I have now been back in the states for two weeks, and though I have wanted to do my last blog post, I haven't quite been ready, and hadn't processed everything that I had gone through in the last four months to be able to say anything about it. But now, I am starting to adjust back to life here.
The first week back was extremely challenging. I had a much harder time adjusting to the time change than I did when I went to Madagascar, so I would end up falling asleep at 4 or 5 pm, and waking up around 1 or 2 am for breakfast. On top of the exhaustion, a lot of things were overwhelming for me. For instance, my first day back I wanted to go to Target to get sweatpants and a sweatshirt to curl up in as a security blanket/comfort thing, and after being in Target for about five minutes, I was overwhelmed and just wanted to leave. It was so much bigger than I had remembered, and I simply felt uncomfortable there.
For a while, I definitely felt like I was living in two worlds, and I found myself throwing French or Malagasy in my English sentences and having to correct myself because I wasn't making any sense. At this point, things are much better, but now I am afraid that I will forget the Malagasy that I learned, or the experiences that I had. It seems like it was so long ago, or like a dream, like something that never even happened at all, which honestly terrifies me because it was an amazing four months, and I don't ever want to forget a second of it. I learned an unbelievable amount and grew exponentially as a person, which is exactly what I hoped to get out of the experience.
I am lucky enough to still be in contact with some of my closest friends and family members back in Mada via phone and facebook, so I am extremely thankful for that. I talk to someone over the phone probably at least twice a week.
I definitely feel different after coming home, and realize things that I never did before about my own culture, myself as a person, and the world that I live in. I hope that one day I will be able to find the time and money to return to Madagascar. Perhaps it will be ten years from now when I have a family of my own and can introduce them to an incredible place that I fell in love with and got to be a part of for a semester.
For now, I will be working on my dad's farm for the summer, and August 15th, believe it or not, I will be studying abroad again, but this time I will be in Mongolia. I am extremely excited to go and hope that my experiences there will be as rewarding as my experiences in Madagascar. But for now, between me and Madagascar, it is most certainly not a "goodbye," but instead a "see you later."
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
April Something....
As the semester goes on, I am apparently getting worse and worse at blogging. But right now, I am officially in the Independent Study Project period, where we chose our study site and our topic, and during 4 weeks we have to do 120 hours of field work and whip out a project at the end, which is typically a 30-40 page paper on our findings and analysis. I have already been working for a week on my project, and I can't believe how quickly everything is going by, and how much more complex field work is than I thought it was.
My project is focusing on Sakalava (one of the 18 ethnic groups that exists in Madagascar) wedding ceremonies in Mahajanga, a city on the West Coast of Madagascar. I am living with my host family that I lived with when we were all in Mahajanga as a group, becaue they have been absolutely fantastic. I have been busy essentially working a full time job with my research, and it has proven to be very rewarding work, but also very challenging. I have run into the normal language and cultural barriers that would be expected in work like this, but I have also run into the problem of differing information with each person I interview, simply because even within one ethnic group and so called "culture," there is a lot of variance that exists relating to wedding ceremonies. I was initially told that the wedding ceremony was discreet and small and there wasn't much to it, so within the first few days of my field work, I decide to open up my topic to Sakalava Muslim wedding ceremonies, since Islam has a large presence along the North and West coasts because of the Arabic trading routes that brought Islam to Madagascar. Since the North and West coasts have traditionally been inhabited by the Sakalava ethnic group, there is a correlation between the two traditions related to marriage and weddings. However, after I decided to open up my scope, I discovered more information about Sakalava ceremonies that is complicated, in depth, and detailed, so now I'm trying to decide what angle I'm going to take with my paper, and if I want to include the Muslim culture or not. Looking at the two also poses challenges because at times it is challenging to see which customs are traditionally Sakalava and which customs are traditionally Muslim.
At this point in my stay, it's difficult to decide what to blog about, simply because I've been here for a while, and initially everything was new and exciting and I felt like there was so much to share, but now everything seems very common place, and I just have my daily routine here that doesn't seem too interesting to blog about. However, I did have a request to talk some about the food here, and that is definitely something I can do. :) If anyone else has any requests or questions that you'd like me to answer in my last 4 weeks here, feel free to comment or FB me or something.
As far as food goes, I can certainly say that my diet consists mostly of rice. In Malagasy, there are two categories for food, one is "vary," which means rice, and the other is "loka," which is anything that is served with rice. A lot of families eat rice for all three meals, but some have something different for breakfast. In Tana, both of my host families served bread and jam for breakfast (of all things to take from the French culture, they should have chosen something different. haha), and once in a while they would serve vary soasoa as well, which is rice that is cooked with more water, so it is sort of soupy, or perhaps comparable to a type of oatmeal. The first time I tried it, I thought it was disgusting, but now it has definitely grown on me and is often one of my preferred meals. My family in Mahajanga however, serves "mokary" each morning, and I think it's mostly because I'm obsessed with it. haha. It is sort of like a pancake, except of course, it is made with rice flower. Tea and coffee are always served at breakfast, and I have fallen in love with the two of them more than ever before. Especially concerning the tea, because I have discovered a type of lemongrass tea that is absolutely scrumptious.
Back when we were all having classes together, pre-ISP period, we also had two snack times a day, which usually consisted of things like Saltos, which are like Ritz crackers, some sort of fruit, like banana, papaya, pineapple, apple, oranges, magoes, etc, tea and coffee, sometimes hot chocolate, sometimes juice, chocolate and vanilla wafers, sugary coated peanuts, something that translates in English to pigeon shit, which is sort of difficult to explain, but it made from flour and water, and they are a bunch of little sticks. Sometimes it is spicy, or has raisins and peanuts in it, or perhaps dried banana chips. Once in a while we'd have mokary for snack, or yogurt, or fried banana or fried pumpkin things that are so delicious that I was always sick after eating them because I simply couldn't stop myself. Once in a while we'd have chocolate bars or something like that as well. And when it's someone's birthday, we have cake, which is pretty good, but I definitely miss the cake from back home because it just doesn't compare.
