My school had a school field trip to the coastal town of Toliara. I hadn’t been to the coast yet, so I was excited to go. We traveled 12 hours in two buses through the highlands descending to sea level. Toliara is a big town and still hot during the winter. We stayed in empty classrooms at the University. For some reason I thought we’d be sleeping in a hotel, or someplace that had beds and blankets. I didn’t bring anything to sleep with. Oh, well. My fellow teaches lent me a blanket. Bless their heart. Also, no showers. And the bathrooms were scary. One night I went and the interior was infested with cockroaches and smelled like you can imagine. I squatted over the hole in the ground trying not to touch anything, then a cockroach climbed up my leg. Wow, that’s a new experience. All the days we were busy; we visited a marine museum, the beach, a turtle farm, and a plant that produces Spirulina, a dietary supplement made from blue-green algae. And they gave us free samples!

I was happy to see new parts of Madagascar as well as to interact with the students outside the classroom. In the classroom things have to be done like learning and staying quiet so others can hear, so I can be somewhat a tyrant which is a drag.

At night the students prepared meals of rice, some veggies like carrots or cabbage, and some meat. One night we had fish and the other nights we ate beef, and chicken. I slept in the same room as all the boys so it was loud and rambunctious. To break the monotony I showed the boys videos I had made of the school on my laptop and we threw an arobie around that I had brought.

The trip was wonderful and I hope to go next year.