Some news and a post...

I have some good news. I will actually be doing some training's in June. The first will be on June 12th. That one is actually another volunteer's but I am helping and getting my feet wet. It will be about brushing your teeth and washing your hands. It's for children. Then, about a week later, I am planning to do a training on nutrition and cooking. I'm very excited! It will be a good way to introduce some new things to people and the promise of free food usually guarantees a good turnout. Somethings are universal. When they are done I'll of course write about them.

And here's the new post:

One of the weirdest things about the Peace Corps experience is the extreme ends of privacy a volunteer experiences. There are many times when it can feel like you can't get any privacy at all. Other times you have never been more alone in your life. Both are a wonderful part of all of this and a struggle.

The lack of privacy sometimes could definitely be a problem if you lack patience or have the wrong mindset. For instance, if my door is open, people are constantly coming in to visit. No matter what I might be doing or how busy I might be. Sometimes the door is open to get some airflow through my house on a hot day but it is an open invitation to come visit as well. The culture here is one of many, sometimes daily, visits and a lot of small talk. It is both great and can be stifling. It's great because it is very easy to make friends and practice speaking because I am constantly talking with people. I genuinely like the visits. They are born from both curiosity about the new, huge white man in the village and respect and friendship. But the concept of personal space is very different here than in America. It is one of the big cultural differences I have noticed. When people visit I might be preparing a meal or in the middle of studying or writing but that doesn't matter. They come right in, sit down next to you, check out what you are doing, and get right to hanging out. In the Malagasy culture there is always time to small talk with a friend and neighbor. It is a wonderful way to be but it takes getting used to coming from the US where it can feel like you should always be doing something and where a persons personal space and home are mostly entered by those that are close to them. It's best to take it all in stride and use it as a learning experience. Another good example is that one of the favorite past times of the neighborhood children is to stand outside my window and stare at me while they whisper to each other. They are just curious but that can of course be annoying. I often invite them in to color pictures but that is only a quick distraction. Plus I am rapidly running out of wall space to hang the pictures and coloring books. And if I say I am busy the usually leave but always come back soon to stare some more. I am still getting used to that.

The other side of the coin is the loneliness. Of course on one level it comes from being the only American in town and having to communicate in a language you barely speak. That can be overwhelming and very draining. I find that it's important to take time for myself every day to just chill. Most of the time I read or watch movies on my computer but even staring at the ceiling helps. I am also lucky because there is a volunteer 7km away from me in the town I have to go to for the market. I see her a couple times a week and that helps recharge the batteries too. Some other volunteers aren't so lucky. It can be nicer than you would ever imagine to have a conversation in your native language. I continue to gain respect here for people living in a country that doesn't use their native language or who speak more than two languages. The other level of loneliness for me is literally being alone many times during the day. As often as I am swamped by visitors I find myself very alone. Especially during the day when people are working and the children are at school. I almost miss all the faces peering in my window...almost. For me that is a very new experience. Before this I had never lived by myself. And even here my house is attached to a family so I am not really on my own. Again, some others have it worse. But I am still not used to all the alone time. It feels stupid to complain about being alone when I just said I take time for myself everyday but it is very different when you choose the loneliness and when it is forced on you. The good thing is I'm reading my butt off. I'm going to be extremely well read after this. It also gives me time to study up on both my technical manuals and language. I try to be productive during my loneliness. Sometimes I am even successful.

I guess the best part about the extremes is I'm learning so much about myself. I can't run or hide from myself during the lonely times and the constant interaction with new people from a different culture is teaching me so many awesome things.

Some more wonderful musings and thoughts...

I'm back! And much sooner than last time. I think I am getting better at this. As will probably be the theme for my entire time here, I have some pre-written posts that I am going to batch together as one. Let me know if that is a dumb way to do things or doesn't work well. Here we goooooooo.....

The first one is a better description of my site and the people there than the small blurb I wrote before:

My site is all kinds of awesome. The people at it are great and the people I will be working with are very good at being patient with me and helping me learn the language. I can't wait to get working with them.

