A Picture of My Mahajanga Host Siblings

My host siblings! Fabien (23), Miangaly (9), and Joelle (24)

Leaving Mahajanga

Friday we had our last language classes! It was weird. At the end our teacher, Olga, told us that we were much cooler than the last group and she wished us lots of luck in life and with marriage and our future families. It was really cute. Then we had a few random talks with Roland concerning any last minute ISP details. That afternoon we hung around and went to some markets and then to the cyber café before heading over to Bolo, any ice cream place, because Roland had invited all of us to go. It was so good (but the sundaes were pretty expensive, but it didn’t matter because he was paying!).

Getting home was interesting. I had asked Monsieur Nicolas, our homestay coordinator, where the bus stop was so he took me over and waited with me for about 15 minutes until I finally got on one, and even then I was literally only half in, with the guy who holds the door standing behind me holding me in. After about 2 minutes we were pulled over by the police because not everyone was sitting. The policeman pulled the driver out of the bus and talked to him for about 10 minutes before the driver ran back and drove away really quickly. After about a minute someone else stopped us, and it turned out that it was M. Nicolas who came to get me off the bus and drive me home. That night we had couscous with cheese for dinner, that Joelle made, and it was so good!

On Saturday morning, at breakfast, my mom turned to me and said that the girls (meaning me and Joelle) were going to be cooking lunch and then Joelle told me that this time, she’d be helping me instead of the other way around, so I had to quickly think of something to make. I decided to make chicken parmesan with noodles and veggies. The two of us set off for town to buy things. We managed to find everything we needed between Score (a big supermarket) and another market and then headed home to start preparing things.

The first thing we did was make our own tomato sauce. Then we started preparing everything else. The meal turned out really good and everyone really liked it, so that was a success! That afternoon I hung around with some of my siblings and then showered before we headed to the pot d’adieu for all of the host families. We all went down to the center and hung out outside for a while and took pictures by the water. Then we went inside where there was a lot of food and a few different people talked. First Roland, then M. Nicolas, then a host dad on behalf of all of the families, and then Jimmy on behalf of all of the students. Afterwards we just hung around for a while before I went with all of my family down to the boardwalk. I walked around with my sisters before joining back up with the rest of the family for dinner. We went to a place where you sit down and point at the raw meat that you want, and then the person marinates the meat and grills it in front of you. It was really good. Then we took a taxi home (and set up a taxi for the next morning).

Sunday morning I got up early and had breakfast, then said goodbye to my parents (Miangaly was asleep so I couldn’t say goodbye which was sad) and went into town with Joelle and Fabien. We sat together on the boardwalk for a while and exchanged email addresses/facebook names before we said goodbye and they left. Then we got on our taxi-brousse special and took off. We all signed our names on a sheet that was also stamped and signed by a host dad who is a kernel and it is good we did. More on that later.

We drove for a while and then stopped about 250 km into the journey to eat lunch. We all went to the same restaurant, which in retrospect was a bad idea, because they got really confused about our orders and some of us were served really quickly (like my table) and others had to wait about an hour. We finally got back on the road and just continued driving straight because we had about 300 km left. About 40 km outside of Tana we were stopped by the gendarmes, which is normal, but normally they just look at the driver’s papers (or see that we are all vazaha and do nothing) and wave us on, but this time, after seeing the papers, the gendarme asked for our passports. Our driver tried to tell him that we were students and showed him a bunch of other papers, but he was insistent. Eventually the driver gave him the sheet with our names, and thankfully my name was first on the sheet, so the gendarme said my name and asked for my passport, which I had easily accessible, unlike most of the people in my car. He looked at my passport and saw that I had a good visa but then looked at my birthday and said (in French) “born in 1990? Zazakely!” (zazakely means little kid in Malagasy). Then he came around and shined his light in my window and then waved at me and blew me a kiss before waving us on.

When we got into Tana we got dropped off at the hotel and Rivo came to meet us with pizzas for dinner which was nice. We ate there and then went to bed because we were all so tired (but I took the best shower I have taken so far in Madagascar! The pressure was amazing and the temperature perfect).

This morning we came to the center to get our ISP stipend money and on the way made hotel arrangements for tonight. After having cake for someone’s birthday, we headed back to our hotel to move our stuff to the new hotel, then I went out for lunch with some people and then Cassie and I (the other girl going back to the villages) went to get our taxi-brousse tickets. At the station we randomly ran into Madame Bakoly, the homestay coordinator from Tsiroanomandidy so we talked to her for a little while and decided that we’ll call her tomorrow night when we are settled into our hotel there. Then we went to shoprite and got new sim cards that will work in the villages before buying some food to bring them and heading back to the center.

My new number is 033-81-694-05 (so if you want to call me it is 011-261-33-81-694-05)

Nearing the End of Our Stay in Mahajanga

Tuesday, again, was a typical day. Although many things in Madagascar are unpredicatable, our mornings are always exactly the same. French for an hour, Malagasy for an hour, and then snack for 20 minutes. On Tuesday though, we had something new for snack! There were “fleurs d’amour” which are basically fried dough with honey and are incredibly delicious. After snack we split into 5 groups to go visit NGOs. I went with 3 other students to visit FISA, an NGO that works with the IPPF (or the International Planned Parenthood Foundation). The NGO visits various communities to talk to them about family planning (the average family here is very large and often can’t financially support all of the members). They also offer services at the office. Couples can come in to talk about family planning and their specific situations and people can also come in for free HIV/AIDs testing. Between January and September, there were close to 5000 people who came in for consultations and over 1000 who came in for testing (although only 2 tested positive). The woman we talked with was a program coordinator. She was really nice and spoke French and a little English, which is always fun (people really like getting to practice their English with native speakers when at all possible).

The afternoon wasn’t too special. We went back to the SIT center to eat and then I went to the Alliance Franaçaise to do some work and use the internet. After a while a group of us headed over to Quai Ouest, where I got what was called a pressed fruit juice, but was basically just a smoothie. It was unexpectedly delicious so I am super glad that I got it. After that I went home and just hung around with my family. My sister didn’t come home and my mom slept through dinner, so dinner was a late (around 9:30) quiet affair with just me, my little sister, my brother, and my dad.

Wednesday morning had a sad start. We learned that another student would be leaving us that night, so now we are down to 19, rather than the 21 that we started with. We had a long talk with Roland about the circumstances and what had already been done and then we had French and Malagasy. Instead of having a normal Malagasy class, we had what they called a “devoirs” (homework) but it was actually an open book/note quiz/test type thing. I didn’t think that it was too difficult, although I know that there were some people who had a fair amount of difficulty with it.

