Washing adventures

For the last four days I have been helping the plumber that has been coming to fix so many things here at our new place.

Sometimes I feel like all I do is mop up the water in our bathroom. Over and over and over. I know that it will be worth all the work in the end, just getting tired of the maintenance and it has only been three days.

Plumbing and Electricity

Things that we have come to rely on so heavily can be taken away at a moments notice here in Madagascar!

I wonder if we treat the Lord this same way? Do we keep him close at all times or just when we want to be in the LIGHT of HIM or be PLUGGED into HIS POWERful words, teaching and leading so that we can be "WASHED" clean of all that so easily ensnares us, so that we can be clean.

All this pondering comes because we have been working out some issues since we moved. We love the house there are just some things that needed tending to. Just like our relationships with HIM, we need to tend to it!

Words Ive learned

Manahoana Tompoko! (hello), Salama Tompoko! (hello)

When you add the Tompoko at the end of most words or sentences it is just the formal greeting! You add to to place honor or respect.

Misaotra betsaka (Thank you so much) I say this all the time and people tell me that I say it to much! Can you say "Thank you" to people to much?

Tsisy fisorana (no thanks necessary)

Andriakaiky 0 (oh my gosh) I have found that this is so fun to say and useful in many situations.

Izaho koa faly mahafatatra anao (nice to meet you)

Aiza ny dibera? (Where is the butter?), Misy dibera ve? (do you have butter?)

I have learned to substitute the dibera (butter) for other words as well... so this helps when in the market. I do need to learn more of the French numbers though because most of the money is referred to in French. (Actually much of the Malagasy language has French words substituted when the Malagasy words are to long! RIDICULOUS, but a funny part of language learning and part of the wonderful process.

Mila jiro aho amin'ny alina (I like to have light at night)

Tsy azoko (I don't understand), Tsy mahay ( I don't know), Tsy mila aho (I don't need)

Ankavia (left), Mahitsy (straight), Ankavanana (right), Savao ny lalana (move out of the way)

Homba anao andriamanitra (God Bless you)

Ramipitsu (tomorrow), Sey sauceny (30 minutes)

fekibo (belt)

Sakafo maraina (breakfast food), Sakafo antoadro (lunch food), Sakafo alina (dinner food)

Atoury (want to lie downn)

Many more words and sentences... but I don't want to bore you!

This learning a new language is so mentally tiring! I am enjoying every day and the new adventures they all bring! Teaching English when I can to some close coworkers and looking forward to learning more in the days ahead. I have been writing down words, phrases and what I can when I can to help me learn it better. It is amazing how right they were in my classes in Colorado this last spring, when you get to listen, then be more student driven in learning things come without the same struggles.

Remembering that there are many sounds here that are very different from those back in the United States.

SOMETHING TO PONDER: What do you hear when you listen to a foreigner speak? Do you try to copy them with your american sounds and mouth positions?

walking with a purpose

Walked right into a low eve of a house, square on at full walking speed. Hit it so hard that I fell down right away and was disoriented.

Best part was holding frozen butter on my head because we just moved and who moves with ice cubes?

Incredible move!

What an incredible day! We were so very blessed with so many people that came out to help us move. We fed 15 people that came to help with a morning of moving. By 2pm we were putting beds together and putting up mosquito nets, doing the nuts and bolts of the move.

Thanks everyone that prayed and helped in the move! You are all very special to us...

I see dead people! Shhhhhh...

Today started out like any other day, when you have lots to do, you plan days ahead of time, you organize help where necessary, a car if needed, get up early and get as much done as possible. Well, at any time your day can take quite a turn here in Madagascar. First off is that all momentum you have had in the morning hours is lost at about 11:30 and doesn't resume until 2 pm. So, everything that we needed to get done had to be done before 11:30 am because shops close and workers go home for lunch. If home is to far away then they have a nice long lunch and find a place to snooze around their place of employment.

