I Learned From You

It’s been a few weeks since I closed my service as an Education Volunteer in Madagascar and I have been given the opportunity to really reflect on my service and my life for the past 27 months.  I wanted to give myself time where I didn’t automatically sigh when someone asked me about service.  I wanted to give myself time before someone asked me about service and I automatically thought of something negative.  I wanted give myself more time.  I wanted to give myself time to gather my thoughts and adjust to life outside Madagascar for a few weeks before I wrote my last thoughts about service and I have learned many things and many things I wish people knew about my bittersweet relationship with this beautiful country.  Get ready for a novel.  No, really, it is a short novel; I didn’t realize how long it actually turned out until I, you know finished writing.  Also, enjoy the random pictures to break up the word vomit.

In honor of the 27 months I spent serving, here they are, 27 thoughts, which may or may not include thoughts and insights from my posting from reflections on my 1st year in service (but probably not):

27.  CULTURE. Malagasy culture is full of life, music, and dancing.  We learn about culture, language, and participate in our community for 2 years and still, we won’t know the full glory.  I can gather my assumptions based on my time spent living within my community, but I will still always be an outsider looking in and can never fully understand the wonderful that is Madagascar.

26. BEWARE OF THE SINGLE STORY. Madagascar is a hidden treasure and is always welcoming to tourists.  Telling a single story and type casting a certain culture by hearing tourists and visitors saying things like, “these people,” in a negative limelight as begun to have me defending “those people.”  I had this intense, frustrating thought while at a hostel in Tana, overhearing some quite spoiled tourists stereotyping Malagasy culture without knowing anything about it.

25.  STRENGTH. I’ve had my own extreme struggle with the above, as I have unfortunately had to deal with a lot of sexual harassment and sexual assault on the daily while in service, which has left me with some quite intense anxiety.  Luckily, Peace Corps will help me with that, after the fact, but I would constantly have to remind myself not every person is like this and I was just put in extreme abnormal circumstances.

26. PASSION. I never thought that during my service, I would have loved tutoring more than actually teaching.  Students, especially adults, who seek you out for extra help, makes teaching so much more fun and enjoyable (especially as opposed to teaching 65 male-only teenage/early adult students as a young female).

25.  MORE THAN JUST TEACHING. I also, never would have thought I would have so many opportunities to do more than just teach.  Through fabulous friends, I was able to take part, and cook a healthy breakfast and lunch for a yoga retreat catered to expats, a beautiful challenge and hobby I had forgotten I had loved.  I also got to run my own radio program, which ran biweekly on the local radio and also guest appeared on one which ran countrywide.  I got to hold multiple sessions about American movies and culture, equality, respect, taught songs (not well, but they still treated me like Rhianna, so it’s fine) and got to help organize events with Embassy workers and the US Ambassador to name a few.  I knew I’d do more than just teach, but I never knew how much more I was capable of.

24. PATIENCE. Learning patience as an extremely impatient, punctual person always remained a huge struggle, but I adjusted and accepted the waiting game of things.  Especially waiting hours upon hours for a taxi brousse to fill up, breaking down, and being forced to hitchhike your way back, all while your phone is on that 1% battery life and you have no service.  This is one of those moments you come to terms with really quickly, then have your after brousse beer to celebrate and cope.

23. BREATHE. Days are long, weeks are short.  Many days seemed to drag on, teaching back to back classes 2 hours each, then having to go to the market, wait for the 3 hour siesta to be over so things would reopen, especially when I had to bank or had something time sensitive.  (Which is funny, cause if you really are in a rush, don’t bother stressing, just accept it’ll be late).  But then you turn a corner, and the week is already over and you can sit back with your local cat, earning some gold medals as a reward for making it through the week.  I should add the term “gold medals,” was a term my regional Peace Corps friends would use when talking about Gold Beer, one of the local beers.

22. RELAX. Don’t sweat the small stuff.  It’s already hot, especially as a coastal volunteer, so you’ll already be sweating nevertheless.  Have low standards and expectations so when things actually go as planned, it’s a wonderful surprise.  A lot of things don’t bother me like they used to back in the States or even living in other places abroad.  For me, I learned, finding humor in the mistakes and mishaps get you through the day.  I used to say, I laugh to keep from crying.  It worked.  Most of the time.

21. MORE THAN JUST LEMURS. Without a doubt, the most common question (after that stupid movie reference) I get after I tell someone I live, or lived, in Madagascar is, “wow, so what about the lemurs, are they just everywhere?”  Instead of getting annoyed with their assumption, like I used to at the beginning of service, I take the opportunity to explain Madagascar is more than just lemurs.  For me, yes, I was around many lemur reserves and was able to see many of them which isn’t the case more most other parts of the island.  Madagascar is full of nature, indigenous flora and fauna (90% of it you won’t find anywhere else.  Google it, I’ll wait), intense diversity of both people, regions, and agriculture which range from immense drought and famine problems in the Deep South, to beach vibes along with sex trafficking in the coastal areas and North, to even the intense and demanding vanilla trade in the SAVA region which always gets hit during cyclone seasons.  Madagascar is more than just lemurs.  There is happiness and sadness, music and dancing, unpaved roads and massive potholes, babies being carried on the backs of hardworking mothers, and dedication with passion.

20. LANGUAGE. The hardest part of having served in a city would be the constant struggle of trying to improve on the local language when everyone around you is constantly wanting to learn and speak English.  Which is great and inspired and incredible, but I learned to not focus too hard on improving my Malagasy, and focus more on communicating with my community.  So that’s what I did.  Also, I picked up some French while I was there, so that’s a plus.  Hon, hon, hon.

19. CRAP.  Literally and figuratively.  I also just realized I promised too much of myself when I decided, yeah I can totally write 27 things, no problem.  It’s a struggle because you think of all these things, but there are some experiences and thoughts which could only be understood by another Peace Corps Volunteer (maybe even specific to Madagascar, specific to the Deep South, or even specific just to me).  Also, literal crap.  Before Peace Corps, I would’ve been shy about asking a taxi brousse to pull over for that random bout of food poisoning from that questionable, yet utterly delicious, brousse chicken sold at those specific stops in random towns.  Now, I would have zero issue screaming from the rooftops my intestinal problems.  When you gotta go, you gotta go.  NO SHAME.

