Thoughts From A New Year

The days between Christmas day and New Years Eve passed in a bit of a haze. There aren't many children here (around 50 or so on the last count) because many have been given permission to spend the holidays with their extended families. This means there was very little work for everyone and we largely got the holiday season off entirely. The volunteer house now only consisted of Emma, Aurore and I as everyone else had disappeared for the holidays and I think we mostly spent the next few days in a haze of sunshine and left over Christmas chocolate... oh and Christmas movies.

On Friday the 28th us three girls decided to pop down to the village for dinner, we usually get brochettes (little skewers) of chicken or zebu meat washed down with a coke or shandy. It's nice to get out of the compound and the people know us here so its relatively safe.  This night however stewed chicken's feet were on the menu washed down by some festive dark rum which may or may not have led to some stomach problems over the next couple of days which accounts for my activities, or lack thereof, on the 29th and 30th.

On the 31st of December I headed down into the village to stock up on essentials and also but the ingredients for New Years Day brunch, a tradition in Akany where the volunteers are in charge of preparing for and providing brunch to all the children and staff (roughly 100 people in our case). In this was the day passed rather relaxedly, which was good for me since my stomach was still feeling a little delicate. By this time Emma too had disappeared to Mauritius for her routine VISA replacement leaving the country session and Aurore and I were alone. We treated ourselves to a takeaway pizza and a shandy for dinner before heading to the refectory for the party. On this evening every year the children and staff put on a kind of talent show before dancing the night away in the cafeteria. They also are treated to a spread of sweets and snack food to see them into the New Year.

Special New Years spread

The kids have an amazing amount of energy and I simply did not have the stamina to keep up so after 5 hours of dancing and singing I counted down to 2013, wished everyone a very happy new year and slunk off to bed just as the kids were sitting down to a bowl of noodle soup.

Dancing off all those snacks I guess...

I rose bright and early (around 06:30am) on the 1st to start prepping for the brunch we were hosting. We had decided to make our lives as easy as possible since there were only 2 of us so we opted for a bread based breakfast which is a real change for the children (no rice in sight) and also an easy option for us. With this we gave each person some cheese, ham and fruit as well as jams and juice, all of which were either a totally new experience or certainly a very novel one for the kids. Our job for the day done we headed out with Chad and Puce for a wonderful drive in the country, which we very much needed and enjoyed.

Car full of country enthusiasts on Jan 1st

True love= Chad + Puce + 4x4

Not content with providing our entertainment for the afternoon Chad also more than kindly invited us to dinner at his house for a local new years day tradition- sauerkraut, stewed apple, pork and potatoes. We contributed by providing banana-rum crepes and a bottle of bubbly for afters. Then I very innocently went to bed, having not an inkling of the shocking surprise the morning of the 2nd would bring me.

The next morning I rose early and got ready for my second attempt at collecting my package. I had a shower, packed my handbag, woke up Aurore and headed for the Akany gate. As I approached it I noticed Chad talking to another Vaza (foreigner) and my curiosity was piqued because we had no visitors scheduled that day. As I got closer the figure became more familiar and I almost died of shock when I finally recognised my uncle, Vincent, casually chatting to my boss, at my home, in Madagascar. Turns out he decided to come on Saturday 29th, bought a ticket the same day and boarded a plane on the 30th. No warning, no clues and no plans, just one month exploring this wonderful island as a present to himself (and a little to me also- its so great to see a face from home).

Before I knew it I was getting ready for bed on the 4th January, tossing and turning in anticipation of the next day- the big one: MY 25th BIRTHDAY!!! I had originally had plans to do a day trip to Ampifey for my birthday but this would have included hiring a van, waking everyone up at around 05:30am and spending nearly 6 hours in a car and the closer it got, the less appealing that sounded so at the very last minute I changed my mind and decided on a significantly less taxing birthday plan.