I know that you are wondering about the part where the title comes into play? Right?! Well, after lunch (sikafo) we were packed up and on our way to the new house across a lake and up a hill. Before we even made it off of our half cobble and half dirt road we came across many people gathered at the mouth of the main road. I could not see exactly what they were doing but was urged, strongly at that, to "get out your camera!" After doing so as I looked up I realized that what we had driven up to was a bunch of dead bodies being wrapped for burial, about 10 from what we were able to find out from the spectators (nicely dressed family members). This was the start of some ceremony, possibly "the turning of the bones." Family had gathered from all around and were ready to re-bury their dead. (Meaning that they had taken the bodies that were once buried in a family toomb and unwrapped them, then with new cloths, rewrapped them).
I took two pictures and will share them here when I can download them. There are no faces, just white cloth wrapped around bodies so that they are ready to put into the coffins that are being crudely made just inches from our road.


When we arrived at our new VILLA compound - NO one was there to open the gate. Upon letting ourselves in we noticed that NO one was home in either the guards home nor our new landlords home. I was left there alone at the home with the items that were unloaded and for the next two hours or so thought of all that I had seen in that short while.

Long story short... The pictures that I had taken previously were of the landlords guard and his family. His family and a few others were wrapping their dead. His story is quite sad. You see, he had 5 children originally. Three have died at different times, from what I am not quite sure... They lost a child at 3, one at 4 and one at 7 years of age. They spent all of what they had, and went into debt to have them brought out, unwrapped and then wrapped up together, just to be laid back in the same toomb. I am very curious to know why the children died but at some point asking questions is prying to much! The guard did share with us that someone did not like them and cast a spell on his children to do harm. You cant see any joy in his face nor the face of his wife.


I do pray for many opportunities to share Christ's love with this family. With the two remaining children and pray that they don't have the same short life as their siblings had. That they would KNOW of our loving heavenly Father and have that peace that passes all understanding. That there would not be curses, witch doctors or tribal opression here on this land, with these families. I don't even know exactly what more to pray but I trust that GOD knows my heart and the heart of others here. I am praying for HIM to be glorified through this move.

Death is certain, I pray that each would be ready to meet Jesus personally?

You don't ever know what a day will bring here in Madagascar!

Deposits and withdrawls

Today 4 of us spent about 4 hours cashing checks and depositing money. Whom of you in the expedient united states or beyond would have given up after 45 minutes?

We lost a watch and eventually found it, had a quick peanut butter and jelly lunch with a view of the city that was amazing, lost a check that was already signed, and Praise the Lord it was found as we retraced our steps. A kind woman held it and waited for us to come back, possibly not knowing what she was holding onto? A signed American check with the TO: line blank... She could have been wealthy for the month or the year depending what she would have done with the money.

We were able to get other things done while we waited to make the most of our time and to get as much done as possible. We laughed a lot, talked a lot and really enjoyed the journey of the day.

GOD is good in how he provides here in this beautiful country!

Death!

Death! I guess I screamed more like eeeech when I saw the large cockroach fall from the ceiling onto my freshly made bed! Just another inch or so and it would have fallen right on my head. I think that I may have woken up my roomie
because I could not keep it silent and only scream inside, sorry Sandi!

I don't do well with those! One time when I was visiting Madagascar I met a lady that had one stuck in her ear for over 3 months! I won't go into detail but, OK that is just

GROSS! You must be shivering in your chair as you read this post!

I ran to the bathroom, got out the trusty RAID and ran back to my bedroom. I did not want to take my eyes off him, they are fast little suckers, but I had to do it. Got back to the room and the fight or more like chase ensued. I am a lady after all and was not going to say come here, let me catch you so that I can gently place you outside, as I sometimes can be seen

to do for crickets back in the states.

Finally I chased him almost under my sheets, under my nightstand, around the corner and down the hall, into the kitchen, a place he might know well, and there he took refuge under the stove. AHHH! I am a very through person when it comes to making sure that said offender is DEAD. I sprayed under the stove and he came staggering out from under safety, rolled onto his back, as if to raise the white flag, so I was comforted and thought the fight was over.

I went back to my room, straightened things out and set up my bug net, that is right, TONIGHT I was using my mosquito and bug net, for sure, even though it is up to high and would possibly let creatures in - it can at least give me a false sense of security for tonight until tomorrow when I can fix it up there properly!

