Holidays and Lychees

It's been a while, yeah I know. I hope everyone is doing great and is in the holiday spirit. I'm doing great here on the Mad Island.

Our regional volunteer meeting was held in Tamatave at the beginning of November. It was great to see all the other volunteers from my region as well as those from other regions who came to VAC crash. After the meeting, it was back to site until Thanksgiving, where I worked with a farmer/one of my good friends in my town to get his rice fields ready for planting. Since the people in my village don't have agricultural machinery (tractors, plows, tillers, etc.) or livestock (cows) to work the fields, everything is done by hand and foot. Plowing is done with oversized hoes. And in order to get the field ready for planting, water is run through it and the soil is stomped (with man feet) into a mud that can be planted. Haha this is not easily done! But we did it and, just this past week, got all of our plots planted using improved techniques. The improved techniques will continue to be implemented all the way till harvest time, likely in April or May. Google "SRI" if you'd like to get more information on the improved rice techniques us Agriculture volunteers are teaching in Madagascar.

Two weeks ago was Thanksgiving and it was real hard to be away from home, family, and friends for the first time ever. Missed everyone! But I had a great time traveling around the Mananjary and Fianarantsoa areas of the island. Mananjary was fantastically hot and FULL of lychees. I'd never had a lychee before (and I guarantee most folks in the states haven't either). They're a red-skinned fruit with clear/white meat on the inside and an oblong brown seed in the middle. The skin peels off very easily to reveal the most delicious fruit I have ever put in my mouth. Didn't think it got better than watermelon, but it does. I had just arrived in Mananjary on the a taxibrousse, was walking the streets towards where another volunteer's office is, and saw the fruit stands full of them. I bought a plastic bag full for 100 ariary (about 5 cents). I haven't exactly stopped eating these little red fruits of heaven for about 3 weeks now. Makes me sad to think they will be out of season soon and I will have to wait another year before I get to have them again. Also great to see some other volunteers from my stage down in their area (Nick, Anne, and Monica).
Fianarantsoa was also great for Thanksgiving. There were lychees there, too. I killed and cooked the Thanksgiving turkey but much thanks must be given to our Malagasy friends who helped to gut and clean the bird. He was a scrawny fellow but he came out delicious and everybody got to have some. We had about 30 PCVs eating Thanksgiving dinner together so it's great to have our own little family get-together down here.

After Thanksgiving, it's been back to site and back to work time. Rice fields are planted and all that remains are the weeding and water control methods that we'll get implemented. Tomorrow, I've got a meeting with my VOI organization that I've called to start getting things order for a cow raising project that I'm putting together. We're wanting to get a few cows bought for manure sale and use, milk production, and general farm labor. Keep your eyes and ears out for this project to hit the web in the coming months so that you can help fund it! Wouldn't that be cool?!?!

Christmas is upon us. Well, it's upon you folks in the Western world. Here, there is no such sign that the holiday season even exists. I do miss that. And the cold weather of winter. But, as for Thanksgiving, I'll also be traveling around the island a little bit. Hopefully gonna hit the northern most tip of the island with a bunch of other volunteers. Beach for Christmas in Madagascar? I think I'll take it, folks.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!
Merry Christmas! (or Hanukkah) (or whatever you choose to celebrate)
And a Happy New Year!

James

Just another post

Not a whole lot to report to you folks back home since the last post. Things have been fairly calm on this side of the world. I got a few things planted in my garden that I've got going at my house, thanks Mom! Kale and spinach are already showing up. I did have to get some manure for my yard cause the red clay that is Madagascar just wouldn't have done well. So I went down the hill about 2 kilometers to where I knew some folks had some cows and asked them if I could buy some manure off of them. They let me have as much as I wanted and wouldn't let me pay them cause they said I taught their kids English. But I did buy 2 kilos of rice and a Coca-Cola (not the liquor he wanted, though) for the guy who helped me push the cart the 2 kilometers back up the hill to my house.

I ran out of Sur-Eau (the chlorine stuff I put in my drinking water) the other day and had to ride my bike 8km up the highway to Andasibe. When I say up, I mean Blue Ridge Parkway straight up climbing. It wasn't too easy but I got it done. The fun part was coming back down the RN2, 8 km of downhill flying fun! Yes, it was awesome and I will be doing a lot more of that.

I got visited by several other Peace Corps high-ups this week. It was great to have Leif Davenport, our Programs and Training Director, as well as Kelly Dailey, the desk officer in Washington who you guys in the States will talk to if ever emergencies arise here on the island. Let's hope you never here her voice or get an email. There was some other guy named Aaron, who does some kind of security something with the Embassy, who visited as well. They checked out all that's going with my house and my site and work and all. Great to have them come visit. Now, I love my site and I know that I lucked out with my placement here but you know it's true when Leif says my site makes him want to be a volunteer again. Damn skippy.

The same morning that I was visited by all those important Peace Corps and Embassy folks, some guy from my town came running to my house saying something about taking a picture of something that had just gotten shot. So I didn't know what dead thing I was about to take a picture. At one of the houses in my town, a crowd had gathered around whatever was lying on the ground. I didn't know what it was about to find laying there that people were gawking over. When I got close enough to see hat it, I saw a four legged, pot-bellied, coarse-haired, tusked wild-boar. I didn't even know we had wild boars in Madagascar! Three men from Moramanga (the Commissioner of the Gendarmerie Brigade, the Director of Public Works, and the owner of the Bezanozano Hotel) had been hunting near my site and had killed it that morning with a shotgun. All three of these gentlemen were carrying shotguns, 2 semi-automatics and single-shot break action. So I got some pictures of the beast and these Malagasy good ole boys with there shotguns. They even let me check out the shotguns! Things got interesting when one of the guys offered me a shell to put in the gun and said I could fire it off if I wanted to. I was very hesitant at first (I am a Peace Corps volunteer.....) but after he told me that he was the Commissioner of the Gendarmerie Brigade, I figured "What the hell." So I threw the shell in the magazine, loaded it into the chamber, pointed the gun away form town and into the sky and did what very few Peace Corps volunteers, I believe, have ever done. #thispeacecorpslife.

Next week, I will be crashing the Highland Regional all-vol meeting for fun in the capitol with, guess what, LASER TAG! That's right, it is here on this island. After that, it's back to the beach of Foulpointe where MY region will be having our all-vol meeting, with plenty of folks crashing it as well. But today, I'll be hosting guests at my house for the first time ever in Mada. Last time I was in Tana, I met a PCV from Malawai who was vacationing in Mada with a friend and I told them they were welcome to come to my site and stay and check out the forest. And they took me up on it! Gonna be fun. What to make for dinner? Oh I know, RICE. Welcome to MADAGASCAR!

Take care Stateside folks.
Madafolks, let's hang soon.
Go VOLS! (ehhhh)
Much love,

James

PS: If you're from North Carolina, have lived in North Carolina, been to North Carolina, want to go North Carolina, don't want to go to North Carolina, then you should definitely read Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. I loved it.

Along for the ride

The Peace Corps experience, as I was told before I came to Madagascar and as I have found in my seven months here, is a roller coaster. I remember a year ago for my mom's birthday and we went to Carowinds in Charlotte to ride roller coasters. The Intimidator was, by far, the most awesome ride I've ever been on. We rode it probably eight times that day. Now, serving in Madagascar is intimidating, but it ain't the Intimidator. Just as awesome, but in completely different ways. There ups and downs that you sometimes don't even know which is up or down.

