Alive and well in Madagascar!

Well, here we are! Things have been great so far. We are working hard to learn Malagasy - the local language. We are also busy with technical training. The people here are really friendly and our host family is very considerate and outgoing. Madagascar is a truly wonderous and beautiful place. We are in the highlands and it is Winter here, so it is raining a lot. There are chickens, cows, ducks and geese everywhere! 80% of the Plants and animals here are endemic to the island. As you look around it is hard to pick out exactly what is different, but suffice to say it just is a very different and distant place and we are fortunate to be here! Our time is limited here at the internet cafe in the capitol city of Tana. If anyone wants to send us anything you may send it to the address that is already on our blog. You should send it in a padded envelope and apparently it has a better chance of reaching us unmolested if you write 'Jesus Saves' across the back of it.
Things that we're missing:

Bit of Honey Candy
Smokehouse almonds in a ziplock bag
Antibacterial gel/wipes
Miscellaneous suprise things
Correspondance in general!

We'll have a cell phone number here eventually and we don't pay for incoming in country. We'll post the # as soon as we have it. We are going to attempt to post some pictures- check to see if we were successful!

Don’t Stop. . .

And so ends the final episode of the Sopranos which we were fortunate enough to see on our last weekend in the United States for the next two years. And perhaps it is a good mantra for us over the next two years. We are currently in Washington, DC completing our staging as Peace Corps volunteers just a short distance from the White House. In the morning, we will finally be leaving the country for our assignment. We will spend Saturday night in Johannesburg, South Africa and on Sunday night we will be living with a Malagasy host family in Madagascar. We are essentially isolated with our host family for the first 10 weeks so there will be no postings or internet access for us before August 28^th at the earliest. We appreciate and greatly look forward to any and all correspondence. Trust that our ability to retrieve and respond may be limited at best, but don’t let this deter you.

It’s been nearly a month since we have left the Bay Area. Much of this time was spent experiencing the pinnacles and nadirs of family life coupled with the joys and exhaustion of traveling. We have been in San Diego, New York City, Daytona Beach, Florida and Portland, Maine. We are providing an external link through which you can view the pictures that we post. Simply click on ‘Our Pictures, under the Picture Link heading and then click on the respective album- we have just posted one entitled ‘pre-Madagascar’. One of the most inspiring things has been meeting this particular group of Peace Corps volunteers with whom we are deploying. There is a lot of excitement, positive energy and desire to actually go out and make a difference. We are excited to do our part!