Then lunch time and dinner time roll around, and is almost always a given that they both will consist of vary and loka. Once in a while we get some sort of pasta, but it's sort of rare. I've been told by many Malagasy people that they simply can't get full if they don't eat rice. The loka varies a lot, but one of my favorites, is a very simple mixture of thinly sliced cucumbers, with a vinagrette made of limes, oil, pepper, onions, and salt. It is so good, especially when it is hot out, which is essentially all the time. Usually when this is served, there is also another kind of loka to go with it that usually consists of some sort of meat, or beans. It's almost always delicious. I love the food here in general, with one exception, something that is called "ravtoto." It is made of manioc leaves, which I find to be disgusting. I believe it is the only food here that I really really don't want to eat. My host mom always teases me when she makes it, and has another loka made for me. Another interesting surprise that happened the other day when I wanted my own loka, was when the loka that was served was a full pig's head, with the teeth and eyes and everything. I looked at it, started laughing, and then the whole family cracked up. Then they tried convincing me that the ears are delicious, but I wasn't feeling too interested in being adventurous, although I did try a little bit of the meat that was there in order to be polite, but I mostly just stuck with the vary for that meal. haha. Luckily there was also the cucumber dish that I mentioned. :)
Also, just to mention, the meat in this country is so so so much better in the US. Back at home, I don't care much if I eat meat or not, but here, the taste of it, without any spices, is amazing. I'm not sure if it is because it is more fresh here, because of the meat industry back home, or what, but the difference is suprisingly large. However, things that are better in the US, are definitely pizza, ice cream, and candy, the things that of course are super fattening, that's the American way. Haha.
And lastly, a little bit of a cultural difference that I have run into, is that Malagasy people want their guests to eat A LOT, in general. I could easily get fat in this country with all of the food I am told to eat. Sometimes when I say I'm full, I get the response "no you're not," and more food is put on my plate. haha. I have learned that it is best to leave some rice in my bowl, which has been advised by our teachers, because that signals that I am really full, and they believe me a little more that way. It's a little bit of a challenge for me to do that because I was always taught that if you leave food on your plate, it's wasteful, but I would rather do that than constantly be uncomfortably full. Sometimes I'm also forced to simply say that I don't want it, which to me sounds a little bit rude, but I don't know how else to communicate that I don't want to eat anymore. Sometimes they think I'm just being polite by saying that I don't want something, but I always mean it when I say it. haha.
Well, for now, it's lunch time! Let me know if you all have any topics you're curious about! :)
My project is focusing on Sakalava (one of the 18 ethnic groups that exists in Madagascar) wedding ceremonies in Mahajanga, a city on the West Coast of Madagascar. I am living with my host family that I lived with when we were all in Mahajanga as a group, becaue they have been absolutely fantastic. I have been busy essentially working a full time job with my research, and it has proven to be very rewarding work, but also very challenging. I have run into the normal language and cultural barriers that would be expected in work like this, but I have also run into the problem of differing information with each person I interview, simply because even within one ethnic group and so called "culture," there is a lot of variance that exists relating to wedding ceremonies. I was initially told that the wedding ceremony was discreet and small and there wasn't much to it, so within the first few days of my field work, I decide to open up my topic to Sakalava Muslim wedding ceremonies, since Islam has a large presence along the North and West coasts because of the Arabic trading routes that brought Islam to Madagascar. Since the North and West coasts have traditionally been inhabited by the Sakalava ethnic group, there is a correlation between the two traditions related to marriage and weddings. However, after I decided to open up my scope, I discovered more information about Sakalava ceremonies that is complicated, in depth, and detailed, so now I'm trying to decide what angle I'm going to take with my paper, and if I want to include the Muslim culture or not. Looking at the two also poses challenges because at times it is challenging to see which customs are traditionally Sakalava and which customs are traditionally Muslim.
At this point in my stay, it's difficult to decide what to blog about, simply because I've been here for a while, and initially everything was new and exciting and I felt like there was so much to share, but now everything seems very common place, and I just have my daily routine here that doesn't seem too interesting to blog about. However, I did have a request to talk some about the food here, and that is definitely something I can do. :) If anyone else has any requests or questions that you'd like me to answer in my last 4 weeks here, feel free to comment or FB me or something.
As far as food goes, I can certainly say that my diet consists mostly of rice. In Malagasy, there are two categories for food, one is "vary," which means rice, and the other is "loka," which is anything that is served with rice. A lot of families eat rice for all three meals, but some have something different for breakfast. In Tana, both of my host families served bread and jam for breakfast (of all things to take from the French culture, they should have chosen something different. haha), and once in a while they would serve vary soasoa as well, which is rice that is cooked with more water, so it is sort of soupy, or perhaps comparable to a type of oatmeal. The first time I tried it, I thought it was disgusting, but now it has definitely grown on me and is often one of my preferred meals. My family in Mahajanga however, serves "mokary" each morning, and I think it's mostly because I'm obsessed with it. haha. It is sort of like a pancake, except of course, it is made with rice flower. Tea and coffee are always served at breakfast, and I have fallen in love with the two of them more than ever before. Especially concerning the tea, because I have discovered a type of lemongrass tea that is absolutely scrumptious.
