Experiences of a Lifetime.

         So I have been going on lots of adventures here in Majunga. It has been so great to really get out in the field myself and start doing some individual explorations and also to visit some places that I find really interesting. Yesterday we went to visit a mosque which was really cool- In order to respect the religion, as women, we had to cover up our heads and lower bodies with “lambas” which is basically a large scarf or sarong. It was interesting to be dressed as the Muslim women would be dressed because I felt like it allowed me to see things more through the eyes of a Muslim women. I had to wear a headscarf and a sarong tied around my waist as a long skirt (since I was wearing a knee length skirt and had to have everything covered except my arms). I had only a basic understanding of the Muslim religion upon my visit to the mosque but what was incredible to me was to see in person the gender inequalities that are present in the Muslim religion.

            The guy giving us the tour (he was a Muslim himself) showed us the separate prayer rooms for men and for women. He explained that if they prayed together, women needed to be in the back so the men would not get distracted. It is the same in the classroom as well, we got shown the rest if the mosque and where all the students were educated and since they do not have enough space to make two separate classrooms for the girls and the boys the girls have to sit in the back of the classroom with the boys. He then explained that nudity for a man is just his lower half so he only needs to wear pants while in the mosque. Nudity for a woman is her whole body which is why all the girls in my program had to have their whole bodies covered.

            It was very interesting for all of us to get a firsthand perspective on such a different way of life and religion that many of us had not really explored. Oh and I must have forgotten to mention that the city of Majunga has quite a large Muslim population due to migration from the Comoros Islands and many Indo-Pakistani migrants and influences as well.

            Today we had a few more wonderful adventures. I got to visit a Malagasy “College” or middle school, as it is known in the United States. I went to visit this school in a group with three other students. We went to chat with the director for a bit and then went into an English classroom where the students were thrilled to see four Americans in the front of their class. It was pretty incredible to chat with the director of a public middle school with about 1,300 students. He was a pretty incredible man.

            He talked about the basics of the school and then we were able to ask more in-depth questions about the school itself and the educational system in Madagascar. It is actually quite interesting and very alarming to say the least. So to explain this quickly, there are three levels of schooling in Madagascar. You have primary school for five years, then college (or middle school/ junior high) for four years and then lycee (or high school) for three years. In order to get into each respective school one must pass a test to get in. If the student does not pass then he/she must repeat the grade or go to a private school. Now in addition to having exams to get into the respective schools, the students need to pass exams at the end of each school year in order to move onto the nest grade. You can see how this might pose a problem for those students who find it hard to study due to their living conditions at home, or the quality of teaching might be sub-par or it could be due to any other things that might ail children in a developing country. This system leads kid to have to repeat grades (or go to private school as I stated earlier, but private school is much more expensive than public school).  Once a student has repeated multiple grades, you could see how it could be discouraging to students and unfortunately many of them drop out. The director gave us statistics on the number of students that have to repeat grades each year and it was about 15% on average in the school I visited.

            Not only is this a problem but, due to the political crises all funding to the schools from UNICEF has been suspended. The government pays for most public schooling anyways but unfortunately this leaves a financial gap that needs to be filled. The parents of the students are obligated to pay 10,000 Ariary per student per school year (conversion wise that is about $4.50 in USD). Believe it or not there are some parents that cannot afford that, and thus that child does not get an opportunity for education. There are also issues in being able to buy supplies for schools such as pens, notebooks and uniforms. There are many parents that cannot afford this as well, and as a result, do not send their child to school. The director was telling us that many parents would ask for a delay in the tuition fees because they could not afford it at the start of the school year in October- he told us that he really should not give people extensions because a part of the 10,000 Ariary involves student insurance. If something were to happen to an uninsured student then it would be on his watch but he told us that he decides to take that chance because it is more important to have that student in school. It was really interesting to hear him talk about that- I really think more school systems could use people like him. - Directors that care more about the wellbeing of the children than themselves.

            Also- I almost forgot to mention that while we visited, the teachers were on a strike and out of the 45 teachers that taught at the school, only 4 showed up for work. Despite the strike, many of the students were at school and ready to learn. The director told us that the main reason was because most of their parents work during the day and school is a place to send their child for supervision. But, as I walked by the classrooms without teachers I was surprised to see the children taking it upon themselves to study and do homework. This trip was very valuable to me in that it really made me thankful for all of the education opportunities I have in the United States. It opened my eyes to the realities of the educational situations in Madagascar (and this goes for other developing countries as well) and how they are desperately in need of reform if the people (and country) are ever going to get out of the cycle of poverty they are born into.

