Thoughts From A Breakfast Table: WITH COMPANY

A very exciting thing happened this week - ANTOINE HAS ARRIVED. Antoine is my not quite official step-brother who is here on behalf of his father, my not-quite official step father, who is the force behind this project and the reason we are all here to do this wonderful work (fingers crossed). Antoine is technically here to sign official things and represent the Board of Directors.  Not so technically he is here as COMPANY, who speaks English and French (meaning I haven’t touched my dictionary in days) and eats meals and walks the streets with me and he is blatantly going to read this and we have only met a couple of times before so I don’t want to come off too desperate but IT’S SO EXCITING!

Antoine at the breakfast table 

So I am now trying to tactically avoid talking about work things, which is hard because we have been doing a lot of work things the last few days. However as a result of work I have met a really lovely Malagasy woman and her family who are helping us here in Tana. We arranged to go to their house on Wednesday for a meeting and I had been under the impression that they lived quite close by… I was wrong.

We took a taxi out to a gas station on the city centre limits and our friends picked us up from there and drove us a further 30 minutes out into the suburbs. It was my first taste of Madagascar outside Tana and I must admit I was really pleased to feel a little familiarity; this was much more like the Asia I knew and had grown to love. We passed dogs and cats, Zebu and goats, geese and hundreds of random chickens and by the time we reached their house I was beaming from ear to ear, and that was where the fun really began, behind the gates of their lovely home. Of course, the dedicated professional I am, my focus was on the meeting and the business to which we had to attend… BUT the family were in possession of no less than 2 dogs, 5 cats, 50 chickens and an assortment of chicks, one tiny kitten and a rather large Greek tortoise. Those of you who know me will be able to imagine the kind of high-pitched squeaking noises I was making. Very embarrassing and totally unavoidable.

Following the meeting and all our work that day we went to a really wonderful restaurant called Kudeta’ which was absolutely packed, with very good reason. Antoine and I shared a starter of Fois Gras on little crostini (cue outraged head shakes and sighs by animal lover around the globe- I know, I am sorry) and it was really very good. Then I had prawns with rice and veg followed by a super rich chocolate fondant and any hopes I had of loosing weight before being able to cook in my own kitchen again totally disappeared. The meal itself was delicious, but I have to say that the evening was made for me by having someone to talk to, to walk with and generally share this experience with.

The oyster sellers outside the hotel

Lady selling oysters outside the hotel

Amongst all the business meetings and work related activities we the next day, Thursday 8^th Nov, came possibly my favourite experience here to date. We came out of the Ministry of Population and Social Affairs and began to amble back to out hotel when the skies darkened, the heavens opened and we were caught in an almighty thunder storm. Antoine was in his suit and I in my smart outfit and though we tried to battle on we were forced to stop at The Hotel De France on Independence Avenue for shelter. The droplets of rain are huge and they come down in sheets, pushed into you by the wind. The lightening lights up the sky and makes Tana glow a kind of orange as it bounces off the red brick and the thunder… well it shakes your bones and I found myself giggling despite myself.  We treated ourselves to a glass of local beer each and recapped our achievements so far and listed our next tasks over the next few days but I just couldn’t stop smiling at the force of nature and when the rain eased we could see dusk had fallen under the cover of the storm and it was past sunset. The street kids were the first to emerge into the drizzle, kicking water at each other, laughing and chasing their friends, completely oblivious to their wet clothes sticking to them as they played.

I walked home happy that evening, feeling a sense of achievement, relaxing in the company of a friend and colleague and found that the tense knot that had developed over the last week in the pit of my stomach has largely disappeared. And then later, when we went to dinner at the famous Gafe De La Gare we walked all the way there and back after dark, chatting and laughing all the way.

Antoine in our hotel room