About two weeks ago, I intended a "miaramatory" which literally translates as "sleep together". I know, sounds like a fun little kids sleep over party, right? Not quite. A friend of mine who volunteers with the Forest Police, Dolimo, had a son die of a cold. A year and half year old kid. Probably one of the saddest things I've ever experienced. I'm no stranger to death and the sadness that follows it, but never with such a young life lost. Now, a miaramatory may be similar to what we call a "wake" in English. The night after the child had died, all community members who feel compelled to attend, go to the family's house for the entire night to keep the family company. The body is placed in the main room of the house and a "lamba", a Malagasy traditional cloth, is placed over the body, with candles surrounding it. Food is served (rice and laoka, of course). Taoka gasy (malagasy moonshine) is also served and brought by many who attend. People play cards and dominos all through the night. Food and alcohol is also continuously served.  It is traditional for people to stay the entire night but it is not expected. Imagine in the States, the day after you've lost a child, the entire community comes to your house for the whole night to have party with you. Strange. But strangely very cool, too. My friend, Dolimo, that night told me he didn't expect me to come because he thought I was just a vazaha who was just visiting Madagascar. I realized very quickly after getting to this island that I am not just visiting here. It really set in one day during language class one day way back during training when I learned to say "I live here in Madagascar" in Malagasy. But after attending the miaramatory, as sad as it was, it was amazing to see people take such a sad situation and use it to be able to bring the community together in a very strong way. Even allowing the American to participate and attend. Thanks Madagascar.

Two Saturdays ago, a meeting was held at the Maromizaha Center, out in the middle of our forest center with all of the high ups of my partner organizations. I was stoked to meet and get to talk to them about projects and stuff! But all we did was watch movies about the environment in Madagascar (you know, the BBC specials). But really? We all have the opportunity to get together, high ups and people working on the ground, and talk about our work together and, we do what?, watch movies? Come on. Either way, it was cool meet the high ups and stuff.

My friends Jody and Alistair left last week as well. They were in the forest for about 3 months doing research on baby lemurs. It was very sad to see them go! But they went out with a bang. During their last week in the forest, they hosted 12 American students doing a study abroad here in Madagascar and introduced them to the amazing forest and life that is here in Madagascar. It was great to see people as thrilled at hearing the indris for the first time as I was when I first heard them. Their last night in the forest, I and a Gasy friend brought a bunch of beer out to the forest and we had a little farewell party. Great fun with air guitar, Journey, Tenacious D, Guns'n'Roses, and many more. Upon leaving, Jody and Alistair donated many prints of pictures they had taken of the lemurs in the forest for my plan to start and interpretive center in my house. They also gave me tons of education materials that I can use with English and environmental science classes that I've gotten started. Thanks again to two folks who get it and have their hearts in the right places. I'll miss you guys! Please check out The Zaza Project, which is led by Jody and Alistair and pays for academically excelling children in my community to go to school. Also check out their blog for some cool videos of the Maromizaha Forest.

This week, I got my butt handed to me as well. I told one of my good friends in my town, Tahiry, that I wanted to learn the Malagasy method of farming rice. I figured it'd be a good idea to get out in the fields and work with the people a little bit before I try to introduce them to improved methods. Here's what I learned: the agricultural revolution that occurred during the 1800s in the West has yet to make it to this island in the Pacific Ocean. The work that a discing tractor does today is still done by hand here. And lemme tell ya, I will never again look at the farms the same way in the States. Using a tool called a "piosy" (basically a large hoe with a spade-shaped head), we plowed a plot measuring maybe 35ft by 15ft, during an hour and a half. And I was done. Very done. The respect I have the for the Malagasy farmer just keeps getting higher. Hopefully, we can get some methods going that will help them get more fruit from their labor.

On Tuesday this week, an Italian NGO called BIRD (Biodiversity Integration and Rural Development) visited my site. They came with school supplies, backpacks, shirts, hats, donated clothes, and a little bit of funding for the school garden and orchard. Much thanks!! The group's leader was, however, curious about what had happened to 50 solar ovens the organization had given the previous year. I told him I hadn't seen anyone using them at all (also, I was wondering how effective a solar oven might be in rainforest country). A later found out most folks are using them for rice storage in their houses, a much better use for a solar oven in my region. This left me wondering about approaches to development that many organizations and government branches take. I'm glad I'm a part of the approach that allows the "help" to get to know the people, their problems, and their strengths before implementing a project or investing money into a project that, without proper knowledge of the region or the people's needs, may have no affect at all towards "development". Haha oh, Dr. Cornett, yes I remember our class together several years ago. And no, there's no firm ground to place the definition of "development" on. It is a fluid idea. I always liked Amartya Sen's book, "Development as Freedom". Freedom from what? A key question he tries to answer in the book. "Freedom from suffering" I think was one of the answers that stuck with me the strongest.

By the way, my director for the PC Environment Sector blessed me with a site visit this week on Wednesday. It's always great to see the Stanislas. Hard to believe I've been at site for almost 5 months here. 5 months down, 19 to go. And trust me, folks, it flies at times.

Much love to everyone back home in States and wherever you may be reading! I miss home everyday but I also cannot shake the feeling of being blessed to be where I am.
Keep in touch and enjoy the ride!

J

Southern Highlands

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to ride in a private brousse (with Jody Weir and her husband, Alistair, who are doing research in the Maromizaha Forest) to the Fianarantsoa area of Madagascar. When in Mada, a private brousse is always preferred to the often painful taxi brousse (long legged vazaha, van crammed with Malagasy, no leg room, you get the idea). Fianarantsoa is the center of the Betsileo region of Madagascar, the Southern Highlands, which is reached by Route National 7 (RN7) about 8 hours south of Antananarivo. This area of the country features some of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen yet in Mada. It has all mostly been deforested, save for some few stands of endemic trees and many eucalyptus stands (used for making charcoal). The remaining vegetation is scrubby and grassy because of the relative dryness of the area due to the rain shadow caused by the chain of mountains that runs along the entirety of the east coast of Madagascar (relative because of the very wet East and the quite arid South and West). Terraced rice fields and houses that were built from the very earth they stand upon are enumerable in this area. The mountains of the Southern Highlands feature monstrous rock faces and stone hills that continue from Antananarivo through Antsirabe and to the south of Fianar. Antsirabe is located close to a dormant volcano crater (some 100km in area) that offers extremely fertile farmland, providing the region with some of the best vegetables one can find on the island. I, however, am yet to spend any time in Antsirabe. Add it to the looooong list of places I have to go here.

But I was able to spend a couple of days in Fianar, and I loved it. The feel of the city reminded me of the month I spent in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico, in 2008. I was also lucky in that the weather was fantastic while I was there. The days were sunny, dry, and breezy and the nights clear and brisk. Fianarantsoa in Malagasy translates as "good learning", and there are several universities located there. The first night I was there, a fellow PCV was throwing herself and several other volunteers a going home (to the States) party and invited many Malagasy folks as well. It felt strange to meet so many Malagasy people all at once who could speak English so well. I was impressed, to say the least. The city also offered some delicious eats. I had the best pizza I've had in 6 months, with grilled chicken, artichokes, tomatoes, garlic, and great cheese. I also ate ice cream for breakfast. Twice. I bought a kilo of garlic (real garlic! not teeny tiny POS garlic) for $1.50. I spent two nights in Fianar and one night about an hour south of there in a city called Ambalavao, where I and a few other PCVs visited another PCV's site (thanks again to Brad for the hospitality!). We made an amazing chili and a salad bar (a salad, really, that we just made way too much of).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (my site), I have given a couple of compost pile demonstrations and worked with a couple of farmers building compost piles near there bean and rice fields. I have also been giving informal English lessons to whoever has wanted to learn (mazotobe!) but next week I've called a couple of meetings with the guides that work in my forest to organize a more formal English class schedule, which should be up and running in about 2 weeks time. Also, beginning in about 2 weeks, I will have my first Environment Kids Club session, teaching kids about the forest that they live so close to and how it relates to their life and to the world at large. It's also getting close to rice season and I plan on getting out and getting dirty working the fields with several farmers. Blisters on the hands much? Ai i ra! I want to learn their methods of farming before I start trying to introduce them to advanced yield techniques (System of Rice Intensification or SRI).

