New Address (and a little bit about my new site)

Observe the new address to the right -->
We are officially Peace Corps Volunteers now, no longer trainees. We had our swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday (I gave a speech in Malagasy!), and now we are scattering to the winds! I am in Tana right now, but we head out for our "installation" process as soon as I finish this and pack up. It will be one other girl, Jennifer, and I with Ursula, one of the LCFs (languag trainers). They send one of the LCFs because you have to do a bunch of courtesy visits to local authorities, so they send someone who can actually speak the language to facilitate.
 Also, once you get to site their job is to a) make sure the house is safe etc and b) introduce you to the community and remind everyone what Peace Corps is and what craziness they can expect from us (ie if you come knocking before 6am I won't be happy to see you). Then, if all goes according to plan, on May 9th I will be left at my site alone! It's going to be a big day.
About my site:
The previous volunteer at my site, Chris, is currently serving as a Peace Corps Response volunteer not too far from where I will be, and he is in-country for another month, so I think he will be a great resource for learning about the community. I talked to him on the phone about my house (which is not the house he lived in, but he has been checking on it for me). It is one large room of a two room house, with separate entrances. They rent the other side to students. My mind jumped to college students (who are the only ones in the US who live alone for school), and I was really surprised to hear this, seeing as how my impression was that it would be a small town with no university. Well, as it turns out, the students are not university students, but most likely middle school kids. Crazy! But I guess since many smaller villages only have a primary school, the children who want to continue have to go to a neighboring town and stay there.
There is a SED (Small Enterprise Development, or business) volunteer, Megan, who I think is either a long walk or a short bike ride from my house, so that will also be nice for settling in and not feeling too alone. I still am not clear on the details, like what exactly is my job, but the time is drawing near and soon I will be able to figure that out and report back on it (although probably still vaguely).
Everyone I have talked to says how beautiful the region is, so I'm hoping for the best. Sometime in July I should get a computer, so hopefully I can post pictures then. Of course, the first thing they say is not "oh it's beautiful there" but "oh Ambatondrazaka, there is a lot of rice there." I can't imagine what "a lot" of rice means, since it seems to me already that there is a lot of rice everywhere. But, I guess if all 20 million Malagasy eat rice, and piles of it, three times a day, then it has to come from somewhere other than the fields divided into hundreds of tiny squares, one per family. Unfortunately, after the rice and the beauty, the third thing mentioned is how bad the road is to get there. Bummer.
The first three months at site are supposed to be dedicated to the CDS (Community Diagnostic Survey) and not to any projects. The logic there is that in order to create a project that is appropriate, you should know a lot about your community before starting. Additionally, it will be helpful to have that time to learn Malagasy better. We can't travel far from our site for the first three months, aside from going to our banking town to get money, internet, some supplies etc. We are supposed to then have IST (In Service Training), but ours is delayed due to the next stage arriving at the training site at our 3 month marker. So, I think our IST will be in September or October.
I don't know for sure how often I will have internet, but I think in my banking town there should be internet cafes, so hopefully I'll be in touch somewhat. I did by a small solar panel and a charger for my phone, so I should have phone contact at all times (depending on reception).
I'm looking forward to having down time the first week (then I think it will get old), because we have been crazy busy at the training center. It's been fun and a really effective way to learn a language in a short time, but totally exhausting! Just like being in college dorms again, so when class is done, instead of relaxing or taking down time, we all hang out. Being sociable is fun but tiring.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me letters and packages! I'm sorry I've been slacking in responding to letters. Every time I sat down to write one in the evening, I would just fall asleep. Now I will have endless time, so I will become a good pen pal.

I'm out of time, so more later, and I'm sorry this is more factual and not that interesting, next time will be better.