September 1, 2006
Antananarivo, Madagascar
The roller coaster continues.
Last I wrote we were waiting on word from Chicago as to whether they would accept the final offer from our landlord for the house we wanted. Word came back that we could pay that much. Good news. We figured we could sign the contract and move in.
At 9:00 Tuesday morning, Doug, the Chair of the mission, and two mission workers were scheduled to sign the contract with the landlord and figured it would be done by 9:30. They came back after noon with no signed contract. The landlord wanted us to write two contracts; one the real one and one a phony for the government showing a much lower amount in order to pay less taxes. Doug refused. He said we need to do this legally or we just can't rent from them. After much negotiating it looked like they might have worked out an agreement, but then there was a question of paying them a price set in Euros. More discussion. Finally the discussion was tabled until later since other things had been scheduled.
That afternoon I went to the airport to pick up our friend from Diego (Anita) and her two girls. They are also moving to Tana and had planned to have Mamifeno drive the car down while the rest flew. They had been taking care of our dog, Fred, since the Danish missionaries suddenly left the country in July. Fred came with the checked luggage in a cage Doug had rented. We had hoped the house would be ready and we could bring Fred directly there but with no contract, we had to bring Fred to a kennel. It was dark by the time we dropped him off at the kennel. Anita had made arrangements to stay with someone from their denomination (whom she didn't know personally) but it was a long ways away, out in the country, and water and electricity were uncertain there. I just couldn't drop her off with two little girls in a place where she would certainly be miserable. I called Doug to ask him to check if they could stay in the guest house in the mission compound. We did bring them back to stay with us and they ended up staying three nights.
In the meantime, an American couple had come over the weekend to visit their companion synod in the south and work on possible connections with Manna for Madagascar. It meant I had several meetings and visits with them. It was wonderful and it looks like there are great possibilities for working together.
And it meant for a crazy, busy time. Running around to meet and plan. Coming home to a house full of company. Trying to get boys established in school without access to the things they needed which are all packed away. More negotiations on the house. Starting with a new houseworker and no time to help her establish a schedule or patterns.
Every day for several days we fully expected that by the end of the day we would have a contract. Finally on Thursday we decided to try to look for other options. Doug set up a meeting with someone who might have other possibilities on Friday morning. Then in spite of all the challenges and questions, the contract DID work out that day! The landlord had just received three requests to rent the house. One even said he would pay him more than we did. On the spot! But the landlord said, "No, we have who we want. The house is not available." They had stuck with us because they wanted Christians living there. Even though it meant we would not do like all their former tenants who had agreed to two contracts. They still felt strongly that they wanted us there. So we have a house!
Friday afternoon everything that had been stored in a container (for sea travel) was loaded on to two trucks and delivered to the house. Doug oversaw that while I worked on Manna things and tried to get some things ready for moving over there. We decided though to sleep that night still in the guest house. It was also Doug's birthday so I quickly through together the one cake mix I had brought back. For the past week it had not been certain how or where or with whom we would celebrate his birthday. Plans kept changing by the hour. That continued throughout the day Friday until we finally resolved we would have supper in the guest house with the American couple and have birthday cake afterwards. It wasn't much of a celebration, but Doug didn't seem to mind. "We already celebrated in America," he said.
Saturday I went to Antsirabe to introduce the American couple to the embroidery center run by Fanja. We drove down together in a van they had rented for their trip to Tulear. Lova and I came back by taxibrousse that night. We were seated in the back where I was so boxed in I felt I wouldn't budge if there was an accident, even though there were no seatbelts. I could rest my arms on the seat in front of me without even leaning forward. My feet had pretty much nowhere to go. I'm sure the man seated in front of me could feel my knees pressing through the seat from behind. I found myself wondering during that three+ hour trip, "What would happen to a body part that 'fell asleep' and you couldn't move it around to 'wake it up.'" Fortunately I still don't know because it didn't happen. It made me wonder though about people who take these taxibrousses to travel for 30 hours or so. Many travel this way during the night and sleep in such crowded conditions. That's beyond my comprehension!
While I was playing tour guide for the day, Doug was trying to take care of many more details regarding the house. Guards to hire, getting Fred from the kennel, etc. etc. Ben and Jeremiah were very happy to see Fred again and it sounds like Fred was equally as excited to see them too. We still slept in the guest house that night as there had been no time to set up beds, etc. That was the plan for Sunday.