I got the wild hair to go back to the kitchen and make sure he was dead only to find that he was no longer there! That crazy sucker had gotten back to his feet if you can call them that and staggered into the hallway, on the way to the bathroom, then did the belly up dance again. I sprayed him one more time and I think that did it?! Should I go and check again? I hope he is there where I left him, I really do.

Second thought, I am gonna go and check... Glad that I did, he had manuvered to some red strings and was trying to use that to help him turn right side up again and hot foot it out of this house, I would like to think that way, since he had lost so terribly in matches one and two. What do you think I did? YES, Ran back into the bathroom, grabbed the RAID and gave him one last saturating blast. This better have killed him, really.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of the battle!

ichat and Skype

OK, so even though the internet is temper-mental here at best I am so very excited to be connecting with people that are back in the United States.

Tonight I chatted with my Mother and a good friend! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules for me!

my skype address is nicole.madagascar and my

ichat address is wakiex3

Lets connect! I would love to hear from you. Please be patient though as the connection is guaranteed to be slow and interrupted.

Business Lady from Mauritius

Today I went with Sandi to meet a local business lady from Mauritius at her restaurant, only a few minutes from our little pink home in Ambohibao.

Many years ago she moved here to Madagascar and married a local Malagasy man. They have three daughters and have recently divorced. One of the daughters, might be the youngest, soon to be turning 14 years old (Oct 18th), is a little bit timid, and doesn't know any language except French. Her mother is wanting Sandi to meet with her each week to teach her English. Sandi was asking if using the Bible as some of the text that she uses to teach Sarah would be ok, and she said "of course."

After talking for a little while Sarah (pictured here) showed up and was so very nervous that she was twisting her long, sheer, orange scarf, within an inch of its life! I noticed her tension and immediately tried to ask her some questions to soften the meeting. As you can imagine that was a little difficult as I speak English, some Spanish, limited Malagasy and very little words of French and Hungarian. She only speaks French with an assorted few words of Malagasy.

I was up for the task and so was Sandi, with some sign language, charades, little bit of creativity and lots of repetition we were able to talk a little bit and by the time we sat down for lunch, lets just say that Sarah was feeling very comfortable. She was telling us about her two cats and one dog. She shared about her bracelets, two of which were religious. Sarah shared about her Mother and Father being divorced and even her favorite movies being anime action. Later she asked that if we were in her area if we would stop over so that we could meet her Father and see his dog as well.

I think that this was a great meeting and I look forward to getting to know Sarah and her family a bit more in the coming months as Sandi takes on this challenge.

Something familiar

So, last Sunday we were doing a little shopping after church in a local foreigner market when I noticed something so familiar, yet so strange to see here in Madagascar.

There in the refrigerated section I saw a familiar label! Something like a two liter bottle of Pepsi! YES! Pepsi, and it even gets better, it was not only Pepsi but Pepsi with a twist of Lemon! After reading the label, I even noticed that it was not made with corn syrup but the original Pepsi recipe with the twist of Lemon!

I know that it sounds silly, but when so much is new to me and I am learning not only a new language but how to make food items from scratch it is so nice to see something familiar, knowing that it will be a refreshing moment of comfort. Remembering something from the States, Enjoying it here in Madagascar!

By the way Sprite and Fanta have been here for years. This Fanta is pineapple and not quite as good as the citrus they had in years past.

YES, I am Rejoicing over Pepsi!

Game night with friends

Sometimes you need to unwind, laugh a little bit, let your hair down and just have silly fun. After a sort of stressful week of appointments and replacing the items that were fried in the electrical surge I could really use a break.

Tonight I was blessed with the opportunity to play games with 3 other women, missionaries in other specialty areas, living here in Antananarivo, Madagascar. It was good to get to know them, to share joys, needs, and victories! I am looking forward to getting to know these women more in the coming months.

Packing up again!

Since there are political things afoot this weekend Sandi and I are starting to pack up and get ready for the upcoming move in just about 8 days! She is working on that more than I am because she has been living in this house for about 2 years.

