Olivia + Tana = Reunited

So it was tough on Friday to say goodbye to Nosy Be and the coast. Back to Tana and back to reality is how it felt. Though it wasn't all bad, I was super excited to see my Tana family again and I know that I will be back in a town on the coast of Madagascar for my ISP. I wouldn't be able to leave without some parting photos though: 

Oh Nosy Be beach right outside my hotel, I will miss you dearly...

Enjoying our last moments of beach and vacation until we go back to the realty of Tana

Things aren't all bad though: It's a good thing that Madagascar has such a stunning landscape that I could see throughout my whole plane ride from Nosy Be to Tana

So Tana and I are reunited again. We got in late Friday night from the Antananarivo airport and took cabs back to our host families. I think the reason why I was not super bumed about leaving our vacation spot was the fact that my host family in Tana is so amazing and I have missed them bunches. I was actually homesick for my Tana host family while I was away, I guess that really says something about compatability and general awesomeness. Anyways, of course they were happy to see me as I was happy to see them. I went to bed on the early side on Friday night because I was a bit tired and Olivia and I had some fun plans for the next day...

So as you can see from two photos above... We took a trip to the University of Antananarivo, where Olivia studies English. Unfortunately, due to a student strike because students are not receiving their government-funded scholarships, the University is closed until July until a formal agreement can be reached. It is such a shame that these students are not able to have access the higher education they have worked hard to achieve. (Oh and that is a pic of me striking a silly pose on the university campus if you have not figured that out yet...)

After touring the University and stopping by Olivia's childhood home I decided to treat us to a cold drink and ice cream at the Hotel Colbert. The Hotel Colbert is a four star hotel in a more high end section of Tana which has an incredible patisserie and restaurant, adjacent to it. I was craving a good old American-style iced coffee or tea so I insisted on the colbert. We ended up ordering iced green teas which were reminiscent of the Panera iced green teas, if you have ever had one you know what I am talking about and trust me, they are deeeelish! So basically that drink hit the spot and satisfied my craving for the meantime. We also got ice cream- I got a scoop of homemade vanilla caramel swirl praline whch was probably one of the most incredible flavors I have ever had. After this, we went home, had lunch and continued adventuring around the city and window shopping of the afternoon. 

Sunday morning brought my host mothers 50th birthday and me being the master chef in the kitchen making pancakes. (I brought my family VT pancake mix and maple syrup for a gift from home)

There's the fam enjoying the pancakes! We also had nutella in the house so they ended up being nutella pancakes with maple syrup. I couldn't have asked for anything tastier!

The morning was made up of running errands for the big 50th birthday party that was going to be at the house tonight. For lunch, we decided to go out for a special treat for maman's birthday. We ended up at some French restaurant in the center of the city in the quartier of Analakely. I orders chicken cordon bleu which I thought was delicious, it is nice to have a comforting, familliar meal once in a while, not to mention, it was really tasty! Haha oh and I love how I am the only one looking at the camera in this picture. I also remembered I haven't quite introduced you all to my Tana fam yet. Well, starting with me and going counter-clockwise, there's my brother, Aine who is 12, next to him is one of my uncles who accompanied us, across from him is my sweet host mother and next to her is my jokester of a brother, Joe, he is 25. Olivia, my twin sister is taking the picture. 

After the delicious lunch, I decided to take advantage of having access to a car and being with my Malagasy family on a Sunday in Analakely. If I have not yet told you all, this is really the most dangerous part of town and where most of the crime and pickpocketing happens. I have had a friend get her purse snatched off her here and another who got her necklace torn off her neck, my host mother also got her earrings stolen while she was wearing them! This is also where most of the political demonstrations happen, so as you can see, one does not want to be wandering around here by oneself with valuables. To make a long story short, I took advantage of my relatively safe circumstances to snap a few photos of Analakely-

After that, we found ourselves back at the Colbert for ice cream. This time  was able to snap a few photos of the patisserie part of the colbert. Doesn't this look like heaven??? Oh and ps- I got praline ice cream this time and it tasted exactly like the hazelnut praline you would find inside of a chocolate. It was absolutely delicious!

So after our afternoon romp was when the party began. We spent the afternoon preparing for the large Malagasy family that was to come over and celebrate my host mother's 50th birthday with us. The food and company were great. I even got to chat in English with some family and friends that are trying to learn. I also made a few friends during that time as well as you can see from the photo above... haha

 Joyeuse Anniversaire Maman!!!

Maman cuts the delicious cakes we had made at one the local patisseries one of them was chocolate mousse which was my favorite. 

Basically in all, I am very glad to be back with my family in Tana. I cannot say enough great things about them and I cannot thank them enough for doing all of the wonderful things they have done. I only have one more weekend left with them and it saddens me greatly to think that I will have to say goodbye at some point- but that is then and this is now. I am going to enjoy every last second I have with them until I leave! Love you all!

It is time for me to go to bed. it is 11:15 here an I have to get up at  for classes tomorrow or else I could write much much more. But get prepared for the next blog entry which will detail where I have been in Madagascar thus far and where we plan to travel. 

~Much Love~

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!