Tyler Swain Madagascar Day 30

Feb. 26, Madagascar Day 30

Here I am, writing by candlelight, trying my hardest to remember what has happened these past 10 or so hours. It's hot, there are moustiques, mosquitos everywhere, and I have no idea what exactly is and isn't my personal space here. Let me explain: I arrived at my village, Androtra, at about 10AM this morning to a slew of children and my host mother welcoming me. She showed me to my room, a small 10 X 10 space similar to a cube in the Apartment Village...and withe her followed the entire entourage. That seemed to be the trend all day, as wherever I was in my room & not napping (yes! I got a siesta!) there would be upwards of 35 people (read: children under 10) in my room and staring through the window looking at me. In fact, as I'm writing this my host mother is sitting at the edge of the table either watching me scribble these thoughts or looking elsewhere around the room. Is this fihavanana? Maybe, or it may be the fact that I'm the first vazaha in these parts in 1.5 years. All in all, I think this will be fun. I'm still nervous though at it's extremely, extremely, extremely hard to communicate (no French spoken in rural Madagascar). But on a positive note, I have now pounded rice (and know why it's done). Night One, here I come...