Sworn In and Site Bound

Well it's been over a month since my last post but much has happened in April alone.  When we last left off, I was awaiting my site anouncement; which I have since received and as I write this am en route to.  I will working in the Fokotany of Ambalona which is located in bertween the coastal cities of Mankara and Mananjary, the latter being my banking town which is about a 90 minute journey by taxi-brousse.  I will be starting a brand new site and will be partnered with Hope for Madagascar (HFM). HFM is an NGO that was started by Malagasy-Americans, and is based currently headquatered in Boulder, CO.  They working a variety of sectors, but the majority of work centeres around evironmental education and construction projects.  There will be many oppourtunities to work along side them on existing projects, but also the freedom to develop projects pertinent to my community's needs.

Following the anouncement our sites, each sector of our Peace Corps Stage headed on technical field trip.  As a member of the environment sector I travelled to Andasibe, where we hiked through a section of VOI managed rain forest; then a brief stay in Tamatave, where we visited the lemurs at neighboring Ivolina park; after that we headed to Foulpointe, a small coastal town with sandy beaches, and a neighboring protected area managed by Missouri Botanical Gardens.  We returned to the training center with a new zeal for our service and made the final push through language and technical training.

Mornings in Foulpointe are about as rough as the surf

As I write this it's hard to believe that the first itiminating 9 weeks of training have come to a close and that I am now finally on the way to my site, which I will call home for the next 2 years.  The first chapter of my adventure has come to a close and it's time to start writing the pages I've been waiting for.  I'll be spending tonight in Fianar and tomorrow we will make the push to Mananjary, where'll try to get my hands on all the bear-necessities: hammer & nails, pots & pans, rice & beans, and of course dines.  As for my house, it's a fixer-upper, and I'm not sure if I'll even be able to move into it by the end of this week; we'll leave it on that cliffhanger for now.

Salama

Nick