Rat update: add 3 to the running tally for a total of 8 so far killed in Madagascar at my hands. Good news: the past two nights, there were no rats whatsoever in my house!

Take care folks!
Until next time, Go VOLS!

James

The Wish List

So I figured I'd put the wish list into a more concise and sensible format. So here it is:

-Michael Jackson music: folks ask me about it all the time and I am just not knowledgable enough about the world's most famous pop star. Also, not everyone knows that he died in 2009. And even some of those who know that he "died", don't think he actually did but MAYBE he's living on the moon now. You be the judge.

-Books: this is absolutely key. Books about real people and events are great, as well as books about imaginary people and events. Also, I read a lot stuff in college that either I read an excerpt from just to do well on an exam or didn't appreciate at the time. Send me the classics (ie: the Bhagavad Gita, The Prince, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc).

-Books: that's right, it made the list twice. Books with lots of pictures are great for me to show the folks in my town who don't know English or don't know how to read at all (ie: kids). Particularly, books of American scenery, cities, wildlife, people, everything, would be great since people ask me what it's like all the time and the most descriptive adjective I have for them is "great".

-Seeds: flowers and vegetables. My mom already sent me some and they made it fine. Don't worry.

-Pilot G-2 Clicky Pens

-Burt's Bees Lip Balm: I'm addicted, I know. And I don't mean the kind with the sunblock in it. The original is just fine.

Drink mixes: Kool-Aid, Gatorade, Crystal Light, Mio, etc. The water I drink it my site comes from the river. Where people wash their clothes, dishes, and bathe themselves. I run this water through my handy-dandy, Peace Corps issued water filter. I then add Sûr Eau to it to purify it. Sûr Eau tastes like bleach. Drink mixes would greatly improve my enjoyment of drinking water.

Old Spice Deodorant: of the Pure Sport kind. I know, that's a real particular request. But it' what I like, and it's not on this island, and I stink. So there.

Seasonings: whatever ya got, send it my way. For those folks who have it in your local grocery store, I'm a big fan of Cavender's seasoning and the Rendezvous (for you West Tennessee people, you know who you are).

Earplugs: for folks who have never lived in a house that has zero sound proofing and in a town where there are approximately 40 roosters, try the Peace Corps. The roosters start around 3am. When one crows, they all gotta get a word in.

Anything you feel that I might like or that you like and would like for me to like, send it my way.

Also, in order to prevent tampering of the package or out right theft, mark the package as religious material. Put a big ole cross on it. Write "God Loves You" on it. Or you could even get clever and write  "Jesosy Mamonjy" on it, which is "Jesus Saves" in Malagasy.

You guys are amazing. Thanks very much for thinking of me so far away over here on the other side of this weird world we live in.

James

Ela ela!

Ela ela! Been a while! This is what the folks in my town tell me when I've been away for even just two days. I went to Tamatave (yes, again) a few weeks ago to meet with a professor of sustainable agriculture from Appalachian State University named Christoff. He comes to Madagascar once a year to work with the Ivoloina Zoological Park and the University of Toamasina (Tamatave). The plan was this: get to Ivoloina to meet with the gentleman early on a Saturday morning, have lunch, then head to the beach. Unfortunately, as often happens on this island, plans don't always work out the way you think they will. Dr. Christoff was not at Ivoloina that day until 4:30 in the afternoon so we were only able to meet for about an hour, when I had to head to the PCV Beth's house, who lives close to Ivoloina Park, where she made the best pizza and cake I have had on this island in her cob oven. Tena mahay.

Rat update: I have killed two in my house with my walking stick. I have found they are able to climb up the outside posts of my house, get it on the ceiling crossbeams, and go down my stairs into my kitchen where they love to eat whatever remnants of dinner is left in my pans (and leave their poop in them). The battle continues...

Last week was my stage's In-Service Training (IST). All the folks that I came to country with and I reported back to the training center in Mantasoa for a series of more in depth trainings on PC business (ie: funding, rice farming, chicken raising, and the like). It was fantastic to see everyone from the stage and get to hear everyone's experiences from site. One of the most interesting things was hearing  how everyone had developed their Malagasy into the local dialects. Some folks I couldn't even understand when they spoke (you know who you are Tsy Mihety!!!). After IST, spent a couple of days in the capitol eating some amazingly good food.

This week, I'm hitching a ride with Jody, the Canadian researcher in my forest, down to Fianarantsoa to join a farewell party for some volunteers who are COSing soon. Then it's time for trainings again with CI in Moramanga! Where I'll be serving as a trainer for using GPS out in the forest and we'll be doing transects in Andasibe! Damn right.

Lastly, and most certainly not leastly, I have compiled a wish list for those who would like to put together a little something to send me here on this island halfway round the world. Much thanks:

Books (all kinds, good ones are preferred to bad ones, ones I may have read in college that I might like to revisit), picture books of American scenery and wildlife, oatmeal, Starburst, drink mixes, Old Spice Pure Sport Deodorant (whatever), magazines (sports, music, and the Economist are cool), wool socks and wool shirts (it rains here), music, AAA and AA batteries, Cavender's seasoning, Rendezvous seasoning, a flash drive (big wish, I know), external hardrive (even bigger haha)...
I'll try to update this list continually, but there ain't a whole lot this guy needs. Thanks in advance!!

Much love to everyone back home!

James

I love Indris

After my last trip to Tamatave for meetings with Conservation International, I returned to my site/bungalow for one night and then headed up to Moramanga again to watch the Euro Cup final with a fellow volunteer. Austin Rios, very sorry about Italy but they need to leave the fast-break offense to the pros: the NC Tar Heels. I then returned back to site and began preparing a 4th of July presentation for my local community. On Wednesday, July 4th, I had it all ready. Posters with interesting facts about the States and some good ole American playing. About 30 minutes after the time I said the presentation would start, about 50 people come walking down the road to my house. 50! That's about 48 more than I expected to show up. It went surprisingly well. Especially since I had learned most of the Malagasy vocabulary for the presentation only during the two days before actually giving it. Though it wasn't so much a presentation but a question and answer session. Mark it down as a small success for PC service.

I finally moved into my house! After living in my touristic bungalow for 2 months where nobody else lives and it's way too calm and quite (lame), I have finally moved into my PC site house and town. Now, in order to get all my stuff up to my house, we had to use what the Malagasy call a "kalesy". There is no English equivalent. A kalesy is cart made of wood, three roller skate wheels (two in the back, one on a swivel axel in the front for steering), some rope for turning the front axel, and a hunk of tire rubber nailed on the back which is stepped on as a break when going downhill. I have moved many times in my life and I consider myself to be fairly well experienced in it. But this was like no other. Pushing this kalesy up Route National 2, with ALL of my stuff packed high upon it, with semi-trucks and taxi-brousses flying by, and three very nice Malagasy guys to help me, we got it the 1.5km uphill to my town and house. My shower area and WC are not done yet, however. This is no problem as there is a WC at the elementary school (a 3 minute walk) and it's been just too cold for me to even want to take a shower. I actually took my first shower last night for the first time in almost two weeks. And I didn't even smell THAT bad. 