Back when we were all having classes together, pre-ISP period, we also had two snack times a day, which usually consisted of things like Saltos, which are like Ritz crackers, some sort of fruit, like banana, papaya, pineapple, apple, oranges, magoes, etc, tea and coffee, sometimes hot chocolate, sometimes juice, chocolate and vanilla wafers, sugary coated peanuts, something that translates in English to pigeon shit, which is sort of difficult to explain, but it made from flour and water, and they are a bunch of little sticks. Sometimes it is spicy, or has raisins and peanuts in it, or perhaps dried banana chips. Once in a while we'd have mokary for snack, or yogurt, or fried banana or fried pumpkin things that are so delicious that I was always sick after eating them because I simply couldn't stop myself. Once in a while we'd have chocolate bars or something like that as well. And when it's someone's birthday, we have cake, which is pretty good, but I definitely miss the cake from back home because it just doesn't compare.
Then lunch time and dinner time roll around, and is almost always a given that they both will consist of vary and loka. Once in a while we get some sort of pasta, but it's sort of rare. I've been told by many Malagasy people that they simply can't get full if they don't eat rice. The loka varies a lot, but one of my favorites, is a very simple mixture of thinly sliced cucumbers, with a vinagrette made of limes, oil, pepper, onions, and salt. It is so good, especially when it is hot out, which is essentially all the time. Usually when this is served, there is also another kind of loka to go with it that usually consists of some sort of meat, or beans. It's almost always delicious. I love the food here in general, with one exception, something that is called "ravtoto." It is made of manioc leaves, which I find to be disgusting. I believe it is the only food here that I really really don't want to eat. My host mom always teases me when she makes it, and has another loka made for me. Another interesting surprise that happened the other day when I wanted my own loka, was when the loka that was served was a full pig's head, with the teeth and eyes and everything. I looked at it, started laughing, and then the whole family cracked up. Then they tried convincing me that the ears are delicious, but I wasn't feeling too interested in being adventurous, although I did try a little bit of the meat that was there in order to be polite, but I mostly just stuck with the vary for that meal. haha. Luckily there was also the cucumber dish that I mentioned. :)
Also, just to mention, the meat in this country is so so so much better in the US. Back at home, I don't care much if I eat meat or not, but here, the taste of it, without any spices, is amazing. I'm not sure if it is because it is more fresh here, because of the meat industry back home, or what, but the difference is suprisingly large. However, things that are better in the US, are definitely pizza, ice cream, and candy, the things that of course are super fattening, that's the American way. Haha.
And lastly, a little bit of a cultural difference that I have run into, is that Malagasy people want their guests to eat A LOT, in general. I could easily get fat in this country with all of the food I am told to eat. Sometimes when I say I'm full, I get the response "no you're not," and more food is put on my plate. haha. I have learned that it is best to leave some rice in my bowl, which has been advised by our teachers, because that signals that I am really full, and they believe me a little more that way. It's a little bit of a challenge for me to do that because I was always taught that if you leave food on your plate, it's wasteful, but I would rather do that than constantly be uncomfortably full. Sometimes I'm also forced to simply say that I don't want it, which to me sounds a little bit rude, but I don't know how else to communicate that I don't want to eat anymore. Sometimes they think I'm just being polite by saying that I don't want something, but I always mean it when I say it. haha.
Well, for now, it's lunch time! Let me know if you all have any topics you're curious about! :)
Saturday, March 24, 2012
March 24, 2012
I have successfully survived, and actually thrived in the village stay. I am now back in Tana for one week, and then it's already time for ISP! I can't believe how quickly this semester has flown by. We're now over half way done with the semester, and I am convinced that with my research, the next half will go by even faster than the first. But I'm quite excited to start learning about Sakalava wedding ceremonies, even if it does mean that I have to write a 40 page paper soon.
As far as the village goes, it was a small piece of paradise. I had two brothers, who are 14 and 27, and a sister who is 17. My parents worked at home on the farm, where we had rice, corn, some other vegetables, in addition to zebu, pigs, ducks, geese, dogs, a cat, and chickens. It was great to be "back on the farm" and I realized how much I actually love living in the country. My family was great, and I fit in flawlessly like a missing puzzle piece. It was really sad to leave. In some perfect dream world, if I didn't have my past, and my immediate future of finishing school, I would melt away into the Malagasy country side and it would be perfect.
While I was there, I went with my sister and her fiance to visit a beautiful lake, and as we got there, it started to downpour and it was freezing cold (which was actually really common in this area, especially since it's the beginning of winter here now), and we tried hiding behind rocks but ended up soaking wet and dirty. Then we found these small stores along the lake where people sold precious stones, and we stayed there with them and waited for the rain to pass. My sister and her fiance bought me a beautiful bracelet and necklace, and then we headed on our way. When I got back home, drenched, my academic director was sitting in my living room waiting to check in and see how the village stay was going. I was so excited to tell him everything (after I changed into a dry lamba, of course), and told him that I had been in good health since getting there (finally my parasite left me), and had fallen in love with my family and my village.
It was possibly the best 5 days of my time here in Madagascar, and unfortunately also the most removed my my actual life and reality back in the states. But perhaps someday, I'll find myself back there in a different context. We'll see what the future holds for me. I hope it I get to see my family there again, and it wasn't just a short five day stay, that will seem like a dream once I'm back in the US and will certainly fade away in my memories.
But for now, the next week holds a lot of work. I have to wrap up all of my assignments and write a thematic seminar paper and have everything turned in by Friday, because Saturday, I'm headed back to Mahajanga for a month to do my research! Send good thoughts and prayers my way everyone, I'll definitely need them!
