So I am here

So I made it! This is such an amazing place. I am staying in Fort Dauphan, which is in the south of the island. I have been living with a host family here. It is very suiting that I am living with lots of brothers and no sisters. I have a 16, 18 20 and a 22 year old brother. My mother is an absolute sweet heart, she had been very welcoming and such. My father is also great, he is the youth sports minister for the enitre reigon. The house is very modest, there are 4 rooms, a living/dining room, one room for parrents, one for me and the kids sleep in beds in the living room and storage / kitchen prep room.
Fort Dauphan has got to be one of the prettiest towns I have enver been to. There are mountains that pretty much go right to the ocean. The town is on a peninsula so there are lots of great beaches. There is supposed to be some amazing surfing here so I think I am going to try to learn, my host dad has a surf board that I can use. I have met plenty of locals that have offered to teach me. The town is pretty poor however, with garbage all over the place, lots of chickens, and tons of stray dogs. There is poor sanitization as well. Despite the problems most people are very friendly. Always smiling and saying hello.
Everyone in the group is amazing. The group dynamic is great, everyone is excited about being here, learning ecology and french, having new experiences and getting to know eachother.
Before we were in Fort Dauphan we spent a few days in Manatatelly, a village in the mountains. We lived at a farming comune and did orientation stuff. We are learning Malagasy, the local language, and french as well. We also learned local dance, song and cultural costoms. It has been really eye opening to be thrown into a culture that is so different than our own. For example they have a circular conception of time so being late is not rude. It is rude to remove yourself from a menaingful experience or encounter to make it somewhere on time. They also are very direct about personal observations like looks and apperance but very passive about talking about behavior. There is also a distict hierarchy of age. The older people are served first and get more respect. They are also very patriarchal.
Last saturday we climbed one of the mountains here. It was about a 2000 foot elevation gain with four different peeks. There were amazing views of the ocean and the other jungle covered mountains. At the same time it was sad to see how much forrest has been destroyed for fire wood, rice farmland and mining. There is a huge mining project that we visited today that is threatening to mine ilminite and destroy some forrest with the only surviving species of some plants and animals in the world.
I am having an absolute blast, keeping in shape by running on the beach and swimming in the ocean nearly every day. The weather is perfect, mid 70 and no rain. I am really looking forward to spening 4 more weeks here, and then continuing to travel around the country. We are going to be going on various field trips while we are here and then leaving to study in other parts of the country.
Oh yeah and I havent really gotten sick yet. YAY! If you want to reach me you can post on this blog, e-mail me at jbush@bowdoin.edu . I also bought a phone an it is free for me to receive texts of calls. Skype would be the easiest way to call my phone. My number is 032 576 0567 and I dont know the madagascar extension but you could find that pretty easily. there is a 8 hour ahead time difference from central time and I am free from 4:00 pm to 10:30 pm my time. I hope everyone is doing well and I will stay in touch. Maybe even post some video or pictures if I get the chance.

love to all, Jeff