After snack (we had fleurs d’amour again because they saw on Tuesday how much we liked them!) we split into groups of 4 to visit public schools. I went with 3 other students to a public middle school about a 10 minute walk from our rented classroom space. When we first got there we were all surprised by how big the building actually was. It was a lot nicer than I had been anticipating, although I don’t know why I was expecting something not as nice, because I didn’t have any reason to think it wouldn’t be nice. We talked for a while with the principal and vice-principal to learn about the school (such as a typical day, how many students/classes there are, and the difficulties they face, just to name a few) and then we got to go sit in on an English class. The class was learning about greetings. The teacher would give some sort of greeting and then ask the class for synonyms. Afterwards we got to add some synonyms so they were able to learn something new from us! The teacher wanted us to come back again later but unfortunately I don’t think that it will be possible.

The student who was leaving came to eat lunch with us, so we were all happy to see her, although she was obviously sad to be leaving us. After lunch I had another ISP meeting with Roland just to go over some logistics. It is looking like I will be heading back to Tana with the group on Sunday and then going down to Tsiroanomandidy on Tuesday and to my village on Wednesday. On Monday I am going to run random errands around town (such as buying some things for my host family) and use the internet for the last time for a while.

After my meeting I went to the cyber café to do some homework and then I was able to skype with a friend from home (that is 2 times in 2 days! First Rose and then Shalli!). Afterwards I went to say a final goodbye to the girl who is leaving and returned home. After showering my mom helped me a little to prepare for my Malagasy presentation tomorrow (it will be pretty easy. We just need to talk about some aspect of the culture, in French, and then give 10 Malagasy words/expressions concerning the topic). After that one of her students, who is 11, showed me her science notebooks and I asked her a little about how her teacher teaches them the material, as that is what I will be looking at for my ISP in the village. It was helpful. Then my older sister came home and we made paper cranes together (I looked up the instructions online because she had previously asked me about them). I made cranes of 3 different sizes and then Miangaly took them all to play with. It was super cute to watch/listen to, because when she is playing by herself she talks a ton (and today it was mostly in French so I understood almost all of it!).

Thursday morning, after language classes, we were going to visit CSBs (centres de santé de basse). I went to the one in Amborovy, where I live, with 3 other students (2 of whom also live here). We were able to talk with 1 of the 2 doctors there and she told us a little about the different services they offer before taking us on a little tour. We were able to see the consultation rooms, meeting rooms, the room where women give birth, and the room where women can sleep after giving birth.

After lunch I made a quick trip to a cyber café before going to catch a taxi-be to go home. I ended up having to wait about 15 minutes for a number 6 to show up and then about 2 stops after I got on we had a flat tire so we had to wait while that got replaced. I finally made it home (thankfully we didn’t wait at stops for about 5 minutes like often happens in the afternoons) and did a little homework until my dad was ready to go back to school (he is the director of a public middle school). I went with him, thinking that I was just going to be able to sit in on a class and maybe talk with a teacher, but much to my surprise, I was introduced to a class of at least 50 students (but probably more), told that I had an hour, and left entirely alone. It was crazy. I asked the students what they wanted to do, and the hour basically ended up being an English lesson wherein a student would give me a word in French and I would then write it on the board in both languages. When we did colors I also had students write the Malagasy words on the board, more for my benefit than for theirs, although I didn’t tell them that. There was one boy sitting in the front row who spoke really good French and was able to help me a lot. At one point in the middle their normal teacher came by, heard that they were being loud, and gave them a stern talking to. I don’t actually know what he said, because it was in Malagasy, but they were much quieter after that. Somehow I managed to fill the hour by doing vocabulary and talking to them a little in English (and then translating into French for comprehension). When my dad showed up it was a big relief and I was happy to be able to go home, although it was certainly a fascinating experience.

That night we had fish to make up for the bad fish on Sunday. It was grilled and actually really good. I think the difference is that her the fish is incredibly fresh (we are on the water) so you get it just off the boats and it tastes really good. I don’t know what we are going to do this weekend, but it is sadly our last weekend in Mahajanga (we leave to return to Tana early on Sunday morning).

A Busy/Lazy Weekend

Saturday 10/22

Saturday morning I got up around 8 to have breakfast and then hung around for a while. Both of my older siblings were gone so I just read a lot. A little before lunch time Joelle got back and it was time to prepare lunch. We ended up eating a little late and then had to rush to go. Joelle was meeting in town with one of the students from my program to talk about environmental issues, and I was going in with her to introduce them. We waited for Miangaly and Raida (Zack’s niece) to come back and then the 4 of us left. We got on the taxi-be and then Fabien got on after us. He had fallen while skateboarding and his hand was bloody.

When we got off the taxi-be we walked to the Alliance Française. The girls went into the library and I introduced Joelle to the student and they went across the street to talk. I checked some different things on the internet before the girls came outside. I took them across the street and then went back to my computer, but then soon realized that they were probably being really annoying while they were trying to talk, so I went across and got them so that they could play with photobooth on my computer. They loved it, so now I have a ton of adorable pictures on my computer.

After they were done talking we all went to get icecream and then headed back home. We were all pretty tired (no one had slept well the night before) so we helped prepare dinner and then called it a night.

Sunday morning I got up and had breakfast and then waited around until Joelle was ready to cook. We prepared a picnic lunch together! We made 3 different tortes (sort of. . .) The dough was made by literally just mixing flour and oil and then we made a sauce with tomatoes, onions, and a mixture of boiled milk, sugar, water, and cheese. On top of the sauce we put on more cheese and zucchini, and then on one we put fish and on the other we put chicken. On the fish one we put on a top layer of dough and glazed it in egg wash so it would brown. We also made a strawberry tart and packed everything up to go to the beach.

The program had organized the afternoon at the beach so when we got there we found a lot of people already there eating with their host families. We sat down to join them before going in the water. It was really fun to go in with so many people who all were comfortable with one another (all of the Malagasy people were more or else accustomed to us being vazaha so they just played with us like it was no big deal). I saw a lot with Miangaly, who would come up behind me and just jump on me. It was fun. We hung out a lot on the beach and swam a lot and then people started leaving. My family decided to stay to watch the sunset so we stuck around and were the last ones to leave by a long period of time. Before sunset I swam again with just my mom and Miangaly and then we got out to watch the sunset. I was sitting on the beach farther down from my family and a Malagasy boy came up to talk to me. He was 13 and wanting to practice French so I talked with him, but I could never hear what he said on the first try and so I had to constantly ask him to repeat himself.

