Ambodatovo! Should be 'Ambohijatovo', but the former is what one of the bus guys says while trying to fill up a bus right outside the main entrance of the university. And that gets me: even when the guys don't say it I imagine they do and I smile. I say "Mianatra aminy ankatso aho"- I learn at Ankatso, but I dont really know what Ankatso is. Is it the name of the quartier where the school is? Google Maps indicates that is so.
Well, while I am using Maps, here is an image of downtown Tana with two important places marked. The bus between those two points costs 400 Ar = 17.4 cents. A healthy healthy sized meal costs 1500-2000 Ar outside the school and less near the lecture hall at the end of the path in the picture.
Sort of don't want to talk about other prices involved because that's not the good stuff...and people paying their way through college in the US might get angry.
But let me quickly add those things that make me feel uncomfortable about choosing to live here:
1. Trying to get a visa.
2. Receiving a package from abroad.
3. Buying anything electronic.
Notice the tension between the two and three! I am pretty enthusiastic about French. Its easy progress but I embarrass myself often with errors or vocab gaps. But I really get hung up on the zero virgule...0,4--to me its point four or .4 and I just CANT STOP saying point quatre. Nobody but me seems to mind. I mean, I am not mad at myself, but I am actually mad at the French for upholding such a diverging tradition my own. Is that dumb? But my roommate just told me that in French, we use 'nombre' quantitatively and 'numéro' qualitatively. Like "Je suis le numéro sept dans le mondes de collectionneurs de timbres--j'ai un grand nombre de timbres.". Is there something similar in English? Well, I forgive the French anyway.
LA LA LA la LA la la la la LA la LA LA LA World Cup! I bought a Sharp TV; what brand do you want? We have labels from all the major manufacturers to glue on to your new device!
On that note, they Fedex said the border control will demand a tax of 40% of the value of the contents of the package.
But let's get back to the good stuff about Ankatso. Well, I am not going to twinkle toe around this: there is a serious ping pong club. I know, I know, its unfair. Its not a cure for tendonitis, but it is near enough a cure for all of life's other miseries. I am getting a lot of guidance from the other players: lean forward, bend at the knees, shift your weight, backswing, follow through...
What else? Dono, teachers don't come to class as consistently as they did in the school I attended in the US. It bothers me sometimes, but when they do come, some sometimes go hard for 2+ hrs and so it will be a disaster week when all the teachers show up--considering four of the six days a week I spend at school involve three scheduled classes.
The campus reminds me of Arizona buildings. The students in my department go to lectures almost all day on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are about 400. It's pretty cold in the lecture hall in the morning, but the students are really spirited. There is a student pastor who talks to us sometimes in the afternoon while we wait for the teacher. Our delegates talk about department sports teams, behavior, and the distribution of course materials. When everyone is seated a girl risks considerable whistling by getting up for whatever reason. Towards the end of the a session people start clapping whenever the teacher pauses just for a moment. Then the teacher says something funny in Malagasy--or gets angry. Its not easy to see the board, so we reserve seats and get to class very early.
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