So it was tough on Friday to say goodbye to Nosy Be and the coast. Back to Tana and back to reality is how it felt. Though it wasn't all bad, I was super excited to see my Tana family again and I know that I will be back in a town on the coast of Madagascar for my ISP. I wouldn't be able to leave without some parting photos though:
Oh Nosy Be beach right outside my hotel, I will miss you dearly...
Enjoying our last moments of beach and vacation until we go back to the realty of Tana
Things aren't all bad though: It's a good thing that Madagascar has such a stunning landscape that I could see throughout my whole plane ride from Nosy Be to Tana
So Tana and I are reunited again. We got in late Friday night from the Antananarivo airport and took cabs back to our host families. I think the reason why I was not super bumed about leaving our vacation spot was the fact that my host family in Tana is so amazing and I have missed them bunches. I was actually homesick for my Tana host family while I was away, I guess that really says something about compatability and general awesomeness. Anyways, of course they were happy to see me as I was happy to see them. I went to bed on the early side on Friday night because I was a bit tired and Olivia and I had some fun plans for the next day...
So as you can see from two photos above... We took a trip to the University of Antananarivo, where Olivia studies English. Unfortunately, due to a student strike because students are not receiving their government-funded scholarships, the University is closed until July until a formal agreement can be reached. It is such a shame that these students are not able to have access the higher education they have worked hard to achieve. (Oh and that is a pic of me striking a silly pose on the university campus if you have not figured that out yet...)
After touring the University and stopping by Olivia's childhood home I decided to treat us to a cold drink and ice cream at the Hotel Colbert. The Hotel Colbert is a four star hotel in a more high end section of Tana which has an incredible patisserie and restaurant, adjacent to it. I was craving a good old American-style iced coffee or tea so I insisted on the colbert. We ended up ordering iced green teas which were reminiscent of the Panera iced green teas, if you have ever had one you know what I am talking about and trust me, they are deeeelish! So basically that drink hit the spot and satisfied my craving for the meantime. We also got ice cream- I got a scoop of homemade vanilla caramel swirl praline whch was probably one of the most incredible flavors I have ever had. After this, we went home, had lunch and continued adventuring around the city and window shopping of the afternoon.
Sunday morning brought my host mothers 50th birthday and me being the master chef in the kitchen making pancakes. (I brought my family VT pancake mix and maple syrup for a gift from home)
There's the fam enjoying the pancakes! We also had nutella in the house so they ended up being nutella pancakes with maple syrup. I couldn't have asked for anything tastier!
The morning was made up of running errands for the big 50th birthday party that was going to be at the house tonight. For lunch, we decided to go out for a special treat for maman's birthday. We ended up at some French restaurant in the center of the city in the quartier of Analakely. I orders chicken cordon bleu which I thought was delicious, it is nice to have a comforting, familliar meal once in a while, not to mention, it was really tasty! Haha oh and I love how I am the only one looking at the camera in this picture. I also remembered I haven't quite introduced you all to my Tana fam yet. Well, starting with me and going counter-clockwise, there's my brother, Aine who is 12, next to him is one of my uncles who accompanied us, across from him is my sweet host mother and next to her is my jokester of a brother, Joe, he is 25. Olivia, my twin sister is taking the picture.
After the delicious lunch, I decided to take advantage of having access to a car and being with my Malagasy family on a Sunday in Analakely. If I have not yet told you all, this is really the most dangerous part of town and where most of the crime and pickpocketing happens. I have had a friend get her purse snatched off her here and another who got her necklace torn off her neck, my host mother also got her earrings stolen while she was wearing them! This is also where most of the political demonstrations happen, so as you can see, one does not want to be wandering around here by oneself with valuables. To make a long story short, I took advantage of my relatively safe circumstances to snap a few photos of Analakely-
After that, we found ourselves back at the Colbert for ice cream. This time was able to snap a few photos of the patisserie part of the colbert. Doesn't this look like heaven??? Oh and ps- I got praline ice cream this time and it tasted exactly like the hazelnut praline you would find inside of a chocolate. It was absolutely delicious!
So after our afternoon romp was when the party began. We spent the afternoon preparing for the large Malagasy family that was to come over and celebrate my host mother's 50th birthday with us. The food and company were great. I even got to chat in English with some family and friends that are trying to learn. I also made a few friends during that time as well as you can see from the photo above... haha
Joyeuse Anniversaire Maman!!!
Maman cuts the delicious cakes we had made at one the local patisseries one of them was chocolate mousse which was my favorite.
Basically in all, I am very glad to be back with my family in Tana. I cannot say enough great things about them and I cannot thank them enough for doing all of the wonderful things they have done. I only have one more weekend left with them and it saddens me greatly to think that I will have to say goodbye at some point- but that is then and this is now. I am going to enjoy every last second I have with them until I leave! Love you all!
It is time for me to go to bed. it is 11:15 here an I have to get up at for classes tomorrow or else I could write much much more. But get prepared for the next blog entry which will detail where I have been in Madagascar thus far and where we plan to travel.
~Much Love~
No comments:
Post a Comment