That night we walked back home in the dark and then prepared dinner, but it turned out that the huge fish we made was bad, so dinner ended up being bread and cheese.

Monday morning was a normal class day, starting with languages and then we had someone come talk to us about the economy in Mahajanga. After lunch, rather than being free, we had a session on ISP, and then we were free for 2 hours. I went to the internet café and then headed over to the port where we had our next session. We got to go on one of the boats there and see a lot of different things. Then Cara and I went back to my house to talk with my parents about the education system. We ended up talking for a while, until about 8, and then Joelle and I walked her home. When we got there Cara’s dad invited us to eat dinner with them, which we declined, but then insisted that we stay to eat mangos, so we did. Then we went home to actually eat dinner, but it wasn’t ready until about 9:30 because Fabien didn’t start cooking until we left with Cara. I was really tired so I showered and fell asleep right away.

On Monday afternoon, I received some good news! Roland had heard back from Madame Bakoly and my family in the villages is excited to have me back! But according to the other girl who is going back to the villages, Roland said that there is no internet in Tsiroanomandidy, so if that is the case, I may be sort of cut off from communication for most of the month of November. But I will have my phone (and ideally will be getting another SIM card so that I will always have service) so phone is always an option! I will post my numbers (I will have 2 assuming I do get another sim) before I leave incase anyone wants to call/people can give me their numbers if they would like me to call (I think that it is a lot cheaper for me to call, although I know that skype credit can make it a lot easier to call from the US).

Visiting Katsepy!

Friday 10/21

Today we didn’t follow a normal schedule at all. Rather than have our language classes as normal, we went to visit Katsepy, an island off the coast of Mahajanga. The ferry we were going to take was supposed to leave at 7, so Roland told us to be down at the dock by 6:30. For this reason, I got up at 4:45, because my mom said that it would be necessary to leave at 5:30. My host brother (who took me to the dock) and I left the house at 5:20 and the neighborhood gates weren’t even open yet. The trip took significantly less time than my mom had said it would and we ended up getting off the taxi-be at 5:50, way earlier than needed. The dock was a 2 minute walk from the taxi-be stop, but there were already students there, so I joined them and we sat around and waited for everyone (including Roland and Candy) to show up.

While waiting around, a man approached me and one of the boys on the program. He asked how many people were in our group and when we told him that there would be 22 in total, he tried to tell us that there wouldn’t be enough space on the ferry but that he had a boat that could hold 25 people and that he would be happy to take us all across. He tried to convince us of the fact that the ferry was full for a good 20 minutes before finally giving up. It turns out that the ferry was very full, but we did all fit. I ended up in a teensy-tiny little room behind the captain with 10 other students and we were all incredibly gross, sweaty, and hot by the end of the ride because that room isn’t meant to hold more than 3 or 4 people, particularly not for over an hour.

When we finally reached land, we were all incredibly happy to get off the boat and breathe fresh air. To get off involved walking through the ocean, so all of us had really sandy feet/shoes. This wouldn’t normally be a huge issue but we went into a restaurant to talk with Chantel, a peace-corps volunteer from Alaska who has been stationed in Katsepy for the past 2 years. We were sitting on mats and got them incredibly sandy.

Chantel talked to us a lot about the island/village and about how she spends her day as a peace-corps volunteer. She is 31 but had always had it in the back of her mind that she wanted to volunteer so after working at Macy’s for a few years and realizing that she wasn’t really doing anything productive with her life, she applied and was accepted. She was originally sent to Niger but was pulled out for safety reasons and sent instead to Madagascar in December 2009 as part of the first group of volunteers to go back in the country after the crisis of March 2009. She works in trying to help the farmers improve their agriculture, but also said that she has a lot of time to lounge around on the beach and interact with the community. She has learned a lot of Malagasy in the past 2 years, but said that she still finds herself in situations where people are talking too quickly or something else rendering her unable to understand anything that they are saying.

After talking with her for a while we gouted (snacked), of course, and then she took us on a little walk to show us different parts of the town/different buildings. We first walked through the “market.” She was telling us that all of the vendors sell the exact same things and she doesn’t understand how they are economically able to support themselves. I don’t understand either. How can they make money when what they are selling isn’t unique and therefore people have no real need to buy from a particular person?

After that we went to see the mosque. It was the biggest, nicest building we saw and Chantel said that a lot of money has been put into it over the years. Then we went to go see the schools. There is both an EPP (public primary school) and a public collège, or middle school. She was telling us how the EPP building has 2 classrooms for 5 classes, so children only go to school for half of the day. It is sad that there isn’t enough space for them to get real educations. After that we went to see the CSB (centre de santé de base – the center for basic health). This week they were running a mother-child health program, so there were a few women there with small children who had just gotten shots, or been weighed, or something else along those lines. Then we continued walking and saw the Catholic Church. Comparing it with the mosque was fascinating. In comparison with the ornate mosque, the church was literally built of leaves and didn’t stand out at all. It looked just like all of the houses around it and it was so weird to see the differences. The door was locked so we couldn’t go in, but the door had slats in it so we were able to look in. There were a few benches and some pictures hanging on the wall, but that was it.

After our walk we were all really hot so we went back to the restaurant to have some cold drinks and then I stayed there with some people to just sit and chill. We talked a lot with Chantel about varying topics, this time mostly not related to the peace-corps, but just about life in general. While we were talking with her, a woman came up with an adorable toddler. She sat down next to me and smiled a lot and then eventually started asking me for money for the baby. I told her no and wouldn’t pay attention to her for a while. After some time, I mentioned to Chantel that she kept asking for money and she explained to me that the woman is an alcoholic, but she still breastfeeds, so her child has many problems. She said to definitely not give her any money because it would just go towards alcohol.