18. CULTURAL EXCHANGE. I was lucky enough to have my dad visit me, even better towards the end of my 2 years of service.  I was lucky enough where I could take him around my town, my market ladies, my friends, and my school.  I was lucky enough where my language skills were strong enough I could be a translator so my Malagasy world could connect with my American world.  I was lucky enough to where I could take my dad around and show him my life, Malagasy culture, and be his guide.  I was lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to share with him this glorious cultural exchange, warts and all.

17. FRIENDSHIPS. Friendships change so much throughout service.  Especially when trying to communicate with friends from afar and in America.  With some friends, you manage to stay in contact with and up to date with their daily lives and drama (fun or ratchet), but with others, they sometimes fade.  AND THAT’S OK.  Living aboard is hard.  Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is hard.  Life is hard.  As service grew on, I obviously grew older, and friendships changed.  I learned it’s a part of life, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

16. PRIORITIES. My priorities have changed in the last 2 years.  Of course I still have my bougey side, everyone does.  But what has changed is how I view my priorities.  I was able to go home for Christmas about a year into service and the way Americans, as well as the Western World, prioritizes consumerism and materialistic items is beyond me.  Here I was, in Target, having anxiety attacks over the choices of makeup and for the price of mascara which would have fed a family back in Madagascar for a week, still worries how I am going to adjust to life back in my future home.  Priorities change and it makes you realize there’s more to life than certain things you once thought were so important.

15. RICE IS LIFE. I love rice.  Rice, however, does not love me.  The fight against the rice baby is big (literally), and is the main dish in a meal.  Go hungry or eat rice and look like a Buddha.  I went with the Buddha look, it’s very in right how.  Also, tsy vary, tsy voky (you aren’t full without rice).  Be careful of those rocks though, they’ll slice your molars right in half.  #rice4eva

14.  NO POVERTY PORN.  Don’t take pictures of innocent children playing in their villages and post it all over social media.  Kids love having their pictures taken.  Of course, it’s only natural you’d want to share it with the world about your experience with the little nuggets.  One thing I have a strong stance on that I wish people would know before traveling to a developing world, they’re still children and unless you have lived near them, shared stories with them, taught them, don’t go posting on Instagram or Facebook about, “these poor African kids.” They are so much more than that label.  JUST DON’T.

13. MISERY FEEDS COMPANY.  Obviously we all know this.  But sometimes, you just need to have that vent session with a fellow volunteer who just, gets it.  Of course, it’s not healthy, and yes, there is almost always alcohol involved, but there it always ends up being the most closely related therapy session we’ll get, besides the obvious actually getting therapy.

12. HEAT. You’ll think it can’t get any hotter.  Just wait, it will.  You’ll think you can’t handle it.  Just wait, you will- or you’ll just melt and wait until you can function like an actual human again.

11. DEDICATION. The dedication and perseverance I have seen the locals in my community as well as within the Peace Corps Staff is outstanding.  Through think and thin, almost everyone I have worked with, within the Peace Corps walls to talking with other members of society as been quite admirable.  Shoutout to the staff for doing the job of 5 people, at least, but due to circumstances above my volunteer pay-grade, they are on work overload working day and night to make sure all of our volunteer needs, requirements, and concerns are met.  Your dedication has and will never go unnoticed.

10. VAZAHA. Foreigner.  I used to DETEST hearing that word, around the market, around town, around my community.  I’m not a foreigner, I live here, like you, I thought.  But I am.  I am a foreigner.  It’s not a bad thing. It’s not my identity.  It’s just a way of describing.  With that, this vazaha was able to teach about America, and show my friends a different side of the world, open a new light, and gain insight.  This vazaha, was able to learn about a new and different culture and meet new and different people.

9. GET COMFORTABLE WITH BEING UNCOMFORTABLE.  It’s just as simple as that.  Easier said than done, of course.  But without being challenged, and being forced outside my comfort zone, I would not have grown as well in my community than if I had stayed within the comfort of my uncomfortable toilet of a house. (Literally)

8. FRIP. There are deals in shopping second hand.  The best clothes I own have been fripped, bought second hand on the side of the streets at the markets.  There’s something to be said from a good bargain.  Goodwill has nothing on the streets of Fort Dauphin, let me tell you.

7. HAVE FUN. You don’t know how long it took me to fully come to terms with that saying.  We’re volunteers.  We shouldn’t be that stressed.  It’s not a crime to relax and enjoy life.  Drink that beer.  Swim in that shisto-free water.  Flip that hair.

6. HAVE FUN IN TEACHING. English should be fun.  Learning should be fun.  Act like a fool in the classroom, that’s when you know you’re doing something right.  I’ll brag, yeah, I’m a good teacher, but I enjoyed it more when I liked teaching about the subject matters.  I had to teach Business, Engineering, and Auto Mechanics (which is hilarious because I haven’t driven a car in about 3 years-but I can teach about it!).  I started having the most fun when I started teaching them songs from the best ginger around, Ed Sheeran.  Even better was when my students would sing and remember the songs I taught.  They had learned something.  So did I.

5. COPING MECHANISMS. Everyone has them.  You have it.  Whether it be shutting yourself away from the world for a day or two (or five) and binge watching all of Grey’s Anatomy to deal with being vagina grabbed twice in one night, to making up random songs about your adorable cats, to even as minor as going on week long vacations to your banking town, we all have them.  I learned my coping mechanisms, healthy and not, but it helped me deal with the rollercoaster of events that took place in my life over service.  I was lucky to find a way to deal and build up a resiliency to things that came my way.  I had to.

4. EMOTIONAL. As a person who sucks in all the feelings and rarely cries in public, closing service was an emotional time.  We had all uprooted our lives for 2 years and changed through personal and emotional growth.  After 27 months, Peace Corps holds a symbolic “ringing of the bell” ceremony to signify the close of this chapter of our lives, our finishing of service.  I’m not an emotional person.  I was on that day.  Everyone was.

