MADAGASCAR MISSION

The last month has been busy. Brandi and the kids went to the US for a whirlwind visit to her parents. They were helping them out for the most part, but did a have a chance a to see a few other people along the way. Today they arrived safely back in Madagascar. Although they are not yet home and I have not seen them, we are at least in the same country. Saturday, we will all travel to our annual AIM retreat where we will be reunited again. It has been a long month away from each other and everyone is ready to be reunited. While Brandi and the kids were in the US, I stayed in Madagascar and had a chance to do some focused language learning. After dropping them at the airport in Tana, I went to Antsirabe for a two-week intensive language time. It was very helpful to study with teachers who are trained to teach Malagasy and have a lot of experience teaching. I think it has proven to be very effective for my learning style. My focus will be back on Malagasy language learning for a few mont

Exploring new places is something I love to do. Whether hiking in the mountains or hiking in a city, discovering new places and seeing new sights is fun. Fortunately, my wife Brandi, also enjoys finding and exploring new places. Living in Madagascar has given us many opportunities for finding and exploring new places as well as new cultures.  This week we had to come to the capital, Tana, to get our pictures and fingerprints for our visa’s. Brandi and the kids then flew to the US to visit her parents as her mother is working towards recovery after her brain surgery several months ago. Friday, I found myself with a day to go exploring the city before heading off to another city for some intensive language study. There were a few stores I wanted to find and so I set out around lunchtime after taking care of some other tasks. Taking a local bus I headed out into new territory hoping I would at least come close to where I was trying to go. Thanks to people on the bus I found t

Some days do not turn out at all like you expect. Today was one of those days. Having determined to be more intentional about my Malagasy learning this month, I had set aside today for study and practice. After doing some errands in town I stopped at a place near the market and settled into a table and began studying. After an hour and a half or two hours I needed a change of scenery and decided to take a walk. Since it was lunchtime, I decided to eat some local Malagasy food and practice what I had been learning. Something simple, rice and sauce hopefully with some meat with it, and I wanted to eat at a new place to meet some new people. However, every place I stopped was already out of rice for lunch. Really, they ran out of rice at the four places I stopped. How does this happen? The Malagasy eat rice every meal. Every meal. If they don’t eat rice they think they have not eaten. I could not understand how this could be. It was only 12:45pm, I really thought it would not be