Back In The States

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."

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! :)

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

February 17

Just to get an idea of what our language class is like, here is a dialogue that a friend and I presented this morning with our very limited vocabulary, some of which we have learned through unfortunate circumstances (example: kadradraka, or cockroach):

B: Manahoana! (Hello!)

Me: Ah! Matahotra kadradraka aho! (Ah! I'm scared of cockroaches!)

B: Fahasalamana? (How are you?)

Me: Tsy tsara! Asa manelingelina! Tsy afaka miteny ny kadradraka. (Not good! Leave me alone! Cockroaches can't talk.)

B: Kadradraka tsara sy mahafinarita aho. Te hilalao ve ianao? (But I'm a nice and marvelous cockroach. Want to play?

Me: Eh eh eh, tiko hofaty ianao! (No, I want you to die!)

So fluency is certainly far off, but considering that I started out with only knowing how to say hi when my plane landed here in Tana, I'd say this is awesome progress!

February 17

On Tuesday, since Cyclone Giovanna hit, classes were cancelled, so I stayed home all day with the family listening to the rain come down on Tana. By the time it got to us it was a tropical storm, but as I drove around with my family in the afternoon after things had settled, we saw a few fallen trees and debris out and about in the streets. But since that day there wasn't anything we could do, I ended up napping some, doing about 20 challenging word search puzzles, thanks to the Barnes and Noble gift card that my bosses gave me before I left. I am so thankful to them for that gift! I also finished two books on Tuesday that I bought with the gift card as well. Since then, I've been pretty busy with classes and school work, trying to keep up with readings, do my Malagasy and French homework, and work on a current events paper and a cultural observations report. I've also continued to have some interesting experiences on the taxi-be, where I have actually been in mild physical pain from the taxi-be being so crowded and me basically laying down on people to fit into the bus. And let me just say, that considering the climate here, you can imagine the awful scent of body odor that lingers in the bus.

Yesterday, I got to go to talk with a couple people who are in charge of a Malagasy association that works with the preservation and educaiton of the Malagasy cultural heritage and riches. It was really great getting to hear about what they do here, who their members are, how they get funding, etc. They even said that I could become a member if I wanted to, and that they do have some foreign members, which is something I will definitely have to consider! I think it's great that they're trying to educate the Malagasy people of the importance of their culture and where it came from. We also had a nice little photo shoot after talking with them, where they wanted to get our pictures taken both inside, and outside.

Now that we're starting to settle in here in Tana, we're getting ready to pack our things up and head out of the city for a couple of weeks. We're leaving on Sunday morning, and heading for Majunga, a city on the west coast of the island, where it is supposedly very hot. We'll be stopping for a couple of nights along the way there to do some camping, so we'll see how hygeine goes for the next few days. Luckily, my mom and dad gave me some biodegradable wilderness wash from L.L. Bean for Christmas in preparation for my trip. I'm sure it will come in handy soon. We'll be staying in Majunga and continuing our studies for a couple of weeks, then heading to Nosy Be, which is an island off the North West coast of Madagascar, where we'll stay for a couple of days before flying back to Tana. I can't wait! I'm looking forward to branching out of Tana and seeing what other parts of Madagascar are like. Plus, I'm hoping that since Majunga is much less populated, I'll be able to go out and about more without being scared of the crime. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to have some sort of revelation on what I want to study for my Independent Study Project that I have to do during the last month of the semester. Perhaps I'll fall in love with Majanga or Nosy Be and decide to do my project there. Who knows what adventures await me in the coming weeks!

February 13

What a weekend! On Saturday, as my friend and I were going for a walk from her house to my house, someone tried to steal her wallet, but luckily, I saw it and the two of us were able to prevent it! Success! I grabbed her arm, she tightened her grip, and I yelled "No, no no!" and the guy ran away! Woohoo! But I was still pretty shaken up, and when I walk here in Tana, I feel pretty skiddish and a little paranoid, which definitely isn't a good thing. So for now, in order to limit my exposure, it has been advised that I take cabs for a few days and try not to be walking around, just so that I have time to cope with and process the three things that have happened in the past week. But unfortunately, since this morning, I have realized that cabs can be a little sketchy as well, since my cab driver whispered in my ear that he loved me, after telling me that I was beautiful. At first I didn't understand what he was saying because he was talking in Malagasy, but then I figured it out, and when he told me he loved me, and honked as he drove away, I was definitely sketched out. Love is certainly a strong term that wouldn't be used in the US as a way of hitting on someone.