Sunday morning we went to church at the English chapel where they had Sunday School for the first time since vacation break. We have not resolved what to do about Sunday morning worship since it would be great for the boys to have Sunday School regularly (wasn't possible in English for the last four years) but we also feel an obligation to visit Malagasy churches. We're still not sure how to resolve this one.
After church we started packing all the essentials we'd unpacked at the guest house; clothes, food, etc. to bring along to our new home in order to really live there now. We loaded the car as much as we could, even though there was still a lot left behind to bring on future trips. We left the computer behind because we still don't have a phone line working at the house. That might take a few days before it is working.
We arrived to a house loaded with boxes as well as furniture wrapped up in straw mats. All furniture had to be wrapped for the trip so it meant cutting the twine that had held it on. Everything was filthy from the dusty road so everything had/has to be cleaned. Doug worked on setting up beds while I started digging through boxes to find sheets for them. We also pulled off the wrapping around the fridge, only to discover that it had been locked (fridges here have locks and keys so fridges can be kept locked) and we didn't know where the key was. So we couldn't put anything in the fridge. The house has a stove/oven that we can use but we hadn't gotten a bottle of gas yet so couldn't cook anything. We still didn't have a lot of furniture that had been stored in the guest house for reupholstering so didn't have any chairs to sit on. We sat on the floor to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for supper. Ben and Jeremiah had a great time playing with Fred until it got dark and we had to call them in to get to bed.
It wasn't a great night of sleep but that's not surprising being the first night in a new place. There is still much to do to feel settled. We still don't have mosquito nets up. There are no clotheslines (we have no dryer), three rooms need light fixtures put in, etc. etc. All of this takes time. Unfortunately Doug has to leave for Diego tomorrow so many of these things will not get done before he goes. He was only planning to be gone for two weeks but then an important meeting was scheduled up there a week later so it didn't make sense for him to do the two day drive home only to turn around and go back. It means the boys and I will be without a car for that time.
Fortunately the school is about a 10 minute walk away (more with Jeremiah along though) so we can walk it. We discovered yesterday on our first morning in the house that we may HAVE to walk it. Between our house and the American school is a French school that sits on a narrow street that dead ends at the end, with no parking spaces and no place for cars to turn around. There are no side streets going off that street to even have a different way out. We had intended to drive the boys to school yesterday morning and set out about 15 minutes before school started. Just out of the gate though we hit a major traffic jam with cars absolutley stopped. After several minutes of going nowhere we decided it would be much faster to walk. The boys and I hopped out and walked. 20 minutes later Doug finally got through in the car. So that was our quick orientation to the most problematic feature of that house. For close to an hour in the morning and the same at night it looks like the road is impassable! Since there is no city planning that would prevent a school from setting up in a location like that, anyone can start a school anywhere, no matter what it does to local traffic. The worst news is that there is another school right next to our house; a preschool, which has not even started yet. When that one starts I'm afraid it will be even worse. I'm not sure we would've taken that house had we known this reality but now we've signed for a year minimum so we're going to have to deal with it!
Last night we had another scare when Jeremiah started screaming while washing his hands. Being the curious boy that he is, he had decided to touch the mirror right beside the sink. The mirror has no covering over the sharp edges so he cut a big gash in his right index finger. Doug was not there at the time so I had to figure out what to do with no car. I hoped the bleeding would subside but when it didn't on its own, I asked the guards to get a taxi. I realized then that I didn't even know what hospital to go to. I sent one guard out to ask other neighborhood guards about a good hospital nearby. He came back and reported that a Malagasy doctor lived across the street and would receive people at that hour. I questioned whether we should go. Finally I resolved we should and we walked over. He didn't think Jeremiah needed stiches, but prescribed an antibiotic to prevent infection. Never a dull moment!!
Today we will go shopping and try to stock up on supplies, to cut down on shopping I have to do while Doug is away. There are also many things we need to get just to get settled in. The list of things to do is also long so I better stop. We are at the guest house right now and need to load the last of our things into the car so that I won't have to try to get these things after I have no car. That means I will not be able to come back here and check email so won't have email until the phone is working in our house. That might be only two days or it might be two weeks. So don't worry if you don't hear for awhile.
The boys seem to be doing well in school even though Ben is still grieving the change from Diego and French school.
Blessings to all,
Monica and all