I came to Tana so the dentist can fix my tooth again. Also, I’ve asked to see a doctor, and eye doctor while here. My right eye has been bothering me since many months ago. And I’m unconfident that the eye doctor will help me. Plus, I’m not thrilled to see an eye doctor who doesn’t speak English and my Malagasy isn’t very good. Which reminds me: I saw the dentist today. He didn’t speak English. Everything turned out fine, but it was a little difficult. He had to use a grinder to fix my tooth. No Novocain so I felt a little pain. Man, it was uncomfortable and I sweated a lot. But that’s the least of my worries. What stresses me out is that I won’t be back in my town until Saturday, which means I’ll miss filming at a restaurant with my English Club. I had spent a lot of time arranging this. Including talking to the proprietors and getting permission. Totally bummed.

On a lighter note, I’m staying at the Underground Hostel once again. My favorite place to stay in Tana. A fellow Peace Corps volunteer named Jacqueline is staying here, too. She lives on the East Coast near the beach. She’s got some great Facebook photos. A lot of postcard beach shots. Makes me jealous when I see them. I saw Matt Bender, another volunteer, from Wisconsin and around my age. How old am I? I think 44, maybe 45. Me and Matt met in Fianarantsoa, in the south highlands and then later in Island Sainte Marie and we walked about 13 miles through a swamp together when we escaped the island before the cyclone hit.

I went to the coast about 6 hours away to visit fellow volunteers. A bunch of us helped to teach her students about Chinese New Year. I took out my phone and started filming what I thought would be good in a vlog and put it together which is posted here.

Today monitored the students taking their semester exams. Man, I was grumpy. I started the day kinda happy then got grumpier as the day wore on. After work on the way home the townsfolk, mostly the children, bugged the hell out of me. I grabbed a few kids and scared them which released some pressure. All along the walk I tried to avoid people especially my co-workers. Unfortunately I ran into them in town and they made jokes and cackled. I was polite and quickly said bye and walked away then immediately regretted it. I’d like to be more friendly and upbeat. I just am not able to will myself to a good mood. These Malagasy treat me so strange, like a celebrity. They lose their shit when they see me and they’re all up on my shit all day long when or wherever I go. It’s maddening.

I giddy. I’m shaking. I just tried to kiss a girl. She’s in my Stage that I’d arrived in country with. I’ve liked her since then which is about a year and 10 months ago. She didn’t kiss me back. She said, “Viggo, you know I love you, right? But not like that.” But you what? I’m happy. I tried. I gave it a shot. I didn’t opt out of the Game. And you know what? Our friendship has actually flourish since that night. LIFE