A Malagasy Christmas

Yu and my boss.

Secret Santas in Mantasoa. People got creative...especially with that cabbage.

Santa came to Mantasoa.

This is what December in Madagascar looks like.

Dreaming of a White Christmas?

In honor of the holiday season, I’ve been listening to the Charlie Brown Christmas cd on repeat, with the N’SYNC Christmas album sprinkled in there. But its just not the same. Not that I really miss the snow, but I do miss how pretty white christmas lights are, and how nice it is to sit by a fire with hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. But I’m just going to have a different kind of Christmas this year. No snow, no 24/7 Christmas carols on the radio, no last minute Christmas shopping at the packed mall…just sun, palm trees, and the beach. The only thing I can complain about is that I can’t be with friends and family at home. And that I’m spending my bday on a 16 hour busride…with no AC and lots of people crammed inside. But that’s okay.

But anyway, I’m back in Tana after two weeks of training. We went back to the training center in Mantasoa for two weeks of electricity, hot running water, and snack time. (True story. We get snacktime twice a day because sitting through lectures all day makes you hungry). The first week was IST with everyone from my stage. We surprised PC by not having any ETs (early terminations) so it was all 27 of us. Before IST started we spent the weekend in Tana, enjoying wifi at the Meva (PC house), mexican food, and time to hear everyone’s crazy stories. Unfortunately, two people in our stage also got pickpocketed so that was a downer.

IST is somewhat of a rite of passage because it means you have survived three months on your own, not knowing anyone, not speaking the language and not having anything to do. Most volunteers say that the first three months are the hardest…so everyone was excited to have made it this far. To celebrate, PC surprised us with lots of American food. Sandwiches, hotdogs and hamburgers, pizza, fried chicken and tacos! This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to anyone else, but for the volunteers, who have been eating mostly rice, pasta, potatos and vegetables,  seeing lunch meat, cheese, mustard, mayo, pickles, lettuce and tomato seemed like a slice of heaven. Not to mention the giant bowl of popcorn that was full all day every day.

Along with the American food, the volunteers made an attempt to get in the xmas spirit by decorating the training center, having our boss dress up like Santa, blaring xmas carols and doing secret santas. Unfortunately, the good food and good times also meant that almost everyone would get sick from the change in diet, the large quantity of food, and the traveling. I’m pretty sure every session we had about 4 people in bed recovering from stomach problems. The food was worth it though.  

After IST everyone headed back to Tana except for 8 volunteers who stayed for a second week of training about malaria, child/maternal health and project design and management. Our day off in between training we had a movie marathon and managed to watch 6 movies including all 4 Twilight movies. (MK and Mere, sorry for making fun of you so much for that…) But in our defense it was pouring rain all day so we didn’t have many other options…We did play in the rain at one point though.

For the second week of training the 8 of us brought our Malagasy counterparts with us. The information was really helpful, but it was really hard to sit through 5 days of training where we sat in one room from 8-5. I thought I would be excited to have a busy schedule at training, but now I realize that I like all my free time at site. The training was pretty helpful though. And during our sessions all the volunteers wrote some pretty good group poems, made training superlatives, and passed notes. It was almost like elementary school.

And other things that are very “Madagascar”…

·      My ATM finally came to the bank. But the bank is about an hour and a half from my site, and I didn’t have time to go back there before I left for training/vacation. Luckily there are no privacy rules here, so the bank gave my ATM card AND pin number to my friend because he said he would see me “sometime soon.”

·      I have also been suffering from some “malagasy ailments.” Every time I get bitten by a mosquito or bed bug or some other random bug that likes to eat my arms…I swell up a lot and then it gets infected because I scratch it. So the other day I had about 8 bandaids on my arms and legs trying to prevent me from scratching….It only helped a little. And then I got some weird skin fungus which apparently everyone has here. So yay! Apparently it will go away…in 6 months?

So that’s about all that’s going on here. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! I wish I could be celebrating with everyone. But I’m thinking of all of you and I miss everyone!

Five Months Down. Lots to go.

Five months ago I left home for staging! Its crazy to think that now I'm sitting in Madagascar, moved into a hut in my village, and am somewhat able to communicate in Malagasy. I guess a lot has happened in 5 months! 

Back to the land of internet so time for an update...although there hasn't been too much going on since I wrote at Thanksgiving. I'm back in Antananarivo for the weekend until our IST conference. My whole stage is back together for the first time since we all moved to our sites, so it is exciting to hear about everyone's towns and what everyone is up to. But its also a weird feeling going from my tiny village where I go to bed at 730pm and speak Malagasy all day, to a house with 30 PCVs in a place with hot showers, wifi, and English speakers. Its culture shock all over again. But I really do like the hot showers...and I even had nachos for dinner last night. Word on the street is that there is even a place where I can buy a bagel and cream cheese. If this is true, I will be a very happy person.

So since I last updated...I have acquired crayons and magazines (thank you Katie Leight), and the kids have gone crazy. They come and color in my house almost every day, and now I have an entire wall covered in pictures. And they really like looking at People magazine and describing what is happening in all the pictures....the girl with green eye shadow is really sick, and the girl wearing a dress with a big slit accidently ripped her clothes, and it goes on...Its pretty entertaining. The kids have also become really helpful and fetch my water and then bring me fruit. I can't eat the fruit fast enough to keep up with what they bring me. Lychees, pineapples, mangoes and bananas. I cannot complain. When I'm not melting in the humidity, I really love the East Coast. We will see what I think when the rainy season starts...


Lychee season changes everything in my town. People stop working, stop going to the clinic, stop doing everything except going into the forest and fetching lychees. All day every day. And now is one of the only times of year when people have a lot of money...so now people are drunk all the time, there are random fights in the market, and new market stalls appear every day. Its like a whole new town!