Then on Saturday night, we went out to a wonderful restaurant (which just so happened to be in a red light district of Tana, so the view from the car was an interesting one to say the least, on the way there). We went out for dinner and drinks as a group of students, and it was a great time, but I started to have a headache while we were out. Uh oh!

Then on Sunday, I started to get more sick. Stomach issues, head ache, etc. But I didn't feel like it would keep me from doing anything, so I went to a concert with my host mom, brothers, and friend, which was awesome! It was like an old school 1980s romantic sort of concert, with a Malagasy singer who has been performing now for 20 years! It was super crowded, so he was apparently quite popular. We were there for three hours, and left before it finished, so I don't know how much longer it was going to go on for. But then on the way home, I started to feel more and more sick, and ended up with a sick stomach, sore joints and muscles, head ache, and fever. I went to bed as soon as we got home, before dinner, and slept through the night until this morning. Today I still wasn't feeling well, so I've started taking antibiotics to help fix things and kill whatever is trying to attack my body, and as of this evening, I'm starting to finally feel better. I went to the doctor today and she was great. She was very helpful, and said to keep taking the antibiotics, and if my joints keep bothering me, to buy some sort of gel to put on them.

But for now, it's antibiotics, rest, and hydration! Speaking of which, I have to buy a few extra bottles of water on the way home because we have a cyclone headed our way that will hit tonight or tomorrow, and in case we lose power and can't go out to buy water, I need to stock up a little. But luckily, by the time it hits us here in the highlands, it will probably be downgraded to a tropical storm.

Well, that's it for the updates for now! I'm about to head home for the day. The question now is, taxi-be, taxi, or walking....all of which sound potentially threatening. Awesome.

February 10

And finally, some pictures!!

The scaffolding in this country is amazing...made completely out of sticks.

This is owned by the Ravalomanana family.

Cutest child ever!

Hiragasy, a kind of traditional Malagasy dance.

Walking up to the palace.

Zebu cattle, about to be sacrificed.

A traditional Malagasy religious site.

February 9

Oh my. The last two days, my friend and I have taken a taxi home because I've been too scared to walk and she has a cold. But let me just say, that taxis here in Madagascar are certainly not the same as they are back home in the wonderful city of Washington DC. Yesterday, when I was terrified and just wanted to get home, of course, our cab ran out of gas. All of the sudden we were sitting in the middle of the road, with traffic on both sides, and our taxi driver tells us to wait a second, gets out of the car and pops the hood, as my friend and I just stare at each other. Of course my cab on a day like that, would run out of gas. Looking back on it now, I can't help but laugh. Our driver luckily had a water bottle filled with gas, so it was a quick fix, and we were on our way again.

