Pre-Service Training and Top 11 Peace Corps Moments

I've been here about a month, I'll sum up the highlights so far in a list:

1. Leaving the hotel in Philadelphia at 2am to take a long bus ride in the dark to JFK to catch the plane to Johannesburg. They turned off all the lights in the bus and most of us passed out. I had my iPod on and it was really cool seeing the Manhattan skylight before embarking into the unknown.

2. Stepping off the plane into Johannesburg. We all touched the ground and were ecstatic that we were in Africa. 

3. Seeing my first sunrise over Lake Mantasoa after the first night. I took a picture which I will post when I get a chance. It was incredible, there was mist on the water and the sun rays were peering over the mountain.

4. Driving into Mantasoa for the first time about to meet my host family. The first few nights were spent at the training center, which was like a summer camp of sorts. We hadn't seen or interacted with any Malagasy people yet at that point. As they bused us into the village, we finally started seeing chickens and cows and people walking around. "Woah" it was like the pictures on the Peace Corps webpage

5. Listening to my host brothers play guitar. They're freaking geniuses. They taught themselves how to play and made a notebook of a bunch of American song lyrics, which they transcribed by ear.

6. Kids. One day I was walking to my friends house to return something and he was playing his ukulele to a about fifteen curious kids from his window. I quickly realized they copied everything I was doing to the music so then it turned into a awesomely bizarre dance session.

7. Waking up at 4am to take a taxi brousse to a neighboring village. A lot of my moments are spent listening to music inside a car staring out the window. We got to see the sun rise over rice paddies to epic slow jams like aladdin's a whole new world in french.

8. Eating pizza and a hamburger for the first time. I freaking crapped my pants. It was so good.

9. Seeing a kid play with a rock.

10. Going with my host brothers across the dirt road to pick guava, kasava, and bibasy (a tasty yellow fruit) off a tree. There's all these awesome fruits everywhere.

11. Getting on the internet for the first time in a month and realizing that it was overwhelming. Damn it's freaking draining my brain to be typing this blog right now. It was strange to sign onto Facebook, I used to be on all day.

Outtie.