Recent Discoveries: The roof & motorbikes

It has been a good week here in Madagascar but nonetheless I am grateful for the weekend. Not too much is new on the job front -- just plugging along. My boss did come to my office today however and requested that he have my schedule for the next two months. It was at this moment that I thought, 'I don't even have my schedule for Monday let alone the next 60 days!' But, I didn't tell him that. I just took his request as my permission to put the spurs in some of my co-workers who are supposed to be sending me out to the field and finding things for me to do at the office. Ideally I would like to manage some part of the project but we'll see if that is possible, particularly due to the language barrier.

So onto my recent discoveries: the roof and motorbikes, completely unrelated subjects. My apartment is on the top floor of the office building and above me is an accessible rooftop. This is a multi-purpose rooftop: space for clothes lines and office satellite dishes; secret doors I have yet to discover where they lead and my kitchen-mate, Colin, uses the rooftop for his daily Yoga rituals. I personally use the rooftop for nightly conversations with God. It is a beautiful setting with the the Milky Way clearly visible aside from a few town lights dimming its brightness. By 8pm the town is relatively quiet, minus a few obnoxious mangy street dogs, when I venture up to the rooftop with my ipod, blanket, and prayer requests. It is on the rooftop where I am learning how to talk to God about anything and look forward to our nightly appointment. It is also here where I pray for my classmates each night scattered all over the world and I would kindly ask you to remember them as well, as we are all seeking to break down the barriers of injustice, bring hope to the hopeless, and love to a lost world. If there is anything you would like me to pray about, let me know. I will be on the rooftop nightly at 8pm.

Onto my next discovery -- motorbikes! When I went to the field this week one of my co-workers asked me about my hobbies. I proceeded to tell him some of the things I enjoy doing, including playing sports. He then went on to invite me to play basketball with some of them at 6am. I said I would consider it, which is the diplomatic way of refusing in Africa. On top of the fact that they were playing at 6AM, I haven't played basketball in 2 years and I wasn't sure what their definition of playing basketball was -- so I was hesitant to accept the invitation. After returning to the office another co-worker approached me and surprisingly asked, "you play basketball?" Word gets around quick! I was extended the invitation a second time and felt I should at least go once. So I did.

On my way to the court through the early morning fog I saw one of the distributors, Lola, I was with the previous day slow down on his motorbike and offered me a ride the rest of the way. Thanks to my good friend Adam, who provided the opportunity to ride a child's motorbike just a few months ago, I have never ridden an adult sized motorbike before so I wasn't too sure if I would like this experience. I held on for dear life and away we went. We reached the court where we proceeded to play quite civilized basketball, which was so much fun and plan on doing regularly now! While playing, I was reminded by my screaming lungs that I haven't exercised since coming to Africa and that I reside at over 5,000ft.

I received a ride back to my apartment and it was while we were weaving in-between trucks, push push (man-pulled carts), and cars in the early morning mist that I realized I was now hooked to riding motorbikes. And what made this first experience so much more amazing was that I did it in Madagascar while going to form relationships with my co-workers who I can't carry a conversation with past two sentences at 6 o'clock in the morning. I entered my apartment, after climbing five flights of un-even stairs, only to collapse for a few brief moments to rest my poorly conditioned respiratory system before beginning my 9hr work day, reflecting on my new-found love of motorbikes and deepened relationships with those I pass in the hall everyday.