We had brought lunch with us to eat. I had a tuna sandwich (with cheese and mustard, which isn’t a combination I normally do, but it was really good), corn and pickles (what a weird veggie salad to make!), and pineapple. I always think that it is funny when we bring picnics with us because we are basically a group of 20 foreigners who come into a little village and bring with us more food than most families have ever seen at 1 time. It is ridiculous. After lunch we hung out for a little while and some people went to buy mangos. I didn’t get one because I’d had a lot the day before, but apparently each mango there only cost 100 ariary (the equivalent of 5 cents! Ridiculously cheap!) and they were apparently pretty good. When it was time to go, we didn’t take the baka (the ferry) back, but rather ended up taking the boat owned by the guy with whom I had talked this morning! All of us fit in. I was in the front and had to help hand out life jackets and then we took off. During the ride, the man we had talked to stood up front and sang with us/danced. He was super amusing and made the ride very enjoyable. Of course, I was soaked by the end of the ride, as was my backpack. My pants dried quickly, but then I got on the taxi-be with my backpack, which I had to put on my lap, and when I got off it looked like I had peed in my pants. I took a shower right away (I was disgustingly sweaty) and then decided to do some homework. We have a 10-15 page paper due next Friday so I’ve been working on that and have already made it to page 7! Not too bad at all, and probably much farther than any of the other students (I think only 1 or 2 others have even started to write).

Last night it was just me, my parents, and Miangaly at home. We watched some movies and then put on NCIS in French. The voices they chose for the characters are so weird! I much prefer the normal voices. Then I taught my parents to play uno while we waited for our pizza to come for dinner. The pizza here always has such weird toppings! We had 2 different types that both had shrimp on them and then we also had a 4 cheese pizza, but one of the cheeses was basically just laughing cow cheese. It was good, just strange!

Lots of Things Going On

Wednesday 10/20

I was sort of in a hurry when I wrote about Wednesday before so I’m going to give some more details now. Around 1:45 am I was woken up by a lot of dogs barking. Apparently what is happening is that authorities are going around and killing the random dogs that live in the street and that is what was happening. Of course I hated to hear that, but there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it, which is hard to accept.

Wednesday morning was normal. We left the house at 6:30 to ensure that I would be on time for my 7:30 meeting with Roland. We basically only talked about how my homestay here in Mahajanga is going and then we talked about random logistics of going back to the village (although it still isn’t certain because we haven’t heard back from Madame Bakoly who was going to go talk to my family there).

At 8 we started French class, like normal. Today in my class we all took a newspaper and picked an article. We had some time to read and comprehend the article and then we explained the article to the group and gave 2 new vocabulary words that we had found in the article. Then was Malagasy class at 9. We went over adjectives today, and learned a whole bunch of new words which I really should sit down and study at some point (probably either tomorrow afternoon or this weekend) to aid in my comprehension when I go back to the villages, where only 2 or 3 people actually speak French.

After Malagasy, instead of having snack, we grabbed snack to take on a special taxi-be that the program had prepared for us. We all actually fit, which is surprising, but it was definitely one of the biggest taxi-bes that I have seen in Madagascar. M. Nicolas (one of the homestay coordinators) came with us, leaving all of the SIT staff at the center. We drove out about 25 minutes into a village where we arrived at the doany. We were greeted by some villagers who helped us prepare to enter (girls with hair down, and everyone wearing lambas). Then we went in and were greeted by the Sakalava prince of the Boeny region (who Roland had been certain wouldn’t actually be there). Thankfully, the prince spoke French, but none of his assistants did. He talked to us about his job and the succession of the throne and then we were able to ask questions. Before leaving we all shook his hand so I can now officially say that I have shaken hands with a prince.

When we got back to the center we had lunch. We had noodles and shrimp! So good. There was also mango again, which was great because as I said, the mango here is amazing. I wish that you all could try some because you’d adore it. After lunch people were beginning to disperse when Roland showed up. Normally he just says hi to us, but today he called us all together and said that he wanted to talk to us as a group. He began by saying that he heard that our morning had gone well, but then told us that he had some sad news to share with us. Madame Jo, one of our language teachers in Tana (as I already explained), passed away yesterday. As he started talking to us, Hanta came in and she started crying, which started a chain reaction and there were many teary eyes in our silent room.

After our discussion I went to a cyber café for a little while before going to hop on the taxi-be to head home. The taxi-be took forever because at almost all of our stops we waiting for about 5 minutes, which isn’t normally, but I think it is because the afternoons are slow here and they want to have as many people paying as possible so that they can earn the most money, which makes sense because the drivers rent out the bus and therefore want to be able to make back more than what they paid in the first place.

When I finally got home my little sister was watching a movie and my mom was taking a nap, so I did my Malagasy homework. We had 14 or 15 new Malagasy adjectives to translate and then we had to write a phrase with each one. About an hour later, with the help of 4 dictionaries (Malagasy-English, English-Malagasy, Malagasy-French, and French-English/English-French) I was done. Then I read for a little while before getting ready to go to the beach. We had decided yesterday to go to the beach to swim a little and watch the sunset. On our way there (we walked) I heard someone say “oh hey there, vazaha” and I looked over and a few people from my program were driving by in a taxi-be. When we got to the beach I saw another group of students there (I knew that people were going but had already agreed to go with my family). I hung out with them for a while before going in the water with my sister. We started by playing on the beach in the sand/water and then actually went in. When she plays in the sand she builds random things and talks constantly. It is really cute to watch, even if I almost never catch what she is saying (I think she switched between French and Malagasy and she is speaking really quickly and in a quiet voice).

When the sun started to set we were sitting in the sand near the water and it was gorgeous. There were some boats that had just come in and were right near the sand and the combination of those with the colors was amazing. I think we are going to go back to watch the sunset again so that I can take pictures, but also so that we can stay later (my mom doesn’t feel comfortable staying too long after the sunset when there isn’t a man with us, which probably isn’t such a bad idea, especially when I [who garners attention] am there).

We decided to take a taxi-be back (instead of walking) and it ended up being 8 or 9 of the students from my program with my host mom and sister. The driver commented on how he had been lucky today because there were a ton of foreigners who had taken his taxi-be. We were the first ones to get off. When we got back I showered (I was covered in sand/salt) and then hung out while people prepared dinner. While I was showering, the electricity went out, but it wasn’t that big of a deal because they put out candles and the water still worked (I still have a bucket shower, but I get water myself from a spigot in the bathroom).

Dinner was pretty good. We ate beef (zebu) and zucchini in some sort of delicious sauce. Of course we also had rice (because it isn’t a real Malagasy meal if rice isn’t included). There were a bunch of ants which had been in the place mats so we had fun trying to kill them/brush them off the table. Apparently these ants bite and it really hurts, which is so much more annoying than just having normal ants!

As I was writing this blog post a lot of my family was also in the same room, and were commenting on the fact that I type quickly and don’t need to look at the keyboard (I was watching the tv at the same time, but it is in Malagasy so I don’t understand anything and can concentrate on what I am writing, even though I’m not looking at my computer screen.)