            Whew that was a lot on my adventures. I hope you enjoyed reading about the intricacies of Malagasy life for today- Personally, education, health and topics involving social work are the most interesting topics for me, so I will be taking a lot about them throughout my journey! Get excited- I am going to visit a health clinic tomorrow so you will be able to hear allll about it! I have talked a little bit about the healthcare here but hopefully after my visit tomorrow I will have more of an in depth view of healthcare in Madagascar. Also, to come tomorrow: I am going to write a little about my ideas for my thematic seminar paper; which is a 15 page paper due at the end of march on a broader topic related to Malagasy culture aaaand the topic of my ISP; which is my independent study project, an assignment that will take up the whole month of April and will lead me to conduct field work and interviews. I cannot wait to learn more! Until tomorrow!

Of Panoramics, Lemurs, a Baobab and Paradise

         So I apologize for being slow at updating I am alive though- And in paradise right now but we will get to that later- Last week I was super busy with schoolwork and I have been off the map ever since I arrived in Mahajanga.  Let me give you an update in a nutshell though:

            I had an incredible last week with my family (although it wasn’t the last week forever, I will be back in Tana in a few weeks time); I am finally starting to feel better the amoeba has finally cleared up! Whoohoo!!!! I also had a breakthrough with Tana as well; I am starting to feel way more comfortable in the city although Mahajunga  (where I am right now) is pretty much amazing.

            Saturday I had a wonderful last day with my Tana host family shopping for dresses and tank tops for Majunga. I also bought an adorable blue straw hat for my tropical adventure.  We went out to ice cream later, which was delicious and resulted in jokes between me and my host sister (somehow whipped cream ended up all over her face… I wonder who did that? Haha) My family is also the sweetest as I say over and over… they bought me a beautiful sarong to wear for my trip also! I cannot wait to wear it at the beach!

Sunday and Monday, February 19 &20

            First of all: I know this will be posted late but a shout out to Hannah my little sis- Happy 18^th birthday on February 19^th!!!!! Go be an adult and vote! I love you!

            Sunday morning was an early one- we began our journey to Ankarafantsika national park at 7:00 am. It was an eight-hour drive to the national park but what a beautiful drive it was!!! I do not think I need to say anymore. The only thing there is to say is that these pictures below do not do it justice. 

        Ankarafantsika was a land unto itself as well. Within two minutes of our arrival, lemurs jumping and swinging from tree to tree in the campsite greeted us. The first night we set up camp, and then I got to go for my first run in like forever! It was wonderful! I was unable to run in Tana because of safety issues but it was so nice to finally be outside the city. We had dinner and some THBs at the campsite (Malagasy beer which is huge here-) and then went to bed. Unfortunately, the cold, hard ground and the heat weren’t the most conducive to sleeping but hey- I was in a National Park in Madagascar so I cannot complain!!! The next morning we went into the park with guides and got to see some more lemurs, a variety of lizards including chameleons and some crazy spiders as well. Fun fact about Ankarafantsika: this national park has some species of plants that are not only endemic to Madagascar but can be found nowhere else on the island except for this park. After the hike, we went to a turtle refuge right next to the park, which housed and breed rare species of turtles. Have you ever seen a turtle eat? It’s pretty hilarious. 

Cutie little lemurs in the WILD!!!!

   
       Well after that sejour, we visited a little village nearby which was home to a women’s co-op. This co-op produced beautiful art and bags made of raphia (the leaves of a tree that grows in the region) which they would dye with natural means such as fruits, I ended up buying a few items as gifts- they were so beautiful! After some more exercise (I could get used to this!) we went on another walk in the park with the guides. This was special in that it was already dark out by the time we started walking so we got to see many of the nocturnal species of lemurs and lizards. It was SO COOL! I felt like I was on Animal Planet!!! Anyways, that soon came to an end and dinner and s’mores ended the day!

Some children at the women's co-op that were fascinated with my camera- I took their picture and showed it to them and they thought that it was the funniest thing

Tuesday, February 21^st – Thursday February 23^rd

            The next day was another day of adventure and travel. This time we were headed to the wonderful coastal city of Mahajanga (you might also see it spelled as: Majunga which is the French spelling).  Everyone in my program (myself included) were so excited to see the ocean- the Mozambique channel to be exact.

Let me tell you, compared to Tana, Majunga is paradise with a capital “P.” First of all, we are renting a villa for our program center. When I hear the word “villa” I picture beach, well, I was correct in thinking that our villa was going to be overlooking the ocean because it is. Oh but I think I might have failed to mention the minor drawback about Majunga is that it is 90 degrees + every day. Now when you are sitting in a classroom for most of the morning that s slightly miserable but, when your school day involves “siesta time” from 12-3 then the walks on the breezy boardwalk are just what the doctor ordered.