3. TANA. I will never get used to the capital.  I have had many struggles there, especially when trying to deal with corrupted gendarme officials multiple times, but it’s good practice for trying to argue my way out of a tough situation.  Solution: Smiling and humor will get you far, especially if you can do this in the local language.

2. OHANA. The heartwarming friendships and love I have for my stage is unlike anything else.  We were all spread out during our service, but through thick and thin, we made it.  Through countless frustrations, random made up games with brochettes and beer bottles to get us through conferences, intense training sessions and volleyball games, we still persisted.  We were so blessed with having an amazingly supportive, kind, beautiful friendship full of laughter, light, love, and encouragement.  (In my best Octavia Spencer voice from The Help), We is special.  We is unique. We is delightful.

1.  IMPACT. I thought I was all noise and no one paid attention during my gender equality and equitable learning practice sessions I held at the American Corner for my community.  I thought everything I taught about with consent, harassment, and understanding when “no means no,” went in one ear and out the other.  I thought reading body language and understanding when a female, or anyone feels uncomfortable, to back away was a joke to my students.  On my last day with my school, there was a celebration for the best students who received the best scores on their exams.  I went out to cheer them on and my students, of course, wanted photos.  If I taught nothing and even if no one learned anything from me, (which I know isn’t the case, but stay with me), the biggest thing that made my service was a student coming up to me and asking, “Madame, is it ok if I put my arm on you for a picture, it’s ok if you say no.”  Boom.  My lectures and sessions, and at many times, classroom rants had actually paid off.  That’s when I realized my actual impact.  What I did actually made a difference.  Not only did I impact lives of my students, my community, Madagascar, above all, they have impacted me.  Thank you, Madagascar, and a very heartfelt veloma.

 

Fort Dauphin

On September 5th, I officially finished my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar.  I will post more about my service and reflecting at a later date, but for now, I made a brief video of my town and threw in a few lemurs, because they look like raccoon monkeys.

Only One Woman

A few weeks ago, March 8th, was International Women’s day.  This was a day where women all over Fort Dauphin held a special parade celebrating women, and showing women marching together in solidarity and celebrating each other in.  These parades took place all over the country, and it’s quite common for different organizations, groups, and companies to get together and have outfits, dresses, or in my case, a lambahoany which is pictured in my main post.  A lambahoany is a printed cotton lamba typically featuring a proverb on the lower border of the design.  The lambahoany is the most commonly worn type of lamba and usually made of printed cotton that is sewn together, similar to infinity scarves.  There are many are many uses for them and are often wrapped to attach a baby to the mother’s back, light blankets, sheets, to name a few.

It was amazing to see women come together and empowered and not only know their strength, but show their children, family, friends, and community just how powerful women are.  Every where you went, you would hear shouting, “Tratry ny fety ny vehivavy!” translated as, “Happy International Women’s Day!” from sellers, fellow teachers, students, and other women.

International Women’s day is a day when women typically get the day off of work, as a show of appreciation, while the men still have to work.  Many times leading up to this day, I was asked by men, “why don’t we get a day off?” to which I would respond everyday is a man’s day, an it’s important to recognize the work a woman does, cause more often than not, it goes unnoticed.  The men in my community continued to work, and helped with their partner’s usual chores, also realizing and supporting how much work and effort a woman does.

This parade was full of energy and loud music, dancing, and excitement.  We marched from one part of town to the end, all in solidarity, all marching together with our work.  Each of us were grouped together, all wearing lambas or matching dresses, and as the parade came to an end and our work places were being called out, the day wasn’t over yet.  There would still be a few hours of speeches and awards to give before the event ended.  Women teachers from my school, as well as the wives of the teachers soon gathered for some snack brochettes and juice, recharging before we parted ways.

Sadly, as much as I wanted this week (and post) to be full of inspiration and positivity, reality hit.  Going forward, the next part of this post may be quite gruesome and not uplifting.   I want to preface by saying this is from my views and experience alone, and does not reflect on another Volunteer’s experience as a female living in (Southern) Madagascar or anywhere else in the world.  Unfortunately, I live in an area surrounded by verbal and sexual harassment, which I would say, I deal with on a weekly basis which can be really discouraging at times.  A few days after International Women’s Day, right after the entire community came together to support women, I was at a bar, which is usually empty, but for some reason, it was quite busy, with some friends, catching up after a long, stressful week when I got grabbed by the crotch by a local man who was clearly intoxicated.  Not 2 minutes had passed when another man did the same thing.  This happens from time to time especially when I’m walking around the market, and usually I am quick to jump in and start yelling and lecturing them on the inappropriate nature and actions.  Just as quickly as they grabbed me, the were gone.  Throughout the rest of the night, there were more and more drunk men, and this time I was very quick to react, trying to convey certain unseemly behaviors are not ok, under any circumstance.

I want to say not every man behaves like this, but it only takes 1 out of every 5 to ruin your week.  In the past year and a half living in the Deep South, I have experienced unwanted touching, verbal harassment, as well as various types of catcalling, the last two of which I’ve become quite impervious to and have gotten good at tuning out.  Verbal harassment can range from the usual “ttsssstttttt,” which is a version of whistling, having screams of, “I love you,” to way more inappropriate language which I don’t feel comfortable typing.  Other harassment has ranged from trying to be forcibly kissed, grabbed by the breasts or privates, hand holding, and at times sniffing.

Like I said, not all men are like this, but it’s common enough to where it does affect me at times.  I’m very lucky as I have an extremely strong support system and have found ways of coping and talking with friends.  When the bad days outweigh the good days, that’s a problem, but 21 months in, I have found good enough strategies, friends, and a way of positively dealing with the stress and anxiety that comes with harassment.