My house: a two story structure built of pine wood and a roof made of ravinala (traveler's palm). Probably one of the biggest houses in town. The downstairs consists of what will be a office/meeting room for me and the local NGOs and community organizations to use. The downstairs also has my kitchen, where I use a propane gas stove to cook my food. Though, a very nice lady in town cooks my rice every evening for my dinner (more about Mama Helene later). Upstairs above all of this, is my living/sleeping area and my porch, which overlooks banana trees, bamboo, RN2, and the river. I think I've gotten pretty lucky with my living situation as far as many Peace Corps houses go. I thank the guys that built my house everyday for the great job they did.

Rats: one of the most common problems Peace Corps volunteers deal with. They tend to just be a fact of life for most of us that we just have to accept and get used. There are many things about my service here that I've learned to accept and deal with and just get along with life as it is. But...I. Hate. Rats. In my bungalow, I had a few of them (I killed three with a trap). Moving into my new house, I was so excited to be getting into a place where there would be no rats to keep me up at night and rummage through my stuff and food. Oh, how wrong I was. My first night in my new house, I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of those nasty, disgusting, devilish creatures running around my house. I open my eyes to find one staring right into my face on my bedside table. I scream at it. Not from fear, but just plain anger. He scurries away and leaves. I don't sleep very much the rest of night as I can hear them rustling around my walls and ceiling. The next day, I go to Moramanga and buy some materials to plug up the holes in my house that they were coming in through. This works!...for a few days. They continue to find ways of getting into my house during the night even though I've plugged every visible entry point that I can see. This is one of those things that I can't "just get used to". This is one of those things where "I declare war upon thee, foul rodent!!!". The first stake-out is tonight. If I had a Batman mask, I would wear it.

Since moving into my house, I've also had the opportunity to go out into the Maromizaha Forest (the rainforest that I live adjacent to) and help the local research guides with Indri observation. There are approximately 100 individual Indris in Maromizaha. Of which about 20 (comprising 4 family groupes) have been habituated to human presence, allowing the researchers and I to get VERY close to them for observation (check my Facebook page for great Indri pictures, as well as other photos). Also, here's a link to a video I took of some Indri Vocalizations. I went out twice this week, and I cannot wait to get out there all the time. The Indri are not the only species of lemur in Maromizaha, there are 11 different other kinds: 6 total diurnal, 6 nocturnal. There are also diademed sifakas, which sport an orangey kind of color to the time and are absolutely beautiful (though I'm yet to see them in Maromizaha). There is also a researcher named Jody Weir from Canada doing studies on the Indri and diadamed sifakas and their infants' development. Check out her video blog. She is here at Maromizaha with her husband until September this year and I look to forward to talking to them more about possible collaborative efforts that we can put together.

Today, I sit here in Moramanga again, about to head back to site and go to a party with the Maromizaha guides this afternoon out in the forest where Jody and her husband, Alastaire, are staying.

Much love to everyone and do keep in touch!

James

June

I have a new address (send me stuff)!!!

James Shelton, PCV Peace Corps
BP 73
514 Moramanga
Madagascar

During the trainings with Conservation International (CI) that I attended a couple of weeks ago here in Moramanga, I happened to meet several Sri Lankan gem miners who were staying at the same hotel as me. I was in my room blasting some Bruce Springsteen on my laptop when a knock came on my door. I opened it to find what I thought was a Malagasy person because he looked like one and when I began speaking to him in Malagasy, he responded in Gasy as well that he was looking for a friend of his and that he had found the wrong room. I wound up hanging out with this fellow and several of his friends for about an hour and a half that night, speaking only in Malagasy because we had no other common language. Who would have thought in my life that I would meet Sri Lankans and the only common language we had would be Malagasy? Hooray for the world!

Also, during the same training sessions with CI, we went out in the rain forest to practice what we had learned (what I had taught) about using GPS. What I wasn't told is that we would be doing a "transect", a forest survey where you pick two points in the woods, 2 kilometers apart, and go and map it with the GPS and see what you see. This was quite likely the most difficult 2 kilometers I have ever walked in my life. Not because it was an uphill/downhill sort of trek, but because the rainforest here is some of the thickest, most dense forest I have ever tried to walk through. You fight the vines (many with thorns), the ground and forest is completely soaked, the trail (haha there wasn't one) is extremely slippery. I came out of the rainforest, transect accomplished (which took 4 hours) and I was completely drenched, dehydrated, hands and feet cut to shreds thanks to the vines, and utterly exhausted. And SOMEHOW, all of the Malagasy folks came out totally dry, not thirsty at all (they didn't even bring water out there with them and I had had a liter of it), no scrapes, cuts, or bruises, and remarking that tomorrow we would be doing the same thing again. I did not join them for Round 2 of the Death March.

The following Sunday (June 24th), I went to Andasibe again to join some fellow volunteers to celebrate another volunteer's birthday. Her parent's were in-country on vacation and they took us out to dinner that night to one of the finest restaurants Madagascar has to offer at the Vakona Lodge (thank you again Hoggards!!!, if you ever happen to read this). But earlier that day, we went to the Vakona Lodge's "Lemur Island". Yes, this is one of the most touristy places one could go here in Madagascar, but I didn't care, I wanted to see lemurs up close and personal. And that we did, climbing all over us, jumping from shoulder to shoulder, following the park operators offering of bananas. (There are some cool photos on the Facebook page). One of the most ridiculous things about Lemur Island is you have to take a canoe to cross about a 3 meter stretch of water that's only about 6 inches deep. Peace Corps volunteers would much rather trek through the mud, but we were tourists that day and took the canoe.

Myself and 3 other volunteers left Andasibe for Moramanga on June 25th, the day before Madagascar Independence Day and were joined by two more later that day. There was a parade at night with people carrying candle lanterns and LED glow sticks and laser pointers. Plenty of drunks as well. Kids were throwing firecrackers in the streets, they particularly liked throwing them at semi-trucks. The day of the 26th of June (Independence Day), the town fell quiet. Apparently, we had all missed the memo that the party is on the 25th and the 26th is used as a family/recuperation day. Ah well.

On the 27th, as I was getting ready to head back to site, I get a text from my counterpart saying that he'd forgotten to tell me but there were some more trainings starting the next day in Tamatave and that I should go. An hour later, I was on a brousse heading for the coast...again. I attended another round of meetings with CI (quite similar to the meetings I attended about a month ago). But I can't complain, I like these free trips to the coast.

It's very hard to believe that I've been at site now for almost two months, though I don't actually live in my house yet cause it is STILL not done. Such is the manner of things here on this island. But time seems to fly here, though everything seems to move along quite slowly. I have my in-service training (IST) beginning the 4th of August for a week back in Mantasoa with all of the other volunteers from my stage. When I was installed on May 9th, it felt like 3 months would drag along and that it would take forever to get to IST, but it's 5 weeks away now and I realize that that's going go by very quickly. Can't wait to see everyone again back at the ole training center for some Tranobe time!

If you folks have any specific questions about my goings on here or about Madagascar, feel free to send me an email at jwshelto@gmail.com, and I'll try to answer as honestly and quickly as I can.

Amin'ny manaraka indray!