Last weekend there was a little goodbye party in Vatomandry for two PCVs who were finished with their service and then two other volunteers from a different NGO. We had a delicious dinner and even had cocktails with fresh mango and pineapple. It was a nice change from the cooking I do for myself. And then we went to a bar downtown and observed the crazy antics of drunk people in town. These two crazy men started fighting really close to us, and one guy ran over to a nearby fence, pulled out a huge stick and then ran down the street screaming. He didn't reappear the rest of the night, so I'm still not sure how that fight ended. It was a good time and I got to say goodbye to the volunteers who are leaving my region! In the morning, we woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise on the beach and it was beautiful. I'm pretty sure thats the only sunrise I've ever been awake for...and it might be the only one, but it was definitely beautiful.

I also have made some friends my age which is unbelievably exciting. They are health workers in nearby towns and in their 20s too...unlike many of the other people my age, they aren't married and don't have children! So we have a little more in common. One day they showed up at my house and said we were going to Vatomandry for the day to hang out on the beach. It was a fun surprise, so we went out to lunch (cow hoof soup) and then hung out on the beach all day. It was a nice change from the 3 year olds I usually socialize with...but I do love the 3 year olds too.

And I also had a Little Miss Sunshine moment, when I was taking a brousse to a friend's site about an hour away. Our brousse stopped to pick up some new passengers, and when the driver tried to restart the car it wouldn't start without a running push from about 5 of the passengers. I just laughed. And then on the way home, the brousse I got on had about 36 people in it already. When I sat down I had to misplace a small baby, who then was quickly put back on my lap. Oh Malagasy transportation...

But thats about all that is going on here in Madagascar. I'm hanging out in Tana for the rest of the weekend and then heading back to Mantasoa to the training center for our in-service training followed by a week of malaria training followed by a vacation for xmas and new years. Should be a good time.

 I just got a big batch of letters, so if you wrote me recently...I probably got it and I'm writing you back!! And keep the letters coming...they keep me sane.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! I keep forgetting that its that time of year...but someone should make a snow angel and drink hot chocolate in my honor. I'll melt in the 100 degree weather in return.

Happy Thanksgiving!

IWhere to even begin…Its hard to believe its November already, and the end of November at that. A volunteer told me that the days go slow and the time goes fast here…and they were right. On days with nothing going on I wake up and can’t imagine how I’m going to spend the next 12 hours, and then miraculously I’v been at site for almost three months. I’m also having trouble remembering its November because all my normal associations are gone-I’m not counting down until school break, I haven’t had to shovel snow yet, and the xmas decorations haven’t lined the shelves at my open air market….Its getting really, really hot here and sometimes I forget that its not this hot everywhere. But there are lychees everywhere and that makes me really happy.

Tamatave/VAC

At the end of October I got to travel a little for the VAC (volunteer advisory council) meeting. The volunteers in my region met in Foulpointe, a beach town perfect for vacation. After a 6 hour drive in a revamped delivery truck we made it. VAC was a good chance to meet the other volunteers around me, sit on the beach and eat really good seafood. Before leaving a group of us paid a guy to take us to the reef in his canoe. It was beautiful and we got to see all kinds of crazy/creepy sea creatures.

From Foulpointe I went to Tamatave where I was going to help out with a health program with American doctors. We stayed at this NGO’s compound, St. Gabriel, which was started by a group of men from India. So we spent the week eating delicious Indian food every night. The program focused on training midwives on best practices, best equipment and best mdicine. So along with 2 weeks of training, the organization donated $150,000 worth of medical equipment and $30,000 worth of meds to a health clinic in Tamatave. It was pretty cool to see the midwives learning to use an ultrasound machine for the first time. I also managed to witness live birth. My stomach could only handle about 5 minutes. 4 women in 1 room in 1 hour…and no one even screamed. People believe that women who scream during birth let the spirits in, so unlike the States, the birthing process is relatively quiet. Still messy though.

Life at Site Continues

The days all blend together here. I usually don’t know what day of the week it is, until its Thursday and I have to take my malaria meds….the rest of the days are pretty much the same. But they’re good days.

The kids have started to make my home their home. So even before I open my doors in the morning, I see little heads peaking through the floorboards under my house. Then when I open my doors—in they run. They love looking at my pictures from home and now they know everyon’es name in my pictures. So I hear a 3 year old explaining that this is my uncle and those are the people she lived with in college….its pretty cute. And I’ve come to accept that my best friends are going to be under 10, and that’s ok.

I still have incredible amounts of down time. I sleep 12 hours a night, finish about a book a day and try to do things inefficiently so I know I have something to do later. (That’s a big adjustment for an econ major who likes efficiency). But that’s the pace of life here. Especially since its so hot, everyone moves in slow motion-if at all.

Other things that remind me I’m in Madagascar…

One day I was weighing babies with my counterpart and I met a newborn named Jackie Chan. Seriously.

And my new house that was supposed to be built 2 months ago-a worker has reappeared (but only briefly). At least long enough to tear down the 4 walls it once had. Seriously. One morning my new house had 4 walls. The next day it had no walls. Now it has about 1.5, but the worker has disappeared again. When I tried to ask someone where the walls went, all they said was “tsy mety, tsy mety”—not okay, not okay. My thoughts on the slow progress include: 1. No money. 2. Too hot. 3. Everytime the new materials are dropped off, they quickly become firewood for the neighbors (I actually saw this.)

In an effort to learn more about my community, Sahondra took me to meet the village elders, tangalamenas. They told me about the history of Tsarasambo which was cool to learn about, but it went something like this. 1. I ask a question in ‘gasy. 2. Sahondra rewords my question in ‘gasy. 3. Elder speaks really fast in ‘gasy. 4. Sahondra dumbs down response into words I might understand. 5. I write notes in English…Its comical how much is probably lost in translation.

One night I was laying in my bed and I heard a loud crash. I thought my bed was broken. Nope. It was actually the floor of my house (which is raised about a foot off the ground). My bed had fallen through the floor, all the way to the ground. Since it was nighttime, I had to wait until morning to fix it…it wasn’t the most comfortable night of sleep…

I made a new 12 year old friend who comes to my house after school. One afternoon she mentioned in passing that two kids in the town next to mine were eaten by a crocodile the day before. WHAT. I’m still not sure if its true or not…but I probably won’t be swimming for awhile.