Then today, my friend and I were going to take the bus, but they are so difficult to figure out in this country, so we ended up taking a taxi. He opened the door for us and was telling us to get in because there was a lot of traffic, but it's different here than in the US because you have to negotiate a price before getting in the taxi, or you'll end up getting in and you won't have any bargaining power and you'll end up having to pay twice as much or more. So I kept saying in Malagasy, "how much is it?" and I could tell he didn't want to respond, and he just kept gesturing us in. Eventually, he gave us a price, and even though it was a little bit high, I wasn't in the mood for negotiating, so I said okay and we got in. Then after a few minutes we got stuck in a traffic jam, and our driver left the car running, got out of the car, and walked down the street, and disappeared into some store with a THB sign outside (Three Horses Beer). So then I was afraid that he had just left us in the car so he could go have a drink, and then I was worried that some stranger would just get in the drivers seat and take off with us in the car, which probably wasn't a valid concern, but I can't figure out what's normal here, so who knows. Then traffic started moving, and we're just sitting there, without a driver for a few seconds, then all of the sudden, he comes running down the sidewalk to the car with a handful of his money and a handful of cigarettes. I was cracking up, and he was acting like that was normal. Oh boy. He then proceeded to ask if he could smoke in the car, but we said no, and he seemed irritated. But then my friend tried to explain in Malagasy that she was sorry but she had a sore throat. He seemed to think that was funny or something, or perhaps he was just laughing at our lack of Malagasy skills. Then we started having a conversation with him and he said a few things in English, which was cool. He said he speaks a very small amount of English, which I said was perfect because I only speak a very small amount of Malagasy. He talked to us about he wants to visit America one day, but that he doesn't think he'll be able to because he doesn't have enough money. He asked us how we liked Madagascar, and I told him that I like it, but I explained how I had my stuff stolen yesterday and he seemed to be very sympathetic and said that there are a bunch of pickpockets here and you really have to pay attention. He also was nice enough to teach me how to say watch in Malagasy. He asked us what time it was, and I responded that I didn't know because I didn't have a watch, but I said "Tsy haiko. Tsy manana une montre," which means "I don't know, I don't have a watch," but I didn't know the word for watch in Malagasy, so he told me what it was. I'm pretty sure it's one of the longest words in the history of human languages. It's "famantaranandro." Talk about a mouthful.....Then when he dropped us off, he gave us his phone number and said to call him if we ever need a cab. He definitely ended up being a nice guy even though at first I felt like he was a little bit rude. And the fact that he left us to go buy cigarettes cracks me up. Things like that just don't happen back home. And the fact that he left the car running is hilarious too, because often times here, cab drivers actually turn the car off when they're in a traffic jam, or when they're going downhill, and they just coast along for as long as possible. So I definitely haven't figured out when it's appropriate to turn the car on and off, if they leave it on when they're not driving, and turn it off when they are driving. Cabs are definitely something I'll have to learn to get used to here.

And, a little bragging, even though I've been pretty scared today whenever I've had to go outside, I got back up on the horse and walked home from my friends house today after the cab dropped us off. All by myself. :) Even though I was scared, I'm glad I forced myself to do it. I don't want to live in fear just because I had my purse stolen. I just need to be more careful and just not carry anything with me. If I don't have anything for them to take, then I'm safe! :)

February 8

Well, I just had a bit of a traumatizing experience here in Tana. It seems like whenever I think that I might be starting to get comfortable here, I get a little bit of a wake up call. I was on my way to a museum with a bunch of people in my program, and we were in pick-pocket central, which I was aware of, so I was trying to pay attention my purse, but apparently I wasn't quite successful. I had it across my body, attached to my wrist, and my hand was holding it too, so I figured that there were three reasons why someone couldn't get it. Unfortunately, as we were walking along and about to cross the street, I turned just as a guy walked directly into the side of me that my purse was on. I said "azafady," which means excuse me, and then the guy who was right behind him grabbed my purse, yanked it really hard so that it broke, and it ran off with it, with the body strap and the wrist strap still attached to me. I yelled "NO!" then proceeded to swear, and then broke into tears. Of course this would happen to me for the second time in a five days. At least the first time when someone tried to take my camera, they weren't successful. I was so upset, because they stole all of my money (which was only the equivalent to 4 US dollars, but still very upsetting), my cell phone (which I've only had for a week), and my drivers license to name the most important things. I was so upset, and thankfully it's now been about two hours since then and I'm starting to gain some perspective and relax, but I was livid at the time. I just wanted to go home, and never come back to Madagascar. I was luckily not alone, so I had friends who could spot me a cab and a couple of friends who went with me back to our classroom. I don't know what I would have done without that support system there for me. But when I was looking out my cab window and there were a couple of children who came up to me asking for money, I was irritated. I know now that I was just emotional and upset, but I was so mad that after someone just stole all of my money, that someone would come up to me asking for more money. I was irritated that when I looked out my window, everyone seemed to be staring at me, the crazy crying Vazaha. However, I can find comfort in the fact that even though theft and crime is much more prevalent here than I would like, the Malagasy people do not at all find it acceptable or okay. In the moment, as I was crying and yelling after my purse was stolen, and saw everyone staring at me, I felt like I saw sympathy in their faces, which even though I felt angry at everyone in the country, it was comforting.