Thinking that tomorrow will be much of the same as we have been told to stay home. Maybe it will be a movie day?

I know that most of what I have will fit nicely back into the 5 suitcases that I came here with a couple of exceptions. I have bought a couple of items since I have arrived, and that is always fun!

We are so very excited! Looking forward to starting fresh in a new home and cleaning up what we have been living with so far.

Rejoicing over new purchase

Today both my roomie and I are rejoicing!

We traveled all around town trying to find area rugs for our new rooms and were finding great rugs at horrendous prices! I could not imagine paying over $500 american dollars for a rug that is about 200 x 260 meters... Roughly, 8 ft by 6 ft. Not a very great price.

Eventually we went to a store with the name of "Hollywood" - imagine that! I leave California, where "Hollywood" (the rich and famous live!) really is and behold here in Madagascar, I am able to find a great rug, at a much more economical price. Just a tad bit over $100. Would the people from the California, Hollywood shrug their shoulders at me or rejoice with me in the bargain I was able to find?

We are so blessed that one might say we could "cut a rug", or "do a happy dance" on the rug... For now they are leaning up against the living room wall, in an area ready for the move that happens in 9 days! We are so excited! Who is counting anyway?!

Not only did we accomplish this task but we went into this market area and were able to find genuine Malagasy items for great prices. (you do have to go to the market with a bit of caution because you end up swarmed by many people selling the same items, wanting you to purchase theirs not the others, and like today it often causes fights to break out)

We bought a large pot to make rice in, a couple of plastic buckets to wash our dishes in and even found a few traditional Malagasy games at wonderful prices. The people in the market are desperate to sell their items. One man begged us to purchase items so that he could feed his family. This is a good ploy normally but just looking at the lot of them I understand that to be true.

Praising God that I can afford these items and praying for those families! Not only may they find nourishment in the food our purchases afford them - but I am praying that I can start relationships with these people at the market... May they be blessed exceedingly, abundantly more than each of them could ever hope or dream of.

Tonight I taught Sandi one of those very games! Fanurana... It is a fun game and I look forward to teaching many of you when I am home in the states.

Mosquito nets

Who would have thought that simple nets to keep out all the tiny micro nuisances (mosquitoes) would cost more than three months of rent?

Well, officially today we were quoted over $1,480 to have 15 windows screened. Someone get me my cordless drill out of the container soon to arrive and set me in the right direction. Will I just have to do this myself!

Yet another right of passage here in Madagascar!

I will be sure to share pictures when these amazing works of art are complete!

Taxi bus into town

Today I took my first taxi bus ride into town alone. I was not really alone as there were about 36 people of all sizes squished together like sardines in a bus conditioned and meant to possibly only hold 20 small school children. I enjoyed the time to think, ponder, take in sights, sounds and smells.

The ride was long - over an hour and 20 minutes to go less than about 15 miles but it was an adventure! I am looking forward to the next one!

something so common but yet so different!

PIZZA...

Something so common in the States has made itself a different sort of common here in Madagascar. Did you know that there are many assorted Pizza joints around town here in the capital city, Antananarivo. You might be surprised at what you get though. I have ordered ones with eggs on them, olives too but you only get 4 full olives with the pits still included. The sardines on pizza in the states don't even compare to the rare items that we find on Pizza here. I have even seen green beans and carrots served up on pizza. If you can buy it at the market they possibly sell it on a pizza. :)

We went off to a friends home today for lunch and were greeted with home made PIZZA's. I should have taken pictures because they were so very good. Ground round, pinapple, ham, onions, and a few other things I did not identify. There were 6 of us adults talking and getting to know each other, three Malagasy's and three foreigners! Two married couples and two of us single gals. It was a great time of talking and eating, laughing and sharing!

The next time we are able to enjoy pizza I will make sure to take pictures and I must get the recipe from Wendy because it was so delicious. Praise the Lord for PIZZA.

Never know what a day will bring...

Today we were on our way to a friends house for lunch when something out of nowhere happened. Really every day things happen out of nowhere but this day stands out.