Harassment is quite common anywhere, but for some reason, I happen to get quite a bit of it during my service.  I have seen this happen to not only just me, a foreigner, but other foreigners, as well as other local women too, so I’m not a special case.  Because harassment isn’t often talked about, most women I have seen affected by this, often ignore it, or me, I often yell at them or choose to stay silent, depending on the circumstances like if I’m followed in numbers for example.  This can happen while I’m walking to the market, going to the beach, sitting at the beach (which is when I get the lurkers, who seem to enjoy just staring at me from behind a bush), and even while teaching at times.  It does become quite problematic, with good reason, and to regain composure, I will do something fun for myself, which I am lucky enough to have a nice French influence of assortments, wine, cheese, massages at nice hotels, so I can reset and refresh.  I also have gotten into the habit of doing something physical or mind, body, soul related like Insanity workouts and yoga so I can trick my mind into having a better day, even with the bad days.  I have incredible circles of friends who get it, and fully understand this way too common issue and often offer great solace and distraction.  But ignoring and and not fully dealing the instances can only go so far.  The biggest and most impactful way to solve anything is through education.  And that’s exactly what I did.

After discussing with my local American Corner in town, I decided I really wanted (and needed) to present a session on respecting women, and the impact their behaviors have on a woman.  To convey the message, and have it hopefully stick, I had a powerpoint, real life scenarios, do’s and don’ts, “What would you do?” questions, as well as reviewing key vocab words pertaining to objectification, harassment, and the importance of “no means no.”

While going over how even though culture is different, it is never ok, no matter what to harass someone.  I commonly gave the example of what would they do if they saw a man treating their mother, sister, or daughter, in such an offensive way.  What I felt like was repetitive, seemed to finally get through the room filled with all but 4 women.

One of the last discussions we went over during my session was about how men usually eat first before anyone else.  In Malagasy culture, it is quite common to feed the man first before anyone else during mealtime.  I asked why and a female student answered, “because the man went out and worked and it shows him respect.” To this I replied, “and what makes you think YOU aren’t worthy of respect?”
This session was very near and dear to my heart and is an emotional topic to talk about. With International Women’s Day being a few days prior and being harassed a lot lately, I really wanted to put together an event on respecting women.  Whether or not every student retained any of my session, as long as I got through to one person, I did what I intended.

I also participated on the radio about gender inequality and the importance of recognising women

I finished the session with a final thought, hopefully impacting them in some way: if a man enters a room full of women, he is happy. If a woman enters a room full of men, she is terrified.

And with that, to leave on a bit of a more positive note, as hot season is nearing a close, the sunsets are still as beautiful as the first time I saw them in Fort Dauphin.  I love this place with all of its beauty and still find it hard to believe my service is almost coming to an end with a little bit of 5 months more to go.  That being said, stay tuned for the yet to be recorded tour of my town and marketplace.

My House

With almost 20 months into living in Madagascar and about 7 months to go before I finish my service, I have finally recorded, edited, and uploaded a video of my house.  Popularly known as, “Peace Corps Cribs,” PCVs often record videos of their homes to give insight and share more about their life/ living quarters in country.

So, instead of reading my hilarious and witty posts and seeing beach pictures, again and again, enjoy watching my hilarious and witty video and seeing the beach as I give a tour of my house where I’ve spent my service living.

Enjoy!

Also, these vlog like things are a lot of fun, I may do another one soon in lieu of writing another post.

After All These Years

It’s coming up on the end of another year in Madagascar. 2017 marked my first full year on country, first full year at site, and completing my first full school year teaching in Madagascar. This year has had a lot of ups and downs, from figuring out how to fully be tamana (comfortable) to continue to truck along in a place I’ve learned to call home.

Last Christmas was my first Christmas staying in Fort Dauphin. I spent my 28th birthday at a cute little local bar and helped ring in the new year with some friends. This year, like a couple of my other stage mates, I had the wonderful opportunity to fly back home for Christmas with my family. Peace Corps does allow you to take vacation, and no, unfortunately they don’t pay for our vacation trips. I’ve been home for about a week, but like most traveling, I didn’t have an easy time getting home.

My final destination would end up being Kona, Hawaii, my home of record and where I would get to spend the holidays with my family. After a very emotional 2 days of plane cancellations where I was stuck in Tana, the capital, not knowing if and when I’d be able to catch another flight, I was finally able to fly out and journey the 20+hours to JFK with a brief layover in Turkey. Flash forward 13 hours of flying across the country, not including that much time also spent with layovers and other drama, I had finally landed in Hawaii, greeted by my family, completely delirious from sleep deprivation.

Not being in the States or another western part of the world for 18 months is a trip and can really mess with your head. After previously living in Southeast Asia then back to America, I became accustomed to what’s known to many as “reverse culture shock.” Like before, I have definitely acquired some culture shock issues while being back for vacation. Certain things still continue to surprise me on my visit home: the house not flooding when it rains, outlets not shocking you when you plug stuff in, drinking out to the faucet, broccoli and spinach, malls, and SO MUCH ENGLISH, just to name a few.

Just the other day I was in Target looking at all the different makeup which has improved just in the short time I’ve been away. And I continued to stand there. Staring. One mild panic attack later legit standing in an aisle not knowing what to do with myself, I continue to be surprised how much my Peace Corps experience keeps changing me and continues to do so. Stepping into 2018 with less than 9 more months in my service, I still find it hard to believe how much time has past, although some days it really does feel like a year and a half.

This blog post was more of a brief reflection and I wanted to make sure I wrote just a smidgen before the end of the year. Now that I do have a better working phone than before, I’ll be able to post a bit more pictures. In the meantime, here are some pictures of my time on vacation in Kona, which strike quite the resemblance to my site in Fort Dauphin. Yes, because of the beaches.

There’s Nothing Holding Me Back

There’s a common joke that Peace Corps is where electronics go to die.  My phone, which has gotten me through 5 countries before coming to Madagascar, has finally died.  Luckily, I haven’t had the need for a phone, nor have I bothered replacing it.  The hippy in me is saying live in the moment, but the rational side of me is really just waiting for VICA (our monthly allowance) to kick in so I can afford a new phone.  This past month I’ve spent in Mantasoa, a few hours outside the capital, with other PCVs helping to train the new batch of future volunteers.  Prior to our month of hard work, and pre-death of my phone, I took a quick, enjoyable R&R weekend trip around the Deep South with some friends from site.  I live in the Anosy region, but decided to venture a little bit more down south to the Androy region, even more atsimo (south).