Another panoramic (can you tell that I love panoramics???) This is of the route from Ankarafantsika to Majunga

           Now, as I am writing this I have already been settled into Majunga for a few days so I apologize for leaving out some details of my stay so far but I am just going to summarize as best I can- it is very hard to keep up with this kind of stuff when I am so busy… and when the boardwalk and ocean is right out my front door.  I am lucky enough that my house is a 2-minute walk from the program center and that I get to share the beautiful view of the ocean! But starting off… I have a new host family in Mahajanga. They are wonderful! My host father is an architect so he actually designed the house that I am living in and it is beautiful! It is a one-minute walk from the boardwalk, which is one of the things that Majunga is famous for. There is about a half-mile long oceanfront boardwalk that is line with palm trees and benches. In the morning you will see people out catching the early rays of sunshine and taking advantage of the early morning breeze by getting their exercise in (which is what I do every morning- I go jogging on the boardwalk).  At night, everyone takes advantage of the cooler temperatures too by going on an after dinner walk. I have done this quite a few times with my family and it is wonderful- there are so many people out it is crazy! It is also nice to be able to go out at night- in Tana that is not feasible because it is way too dangerous. 

The view from right outside my house. Do I have to say any more? :-P

      As far as other aspects here go, the food has been wonderful. Of course rice is served with every meal as always but I have learned to work around that. If there is another starch served at a meal aside from rice then I will do a substitution because I am not a huge fan of rice as it is and having to eat it everyday for three and a half months is slightly torturous for m, no offense Malagasy, that’s just how it is. The seafood here though is DELISH! I have had incredible fish and shrimp- and I don’t even like shrimp! (well I guess I do now…) Also, as I have mentioned many times before in my blogging…. The theme of ice cream! I love ice cream and am so happy to find it everywhere in Madagascar… especially in a hot place like Majunga! I have literally gone out for ice cream every day during siesta. I think by the end of my trip I should go on some sort of travel channel show, which specializes, in the best ice cream in the Indian Ocean. 

GIANT BAOBAB!!!

      I feel like the people and general population and attitude here are different than Antananarivo as well. People here have more of a laid-back coastal attitude, which is a nice change from the hustle and bustle and fear that one feels while in Tana (don’t get me wrong- there are some things I like about Tana- in fact I do like Tana as a city, I would just prefer to be on the coast!).  When we had the host family reception at the program villa”, all the families seemed to know each other, they were making jokes; and at the end they all gave us straw hats to wear in the sun! My host mom also gave be another sarong thing to wear- I am well prepared for the beach!!!!! As for the details of my family, I have a mother, father and sister who is 12, I also have another sister but she goes to university in Tana and she lives there. The house that I am staying in is beautiful. As I said, my host dad who is an architect designed it. I will try to post some pics of it because I don’t thing my written descriptions will do it much justice. I will just say this one thing: I have my own room with a couch, bed desk, shelves and armoire, all decorated in beautiful Malagasy fabric. The floors of the house are of gorgeous red clay tile (clay that one will find in the highlands of Madagascar). I guess the theme of Mahajanga is just gorgeous.

The boardwalk right outside my house :-) or "bord du mer" as they call it here

Saturday February 25^th

        So after five days here I can safety say that my opinion has not changed much. I have spent the last few days in class, walking and running on the boardwalk, taking field trips with my class around Majunga and working real heard at the pool and the beach.

            Yesterday we spent the morning touring the office of M3 which is a radio and TV station for the region. It was pretty cool to hear a journalists perspectives and troubles in regards to the political crisis. During siesta, some friends and I went to the pool down the street, you have to pay to get in but it was soooo worth it considering it has been 90 degrees here everyday and we have been sweating our tails off in the classroom. In the afternoon, after our lovely pool time we went to visit a huge catholic cathedral. It was interesting to see the comparison of this cathedral and the others I have seen throughout my travels. Unlike the others I have seen, this one was not very ornate, but that could have been due to the materials available to the builders? Also, there were relics around the cathedral but once again they were not as old and ornate and had kind of a cheesy look to them I thought.

            I love it here in that I can go for a run on the boardwalk and walk around the town and explore by myself without having to worry about the issue of security. Yesterday I was able to run to the grocery store, buy some snacks and walk back the twenty-minute walk without any issues. I love it. I also love how in the morning and at night, there are bunches of people who hang out on the boardwalk. I always end up seeing one of my friends out there with their families after dinner. Its like the thing to do here- eat and then go for a walk on the ocean front when it gets cooler. Have I talked about the huge baobab yet? Well if I haven’t, there is a huge baobab about a two-minute walk outside my house in the middle of a roundabout. It is apparently the largest baobab (circumference wide) in Madagascar! Those of you that do not know what a baobab is, I suggest you go read Le Petit Prince- it’s a wonderful book.