One typical day at the market I was buying my veggies and I heard yelling. When I looked up there was a runaway angry cow charging through the streets. It was like a movie. Parents and kids running away. Cow charging through the busy market. Taxi brousse coming straight at it. Five ‘gasy men trying to catch it. It was a fiasco to say the least…

Last week I went to visit a friend an hour away but I picked the wrong brousse. A 45 minute drive took 3 hours because we stopped for so long. Instead of hiring moving trucks people just use the brousses. So our first stop turned into an hour wait while a house moved all its furniture from inside to the top of the brousse. I’m pretty sure there was a couch, 2 chairs a mattress, a bike and some other stuff up there. The next stop took just as long. Luckily I was sandwiched between two people who spoke some English, so that was fun at least.

And then I actually did some real health work. I went out with 4 other health workers and some government workers to the farthest fokontanys (villages) to do trainings. I was told we would leave at 8, so of course someone came to tell me we were leaving at 630. Nothing happens when it says it will here! It was a 10km hike up and down hills…in the sun! Yikes. Super hot. But it was beautfiul. We held the training in a school, but you wouldn’t have known it was a school. The walls were falling down, and there were no desks, chairs or blackboard. The training went well though. Until halfway through, they said, “okay Corey, now talk about health.” I don’t like being put on the spot in English, but it makes it a little harder in Malagasy….so I talked for about 30seconds about hand washing…I doubt anyone understood anything I said, but that’s okay. When I got back from the 10km hike home, there were kids camped out at my door wanting to learn English. So before I knew it there were 10 kids in my 1 room hut with their notebooks out. It was pretty cute. I had to kick them out everytually when I needed to cook!

And I finally got a chance to take a ton of pictures of my site, which I hadn’t done before. A friend in town also needed pictures, so we spent about 2 days running around town and all the close villages taking pictures…(hopefully I’ll be able to upload some in the near future…) Since he was Malagasy he didn’t feel awkward about taking pictures of people about 1 ft from their face, or yelling at people harvesting rice to pose for a pictures. Although it was awkward for me, I got some good pictures of it.

Shout Outs!

Thank you to everyone who has called/sent letters! MK, Corinne, Mere, Chasen, Jenna-I love hearing your voices!!! And I finally got a huge delivery of mail, so if you wrote me, expect a letter back! Brooke, Katie (thank you thank you for the magazines), MK, Corinne, Chasen, Patrick, Zach, Alyssa—you guys are the best. 

Thanksgiving

My first Thanksgiving not in Michigan. It was definitely an adventure. I got together with a group of volunteers in Mahanoro for our own version of Thanksgiving. We bought a live turkey at the market (later named Mildred), dug a huge pit for an oven, and managed to kill/pluck/roast a turkey, make sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, green beans, other potatoes, stuffing and other Thanksgiving goodnesses. Everything is a little more complicated without an oven, but everything turned out surprisingly delicious. And then we had smores at a bonfire on the beach. So although I wasn’t at home for the Thanksgivings I grew up with, it was still a memorable one. Although I miss all you friends and family who might still be reading this….

But that’s about all that is new with me…In a few weeks I’ll be back in Tana for a few weeks of training, and then a potential vacation for Christmas and New Years! We will see….I hope everyone is doing well in the states! Miss you all!

Living in a Zoo

So This is What It’s Like To Live in a Zoo…

Being on display all the time is what gets me. There’s never a time when you can be sure to have privacy-even when I’m sick in bed there are people at my door asking what I’m doing. Throwing up, what about you? The other night while I was trying to fall asleep I heard the guy who lives across the street cough. The next morning I wondered if I should stop by and see if he’s feeling better…But I have a new respect for animals at the zoo. They somehow manage to go about their business without paying mind to the faces at their door. I know when I’m taking a nap and 3 little faces appear at my door-its hard to ignore them. Especially because they’ve learned the term “bye bye” and they repeat it about 20 times in a a really high pitched voice. I tried to explain to them that if they say “bye bye” they have to leave…they didn’t understand. It might be because they are 3 years old.

Mahanoro

Two weeks ago I went to my banking town for some R&R and fellow American time. I left my house around 7:45 to go find a brousse in the market. My friend who helps find passengers for the brousses said there would be one at 8. So I waited. 8:30-still no brousse. It started to rain. A drunk guy kept coming over to “talk.” A girl asked about 10000 questions about the US and my family and why I wasn’t married, and only stopped because I told her I couldn’t speak anymore Malagasy because my head hurt. 9:30 still nothing. Drunk guy getting increasingly annoying. Girl still asking questions. Eventually I found a place to sit and it quickly turned into English lessons. Fine with me! It was a good way to pass the time. And it became clear that the the things people know about the US are straight from the movies. I was asked whether there are wars going on in the streets, where Spiderman lives, and whether there are penguins in Michigan. Eventually…3 hours later, I found a brousse to take me to Mahanoro! The weekend was great and I was able to charge my kindle (a win for my sanity) and since it rained all weekend I didn’t feel bad about catching up on American TV rather than hanging out on the beach. There also happened to be a big Apokalypsy Church convention in town so Sam and I were invited into a big prayer meeting/rock concert (I apologize if I’m not using the right terms-I’m not up to date on my religious learnings). We also met the guy who started the Apokalypsy Church in Madagascar. Apparently it has hundreds of thousands of members, which is pretty cool. He also drives a yellow H2 hummer-because “the roads are bad.” I’m pretty sure that is the only hummer in this country. A favorite highlight was watching the priests take turns posing in front of the hummer. I wonder what church members say when they live on $2/day and his gas costs $40/day.

One Month At Site Anniversary

What better way to celebrate than throwing up on the side of the road…twice. There’s nothing like an initiation into PC like being sick in public. So on my one month anniversary, I conveniently got a bout of food poisoning. And I’m pretty sure food poisoning sucks everywhere, but sitting on the dirt floor of my kabone, with my insides hating me, has got to be up there with the worst. Luckily it lasted less than a day and I was fine again. Unlukcily, the whole town knows about my “marary kibo,” sick stomach.