My first 3 months at site are focused on getting better with the language and getting to know my community and culture. I hope to have some ideas for projects and even have started somethings before the 3 months are up but it's after that first part that I really get going. One of the things I'm excited about that is already happening is gardening. On Wednesday this week I am starting a garden at my place with my landlord. I live in the same building, and share a front entrance with, a family that includes a mom, dad, 17 year old boy, 15 year old boy, and a 2 year old grandson who is hilarious. The dad is an adviser with the blacksmith's co-op that I will be working with and a very respected person around town. The mom is also a respected person around town and is the village community health worker among many other things. She is the one I am doing the garden with although the whole family will be involved. It's very exciting because one of the things the community needs help with is better nutrition and food diversity. There are not very many vegetables grown in the region. They import almost everything from Tana which is about a 24 hour taxi-brousse ride away (btw taxi-brousse's are the main form of long distance travel here. They are little buses that can be crammed with 20-30 people depending on the size of the van and/or the people. They break down quite a bit but they are always an adventure). So the vegetables at the market are very expensive and most people cannot afford them. If I can convince people to garden they will be able to grow their own diverse foods and have a better diet. If the garden at my place goes well I hope to use it as a model for the rest of the community to learn from. My landlady is very committed to this and I know she will be a great help with pushing things forward.

She is also helping with a community-wide child health week this week. I don't really have much of a part in it but I am excited to see things and help as much as I can. There will be Vitamin A classes, vaccinations, and de-worming pill distribution. Pre-natal and early childhood help is a very big part of both the Peace Corps and National Health programs here so I am excited to see it in action.

Another main counterpart of mine is the president of the blacksmith co-op and he is awesome. He (along with my landlady) is great at understanding my broken Malagasy and translating it for people and he is also good at helping me to understand what people are trying to say to me. He is very excited for me to be here which definitely makes me excited to work with him and to do the best I can. He is also very good at helping me navigate the local village culture. There are certain people that should be kept involved in things (village elders, etc) and other things that are important for integrating and he keeps me up to speed on all of that. I'm excited to work with him and the blacksmiths and hopefully to help them improve their organization greatly.

I am very much still getting adjusted to things and every great moment is followed by an awkward one or a moment of doubt. But all in all in has been wonderful thus far and I am excited to finally be where I will be living for the next 2 years and excited to be starting my work.

And now the booze here:

Finally a blog about something really important...the alcohol here.

The most widely available stuff is beer and rum. You can find vodka or wine in some nicer places and there are stores in Tana that stock pretty much the same liquor types as we have in the US but with mostly different brands of course.

The beer is not too bad. The isn't much selection or variety but nothing is bad. The biggest brand is called Three Horse's Beer (THB). It's a pilsner brewed here in country. It's pretty good and I've gotten to know it very well. We have become very close friends. THB always lends a helpful ear when you have troubles and that sombitch is always the life of the party. Great guy. There is also a beer called Golds which is decent too but I prefer THB. They carry Castel which is from South Africa and is also completely inoffensive but unexciting. They have Guiness here and it is brewed here. I really want to visit the brewery during my time here. It's good and one of the only dark beers you can find. It tastes different than the stuff in the States but not in a bad way. It is more like the extra stout and isn't nitrogen carbonated. I've also sampled a local beer called Karibo which was fine. I tried it because Karibo means “welcome” or “come in” in my dialect so I felt like I had to.

The rum is plentiful and cheap. There is expensive stuff but my cheap ass hasn't tried it. The cheap stuff is better than the cheap stuff in America. It doesn't taste like lighter fluid. They also make an alcohol called “toaka gasy” here. It's kind of like moonshine. It is sold everywhere but it might be illegal. I honestly don't know. Peace Corps encourages us to not drink it because it isn't exactly sanitarily distilled and you can't have any idea how strong it is. So of course I haven't tried it. But if I had I would probably say it tastes bad but not awful. But the smell makes you want to throw up. I would say that the smell is indescribable but that I would not necessarily recommend to any but the most adventurous. That's what I would say. If I had tried it. Which I haven't.

Overall the alcohol here is pretty good and does a good job at what you want it for. It is also incredibly cheap. Come visit. I can help you sample it.

The next one is about some of the ceremonies we had at the end of training. They were amazing:

It happened a little while ago but I wanted to post about the swearing in ceremony and the ceremony we had for thanking the host families because they were very cool.