As far as the village goes, it was a small piece of paradise. I had two brothers, who are 14 and 27, and a sister who is 17. My parents worked at home on the farm, where we had rice, corn, some other vegetables, in addition to zebu, pigs, ducks, geese, dogs, a cat, and chickens. It was great to be "back on the farm" and I realized how much I actually love living in the country. My family was great, and I fit in flawlessly like a missing puzzle piece. It was really sad to leave. In some perfect dream world, if I didn't have my past, and my immediate future of finishing school, I would melt away into the Malagasy country side and it would be perfect.
While I was there, I went with my sister and her fiance to visit a beautiful lake, and as we got there, it started to downpour and it was freezing cold (which was actually really common in this area, especially since it's the beginning of winter here now), and we tried hiding behind rocks but ended up soaking wet and dirty. Then we found these small stores along the lake where people sold precious stones, and we stayed there with them and waited for the rain to pass. My sister and her fiance bought me a beautiful bracelet and necklace, and then we headed on our way. When I got back home, drenched, my academic director was sitting in my living room waiting to check in and see how the village stay was going. I was so excited to tell him everything (after I changed into a dry lamba, of course), and told him that I had been in good health since getting there (finally my parasite left me), and had fallen in love with my family and my village.
It was possibly the best 5 days of my time here in Madagascar, and unfortunately also the most removed my my actual life and reality back in the states. But perhaps someday, I'll find myself back there in a different context. We'll see what the future holds for me. I hope it I get to see my family there again, and it wasn't just a short five day stay, that will seem like a dream once I'm back in the US and will certainly fade away in my memories.
But for now, the next week holds a lot of work. I have to wrap up all of my assignments and write a thematic seminar paper and have everything turned in by Friday, because Saturday, I'm headed back to Mahajanga for a month to do my research! Send good thoughts and prayers my way everyone, I'll definitely need them!
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
March 14
It definitely is a challenge to catch up on blogging once I've fallen behind! Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this already or not, but my computer has died because of a virus, so that is also part of the reason that I have not been blogging as much. It is definitely a challenge to do without a computer. But hopefully my computer is fixable and I can get it back before the start of our Independent Study Project, which believe it or not is in about 2 weeks and that's it! I can't believe how quickly these weeks have flown by.
I wish that I had been able to write more about my Mahajanga stay, but it's time that I move on and talk about Nosy Be. Plus, I will be able to add more about Mahajanga in a couple of weeks when I am back there for the month of April to study traditional Sakalava weddings.
So about Nosy Be... It is a beautiful place, like the rest of Madagascar. It is also the most touristy part of Madagascar, so in comparison to Tana, there were a lot of other foreigners there, most notably, French people. The first day in Nosy Be, we stayed in a place called Hell Ville. We explored the area in small groups, went to a cyber cafe, went out to eat, and shopped around in a market, where a few friends and I bought guava and cortisol, a strange fruit that we obviously didn't know how to pick out since ours was rather nasty because it was over ripe. We also looked over this railing and down below us there was a woman frying something just outside of her house, and when she saw us looking over, she motioned for us to come down, and said "mandroso" (spelling?), which means enter. So we went down and watched her cook, and then bought three of these delicious things from her. They were almost like a more crispy version of a dough boy. We asked her what they were called, but the name quickly escaped me, as most Malagasy words do.
Some friends and I went to a bar that afternoon and had a beer, and let me just say that it was a very interesting experience to try to figure out the price of the beer. We asked the woman who was working there, and then some man who was probably drunk, tried to tell us what the price was, but he kept changing it, and then kept changing the currency he was explaining it in as well. Even though they use the Malagasy Ariary here, they used to use the Malagasy Franc, which is five times the Ariary, so when you ask for prices, you sometimes have to specify if they are giving you the price in Francs or Ariarys, and some people definitely try to take advantage of this confusion. Anyway, we eventually were able to find out the price of the beer, which was roughly the equivalent of 1 US dollar. Then we got back together with our whole group and participated in a dance with a wonderful dance group, then ate dinner and called it a night.
Day two was so far one of the most memorable days for me here in Madagascar. We went snorkeling at a coral reef off a small island, and it was AMAZING. I swam with schools of beautiful fish, and even swam RIGHT above a giant sea turtle, where I could almost touch it. It was a challenge at first because I had never gone snorkeling, so I freaked out a little when I first got in the water. I am not a strong swimmer to begin with, and was having a hard time trusting myself enough to breath through the snorkel without hyperventilating. But once I got it down, I had the time of my life. I did end up quite burnt at the end of the day even though I put on a bunch of sunscreen, which was a definite bummer, but worth it considering how awesome the snorkeling was.
We also had a great lunch on the beach with crabs, shrimp, baracuda, sword fish, vegetables, coconut rice, and wonderful mangoes and other fruit for desert. And after lunch we went up to see the light house that was on the little island, which was beautiful.
Unfortunately, I have got to stop this blog here since I am using a friend's computer and we have lots of homework to get done, so it's time I return it. And it will be a little while before I can post again, because tomorrow we are leaving Tana to head to Ansirabe for a day and half, and then starting our village stay where we will not have internet access, and possibly no phone access either. It will certainly be an adventure. One of the vocabulary terms that we were given in Malagasy was to "guard the cattle," so who knows what adventures I will be up to the coming week. Hopefully I'm in better health by then because the last few days I have been quite sick, and am currently on some different anti-parasite meds, anti-vomit meds, anti-diharrea meds, and anti-stomach pain meds, plus some antibiotics for stomach bacteria. So hopefully something starts working soon because this whole being sick thing also makes me very homesick!
I wish that I had been able to write more about my Mahajanga stay, but it's time that I move on and talk about Nosy Be. Plus, I will be able to add more about Mahajanga in a couple of weeks when I am back there for the month of April to study traditional Sakalava weddings.
