The World Cup

The World Cup has begun. Haven’t been following it, but still excited as always. The World Cup is alway a blast even if your team isn’t in it. In my small town not much is going on. Places still close early and everything is dark at about 7pm. Except a hole in the wall that smells of Malagasy moonshine, called Toaka gasy.

Close of Service Conf. 

Just attended our COS conference. We all (the group I arrived in country with) hadn’t been together for about a year. We had a few nights of fun in the capital before spending 3 days in the mountains at the Peace Corps Training center. I was happy to see our group together again. Like before we clicked immediately. I didn’t know how to act or if my behavior was acceptable or more precise if I was displaying the best behavior to help me reach my goals. In this case, my social goals. Every night we stayed up late watching movies, talking, playing games, signing our yearbooks. Yep, Bekah had yearbooks made. Inside are plenty of pictures and writings. Some mornings we were a little hungover but most of us managed to attend classes. We learned things to help us transition to our lives after the 2 years of Peace Corps Service. Like networking, resume writing, and making medical claims on issues related to service.

 

Cocktail Party

The last day we met at the Peace Corps Director’s walled compound. A superb home and she’s got attractive art on the walls and books that make here seem pretty damn interesting. This was an quasi-business cocktail party. We got to meet people who work in international development, NGO’s, and in the US sectors like USAID and the US embassy. One guy, who was from Belgium, had covered many different conflicts to fight war crimes. He spent some time in Sudan and Afaganistan. Another interesting guy worked for US AID. He had been involved in helping to rebuild Iraq and Haiti after the earthquake. I was so happy to pepper them with questions. I hope to see them again. I had some drinks. I’ve started drinking again, but so far just a drink at social events.

Worms

This morning while staying at the Fianar Meva, I got a call from the Peace Corps Doctor who informed me that my stool-sample showed that I had worms. What the hell? I researched the parasite on Wikipedia and it looked fuckin’ serious. It goes in your lungs and your heart. Fortunately, the big pill they prescribed is good at killing this parasite. I could have got worms from uncooked vegetables. I eat everywhere here in Madagascar so it’s not a surprise. A bullet dodged.

Conclusion

Party hearty ‘cause you never know when a worm will take you out.