            Anyways, my activities today included #1…. GOING TO THE BEACH!!!! I was so excited because that opportunity presents itself only a few months out of the year to New Englanders, and when it does, you know that the water will be unbearable cold. Well, right now I am significantly tanned and sunburned so I guess you could say that I had a good time. Unfortunately though, it was low tide which made the water especially difficult to swim in, it was very silty and seaweedy and after I saw a water snake swimming by my feetsies, that was the end of that for me. I still had a wonderful time though- I spent most of my time walking on the soft sand and actually ended up running into a fellow SIT student who lived nearby so we hung out and chatted for a bit. After the beach and some silly pictures, my family made a surprise stop for me in front of a coconut stand. If you have never drank the water from a straw out of a fresh coconut, you are missing out! It was delicious and fresh and then after you were done with the coconut water, they would crack the coconut open for you all the way and you would scoop out the rest of the fruit! YUM!

Me and my host mother and father on the beach!

Coconut eating and drinking!!!!

Sunday, February 26^th

            So we have finally gotten to the day that I am posting this. I apologize again for it being almost two weeks since I last posted! Oh I’m so bad!!! I don’t have much to report for today; just the usual run on the boardwalk and walk to the supermarket for water. I go through so much water here its crazy!!!! It’s so hot and because I’m exercising I go through like three liters a day. I will try to update more often! Expect a funny more interesting post next time- I know these journal style blogs can be boring but I fell like its necessary in these cases when I have done so much and have been unable to report it.

            Oh on second thought I actually do have some news for today. So this afternoon, after lunch I decided to go for a walk. I am the type of person that cannot sit still. Especially when I am in the center of a really cool city next to the ocean. It is impossible for me to stay inside. So my family was sleeping and watching TV in Malagasy and I decided to go for a walk. I told my sister and then went out in search for coffee. I didn’t realize that literally everything was going to be closed because it is Sunday, but it was still ice to get out. Unfortunately, at 1:00 on Sunday, not only is everything closed but also there is nobody else on the streets expect for young men. So you can only imagine the amount of attention I got, this little white blonde girl walking down the street on a Sunday afternoon in a pink dress.  Eventually I had enough of the catcalls, “Mademoiselles”, hissing and kissy noises. I decided to call my walk quits.  It was pretty ridiculous though, I don’t know if they had never seen a blonde before or, just because there was nobody else on the streets but I have never gotten that much male attention in a 30 minute period in my life. So after that slightly traumatic experience was over I went back to the comfort of my family’s home to sit in front of the fan.

Anyways, I know that was a lot to handle for one blog post but now that I know where the internet is in Majunga I will update more ofter I promise! I also hope that you were all able to follow all that- sorry if it was confusing! 

Anyways, Love you all and I will be thinking of all of you that are stuck in snowy, cold weather while I am walking the boardwalk and getting tan :-)

Adventures and Amoebas

Wow. So much to talk about and it has been such a short amount of time. I love that there is never a dull moment here in Madagascar. Always something new going on- always a new topic to explore.

Well first comes first: As many of you know from my past updates, I have not been feeling to well. Nothing too serious but when the cipro didn’t do the trick for me, and when my symptoms didn’t match up to what is normally seen here (usually bacterial infections of the gastrointestinal system- I was having similar troubles but not quite the same) I decided to go to the clinic. It was an interesting experience; for one thing, visiting such a place has made me much more interested in public health in developing countries and the quality of care given. Luckily I only had to wait ten minutes until a doctor saw me. He asked me a bunch of questions (and spoke really fast French which was tough for me to understand- luckily I had one of the program staff with me to help) and then did a quick examination. Immediately afterwards, he provided me with a list of five prescriptions that could each be used to treat my symptoms but he did not get to the root cause.  I started to feel better by nighttime and the next day- I will pick up this story later.

So, the next day was Saturday and I was feeling a lot better but not 100%. I had an amazing day with my host family! Fist I made them pancakes and maple syrup. I had gotten them pancake mix and VT maple syrup as a gift. When asking what I needed to make them, it was clear that my family had never made or even heard of pancakes before (although I am sure I would be the same way if they ever asked me to make Malagasy food!). I am so happy that they ended up turning out good! I am pretty sure that everyone loved them! We still have some mix and some syrup left so we will have to finish it up next weekend!!

After breakfast was when the real adventures began…They ended up taking me to this place called Gasikara. It was outside the city, a huge compound with little bungalows one could stay in, overlooking a beautiful lake. In order to get to the park part, one had to cross the lake (the buildings were on the other side of the lake). We did this in a little boat- they made us wear these ridiculous, gigantic, traffic cone orange life preservers because most people do not know how to swim here.

The park was amazing! The first part was this building with all these old Malagasy artifacts, miniature models of ancient sites, musical instruments and more! It was an interactive place as well- we could sit in the hairs and play with the instruments- it was really fun! There was this path that weaved up this beautiful hill which basically took you on a “tour of the country.” There were these little mini-regions that had all the vegetation, housing and even (fake) people that resided in that region of Madagascar. It was pretty cool! Take a look at some of the pics:

This is the entrance sign of the park- this pic is taken from the boat- too bad you cannot see my hot bright orange life jacket!