So about Nosy Be... It is a beautiful place, like the rest of Madagascar. It is also the most touristy part of Madagascar, so in comparison to Tana, there were a lot of other foreigners there, most notably, French people. The first day in Nosy Be, we stayed in a place called Hell Ville. We explored the area in small groups, went to a cyber cafe, went out to eat, and shopped around in a market, where a few friends and I bought guava and cortisol, a strange fruit that we obviously didn't know how to pick out since ours was rather nasty because it was over ripe. We also looked over this railing and down below us there was a woman frying something just outside of her house, and when she saw us looking over, she motioned for us to come down, and said "mandroso" (spelling?), which means enter. So we went down and watched her cook, and then bought three of these delicious things from her. They were almost like a more crispy version of a dough boy. We asked her what they were called, but the name quickly escaped me, as most Malagasy words do.
Some friends and I went to a bar that afternoon and had a beer, and let me just say that it was a very interesting experience to try to figure out the price of the beer. We asked the woman who was working there, and then some man who was probably drunk, tried to tell us what the price was, but he kept changing it, and then kept changing the currency he was explaining it in as well. Even though they use the Malagasy Ariary here, they used to use the Malagasy Franc, which is five times the Ariary, so when you ask for prices, you sometimes have to specify if they are giving you the price in Francs or Ariarys, and some people definitely try to take advantage of this confusion. Anyway, we eventually were able to find out the price of the beer, which was roughly the equivalent of 1 US dollar. Then we got back together with our whole group and participated in a dance with a wonderful dance group, then ate dinner and called it a night.
Day two was so far one of the most memorable days for me here in Madagascar. We went snorkeling at a coral reef off a small island, and it was AMAZING. I swam with schools of beautiful fish, and even swam RIGHT above a giant sea turtle, where I could almost touch it. It was a challenge at first because I had never gone snorkeling, so I freaked out a little when I first got in the water. I am not a strong swimmer to begin with, and was having a hard time trusting myself enough to breath through the snorkel without hyperventilating. But once I got it down, I had the time of my life. I did end up quite burnt at the end of the day even though I put on a bunch of sunscreen, which was a definite bummer, but worth it considering how awesome the snorkeling was.
We also had a great lunch on the beach with crabs, shrimp, baracuda, sword fish, vegetables, coconut rice, and wonderful mangoes and other fruit for desert. And after lunch we went up to see the light house that was on the little island, which was beautiful.
Unfortunately, I have got to stop this blog here since I am using a friend's computer and we have lots of homework to get done, so it's time I return it. And it will be a little while before I can post again, because tomorrow we are leaving Tana to head to Ansirabe for a day and half, and then starting our village stay where we will not have internet access, and possibly no phone access either. It will certainly be an adventure. One of the vocabulary terms that we were given in Malagasy was to "guard the cattle," so who knows what adventures I will be up to the coming week. Hopefully I'm in better health by then because the last few days I have been quite sick, and am currently on some different anti-parasite meds, anti-vomit meds, anti-diharrea meds, and anti-stomach pain meds, plus some antibiotics for stomach bacteria. So hopefully something starts working soon because this whole being sick thing also makes me very homesick!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
March 8, 2012
Continuing off of my last post, the television visit was quite interesting as well. The man who gave us a tour around the station was actually one of the other student's host dad, and he was great. He explained to us some issues that journalists face and how even if there isn't any official government censure right now on what can be reported, the journalists self-censor their work so that they don't face issues in the community. The concept of "fihavanana" here, which can be translated as community is amazing to watch and understand.
Side note: I actually bought a lamba the other day, which is a piece of cloth that is worn as a dress or skirt or shawl, that has a saying on it that translates roughly to "no commerce before community."
It was also interesting that the first time that I have been in an air conditioned room was at the television station, because the computers cannot handle the crazy heat and humidity that exists in Mahajanga. The station was very small and very simple compared to tv stations in the US. It was awesome to have been able to go there and then watch that tv station at home with my family and know what the rest of the studio was like.
The visit to the port was fascinating. It was a little bit of a challenge for me to understand the man who was giving us the tour because his accent was a little challenging, and there was a lot of background noise at the port, including pouring rain. But it was amazing to see huge ware houses and men busy at work. Being in an important port city like Mahajanga was a great experience because we could really see the importance of the port and how it helped to shape the culture there.
Lastly, I did an individual visit to city hall to interview the first assistant to the mayor, who is responsible for conducting civil marriages. I talked to him about the process of civil marriage and different laws and customs involved in civil marriage. He was extremely helpful, although the language barrier definitely limited a little bit of the information that I was able to receive. Before actually finding the man though, I had to get to the city hall, and figure out where I was to find this man, since city hall was a huge building. Once my taxi dropped me off and I went inside, there was nobody at a sort of a reception desk to help me out and tell me where to go, but there was a big group of random men standing around. They asked who I was looking for, and I told them, and they told me that he wasn't there yet, but if I waited, he would show up soon. Then they offered me a seat with them and told me to wait there. I waited for a good half hour, while being chatted up by a man who said that his goal in life was to make foreign friends, so he wanted to get my email address if I would give it to him. It was a strange encounter. After a while, when the man I was interviewing still had not showed up, I called my academic director, who let me know that the assistant to the mayor was in his office and had been the whole time. So I ended up finding my way to his office and learning some pretty interesting things about marriage. I learned basic things like the day of the week someone can get married, the cost of getting married, etc, and I also learned some interesting laws that the couple has to sign agreeing to, like the man is the head of the household, the couple has to educate and teach values to their children, and they have to feed their in-laws. I also let the man I was talking with know that I am going to go back to Mahajanga to study Sakalava wedding ceremonies in April, and lucky me, he said he was Sakalava and would love to take me to the doany to help me learn about it. Great success!
