23December2013
Hello again!
Yes, it's true that Peace Corps is not always sunshine and laughter.
One of the things that's most frustrating for me is the inability to
be anonymous wherever I go. I don't know what you look like, but I'm a
tall, white guy with a beard and long hair. I stand out everywhere I
go in Madagascar. As is the case with most PCVs, it's near impossible
to just go into a cafe, sit down and have a coffee, or go into a
restaurant and have an undisturbed meal, without Malagasy folks coming
up to you and trying to start up conversation just because you look
different. And yes, that's what all PCVs want from their PC
experience: to interact and converse with the locals, to learn about
their life and their views. You wouldn't sign up to do PC if you
weren't interested in that. And you will have SO MANY opportunities
for that. But there are times where you just wanna blend in and not
stand out and draw attention to yourself just because of how you look.
And women draw more unwanted attention than men do. Don't worry too
much about this, though, because a lot of the times you'll enjoy the
semi-"celebrity" status you get as a PCV and you'll meet a lot of cool
people through those random conversations. But sometimes it's nice to
just be left alone. Let me know if you wanna know more about this.
Malagasy is indeed unlike any other language we in the Western world
ever study in high school or university. It has it's roots in
Indonesia, and is an "Austronesian" language. Even though Madagascar
is closer geographically to mainland Africa, the language and the
people of the island are more Polynesian than they are African.
Malagasy people, for the most part, do not associate themselves as
being "African". They're Malagasy, something very different and
unique. Therefor, the language is difficult to learn when you first
start learning it because we have no frame of reference. But it gets
MUCH easier once you've got a few basic phrases and mechanics under
your belt. So keep looking at those packets!
There are officially 18 dialects on Madagascar. During your training,
you'll start learning the "Official" dialect, which is spoken in the
central highlands by the Merina tribe, traditionally the most powerful
tribe on the island. The training center and home-stay are in Merina
country, so you'll hear it throughout PST. Once you get your site
placement (usually about halfway through training), you'll be placed
in a class for your specific dialect depending on where your placement
is. All dialects understand Official. Don't worry too much about
dialects; you'll get trained in your specific one and once you get to
your site it's all you will hear and use, so you'll get used to it
wherever you are. You WILL adapt! Haha. I was trained in Official
because of my proximity to the capital, but we use Betsimisaraka (East
coast dialect) greetings and vocabulary at my site.
French is the official language in the schools, government, business,
and when doing numbers, so almost everyone here has a basic
understanding of French. If you speak French, it will help you in many
circumstances (ie: you don't know the Gasy word for something), which
is great when you're in training and still learning. But try not to
use it as a crutch too much. Peace Corps has some great street cred
throughout Madagascar as being the only foreigners who truly put forth
the time and effort to learn Malagasy. To speak even a little Malagasy
will quickly earn you the respect of many people. I'll start up a
conversation with someone in a town that I've never been to and 80% of
the time, the folks are like, "Wow, you speak Malagasy really well.
Are you Peace Corps? Yeah, you Americans really learn Malagasy
quickly, the French never even try." The Malagasy language has adopted
many French words into it's vocabulary and you'll often find yourself
mixing Gasy with French. This is more common in bigger towns than in
smaller villages, so don't count on it too much at your site.
I brought sunscreen and bug spray. PC gives you as much as you need of
all that stuff. I also bought "tropical" clothes (you know, those
stupid safari shirts). Don't bring any clothes with you that you
wouldn't wear in America, cause you won't wear them here either. You
know your style, so wear what you like and what you're comfortable in.
Plus, there's what's called "frip" or "fripperie" here in Mada. Cheap
clothes markets on the streets. Almost all of my clothes I wear now
are from frip cause 1: your clothes are going to break down, 2: it's
fun to look for cool stuff in the markets here, 3: it's cheap and fun
to haggle with sellers over 25cents. In the highlands, the dress is a
bit more conservative than the rest of the island, particularly for
women. In the coastal, and therefore hotter, areas of the island, it's
a bit more lax for the simple reason that it's dumb to dress
conservatively when it's 99 degrees in the shade.
Good boots. Sneakers, flipflops, sandals, flats, heels, pumps,
whatever else, you can find them all over the place here. But a
quality pair of hiking boots is key. Don't buy them right before you
come if you don't already have them. You'll get blisters like crazy.
Bring what you already have and that are already broken in or get them
now and start wearing them. You're gonna wear flipflops/sandals 90% of
the time here (at least I do) so you're feet are going to lose their
close-toed shoe callouses so you want whatever boots you have to
already be broken in to your foot for when you're going on hikes.
And I'm not kidding about the rainjacket. There are lots of
"rainjackets" here but they're not really waterproof. Bring one that
you know will keep you dry in torrential downpours.
One more tip, avoid white clothes (shirts, socks, undies, pants, etc).
They will stain and be stained until Judgement Day. You're gonna be
washing your clothes by hand so save yourself the trouble. But, as I
said, bring what ya like.
Also, please don't forget that the information I provide you as just
my experience and my experience alone. One of the greatest things
about serving in the Peace Corps is that each volunteer is different,
every experience is different, and you make your experience exactly
what you want to make it. Therefor, there's no such thing as a bad
country or bad site to be posted at. It's in your hands to make your
training, work, and overall 2-years experience as awesome as it can
be. Just be ready to be flexible.
If you haven't seen it yet, check out the BBC-Earth Series on
Madagascar. Great way for you yourself to see where you're going and
to show your family and friends how lucky you are. Just keep in mind
when you watch it that there are actually people on the island (some
22 million) and that most of them are very poor. Check out
https://www.cia.gov/library/
for general economic data. The average monthly income for a family of
4 at my site is around $60. Also, start Googling information about the
political situation and the elections happening right now. Elections
were held last week! Final results should be out in about 3 weeks.
Take care and happy holidays!
James
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