I made it through the day today without intruding on anyone, so that was an improvement from yesterday! Today was about as eventful as a Monday can be. I finally had a decent night of sleep last night! Hall-e-leujah (said in my BEST oklahoma accent)!
We found out that after running around for several days getting paperwork in line for my visa, that now Stephen must reapply for another few years. This means easily another week of running around to governmental offices, avoiding paying bribes, making sure we write in BLUE pens only, and waiting for approval. We’re super thankful another missionary has helped us through this process and that MAF (missions aviation fellowship) is handling our final application stage.
While driving 2 hours round trip for groceries today, I got to stop in a really nice coffee and tea place. Apparently there is nothing like it in Madagascar. There aren’t exactly Starbucks’ on every corner here. Or ANY corner for that matter. I got some freshly ground Arabica Madagascar coffee that smells HEAVENLY for about $2! That’s how much a SHORT black coffee at Starbucks is my friend :) I also found what I’m hoping is REAL cream today. The country mainly has imported UHT milk and this coffee snob doesn’t like it in her coffee. That AND my body is not a fan of it. SO that being said, I’m hoping that a few good cups of coffee are in my future.
When we were in the grocery store, the SAME song was on repeat the entire time. It finally got on both of our nerves. That and our cart that didn’t push well and reading and decoding all the labels on products! At least I’m learning food vocabulary words ;-) As we were checking out, the manager accused us of stealing water. We’d traveled with our own bottles (1.5 Liters) and Stephen had left his in the cart that we were planning on pushing out to the parking lot. I of course explained in English and got weird stares from her and the cashier. I wanted to be like—look at my PAID groceries with a 6pack of water all packaged. If I wanted to steal water, I wouldn’t be spending money on more water. So here we are—your criminal missionaries! Paid for water and all;)
On our drive home tonight, we witnessed something really bizarre. While being directly behind a diplomatic vehicle in bumper bumper traffic, a prostitute approached the car and tried opening both of his doors! Stephen and I were like…?!!! WOAH! What?! This is why you keep your doors locked my friends ;) It’s not as easy as it sounds because we don’t have automatic locks so you have to check them all the time. I’ve seen beggars and street vendors, but nothing as bold as that!
I’m sure my Monday was as eventful as your is/will be! :) Hamanakara as they say in Malagasy or “see you soon”!