Thursday – 10/21

This morning we left the house pretty late because my host mom took forever to get ready. I don’t know what she was doing but it really did take a long time (which is weird because she gets up at 4:45 every morning so you’d think that she would have more than enough time to get ready) and I ended up having at least half an hour after breakfast to read while just waiting for her to get ready. When she was finally ready to go (around 7) we went out to wait for the bus, but one didn’t come for about 10 minutes, which is weird because normally in that period of time there would be about 3.

When we got to the center in the morning, Roland and Hanta came in to talk to us more about Malagasy burial traditions and to tell us about how the program is sending their condolences to Madame Jo’s family. We made a card for them, that everyone signed, and the program is buying a lamba which she will be wrapped in before burial, which I think is really nice. Hanta is going to fly back to Tana this afternoon and then on Friday morning, at 10, Hanta, Rivo, Sidoney, and Lydia are going to go visit the family. The burial will then take place at 4:30 in the afternoon and Hanta will return to Mahajanga on either Saturday or Sunday.

We had language classes like normal and then after snack we had a visit from a diviner. Apparently he is a prince and he came in wearing a crazy outfit with lots of bracelets. He spoke Malagasy, French, and some English, which was nice. After telling us about what he does, and showing us the sikidy, the seeds of a tree, he decided to do the fortunes of some student. He told one boy that he could be a very successful politician if he wanted to, but that he would have to go through many hard times before he became famous. He apparently has the same birthday as Didier Ratsiraka and will follow a similar career path should he decide to actually go into politics. He also told another girl that she will be sick often if she doesn’t make sure to drink a lot of water all the time and then another girl that she will have a happy life, will have 2 kids, and will have a lot of responsibility in her family.

Welcome to Mahajanga!

On Thursday morning we had to get up so early. We needed to be at the SIT center at 6:15 so that we could theoretically leave at 7. I got up at 5:15 to do some quick last minute packing (I did most of it Wednesday night) and then had a quick breakfast before saying a few hurried goodbyes. My dad drove me to the center because I have so much stuff with me. We didn’t actually end up leaving until about 7:30 (not a surprise at all). A little while into the drive, Candy (who came with us!) gave me and Ely an apple (we had seen her eating one before and commented on it) which was super exciting! We stopped around noon for a picnic and literally ate in the middle of a river. It was so good (of course, we had rice and chicken and pineapple, what else would you ever bring on a picnic?)!

We finally arrived at the Ankarifantsika national park right after sundown. It was super pretty. We were staying in tents so we had to set everything up. Somehow I ended up in a 3 person tent by myself the first night, but I have no idea how that actually happened, not that I’m complaining. I had a ton of space and wasn’t burning hot unlike literally everyone else.

On Friday morning we went on a walk through the park after breakfast. At first we saw some indigenous birds and plants, and then some lizards. Finally, we saw some nocturnal lemurs hiding in trees. They were really cute with huge eyes. Then we kept going on and at one point the guide stopped us and we looked and there were literally 3 lemurs just hanging out in a tree right there. We watched them for a while playing and we took a lot of pictures. They were so cute! After lunch (such amazing coconut curry chicken) we went and visited a turtle sanctuary. The guide went in and would pick up turtles to show us, and twice when he did that the turtle he had picked up peed a lot. It was actually sort of strange. Then we went to visit women who make things out of raffia. One woman did a demonstration for us and it was really cool. (The girl who lived with my host family last term actually did her ISP here and learned from these women how to make things out of raffia). Then we had the afternoon free so we just hung out and showered (it was so disgustingly hot).

Right before dinner was a night walk. We saw a few really tiny nocturnal lemurs, a bird, and a bunch of lizards and chameleons and whatnot. After dinner we had a special dessert! (We also have been having fresh mango with every meal and it is literally the best mango of my life. I have been in heaven!) Hanta bought us things to make smores!!! We roasted the marshmallows (which were funny colors – some were solid and some were twisted white, pink, and yellow) over a charcoal fire but they still tasted amazing. Then after dinner we sat around as a group and sang songs and then told scary stories. It was really fun. On Friday night Sophia decided to come into my tent because she thought it would be cooler and there was extra room, both of which were true, so I wasn’t alone.

On Saturday morning I got up around 6 (we needed to start putting away tents by 6:30) and when I went over to the bathrooms, I saw some people standing near a tree. There were lemurs right there! I went to get my camera and took a ton of pictures. There were 5 lemurs in total, 2 of which were at times literally only 6 or 7 feet away from us in a little tree eating leaves! Although I didn’t hold any, I do have a picture of me next to a lemur which is still pretty darn cool. After breakfast we were ready to get on the road! We stopped once to look at the biggest rice paddy area in western Madagascar, and another time to look at some signs talking about dinosaur fossil excavation (this was also snack time). Then we finally made it into Majunga! This town is super gorgeous. We drove past a huge baobob tree (Roland said that it is over 400 years old) and then made it to the guest house which we are using as a program center. It is literally on the water, although we can’t swim on that beach (it is right next to the port). We went on a quick walk down the road before lunch (we had amazing mango again!) and then I went to the pool with a few people. The pool is down the road and filled with sea water (which was sort of weird at first) but it was huge and felt amazing because we were so gross and sweaty after the car ride in this heat. We got a special rate of 8000 ar per person, instead of 10000, which is expensive for here, but honestly, it is only $4 and it felt so amazing, so I’m glad that I went.

We were all told to be back at the “new” SIT center by 4:30 because the families were going to start arriving shortly thereafter for our 5:00 meeting. We all hung out in 2 of the bedrooms (our center is a guest house and has 3 bedrooms with a total of 5 twin beds and a king size bed) waiting until they invited the families to come upstairs and had us stand in a line at the back of the room so that we could be paired. As each family came in, the student living with them was called forward and the family would give the student a lamba. I was one of the last people called and was met by my host dad, 2 of my host sisters, my host brother, and a girl who I think was my host brother’s girlfriend.

My parents have 4 kids in total: Joelle (24), Fabien (23), Stephanie (18), and Miangaly (9). Stephanie recently left to go to the university in Tana (which is my host mom was there on Wednesday) so I live with my parents and the 3 others. I share a room with Joelle, but I feel bad because I have a comfortable bed and she is sleeping on a foam pad on the ground.

