Erin’s mom and dad talked to her for an hour on Saturday morning, March 3rd.  She’s doing well; she is very upbeat and has been adjusting to her new surroundings and very different lifestyle.  Her host family during training consists of a mom, dad, and 5 children, ages 4 through 15.  They have been wonderful to her and have helped her adjust to this extremely different lifestyle.  They provide meals and have done a great job showing her how to do things (like wash her clothes once a week in the lake).  She has her own room and the host family is adamant that she locks her room before she leaves each day, although she says she trusts them.  She takes a bucket shower in the back yard along with taking care of “other business” in a very rustic way.  She is fortunate to have a well nearby for water.   Each day she walks about 45 minutes to a central location for training. 

  They are mainly learning language and how to assimilate into the Malagasy culture.  They eat lots of rice (spaghetti once was a treat), they usually eat a late supper and then she tries to get to bed between 8:30 and 9.  She gets up at 5:45 each morning to get ready for her trek to the training site.  She will soon have a bicycle and on March 5th she was looking forward to a big excursion to a market. 

  She also will visit her permanent site in two weeks; it is12 miles from Diego Suarez (Antsiranana).  She will be the first Peace Corps volunteer to this area and it will also be the northernmost Peace Corps site.  It’s in a rainforest, Montaign d’ Ambre  Park (Amber Mountain National Park), which is being developed into more of a tourist area.  Its 45,000 acres with crater lakes and beautiful waterfalls.  An area has to request a volunteer for their region and then must provide the appropriate living facilities.  Erin will fly into Diego Suarez as it is quite a ways from any other major city.  She gets 3 business days a month when she can travel (fly) to other sites on the island.  It does have to pertain to her program and how it might benefit what she is trying to accomplish.  She also gets 2 vacation days a month which she can use or accumulate for later use. 

  She’ll appreciate letters, news and should have her own cell phone when she gets to her permanent site after May 1st.  Outgoing calls will be very expensive for her, so it will be necessary for us to call her.  Through Sage, a landline carrier it cost 65 cents a minute to call her at her training site.  You first get a worker who will ask you to call back in a certain amount of time ( 10 to 15 minutes) and then they take the phone to Erin.   She said one of  the hardest things to adjust to is the short doorways, she keeps hitting her head. J