Normally, to get further down south, you would take a camion, the same word in Spainsh.  It’s like a bus-truck, sometimes with a canvas covering, sometimes not, it depends on which camion you get.  To go to the places we really wanted to go, you really need to rent a 4×4- pricey for a PCV ‘income’, affordable for a Westerner, worth it on all fronts.  In the 4×4 it took about 8.5 hours, normally anywhere from a 12 hour to sometimes 24 hour camion ride.  Note that only 11% of all roads in Madagascar are actually paved.  These roads are not part of the 11%.  I’ve been on better roads, but I’ve also been on much worse roads.  Riding in a 4×4 is also a luxury compared to other modes of transportation, but actually.

For a night, we stayed at these cute little bungalows before going onto our next trip.

Moving on from that throughly exciting segway about roads, by about mid-day, I was at this place called Faux Cap, a windy, cute little area, popular to many who live in the Androy region.  To elaborate a little more, the Androy region is known for the “spiny forest,” which are full of cacti, their droughts, and salty water.  Most drinking water has to be dug for, and because of the scarcity, water here tends to have a little bit of a salty bite.  On the drive, it was very eye opening to see holes around, primarily because people were digging for water.  This was the beginning of another humbling experience and a further love and appreciation for this country.  The ocean had this beautiful ripple effect which literally made me go “wow.”  There are these absolutely beautiful ocean stairs which are rocks which have eroded over the years.  The calm currents and barely there waves, made for the most relaxing mini therapeutic session.

After a night in adorable little bungalows, eating some of the freshest fish, and drinking coffee from the most apologetically sweetest owner of these bungalows who kept worrying our coffee was too salty (she made due with what she had, and the fact she worried so much about the salty water, which she couldn’t even help, made this experience that much more humbling), off we went again in the 4×4 to another part of the Deep South.

Only a 2 hour drive in the 4×4 and maybe a little less than a 2 hour hike, I ended up in Cap. Ste. Marie, which is the most south you can go before you fall off the island.  Like, actually, it was so windy, I legit thought I was going to be swept off the island.  Backtracking before the hike, on our way, we kept having to stop and move turtles out of the dirt, rocky road.  No, I’m not exaggerating, nor am I making this up.  One of the main attractions, or one of the many things which make Cap. Ste. Marie so popular are theses beautifully rare, endemic turtles.  I didn’t, but our guide, who was hanging off the trunk of 4×4, kept hopping off to move these nuggets out of the way so they wouldn’t be roadkill.  Once the 4×4 came to a stop, I started my hike to these gorgeous cave like sculptures, which have been sculpted just so from the most dangerous, harshest waves I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  Although it is the very beginning of whale season, I wasn’t able to see any- they must’ve been in hiding.

The pictures don’t do this place justice.  Also, the rocky reef blocks just how scary the waves were.  I swear they were giant!  Legit huffing and puffing later (I promise Mom, I exercise, I do Insanity), and maybe a 10 minute drive later, stopping multiple times of course to move the not so little rare turtles, we came up to a lighthouse, and the literal end of the Southern tip of the country.  This wind though.  Scary, beautiful, scary, amazing, breathtaking, did I mention scary, views.

This lighthouse is legit

Any further and I would’ve been swept off, so I kept a safe distance.

It doesn’t look like a cliff, but I promise you it was.  This was all only a day and a half of activities we did, which now looking back on it is hard to believe, but such is life.  Another few hours later, about 30 kilometers, and my friends and I had made it to Lavanono, which, fun fact, literally translates to “long boobs.”  Lavanono is this cute little fishing village in the SouthWest end of Madagascar’s coast.  I just recently found out it’s called Lavanono, not because of the literal translation, but it refers to the sugar loaf which served as a type of lighthouse landmark a super long time ago.

Anyways, these bungalows were super cute, laying out on a different beach was fun, and talking with strangers and seeing how wonderful their lives are in another region was one of the highlights of my trip.  Each region in Madagascar, more or less has their own dialect and I was pretty nervous communicating especially because the Androy and Anosy dialects are so different.  To my surprise, I was easily understood, and I got to strengthen my language, which is always a win- integration is always the ultimate goal.

Laying on the beach, listening to music, and relaxing was such a nice mini vacation.  While sitting, it’s completely common for locals to come up and just chat, also it’s not everyday a vazaha (foreigner) speaks Malagasy and not French.  I got into this lovely conversation with a woman my age, and her two children about the drought in Madagascar and how there’s no work for her because she is still responsible for raising her children.  With what I thought was my limited Malagasy, turned into a wonderful conversation where we shared different cultures, lives, experiences, and joy.  I talked to her for hours, and the conversation I had with her will stay with me forever.  I took a picture with her and her children, but sadly, it left with the death of my phone along with a few other pictures I stupidly forgot to upload.  I was, however, able to save the cutest picture of her kids, which I hope to one day, get the photos back to her somehow.

The road to Lavanono looked a lot less scarier than it actually was

The children of the woman I had the most humbling conversation with

I don’t know if it was cause we had an exhaustive and activity packed weekend, or we weren’t ready to fully go back to Fort Dauphin and back to real life, but I swear the ride home is always faster than the ride there.

A week of being at site later and I was off for Practicum training along with 6 other Education Volunteers to help train the new stage.  For the next month, we led sessions, helped the trainees with teaching, worked our little butts off, and had the most fun time hanging out with each other.  We, as Trainers, got to spend so much time together working, and also, of course used some of that time to goof off with each other.  One day, we dressed up as some of the Peace Corps Malagasy staff members, borrowed their clothes and impersonated them- literally one of the funniest and most fun part of this month, maybe my service.  It was legit almost impossible to contain our laughter, it takes a special set of people to appreciate our humor.  

A more normal picture of us looking normal will follow.  These 3.5-4 weeks have flown by, and it’s hard to believe I’ll be back at site in a few days, then again back in Mantasoa in a few weeks for my Mid Service Conference.  This is actually super exciting, besides the fact I get to see all my stage mates, but I also get a dental appointment and physical-even better, it’s free (thanks Peace Corps!).

