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.