J

A day in the life

So I feel I have to make the ubiquitous post of what it's like to walk the streets of Madagascar as a big, white person. This post is more tailored towards folks back home than my fellow PCVs here in Madaland.  In Malagasy, the term for anyone who is white is vazaha (pronounced: vah-ZAH). It literally translates as "foreigner". You pass people on the street and you can hear them as you pass say to one another, "That's a big vazaha that one." That's if they're being shy. "Bonjour vazaha!" is much more common, particularly amongst school children. Or sometimes they'll just yell "VAZAHA!", with a big smile on their face. Imagine, walking the streets of America as a foreigner and you can't go 20 paces without someone yelling at you, "Hey! Foreigner!".  The idea that not every white person in Madagascar is NOT French is a difficult concept for the Malagasy because of the very strong French influence and presence throughout their history. It sometimes blows peoples minds when they throw a "Bonjour vazaha!" at you and you can respond in their language with, "Manakory! Tsy mahay teny fransay aho fa afaka miteny Malagasy. Amerikanina aho. Inona no vaovao?". Also, when younger children happen to look up and be standing below a vazaha, they often turn, screaming in terror, and run away. This is a response that is most likely due to the fact that many Malagasy parents tell their children that they'll sell them to the vazaha if they don't behave. Walking through my local market, vendors will often ask me if I want to buy their misbehaving children so that the kids will quit acting up. I'll joke back with them sometimes and say, "How much?". However, I've learned that you often HAVE to tell Malagasy when you're being sarcastic and just joking with them. Yeah, that's easy...

Now, I'm not really complaining. At times, it is quite annoying for people to yell "FOREIGNER!" at you all the time. But it also provides a lot of opportunities for me to see the surprised look on their faces when I come back at them in their own tongue and we can actually have a decent conversation about both of our lives. It is true that at my site people have stopped yelling it at me for the most part (though the "Bonjours" still come quite often, little by little though). Kids that I don't even know will yell "Manakory James!" at me now.

Here's a social experiment for you folks back in the States if you're feeling up to it: if you ever happen to be walking down your local city/small town streets and see someone who doesn't look like you and who could quite possibly not be from the United States, yell "FOREIGNER!" at them. Not in a mean or abrasive way. But loud and smiling! I would really be interested to see what this person's the reaction would be. Thank you very much.

In another news, I've been attending another round of training sessions with Conservation International (CI) this week in market town (Moramanga). This time, though, it's been much more interesting than the previous round in Tamatave. We've been doing sessions on how to systematically record data from forest research in a comprehensive manner. Today, we had a session on how to use GPS devices. However, I found myself being the trainer of the trainers and wound up leading the session. Now, this was likely not due to me having great expertise using GPS. But it was more likely due to my experience playing Grand Theft Auto on the XBOX with the Mugs back at the Manor and the Lodge hunting down Russian mafia. One can apply all kinds of skills as a Peace Corps volunteer.

We also had our regional Volunteer Action Committee (VAC) meeting in Moramanga this past weekend where most volunteers who live my area came to town. There were about 10 of us. Much less a meeting (which we did have and discussed in thorough detail the plans for our regional t-shirts) than an excuse to get to see and get to know fellow regional volunteers. We went to karaoke!! Folks, you know I don't like Neil Diamond, but I sang the hell out of "Sweet Caroline". And I also sang "Thriller" cause I found a shirt in the market earlier in the day with a series of zombies doing all the moves to the dance. Best $2 I've spent in Mada.

I miss y'all!
Take care folks!

J

Time, Communication, Wives, Cows, Drunks, and Stones

I woke up late several weeks ago when I was in Tamatave. I had asked the gentleman who I was traveling with what time I should be ready to leave and catch a taxi-brousse home in the morning. "Early", he said. A knock came on my door at 6:30am from Kara, the other volunteer traveling with us in Tamatave, waking me up from a beer and brouchettes induced slumber, saying that it was time to go. (Since when were people ever in a hurry on this island and since when did early actually mean EARLY?). I scrambled out of bed, showered, and ran downstairs to get out of town. We left the hotel in hurry to get to the brousse station when my VOI Federation President (who apparently had arrived, unbeknownst to me, during the night) calls for us from the hotel that he needs to talk to us. We go back, he invites me to COME BACK to Tamatave in a few days to go the environment festival in Fenoarivo Est. I say, "Sure, sounds great, call me, we'll work it out, I gotta go, thanks!". Three days later, I leave site again and I travel to Moramanga (my banking, market, travel, and otherwise get'r'dun place) with the expectancy of possibly going to Fenoarivo that morning. However, no word whatsoever from Mr. President. I called his wife, Mrs. President, and asked if she would have him call me. No problem, she says. I don't hear a word from the man all day. I say forget it, and wind up spending the night in Moramanga eating delicious food. (Delicious food is a rarity in my life of rice. Mary Lois, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed Italy and its cuisine.) Anyway, such is the way that "time" and "plans" work on this beautiful island.

I was sitting in my town one Sunday afternoon, trying to explain to the people in my town that I did not need or want to go to church with them (I've been to Gasy church, I know what it's like, no need for round 2). One of the older ladies came and sat next to me and explained that a gentleman from out of town had come the day before to buy some cows. I asked her why he had come here to buy cows. She explained that he didn't have a wife. At this point, I remember my PC cultural training that in some areas of Madagascar, it's standard practice to present the bride-to-be's family with a cow/cows. I ignored my training. I said to the older lady, "So if you can't get a wife than you better buy some cows?".  She, and everyone else sitting on the porch, found this to be the funniest thing they'd heard all month. Since then, when the people in my town ask me if I'm still looking for a wife and I say no, they find it very funny to tell me to go buy some cows. If you don't find this funny, sorry, guess you had to be there. :)

I came to the capitol on Monday this week because I couldn't hear out of my right ear for almost 2 weeks. Got that fixed. No problems. Used my coming to Tana as an excuse to go see a fellow volunteer to the west of Tana about 50km in Arivonimamo. Arivonimamo literally translates as "thousand the drunk", in other words, "the land of a thousand drunks". Don't worry, I didn't see one drunk person, including myself and Eric, the volunteer who lives in Arivonimamo. I did see Eric's Posh Corps house, running hot water, electricity, tile kitchen, the works. The night I was there, we went down the street from Eric's house to watch the European Cup match between Greece and the Czech Republic in a tiny room filled with church pews and a very small television. We payed the equivalant of 10cents to watch. We also went on a fantastic hike through the mountains around Arivonimamo (check the Facebook for pictures because I'm too lazy to upload twice). It was absolutely beautiful. The landscape and environment of Madagascar changes with every kilometer you hike or drive. Where I live, the land is steep, rolling hills with the occasional rock face and is a vibrant green in color thanks to year-round rains that fall in the easter rainforest corridor. In the central highland plateau (around Arivonimamo), the color is greenish-brown with shrub grass, pines, eucalyptus, and many many gigantic rock faces. The hilltops allow you to see for miles and miles. We saw what the Malagasy call "mitsangambato", standing stones. These are used to mark where people either died, are buried, or are simply remembered. I don't think this practice is very common here in the highlands anymore. Above ground family tombs tend to be the standard practice but, from what I've learned, mitsangambato are still fairly commonly used in the south of the island. The pictures I took will never do the landscape justice. Eric and his Gasy friend, Jean-Claude, brought their bikes along in the hopes of us being able to find a bike I could use in the town we were walking to. After 3 hours of walking, we came to the town we were trying to reach where Jean-Claude had a meeting with a newly formed cooperative that he was a member of. Held the meeting in the local elementary school which was vacant thanks to the ongoing teacher's strike throughout the island. After the meeting, had lunch at an hotely (the word for a restaurant the serves typical Gasy fair) for a very reasonable 50cents. We found a bike for me to ride and took the main road back to Arivonimamo. We got back to town in 1 hour after what had taken us 3 hours previously.

