Why hello there blog, long time no see.

It's been a while since I've written anything. To the like 7 people that read this I say I'm sorry. We Volunteers here in Madagascar have a saying “Madagascar, the place technology goes to die.” There is an inordinate amount of computer, tablet, camera, and phone failure here. That happened to me. My computer woke up one day and decided it was done working. I took it to our IT guy in the capital. It took a while but he got it fixed for me. It now works but doesn't seem to want to connect to the internet. Luckily Steph, who visited recently, brought me a new one I had ordered off the internet. That one had no problem connecting to the internet but is a Chromebook (which I didn't realize when I bought it) so is pretty useless without internet access. So I have 2 computers that, between the 2 of them, can almost do the job of one computer. The definition of first world problems. Anywho, I'm back to being able to write now. Yay!

Since I last wrote a lot has happened. My projects are moving forward. I have almost completed a grant for my chicken raising project that will require me to beg you for donations. Thank you in advance for anything you can spare. Any little bit helps and dollars go a long way here. For example a regular beer here, which is 65 cL or almost 40 oz, costs around 75 cents. There will be no beers bought with grant money but that shows just how far a dollar stretches in these parts.

The people I work with now have 5 gardens up and running in my town. That is very exciting to me. It is a relatively small victory but hopefully one that will have long term benefits. The longer I'm here the more I realize that small victories are all you can expect. I take pride in just opening people up to new possibilities however small they may be. In the past, the idea of a home garden was not even a possibility for the people of my town. Now there are 7 people (in the 5 garden spaces) growing food for their families close to their houses for easy access. They are improving the nutrition of their families ever so slightly. This is without a doubt the best thing I've done here. When I leave here I'll have an advanced degree in tempering expectations. And I say that with as little bitterness as possible. Change is hard. Any small change is worth celebrating. Showing someone one new thing, or one new vegetable they can grow, opens their mind to the idea that they can make other changes as well. That's the hope anyway.

I continue to do nutritional cooking trainings as well. These are my favorite thing to do here. It's just a big cooking demo where we disguise a nutrition training as a free food giveaway. Everybody learns something and goes away less hungry than they were when they came. I have also had the women who best grasp the subject lead the last few trainings to get them used to training a group and leading others. This way, again with hope in my heart, when myself and Peace Corps are no longer here they can continue the work of improving their community.

Stephanie just visited me which was awesome. She got to see my site and we explored some amazing beaches and parks in the Northern part of the island. A good time was had by all.

So, what's new? I think the biggest thing is that I am incredibly bored for long stretches of time. Before joining Peace Corps, and during all of the trainings, they sort of brush over the fact that a lot of your time you will have nothing to do. Rightfully so I think. No one with adventure in their heart and positive world change practically bursting from the depths of their soul wants to here that their 2 years as a Volunteer will largely be spent passing the time between meals. The preparation and planning of which quickly become the highlight of most days. I eat all my meals with the family I live with. This is amazing for many reasons but robs me of that small

daily high point.

The first few months at your site, even up to one year really, your head is spinning. You are learning a new language. Living in a new culture with a strange way of life unfamiliar to you as a first world dweller. A lot of time is spent learning new language and finding your way around. It's spent planning projects that largely will not come to pass for many reasons. Most of those reasons are unavoidable, out of your control, and no ones fault. The acceptance of this will also take up a lot of time and mental energy. Every training or meeting must be meticulously planned for. Notes planned out in adavance. Relevant vocabulary learned and noted beforehand. Time flies because everything is new and simple tasks take a ton of time. So that first let's say 9 months is a blur.

Then you get comfortable. You learn the language, at least reasonably well. There are still many struggles of course. There will always be that one person or those people who you just cannot understand. Most conversations still contain at least one word you don't know that you'll have to infer from context or grind things to a halt for the clarification of. But, preparation takes less time. Especially because the types of things you are meeting about and training on are the same. You've already prepared for this ten times over. The word for “wrinkled” still escapes you but for the rest of your life you will know how to say, “Has that chicken already been neutered? And vaccinated?” So time slowwwwwwsssss down. Without all that prep work and lack of understanding a lot of things are mundane and over quickly. There are only so many people to visit, garden beds to plant, trainings to conduct. Once you've done your days work it's 9 am and the day is still ahead of you. “Well I've worked out, done my yoga, checked in on MamanyJustin's garden, fed the chickens, scheduled a follow-up with Miandryzandry about the progress of his chicken coop, and watered my garden. It's 8:30am. I guess this book isn't gonna read itself.”

So, that all being said, I am having a good time here. I've had some really good success with some more still hopefully coming. My time here is rapidly coming to a close. I have about 9 months left. Plenty of time to get more things done and not nearly enough also. I am dealing with some boredom issues. Whoa is me. I'll have a lot more to say on a wide range of topics I've read up on when I get

back. And I've been know to talk a little bit so be ready for that I guess.

I'll be much more regularly updating this now that I have access to a computer regularly. Next time I'll have a more uplifting topic. Until we meet again...