First the host family one. It was held at the Peace Corps Training Center in Mantasoa which is on a lake so it was beautiful. They set up a tent outside and luckily it both didn't rain and it wasn't hot as hell so it was a great day. I was actually chosen to give one of 2 speeches by trainees in Malagasy because my fellow trainees have terrible taste apparently. It actually went pretty well. Malagasy speeches are definitely different than American ones. Every speech starts with shout outs to the dignitaries in attendence. Then you introduce yourself. After that you apologize for any number of things. I apologized for being to young to have the floor (the oldest are supposed to be the ones speaking here although if you aren't the oldest you just apologize and then move on) and for not speaking clearly because I am still learning Malagasy. Then you do the speech. When you close it out it's customary to make a joke about how long or boring the speech was so I said that I was sorry that the speech was as long as I am tall. They liked that. The craziest part was that as I gave the speech it was translated into English by one of the Peace Corps staff who is Malagasy. It was very surreal. After the ceremony we took some pictures and hung out with our host families one last time. They were awesome so that was very fun.

The swearing in ceremony was all kinds of swanky. It was held at the US Ambassador's residence in Antananarivo. The grounds are beautiful and there is a pool. I wouldn't mind being invited back for a pool party if anyone from the State Department is reading for some reason. Everyone dressed really nice and I even showered and everything. It was a very big deal. But the biggest deal was the new Prime Minister of Madagascar attending! It was awesome to have him there. He brought out a ton of media and we were all over the national news. We also got to take a picture with him which is on Facebook if anyone is interested. After the ceremony, which included quite a few speeches and quite a bit of me trying to find the right combination of shade and breeze to not sweat in my fancy clothes, there was a cocktail hour. The food was amazing. It was some of the best food I've ever eaten and I have gotten down on some food in my life time. There was also an open wine bar. Needless to say that was enjoyed by myself and my fellow volunteers. We cleaned them out before it was all over. It was a great celebration and a fun last event with everyone before we all went our separate ways.

Afterwards we went out and partied in Tana. That was a blast. We had some great cheeseburgers at Sakamanga, which means the “blue cat”. If you're ever in Tana go there. The food is great and you can get karafes of Malagasy wine for like $3. After that we went to a bar close by then a dance club. I showed off my ample dancing skill and I am know everyone was very impressed. If there were cameras present I probably would have started an international dance craze. Taking taxis in Tana is also interesting because they are all these tiny little old french cars. But they have surprisingly roomy back seats. The interesting part is that everyone of them sounds like the axle and wheels might fall off at anytime. Quite an adventure.

This next genius post is about continued language learning:

Oh language..language, language, language. Why must you be so tricky?

I am doing a pretty good job (I think) with picking up the Malagasy language so far. But I am constantly reminded how far I have to go. I often get myself into situations where I have started to say something or make a point and I realize I have no idea how to do it in Malgasy. Then dictionaries and a lot of gesturing and pantomiming are the only things I have left. And maybe some poorly drawn pictures.

I think the easiest thing for me will be to realize that I will always be behind everyone and accept the fact that I won't understand a lot of things. Even after 2 years. But that is a really hard thing for me to do. I want to be very good and be able to express all of the things I want to say. Even though most of them are not exactly profound.

One of the cool things I am learning are Tsy Mihety proverbs. They love proverbs here. And they are very cool. But also very hard because they are usually long and use a lot of strange words and word forms. But they are coming along. My favorite so far means something along the lines of “that person is always lazy, they needed to be whipped like a cow to get going”. That is far from a direct translation and it sounds a million times better in Malagasy but I like it. Also, it's metaphorical. No one actually gets whipped. Just to be clear.

Continuing the language learning outside of the classroom is also a struggle. You have to be very intrinsically motivated which comes and goes for me. I have a little notebook that I try to keep with me at all times to write down all of the new words I hear. It helps a lot but can also be overwhelming because everyday there are at least 10 new words. And those are just the ones I catch or remember to write down. Luckily the people in my village are very patient with me and very helpful in making sure I get the point.

The language is an ongoing process and will be my entire service. It is a fun struggle though. I'm very happy to be learning a dialogue. It's kind of cool to learn something so obscure. There are many Malagasy people who don't know some of the things I am learning let alone Americans. Very cool.

And finally, something productive I have actually done. A garden!  Here we go:

I've been at my site for almost 4 weeks now. I really like it. We just finished our garden behind my house! It looks awesome. Now it needs to grow.

One of the things I really want to work on here is food security. It is part of the Agriculture project framework and very important in Madagascar and at my site. One of the main struggles in my area is a lack of crop diversity and poor nutrition. The people in my town often eat only rice at meals or maybe rice with beans or chicken if they have the money. When they do eat vegetables it is either greens (which are grown in abundance here and are cheap) or tomatoes. The reasons for this are many but the main ones are that the market to get more diverse crops is 7km away and everyone can't get there often, they don't have the money, they don't know how or feel comfortable growing it themselves, they don't know how or feel comfortable cooking the different things, or often a combination of them all. That is why the garden is such a good opportunity.

