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.

Bye...For Now

After jamming to Toto’s “Africa” with Brad, I think it has finally set in that I’m leaving for Madagascar…IN FOUR DAYS. In fact, a week from now, I will have just spent my first night in Madagascar, after a long three days of travel. Monday I have two flights to get to staging, then after orientation and a few introductory sessions we drive to NY, fly (for 15.5 hours) to S. Africa, and then finally over to the island. That’s a lot of miles to travel in three days…

So since July 11th is getting so close, I’ve been cramming in lots of things that I won’t get to do for two years, like…

…seeing all my cousins in Florida!

….visiting Denison friends in Chi-town

…sitting on my couch with my laptop, charging my ipod and downloading books for my kindle, all while drinking a glass of water straight from the tap

…napping in a hammock looking out at Torch Lake

…and embarking on the food tour of EL including stops at Altus, Sansu, Georgios, Jimmy Johns, Chipotle, and of course Wendys

The next four days are going to entail a lot of errands and packing. Two of my (not so) favorite things. Luckily I can drag Brad around with me and have him impart valuable PC knowledge to me while I try to figure out how to pack for two years. If I take PC’s advice, I should only pack about four outfits, which is about half as much as I usually pack for a weekend, so this should be interesting! Oh well, I’ll figure that out tomorrow when I’m sitting in front of my suitcase.

After an entire year of the application process, its finally real! Applying last summer, receiving my nomination in August, going through the medical and legal review, and then finally getting my final interview and placement in May…it has been a long process and I’m ready to get started! So goodbye Michigan, goodbye friends and family, goodbye Romeo, and goodbye hot showers, cell phone and regular internet access. Hello Madagascar…(in a week).

First Post, Last Month in Michigan

One month from today I’ll be in the middle of staging before leaving for Madagascar. That’s hard to believe. So I decided it was time to start a blog, while I have reliable internet, electricity, running water and lots and lots and lots of free time.

Since graduating from Denison, I’ve been at home doing absolutely nothing. And I mean nothing…aside from making a dent in the long list of books I’ve wanted to read, taking my dog on long walks, and trying to figure out how to pack for two years, in two bags weighing less than 80 pounds, while still bringing all the essentials from the 7 page (single spaced) packing list we’ve been given. Yay. I guess I’ve also been trying to teach myself French and pick up some essential Malagasy vocab before July 11^th.  But aside from that, I’ve been doing nothing.

But here is what I know so far…about my job, about the country, and other random tidbits…

I’ll be working as a community health educator working with either a health clinic or NGO to identify and train village health educators in the community. My focus will be on preventive health targeting teens, children and mothers.

I leave July 11^th for staging in the US (city sill unknown). Then on July 13^th we head to Madagascar and supposedly spend the night in South Africa on the way. Then 10 weeks of training begin where I will live with a host family, learn Malagasy, and undergo intense cultural and technical training. Then off to my site for two years of service.

While I know some details about my next two years, as Brad says “Its like walking into the next stage of your life blindfolded…” I have no idea what to expect. I guess that makes it exciting. …or terrifying.

Since I still have lots of free time on my hands…here are some interesting things I’ve found out about Madagascar…

·      Fourth largest island in the world (1000 miles long!)

·      This comes from the Brandt Madagascar 10^th edition book, there is a “taboo against twins among the Antaisaka people. Historically twins were killed or abandoned in the forest after birth. Today this is against the law but still persists and twins may not be buried in a tomb…” I guess I won’t mention that little detail about myself…

·      Since the island evolved in isolation for 65 million years it has extremely unique plant and animal life…1000 species of orchids only found on the island, 350 kinds of frogs, no poisonous snakes (couldn’t swim over), 200 different mammals, 365 kinds of reptiles ONLY found on Madagascar, 105 kinds of lemurs…

And some of my favorite quotes about getting sick in Madagascar (from PCVs serving there now….)

“It’s like the Oregon Trail here…”

“It is the Oregon trail. Think back to all the illnesses you could get on that and I guarantee someone’s had it here. Except rattlesnake bites”

“Giardia. Buckle up.”

“I really wanted to get the plague, but it never happened for me. Maybe next time…I tried having piles of garbage around to attract rats, yet my efforts were without result.”

“I still need plague and malaria to complete my list of Oregon trail diseases. Other things like dysentery and giardia? Check”

And on that note, I think I’ll go drink some tap water, while I still can!