We were slowly passing by a stopped taxi bus when out of no where I saw this lady within seconds walk into our fender and then lay on the ground. I had been looking down to clasp a bracelet that I was going to wear so I was not fully aware of all the circumstances.

Within seconds after this happened Sandi stopped the car right where we were, got out and started looking for the woman. You could tell that Sandi was a bit startled but she kept her wits about her and kept asking "where is she?" A large crowd had already gathered, one man was trying to pick up the injured lady and many people were talking but I am still to new to understand fully what was going on. All I know is that there was a very large crowd gathering and they were all looking at us. I stayed in the car and just prayed for GOD to walk with us through this situation. Sandi found the woman and asked her if she was ok, she looked a little shaken up, clothes a little dirtied but over all there was not any blood and she could walk just fine. Then Sandi asked if we could take her to the Hospital, she agreed and we were off to the local Lutheran hospital.

I called the friends that we were on our way to meet up with and asked if the husband (since he is Malagasy and knows fluent English) could meet us there so that we would be able to understand what was going on around us and talk with the Lady, or even the doctors. We rolled up and were seen right away. After about an hour of being checked out she was given a pain prescription and a note for her to give to her work for Monday because she was not expected to work in so much pain. No broken or fractured bones (Praise the Lord!), just a broken cell phone which Sandi was also expected to pay for.

I am so glad that it was not worse for the lady, that she was overall ok and that we were able to get to a hospital, have a friend translate and be on our way. It was a strange way to start the day and yet we were so blessed and praising the Lord that it was not worse.

Electrical surge

Yesterday we were sitting in the office doing all sorts of important work on the computers, translating documents and getting ready to copy passports when we heard a loud electrical pop, then smelled something burning.

Come to find out some people that were cutting or trimming some trees locally cut through an electrical wire, the exact electrical wire that drapes to our home and our landlords home. So, for the next 3 or 4 hours we were out of electricity, but at a very high cost.

When things came back on we realized that the melted stench of wires we smelled hours before was from many electrical items in not only the office but in our home, melting down. The power cords to Sandi's phone, printer and our internet router box were all melted inside. So for the next couple of days we will really have to share and put our heads together to find new powercords right here in Madagascar. Today we were successful in finding a replacement to the powercord for our router, $30 american dollars for a cord. We had to laugh so this did not hurt us in the pocket! Someone might want to look into bringing a Radio Shack here to Madagascar - you could make a lot of dough and still charge less than what we had to purchase.

One of the benifits of living in a 3rd world country is: You never know what is gonna happen next!

Our new address is...

We will be moving into our new place on Saturday, October 26th, Lord willing.

The new address is:
Nicole Rauch or Sandi Horen
Lot ll A 14 Bis
VILLA Soa Iadanana
Antalamohitra Antekiroka 105
Ambohidratrimo, Madagascar

We would love to get letters, mail, prayer requests or special thoughtful packages. Please don't over do it. We just love to hear from you!

Most of the time the internet will be the best way of communication but you never know if you will be out of electricity for 24 hours or 2 hours. Count your blessings!

Love and hugs, Nicole

Trimming the Lawn

Here you will see our guard/gardener trimming the grass with large hedge clippers. You can hear the sound of scissors for hours while he trims the lawn.
I just read on a friends blog that they do the grass this way in Guatemala as well! Go figure!

I was talking with Fidy, our Guard and gardener, this week and he said that he was going to try to patch the empty places with grass that he

trimmed. He said "I am going to take the trimmings and plant them in the ground."

When I was talking with Sandi later, we realized that he is using the trimmings and going home and planting them one blade at a time. Anyone need some more patience in their life and want to plant grass, 1/2 a blade at a time?

Eating with a SPOON

The common utensil here in Madagascar is a large SPOON. You use this for everything. I am getting so used to it that today at lunch I even used it to cut my meat up.

I'm turning Malagasy, I'm turning Malagasy, I really think so.... (that was a song reference, lol)

A Package arrived

Yesterday a special surprise was waiting for me when I got up. There had been a notice dropped at our home letting us know that a package had arrived for ME! YES, for ME!

