This past week has moved along smoothly. Nothing too exciting has happened. On Wednesday we had free time in the afternoon for “cultural exploration” so I decided to head out to the University. I took a taxi-be to get there and then asked someone where I could find the unveristy. Turned out, it was just up a big set of stairs. All of the academic buildings look very similar. I was able to find my way around quite easily, and, unlike most places in Tana, I was barely noticed. A few people said “hello” or “bonjour”, and one even said “hi,” but other than that, I was just like any other student there.
After walking around for about 30 or 40 minutes, I decided to sit down and take notes about all that I had observed. After a few minutes, a boy came and sat down next to me. We said “bonjour” to one another, but then he started studying. Then another boy sat down and didn’t appear to be doing anything, so I tried to start a conversation (we were supposed to practice interviewing/talking with people we don’t know) but he only quickly answered a few questions before standing up and walking away, so that conversation was sort of a bust.
A few minutes later, the boy who was studying asked me what an astrological symbol is. After that, we started talking. I asked him all about the university system in Madagascar, and he asked me about the system in the US. In the end, we talked for about 45 minutes about our respective countries before he had to leave for class. It was a successful interview (sort-of) experience. After that, I decided that I had had a successful afternoon and headed back to Antanimena (the neighborhood where our classroom is) to get my stud and headed home.
On Thursday afternoon, we went to go watch a dance troupe from Southern Madagascar. Unlike the other dance troupes we had seen, this one also sang a lot (and two of their singers were really, really fantastic). The main person who talked with us was a man, who had one of the largest vocal ranges on anyone I’ve ever heard. It was amazing. Their dance style was totally different from the other dance styles we had seen performed.
Like all of the other times that we’ve watched dance performances, we were invited to learn a dance. First the boys went up to learn their part, and all of the girls were laughing hysterically. Watching them try to copy the Malagasy dancers was incredibly amusing. Then it was the girls turn to learn our part. It wasn’t too difficult, and I don’t think that we looked as funny as the boys. Finally, we put it all together. I don’t know how well we did, but a good time was definitely had by all.
On Friday afternoon I had a check-in meeting (everyone had to have one) with Roland, our academic director, and near the end I asked him if he knew any science professors at the university. As it turns out, there was a biology professor there that has worked with the program before that he said would probably be happy to talk with me. Then he told me that she had done her grad school at none other than UMASS Amherst. What were the chances? He had Hanta call her, and I am going to go meet her to talk on Monday afternoon after our classes. I am super excited!
On Saturday I didn’t do too much, but I ate a ton (basically, food has been the theme of this weekend, which is why I am going to explain everything I ate). In the morning, after breakfast (bread with butter and jam, and a yogurt), I went to the market with my host parents and Cynthia. While there we all got an ice cream cone and bought some various things (chicken, some veggies, etc.). When we got home, we hung around for a while and then had lunch (rice, pork with cabbage, and cucumbers) and dessert (papaya [which I never used to like but am starting to really like] and more ice cream). In the afternoon, my host mom and I made pancakes as a snack (I had brought maple syrup with me as a present). Later on we had dinner (soup [with lots of noodles, some weird dried mushrooms, and strange fish balls, although it actually tasted pretty good] and pineapple). Finally, that was all the food for the day.
Sunday morning I ate breakfast (pancakes again, they really liked them!) and went to church with my host mom and 3 host siblings. The service was in French, as opposed to Malagasy, so I could actually understand it. We saw a bunch of their relatives, who I am actually starting to recognize! Then we packed up our stuff to head to O Safari (which is not actually a safari). On the way, we stopped and picked up some stuff, including caca-pigeon (sort of like those asian noodle cracker things, but better), which we ate as a snack in the car.
The drive down took us right past Ralais du Rova (the hotel we stayed in for orientation). Then we arrived at O Safari. Basically, it is a place for families to go spend the day. The first thing I did was play pool with Mickaël, my host brother. Then I played pingpong with my host dad. Then we ate a picnic lunch (rice that had some veggies in it, chicken [we literally brought a whole chicken that my host father had made that morning], and oranges).
A little after lunch I went swimming with Tania and Cynthia. It was a little cold out, but still fun. And I wasn’t the only vazaha there! There were a fair amount of French people, as well as a bunch of Malagasy people, but that is to be expected. I really didn’t get a lot of attention at all which was unexpected but super nice. After swimming for probably an hour and a half, it was time for a snack. This time, we had pizza (which we had ordered from there), saltos (a type of cracker), and what people at SIT call crack nuts (basically they are sugar coated peanuts, but they are addictive). Somehow, I found a sugar coated nail in the nuts, weird and definitely unexpected! Then we were ready to leave.
We were driving back when apparently the kids said they were hungry (which, really? We had eaten so much food!) so when we got back into Tana, rather than going home, we went to a restaurant where I had ice cream (yes, for the third time this weekend). Thankfully, dinner was small because almost no one was hungry (except for Mickaël, but he is a teenage boy, so what else would you expect?). We had vary soa-so (basically rice porridge aka watery rice) and cutlet and they all had omelet, but I don’t like it so I didn’t eat any (same with Mickaël).
On Tuesday, we leave for Tsiromandidy to go to our village stay. We won’t actually go to our families until Thursday though and we will be with them for 6 days. Each student is in a separate village, and we really won’t know until we are settles in if there is another student within walking distance. Roland said that some people will be pretty close to one another, and others will be miles from anyone else, so we’ll see. Hopefully I’ll be the former but who knows.
I will be living with a family comprised of a mother and father (both of them cultivators, and the mom also a vender) and 4 host siblings (2 sisters and 2 brothers). I hope that I like them as much as I like my family in Tana!
Because of this trip, I will be without internet for the next almost 2 weeks, but I will make sure to update my blog when I return. I just wanted to let you all know that if it takes me a while to respond to emails, it shouldn’t be a cause for concern, I just will be without my computer/internet for almost 2 weeks (2 days before meeting families, 6 days with the families, 2 days after, and then the weekend).
No comments:
Post a Comment