So now I have been trying to relax in my classroom and vent and talk through some things with my Academic Director via phone, and my friends who are here, and I've been able to calm down and gain some perspective, although I still definitely do not feel like going out for a while. I will be taking a cab home instead of walking, because I think I'd freak out if I had any more stimuli today. But now I'm just having trouble reconciling how I feel about the situation. Because even though I am pissed off, it is sad to know that there are so many people here in Tana who are so desperate that they feel like they need to steal things from other people. Part of me feels bad that they feel that sense of desperation, but at the same time, I'm livid and want to feel a sense of justice. I feel like I have been unjustly violated and it's definitely going to take some time to come to terms with.

Luckily I feel like I have a great program staff and friend group as a support system, so I am very thankful for that. I just hope that I learn from this experience and move forward in a positive way, and I don't just dwell on my anger, and my fear of walking along the streets here. Just knowing how it was such a violent attack, even when I was with four or so other people, makes me pretty uneasy. But from here on out, now that I don't have a purse, I will definitely wear a money belt and have at least a little bit of money in my shoe as well.

February 5

February 5, 2012

Church was definitely interesting. I actually got to sing Jesus Loves Me in Malagasy, which was pretty cool. I was trying to sing along to some of the songs, but it was definitely a challenge to keep up. I also was able to recognize a few words in the sermon which was awesome.

After we got home, we went over to my grandparents house, where my friend lives. We ended up going for an almost two hour walk where we practiced some of our Malagasy skills. I was really excited when someone asked me "what's new?" and I knew what they said and I responded "not much," which is what you're pretty much always supposed to say as a response. Our language teachers explained that you always say not much, but when you sit down and start talking, you find out what is actually going on and what's new. I love that I am starting to feel more comfortable here, bit by bit. There are rough times for sure, but then there are the moments when you feel like you almost are starting to fit in....that is, until someone stares at you and says "bonjour vazaha" and you remember that you stand out like a sore thumb. On our walk, my friend and I bought a delicious toblerone bar. It was soooo good. I feel like I've been deprived of chocolate since I've gotten here, so it was a wonderful treat. Tomorrow I definitely want to buy some ice cream. We just have to be careful where to get it here because of something about if it's made with water it can make us sick.   I'm excited to go to school tomorrow and see what everyone else did over the weekend. I'm sure everyone will have exciting stories. :)