I'm currently in Tana and heading to Moramanga tomorrow for my regional volunteer meeting which is on Saturday. About 10 other volunteers in my region will be coming so it will be great to everyone (and meet everyone) that lives in my area.
Until next time, tsara ny fiainana (life is good),
J

Forest Rangers and Toamasina

I went out last week with the Polisin'y Ala (Volunteer Forest Rangers) into the Maromizaha Forest to scout out illegal tavy (slash and burn agriculture) and sarbon (Gasy charcoal) projects. We found plenty (see my Facebook page for pictures).
Last weekend, I attended my first Gasy "ball" on Saturday night in Andasibe. A "ball" is a drunken dance party. Loud music, sweaty people, bright flashy lights. I came, I saw, I did not conquer. Most Gasy stay till 5 or 6 am. After being there for 6 hours at 2am, I was finished and went to sleep at a Gasy friend's house, only to be awoken at 5am to the horrible, screetching, hollering sound that only a damned goose can make. If eating goose everyday in this country were affordable, I would happily do it in order to decrease their population.
I was lucky enough to be able to go to Tamatave/Toamasina (same city, different names) last week for four days. I went with representatives from my VOI federation to some training sessions with Conservation International (CI). It was all in Gasy. Another volunteer who also lives close to Moramanga, Kara, was there as well. Eighty percent of the time, we had no clue what anyone was saying. We knew they were discussing global warming, basic accounting, VOI inner-workings, CI projects, etc., but specifics?, yeah right! We sat patiently through 3 days of excruciatingly boring sessions but were left with little room to complain, since CI was paying for our hotel room, food, and transportation costs. I'll take it, mmk?  Four nights in Toamasina was quite nice, especially since I had beer and brouchettes (steak kabobs) for dinner every night. Upon returning from Toamasina,  I went to Andasibe again to meet up with some other volunteers to just take a load off for the night. We cooked dinner at a German friend's house and met a couple of traveler's from Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. I arrived back at site on Sunday, my official Peace Corps house is mbola tsy vita (still not done). More bungalow time for me.
Take care,
J

At Site (sort of)

Well I've been at site for almost two weeks. Three things (of MANY) I've learned: 1) Lemurs were delicious before the national parks came along and told people they couldn't eat them anymore, according to one elderly woman I walked with along the highway. 2) There are snakes in the forest that will fall from the trees, pierce your skull, scramble your brain, and come out your ears, one lady in town told me while I was helping harvest voanjobory, a chick pea type of bean. And 3) It is a firmly held belief by everyone that there are indeed witches that ride on broomsticks at night here in Madagascar, though no one has ever really seen one.
After leaving Tana on May 7th, I headed to Moramanga with 2 other volunteers who were in my installation group. We bought housewares and such in Moramanga before installing Kara on May 8th. The president of her community kept pulling me away from maybe being able to help get Kara's house ready because he wanted me to go take shots of rum with him (of which I took 2, not the 5 he insisted upon) and to recite the speech I gave at swearing in. He just wouldn't believe me when I insisted that I had read the whole damn thing and didn't actually have the skills to say it again.
I was officially installed on Wednesday May 9th, even though I had come down with stomach infection. But thanks to the PC doctors who authorized me to start taking the antibiotics I always have in medkit, I was able to knock that out in a couple of days. All clear now! I woke up that Thursday morning with what everyone had told me I would feel when PC finally left me at my site and I was all alone: the WTF moment. The feeling of "oh my god what I have gotten myself into?!" The feeling of "I want the comforts of home right now!", mixed with the disbelief of "How on earth did I get so lucky as to be able to live in a place like this?!" and "I'm so excited to finally be on my own, done with training!". Yes, I cried. Take it as a compliment, friends and family in the states and fellow new volunteers; being at site alone made me miss all of you terribly. But I also cried for the happiness of being able to live here and have this experience like no other. I went and played with some kids, who were very scared of me at first, but gradually warmed up as they realized how much of a nimwit in their language I was. After that, the emotional roller coaster has chilled out and I'm feeling more at home everyday. Playing games with kids can truly calm the soul.
My house is not quite done in my community but I should be moving in by this weekend, May 26th. I've been living in a tourist/vacation style bungalow that is owned by the president of my VOI (don't worry what that stands for, it's a Malagasy community organization). It's very quiet at my bungalow, about 1.5km down the highway from my actual site. The caretaker and his family are the only ones who live near me and they have been cooking my food for me (less than a $1 per meal) and washing my clothes (for about 25 cents per load). Even on a PC budget, this is the easy life. I walk up to my community twice a day because I need to talk to people, no matter how broken or mangled my Malagasy may be. I've found myself helping a group of about 5 ladies harvesting voanjobory (see above) in the school garden behind the local elementary school. School has been out of session since I arrived at site, thanks to a teacher's strike. In the afternoons, I've been "helping" the carpenter work on my house. I've taken on the role of security analyst. Carpenter: "One latch is good on this window." Me: "Put two on it, please." Carpenter: "One latch in the middle of the door will keep anyone out." Me: "It needs two more, please." Nick Ihley, if you read this, memories of fixing some table at the training center come back to me. "Load it up!". At about 5, I make my way back down the highway to my bungalow, eat dinner around 6, listen to a little bit of the BBC world service, and it's back to lights out by 8. And don't worry, I sleep till 7am. I get my beauty rest.
I've been invited by the president of the federation (oversees a lot of VOIS?) to go to Tamatave aka Toamasina next week for three days to meet with conservation international. I don't know exactly what the meeting is for, but hey, I'll take a three day trip to the coast.
Until next time,
James

Mahazatoa!

Lot to fill ya in on! I’ll be making references to places but I’m not gonna take the time to describe their exact locations for now. Most of you have the pleasure of Google Maps. Use it! I’ve also been working on this post over the past couple of weeks and some of the references to time may not make sense, but who cares. Mahazatoa! Enjoy!

Went on “tech trip” a couple of weeks ago where all of us ENV trainees went on a trip to the Eastern rainforest and to the East Coast. Got to stomp around in some rice fields where a volunteer has got some experimental growing methods in practice, which was very interesting to see. FYI, the name of my site (where I’ll be living for the next two years) is called Maromizaha (mah-roo-mee-zah). It’s very close to the Andasibe National Park (look it up) and is in the Eastern Rainforest corridor. We got to go hiking around my site during tech trip and got to see the rainforest AND lemurs (gidro as they say here) within walking distance from my house. “Maromizaha” in Malagasy means the place where many things are seen, viewed, or discovered. And it lives up to its name. The shape and form of the mountains in my area remind me so much of the Blue Ridge in North Carolina. The plants, dirt, and environment are completely different, but the views remind me of home. During the hike around Maromizaha, I was laughing the whole time just thinking that I left the beautiful mountains of NC to come to live in the beautiful mountains of Madagascar. Pictures in the coming months, I promise. My town is a small community located on Route National 2, the main access highway from the capital, Antananarivo, to the east coast and Tamatave, the biggest port on the island. It’s located about 45 minutes east of Moramanga, which serves as my banking and market town. I can get to Tana in 4 hours and to Tamatave on the coast in 4 hours as well. There are only about 500 people that live in Maromizaha so I’ll have the opportunity to get to know everyone really well. My house was not yet constructed when we visited two weeks ago but I have no fears that it will be ready for me next month. They have to deconstruct the house that is currently there, get more materials, and build it. Supposedly, it will be a two story building with the upstairs being my house and the downstairs being the office for the organization I’m partnered with, GERP (Groupement de la Recherche et l’Etudes sur les Primates de Madagasikara). According to the PC Madagascar ENV coordinator (Stanislas), it only takes two weeks to build a house here. Simple materials, simple construction. Look up the ravinala or traveler’s palm (same tree, different name). Folks that live in the eastern corridor and along the coast make their houses almost exclusively from ravinala.

