Sunday 1 March 2015

Frustrations


We were told before coming here that after a few months of living in a new country, life often becomes difficult for a while, when the initial excitement of experiencing a new culture wears off. We haven't experienced the symptoms of culture shock that we were warned about but there have been difficulties and frustrations recently. We have shared some the positive aspects of living in Tana and good times that we've had here so it's only right to tell you about the things that aren't so great!

Enjoying rainy Madagascar

We live in a northern suburb of Tana, with decent-sized supermarkets,a big outdoor market, swimming pools, an excellent English-speaking church and the airport all within ten minutes of relatively fast-moving traffic (most of the time). This means that we don't need to venture into the city centre, where the roads are completely unsuitable for the number of vehicles that use them. With all the rain in the last few months, many of the roads are now full of potholes. In some places they span the width of the road so even areas where the traffic used to be OK are now gridlocked. Some drivers will crawl over them or weave around them, while others take advantage of the lack of rules on the road by using pavements, going through petrol stations or simply driving down the lane of on-coming traffic! Anything goes here and it's every driver for themselves so it is mayhem on the roads in Tana.

Oncoming traffic 

The first few times of crawling through Tana, doing 10km in 2 hours, is fine as it gives you the opportunity to take in the new sights around you and watch children entertain themselves with a tin can at the side of the road. Now, though, the idea of sitting in Tana traffic and having yet another policeman stop us for half an hour, demanding things that we cannot provide is just too frustrating to go out on a day trip. Unfortunately, most places worth visiting here involve driving through the city so we just end up staying at home. Living in a third world country, there aren't the opportunities that are available in England so we do miss being able to take Bethan to a children's playgroup (although she does go to her friends' houses every week), or to a museum or the zoo for example. Compared to our lifestyle in England, we do feel a bit isolated here with just a few possible activities to do out of the house each week. However, we have everything we need and we are fortunate to be able to enjoy the warm weather, swimming pools and to be part of the missionary community that live near us.

Watch out for potholes!

Becki has been going to Malagasy and French lessons most days for the last month and outside of those lessons, she has been at home (locked in the guest bedroom) with her notes and the computer, as she uses this time to improve both languages. In case you hadn't heard, the smaller MAF aircraft (which Becki flies) had its engine removed and sent to France for investigation after an oil pressure problem developed in December. The lessons have been beneficial and her Malagasy has come on impressively quickly. Unfortunately her tutor only works alternate months so these lessons will stop at the end of February. While it is definitely a good use of this time, when there isn't much that she can do at work, it has been frustrating that Becki hasn't been able to do what we came here to do. It is probably made more difficult as it came after a busy period in November and December when she was flying every day and getting a great deal of satisfaction from her work. Hopefully March will see the return of the engine and Becki will be able to see the benefit of having this enforced time on the ground by being able to talk more confidently with passengers. Speaking Malagasy is important for her as many outside of Tana don't speak French.

Bethan "helping" Becki learn Malagasy words

This weekend we were given the keys to our new house. We are moving just up the road to a house that is nearly identical to our current one inside but with a smaller garden that needs a lot of work. Living in another family's house made it easy when we first arrived as we didn't need to find furniture and just kept on the staff that work in the house but we have been looking forward to having our own home for a while now. It will be strange for us (especially Bethan) to be in another house and it will no doubt take time to make it feel like home.

New house on the same compound 
Front garden 

The weather has been unusual for the last 2 months. We were told that it is usually very hot at this time of year with rain showers in the afternoon, except when there are cyclones around, when its more cloudy, However, since Christmas its been very cloudy and extremely wet. Tana is very flooded at the moment and thousands of people have been affected.

Rain, Rain and more rain

Over 16,000 people displaced from their homes

Finally, we really enjoyed having Philip and Antonia visit us for a few days last week and are very excited about our friend Ruth coming to stay in May. We are also starting to look ahead to July/August when we will be back in England on furlough to visit our supporters.