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