Merry Christmas... From Over the seas!

We Have been in Madagascar for just over two months and we are finally settling into our lakeside house. Our first visa was a tourist visa and runs out over Christmas, that is why we are having to leave Madagascar on tuesday 22nd December for a week at La Reunion. We have got a long term visa for when we return so we won't need to leave Madagascar again if we don't want to. Everything else is fully settled! We have a house, a car, and a visa.. Perfect!

About a week ago we put up our Christmas tree, and all it's decorations, we bought them from a massive shop called Jumbo, (if it were in England I don't think it would be known as as a massive shop) it had everything you need for a perfect Christmas and is probably my favourite shop in Madagascar!

Everyone is doing great in this small bunaglow by the lake. (Including Snowy who loves nothing more than rolling around in bunches of seeds and getting soaked in the dirty lake... Gross..)

I'm still carrying on with some tricky level 5-7 school work that mum and dad set up for me. Mum's a bit of a slavedriver.. Unlike dad who is a little more... relaxed (sorry mum). Anyway nothing could be better than living this lovely life, I'm thoroughly enjoying the hot sun and refreshing rains of Madagscar!

Madagascar 5 Weeks in.

So far, we have been in Madagascar for 5 weeks and we are already beginning to complete everything that is important to do, this includes things like getting a visa, having a car and renting a house. We have already chosen a house that is perfect for my family of four. As soon as we arrived at the the house to take a look, we all felt a rush of welcoming and homeliness, we knew this was the one.

The garden is probably 3 or 4 times the size of the house and has many places to explore and play fun games in the sun. There are little rooms outside where we hope to give people who need a home, somewhere to live. Nothing can be more perfect than this house that sits right by the calming lake where most of the prettiest birds chirp and sing in the high tree tops.

The car that we are interested in is a black 4 x 4 (we need a 4 x 4 because it copes with the tough roads with many holes and ditches in that we use to travel through Antananarivo) with 5 seat belts (seat belts are rare in this country... not to scare you) and is sparkling clean. The only problems are that it has a Belgian number plate which we would have to get fixed and when we checked inside the bonnet it looked slightly dodgy. We are going to phone an engineer to check if everything is alright and if it is somehow we are going to transfer the money to buy the car.

Already I have a lot of cool friends that are fun to play with if I ever get bored. It is always sunny and warm to play outside and it only rains sometimes at night or at the end of the day. When is does rain all you can hear is the rain pattering fiercely on the roof and the lightning zapping outside. 

We also have (kind of) adopted a little dog named Snowy. We estimate that she is around 2 or 3 years old because she hasn't grown out of her playful ways yet. As you can probably tell by her name her fur is white like snow... after we gave her a bath. Yesterday we plopped her into the bath and gave her a good old scrub, she came out sparkling white and scampered outside in the sun to dry off.

Madagascar is full of adventures which are fun to explore and I'm sure many more await me.

See you in the next post!

Bethany C:

  

Hi Guys,
My dad visited the local tip on Friday, where the very poor people try and survive. No one even had any shoes to wear. The team treated some of the children there for cuts and bruises and things because they have no medicines at all. My dad (along with his friend Robin) took some photos of some of the people he met and we've put them into a slide show film below.

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First Impressions - day 2

Day 2

The next day we went on a shopping trip. We thanked Wendy for an amazing breakfast and eagerly set off. A warm breeze flicked around in the air as we huffed up an almost vertical hill. Baby chickens ran around crazily on the dusty road, calling wildly to their mothers. People sitting in tiny stores waiting for customers stared at us and our white skin as we headed onward. A mum washing her children from just one pot of water. A blind old man in rags staggered down the street with pot holes, almost falling into the road. Children without shoes raced in between beeping cars.

We were only half way but already my legs were aching and I was burning hot. I felt ill with fever and I couldn't bare to walk any further. Mum handed me a bottle of water.

“You need to drink or you'll get dehydrated.” She urged.

I held the bottle to my lips and lifted it up carefully. The water trickled into my mouth sending a wave of refreshment through my body, I was ready to carry on the journey.

We finally made it to the shop. We grabbed a trolley and went ballistic, buying everything we would need for at least a week. No one else really had a trolley. They just carried small bags that could only fit in a days worth of food, they couldn't afford anything bigger. Guilt rushed into my heart. Why do we have to be the ones who are rich and don't need to worry that much about life?

We decided to take a taxi back to the flat. All the way I was thinking of back at home in England and of adverts on television about poor children that need help and money, but now they were in front of my very eyes. So we need to help them.

