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!