Now, we're all in a wonderful place known as Nosy Be, with a hotel on the beach and a day and a half of free time. It is amazing! I'll post more about that later. For now, I'm off to find some lunch!
Side note: I actually bought a lamba the other day, which is a piece of cloth that is worn as a dress or skirt or shawl, that has a saying on it that translates roughly to "no commerce before community."
It was also interesting that the first time that I have been in an air conditioned room was at the television station, because the computers cannot handle the crazy heat and humidity that exists in Mahajanga. The station was very small and very simple compared to tv stations in the US. It was awesome to have been able to go there and then watch that tv station at home with my family and know what the rest of the studio was like.
The visit to the port was fascinating. It was a little bit of a challenge for me to understand the man who was giving us the tour because his accent was a little challenging, and there was a lot of background noise at the port, including pouring rain. But it was amazing to see huge ware houses and men busy at work. Being in an important port city like Mahajanga was a great experience because we could really see the importance of the port and how it helped to shape the culture there.
Lastly, I did an individual visit to city hall to interview the first assistant to the mayor, who is responsible for conducting civil marriages. I talked to him about the process of civil marriage and different laws and customs involved in civil marriage. He was extremely helpful, although the language barrier definitely limited a little bit of the information that I was able to receive. Before actually finding the man though, I had to get to the city hall, and figure out where I was to find this man, since city hall was a huge building. Once my taxi dropped me off and I went inside, there was nobody at a sort of a reception desk to help me out and tell me where to go, but there was a big group of random men standing around. They asked who I was looking for, and I told them, and they told me that he wasn't there yet, but if I waited, he would show up soon. Then they offered me a seat with them and told me to wait there. I waited for a good half hour, while being chatted up by a man who said that his goal in life was to make foreign friends, so he wanted to get my email address if I would give it to him. It was a strange encounter. After a while, when the man I was interviewing still had not showed up, I called my academic director, who let me know that the assistant to the mayor was in his office and had been the whole time. So I ended up finding my way to his office and learning some pretty interesting things about marriage. I learned basic things like the day of the week someone can get married, the cost of getting married, etc, and I also learned some interesting laws that the couple has to sign agreeing to, like the man is the head of the household, the couple has to educate and teach values to their children, and they have to feed their in-laws. I also let the man I was talking with know that I am going to go back to Mahajanga to study Sakalava wedding ceremonies in April, and lucky me, he said he was Sakalava and would love to take me to the doany to help me learn about it. Great success!
Now, we're all in a wonderful place known as Nosy Be, with a hotel on the beach and a day and a half of free time. It is amazing! I'll post more about that later. For now, I'm off to find some lunch!
Friday, March 2, 2012
March 2
I cannot believe that it is already March! Time has gone by so quickly here, but at the same time, I feel like when I think back to when my flight landed here on January 26th, it seems like it was ages ago. I could hardly say hello in Malagasy, had no idea what to expect out of my time here, and knew virtually nothing about the culture here. Now I am in my second homestay, getting ready to head from Mahajanga to an island off the North Coast called Nosy Be, before heading back to Tana. I have now learned at least three or four different ways to say hello in Malagasy and have even convinced some people here that I actually know how to speak Malagasy, although that is far from the truth. For instance, yesterday when I took a taxi to an interview I had with the first assistant to the mayor of Mahajanga, I initially asked how much it woud cost (you have to negotiate the price prior to entering a taxi here), and since I asked in Malagasy, once I got in the car, he tried to start having a conversation with me in Malagasy. I got the first bit, where he was talking about how much rain we had been getting lately (due to a tropical storm that has been lingering here for days, causing some flooding, power outages, and other issues), but then he quickly lost me, and I had to tell him that I speak "kely kely fotsiny," aka just a little bit. But it is encouraging to be able to understand some things now and be able to pick up on little parts of peoples' conversations.
Going back a little, I want to share a little bit more about what my time here in Mahajanga has been like. We have visited hospitals and clinics, schools, churches, a mosque, and a doany (which is where certain ancestral relics are kept, from the Sakalava ethnic group which historically lived in this area of Madagascar), a television station, city hall, and the port, in addition to some others and some explorations that we have done on our own as well. There is so much to share about all of these things and since I have not been keeping up with journaling or blogging, I am sure that I am going to end up forgetting some things.
But I will do my best to go through these visits and explain a little bit about what they were like. For the clinic visit, I ended up going to a small clinic that had a maternity ward, offered vaccinations, medical consultations, had a small room that was a pharmacy, and offered family planning services. All of these things except for the medications were offered free of charge. However, due to the current political crisis here, and the lack of funding from the state, sometimes the doctors and other workers, like a guardian who is always there, have not been paid in over a year. Also, there have been fewer patients during the political crisis, and since the country is facing more poverty now during this time period, the clinic has lowered the prices of the medications from 1.35% to 1.15% to help the people. It was so interesting to see the many differences between a clinic in the US and a clinic here. They also had an interesting kind of family planning option that I think is worth noting. It was a necklace that had two different colored beads on it, that allowed women to count the days of their cycle so they would know when they were ovulating. I have a feeling that is a less reliable option, but an option here none the less. We learned that now it is more common to have fewer children, like 2, 3 or 4 mostly because the cost of living is too high to have a huge family, but traditionally it was looked upon as being the best if a couple could have 14 children, 7 boys and 7 girls.