After meeting the families, we all hung around at the SIT Center until Roland gave his little schpiel (like he did in Tana as well) and then it was time to go. We got all of my bags and went to find Joelle’s boyfriend, Zack, who was waiting for us in his car. We loaded up all my stuff and went to a pharmacy (poor Joelle isn’t feeling well and is taking 3 different types of medication at the moment). After that we went to the post office to wait for my host mom who was arriving on a taxi-brousse from Tana.

After she arrived, we drove around the center of town a little before heading home. When we got home we brought in all of my stuff and sat around for a while talking, and then I showered and when I came out Joelle was sleeping and everyone else was doing random things, so I did Sudoku for a while, thinking that dinner would follow shortly. Boy was I wrong! Yesterday was a weird schedule for the family so we didn’t actually end up sitting down to dinner until 10, which felt super late to me, but whatever, we finally ate which was good because I was hungry.

After dinner I went to bed and fell asleep pretty quickly, but I woke up fairly early on Sunday morning. I don’t know what time it actually was, but I would guess around 6 probably, although I didn’t actually get out of bed until 7:30ish because Joelle was still asleep and I wanted her to stay that way because of how bad she is feeling. Not a whole lot happened on Sunday morning. After breakfast Fabien went to church and I hung around and did a little Sudoku until Miangaly came out with a thing of rice to sort through for rocks and bad grains. I helped her do that, and then we went inside and peeled garlic (I showed her the easy way to do it by applying a little pressure with a knife) and then took the stems off of some strawberries.

Today is apparently my parents’ 25^th wedding anniversary so they are treating it as a special day (at least according to them although we haven’t really done anything super out of the ordinary so who knows). Lunch was rice (of course) as well as cucumbers and onions in a vinaigrette as well as meat with veggies (peas, cauliflower [which I am really starting to like], and a little tomato). The only thing a little out of the ordinary was that they bought 2 bottles of soda, and even that isn’t super weird, so who knows.

The afternoon was pretty boring. Joelle was still sick so she laid on the bed in front of the tv the whole time while I read in our room. Around 4 or so she finally got up so I thought we maybe were going to do something, but then she showered, put on some real clothes, and got back in bed. I ended up watching Miangaly paint and then she went with me to go buy some water. When we got back Zack was there (which explains why Joelle had gotten up). The 2 of them tried to fix the 2 broken lights, but to no avail, so Soary (my host mom) is going to buy new lightbulbs today and then either Fabien (my host dad, yes the dad and brother have the same name) or Zack if he is around will put them in. I talked with them and my parents for a little while before the 2 of them left for the night. Dinner was leftovers from lunch, and I ate with my parents and Miangaly and then went to bed. This time I was sharing the room with Miangaly. Who knows who will be next? Both of them perhaps?

Monday - 10/17

This morning I got up at 5:45 because we had decided yesterday to leave at 6:30. We ended up leaving the house at 6:15 and got off the bus (well, the 2^nd one) around 6:50. We went up to the center at 7 and were the first ones there. I am with the new professor, Olga, for both French and Malagasy. She is nice, but she only talks to us in Malagasy during Malagasy class which is intimidating and hard, although I know that it is really helpful and I am realizing that I can understand more than I originally thought. On Monday afternoon we were free after lunch until 4 so I went and got ice cream with some other students, and then walked around for a little while before going to a cyber café. Monday night I had dinner at home with my family and then went to bed (I was alone in the room?).

Tuesday – 10/18

Tuesday was a typical day at first. Language classes in the morning and then snack. After snack we went to visit a mosque. We were supposed to be meeting a guide there but he never showed up, but there were a few nice men there who invited us in and answered all of our questions, so it all worked out in the end. We again had the afternoon free so I hung out at the SIT center and did some homework and then went on a walk and shopped in a little artisan market and then went to Score, a supermarket (it is sort of like being in the US for a while). While there an Italian man came up to us and gave us his business card incase we are ever in Italy and need wine.

That night I went back on the taxi-be with 2 other students and we sat on the back bench, just the 3 of us. When dinner time came around my whole family was there and in good health, for the first time since I have been with this family. We had a good dinner with lots of nice conversation/random English songs that my sister and brother would start to sing in unison.

Wednesday Morning 10/19

This morning I had another ISP meeting with Roland before language classes. After the classes, we went to visit a doany, a Sakalava prayer site. The Sakalava prince of the Boen region of Madagascar met us there to talk with us which was cool.

After lunch Roland came in to share some sad news with us. Madame Jo, one of our Tana language teachers, who I had for Malagasy at the beginning, passed away yesterday from complications with hypertension. The entire room was silent besides the sounds of Hanta crying. It was a very sad moment to hear about because she was so nice and cared about us all. Hanta is going to return to Tana for the funeral, but for us; classes must continue so we are going to send along a letter of our condolences with her.

A Short Update

Not a lot has happened since getting back from the villages. Thankfully, I really do feel a whole lot better. Monday afternoon I met with Roland about my ISP and made the official decision to return to my village for ISP. We called Madame Bakoly and she is going to go talk to them to ensure that they will host me again.

On Tuesday afternoon, I went to a private school with 2 other students, where the host aunt of one works. It was a really nice school that encompassed all ages (elementary, middle, high school, and even some university classes). There was a group of students waiting to talk with us and take us on a tour (they were all students on the math/science track, which is perfect for me!). A few of them could speak English pretty well, which was surprisingly, and actually led the tour in English. We saw a lot, including their lemur! Yes, the school has a lemur which lives in a cage on the campus. We were able to get really close to it and really see it, so that was the first lemur I really got to see close up and it was a really awesome experience.

Wednesday morning Hanta came in and introduced us to a woman, who she said was going to be one of our language teachers in Majunga (Hanta and Candy are coming with us, but we will have 2 new ones). She also told us that she would be a host mother for one of the girls on the program, but wouldn’t tell us who. Fast forward to snack time, Hanta came and told me that Roland wanted to see me. Turns out that she will be my host mom! She seems really nice (she gave me a huge hug when I walked into the room) so I am super excited. I will be living with her, her husband (who is the director of a public middle school), and 3 of her children (2 girls and a boy). She also has an older daughter who is in Tana studying at the university. We live near the airport, but also near the beach apparently, so that is exciting.

For lunch together, I went with 2 other students to The Cookie Shop, an American run restaurant. We had bagel sandwiches (mine was a barbeque chicken sandwich), chips, a drink (I had a passion fruit smoothie type thing), and dessert (chocolate chip cookie!) It was so good and exactly what I needed.

Tonight is our last night with our Tana host families, which is super sad, and then tomorrow we are headed on to Ankaranfontsika, then Majunga. Lots of driving ahead!

