On Wednesday, I came up to Antananarivo for two unpleasant errands: a trip to the dentist, and a face-to-face parley with the enemy, the GRE. The former was uneventful, though it is worth noting that the only Peace Corps-approved oral hygeinist is a missionary, and is accurately called "The Adventist Dentist." It's fun to say. He maintained an impressively long one-sided conversation while I sat there and nodded. But, no cavities!
This morning, on the other hand, wasn't so benign. I shouldn't be too negative, because I think I did just fine on the verbal and analytical sections. They really weren't bad at all, though the absence of 99.9% of the 600+ vocabulary words I've studied for months made me just a little irate. Thus obstreperous, obsequious, and opprobrium didn't make it, though I suppose building one's vocabulary can never be a bad thing. The writing sections, too, posed little problem. The "issue" topic was about governance, and I had quite a bit to say about it. I just pray that the grader is forgiving in regards to my handwriting.
The math section, I'm less confident about. There were a good 5-6 questions on topics that none of the 4 GRE prep books even begun to discuss, and I just couldn't seem to finish either part in time. I think the scores are going to rule out one or two schools, as they're more economics-oriented. What does the area of a circle inscribed in a square inscribed in a circle have to do with trade policy? I'm not totally sure, but the GRE must have my best interests in mind so I'll just trust that it's in infallible test of my intelligence and ability to succeed in my chosen field.
Either way, it's over and I have my life back. As I said to my friend afterwards, I feel like Inigo Montoya at the end of the Princess Bride. Now that the test is over (revenge of a father's murder, in his case), I don't know what to do with myself. Once I go back to site, it's back to studying French and German and slowly getting better at guitar. I have a small library of books to attack, as well, hoping to break the 150, or possibly 175, books-read mark before I leave in June/July.
Now, I travel back down Route Nationale 7 towards home, though I'm not going back to site until after November 4th. I don't think I'm allowed to express political views on a "Peace Corps" blog, but let's just say he's "mainty" and "tanora." Use this handy Malagasy decoder to find out who I support!