Shout Outs

I love you all and miss you all SO MUCH. Chasen, Sara, Jenna, Mere—you rock my socks. It was so good getting to hear your real live voices. It made my day, week, MONTH. Also family, thanks for calling every week. Its great to hear from you. Also, for everyone who said they’ve put letters in the mail…they are still in transit, but I LOVE YOU TOO and I’ll write you back ASAP!

Mother/Child Health Week

Oct. 17-21 is a big health week in Mada. It’s the semiannual distribution of vitamin A for kids under 5, deworming pills, free birth control for all, and HIV/AIDS and syphillis testing. Everything during this week is free, so it draws a big crowd. I helped out everyday and gave a little talk about nutrition, vitamin A, vaccines, etc., and then watched the happenings in the clinic. I didn’t have too much to do because there were 5 other health workers also helping out…but I did get to do some good people watching/life watching. For those who know me well-I have a very low tolerance for anything remotely abnormal with the body, or smelly potatoes (thanks for handling that one Taylor roommates), so I can’t say that I was too hungry this week. I saw some crazy things.
    •    One woman came in with a foot bleeding and pussing. I made the mistake of looking when she was shooing flies off of it. When the doctor was done the husband had to go dispose of a tray full of blood-and then clean it himself. I guess the clinic will supply the tools, you supply the cleaning? I don’t want to know where that tray was emptied…
    •    I’m also pretty sure I saw a 12 year old come in for a Depo shot. And its great that she knows about birth control and that she’s using it, but its still shocking to see the young age of these girls. Teen pregnancy is a huge issue here. Also dental hygiene.
    •    Another woman came in for a Depo shot and she lifted her shirt and her entire side was covered in some pussy, scaly skin infection. I’m not sure if that is the medically correct way to describe it-but I don’t have a medical background.

Working at the clinic has brought back memories of working in my dad’s office in the summers. Aside from looking forward to a huge pile of letters to fax, making sure everyone signed HIPAA and the privacy act was a highlight of my day. Its kinda the same here. In a room full of 10 women, lets all do syphillis tests and write the results with everyone’s full names on a piece of paper in front of everyone. Or, here we’re going to sttch up your leg, who wants to watch?

Its definitely a different world here. I live in Madagascar. I’m not sure if it has set in yet.

Other funny things…

On the first day of installation PC takes you around to meet all the important people in your town and they give copies of your passport to the commune for their records, or something…But that becomes common knowledge. While I was sitting in the market waiting for the taxi brousse to Mahanoro, someone from the commune office came up to me and started reciting the names of my parents, where I lived and my birthday. At first I was a little weirded out…until he told me he had been reading my passport. I’m not sure if that made me feel any better.

Since I’ve been here I’ve been missing the randomest things from the States, and at the weirdest times. I might be going crazy. Yesterday, while using my kabone, I couldn’t stop thinking about Target and all the greatness that is that store. Another time I was working at the clinic and I started missing the kitchen in our Taylor apartment, all 5 square feet of it. I don’t know where these thoughts come from…but they are pretty funny.

Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on” is still a crowd favorite here. One afternoon my counterpart’s husband thought it would be fun for me to translate every word in English into Malagasy. First that involved listening to the song 5 times and writing down all the lyrics. Then I had to go word for word, trying to explain that it doesn’t translate directly, referencing my 2 dictionaries and getting super frustrated, all over Celine Dion. The song did bring back good memories of 4th grade though. Two hours later, I said I had to go to the market. We could finish the second half of the song later.

And thats about it for now.

I'm off to a meeting with other volunteers in the region. And then I'm working with some American doctors and helping to translate some Malagasy for a week...Should be interesting since I still don't speak very good Malagasy...but it will be a nice change of pace.

I miss everyone so much!

LOVE YOU ALL!

3 Months!

Internet-so we meet again. I take back what I said about having more internet once at site.  Maybe once I get a bike it will be easier-but the one town with internet (15k away) only has internet sometimes. Last time I went to try to use the internet they said they didn’t have “the code” or something. If you are an internet café but you can’t get the internet, I’m not sure what that makes you…other than frustrating.

Side Note: New Address

The other address still works so you can still use it, but this one I will have access to more often.

Corey

BP 22

CP 510

Mahanoro

Madagascar

I have no idea what those numbers stand for…but it seems to get here.

Right now I’ve taken my monthly banking days to travel to Mahanoro. This is a much bigger town where I can use the internet, visit some friends, and charge my kindle. Oh, and also go to the bank so I have money to buy food…and more importantly cell phone credit so I can talk to friends in my infinite free time.

I apologize for being out of touch. I had even hand written a bunch of emaills in prep of using the internet, but that was before my failed attempt. Here is take 2. I think “out of touch” takes on a whole new meaning here in Madagascar. The only news that I’ve heard is that Steve Jobs died (side note: I tried to pay him triute in my hut by listening to my ipod, but alas that is out of batteries too) and I received a good deal of celebrity gossip from Jenna (thank you so much J-that made my day!). But other than that I’m out of touch on world news, celebrity news, and even Malagasy news. Although I did hear that Mada finally signed something with the international committee so their exiled ex-president can return without being arrested. I think that’s progress. I think it also lays the framework for future elections. Who knows when/if this will actually happen. From what I’ve noticed here (in my 3 months-I’m no expert)-the politics and the person in power has a very small (if at all) impact on the daily life of an Malagasy person, at least in the countryside where I live. Their main focus is on feeding a family rather than what is going on in Tana.

What I’ve Been Up To…

Not a whole lot. At all. I’ve been reading A Lot which unfortunately left me with a dead kindle. Luckily I had 2 paperbacks on reserve for when that happened…unluckily I finished one of them in a day. I just hope the next book is like the Miracle of Lights and lasts me until my trip to Mahanoro. If I finish my one remaining paperback-I will resort to reading my Madagascar travel guide cover to cover. Who knows, it might provide me some good tips on where to take visitors.