The other day marked my 14th month in service and all the circumstances and joys and challenges I’ve been through have made me a better volunteer.  I’m really grateful for this grand vacance and even more excited for school to start again so I can get back to my primary project, and hopefully start a few more projects.

Also, I’ll get a new phone soon so I can take more pictures to update my blog, maybe.  But until then, enjoy these random posts and I hope to write at least 10 more before my end of service.  Until then, veloma.

Life is Life

I write this, on the eve of my 1 year anniversary of being in country, reflecting on the past 12 months.  This past year has been full of highs and lows and has truly changed me and adapted me in more ways than I know.  This year has flown by faster than I could imagine.  The days have been long, and sometimes, the week never seemed to end, but, literally, in the blink of an eye, I’m already a year in.

The past couple months flew by, and were filled with teaching, exams, grading said exams and a quick trip to Tana to be trained to be one of the trainers for the new incoming Education stage.

Below are some of the happenings from the last few months, from March until now, ending with very truthful and also humorous real talk things I’ve learnt thus far, one for each month I’ve been here-cute, yeah?   Maztoa (Enjoy).

March

March brought the end of another term, and a well deserved Easter break from teaching.  But, March also brought me a nice field trip with the teachers of my school to a quaint little town right outside town.  For a day of caring, my school teamed up with our sister Agriculture school and took a camion over to the countryside to work with the students there.  We ended up planting a little over 100 nuggets which, as I’m told, will continue to grow, flourish, and be cared for.

Yeah, it was nice to get out of my town for a day and help out and all that jazz, but it as really awesome to see the Agriculture school, which up until a few weeks prior, I had no idea even existed, let alone was a school my school was pretty involved with.

I planted my first tree today.

These kids are so eager and willing to help.

 

April and May

Back in January and February I was dealing with a lot of classroom management and harassment issues with my students.  I was struggling with everything going on and I almost got to a point where I couldn’t handle some of them.  I tried everything, but there will always be bad apples in a barrel, which I eventually came to grips with.  Teaching is hard.  But teaching in another country with a language barrier and all boys, woah.

Easter Break came, which was much needed; a perfect reset.  So when April and May came along, and the same problems started to arise again, with of course, the same students, I kicked them out of class real fast-crap like that would not fly…again.  That got them to behave really quickly.  I am appreciative I found what works for my classes, but I just wish I’d learnt about it sooner, would’ve saved a little bit of stress! lol (As I wrote this, yes, I legit laughed out loud.)

Independence Day Celebration in Fort Dauphin’s commune.

June

June brought the end of teaching my first year in Madagascar and explaining to my students, I will indeed be back next year, and teach them, so they better keep up on their studies.  One of my classes, didn’t believe me and insisted on taking individual pictures with me.  SO.  MANY.  PICTURES.  Only for my favorite class.

June 26th, Madagascar’s Independence Day, brought a weekend of activities.  There were fireworks on the 25th, and although it was raining, still such a sight to see.  Especially given how I haven’t seen fireworks in well over a year, yes, it was a big deal.

The next day on the 26th, my students, some teachers, and I, all met up at school to prepare for a march to the town’s main circle, along with other schools, the English Center, and clubs.  Participate in a town march and you’ll find clubs you never even knew existed- a kung-fu club and a karate club?!

There was so much waiting.  You’d think I’d be used to waiting around. Not in the least.  All lined up and waiting to begin, I want to say, we were probably waiting a few hours, so not too long, but I was hungry.  Finally we were moving, and we marched for a few minutes, then we were finished.  Easy and quick, and so much fun.  I knew Fort Dauphin had a lot of people, but I didn’t realize how many.  It was bumper to bumper foot traffic with people selling food to rum and people with their families from all ages from freshly hatched nuggets to cute lil grannies and grampies.

There were all sorts of food stands with everything mofo (bread) related and of course, fried stuff, my favorite being mofo crevette.  A mofo crevette is basically a deep fried shrimp.  Think shrimp in a pancake batter, then deep fried.  They’re delicious.  I had 5.  But don’t you worry.  I saved room for the important things, like 2 ice cream cones- they were tiny cones.

Basically how I celebrated Vignt-six: with my students waiting to march, marching, and eating.  Quite a successful Independence Day celebration.

My mechanic students getting ready for the march

Out of the entire school, there might me only 50 girls. #Letgirlslearn

 

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12 Things I’ve Learned During Year 1

12. Never trust a fart.  Just trust me on this.

11. Always carry extra toilet paper.  You never know when you’ll get a random bout of food poisoning on the side of the road.

10.Solitary is bliss.  I’ve become extremely comfortable being alone and am enjoying my own company.

9.You’d be surprised what you’ll do for entertainment.  I’ve spent a good 30 minutes watching a hissing cockroach try to get over a sidewalk, an hour watching a mouse try and get out of a sticky trap, and a decent 2 hours dropping things on flies to see if such objects are faster than they are.  For future reference, the fat, green flies are easy to kill.

8. Friendships change.  Being away is difficult.  Maintaining friendships from across the world is difficult.  Life happens and things get in the way, but the friends who’ve stayed in contact throughout this journey-those are the keepers.

7. Hard drives.  Having my hard drive in country has saved my life.  Binge watching tv shows, or even having the option to watch High School Musical without judgement or after a bad day is magical and life changing.

6. Celebrity status.  Every time I walk outside I get stared at.  It really used to bother me, hearing the “vazaha!” (foreigner), but it doesn’t anymore.  I’ll usually respond with something witty and humous.  Sometimes, there’ll be the kids who unstealthy try to take photos.  Yes, child, I’m awesome.

5. Pets are the best therapy.  There are many times I will talk to my adopted cat to get out everything on my mind, sometimes to practice my Malagasy, other times it’s out of boredom, or loneliness.  Ok, mostly, it’s out of boredom, but he doesn’t complain.

4. I was wrong, journaling is the best therapy.  If not only to get words out on paper, it could be something or nothing, but if only you read it, you can be as raw as you are.  I’m not the best at keeping up with my blog, obvs, but I am pretty consistent in writing in my journal.  If anything, it’s always nice to look back and see life’s biggest problems during the first few months or weeks in country or at site or any new adjustment.

