Hey gang,

This is from the big red island of Madagascar.  It will be short as I don't have a lot of new news.... We are picking up the language more and more each day and we are growing to love it.  It is a very poetic language although there are at least a million syllables in each word.  We were supposed to visit our future home in Imorona last week but the cyclone has washed out all the roads. Apparently, the road is only accessible part of the year anyway. We are looking forward to seeing where we will live for 2 years.  We did get a whiff of the cloves though. |We will wake up to the smell of vanilla and cloves everyday. 

So, we eat a lot of rice here and sometimes there are small rocks in the rice. ONe of my crowns cracked on my back molar and I had to go to the dentist. that was no fun at all and it is not quite over yet. I have a temporary on now so hopefully by our next letter, it will be permanent.

Anyway, we are on a field trip now all week. We will plant and harvest rice this week and learn about solar cookstoves.  Tom helped prepare a chicken the other day that our Papa killed. He helped pluck feathers and clean out intestines. You know nothing goes to waste here. I hadn't eaten chicken in over 12 years and I know why. I just don't like chicken! The beef is good here though! We are really looking forward to cooking for ourselves in a month. We swear in as volunteers on May 2 and we'll head to our new home then.

Anyway, I don't have so much to say at the moment but just wanted to say hello to everyone and send our love.  Thinking of all of you all the time.

Lots of love,

Faith and Tom