Madagascar First Impressions

Day 1

Stepping out of the airport into the fresh air of Madagascar was a sensation I'd never felt before. Although it was just coming out of winter, and the clouds where covering the sky, the climate was around twenty nine degrees. I gripped tightly onto mum's hand as the Malagasy people around me smiled cheerfully and called “Bonjour! Sava!” If that happened in England people would think you were slightly weird, but here is different, a smile can travel a long way, even to people you don't know.

We were greeted by a crowd of people who were speaking in a language I didn't understand and pointing at our bags. I looked at Dad, he was carrying a large red suitcase in his hands, following three other men who were heading towards a taxi. He was talking to a man pushing a trolley that had the rest of our luggage piled onto it. When we reached the taxi, dad thanked the man who helped him with his bags and handed him 10,000 ariary

(which is about two pounds in English money).

The man stared at him, his jaw wide open.

“M-merci!, merci! Merci!.” He mumbled in grateful shock.

I was confused.

“Why would you be surprised with two pounds as a tip mum?” I wondered as we climbed into the taxi.

I later learnt that people don't have very much money here and Daddy had given a tip worth two day's wages...equivalent to £200 in our country!

As we were driving to our flat, my mind was already racing. I couldn't understand why it was so poor, a day's wages was only one pound, and that was only for people who had jobs.

Outside the car was a dusty, bumpy road that ran through the town. The houses had feeble iron roofs and no windows so it was easy for robbers to get in. Chickens ran around calling loudly to passers by and plastic bags flew around in the wind. Children ran in the street with no shoes. Babies clung to their older sister's fingers. There were piles of rubbish everywhere.

Finally we arrived at our flat. It was probably the most modern place in the whole town. Two dogs ran up to us and sniffed us eagerly and barked in excitement. A lady named Wendy came up to us and offered to show us to our room. We padded up the steps and Wendy unlocked the door to our room... Our bedroom, lounge and kitchen - all in one space. We sunk onto the bed ready pretty tired by the trip and everything we had seen. We had arrived in Madagascar.

Week 2. From Hotel to Tamarin Bay Flat.

So far, we have been in Mauritius for a week. We spent the first week at the Veranda Hotel that was really luxurious. Madagascar is not going to be like that. It is very poor. But Mum and Dad are making it easy for me and Lydia to settle in, so that it is not too much of a shock changing countries. The place where we are going to live in Madagascar is not ready till October 11th, so we're staying in Mauritius till then. We have just moved from the hotel to a flat for this week and will stay in another flat next week too. The owners, here have 2 really cute dogs, that love to be hugged and love to play.They have an 11 year old daughter called  Alise who speaks good English. Most people out here speak French and English.

 Outside is a lovely garden with a swing and sand pit. The bad news is, that there are loads of ants and mosquitoes roaming around looking for breakfast and every night at least one frog manages to get in, looking for ants and mosquitoes. Yuk.

 I really like Mauritius. We have seen loads of different birds and geckos -amazing colours. Dolphins come into the bay here, every morning at 6am but we haven't seen any yet because we haven't got up early enough!

We still have to do 3 hours of home school every morning but I am getting through a lot of work and it is O.K. not as many hours as the Priory School! Mum and dad aren't too bad at teaching! I'll write some more next week. Bye for now!

Arrival In Mauritius

Hi Guys!

We have made it to Mauritius and we are having a holiday before we continue on to Madagascar in 3 weeks time. It was 11 hours on the aeroplane and I didn't get very much sleep. When I arrived the twittering of tropical birds was the first thing I heard and on the taxi ride to the hotel I saw a flock of giant fruit bats. 

Our room when we arrived was decorated with massive flowers, mainly in the colours of red and pink. The hotel we are staying in is complete luxury and there is a beach just around the corner with free snorkel trips on a glass bottom boat. When I first went snorkeling I was a little frightened of the many fish minding their own business around me but after a while I got used to them roaming around and I went off to explore the beautiful coral underneath me. We saw long nosed trumpeter fish, see slugs, and even a sea snake!!!

Every morning my parents home school me and Lydia, in fact this blog is part of a topic we are studying. Generally mum teaches me English and dad teaches me maths and Science. 

I am enjoying it here in Mauritius but I miss the rest of my friends and family loads. I try to Skype them every night but the internet connection here isn't the best, I can hear them but I can't see them and it takes forever to connect to websites like MyMaths.
Every afternoon I either swim in the pool or the crystal clear sea.
I will post some more soon when the internet is better but for now..
BYE BYE :-D
Beth

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Hi welcome to my website! 

Bethany here..... I have recently left my primary school, The Priory, in Christchurch to set off on an adventure to Madagascar with my family for a whole year! Eek I am a bit nervous but really looking forward to it. I am writing this web site so you can see what I am doing and keep in touch. Hey school mates, please leave your comments, I don't want to get lonely on my travels.