The school visit for me was rather rough. Throughout the beginning of this week, teachers went on strike, so there wasn't school in a lot of cases. So when I went to visit a primary school here in Mahajanga, there weren't any kids around to speak of. There were a few outside playing because some parents continued to send their children even though they knew there weren't any teachers there. But the director of the school was there and explained some things about the education system here and how that primary school was run. It was a little difficult to get her to answer some of our questions, but we did learn things like in the past, the school was funded by the state, but during the crisis, since there is a lack of funds, the parents have to pay a small tuition for their students to be able to go to school. She also told us that often times there are students who do not even have pens or notebooks because they simply cannot afford them, and when she sees that, she does what she can to use her own money to buy the school supplies for the students.
The church visit was more along something that I could relate to. The man who gave us the tour and talked to us explained mostly about what Protestantism and Christianity are, which I already have a pretty decent background in, but it was definitely interesting to see the inside of the church. It was quite large, and all of the pews were pretty close together (my legs would definitey be too long and it would be far too uncomfortable to sit in these pews) and made very simply from wood, without any padding. From experience going to church in Tana with my host family, these are definitely not the most comfortable pews I have ever sat in.
The mosque visit was fascinating since I had never been to a mosque and had no frame of reference for what that experience would be like. We had to wear lambas, which are basically just pieces of cloth that are worn here. The men wore them around their waists sort of like a skirt, and the women had to either wear one like a dress and have one covering the head and arms, or wear a long skirt and a lamba over the head and arms. As we were putting the lambas on and getting ready to walk into the mosque entrance (where you had to take off your shoes), I heard a "tss tss" noise, which is a culturally acceptable way to try to get someones' attention here, so I turned towards the noise and had a Muslim woman come up to me and fix my lamba the right way for me because apparently I was showing too much skin on my arms. It was an amazing moment and I loved that she helped me out like that because I had no idea what I was doing. She didn't say anything either when she did it, she simply hissed to get my attention, fixed me up, and sent me on my way in a very loving and motherly sort of fashion.
Lastly for now, as this post is taking longer than I expected, the doany visit was also quite interesting. We had to wear lambas to the doany as well, but instead of wearing them over our heads we had to wear them as dresses. We learned that normally for someone to visit the doany, they cannot wear underwear or bras, but just the doany. Luckily, exceptions were made for us. The wearing of lambas, among other things, were "fady" aka "taboo" that we had to respect. We also had to wear our hair down, and the color black was not allowed to be worn. It was definitely an interesting visit, and great to have been able to visit a church, a moque, and a doany to get a broader view of the three most prevalent religions here in Mahajanga.
That is all for now, I have to go work on some homework since it starting to pile up a bit. But I will post again asap!
Going back a little, I want to share a little bit more about what my time here in Mahajanga has been like. We have visited hospitals and clinics, schools, churches, a mosque, and a doany (which is where certain ancestral relics are kept, from the Sakalava ethnic group which historically lived in this area of Madagascar), a television station, city hall, and the port, in addition to some others and some explorations that we have done on our own as well. There is so much to share about all of these things and since I have not been keeping up with journaling or blogging, I am sure that I am going to end up forgetting some things.
But I will do my best to go through these visits and explain a little bit about what they were like. For the clinic visit, I ended up going to a small clinic that had a maternity ward, offered vaccinations, medical consultations, had a small room that was a pharmacy, and offered family planning services. All of these things except for the medications were offered free of charge. However, due to the current political crisis here, and the lack of funding from the state, sometimes the doctors and other workers, like a guardian who is always there, have not been paid in over a year. Also, there have been fewer patients during the political crisis, and since the country is facing more poverty now during this time period, the clinic has lowered the prices of the medications from 1.35% to 1.15% to help the people. It was so interesting to see the many differences between a clinic in the US and a clinic here. They also had an interesting kind of family planning option that I think is worth noting. It was a necklace that had two different colored beads on it, that allowed women to count the days of their cycle so they would know when they were ovulating. I have a feeling that is a less reliable option, but an option here none the less. We learned that now it is more common to have fewer children, like 2, 3 or 4 mostly because the cost of living is too high to have a huge family, but traditionally it was looked upon as being the best if a couple could have 14 children, 7 boys and 7 girls.
The school visit for me was rather rough. Throughout the beginning of this week, teachers went on strike, so there wasn't school in a lot of cases. So when I went to visit a primary school here in Mahajanga, there weren't any kids around to speak of. There were a few outside playing because some parents continued to send their children even though they knew there weren't any teachers there. But the director of the school was there and explained some things about the education system here and how that primary school was run. It was a little difficult to get her to answer some of our questions, but we did learn things like in the past, the school was funded by the state, but during the crisis, since there is a lack of funds, the parents have to pay a small tuition for their students to be able to go to school. She also told us that often times there are students who do not even have pens or notebooks because they simply cannot afford them, and when she sees that, she does what she can to use her own money to buy the school supplies for the students.
The church visit was more along something that I could relate to. The man who gave us the tour and talked to us explained mostly about what Protestantism and Christianity are, which I already have a pretty decent background in, but it was definitely interesting to see the inside of the church. It was quite large, and all of the pews were pretty close together (my legs would definitey be too long and it would be far too uncomfortable to sit in these pews) and made very simply from wood, without any padding. From experience going to church in Tana with my host family, these are definitely not the most comfortable pews I have ever sat in.
The mosque visit was fascinating since I had never been to a mosque and had no frame of reference for what that experience would be like. We had to wear lambas, which are basically just pieces of cloth that are worn here. The men wore them around their waists sort of like a skirt, and the women had to either wear one like a dress and have one covering the head and arms, or wear a long skirt and a lamba over the head and arms. As we were putting the lambas on and getting ready to walk into the mosque entrance (where you had to take off your shoes), I heard a "tss tss" noise, which is a culturally acceptable way to try to get someones' attention here, so I turned towards the noise and had a Muslim woman come up to me and fix my lamba the right way for me because apparently I was showing too much skin on my arms. It was an amazing moment and I loved that she helped me out like that because I had no idea what I was doing. She didn't say anything either when she did it, she simply hissed to get my attention, fixed me up, and sent me on my way in a very loving and motherly sort of fashion.