So other than reading excessively and progressing steadily through my book of NYT cross-word puzzles (shout out Dad-good idea to bring that), I’ve swept my house about 147 times, started reading the Malagasay dictionary in hopes of one day being “mahay” and built myself a hand-washing station outside my kabone. Yay good hygiene! I’ve also done laundry in the river-literally standing thing deep in the river-made many batches of homemade peanut butter (definitely worth the 3 hours of labor that goes into it), and sat at my doorstep for approximately 30 hours. Ah the life of a PCV. According to Brad, this is normal. But I have actually done a few health related things since I’ve been here…

1)   On vaccine day at the clinic I went to help out. But I got there and found out that the doctor had left to go get the vaccines in a different town.  So I decided to come back a few hours later. When I returned there were 40 women and kids still waiiting, and no doctor in sight. I went next door to the doctor’s house, and there she was taking a nap. Eventually we did get around to giving the vaccines, and I got to sit and watch…and occasionally write something.

2)   I gave my first health talk at the clinic. It was about nutrition for preganant women. Aside from being terrified to speak ‘gasy in front of a bunch of people I didn’t know-I was excited to actually do something. It went okay, but the doctor had to repeat everything I said in a different way so the women would understand. Apparently that is normal too.

3)   And then I’ve gotten to weigh babies with my counterpart. Its pretty funny to watch because you put the babies in a pair of shorts and hang them from a scale. Without fail-every baby cries, and some pee their pants. But its something. Every child is supposed to be weighed monthly until they are 5. And most of the time monthers are good about coming back every month. We also did a cooking demo for a healthy meal pregnant women can make.

In un-health related activities I’ve done a few things too. The mayor’s son and nephew both speak some English so they come over to practice sometimes. And I’ve met with some people who want to learn English. Then 2 weeks ago a volunteer in the town 15k away was going to work on a world map project where you paint a map on the side of the school. I went to his town for the day to help out and a few other volunteers came too. But it was hot, and Malagasy time kicked in, and we didn’t have a meter stick to make the grid, so we ended up just hanging out on the beach instead. At least we had the intention of working.

Other Random Tidbits…

·      Somedays I really think the language is getting easier, and other days not so much. One day I went on a long walk with my counterpart, and she started talking about a guy in town who had seemed really nice and helped me move in, etc. Then she went on to use some words I didn’t completely understand. But if I did understand correctly, this seemingly nice guy killed someone and was in jail for a year…which might explain his giant homemade tattoo…or maybe she was trying to tell me that he worked in a hospital for kids. Its those key words that I still seem to be missing…

·      Me talking on the phone in English  apparently is the most entertaining thing to watch in this town (the 2^nd being me buying food at the market) so when I’m in my house (a supposedly private place) I draw a crowd. The neighbor kids have no problem staring at my door, or even venturing inside to stare.

·      I got another lesson in Malagasy privacy when I was having a hard day. It was mabe my 5^th day of not having anything to do and I was a little homesick and blah blah blah…So I was talking to my mom on the phone and I had a good cry and the next day it was the tak of the town. The day Corey cried. This day happened to coincide with the first day of school for all lthe kids who had been my friends up to that point. So it was assumed I was crying because I didn’t have friends. If I could count the number of times I heard someone say “manginagina satria tsy misy namana” (which means its quiet because you don’t have any friends) I’d be a millionaire…even in the States. So pretty soon the whole town is thinking I’m really sad, which is funny because I’m not…However, them thinking this came with some nice perks. Every few hours they sent over a little kid with food. And in the evening they sent over the son with sweet potatoes. He speaks some English so he tried to tell me that my friends are far away, 2 years is a long time, and if I want to talk, I can talk to him. It was a really nice gesture, and a pretty funny story. I won’t be surprised if this follows me the two years.

·      Going to school here is an interesting concept too. Since I live in the countryside-the schools are not very good. Some days the teachers don’t want to teach-so they don’t. Other days, the kids are done by 9am. Other days kids don’t go because they have to farm with their family, school is too far away, or there is no money…

·      I’ve also started to develop a list of things to do when I’m bored…So far I have two ideas. First, play this fun game in my hut called find cell phone service. Its always changing and if I’m lucky it will keep me entertained for hours. And one of these days I’m going to play myself in bananagrams and try to use all the letters. I think that could potentially take all day.

·      I still haven’t moved into my new house yet. It was supposed to be done my first week…and they were really motivated at first. They even started construction at 6am one day. But now things are at a standstill-I haven’t seen builders in over a week. I hope they finish soon because its started to rain harder in my hut.

·      And now I’m the proud owner of a live chicken. After weighing babies one day, a women came up to me and my counterpart with a chicken and a papaya. I got the chicken, and she got the fruit. I’m not sure how to raise a chicekn, but I’m hoping the mayor’s wife will show me. And apparently in 6 months it will be ready to eat…

Shout out MK-Even though I could only here your voice briefly before I lost service…it made me so happy! Thanks for trying!

Okay that’s it for my ridiculously long post. I miss everyone so much. I hope everything is going well in the States. If you write me a letter I promise to write you back!

I’ll update again when I can!

culture shock again

I live in a tree house. At least that’s what it feels like. My house is made of sticks and leaves, when it rains it rains inside too (although thats not supposed to happen) and when the wind blows it blows inside too. When I’m laying under my mosquito net I feel like I’m a little kid camping out in a tree fort. But no, this is actually my life now. Woah.

So where to begin-a lot has happened since I wrote last.

End of training

I finally finished training! I never thought that would happen-especially on day 1 when you see a detailed schedule of the next 9 weeks of your life. But its over. The last 5 weeks of training went by really fast and by the end I think everyone was ready to be done…including the trainers. We had 4 health presentations in Malagasy and they went well. Two of tehm were teaching hour long classes at the school. Monica, Ellen and I taught 6-eme and 10-nde. The 6-eme class was awesome. They loved singing about healthy foods and they were really participatory. Our nutrition lesson went well. Then we did HIV/AIDS/STIs with the 10nde class but it was a little harder because they would answer our questions in ways that we couldn’t understand. It would have helped if we spoke a little more ‘gasy. Oh well. Along with presentations we had our final language test. Everyone has to get intermediate mid before they are allowed to go to site. And everyone in our stage passed. Either we’re a really mazoto stage like everyone says, or PC is out of $$ and they can’t afford not to let people go to site. Either way, our group is fairly competent in gasy. Enough so that Pc will send us off on our own.