My adorable host sis Olivia picking rice with a faux Malagasy woman from some region or another.... cannot keep them all straight...

Oh and what is a park without lemurs!? I actually was able to pet them this time! It was so cool! This one up above kept giving my lemur kisses. There were a bunch of others of this kind and they kept trying to grab my camera at one point as well. They also tried to grab my hand- they were so adorable!!!!

The lemur-keeper (If there is such a thing?) was nice enough to let me feed this one. Except it was more of a tease, because in order to get a good pic I had to hold out the banana, with the peel on, at arms length for him to try and reach it. This cute little pissed off lemur face is the result of that tactic- 

After the wonderful visit to the park- We stopped at some roadside markets to pick up some fruit. These orange fruits are persimmons (called kaki here). They are delicious- my new favs! My family then took me out to a wonderful lunch at this delicious little restaurant and we had some Malagasy ice cream for desert which hit the spot. Yummmm!

After lunch, we visited my host mother's sister in the hospital who is recovering from an operation. I snapped a few pictures of the hospital because I just thought again, that it was very interesting to compare the access to healthcare here as opposed to the United States. I am very interested in public health and hope to research it a bit more when it comes to proposing my topic for the Independent Study. Anyways, this is a photo of the Emergency building, this is actually one of the nicer hospitals in Tana. Inside the hospital was not as bad as some healthcare places I have seen in developing countries but would not pass for sanitation in the United States. More on that later- I do not know too much about this topic right now so I am not going to pretend I do. Wait until my ISP to find out more!

After all of the day's adventures, me and my host family made a final spot to one of the highest points in the city of Tana to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, it was not the best night for such things because a large cloud decided to block the sun from our view- but it was still beautiful to see the view of the entire city, the mountains and the valleys. This photo does not do it justice. 

The two Olivia's on top of Tana! <3 Love her!

You may be surprised to find out now that my Saturday is not yet over. This Saturday night, the other students in my program and I made plans to go out to eat at a restaurant in town called Saka Manga (it means “blue cat” in Malagasy). It was super fun to be able to go out and have a vazaha night on our own and to eat delicious food. Things are so cheap here in Madagascar! I had: a glass of red wine, calamari and veggies for dinner, a mojito and fresh fruit with local Malagasy chocolate fondue for desert. Guess how much that all cost in American dollars??? Well whatever you guessed I am sure it is wrong because that only cost me $12. And every last bit of it was delicious. Too bad I woke up to my illness roaring its ugly head at 2:00 in the morning on Sunday. Later that day all that delicious food---- yup, you guessed it… was upchucked right out of me into the holy porcelain bowl. I’m sorry if that was too much information- but being in a country such as this, where all your peers have these problems at one point or another makes you very open about issues such as these.

Anyways, since we are on this topic now… I spent all of Sunday lying in bed, sleeping, having a fever and being miserable again. I though I was in the clear but maybe I was just making up for all the fun I had on Saturday. Well, to make a long story short, I ended up seeing another doctor today. She has affiliations with the SIT program and was super helpful, she actually gave me answers instead of just medications. Apparently was she thinks I have is an amoeba (or multiple amoebas? I don’t really know how that works… my microbiology days are in the past-) but she was able to write me a prescription for anti-amoeba medicine. I’m crossing my fingers that it works and that I will be in the clear!

I would I love write more but it is time for me to write a French presentation.. And to prepare for the cyclone tomorrow! There’s a cyclone that will hit the capital tomorrow- It is nothing for any of you to worry about, basically just a tropical storm with strong winds, it is much worse near the coast and I am not on the coast. I will keep you all posted on that too! Classes might be cancelled tomorrow!

A Little Lesson in Malagasy:

So, as many of you know, in addition to having French classes everyday I also have classes on the local language of Malagasy! 

Just a little introduction to languages in Madagascar: French and Malagasy are the official languages, English has actually just been added as an official language but only a few people know how to speak it... who knows why it was added as an official language. Actually, my host sister says its "A la mode" to know how to speak English- actually apparently many American things are "a la mode" here... Even my American accent! They love to hear me speak English- I have rarely heard of someone who likes the sound of an American accent but I guess it makes me feel a bit better about the way I speak :-) It is also funny too- because whenever I get harassed on the street people always yell at me in French (because they assume that I am French I guess) once someone finds out that I am not though, and that I am American, I am more widely received. My host family told me that the Malagasy like Americans more than the French. 

