Just NB

Just a quick update to the family and friends that sent me the lovely emails of concern…. a good night’s sleep makes alllllll the difference. Maybe it’s that today marks end of the of the cursed fifth week…who knows/cares…. All I know, is I woke up this morning feeling not perfect but HUGELY better. And back to being the happy and normal “I’m-in-love-with-Madagascar-Nicole” (or...as normal as I get, anyway). And..as something to look forward to, tonight consists of a massage (ahhhhhhhhh) and then a BBQ with fabulous friends. Now…back to work! (And…also…I keep meaning to add…its Keeva, right? Not Teeva? Man, I hope I got it right this time… )

I always “preach” that my attitude towards this experience will make it what it truly is. And back in this post – I compared my positive attitude to the electricity in Tamatave. Its fine for days or weeks– maybe cuts out for a few seconds every day ; or…sometimes it can be out for an hour, or….can be out for an entire day. When the power is out for that long, there are chain reactions. No one can properly do their work – everyone is a bit frazzled or stressed - which I’m sure causes additional chain reactions... So is it a coincidence that this week we’ve been having major power outages and I can’t seem to muster up the energy to have a positive outlook and appreciate all the great things around me? Nothing’s changed, deep down I still love it here, and all that blah blah blah, but for the past….five days or so, I’ve struggled quite a bit. It’s evident in my work, productivity, how I deal with others (both here and in Canada), how well I sleep, and just my overall energy level. I AM TI...

Friday night started out with dinner at one of my favorite atmosphere restaurants...but I never really like the food. As expected, the food was okay....but the company was great and ended with a walk along the boardwalk and beach. (Can you beleive that I peeled my own shrimp?) And what I was looking forward to (sort of....) all week. Picking up my Canadian boss from the airport. I got to leave work early to give him a bit of the tour of Tamatave and camp. Saturday night was supper at one of my favorite restaurants. Again...the food isn't spectacular, but its on the beach. The girls: Some of the boys. I was so well behaved and didn't partake in the vanilla rum shots. Sunday morning - off to a beach house. Now...I know I have tough time getting a driver...but this is ridiculous?!? :) The beach house. Amazing. Looks like its in the jungle...but its just a few quick steps to this: In the house, there is a "fertility" totem pole. And here's proof. They each have two ch...

I have officially have come out of the closet. No, you didn’t stumble onto my cousin Craig’s blog (ha ha…just kidding Craigie…sort of) My blog got “outed”. I (naively) thought that maybe a total of….ten….or fifteen people (all family or friends) read my blog. WRONG! Last night I stopped in for a drink at the camp bar and met a new expat from Australia (Yes, Tamatave is being taken over by Aussies). WELL - turns out I didn’t need to introduce myself. He already knew who I was because himself, his wife, and a few of his coworkers read my blog every day. He said they loved it, and had nothing but extremely kind words to say about it. Crap. I knew this day would come….where people here would find out about my blog….but…I don’t know. I’m not sure I was ready for it?? People I work with are….going to get to know the real me? And know what I’m thinking and feeling??! Ahhhh!!!! In general, I keep a lot of my feelings and insecurities to myself. But on the blog? It’s a free-for-all dump of feel...

Last week, I posted about my post-Halloween quasi "surfing" lessons here , but didn't have any pictures. I finally got some from another expat, so I thought I'd post them for everyone back in Canada to see. I kept laughing so much, it was hard not to drink too much salt water.

If you've been following my blog for a bit - you've seen one of these buckets before: WhenI first came here, I was fascniated that's how you flush the toilet when the building runs out of water. I didn't really think the cup was necessary...but what do I know. Well - I found out the real reason why they have the little cup inside the bucket. Tuesday at lunch, I went with a couple of the guys to the market that the locals go. Most of there vendors don't speak French, so we had to take a Malagasy translator (who happens to be a waitress at the Expat bar. She found out we were going and offered to come and help translate). Well...this was not ANYTHING like the market I had been to before. This one was....well....icky to say the least. Not five minutes into our shopping trip - I had an emergency ....and needed to use a washroom - immediately. Most days my stomach here is pretty good... but others....well... today was an "other" day. Chantal (our Malagasy tran...

This past weekend I was lucky enough to go with a group to Lake Manambato – about a two hour drive south from Tamatave. I left work early on Saturday afternoon. (Oh no!!! I was so scared I would get caught!! I left at 15h00…. I was sitting on the steps waiting for my ride and my boss decided to come to work THAT VERY MOMENT!! Grr!!!! Everyone keeps telling me not to worry – we put in enough overtime that a few hours every so often isn’t a big deal. but…well, I like to be a spazz sometimes.) Anyway – there were five of us in total. I rode with the Aussies – and since I had a late night on Friday, I dozed off a bit. The scenery was majestic and very relaxing… I struggled between wanting to rest and wanting to not miss a moment of the how beautiful the drive was! We arrived and checked in, and then had a great supper. It was amazing. it was very, very, extremely rustic. Bugs, creepy crawlers, Madagascar hissing cockroaches….but none of it seemed to matter. It was beautiful and wonderful t...