To celebrate being done with presentations and the language test, a big group of us ventured to a little slice of paradise called La Hermitage. I like to refer to it as “Mantasoa’s best kept secret.” It’s a 4 star hotel and restaurant plopped down in the middle of nowhere. It seems a litle out of place among the rice paddies and cow herds, but no complaints here. They had pizza, Heineken and spaghetti. We were very happy campers.

Other unofficial sessions during training included a nightly dance party. The Malagasy love to dance, and the minute American music comes on, so do the trainees. One such memorable dance party included clearing the room and running and jumping/sliding on pillows across the floor (slip n slide style). Unfortunately this dance party ended in someone needing stiches…

Anyway, then came swearing in as official volunteers. Fun fact: we take the same oath as the president does! Swearing in was a really nice ceremony. It felt a little reminiscent of highschool open houses with a tent set up on the basketball court and couches moved outside, but it was nice. Usually swearing in takes place in Tana, but because of the current political situation, we did it at the training center. And usually people from the embassy come, but they planned a big party for the same day, so no such luck. But all our host families came and after the official ceremony we crammed 200 people inside for lunch. Nice and cozy. The next day, almost all the volunteers left for site…except for the lucky 8 who got to stay another night. One perk of being the “leftovers” was getting delicious pity food-brownies, steak and lasagna. Yum.

Installation

Finally it was my turn to go to site. My installation group included Franka and Modeste-two trainers-Sam and I. (Hi Sam’s parents-if you’re reading this!), and a PC car and driver Johnny. Johnny loves American club music so our 6 hour drive was entertaining to say the least. We drove a few hours to Moramanga where we stopped to do some shopping. But without having seen my house, that was difficult. We walked into a store they they said “Okay, buy what you need to furnish your house and live for 2 years in Madagascar.” (Well not in those words…) It was overwhelming to say the least. I managed to buy clothespins and cups. Then we drove on…and eventually we showed up in my town, Tsarasambo. To find my house, we yelled at people walking by to tell us where the mayor lived. And luckily we found it. We arrived at my house, and the mayor appeared out of nowhere. I stumbled over my Malagasy words and tried to introduce myself (I think that’s why they make fluent Malagasy speakers go with you). They had built me a bed and hung some curtains already. And there was a pile of coconuts in the corner. We cracked them open to celebrate.

My house is made of local materials (aka sticks and banana leaves). Its in the mayor’s compound so there are tons of people around. There are bananas and pineapples growing outside. It’s a one room house and its cute. Apparently they’re building me a new house though. Right next door. There’s a big pile of bleaves to prove it…but we’ll see if it actually gets built. They’re also building me my own kabone…until that actually happens, I get to walk across a rice paddy.

So after briefly seeing my house we left for Sam’s town, Mahanoro, which is also my banking town. In Mahanoror we opened bank accounts (which took about 4 hours), bought new phones,

SHOUT OUT-CALL ME PLEASE. I MISS YOU ALL AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR VOICE. MY NUMBER IS 11261337974570 OR 11261348162197. YOU CAN BUY SKYPE CREDIT AND ITS SUPER CHEAP AND ILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.

And did some more shopping. I bought a mattress which we carried through town on a pousse pousse (rick shaw). And we spent about 4 hours looking for where to buy a gas stove. No luck-which meant no cooking for awhile. We moved Sam into his house at the school and then back to Tsarasambo for me.

We got to my house and started making sure everything was in order. We added latches to the doors and changed the locks. Then I went to Vatomandry (the closest big town) and went on courtesy visits. I was introduced to the police, the gendarme and some NGOs in town. Then I also had to do a formal visit to the mayor even though he lives next door and walks past my door shirtless….And then, PC drove away.

Rumor has it that some volunteers chase after the PC car as it drives away. While I did not chase after the car, I did have a good, long, “OMG What have I done” moment…and a good cry. There’s not much else you can do at that point because reality hits. I’m here for 2 years. Shit.

Luckily (and unluckily) there are about 15-20 kids at the mayor’s house so they slowly accumulated at my door and that was a good distraction. I had my first dinner at the mayor’s house since I didn’t have a stove, and I found myself sitting in a chair covered in stuffed animals. And then I slept…a good, solid 11 hours. Which still left me waking up at 6am.

First Few Days

The downside of living right on the main road is that taxi brousses (think minivan with 25 people inside) start passing around 4:30 am, and the rest of the compound wakes up around 5:30. I, not too happily, crawl out of bed around 6:30.

So now-here I am. I’m finally at my site where I’ll be for the next 2 years. I’m trying to take it day by day so I don’t get too overwhelmed. But all the volunteers say the first 3 months are the hardest. I still don’t speak good Malagasy, no one knows me yet, and I don’t have any projects to work on. And the days are so long.

If I ever complained about not having free time in college or during training, I take it back. I’ve never had so much time. I don’t really know what to do with myself. I usually go to the market 2-3 times a day. I sit at my door and say hi to people who walk by. I plan out meals I want to cook-and then replan when I realize I can’t buy that food here. I take my time washing dishes. I sweep my house about 4 times. Sometimes I just go walk around. And I read a lot. I’ve made friends with a lot of little girls and they come talk to me sometimes. And when I say talk-I mean we sit in silence and then they laugh when I try to speak ‘gasy. Some people come over to practice English too.

One of the mayors’ sons (he has 10) has made my home renovations his new pet project. So he comes over sometimes and builds shelves and hangs my pots and does other helpful things. He helps me with Malagasy and I teach him some English. And after the first rain storm he was particularly helpful in fixing all the leaks in my house. Interestingly enough, fixing the roof here entails ripping off leaves from good parts of the roof and patching leaking parts. No comment. Also, conveniently, there was a big leak right over my bed. Since my mattress is sponge, (the same exact csponge I was my dishes with), the mattress absorbed a lot of water. YAY. Well anyway, my house now only leaks a little. And my new house…it will be waterproof! (Hopefully).