I have a good list of people who are interested in starting their own gardens and want my help. It's an awesome opportunity. I can teach people some new techniques in a one on one setting so that hopefully the teaching sticks. And then they can teach others long after I leave. That's the main development philosophy of Peace Corps. The build sustainable growth that will last after volunteers are gone.

Along with the gardening I would like to teach cooking and nutritional classes. Another hurdle is that, once people do have different kinds of food, they do not know how do use them. I'm no gourmet chef but I can teach some simple recipes using the unfamiliar things. It is mostly a stigma because the people here can definitely cook these things and almost certainly cook them better than me. I can use the cooking trainings to talk about nutrition as well. The promise of free food usually draws a good crowd.

I am really excited about my start here at site. I just need to make sure and keep the momentum up.

So that's that. Sorry if the formatting sucks. I pay for internet by the MB so I try to be on it as little\quickly as possible.  Feel free to talk trash in the comments or in a personal email. If you are planning to be particularly vicious, please use the email. My boss may or may not check in on this so no foul language. Misoatra (Thanks).

  

First one in a long time...

Soooo it's been a while. Sorry for that. Internet is hard to come by here and I've been super busy. But of course it's mostly just that I'm lazy. But I have a few things I wrote a long time ago and I promise to be more on top of it in the future. Maybe.

Here's one I wrote about the awkwardness here:

For those who haven't experienced it, there is nothing quite like the awkwardness that is trying to communicate with someone who speaks a completely different language than you. Add to that that the first time I heard Malagasy was in Madagascar. So it has been difficult. There is a lot of gesturing, laughter, and silence. Like charades with strangers. However, it is great motivation to study. There is also an oft repeated phrase here, “Embrace the awkwardness”. It is supposed to be weird and difficult. If it's not you're doing something wrong. All of that is part of the learning process. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Even know that I've been here long enough to know a small amount of language every conversation is an adventure. Assuming the person I am talking to speaks slowly enough to understand, I am in constant fear they will use a word I haven't learned yet. Which happens in 99% of my conversations. I carry a notebook at all times so I can write down the new stuff or I'd never remember it. Thankfully the Malagasy are a very patient and forgiving people.

I am also more than a foot taller than the average person here. All doorways must be ducked. I learned that the hard way. Myself and another volunteer, who is actually an inch taller than me, are known around town as “volontera lava” or the “tall volunteers”. We're celebrities! There is definitely a lot of staring but you get used to it. I like to stare back. It breaks the tension. Being tall also makes using the kabone (toilet...sort of) and ladosy (shower...sort of) an adventure. Thankfully a lot of kabone time is in the squatting position because there is no standing up in there. The ladosy was also a back breaker but they actually raised the height for me. My host family is awesome. But that's the next post. It should be said for the record that you don't have to be an ogre like me to not fit places hear. Pretty much anyone 5'10” and over has some struggles.

And here is my host family:

My host family is amazing. I have a host mom, dad, and brother but my brother lives in Tana so it's like I'm a host only child. I haven't actually met him yet but hopefully he will be able to make it here soon. My host mom and dad tale great care of me. I have never eaten so much in my life. And I used to be 300 lbs. Fun fact, the Malagasy consume the most rice (called vary here) per capita of any one in the world at ½ a pound a day of uncooked rice per person. They love their rice here. So, if anyone is coming to visit, make sure to hold of on eating your rice. Anyways...host family. They are great. I am their 6^th host child from Peace Corps so they have it down pat.

As I've gotten to know them and the language better we've developed some recurring jokes. My host mom loves sweet food and doesn't like spicy things so my host dad and I are always jokingly trying to slip some sakay (crushed hot peppers) on to her desert. It's a lot funnier to do than to read. By the way, desert here is always fruit and we have it with every meal, even breakfast. We laugh a lot together, mostly at me saying words wrong or that mean the wrong thing.

They have also been very accommodating in regards to my size. They are both around 5'3” so most of the house just doesn't fit me. They did make the ladosy taller as I mentioned last post. They did it completely on their own too. After I had been here about a week my mom announced one day that they were going to fix it and when I came home my dad, who is a carpenter, was just finishing up. I think they thought I didn't use it much because it was too small for me and not because of my general indifference to showering and my not wanting to pour a bucket cold water over my head every morning.