February 4

12:00 AM

Today has been more challenging than past days. This morning my host dad left for Kenya, and everyone went with him to the airport. I had to stay home because The previous president's wife was flying in from Johannesburg (where the previous president is in exlie). My mom said that since I'm a vazaha it was better if I stayed home because there would be a lot of people there and the current president would send the military. So I stayed home and then my friend (who is staying with my host grandparents) called me and invited me to hang out with her and my host aunt and do some shopping. So we ate lunch together and went to the market, which was much less scary than it was last time. I felt comfortable asking the prices of things and I even bought a really aweomse dress. When I was there I also saw an Ann Taylor Loft shirt, where I used to work, which was pretty cool. The dress that I bought is actually from H&M. Then we got picked up by my uncle and stopped on the way home to buy some meat. My friend, one of my aunts, my cousin and I stayed in the car, and I was next to the one of the windows and had it rolled down. I had my camera in my hand and was taking pictures of my 4 year old cousin. Then I held my camera in my lap and totally let my guard down, when a man reached in the window, grabbed my camera, and started running. Luckily, I had the wrist strap on, so even though he tried to take it, it was attached to my wrist and didn't go anywhere. I was terrified after that. It was such an adrenaline rush. I am thankful that I was able to learn such a valuable lesson without actually having anything taken. But I definitely realize a little bit more now that since I stand out here, I'm always being watched, and people know exactly what I have with me. I also learned never to rest something in my lap out in the open, and even not to take my camera places with me. It's definitely not a good feeling to have someone try to take something from you. I was angry and scared because I had had a false sense of security about things. Today there was also a little street child who was probably six or so, and she had a baby on her back, and she was grabbing onto me and asking for money. I tried to get around her, but she kept blocking me off from going anywhere, so I said "azafady" which means excuse me, and then she left me alone. I hope that wasn't rude to say, but I didn't know what to do and I was afraid that she was going to just start grabbing at and opening my purse. It's really hard to see things like that, where you want to help, but you know that you can't do anything to fix the problem, and giving money could potentially make things worse. Then I just woke up around midnight because something was crawling on my arm, and I hit it off and then realized it was something pretty big, so I jumped out of bed, turned on my flashlight, and there were massive bugs all over the room. I don't know if they were cockroaches or something else, but I just stood in the middle of the room with my flashlight scanning around my feet to make sure nothing touched me. It was awful. Then I turned on my bedroom light and I haven't seen any of the bugs in maybe half an hour, so I am back in my bed, but I'm having a really hard time getting back to sleep. I'm afraid I'm going to have nightmares. I also have to pee really bad, but it's dark to get there and I don't want there to be any bugs in the bathroom. I wanted to come to Madagascar partly because I want to grow up and realize that these sorts of things are quite trivial in the grand scheme of things. Who cares about a few little bugs taking over your room at night? But in reality, I don't know if I can get over the fear of creepy crawly things. Exposure therapy is probably not going to work for that one. I just hope that I can fall asleep soon and that I don't wake up with more bugs on me. I'm going to sleep with my light on, and hopefully that keeps them away. So the "culture shock" has definitely set in. They talk about how at first when you go somewhere new, for a while it's all so new and exciting, and then after a little bit, things start to go down hill a little bit. This has definitely started to happen. I feel like a child in an adult body. I don't understand a lot of things, from the way that things work in general to the language barrier, things are just pretty challenging right now. It's hard when I come home at the end of the day and I'm tired, and I realize that I can't just relax and speak English, but that I have to stumble along with my French skills in order to communicate with my family. Luckily, they're great and very patient with me, but it's hard to speak to them when my brain is tired. Nothing seems to come out right. I'm definitely having a bit of a language crisis. Between French, Malagasy, and English, my brain is quite confused. I think my English is actually suffering and getting worse. I notice that when I try to read in English, I'm doing it with a French accent in my head, and when I try to write in English, things just come out in the wrong order. But hopefully things will sort themselves out sooner rather than later so that my brain can relax. Anyway, I guess I'm going to attempt to get some rest since I've been up for an hour and a half due to these disgusting creatures that have taken over my room.

And in case I haven't mentioned in already, it's so hot here! I feel like I need to take three showers a day to keep up with how sweaty and nasty I feel. yuckkkk.


2:40 AM

Well, I've been awake now for three hours. Our maid just came in and then so did my mom. I guess these awful creatures are the infamous Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. Supposedly they don't bite and they're not a problem, they just fly and crawl around when it's dark. So I'm sleeping with my light on, which my mom said was fine, and she said that when the light's on, they disappear. She chuckled when she saw me laying here with the light on and a scared look on my face. I didn't think the cockroaches would be that big of a deal, but they're awful. I'm such a baby when it comes to bugs. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the semester with these awful things.


7:30 AM

I made it through the night! After mom told me that everything was okay and I should try to get some sleep, I calmed down enough to sleep for another three hours or so. I'm definitely thankful because if I was up all night long because of cockroaches, I would have been exhausted and grumpy today. So thanks to my host mom for helping me relax! I don't know what I'd do without her. :) Now I'm about to go to church with my family, which is all in Malagasy, so I'm sure it will be interesting.