Alright- back onto the subject of languages here. Basically everyone in the country speaks Malagasy. Malagasy is the most likely language you will hear being spoken amongst locals, in household and in the more rural areas. It is basically a melting pot of different language, just like Madagascar is a melting pot of different peoples. Linguists have found parallels between Malagasy and the languages spoken in some of the Indonesian Islands, Southeast Asia, India, East African Bantu languages and even Arabic. All of these areas have early histories of migration to the island of Madagascar which is why Madagascar has so many ethnicities and influences. 

French is the second language that is most widely spoken in this country. Madagascar was once a French colony and like many former colonies, the language influence never left. French is the main language in university instruction, in most television shows, in products that one finds at a store or in the market and many more sort of "formal" sectors if you will. children are taught both French and Malagasy in school so most children that I have encountered in the city know both. 

On the subject of French being taught in schools, I would just like to make a little point that most of the lessons in my program are conducted in French. I think I deserve some bragging rights- that I can understand and comprehend lessons conducted in French by some Malagasy professors (with difficult to understand Malagasy accents) and I can usually comprehend most of what they are saying! I just wish that my French speaking skills were on par with my French writing skills.....

Now for a beginners lesson in Malagasy: (my stellar pronunciations are in parentheses)

*On a side note- the Malagasy language has been very difficult for me to learn for a number of reasons: 

1. It seems like every town in Madagascar begins with the letter "A" and has like 12 syllables

2. Every verb begins with the letter "M" (not kidding)

3. Every word ends with a vowel (not kidding about this either- oh and they consider "y" a vowel)

4. There are many unnecessary syllables and vowels that are not even pronounced

These are what cause me the most issues when trying to learn the language but now I'll let you try it out for yourself...

Tonga Soa (toonga soo-a)- Welcome

Tompoko (toomp-koo)- Mr./ Mrs.

Manahoana (mana-own-a)- Hello

Misaotra (mees-otra)- Thank you

Azafady (aza-fadee)- Pardon/ Please

Veloma (vel-ooma)- Goodbye

I'll leave it at that for now- next time I'll have a few more phrases and words for you all. That will give you all time to brush up o these words so you can impress your friend with a language that is only useful in Madagascar!

Just a few funny anecdotes at the end of my Jeudi (Thursday)- I decided that I really like funny anecdotes will use them more often when blogging. Just two for today though:

1. A lady came to the center today to tell us Malagasy folklore. She was a great performer and I really liked the folktales but the craziness began after she ended with the stories. She taught us a Malagasy folk dance and for lack of a better term... she was a dance Nazi. If we weren't doing it right she would yell at us in French and tell us to separate our "pousses" (we were doing this hand thing where are thumbs- pousses had to be separated from the rest of our fingers to the point where it hurt me)- then she would come over and yell at me and tell me I was doing it wrong. Anyways, this went on for about a half hour, with everyone making fools out of themselves. It was actually pretty hilarious.

2. The taxi be's did not want to cooperate for us this afternoon. My host sister met me at the program center today and her, another girl I go home with and I were about ten minutes later than usual getting out. The consequence of this was that there were no taxi be's that could fit us! They were all full! We literally waited for a half hour... then walked down the street a little... waited for ten more minutes, keeping ourselves occupied by running after other taxi be's in the hopes that they could fit us but to no a vail. UNTIL a taxi be from heaven came upon us! Unfortunately, it was one of the most crowded taxi be's I have ever been in so I guess it wasn't exactly a God send. Oh well... When in Tana....

Wow! two updates in one day! You guys are spoiled... either that or I just have a lot to talk about. I'm sorry there are not any new pics- you just have to deal with some pics from the internet (such as this lovely man sporting a trending "I love Malagasy T-shirt") Well on that note I think it is time for me to retire....

purse snatchings, drunk men and cipro.

I hope that you all have been keeping up with my pics and stories for the past two weeks. I have been having a wonderful time here- as I have been saying and it seems like the time has been flying by! I have started to settle into a routine here and am starting to feel more comfortable in the city. I apologize for not updating all my pics- one reason is that that the internet here moves at the speed of snails and it is also very dangerous to bring electronics and expensive things around with you in the city. I will give you a few examples now about the dangers of Tana in the midst of a political crisis and a funny anecdote about my stomach's unhappiness in regards to Malagasy food. 

1. So yesterday was quite traumatizing for a number of reasons. Here is the first: A girl in my program got her purse stolen. How? She was walking with it over her shoulder and in her hand in a very busy and dangerous section of town. We all had the afternoon off so a bunch of us went downtown to go to an archeology museum. To set the scene, it was raining and slightly miserable out the girl in my program was walking down a busy street, one man walked into the side where her purse was and while she was caught off guard, another came up behind him and ripped her purse off her shoulders. Planned attack. Luckily she was not hurt, only shaken up. And also lucky for her only a $25 malagasy cell phone and the US equivalent of $4 was in her purse. This was a big wake up call for many of us: we need to be smart and realize that safety and security is a big issue at this time. We must constantly be aware of our surroundings and not bring valuables around if we do not need to. 