We have a ton of animals. Here we go: 2 dogs, 2 cats (one of which is on loan to another volunteer's family to help them with their rat problem), a pig, 4 ducks, and 39 chickens. Yes, 39 chickens. About half of them are babies or young, as are 2 of the ducks, one of the cats, and one of the dogs. It is really fun to help round them all up at night. I feel like Rocky chasing the chickens around. It's great agility work. Almost everyone has at least one chicken and they roam freely during the day. And everyone knows their chickens by sight. It's pretty amazing.

The house is 3 rooms. My room, their room, and the kitchen. My room it actually quite big. There is enough room for bed and a table and chair. The house is really a perfect size. Except the doorways of course. We don't have electricity but that is not a huge deal. We are in bed by about 8 and up around 430am or so. Anything that needs to happen after dark is done by candle light or with a flashlight. There is something fun about reading and writing by candlelight. But it is a shame that so many people live with out electricity which we consider to be a bare essential in the US. To think of all the lost productive hours and the chance to use them to improve one's life. And imagine not being able to refrigerate food. The lack of electricity in the developing world is a huge issue in keeping people and places down, although the problem is far outside the scope of a Peace Corps volunteer's job description. Maybe someday I can help with it.

The Malagasy are a wonderful people who I love being around. I'm excited to spend the next 2 years working with them. But I am really going to miss my host family and the chickens.

And here's the food:

Malagasy love rice. Tena tia vary ny olona Malagasy. Rice is eaten at almost every meal here. And a drink called ranon'ampango is drank at every meal. Ranon'ampango is basically rice water. After cooking a pot of rice you put water in the pot with the rice that is stuck to the side and boil it. Then serve hot. Now you have ranon'ampango.

My host family actually hasn't been eating rice for breakfast most of the time. I'm not sure if that is because they normally don't or if they have adjusted for the huge American living with them. Instead we eat some form of fried bread or pancakes every morning with honey and peanut butter. I'm not complaining. So far I have avoided any really bad stomach issues (knock on wood). Other than a few sporadic sprints to the kabone I have been lucky. Others have not been. I know my time is coming so I try not to laugh too hard when I hear the stories. Side note, when living in Madagascar discussing bowel movements (among many other things) with people who were strangers 2 months is very normal .

I really love the food here. I am a fan of rice so that helps. There is also a great selection of fresh, in season fruits and veggies available all the time. We have a dessert of fresh fruit with every meal. Even breakfast. Maybe the only issue I have had with the food is that I am eating so much of it. My host mom is a great cook who also has some portion control issues. She makes the amount of food you expect to feed 6+ people for the 3 of us. And often it falls on me to eat as much as possible. If we can't finish, which happens always, the cats, dog, and pig reap the spoils.

We've had an amazing assortment of foods too. Even though we only eat meat a couple times a week we've eaten: a whole chicken (including the feet and head), cow liver, entire little fish (bones and all), and many parts of a pig to name a few. That doesn't include the delicacies we tried on our tech trip and there will be a longgggg post on the tech trip. I love it all but it is not for everyone. I also participated in my first chicken killing here. The first of many I expect. Again, definitely not for everyone but I kind of liked it in a completing the cycle of life kind of way.

So far so good for my stomach and insides. No sudden issues or long term blockages. But, the longer I am here the more adventurous I get so we shall see.

There is so much more that has happened here but I've been terrible at keeping up with it. Obviously the long post on tech trip didn't happen. I'm at my site now. It's called Ankazambo Atsimo. It is in the north central part of the island. The biggest city close to it is called Antsohihy. It's beautiful. There is an amazing mountain range surrounding the area. And the people at my site are the best. They are super into helping their village and making changes for the better. I am so excited to work with them. We are starting a garden next week on Wednesday or Thursday. I also am working with a blacksmith's co-op in the village. They want to expand to new markets and tighten up their supply lines.

The move to the new site was definitely hard and awesome at the same time. I am so excited to be here but I also miss my PCV friends. It's hard being away from everyone but it will be great to hear about everyone's sites when I can. I made some good friends over the last 10 weeks. Way more than I thought I would. I hadn't really thought I would become close with people but I have. And of course I miss everyone in the States. But it's so good to be here. I am so excited to be doing this.