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....

Travel Travel Travel

     I decided that I am really bad at updating this blog in a timely manner- I apologize and I will try to work on that. This past week I have done enough traveling around the Northeast to last (well I don't know about a lifetime- but I would say a good while!) Mike and I drove down to Nashua New Hampshire (from Burlington) early last Wednesday for a fun-filled and novaicain-filled dentist appointment. Then we stopped by Londonderry where my mother tested our hearing and we were treated to a delicious lunch! The next stop on our journey was Cumberland Maine, where Mike's family lives. We stopped by Freeport to check out the sale at polo and then waited for an hour and a half while Mike's snow tires were put on his car. (and its a good thing because the next day Maine got a big snowstorm!) The next morning, Mike, his sister, Katie and I, went out to breakfast at this really cool restaurant where I got granola-encrusted French toasts! YUM!
     To spare all of you more boring details, I will speed up my stories a bit and get to the good parts. That night (Thursday I think it was) we drove all the way back to Burlington with a pit stop in Bedford to have dinner with Hannah, Sam and my Dad. We spent the night in Burlington and the next day we woke up early for SKIING at Jay peak. The conditions couldn't have been better!
     Now for the EXCITING part of my weekend with PICTURES! So in my last post I reflected on how I was so lucky to haver the things I have and to be able to do the things I can do (to be as vague as possible haha-) Well the thing I am most tankful fro would I guess be my mobility. I love that I am able to hop into a car and drive to someplace that is so different from where I am right now. It makes me so happy. I love exploring.
     So to make the most of my last two weeks here- Mike and I decided to take a one night trip to Canada (Montreal again) after our day of skiing in Vermont. Now this wasn't any ordinary trip to Montreal--no. This was different because it involved a little something called IGLOOFEST! Ever heard of it? Well now you have. Their website can be checked out here: http://www.igloofest.ca/en/ . Basically it is a giant outdoor concert in the snow. On the river. In Montreal. Surrounded by ice sculptures, Igloos and dupstep music. What more could one ask for? (well I admit they could use a bit of variation in the music- I'm not the biggest fan of dubstep.) I have never seen anything like it! It was sooo cool! Check out some of the pics Mike took on his phone: (they weren't the best quality because they were taken from his iphone but it's better than nothing)

Haha this is from our drive to Montreal. Clearly the Quebecois don't believe in plows

This picture above is the hotel room- we stayed in this strangely modern and stark hotel called L'hotel Zero 1 (check out some more pics on there website here)

We had a beautiful view of Vieux Montreal from the room!

  Huge Sapporo ice sculpture- I guess sapporo sponsored the whole thing but there were other ice sculptures like this all over the place!

 The stage where the DJs were- you can't really see it but there were these crazy lights all over the place that went at the beat of the music. Also- Canadians are really good at dancing to electronic music; they got the little bounce thing down- I felt like a bit of a fool.

 There were these balconies where you could go up and dance as well- Look how many people there were on the dance floor though!

 More igloos and ice sculptures (note the capitol building in the background) It was sooo beautiful there!!!!!!!

 There were also these "bar tents" set up that served special igloofest drinks-

 Moi et mon petit (I apologize for the 'graininess' of the picture)

 The next day: After a delicious breakfast, waiting for the metro to start our next adventure!

 In addition to not believing in plows, the Quebecois do not believe int censoring the ads in pubic places; such as the subway (either that or they may not realize the vulgarity of the english word "fuck")

 The beautiful Saint Joseph's Oratory

 It was so cold that day! Like zero degrees- I was so bundled up!!!

 Inside the oratory- The ceilings were so high. It was interesting to see the comparison between this and the Notre Dame Basilica that we visited last weekend. This was larger and more stark than that of Notre Dame. 

 I loved the stations of the cross in the oratory- they were these huge marble carvings around the walls of the columns in the church. I had never seen anything like it before. 

 Beautiful organ. I am always amazed at the grandeur of the organs in churches such as these.

 Saint Joseph's petit chapelle. You had to walk outside to get to this one. This was one of the first stages of Saint Joseph's oratory. There was a monastery across the street and a few small chapels such as this until they decided to build the huge dome. The construction of the dome took a few decades to complete.

 This was the shrine to Saint Joseph- behind this was a little alcove in which his tomb was located.

 Indoor market in Petit Italie- there were some really cool international spice shops within this which we checked out

The mothership of Quebec Beer!

Well thanks for stopping by! This is probably going to be one of my last updates before my trip! (of course I say that but I doubt that will actually be true- I am sitting here at the house while all of my friends are back in class so I really have nothing better to do.) But you all better get excited for some of my big trip updates in a week! One week from today I will be on a plane to Johannesburg South Africa and then onto Antananarivo!

~Much Love~

Weekend Adventures

This weekend Mike's best friend from home, Kirsten, came up to Burlington with her boyfriend and some friends for a visit. We had tons of fun with everyone, the activities included: A trip to Montreal, Hiking, Walking around Church Street and eating... A LOT.

Here are some snapshots of the weekend:

We spent part of our day in Montreal exploring the Notre Dame BasilicaWhich is probably one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. (note how intricate the altar is)

Confessional

Beautiful stained glass and paintings. I would love to go to Italy sometime and see the Sistine chapel and all the classical Italian art. I took an art history class my freshman year of college and fell in love with early renaissance religious art. 

Breathtaking Altar

Mon petit et moi avant l'autel

Un autre autel dans un petit chapelle dans le Basilique

I am so excited that I got to experience the church and Montreal with Mike and everyone before I leave for  Madagascar. And I also got to improve my French skills!!!

I was starting to get really irritated with the Quebeçois after a while because I would speak French to them- I guess I looked pretty American (or my friends gave me away) because they would always answer me in English. Even though I understand French! 

Haha the boys were loving this. 

Mike took us to this Portuguese restaurant in the city that basically sold giant rotisserie chickens that had been cooking all day and delicious artery clogging fries. I can always rely on Mike to find a great restaurant! 

After almost giving ourselves heart attacks we decided it would be a good idea to go on a hike the next day to burn a kilocalorie or tow. Cody decided to burn more than a kilocalorie by moving a huge boulder out of our way that was blocking the trail. 

Ice skating anyone?

Enjoying the vista

In all we all had a wonderful weekend full of activities! I hope these last two weekends I have in North America serve to be just as fantastic!!!! :-)

~Much Love to All~