After my site, we made our way down from the mountains to the east coast. Saw Tamatave. Ate brouchettes (kabobs) on the beach with THB. Heard the Islamic call to prayer in person for the first time. Beautiful. Met with Conservation International (a potential partner organization for my work here) in Tamatave.  We spent about 5 days on the east coast between Tamatave, Foulpointe, and Fenerive Est. Coastal forest here is DENSE and beautiful, as is the rainforest in the mountains where I’ll be living. Lemurs come out at night and early in the morning. Went on several night hikes. I’ve seen about 5 different kinds of lemurs and the indri is by far my favorite. They call them “babakoto” in my area, which means “child of Koto”, whoever he is. These are the lemurs that, according to traditional beliefs, are the spirits of the dead. When you see them in person and how they move and the haunting calls they make after sunrise, it’s easy to see where that belief comes from.

Held a huge chameleon. Ate delicious coco fish. Saw a statue of Santa Clause that stood about 5 feet high and was posed along the side of the coastal highway. Swam in the Indian Ocean. Twice. Or three times. Had dance parties on the beach at night. It’s quite hot on the coast but that didn’t stop us from having a spontaneous dance party on the highway at high noon when we got stuck in traffic once.  You sweat so much there that you just stop thinking about it and accept that you’re going to be constantly dripping. Same with the flies. They’re everywhere when it’s hot and will always be on your legs and feet. You can either forever be annoyed with them, trying to shake them off or just accept that they’re always going to be on you and choose to not let it bother you. The human mind can do amazing things.

Got to celebrate my birthday on the shore of Lake Mantasoa with a bonfire. All us trainees had a great time celebrating. The other trainees made me some birthday punch from cheap rum and pineapple Fanta. The next day was Easter Monday, which is a bigger celebration for the Malagasy than Easter Sunday. Sunday, you go to church and just spend the day with your family relaxing and getting ready for Monday. On Monday, they have a big festival with food vendors, drink vendors, games, canoes, and general debauchery in the middle of the day. In other words, Monday April 9^th was my birthday as well.

Got to go to Tana last week and finally see the capital. However, I’m still yet to technically see the “downtown” area. The PC Meva house (pretty much a volunteer hostel) and the PC HQ are both located in a fairly wealthy neighborhood in Tana. I’ll likely be able to go Tana and stay at the Meva somewhat frequently (?) because my partner organization is based there and I’ll be living only about 4 hours away. But we’ll see what the work is like when I actually get to doing it. The first 3 months at site are expected to be used as cultural acclimation and community assessment. I’ll have to a present a community diagnostic survey (CDS) at our In-Service Training (IST) which will be in August back at the PC training center (PCTC) with everyone else from my stage, so long as the calendar holds true. (PC uses a lot acronyms, for example: As PCVs, we’ll be presenting our CDS during IST at the PCTC and likely have a few THBs).

Last weekend, all of us trainees were able to take a load off and have a cookout on Saturday afternoon followed, of course, by a dance party at night. As you may be able to tell by now, we do a lot of dancing. We also had a dance party on Friday night. I’ve also been reading “Watchmen” over the past couple of days and I’m flying through it (Squiggs, thanks for letting me borrow it, I’ll get it back to ya one of these old days). I also finished the first book I started here, “Out Stealing Horses”. Frank (MUUGGG), tell your dad I appreciate the recommendation and I really enjoyed it. With the title, I expected some kind of cattle rustling, pistol-drawing, cowboy fun. The writer is Norwegian, so I didn’t get what I expected. But a great read, none-the-less. My hammock ripped the other day, very sad. Not surprised though, it was 10 years old and was getting plenty of use here during training. Oh well, I’ll find some use for the materials when I move to site. Also, I’ve been eating lots of Starburst recently thanks to my mom who loaded me up for my birthday. Thanks again! Watched Robocop last Sunday morning with some other trainees. MUGS, I suggest you get together and watch it (“Can ya fly, Bobby?!”). Hilarious. Watch the movie, you’ll get the quote.

Adam Yeager, I’ve been playing the hell out of this guitar you gave me, as have many of the other trainees and Malagasy here. I’m yet to see a guitar here of higher quality and no one ever believes me when I tell them I only payed $20 for it. I thank you again. Met a Malagasy during tech trip who had a guitar and could play it pretty well. He knew how to sing and play Hotel California, including the guitar solo. Nobody does that. It was great. And Dad, please send me some nylon strings for when the sad day comes that one of the strings breaks and I’m left up the creek. You’re the man. And Jonah Friedman, thanks again for bringing the “boolay” my last weekend in the States. It’s slowly been polished off here during training. Nothing of such quality exists here.

It’s been interesting feeling the seasons change here in highlands over the last two months. It has noticeably gotten cooler and less rainy but, for now, it’s been fairly overcast a lot of the time. I’ve actually had to wear long pants and a sweatshirt for the most part of the day. I have feeling this will change over the coming months with rainy season coming to an end with hopefully more sun. We got our PC bikes last week. My stage was lucky enough that we got brand new Trek mountain bikes. Thank you very much to all you folks back home who pay your taxes.  Don’t worry Mom, they gave us helmets.

Swore in yesterday as an official volunteer! Great ceremony with the country director, charge d’affair of the US Embassy, and other important people. I gave a speech in Gasy which was pretty interesting. Now I’m in Tana, staying at the Meva for a couple of days before getting installed on Wednesday. I miss everyone very much and I’m enjoying this adventure as I finally move to my site this week!

Take care,

J

A Couple of Pictures

The first picture is of Lake Mantasoa from the PC Training Center, where I'll be living for a month starting later this week with all the other volunteers in my stage. This is looking to the east, where all the rain comes from.  The second is of me on the trail towards my home-stay (where I've lived for the past 3 weeks). My house is the one behind me on the far left. My room is the upstairs loft. There is electricity but no running water. The well is about 100 meters down the hill. The other two houses behind me are where Gabby and Nick (two other ENV volunteers) live. To my right are mangahazo plants (cassava). Both of these pictures were taken the first weekend I was here. It rained like crazy. Since then, we've had a lot of sunshine, a good bit of rain at night, and just a couple of other rainy days.