A Short Update

Not a lot has happened since getting back from the villages. Thankfully, I really do feel a whole lot better. Monday afternoon I met with Roland about my ISP and made the official decision to return to my village for ISP. We called Madame Bakoly and she is going to go talk to them to ensure that they will host me again.

On Tuesday afternoon, I went to a private school with 2 other students, where the host aunt of one works. It was a really nice school that encompassed all ages (elementary, middle, high school, and even some university classes). There was a group of students waiting to talk with us and take us on a tour (they were all students on the math/science track, which is perfect for me!). A few of them could speak English pretty well, which was surprisingly, and actually led the tour in English. We saw a lot, including their lemur! Yes, the school has a lemur which lives in a cage on the campus. We were able to get really close to it and really see it, so that was the first lemur I really got to see close up and it was a really awesome experience.

Wednesday morning Hanta came in and introduced us to a woman, who she said was going to be one of our language teachers in Majunga (Hanta and Candy are coming with us, but we will have 2 new ones). She also told us that she would be a host mother for one of the girls on the program, but wouldn’t tell us who. Fast forward to snack time, Hanta came and told me that Roland wanted to see me. Turns out that she will be my host mom! She seems really nice (she gave me a huge hug when I walked into the room) so I am super excited. I will be living with her, her husband (who is the director of a public middle school), and 3 of her children (2 girls and a boy). She also has an older daughter who is in Tana studying at the university. We live near the airport, but also near the beach apparently, so that is exciting.

For lunch together, I went with 2 other students to The Cookie Shop, an American run restaurant. We had bagel sandwiches (mine was a barbeque chicken sandwich), chips, a drink (I had a passion fruit smoothie type thing), and dessert (chocolate chip cookie!) It was so good and exactly what I needed.

Tonight is our last night with our Tana host families, which is super sad, and then tomorrow we are headed on to Ankaranfontsika, then Majunga. Lots of driving ahead!

Pictures of People From the Village!

Rotsy (8 months)
Host-mom (Vola - 29) and Rotsy

Solofo (24) and Sisy (16)
Mendrika (14) and Lova (10)
Random kid, Mahefa (6) and Kanto (8)

Village Trip!

My apologies for the length of this blog! (It is 9 pages single spaced in word. . .)

Tuesday 9/27 – And We’re Off! (Again)

I had my meeting with the professor! She was incredibly nice and spoke English pretty well. I had some difficulty finding her at first, but we managed. Turns out that she is a plant biologist and she was at UMass Amherst for 5 years, on a scholarship. She has also been back to the US 4 or 5 times. While there, I asked her about the science program at the university. Students choose to go into either chemistry, biology, or moth/physics. For the first 2 years, they take classes together and then choose their specialty within the department. For bio, there were 6 or 7. Right now, student can only take classes in their major, but apparently that is going to change. According to her, assuming that the government gets its act together, the university is going to switch to an American system and all students will be able to take classes in any department (so a physics major could take an anthropology class or something along those lines).

Today we drove to Tsiroamandidy in the Bongolava region. For breakfast this morning, my host mom made pancakes again. She and the kids really, really like them. My host dad drove me to SIT because I had a suitcase to bring with me. The drive down was nice (no one in my van so much as felt sick and I don’t think anyone in the other van threw up, although I know that some people weren’t feeling too well). This ride had significantly less twists and turns than the ride to/from Vatomandry. On the way, we stopped for a picnic lunch. We had pineapple, oranges, bananas, bread, cheese, rice, vegetables, and chicken (what is with the Malagasy and bringing chicken for picnics?)

After we settled into the hotel we had a chance to roam around. My friend Michelle and I decided to walk to the outskirts of town. It was significantly less busy and nice to get away from the hustle and bustle. We decided to take a bicycle pousse-pousse back. When we asked the price, we were told 6000. When we asked if that was in ariary or francs, we were told ariary (6000 ar = $3). That is really expensive for here, which we told the rider and started to walk away. Then he shouted after us that it was 6000 francs (6000 francs = 1200 ariary = 60 cents) which we took. The ride back was nice and scenic.

In the afternoon, we all went to the office of SAF-FJKM, the organization that helped organize our visit and our homestay families. We met 4 of the 5 staff members, who told us about the organization and what they do. While there, I tried tamarind juice, which was surprisingly delicious (it also probably helped that it was cold and I was pretty hot, so it was nice and refreshing). Then we went to visit the pastor of the church (all 21 of us in his office made for very close quarters. Thankfully we were only in there for under 10 minutes). Finally, we went into the church to see it, and were happily greeted by a group of people. We then had an hour and a half free before dinner at the welcoming center of SAF-FJKM. I walked around the market for a few minutes, but most of the vendors were cleaning up and putting away their goods. Then I came back to the hotel for a little while to rest. The girls (16) were all sharing 2 bathrooms while the boys (5) have 2 to themselves. This could be interesting! We’ll have to wait and see.

Thursday 9/29 – Welcome to the Village!

Yesterday we stayed in Tsiroamandidy. In the morning, we were woken up by church bells at around 5:00. Then the city started to come to life and we could hear the sounds of vendors setting up their stalls and of chickens and dogs running around. After breakfast (absolutely delicious rice soup) we had a chance to go check out the cattle market. It wasn’t as exciting as I would’ve expected. There were trucks full of tied up zebu with people standing on top who would occasionally kick them (it was actually pretty sad). Apparently it costs about 3-4 million ariary ($1500-2000) to buy one. On our way back to the SAF-FJKM office where we were meeting, we passed the stadium. Basically, there was a basketball court, soccer field, and carved out bleachers. We also passed the hospital – it was blue and the biggest building we saw in town.

After all reconvening, we split into 2 groups to go on courtesy visits. There were 8 people in my group (there were supposed to be 10, I don’t know what happened). First we went to talk with the mayor of a nearby rural commune. He talked to us about his job and his life. Then we went to talk to the chef du district. This time it was a woman, the first woman to be in this position in town. She talked to us about what she did (she said “my job isn’t hard, but it isn’t too easy”) and about her education. At university, she studied philosophy. We had a long conversation with her about how you can mix philosophy and religion (she is married to a pastor).

After lunch, I spent time studying Malagasy with some other students in preparation for the village stay. In the afternoon, we went to visit the CECAM office, a microfinance organization. I was at the far end of the room and could barely hear the speaker so that was sort of boring. Then we had a meeting about the logistics of the village stay before dinner. After dinner, Michelle and I studied some more before I showered and went to bed.