I woke at around 8am having had a fitful night's sleep which included midnight Skype conversations with my father and boyfriend and a beautiful serenade of 'Happy Birthday' sung down the phone by the boys at 3am. The next day the asked how I knew it was them and bless them they might have gotten away with it if it wasn't for the thick German accents!

BIRTHDAY GIRL! QUEEN FOR THE DAY

At 08:30 Binh (who had just got back from holiday the day before) treated me to the most wonderful birthday breakfast of potato, omelette, cheese, bacon, bread, jam and mango juice. It was the loveliest gesture and a perfect start to my day, not to mention an over generous gift. After breakfast the present opening began: I got a mini bottle of Californian champagne and a new lamb from Binh, a beautiful yellow handbag from Aurore, a bright green scarf from the boys and a little Malagasy doll and domino set from Emma. I received a card from my dad in the post and then I finally cracked into my package from Brian- my loving boyfriend, who knows me so so so well sent me two christmas DVDs, the whole series of Human Planet and Downton abbey (Christmas specials and season 3).

Birthday present area :D

Having started the day just the way I wanted I headed to Tana with Binh and Aurore to meet up with my uncle Vincent for lunch. I had chosen a nice little place called Chez Suchette which specialises in Creole and Malagasy fusion cuisine. I have been before when I was alone here and spent hours reading my book at a corner table and the staff were kind and friendly and I was sure that it would be a relaxing and pleasant lunch, just the way I wanted. I was excited to try something new and I found the perfect thing on the menu... new and interesting, potentially tasty, certainly a once in a lifetime kind of thing. So when the waiter came to take our order I ordered one portion of Malagasy style bat. 

When it came it looked like, well like a bat- it had wings and fur and a face- in fact I even ate its ear. I was very strong tasting and took a few bites to get used to. It was kind of rodenty (I mean the way a rodent smells) and the meat was quite tasty, the leathery sections were edible, a little chewy/ slimy but nice enough- the fatty parts however, the parts which stretched under the arms and fatty parts around the legs were very very strong tasting and not particularly pleasant. Never one to be defeated I cleaned my plate, and the bones, and rewarded myself with a very tasty banana flambé. :D 

Bat in a pot

Bat coming out of a pot

Bat going into my tummy

REWARD

After lunch I wanted to have a massage, the mattresses are foam here and really hard on my back. I had looked around the posher places in Tana but in the end I decided to go back to a local place in Talatamaty closer to home. At less than half the price of Tana I could do a naughty thing and indulge myself in a two hour massage for 30,000 ariary (around 10 euros). The place is modest but clean and the women are friendly, professional and very very good. Having established how very hot the beginning of the day had been, and also my penchant for dramatic weather expressions I would like to believe that what happened next was a present to me from mother nature as an apology for making me age. As I lay on the table by the open windows in the massage parlour the rain started a persistent drumming on the corrugated roof and as I relaxed into the table the lightening illuminated the room and the thunder shook my bones. It was the loudest, longest and most impressive storm I have seen in a while and might have been the remnants of a cyclone that hit Reunion last week. Others may have considered it bad luck that this happened as I was lying down for my birthday treat but I know better- it was for me, and it was magnificent and as the smell of rain drifted in and the lightening danced through the window frame I let myself drift off with a smile on my face.

The final chapter of my birthday story happened back at Akany where I had booked the cafe for dinner. The older girls in the orphanage are given vocational training including cooking and hospitality, for practise they serve the occasional lunch or dinner in the centre's cafe and tonight they were doing curried chicken and chocolate bananas for me. I was joined by the whole gang; the boys, Aurore, Binh, Chad, Vince and Puce and by 9pm when the teas and coffees came round I was ready for bed.

Dinner at Akany

At the end of a perfect birthday I waved Vince off in his cab, had a hot shower, crawled into my bed and fell asleep watching Human Planet and thinking of all the things I have to be thankful for- not least of which being that the following day (January 6th) would mark a miraculous occasion: my boyfriend has officially put up with me for 5 years. Thanks Brian, I love you- Happy Anniversary xxx