3. Dance parties.  If you feel like an idiot while doing it, you’re doing something right.  Solo dance parties, pet dance parties, or even with friends, crank those new songs up, well new when I left country, or some SClub 7 and dance like nobody is watching.  And even if they are, who cares.  Be silly.

2. Rice is life.  You’d be surprised how many days I wake up craving rice.  As a main dish, as a snack, as breakfast.  Anything goes.  I add a fried egg to it or veggies…I’m not that addicted…yet.

1. Fill your own shoes.  Don’t be concerned with comparing yourself with the accomplishments (or even lack there of) of predecessors or other volunteers.  Everyone’s experience is different so don’t worry about filling anyone’s shoes but your own.

And with that, I leave you with a picture of my ice-cream I had during vignt-six.  Don’t worry, I didn’t drop it.  It was delicious.  And yes, everyone stared as I took the picture (and continued to after).

 

Safe and Sound

While it’s been more than a hot minute, 5 months to be exact, since my last blog posting, I am still blogging, still alive, and very much still in Madagascar.  Between October and now (March) a lot has happened so I’ll give a brief Cliff-notes version ending in what I’ve been doing these last couple of weeks:

October and November

After swearing in, I got “installed,” where someone from Peace Corps flew down with my fellow cohorts and myself to help us move in and check off some home security issues.  Us, along with another region are the only fly sites, meaning we can’t brousse it to Tana because of safety concerns.  I have yet to take a picture or video of my place, but stay tuned.  I touched a bit on my previous post but a bit recap: I teach at a school which doesn’t follow the normal curriculum and has 3 specific tracks.  I have 6 classes, 2 levels of each.  Teaching in the morning has its perks, as I’m done by lunch and have the rest of the day to veg, go to the market, or do whatever.  My students are a bit rambunctious but I was fair warned about them beforehand, so I had a bit of a heads up.  I would refer to my journal for what’s been happening, but I have also been slacking on my writing there, so there’s that.  Besides getting into the grove of things of a new site, teaching at a new school, and meeting new people, October flew by faster than I thought.  Actually 8 months have flown by already and it seems like I was just at PCTC (Peace Corps Training Center) in training waiting to get my site.

I absolutely have almost no relocation of November.  I know I taught.  That’s pretty much it.  I did have the opportunity to go to an ExPat’s house for Thanksgiving along with a few other PCVs, which was lovely and amazing.  There was Turkey (!), mashed potatoes, some cheesy potatoes, veggies, and some other food.  Oh, and pie, of course.  It was really nice to bring America to a bit of our Madagascar lives.

December

December actually went by rather quickly also.  I gave my students their exams and before I knew it, I was off back to Mantasoa to meet up with everyone else in my stage for IST (inservice training).  IST is a 2 week training where we meet up and discuss where we are, our troubles, how we can improve, basic things.  We also get a chance to get training on grants for our secondary projects and bring up “counterparts” to PCTC for the latter week of training.  Counterparts are local members who live in our community, who usually help us with projects, whether it be primary or secondary projects.

While at PCTC, before our counterparts arrived, it being the holiday season and being away from family, my stage all got together and had a secret santa gift exchange.  Now, we had all picked names out before we left for site during PST, so we knew what to get.  The only rule was it had to be something from your site, which is such a lovely gesture and awesome way of showing off your part of the country.

PCTC roomies

My host siblings and their cousins

My host siblings and their friends, and mine

PCTC roomies

I also got the chance to visit my host family I stayed with during PST in Mantasoa.  They are the most kind hearted, sweetest people ever.  I was excited to show off my improved language skills.  But of course, as soon as I saw them, all my language literally escaped my brain and felt like it was my first week meeting them again.  There’s this culture in Madagascar, where you can just sit in silence next to people, and it’s not uncomfortable silence like in America.  It’s just silence.  So that’s what I did inbetween explaining my new life and when I’ll be back for another training.

It was nice seeing everyone, but by the second week, we were all ready to head back to site.  When I finally got back to Fort Dauphin, I felt refreshed.  It was nice to get away for a little and go back to where I started, but it felt good to be back.  Highs and Lows.

I got back a few days before Christmas so a few of us PCVs decided to have a little Christmas breakfast, watch some Christmas movies, and literally do nothing.  It’s been so long since I’d been back in America for Christmas, this is slowly becoming the norm.  I was able to FaceTime family, luckily, and it made me feel better about the holiday blues.

Again, I got the amazing opportunity to be invited over with some other PCVs for a Christmas celebration and was pleasantly surprised by some traditional Anosy music and dance.  I actually took a video of this, and if you haven’t already seen it on my Instagram or Facebook, you’re in for a treat.  Well even if you have already seen it, enjoy it again or try the link, because WordPress has issues with me trying to upload videos for free.  here

 

I also spent my birthday in Madagascar, obviously and it was amazing.  Two other PCVs made me my favorite carrot cake and frosting with help from the Peace Corps cookbook.  While birthdays are hard for me being away, it was amazing and I throughly enjoyed it.  We had a nice lunch at a fancy hotel here and I got a massage.  Perfect relaxing day.  I considered topping it off with a trip to the beach, but it was a hot day, and you know, too much relaxation.

January, February, and March

Not unlike November, I have no idea what happened in January.  All I remember is getting back into the swing of things, dealing with extremely maditra (naughty) students, and being hot.  I started going to the beach more.  I mean it’s literally right there, so why not.

I believe January was the month (see? I can’t even remember) a few of us went to the Cascades, a waterfall like place where you can swim and relax.  We brought a picnic and everything.

