Opposites

I live in a town of opposites. The other day I ate calamary for lunch and had my wash done and ironed for me. The very next day I took a cold shower using a bucket and cup.

I am driven around by a pous driver as I look at all the items to buy, from shoes to baskets, clothes, jewelry or food; and then a herd of goats pass me on the road.

Sakama is an affluent town full of people shopping and construction on the nearby roads.  It's pretty funny watching the pous drivers from the other side of town try to figure out which way to take to get me home.   It is not as busy as when I stayed in Tana a year ago. At night it gets quiet and there isn't the noise of people catching the bus outside of my window.  There are still a lot of people but they don't pee on the side of the street as much as in Tana.  I miss sitting next to people as I ride into the city on the bus, and I don't get to see the rice fields here, but I love all the green trees planted in my yard that were much more scarce up north.

As I continue to work on language I have hit a few phases.  After learning as many opposites (like land/sky) as I could figure out how to draw or guesture I moved into a few sentances and took to the market.  It took me three days of reading from my notebook before I could ask the 4 questions without looking, but when I realized I had gotten to that point I was thrilled. In fact, I had a great time the other day hanging out with a group of ladies who had invited me to sit with them in the market. As the instigator began asking me questions the group grew and we had a lot of fun. With my next round of questions to ask I realized I still have a lot of words to learn in order to understand their responses and questions of me, but I'm starting to have regular people who are willing to chat a minute, which is nice.  It's nice when people realize I don't speak French, it's equally as tricky when they learn I speak English, like the boys in me shop outside my house whom I buy phone credit from (below), because then they want to practice their English with me which makes it hard for me to use Malagasy.  I'll have to stat challenging their translating skills by asking them for words or phrases.

So, whether I live in a room with steal grates on my door and windows while the rest of the Malagasy only latch their doors at night I have a lot to learn about the contrasts found in this place.