Call on Wed. Nov 25th

Got a surprise call from Corie on her own phone! Best part of that news is her new phone will work with her Solio solar charger that she used last time in Mad, and she is supposed to have reliable cell phone service in her new village! That was one of the conditions of PC site selection this time around...better and quicker communication with all PC volunteers. She called from Diego Suarez, her banking town (a 5 hour bike+bus trip from her village). She described Diego as a huge town with large hotels and lots of tourists. More white people than she's seen since in Tana, the capital. I've heard one of the hotels has a swim-up bar which I imagine Corie will discover at some point. There could be as many as 5 vols all banking in this town. PC has a house where they all stay on their 2-3 day trips to town. She hopes to get a PO box in Ambilobe, a large town only 2 hours by bike from her village, so she can get mail more frequently. She will be installed in her village, Ampotsehy, on Friday. She's very excited about her new village, yet a little nervous as well..new job, people, responsibilities. She managed to learn the new Malagasy dialect pretty well and thinks she will be able to understand them, but maybe it will take a little longer for them to understand her due to the dialect. She enjoyed her swearing in ceremony and the press and TV stations were covering it and had their pictures in the newspaper. The 14 retuning volunteers have been eating lots of American food while training and enjoying hot dogs, tacos and a great turkey dinner. Due to safety problems in other African countries, she said Madagascar could be gaining as many as 37 more volunteers. Guinea PC vols have already been evacuated and Niger might be next, so she might be called back to Tana soon to assist in training the new volunteers. She said they are all in Environment assignments, like her, which is why she might be needed to help. All her luggage arrived safely and she will be heading to her village with at least 60 pounds of toothbrushes, toothpaste, eyeglasses, books and art supplies! She thanks everybody who gave her these items! She said the Madagascar political situation is slowly evolving. The 4 current & former leaders are still trying to form a transitional government that will last until the elections are held in June, 2010. Things are moving very slowly on this front. The weather is hot and muggy. That's all for now!