February was also the month I began eating meat again.  Hey, I guess I do remember more than I thought.  In January, my school had a belated New Years party where they had killed a zebu (cow) along with rice (of course), and some type of veggie medley.  There was a bunch of laughter and dancing, and yes, I partook in the dancing (and laughter). If you can’t see the video, you can view it here

 

In February I also went to Berenty Reserve in Androy region, a region just south of me.  Although it may not seem like it, at this point, I did need some R&R for the weekend so I did.  Off I went.  Again, with some friends, we stayed at the reserve for a night seeing all sorts of different things.  We saw, I think something like 6 or 7 species of lemurs: ring tailed, dancing, brown and bamboo to name a few.  We also went on a night walk and saw 2 night lemurs, my favorite- those furby looking ones-mouse lemurs.  Well, I only saw their eyes, because, you know, it was night time and I left my night vision goggles in my invisible plane.  Besides lemurs, other wildlife like chameleons and owls and things, Berenty is also famous for having both the rainforest environment and the spiny forest.  The spiny forest is exactly what you think, a forest full of cacti.  It was cool to see and experience the drastic change from greenery to an almost desert like atmosphere.

This brings us up to March.  Even better, like last weekend.  As PCVs, every few months we have a VAC meeting, where volunteers in a region meet up and go over set questions sent from our higher ups.  Then our leaders go and represent us and go to another meeting, like a pyramid.  Although Androy and Anosy are two different regions, we are all by ourselves in the south, so we grouped together, did our work, ate dinner, then on Sunday, the real work began.  (Mulan is stuck in my head as I’m writing this.)  Anyways, up bright and at a normal time we hiked Peak Saint Louis, this big ass mountain in Fort Dauphin.  Climbing on the 529 m high Peak Saint Louis has a spectacular view of Fort Dauphin.  From the top I saw east to west, which legit looked like a dolphin tail.  But no, that’s not why it’s named Fort Dauphin, it’s after some French guy.  It took us 3 hours to hike up to the top, of course with my rollie pollie self trailing behind, to get in all the good views of course.  For security reasons, it is better to be accompanied by a guide, so we went with some local friends and didn’t bring anything too valuable, besides, you know, our lives.  Turned out fine, no problem.  7 hours later, we finished our hike and were all feeling like jello.  Filled with dehydration, I bought a water, chugged that, bought another water, and of course, a beer.  With less than 5 minutes left of the hike, being me, I tripped and fell, not once, not twice, but thrice times and scraped my poor knee and leg open.  Thus, my need for the beer.  Well that, and the fact I had just hiked for 7 hours.  The hike was on Sunday, and as I type this on Wednesday, I am still sore.  My arms are even sore from legit pulling myself up on the rocks to climb that mountain.  All in all, it was a lot of fun and I’m glad I did it.  Granted, I’ll never do it again, but it was beautiful, and I am proud all of us went on that hike.

Reach for the Stars

Welcome!

It’s been about two weeks since I swore in as official Peace Corps Volunteer and moved to Fort Dauphin and started the next two years of my life. It’s been a transition going from seeing my friends everyday, living at the training center, and being fed five times a day to being alone again, cooking for myself, and teaching again.

Regional Picture

On October 3^rd, 2016, 31 Madagascar Education trainees swore in as official volunteers. It was officially the beginning of the school year and there was a student assembly at the local elementary school where we did our practicum, so we got the opportunity to swear in with our community. Dressed with our hair done, make up, and lambas (traditional Malagasy sarong like cloth, usually with sayings on it, and usually given as a gift), Stage 49 decorated three Peace Corps vehicles with paper people cutouts, flowers, and everything in between.   Beaming with excitement, we got in our regional groups (our sites) and paraded down the road to school.

When we got to school, there was an umbrellaed area for us to sit. Our Country Director of Peace Corps was there to give a speech, along with our DCM, and Ministry of Education to name a few. Before we repeated the Oath, my stage had prepared a Malagasy song (with a few dance moves) for everyone, which went a lot better than we thought it would.

My Adorable Host Brothers

The Parade to Swearing In

A few speeches and an oath later, I had officially sworn in as a volunteer. It felt just like graduation- graduating from training of course. After swearing in, the volunteers and a representative from our host family came to join us at the training center for “cocktail hour.” Don’t get too excited, cocktail hour is soda and snacks (alcohol free).   Swearing in was on a Monday, and on Monday it is market day in the next town over so my host mom was not able to make my swearing in, but my host brothers came which was adorably exciting.

Stuffed with excitement and snacks, it was time for lunch, and about an hour after lunch had finished, it was time to say goodbyes. There were 6 people who had to fly, 2 up from the capital Tana and the 4 of us in the South. Everyone else would be driving to their sites the next day. There are two reasons we couldn’t drive besides the fact it would have taken 3 days to drive, the road is extremely dangerous and unsafe due to some violence and robbery. So anyways, we flew and had to be in the capital the night before. Goodbyes were harder than I thought they were going to be, my stage-mates and I had gotten so close within our 3 months of training. The next time we will see each other will be during our IST (In Service Training) in early December, so it’ll be here before I know it.

My Friends and I in the South and Location

Swearing In!

A night in Tana and an hour and a half flight later, my friends and I had arrived in Fort Dauphin with our installer (it exactly what it sounds like- someone from Peace Corps who takes you shopping for necessary items, does safety checks for your house, and introduces you to the important people in town). I was 2^nd to be installed, and once I was, I was so thankful to finally be able to unpack and no longer have to live out of a suitcase, start hanging up pictures, and make my space into more of a home.

Everyone has a different experience with housing. Some people have big houses and have to bike to their school, some have tiny cottages, and others live in their school. I live in the school’s old storage closet and latrine, so I have 3 toilets (you know, just incase I get tired of using one). In all honesty, it’s all I need, there’s only one of me and it reminds me of dorm living- I even have a bunk bed! It did, however take me forever to figure out how to put up my mosquito net, which was solved with lots of string and duck tape.

Now, a week and a half into teaching, I am slowly but surely starting to get into the rhythm of things, figuring out shortcuts to the market, the best places to go to eat (the important things in life) and playing tourist in my own town which included going to a reserve, seeing my first vanilla plant, gorgeous scenery, and of course my favorite seeing at least 5 species of lemurs and getting to feed the little nuggets. Much to my surprise, these ones were nice and friendly unlike the previous lemurs I had met during my site visit.

And with that, I leave you with an adorable collage of lemurs.

They’re adorbs!

Ringtail Lemurs

Dancing Lemurs

SO CUTE!