This is a random list of things that I either learned in Madagascar or things that I already knew, but were reinforced. Life is hard and the Malagasy are survivors Madagascar is a poor country with very little social safety net and everybody works very hard to survive. For example: If hard work always translated to success, Madagascar would be way more successful than the…
Madagascar has very unique flora and fauna. My main goal in Madagascar was to have lemurs jump on me, whereas Amie’s goal was got see a giraffe necked weevil (a small weevil with a very long neck). Our local guide said that they were rare. On 12/4/2024 as we were checking out of our cabin at the Vakona Forest Lodge, a porter showed us another…
Madagascar is the only place on earth where lemurs live naturally. While you can find many lemurs in zoos, some types of lemurs cannot survive in captivity. Also, it is way more fun to see the lemurs live their best lives in their natural habitat. Day 2 in Madagascar (12/03/2024) was all about seeing lemurs. After a fantastic breakfast at the lodge, we met Charlie…
12/2/2024 was our first full day in Madagascar. We arrived late last night after a long flight with a short layover in Paris. My first impression while landing was that I did not see very many lights and figured that it must have been due to cloud cover, but that was not the case – it turns out that Antananarivo has frequent power outages. After…
My wife was raised with the belief that travel was primarily for visiting family, and as a result we’ve done very little recreational travel. In 2022 our close friends invited us to their wedding in India and we decided that life was too short not to (we also knew that this was the perfect excuse for us to make such a trip). It was our…
I know that this review is super timely and relevant given that the show ended over 11 years ago and most of the world has probably already watched the entire series twice. My wife and I tried to watch it a few times, but by the 3rd episode it was so dark that my wife couldn’t watch anymore. So this has always been a show…
The United States has no formal religion and is not a “Christian Nation,” (with the constitution specifying that the government cannot force a specific religion), but clearly Christianity is the religion with the most political power. Despite Christianity having the most power, many Christians feel that they are being persecuted. Clearly there are many Christians that are persecuted in the Middle East and in other…
The Bible has a lot of epic stories, that seem very improbable. For example: The story of Noah seems a little unlikely. The parting of the Red Sea makes for a cool movie, but also seems a bit improbable. The story of Jonah sounds a little like a fish story. Did the Nile really turn into blood? And what about Balaam’s talking donkey? The bible…
Sunday Morning Shared Breakfast at the First Methodist Church I don’t recall exactly how we became involved with the Sunday morning shared breakfast at the First Methodist Church (also called First Church as it was literally the first church in Seattle), but my wife learned about it online in late 2017 and we volunteered several times. In 2021 we became involved again, and it has…
This is where things get hard, because as I mentioned before – people are homeless for different reasons and there is no magic bullet that helps everybody get back on their feet. Their needs range from immediate (e.g. eating, etc.) to long term (e.g. housing, etc.). The good news is that their needs are so diverse that there’s a really good chance that you can…