February 1

We have offically ended our program orientation and have started our homestays. It is amazing to get to stay with a family here. I have three younger brothers, who are all so cool! And I'm pretty sure I have the best parents ever! :) I can't wait to get settled into a routine here, with going to classes and finding my way to and from my house. It's definitely a bit of a challenge using my French skills because since getting here, even though we've had to listen to a lot of things in French, we haven't had to speak very much. But trying to explain what kind of farmer my dad is and how we deliver birds around New England is challenging to say in French, along with things like explaining political or religious views, or how I will receive credit back at GW for the work that I'm doing here with SIT. But in time, I'm sure that I'll get more comfortable with it. I find myself something slipping a word out here and there in English, in the middle of a french sentence, like "for" instead of "pour." My brain is definitely not used to thinking in French.

Earlier today, before meeting our host families, we got to do a "drop off" where one of the SIT staff helped us to get a taxi and negotiate the price. We were then dropped off in groups by the taxis in different neighborhoods of Tana, where our objective was to explore the area, and the surrounding areas, and find out what the names of the surrounding neighborhoods were. It was an awesome experience to get to just walk around rather aimlessly. My group was sent to the more financial/business type district of Tana, where we saw a lot of different banks and things of the sort. I saw a pair of the coolest sandals ever, but I didn't have enough money with me to buy them, so I'll have to go back at some point. Unfortunately, the sandals that I brought with me give me awful blisters. :/ Anyhow, when we did our drop off, we also saw an amazing chocolate store, some different clothing stores, book stores, street vendors, and men playing some sort of Malagasy game that is similar to checkers. Then after we walked around for a couple of hours and did some errands, we negotiated a taxi fair back to our starting point. It's interesting how that is done here, because a lot of the roads are not marked by name, and often times people don't know the names of the roads, even if they're on a map somewhere, so when telling a taxi driver where to go, you have to explain it by what landmarks are in the surrounding area. It was different, but we did it successfully and made our way back.

We also recently were given cell phones! Woohoo! I can now text and call locally and internationally for seemingly good prices. Plus, all incoming calls are free! :)

Well, I'm headed to bed, for my first night here at my new home! :)

January 30th

We have now been here in Tana, the capital city of Madagscar, for about a day. We got here yesterday afternoon, and are staying in another hotel. It is much smaller than the last hotel that was outside of the city. The hallways are much more narrow, and the bathroom situation is a little more of a challenge that at our last hotel. Beofre, we all had our own bathrooms in our rooms, like most hotels in the US, but at this one (which is really more of a guest house than hotel I guess), we have one bathroom for all 14 of us, with two showers and two toilets. The bathroom is VERY narrow. There's a little path way in the middle, with the showers on one side and the toilets on the other, and you sort of have to turn sideways to make it down the path. Using the toilets is a bit of challenge becasue often times they don't flush, so you have to fill up a bucket of water and dump it down the toilet which flushes it. And we're not allowed to put toilet paper in the toilets because it creates problems, so we have a basket to put the toilet paper in. Definitely a new experience. When showering, it's to be expected that the water can get very hot or very cold at any given moment, so that's always great.

Today we had our first day at our program center where we will have our classes. We had breakfast there, which consisted of baguette and jam, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, eggs, and some odd sort of rice porridge that tastes sort of like what I would imagine the earth would taste like. We then talked about some different things concerning the semester, and how the academic program will work. After that, we had our Malagasy and French activites, had lunch, went for a walk, talked about hopes and fears for the upcoming semester, learned who our host families are and where they live (I have a mom, a dad, and three brothers!), and we had a reception with an Academic Dean for the programs in our region from Morocco, along with professors from the university here in Tana. It was a great day. We're getting ready to go out to dinner soon with the Academic Dean. We're eating at a malagasy/reunion type restaurant, where I'll be having coconut chicken with rice. :) So I'm off to go get ready!