But now my handyman friend left and its back to sitting and staring. When I looked up the word for lonely in Malagasy it said, “malahelo satria tsy manana namana”. This literally translates to “sad because don’t have friends.” I wouldn’t say I’m lonely-I have about 20 friends age 8-12 who come and stare at me and sometimes do my dishes and fetch me water. ScORE.

One morning I woke up and it was pouring so I decided to wait to do dishes and fetch water. I planned to lay in bed and read until the rain stopped. But before I knew it, 2 girls were washing my dishes and 2 others brought me water. In exchange, I painted their nails. Fair trade?

So the next few weeks I’ll be hangin gout in my tree fort, reading, trying to learn Malagsy and getting used to this new life. Its awesome though. Later this week I get to help with vaccine day at the health clinic and the next week I’ll help weigh babies with my counterpart. And that’s about it.

Anyway, I miss everyone so much and I love phone calls and letters. If you write me I promise to write you back! I hope all is well at home. I’m looking forward to hearing updates. From here on out I’ll hopefully have internet a little more often, but I’m also not holding my breath….

And two more funny stories before I leave the internet café…

One day after running out of toilet paper I decided to make it that day’s goal…to purchase more tp. Seemed like an easy task until I went to every epicerie in town and no one sold toilet paper. Thankfully, I have some NYT left over from a carepackage (thanks dad), and I have a new urgency to read it.

Also, the second time I used by kabone-I almost fell in. The wood was rotted through, and I took one wrong step and my leg went through. It could have ended quite badly, but I caught myself. Crisis averted. Now if only my new kabone would hurry up and be finished….

If you’re still reading this…I’m amazed at your dedication. Sorry for such a long post, but theres a lot to talk about.

Miss you all!

Fun Fact

If you had to guess what the gas tank of a taxi in Tana was made of...what would you say?

If you guessed an empty coke bottle...you would be correct. I found this out today when the taxi I was in stopped at a gas station, the driver got out with an empty coke bottle, filled it up at the pump, put it back in the car and stuck a tube in it. Apparently that works...

Maybe cars in the states would be a lot cheaper if they adopted this new technology. Just a thought.

Demystified

Another blog post within a week…this is unheard of! Right now I'm "borrowing" wireless from an organization in the center of town where I'm visiting a current PCV. They haven't figured out how to lock their wireless, and I'm not complaining. 

Two other trainees and I are staying with a SED (small enterprise development) volunteer in Arivonimamo (an hour drive from Tana) to learn about her life and her work and the realities of being a PC volunteer.  We started by spending the day in Tana and going to Jumbo, a huge grocery store. It was a weird feeling being back in a grocery store! No bargaining. Packaged products. Refrigeration. But I realize that I’m getting more accustomed to prices here in Madagascar because I was shocked at how expensive things were at the grocery store! Shampoo and conditioner for 10,000 Ar (2000Ar=1USD). WHAT? Even if it was Garnier Fructis… But I was amazed at the wonders of a grocery store…Twix bars, marshmallows, packaged and prepared meat…Crazy. After Jumbo, we continued to see the highlights of Tana, and we went to Happy King, a Chinese owned fried chicken fast food restaurant. It’s a favorite among volunteers and the closest you can get to fast food. Its on the 2^nd floor of a really nice office building, so it seems a little out of place, but delicious nonetheless.

Then we headed to Arivonimamo on my first taxi-brousse ride. Luckily, it was only an hour and it wasn’t nearly as bad as our security officer has made us believe. No drunk men harassing you, no drunk driver, no mechanical problems and no one vomiting out the window. Score.

I lucked out with hosts for our demyst though. We had heard that she had a really nice house, but her house is amazing. Posh Corps you could say. It’s a brand new house, and it came with a guard who lives in a little house in the front yard. She has tile floors, electricity, a kitchen and indoor bathroom (but no running water) and a well 10 ft from her door. So while this was supposed to be a good look at what living like a PC volunteer would be, I can’t get used to this kind of living. I’m pretty sure my living situation will be a little different. But I did enjoy this four days while I had it.

We took the opportunity of having four Americans together, to cook as much food from home as we could. We started with a huge pot of pasta (and no rice!). For breakfast we had bacon and eggs. And we made 48 sliders for lunch (for four people…). To top it off, we made smores over a candle with marshmallows, chocolate and coconut wafers. AMAZING.We also had french toast and tonight we're eating spaghetti. I feel like I'm back in the States!

While on demyst we also did a little work? We went to the local health clinic and asked about the health issues in the community. We also went to the village’s soccer game against another village. We met with the Chef Fokontany (president of the village) and also went to the market. We tried to walk into the hospital to ask some questions about health in the town, but we got chased away because we weren't allowed to even look around without talking to the inspector..No one really knows who the inspector was though. Oh well. 

When I get back to the training center on Tuesday its back to training …but only for four weeks. Within that four weeks I have to give three health talks in Malagasy, pass a language exam and learn a lot more about health in Madagascar. And then real life begins...On September 16th we swear in as volunteers and then off to Tsarasambo! I'll update when I can! I miss you all. Keep sending emails and letters!

Welcome to Madagascar

First blog post from Madagascar! By now its week...5? And we finally have found internet. But only because we’re on our tech trip to Tamatave which has been great so far. Its definitely a good introduction into Malagasy work culture. For example, we showed up at the first NGO this morning only to find out that the doctor we were supposed to meet with wasn’t there…we waited around for 30 minutes and he was a no show, so we decided to go back later. When we went back, it was closed. The second NGO we visited, the person we were supposed to meet with had gone on vacation. Oops. But we did get to see a factory that makes latrines and also does solar water purification. That was pretty cool. And, since we’re in a bigger town that is a tourist destination, there is pizza and icecream. It’s a little like heaven.