A bit more details

I've been here for almost a month now. The first two weeks seemed like 2 months. But with a routine gradually setting in (which is for sure to get wiped out very soon again), a month doesn't really seem very long at all. I've been living with a Malagasy host family now for 3 weeks. They've been very hospitable and patient with the language barrier. We eat rice 3 times every day. You may read that the Malagasy eat rice with 2 meals every day. Mine does 3. Fact: The Malagasy eat more rice per capita than any other country in the world; so much that they don't grow enough here on the island to meet the demand for it, they have to import it from Pakistan, India, etc. What makes this even more interesting is that around 80% of the population works in the subsistence agriculture sector.
PC also does a great job with helping the blow of culture shock not be so, well, shocking. Giving us a solid routine helps a lot. Language, X-culture, health, and safety classes throughout the week keep us all pretty busy. I'll be moving out of my home-stay on Thursday to go back to the training center with all 28 other volunteers in my stage (should be 29 but one of the volunteers left the first weekend). Quite excited for that. My host family has been great, but I'm ready to get back to deciding when I'm tired and what I wanna eat.
Next week is going to be fairly busy. Site placement announcements are tomorrow, bank accounts are opened on Tuesday, first language proficiency interview is Wednesday, then the move back to the PCTC on Thursday. Saturday begins the ENV tech trip to the east coast (Moramanga, Toamasina, Tamatave) which will last until next Friday (?). Heading off the mountain, as we say in NC, down to the rainforest. Should be a fun trip.
THB is a pilsner made here in Madagascar by Star breweries. I'm yet to drink it cold, but it's not half bad when it's warm so I guess it can only get better. The pineapples here are some of the best I've ever had. Ranon'apango (burnt rice water) isn't so bad either. The more burnt, the better it tastes. Actually, it tastes a bit like those Quaker rice cakes if you were to toast them and then throw into boiling water.
Until next time,
J

I'm alive and well!

I'm doing great! Just got online for the first time today since I left the states. For now send letters here:
James Shelton, PCT Peace Corps
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 12091 Poste Zoom Ankorondrano
101 Antananarivo
Madagascar
I'll have a new address in a month. I'll post that to my "About" section on here where my current address is posted.
The adrenaline has worn off a bit, but is till going strong. I finally have a regular sleeping pattern (up at 6am, asleep around 9pm everyday). Language class for four hours every morning, heaps of rice at every meal (3 times a day), the people are great (both the PC folks and the Malagasy), 4 hours of tech training every afternoon, I'll have my site placement this Monday so I'll get to know where I'll be and what I'll be doing for the next two years. Internet connection is very slow where I am now but I'll post more (and pictures!) when I get some decent bandwidth. For now, just know I'm doing fine, learning a lot, staying busy, and haven't gotten sick yet. Lots to be thankful for!
J

Fare Thee Well

The farewell tour is complete. Only 5 days left of Asheville, my home for the past 5 years. Though I hate to leave it behind, I wouldn't want to depart from anywhere else.
A few notes from my recent travels:
Memphis:
-created a priceless work of art in the caustic medium (hot wax), thanks to my aunt Grace
-ate Corky's BBQ
-went to see some friends play music downtown and, upon realizing the gig was off due to an electric fire at the venue, went to B.B. King's with my mom for live music and ribs
-said farewell to a lot of family that I'll miss very dearly
Raleigh/Durham/Triangle:
-haha, that was just fun times with great friends who I will also be missing greatly
Wisconsin:
-drank some delicious craft beer in Ashland (South Shore Brewing),
-went to my first ever hockey game and I'm now in love with a sport that, where I'm going soon, people likely have never even imagined,
-walked the 10km across the frozen Chequamegon Bay (shuh-wah-muh-gun) of Lake Superior during a crystal clear, cold night to find the Northern Lights shining in the sky upon reaching the other shore,
-learned a bit about "ore docks" and the Great Lakes shipping business (a la Edmund Fitzgerald style boats)
Chicago:
-$3 is a great price for Jameson, $10 is a terrible price for Camels
-Al's Beef is delicious, deep-dish pizza is delicious, Korean tacos are delicious, and Lunchables at 4am are delicious
-only go to the Evil Olive on Monday's if you're really freakin weird
-O'Hare is huge
Thanks to everyone who gave me a place to stay along the way. Thanks to everyone who helped show me a good time during the tour.

Two Weeks

Two weeks till we report to staging in Washington, DC. 14 days is not a very long time. At all.
I'm glad I've gotten to go see family and friends in Raleigh and Memphis these past two weeks. Raleigh was great fun. Memphis was a bit more difficult, saying goodbye to grandparents and such. This weekend I'll go to Ashland, Wisconsin to see my sister for a couple of days then fly to Chicago to see my friend Dylan until Tuesday next week. And that'll be the last stop. When I get back from this trip, I'll have about 5 days to finalize all preparations before going to DC on the morning of the 27th. So I'm putting a lot of effort in this week to get most everything done that needs to be done so that next week isn't absolutely insane.
I bought a Malagasy-English dictionary a couple of weeks ago. It's been real helpful with starting to get the language under my fingers but it's also a bit daunting knowing that I'm starting from zero with this language. French was difficult to learn but at least French and English have some common ground. Spanish came easy due to the French. But Malagasy? There is NO common ground there, save for a few words borrowed/corrupted from French.
And here's a shout-out to all you current volunteers in Madagascar who have posted/commented in the February stage's Facebook group. Your input has been invaluable to all of the preparing (packing and mentally) we've been doing to come be a part of the work in Madagascar. Thank you! And stay safe with Giovanna!

Stay tuned folks. This is gonna be a fun ride!

James

Preparations

I've scheduled my appointment to get the yellow fever vaccine (next Thursday) so that I can have the medical hold taken off of my PC account. That's supposed to be done 4 weeks before departing the US so that'll easily be within that time frame.

For all you other Madagascar folk who will be reporting for staging next month, we're at 41 days (!) till we go to wherever our staging site is. Anyone received that info yet?

It's been interesting letting people know that I'm leaving and where I'm going. The questions people ask are amusing. Is Madagascar like the movie they made for kids with lions and penguins and zebras and stuff? Everyone speaks English there, right? So where exactly on the West Coast of Africa is Madagascar? Why are they MAD AT NASCAR?! (being from North Carolina, that's my personal favorite)

Though I've answered those questions a thousand times, I've gotten good at explaining the answers without sounding like I've answered them a hundred times. One of the questions that I've had a more difficult time answering is the "What EXACTLY will you be doing for 2 years?".  A simple "I don't EXACTLY know" doesn't satisfy people's curiosity about my service. But my having to explain to other people that I don't know the specifics has helped me embrace the idea that I MYSELF don't even know. It tends to go something like this: I'm in the environmental program as an "Agriculture and Forestry Extension Advisor" which means I can teach about conservation, help to maybe develop ecotourism, work with farmers in the rice fields (I know nothing about growing rice but I'm willing to learn). I usually end the explanation with some form of "I'll letcha know in 2 years what EXACTLY I did". To me though, as the PC and other volunteers on PC Journals have said, it's useless to have some kind of grandiose idea of what you're going to do in service. It seems that the first 8 months or so are used more as cultural integration and  for building relationships and trust with one's community, rather than diving headfirst into a million different projects. One of the things I constantly remind myself of is that this is not the Environment Corps, the Agriculture Corps, the Educations Corps, the Development Corps, or even the Health Corps. Yes, all of those things fall under the Peace Corps, but I think they're more of a means to an end. It's the "Peace" Corps for a reason. Not necessarily the peace we think of when we would like people to stop blowing each other to hell around the world (Peace Corps isn't really in countries prone to daily warfare). But the peace (call it respect, understanding, love)  that develops between someone and another person or group of people who are so VERY different. THAT is one thing I can tell people I want to EXACTLY try to experience while in Madagascar.

I don't know who all's flipping through these Madagascar blogs. But if you're currently serving in Madagascar with PC or you're an RPCV from there, feel free to throw me some words of wisdom from your experiences. I'd love to hear from you and to learn as much as I can before I leave.

Madagascar: "Is that some kind of hybrid vehicle?"