Lastly for now, as this post is taking longer than I expected, the doany visit was also quite interesting. We had to wear lambas to the doany as well, but instead of wearing them over our heads we had to wear them as dresses. We learned that normally for someone to visit the doany, they cannot wear underwear or bras, but just the doany. Luckily, exceptions were made for us. The wearing of lambas, among other things, were "fady" aka "taboo" that we had to respect. We also had to wear our hair down, and the color black was not allowed to be worn. It was definitely an interesting visit, and great to have been able to visit a church, a moque, and a doany to get a broader view of the three most prevalent religions here in Mahajanga.
That is all for now, I have to go work on some homework since it starting to pile up a bit. But I will post again asap!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
February 29
Sorry it has been so long since my last post! Internet access has been a little bit more of a challenge lately here on the coast because we don't have wifi at our program center so I have to use a cyber cafe. But I am going to try to get caught up on everything that has happened in the last couple of weeks in the next few blogs, but there is definitely a lot to talk about so it might take a while to really get caught up. It is especially challenging to type as fast as I would like because at the cyber cafe I am using, the keyboards are French keyboards so some of the letters are switched around.
So we left Tana a week and a half ago, and drove for a full day towards a port city on the West Coast called Mahajanga. We stopped for two nights on the way here at a camp site in Ankarafantsika, where there was a national park, managed by Madagascar National Parks. As soon as we got out of our bus at our campsite, we were greeted by our first lemurs here. We were told that there were actually two lemur families who had been competing over the territory lately, that was the trees right above our tents. We got to walk through the forest there in the national park on two guided tours; one during the day and the other at night. We saw different lemur species, including an extremely small nocturnal species with huge eye that I fell in love with. We also saw huge spiders, milipedes, chameleons, geckos and lizards, and became the meals of many different mosquitos. Our last night there, we were even lucky enough to have smores. They were with a different kind of cracker, and the chocolate was great, although definitely not hershey's. It was as close as you can get here, and it was a great surprise. We were lucky enough to also have a lecture explaining some about the structure of the national parks here, and learned that there were a bunch of villages in the park, who are given small parts of the park to care for and protect. They are educated about the importance of the mission of the national park, and the preservation of all of the endemic species that are found there, including some plants and animals that are only found in that one area of Madagascar, and nowhere else in the world. *
A few other highlights of this part of the trip were the body of water very close by the was the home to crocodiles, and a sign that said something along the lines of "attention, crocodiles bite," as if we would try to go pet one or something. We also drove through the hottest spot in Madagascar on our way to the park, and near by the park, we stopped by a village where there is a woman's co-op where the women made and sold things woven with Raphia, a kind of leaf sort of thing. They dye the raphia with natural dyes and then use looms to make things like placemats. Also, we were told that when getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, to be on the lookout for wild boars. Oh boy. And lastly, we also got to visit Durrell, which is an organisation that works with the preservation of endangered species of tortoises.
After our visit at Ankarafantsika was finished, we got back in our bus for a short 3 or 4 hour drive to Mahajanga, our final destination for now. I will try to post soon about what we have been doing here, but for now as a sneak peak, I will let you all know that it is a beautiful city and I love it here, and will be spending my last month here working on my independent study project.
So we left Tana a week and a half ago, and drove for a full day towards a port city on the West Coast called Mahajanga. We stopped for two nights on the way here at a camp site in Ankarafantsika, where there was a national park, managed by Madagascar National Parks. As soon as we got out of our bus at our campsite, we were greeted by our first lemurs here. We were told that there were actually two lemur families who had been competing over the territory lately, that was the trees right above our tents. We got to walk through the forest there in the national park on two guided tours; one during the day and the other at night. We saw different lemur species, including an extremely small nocturnal species with huge eye that I fell in love with. We also saw huge spiders, milipedes, chameleons, geckos and lizards, and became the meals of many different mosquitos. Our last night there, we were even lucky enough to have smores. They were with a different kind of cracker, and the chocolate was great, although definitely not hershey's. It was as close as you can get here, and it was a great surprise. We were lucky enough to also have a lecture explaining some about the structure of the national parks here, and learned that there were a bunch of villages in the park, who are given small parts of the park to care for and protect. They are educated about the importance of the mission of the national park, and the preservation of all of the endemic species that are found there, including some plants and animals that are only found in that one area of Madagascar, and nowhere else in the world. *
A few other highlights of this part of the trip were the body of water very close by the was the home to crocodiles, and a sign that said something along the lines of "attention, crocodiles bite," as if we would try to go pet one or something. We also drove through the hottest spot in Madagascar on our way to the park, and near by the park, we stopped by a village where there is a woman's co-op where the women made and sold things woven with Raphia, a kind of leaf sort of thing. They dye the raphia with natural dyes and then use looms to make things like placemats. Also, we were told that when getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, to be on the lookout for wild boars. Oh boy. And lastly, we also got to visit Durrell, which is an organisation that works with the preservation of endangered species of tortoises.
After our visit at Ankarafantsika was finished, we got back in our bus for a short 3 or 4 hour drive to Mahajanga, our final destination for now. I will try to post soon about what we have been doing here, but for now as a sneak peak, I will let you all know that it is a beautiful city and I love it here, and will be spending my last month here working on my independent study project.
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