2007 March 19--Toby's Funny Story

Hey,

Yeah, so it looks like I'm stuck at an internet cafe again. So I thought I'd give you a funny story. Earlier this week as we were walking, a kid, probably 11 or 12, ran up in front of me with a 9ft bamboo stick with a sharpened edge, and started lunging it at my face, coming within inches of my face. All the while he was shouting " Bonjour Vazaha! Bonjour VAZAHA!...." ( which is "Hey Nigger!" in Malagasy, we probably hear it shouted at us at least 30 times on average every single day, with varying degrees of animosity. But you kind of have to get used to it) Anyway, I wasn't really angry at the racial derogatory terms, rather, I was a little upset about the pointy stick being shoved in my face. * I don't have a dimple on one side of my face because I was born that way.

So, I grabbed the end of the stick, and very calmly asked the question, " te ho faty ianao angaha?" ( do you want to die?) . He seemed confused at first, probably because he was the one with the pointy stick pointed at my face, but then he looked at my face, and got scared, and then took off running( with the bamboo of course). I took off right after him. He ran in between some buildings and then dropped the stick, and then really took off. I picked up the stick, and returned triumphantly back to the path. It must have looked a bit odd for the onlookers,(there was quite a few) for them to see a white guy chase a kid/teenager with a 9ft stick and lose sight of them in the buildings, and then see the white guy return with the 9ft stick walking proudly, but no sign of the one he was chasing.

Anyway, I thought it was funny. And I was excited to tell a story about being chased by a native of Madagascar with a long, pointed bamboo stick. (OK, actually I chased him, but there was chasing involved). OK there's my story.

Have a nice day. Veloma!

Elder Draper