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
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
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
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
Monday, May 21, 2012
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
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
Saturday, May 5, 2012
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 9th 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
Sunday, March 25, 2012
A Couple of Pictures
Saturday, March 24, 2012
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
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
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