2. So obviously after that even happened yesterday I was pretty nervous about walking by myself. Like I have mentioned before in some of my previous posts, I take a type of bus called a taxi be to my neighborhood and then have to walk about five minutes to get to my host family's home. The five minute walk is down a cobblestone street lined with vendors and other people conducting their everyday business. At 5:30, when I arrive there, it is especially busy because all of the children are getting out of school and such so the street is lined with people. I really don't like walking here- and especially after what happened with the purse snatching that day, I was especially on high alert. I always get a lot of stares and cat calls, i'm assuming because I am blonde and people here view blondes to be exotic. Aside from that, as I was walking home, I entered the driveway and noticed that I was being followed. I realized that the man was drunk. He was yelling inaudible things at me and I was really scared. I speed walked to the gate- which is very tough to open so I didn't know if I was going to make it in before he got to me. LUCKILY, a neighbor was there- I asked her in French if she knew the man "Est-ce que tu connais ce homme?" and she dealt with it. I was not able to follow up with her to find out what the deal was but I was happy that nothing happened to me.

I do not want to make anyone nervous for me by blogging about things these- One just needs to realize the reality of the situation in Tana and act accordingly. I have learned that walking from the bus stop-home is not a good idea and from now on my host sister is going to meet me there. 

For those of you that do not recognize this little character, he is from the movie Madagascar and is here to cheer everyone up from the heavy things I have been writing about.

3. Now onto my third and final bullet point of my traumatic day yesterday. The day before last I had started not to feel too well in my stomach, but hoped that it was something that would just go away on its own. Wrong. As soon as I got back to my homestay I got a horrible stomachache... Now all travelers  that are traveling to developing countries usually suffer from gastrointestinal problems at some point or another. Well my point was yesterday (and today- I got to the program center this morning and even after my 12 hour sleep last night I still took two naps on the couch during the day). 

So this is just a synopsis of what my night was like. 

1. The night before last I was up all night with crazy acid reflux which preceeded to continue throughout the day and only ceased for a bit after I had taken this weird French liquid maalox in a tube
2. After the Maalox wore off I experienced my first real "mal au ventre" in Madagascar- when you are having gastrointentinal troubles it is not conducive if:
     a. you are in a foreign country with a foreign family
     b. the maison is tres petit and everyone can hear every noise coming from la toilette
     c. there is only one toilette and five of us... so when the toilette is occupied I am shit outta luck...      literally
     d. the freakingtoilette is broken and not only do I have to a) flush it with buckets of water but also     b) put the toilette paper in the little trashcan next de la toilette. ew.

And to top it all off my french and english skills are declining and my franglish skils are increasing at and alarming rate.

Well- I am happy to say that I survived the events of yesterday and can sit back and laugh at it. Sometimes you really have to see the ridiculous irony and humor in some situations. To give you all an update: I am taking cipro which has me feeling better- yay! And my host sister is picking me up at 

school today which is super sweet! 

I am going to try and update again tonight! I have more stories and anecdotes for you all!

~MUCH LOVE~

The long awaited pictures...

I apologize for the length of time it has taken for me to get these pictures up... there are more to follow tomorrow but I have had a hell of a time with finding internet that will upload photos in a timely manner... here are a few from my visit to Ambohimanga (which I have described in one of my earlier posts- I believe the date was 1/29) But once I am back at the program center tomorrow I will put up some really pretty ones. Get excited!!!

Two little girls standing in the entranceway guard palace to the palace of Ambohimanga

 Beautiful Scenery!

Stairway up to Ambohimanga!

I managed to get a few more up today- here they are!

This is the view of parts of the central highlands of Madagascar from the top of Ambohimanga- isn't it beautiful???

Tana Weekend Adventures.

What a wonderful weekend I had with my new family! I can say that my adjustment to Malagasy life has gone quite well so far! I think I can attribute this to the kindness and hospitality that my host family has shown me.

            This weekend flew by sooo quickly! I got home Friday afternoon after walking around Antanimena, the neighborhood where the program center is located. There is a little patisserie located right across from the program center that sells these delicious chocolate croissants that they heat up in the microwave. They cost they equivalent of like 40 cents. They are the most delicious croissants I have ever had! I am pretty sure I am going to turn into a croissant by the time I return to the states- all of these baguettes, fruit and rice are going to do me in.

            I spent Friday night hanging out at my family’s house with my sister, brothers and some of their cousins. A family member had just recently passed away so my host mother and many of their extended family were preparing for the funeral. We spent the night just hanging out, eating and watching TV (the Malagasy love to watch TV).

