A Day in the Life

Sorry it's been a while since the last post, but its taking a bit longer than expected to get internet at our house. That's just a part of life though, right? Speaking of parts of life -- there are a lot of things Kristen and I have been learning to live with our first few weeks here in Madagascar, and I wanted to share a few of them with you guys.

First off, no one speaks English. It's hot. Our families are 11,000 miles away. But we expected those things, and were relatively prepared for them. There are other things we expected, but had no idea how to prepare for them, though. For instance: how much harder it can be to do tasks that seem so simple in the states, such as cooking a meal. Almost everything is fresh from the market, and prepared from scratch. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it just takes a lot more planning than we're used to. It also helps to have a terrific cook for a wife (although I'm not too bad myself. This morning, I made the most fantastic hash browns I've ever had. We're talking better-than-waffle-house quality here, people).

Every westerner that we've talked to that has been living on the island has told us the same thing: nothing goes as expected in Madagascar. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's bad, and other times its just hilarious. For instance, as Kristen and I were walking through town the other day, we heard a loud "POP!" followed by everyone stopping and looking around. It turns out a transformer on a utility pole blew, and was smoking and sparking right across the street. That happens though, right? The first surprise was that the utility company had workers there in a bucket truck in about 15 minutes, which we have been told just doesn't happen. "How efficient," I thought to myself. I quickly changed my mind, though, when I saw the workers back the bucket truck up to the pole, and proceed to take a rickety old ladder out to get to the transformer.

Despite the challenges of adjusting to a new way of living life day to day, I can't help but praise God for the opportunity to live among the Malagasy people. Even though our main focus right now is language school (we won't move to our place of ministry for a few more months), I see people living without the hope of the Gospel, and am eager to join in the work that God is already doing here. Please pray that Kristen and I are able to learn the language quickly, and that we continue to settle in and adjust to the pace of island life.

Of course, there are some things that are not all that different from what we are used to. As we were driving down a major highway on the island a couple of weeks ago, we had to swerve around dozens of cows walking alongside the road. I know that's not a terribly common occurrence in the states, but if you're familiar with my home town in South Carolina, you know what I'm talking about. It's the little things that remind you of home...

Greetings from Madagascar!

Greetings from Madagascar!  Here is our first post that is actually written from the other side of the world.  And it's about time, considering the name of this blog is "A & K in Madagascar."  

First of all, our flight was fantastic.  We flew from Greenville to Charlotte, then on to New York, Johannesburg, and then Madagascar.  Our bags were checked all the way through, and we only almost missed one of the flights.  Not bad, right?

Kristen and I have been here a little over a week, but we certainly haven't been in one place.  When we first landed, we were in the capital city for a couple of days.  The name of the city is -- are you ready for it? -- Antananarivo.  Go ahead and take a minute to sound it out...

Ok, now that you've tried to pronounce it, let's agree to just refer to it as Tana.  We landed in Tana last Wednesday, and spent two days there.  We then traveled a few hours south to Antsirabe, which is where we will be studying the language.  We spent four days being shown around town and introduced to the culture, then headed right back to Tana for a few more days.  After this week, though, we will finally be able to settle into our house for a few months while we study the language.  

I am so excited to start learning the language, and it is encouraging to see the work that God is already doing here on the island.  Up to this point, however, we've mostly been spending time traveling and getting to know our teammates.  As Kristen and I begin to dive into language study next week, we'll keep you updated with all of the ridiculous mistakes we make as we begin to communicate with the locals.  Until we have some good stories, though, please pray that we would be able to settle in quickly, learn our way around the town, and that we would start off strong with language study.  Also, I hope you enjoy the pictures of lemurs here and on Facebook.  Don't try to hide it; I know that's really what you've been waiting for...