My good friend, Jenny P sent me some items and right in the nick of time. You see yesterday after what seemed to be a great lunch, I became very faint, so much so that I could not even walk in a straight line, the earth was spinning.

My roomie did what she could to get me home quickly, the guard let me lean on him to get down to our home and then I was on the couch, cold compress on my head, feet elevated - yet everything was still spinning!

Again my roomie, Sandi, called some friends and Tanya came over in a flash! She took my blood pressure and gave me some suggestions. After talking for a few minutes I felt a change and knew what was next. I no sooner asked someone to put my hair up and handed the rubberband than was kneeling over a bucket and getting rid of the toxins of lunch.

Later that nightYou see the caretaker of our home came over to check something out and said that I was intoxicated, or more that my stomach was. I am not sure how I feel about that but for now, I was to busy to care to explain the differences between food poisoning and intoxication.

So as you can imagine I was elated to be able to use the Tea's that came in the package. I just had to wait another 24 hours before enjoying some of the Lemon Lift, hand cream and other teas. Thanks again for taking such care of me, both remotely and locally. I am blessed with amazing friends!

I opted not to share pictures on this post, I am sure that many of you will appreciate there absence.

Fanourna Malagasy game

One day we were shopping at the city market (Anala Kelly) and I came across this large group all huddled together looking at the ground, they were all so quiet, some were talking to each other but most were concentrating on the ground. I ventured over to check things out.

There is this game, I have a nicely made tourist version, shown here. Baobab trees carved into the sides and even a little drawer to store the stones when they aren't in use.

The one that they were playing with though was a rougher version, chalked out on the ground. One oppionent used rocks and the other used mandrin peels.

I have learned this game, strategy like chess, simple movements like checkers and a whole lot of fun! I hope that you get to learn some time?

Guard dog

Before I moved here to Madagascar I shared a dog with my Mother and Step-father, that was really what one would think of when they saw a guard dog. ROC, A 117 pound Rottweiler, really looked frightening and had a ferocious bark but when you got up close and allowed him to sniff you the only reason that you would die is if you were allergic to dog spit because he wanted to just lick you all over.

Now that I am in Madagascar and NEED to have a guard dog... Well, I share one with Sandi. Bandit is about 3-4 pounds and is a cotton de tulear. A cotton ball that is having a bad hair day! This one is so small that it could ride on the top of my shoes and does when he wants to play

around. He is learning to bark at strangers but barks at us. Since he is a puppy I am sure that when he settles down he could be a great asset to us as far as a guard dog.

Here are some pictures of the two dogs... Which one do you think is Bandit and which one is Roc? Can you tell the difference?

Ready, Set, MOVE

The way to find a house around here is really word of mouth. So, Sandi, the other missionary that I live with, sent out notices on email to other missionaries that she has connected with over the last year and a half. Then when she was at church she told everyone that she talked with what the need was and all the sudden we started to receive phone calls from all over the place.

Malagasy people and missionaries spread the word like a wild fire. I think that it was GOD at work because we had been talking about moving for weeks, talking about what we needed to be able to grow into, something safe, with room to still house the office for WorldVenture and still have room for people traveling through, weather o

ther missionaries or short term workers.

With my container coming some time at the end of September or start of October we really needed to move into a place that we could both call home, that would have room to grow and become ours.

Saturday a missionary called and said she knew of a house for rent. We went with her to see two homes. One that we had seen previously, with many repairs to be done and MOLD growing out of the ceiling... then we came to another house... We stayed for a long time and asked all sorts of questions, and now we are scheduled to move in by the end of this month! The landlord is making some minor repairs, painting and staining where it is needed and will have it ready by September 15 to get the keys so that we can measure and make curtains.

Having decided to share a place will help both of us with expenses. We will take our current guard with us to the new home. He is doing a good job and we both like him, so we will take him and his wife with us to stay on the property. He will be our full time guard and she will help us around the house.

I have a feeling that they will both help me in my speaking of the Malagasy language as well! Since they don't speak a lick of English.