January 28th

So I've been here in Madagascar for just over 2 days now, and it's amazing thus far. When we first arrived, we got off the plane to what seemed to be a bunch of reporters with cameras, because apparently there was somebody important on our plane who they were waiting for. We tried to figure out who it was, but it was too much of a challenge, and I'm convinved that even if someone told us who it was, we wouldn't have recognized or understood the name anyway. Then we went into the airport, got our passports stamped, picked up our bags, went through customs and met up with our academic director who was waiting for us. We had our stuff loaded on top of our bus and headed to our hotel, where we have been staying for the last few days. The drive to our hotel was fascinating. We saw rice paddies, zebu cattle, super skinny chickens, stray dogs, a beautiful landscape, gas stations, hair salons, signs for different things like play stations, the laughing cow cheese, and some sort of soap for babies. There was meat hanging in little shop windows, which definitely didn't look appetizing with all of the flies over it, there were interesting public buses with the back door open because that's how people get on and off, and there was a lot of hustle and bustle going on around us because it was basically around a rush hour time. The traffic was crazy, and the driving rules, or lack there of were definitely a surprise. Something else that was a little surprising was when our driver turned on the radio, and most of the music was American. Some of the songs had different verses but the same choruses that our current top 40 type songs have. Then a strange Christmasy rap song to the tune of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" came on, and since Christmas was a month ago, we all had a good laugh about that one. We leave our hotel tomorrow afternoon and will then be staying in a hotel in Antananarivo, the capital city which we have been staying just outside of. We'll be there for three nights and then we start our homestays. The way that our program is structured, our Academic Director and other staff have been easing us into the culture of Madagascar, which I think in the long run will have been great. I feel like it gives us a better chance of being successful here and really enjoying our stay, instead of just being dumped into independence. We've so far mostly been in our American bubble with each other, speaking mostly English, while practicing some French in discussions, eating Malagasy food, and trying to pick up on some Malagasy. We had our first lesson this morning and it wasn't too bad, but it will definitely be a bit of a challenge. After our lesson this morning we went to the market where we were able to buy some things and practice our Malagasy that we had learned prior to going. We were taught how to barter, and get some basic communication across. It was an amazing experience. The best word I can use to describe how it felt going there is overwhelming. We were partnered up, so there were seven pairs of us students walking around the market. I was lucky enough to find an awesome pink watch that has a cartoony hippo on it, that appears to be holding a fishing pole. Quite interesting. I also bought a pineapple and some coconut cookies. It was interesting to be such a minority and for that to be acknowledged by them. In the US, you'd never call somebody out by the way that they looked like they do here. It was normal for us to hear "Bonjour Vazaha" or "Manahoana Vazaha,"  which both basically mean "Hello person of European descent." My partner and I actually had a drunk man follow us around the market for a while talking to us in Malagasy first, then switching to French. He was trying to get us to let him be our driver somewhere or something, but we tried to ignore him. He stuck with us for a while, and it definitely made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. After a while of not saying anything, I turned to him and said "non, merci. tsy mila." which means "No thank you, I don't need it." and he made a nasty face and repeated what I had said, mocking me, and then just kept following us. But even though that was a challenge for me, there were a lot of rewarding experiences, like when I was in somebody's way and said excuse me in Malagasy, they seemed to be quite excited that I was speaking their language. There was so much at the market to take in. All five of my senses were on a bit of an overload. There were pigs hooves hanging at one person's booth, there were smelly dried fish at someone elses, and a lot of raw meat at some. Those were all difficult things for my sense of smell to handle. But overall, for a first real introduction to life here in Madagascar, it was an amazing experience. Most of the people were very kind, and patient with my struggling Malagasy. It was definitely encouraging that I did have French to fall back on, and it is nice to know that I'm now comfortable enough with French to be excited to have it to fall back on. One of the biggest language challenges at the market was being able to initiate a conversation/transaction in Malagasy, but not being able to finish it because of our extremely limited vocabulary. For instance, we can ask how much something costs, but we don't know numbers, so if they didn't respond to us with French numbers for the prices (which they usually did), then we were totally lost and confused and had to ask them to repeat, or to say it in French. The money situation made it challenging too because once they told us how much something was, we had to relate it to our understanding of the value of things, particularly in US dollars, which required a bit of math before we could respond. But in the end, I found everything I wanted to buy, and I had some conversations along the way, so I'd say is was a definite success.

