Welcome to Madagascar!

Well, we have finished our orientation to Antananarivo and Antsirabe. Madagascar is so foreign to anything I have ever experienced or seen. Tana is a busy city. There are people, cars, bikes, and even cattle everywhere. The buildings are close to the streets and there is not a lot of greenery. Everything has a redish tint as the dirt here is red. The buildings are large and have a very French feel to them.
Tana has much more than I expected a country in Africa to have if you are willing to pay money. It seems as though you can get almost everything.
Begging in Madagascar is terrible. Everywhere you go you are bombarded with street children's faces with their hands out. One day while we were downtown in Tana, our logisitics coordinator, Taisir, has his cellphone stolen by one of those sweet faced boys. We have a lot ot learn about the poverty here and what role God wantes us to play in meeting the people's needs.
The drive from Tana to Antsirabe, where we will do language study, is amazing. The rice patty covered hills seem so peaceful. The road is windy through the mountains. I can't describe the countryside in a way that would do it justice! The houses are spread out among the rivers and farmland. They are made of red mud - usually two stories high. Cattle roam the fields (and the road!). The cattle are called Zebu here. They look like cows, but have a large hump on their neck. Eli got sick on the ride and threw up - both on the way there and back. Dramamine did not help!
Antsirabe is a great town! I love it! It is so much slower and more easy going here. Instead of cars, the roads are full of pouse carts. They are small carts people ride in and are pulled along by a person. The city is full of them. There is much more greenery in Antsirabe. The city is surrounded by beautiful, rolling hills and small lakes. It was hard to leave Antsirabe when it was time to return to Tana!