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!