I still can't believe I'm here. It's such a beatiful country with beautiful people, whose lives I cannot wait to learn more about. I'm looking forward to the day where I feel comfortable with daily life here, whereas at this point, I haven't really even been introduced to daily life here. I'm  excited to start my homestay and get to know my family, as I'm sure they'll be an integral part of my understanding of things here. Well, for now I should probably go to bed. It's been a real challenge to adjust to the eight hour time change here, and it's already 10:17, so I should try to get some rest, since last night I layed in bed for over two hours before falling asleep.

I'll add photos later! :)

Less than 72 hours!

So, I'm leaving the house in 2 days, 5 hours and, 29 minutes (not that I'm counting or anything) and heading to Boston to start the first leg of my trip ! I can't wait. I'll be landing in Antananarivo the next day, where I'll be met by my program director, and all 14 of us students will head off to orientation for five days. Then our first home stay will begin on February 1st, in the capital, Antananarivo (aka Tana). The next day, we'll start our classes, which consist of French, Malagasy, a field study seminar and a national identity and social change seminar. Throughout the next two months, we'll have a village home stay, which I've been told can be pretty rough, and a home stay in Mahajanga, along with some different excursions. Then the last month of the program, I'll have to do an independent study project where I'm given a stipend to cover living costs and I'll go do my field work and write my 40 page paper. Then the last few days in Madagascar, we will all come back together in Tana where we'll present our work and say our goodbyes. Then I'll be back in the states just in time to celebrate my 19th birthday! Woohoo!

The last few days I've been gathering everything together and packing, making sure that I have everything I need. It seems like there's so much to do, and I'm afraid that I'm going to forget something important. I had to get doctors notes for my prescriptions, I have to make sure I have a list of important phone numbers, my International SOS card, my money, debit card, homework, WHO card, copies of everything, etc... Just my luck, I'm going to forget something silly like my passport. So for those of you reading this, please send good thoughts my way that I'll have a good enough memory and keep everything together! :)

Here are a few pictures of what I've been packing so far:

Razors, face wash, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, sun screen, bug spray, beachy hair spray (since my hair probably won't do any other look with the humidity over there), more sun screen, wet wipes, deodorant, more sunscreen, body wash, hand sanitizer, and make up remover. :)

As much as I'd like to ignore the fact that I will be in classes while I'm over there, and doing field work, I have to acknowledge it at some point and make sure to pack school supplies! I have two books that I'm supposed to have read, and I've only read one....I still have this whole book to read, but I'm hoping that maybe over my 30ish hours of travelling, I'll find some reading time. :) I also need to scrummage through all of my school supplies from last semester that are still packed away and pack those for my trip too.

These are all of the gifts I got for my home stay families. :) Calenders, playing cards, mints, beanie babies, string for macrame, pencils, stickers, jump rope, mascara, eye shadow and eyeliner (for my host sisters), caramels, pop rocks, foot ball, bouncy ball, little alien things, weird cat and dog that grow when you put them in water, three onesies for any babies I met along the way (Thanks to Jeannine!), and a couple of other odds and ends.

Most importantly, my medications!! I've got a little bit of everything, a few prescriptions, a lot of over the counters, with some bandaids, tissues, and cough drops too. I've got stuff for allergies, colds, flus, food poisoning, my awful knee issues, and more. I also had to get doctors notes, and a medic alert bracelet for my amoxicillin/penicillin allergy. Hopefully I have everything that I need! :) 

Shoes!! :) Plus one of my lovely pair of orthotics that should hopefully help with the knee pain I have been experiencing lately. I went to the doctor about it a few days ago, and apparently my x-rays show that I have something on top of my tibia in my knee joint that is some how an indication of some chronic knee condition, so that's always good. I'm taking arthritis meds, ibuprofen, some medicated joint rub, and glucosamine in addition to the orthotics and a stretching and strengthening routine. Hopefully it doesn't flare up too much while I'm gone.

And some of my favorites, a few gifts from Dad. An awesome crank flashlight, and a wonderful pink knife set. Thanks Daddy! :)

I might do another post before I go, or this could be my last update from here in Maine! The next one might just be from Madagascar! I'm certainly going to miss it here, but I sure am ready to do get this trip started. Not much longer!