But…for a brief recap of what I’ve been up to the past few weeks…

I arrived in Madagascar on July 13^th after the longest consecutive travel that I’ve ever done. An unexpected benefit of this was that my any jet lag I should have experienced from the 7-hour time difference was counteracted by pure exhaustion. I first went to Philly for staging. After arriving at noon we had to check out at 2am, drive 3 hours to NYC, wait around for 6 hours until we could get on our flight to Johannesburg…and 16 hours later we were…still not there. We had just a long enough layover for 27 of us to run through the airport, cut everyone in the security line and get on our flight for Madagascar.

Right now I’m in the midst of Pre-Service training which is 9 weeks total. The first half we lived with a homestay and now for the second half we live and train at the training center. The center is beautiful and feels like summer camp! The training center is on a lake…which we unfortunately can’t swim in because of schizomitosis (or something?)…But there are basketball courts, a volleyball court and best of all running (hot) water and electricity! They also have canoes which we would be able to use if they didn’t all have holes in them…Sometimes living at the training center makes me forget where I am. One weekend it was a really nice day, so my friend and I carried a couch outside and sat by the lake and read our books. A few sailboats passed by with French tourists and then following close behind was a small canoe full of rice. But living at the training center is definitely a sheltered life. The homestay was a little different.

My homestay was great though. I lived in a small village (approx. 400 people) called Lohomby. The drive from Mantasoa where the training center is, to Lohomby (7 km) took about 45 minutes. You could say the road was in rough condition…I lived with a mom, dad, two kids, and grandmother. Two other grandparents lived upstairs. The kids (a 1yr old boy and 3 yr old girl) were adorable when they weren’t crying or throwing food on the floor. The parents were both teachers and actually spoke a lot of English. We lived across the street from the church and next to the EPP (primary school where we had class everyday). The only unfortunate part of this convenient location was trying to dry all my laundry outside the church on Sunday. I tried to dry my underwear in my room….but to no avail. When my host-mom figured out what I was doing she made me bring it all outside. Yay for lack of privacy! The house was a two story house and my family ate/cooked/slept all in one room. I had my own room next door. The family had tons of chickens, a pregnant cat, a cow and some pigs. We had a pit latrine in the back, a shower shed and a cooking area outside. My family really liked Michael Jackson and on my last night at homestay, they powered up the generator so we could watch Michael Jackson music videos and dance until bedtime at 8.

Other highlights from my homestay include:

·      Getting used to host mom, and other moms in the community, breastfeeding everywhere-next to me at dinner, next to me at church, next to me walking down the street…

·      One day we were going to take a family photo so everyone got a little dressed up…including my little sister who came out in a Winnie the Pooh Costume

·      Opening the door to find a fish salesman with a bucket of live fish…my host mom decided to buy some and then proceed to teach me how to de-scale and gut them. I had to leave because I felt nauseous….my host mom laughed at me and said that I won’t be eating fish at site…

Overall the food was great though! My mom was a good cook, and she cooked a lot of “Americanized dishes” that PC suggested. She cooked over fire, but luckily she cooked outside which let the smoke disperse. My mom taught me to start the fire (which, despite all my practice at starting a campfire, is incredibly hard), roast peanuts, make peanut butter and roast coffee. In return I taught them about the wonders of French toast and hamburgers. Every meal consisted of rice and a loaka (side dish), which usually was vegetables and some sort of meat.

 Every few days I went to fetch my water, which was a 250m hike up and down hills and through rice paddies. No matter when I went, my 3 yr old sister along with 12 other neighborhood girls would magically appear and want to go with me. This got tricky when the 3yr old got tired and I had to carry her in one arm, a bucket of water in another, and hop across rocks to avoid falling in the mud. 

By the end of homestay I had my routine down. I woke up around 6:30, cleaned and swept my room, got ready for class and occasionally suffered through the cold to take a bucket shower, helped my mom make breakfast, ate and went to class. We had 4 hours of Malagasy class in the morning. Then we had a break for lunch and a nap and then from 2-5 we had either technical (health) training or cultural training. After class I would go home, fetch water, play with some neighborhood kids, help my mom cook dinner and then close up my room and house for the night. It gets dark around 6 so by 5:45 everyone has locked themselves into their houses for the night. We would eat dinner around 6 or 6:30 and then I would go back to my room by 7:30. I usually tried to study for a little while by candlelight and then go to bed by 8. Yes, 8pm…and I had no complaints. Its surprisingly easy to get used to no electricity and using candles are fun. I did have a headlamp, which was very useful…until I dropped it on the floor on the second day. Oops.

But I’m happy so far! I’ve made some good friends and I’m feeling comfortable here. We moved back to the training center a week ago, and now its like summer camp with a bar including dance parties and movie nights (we watched Sister Act on VHS last night…jealous?). Training has been going well and the next few weeks are going to go really fast.

I’m writing while on our tech trip to Tamatave on the East Coast but after this we go for 4 days of demyst. We’re going to stay with current volunteers to give us an idea of what PC life is like at site. When we get back from our trip I have to give three health presentations in Malagasy before swearing in on Sept. 16!

On Sept. 17^th (ish) we head to our sites. I’m going to be in a small town called Tsarasambo that loosely translates to “Good Boats!” Its on the East Coast about 6 hours from Antananarivo. Unfortunately, my site is not on a map, and according to Alyssa nothing comes up when you google it…I’m the only volunteer at my site but there are a few volunteers 20km north of me and a friend from my group 80km south of me. What I know is that I’m going to have a one room house in the mayor’s compound. My house is made of local materials and doesn’t have running water or electricity. Apparently I get cell phone service “from the nearest mountain.” I think that once I get to my site I’ll have more frequent access to the internet but who knows.

If you’ve sent me mail I LOVE YOU. Even if you didn’t…I still love you, and you should send me a letter! And in that letter you should tell me what the headlines of the NYT are since I have no access to the outside world here! That is one of the hardest things to get used to. Electricy and running water are somewhat easy to get used to not having…but not being able to talk to friends and family instantaneously and not knowing what is going on in the world does take some adjusting too….but I’ll survive.  I hope all is well in the states. Send me an email or a letter and tell me know what you’re up to! I miss you all. I’ll write more when I can.