            The next day was an exciting one! Olivia and I walked to a market where there were many local artisans selling hand-made Malagasy goods. I had to restrain myself because there were so many beautiful paintings and artwork that I would have loved to take back with me- but I know that there will be plenty of opportunities to come back with beautiful Malagasy artwork for you all J

            After that, we returned to the house to pick up my host brother and cousin to go out on the town! We walked to a local restaurant where I got Pasta Carbonara (not as good as the pasta that Mike makes me…but I guess I wasn’t expecting a five star pasta in Madagascar). After that we took the taxi be- have I explained taxi be to you all yet? Well I will now… They are like mini busses that have routes around the city- they are usually really crowded and stuffy (but compared to their Kenya counterpart, the mutatu; they are très luxe. In order to get off at your stop you must yell “mis miel” to the chauffer assistant, and then they will stop for you. Mis miel is a Malagasy word; so I usually get many strange looks from the locals when they hear me speaking Malagasy.

            On the subject of Malagasy, it is ridiculously tough language to learn. I have found so far that the grammar is easy but, the words themselves and their pronunciation, not even mentioning remembering those words, is next to impossible. I am going to be doing some hard core Malagasy studying within the next few days so maybe soon I will post some words for you all to learn!

            Anyways, back to my weekend: After lunch we ventured off to a zoo! It was a beautiful place on the outskirts of the city where I got to see my very first lemurien (lemur) of my visit to Madagascar! If the Internet cooperates, I will upload some pics of the zoo and les petits animaux. After the zoo, we made our way back to the house where we hung out for the rest of the night. I was pretty exhausted so we went to bed relatively early to start a new day!

          

My host sister (in the orange skirt), cousin in the middle and brother on the left

Cotton Candy and happiness 

  LEMURS!!!!!!!!

      The next day (Sunday) was another adventure-filled day. I would also like to add again that my family has been wonderful in providing me with everything I need and more to get the most out of this city! Olivia and I went on some petit adventures in the morning- to some markets to pick out outfits for some of her cousins. We had to pick these outfits out for the funeral (specifically the burial) that was going to happen on Monday for the mother’s brother-in-law’s father that had passed.  I will explain more about the Malagasy customs concerning the afterlife, funerals and family later.

            So anyways, we spent the morning out on the town, going to various markets, taking various taxi be’s and looking for little whites dresses for her little cousins. I then took Olivia out for ice cream because she had just been way to good to me for the past few days! J Ice cream is a big thing in Tana surprisingly, as a Vazaha though, (white person) I have to be careful with where I get ice cream because a lot of the time it is made with contaminated water. The ice cream was delish and after that we went to shoprite (a big grocery store) to get me some MOGULS! Have I told you all about moguls? Well they are like the Malagasy version of peachrings/sourpatch. Sooooo. Gooood. I am addicted.

            Lunch followed our little ice cream excursion and after lunch was when the real learning began for me. I was to attend a Malagasy funeral with my host mother and sister. Now, I had read and heard some about the funeral traditions of the Malagasy but to actually be involved in it was unreal.

             Now I do not claim to be an expert by any means on the traditions of the Malagasy and when I tell you about what I know, it is from my personal experiences, my readings and the lectures I have learned in my classes here.  So, to start out with, the family is very important in Malagasy culture.  The Malagasy have huge families (as I have seen), lots of children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and other relations.

            Since they put such a huge emphasis on family, certain life events are very important for the Malagasy, births, circumcisions, marriage and death. The life cycle of the Malagasy is not linear, it is circular, once one dies, he/she becomes an ancestor and is then present for all of the forthcoming family events. Ancestors and elders are revered in this culture and it is for this reason and many others that they have such ceremonial funeral traditions.

            From what I gather, the night after the person dies, the close family members hold a vigil for the night and do not sleep. It is at this time that the obituary is written and the funeral preparation commences. Malagasy funerals typically last 2-3 days. The first two days are made up of funeral services, almost like the wake that we practice in the US. This is what I was able to attend. The last day of the funeral is the entombment, where the deceased is buried in the family tomb.

            In my experience, going to the funeral, there was chairs set up outside this house in the country. There was lots of family there; everyone was wearing black, white or other somber colors. The close family to the deceased was inside the house sitting in chairs in front of the corpse. Groups of family would enter the house, walk up to the corpse, then turn and face the family, say a prayer and then shake everybody’s’ hand and give condolences. This is what I experienced. It was a bit unnerving at first because I had never seen a corpse before. It was even a little more unnerving to me because after the program, we ate dinner in the room right next to the corpse. Death is not something that is hidden in the Malagasy culture like it os in ours. I guess I had a tough time with that cultural difference. Other than that though, it was a wonderful learning experience for me! I got to meet some nice people, I learned a lot, and have experiences that will last a lifetime!

More on the Malagasy culture later! But now it is time for me to take the taxi be home!