned a lot about the language, Malagasy, the area, and the problems here. We take a taxi most of the time, always at night, and it is 1000AR per day/per person and 2000AR at night/per person = 50c -$1. My meal last night was about 17000AR = less than $10. This morning we got up early and went to the market. That was an experience! They do this thing called "frip" which is where people sell clothes for really cheap. The clothes come from charity drives in the UK so I recognized most of the brands (H&M). So if I ever need new clothes I now know where to go! We also visited the fruit section, veggie, beans, bread, and I briefly passed by the meat section. I LOVE meat, but the smell was horrid and I was trying not to gag. I promise to get a picture sometime while I am here just so that you can see it (including intestines and brains). I was told that sometimes hammerhead sharks are there!
side note: while writing this blog I just met another student from a different program who is from Seattle! Small world for sure.
Anyways, after that I went back to my hotel and accidentally took a nap while trying to read up on the Malagasy language. Then I walked to a store to get some bottled water, the ATM (which always has guardians at), and now I'm eating shrimp in a hotel that has wi-fi. DELICIOUS by the way. PS Guardians are basically security guards. Almost every store/restaurant/bank has them and I think I may even have them at my field site. Here is a picture of the beach near me:
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