This morning, we were again woken up by church bells at 5. After breakfast, we headed outside with our luggage to wait for the taxi-brousses which were going to take us to our villages. The first one showed up and was a truck with an open back. 8 students went on this taxi-brousse. We were expecting something similar and were surprised when a van, like the taxi-bes in Tana, pulled up. 12 of us loaded up all of our stuff and took off. I was the fifth person to be dropped off. I was greeted at first by my host aunt who speaks French. Then I met my mom and siblings. They are 14 (Mendrika), 8 (Kanto), 6 (Mahefa), and 8 months old (Rotsy), so I again have younger siblings which is nice. The oldest, a girl, speaks a little bit of French so that is nice.

All of the village kids wanted to crowd around me. They are cute, but it was awkward to just be standing in the middle of all of them. I have a room in my house and a bed made of straw (with a sheet over it) but I’ll have to hang a mosquito net. After a while, they asked if I wanted some noodles. They were good, it almost tasted like they had been mixed with pesto. As I am writing this, people are leaning against me and looking over my shoulder (note: I wrote this journal by hand and typed it up later), but I know that they can’t understand what I am writing. It is a really strange feeling.

For lunch, we had rice with broth/potatoes. The broth had dried fish in it, and I could only barely bring myself to eat the potatoes which tasted pretty fishy. In the afternoon, I went to the river with my host sister, her 16 year old friend (who speaks French!), and her 8 year old cousin (at least I think she is her cousin. . .)

To get to the river we had to walk down the road and then through some fields, but it was worth it. It was really, really pretty. There were all these big rocks to climb on and I found one in the shade that almost felt like it was carved just for me, it was so comfortable. I would love to go back there to read.

Before eating, I was asked to help cut potatoes. I have yet to be asked to help prepare anything while in Madagascar so that was exciting. Before being asked to help, my host mom handed me her cell phone. She wanted me to watch a music video in English. So random! While dinner was cooking, we went to the school down the road. At first my host sister and some of her friends danced for me and then a lot more people showed up. I thought they were going to play a game (one man seemed to be explaining something), but then they ended u p doing some sort of improvisation. It was apparently funny before they were laughing a lot, but I couldn’t understand anything so who knows.

Dinner was rice and fried potatoes (not exactly French fries, but almost). After dinner I showered. The showed is up against the kitchen (so that is one wall) and there are 2 and a half other walls. My host mother hung up a blanket on the wall facing everyone and thankfully no one walked on the other 2 sides. We went to bed at 7:30. Around 9 I woke up really hot and my eyes hurt. I rearranged the mosquito net (they actually had one for me) which solved the first problem, but I think that I am slightly allergic to the bed.

Friday 9/30 – Hanging Around the Village

This morning I got up at 5:30 (although I had been awake before that). Right away when my host siblings heard me moving around they all came into my room. Breakfast was rice again (notice a theme?) and these dried shrimp things (at least that is what I think they were). I could barely handle the smell, so I didn’t try any, because I don’t’ think I could’ve stomached them. After breakfast, I went down to the fields with my host siblings (not the baby though of course). I basically sat there braiding plants while the kids played around and ate chives, onions, and apple-like things (needless to say, Madame Bakoly was there to check in. Apparently Roland and Rivo are going to stop by tomorrow morning (I’ll be the 2^nd stop).

Before lunch, my host sister and I hung out in my room. I did Sudoku while she used one of my English-Malagasy dictionaries to write down vocabulary words in English. It was super peaceful and much better than sitting outside with a lot of people staring at me.

After lunch, a lot of people came into my room. Someone would say a word in French and then I would translate it into English and someone else would give the word in Malagasy. During this time I also showed them my camera, because people randomly started asking me about pictures. After this, I went with a bunch of kids over to the school where I taught them to throw a Frisbee. A large group broke off to play soccer while I continued throwing the Frisbee with a few of the teenagers. Then I watched kids play a game that I can only describe as being like tic-tac-toe, but with a twist.

Before dinner, I went with my host sister, the 16 year old from yesterday, and another girl who is always around (I would guess that she is about 10 years old) to get water. We walked down a hillside to a river type thing. There was a corner carved into the hill where water collected in a basin before going into the stream through a pipe. They washed their arms and legs before getting water from the pipe. All 3 carried their water back to the village on their heads. I don’t know how they weren’t dead by the time we made it up the hill, because I was feeling it and I didn’t even have water on my head. To balance the bucket, they take a shirt which h they roll up. They then take this roll and wrap it around their hand, so that it is a spiral. This goes on their head, followed by the bucket. It is crazy to watch. I wonder how long it took them to develop this skill, because I know that I’d be awful at it.

Before dinner, I showered, but the shower is progressing. Now there is a wooden platform to stand on, instead of an empty rice bag, and there were blankets hanging on all 3 walls (of course, I’m taller than the average Malagasy person, so I had to hunch over). Then it was dinnertime. We had meat! I think it was some sort of sausage (no idea what type of meat), but I’m not totally sure because it was hard to see (the sun sets before dinner and we eat using a propane lamp which was made using an old light bulb. Pretty cool!) Before bed I did some Sudoku while my mom and sister watched. I tried to explain it using Malagasy and gestures, but I have no idea if I made any sense!

Saturday 10/1 – Raw Peanuts are Gross

I woke up around 5:15 this morning, but my siblings didn’t realize that I was awake until just before 6 – the free 45 minutes were nice and relaxing (to be alone is considered undesirable in Malagasy culture). After breakfast (rice with meat [again! They told us to expect just rice for breakfast]) I decided to work on some homework: a family tree going back 4 generations (to great grandparents). At first it was super hard to convey what I wanted to my host sister, but then my dad shoed up, who speaks some French, and set me on the right track. After that, my aunt, who also speaks some French, showed up and I was set. I ended up letting my sister write all of the names (some were super long and confusing) but it was finished.

After this we had to kill time until Roland and Rivo came (I had been told yesterday to stick around this morning because they would be coming). While we were sitting around (me and a group of girls), a group of boys came back with bugs (everyone here likes to play with them). When Roland arrived, all of the little kids flocked to hear us speaking in English. We ended up going in the house (me, Roland, Rivo, 2 SAF-FJKM people, my mom, and my aunt) to talk. He first thanked them in Malagasy and explained what the program was about and why I was in the rural homestay. Then he checked in with me about how things were going. I told him about what I had done so far and about my health (I was a little sick yesterday but took some medicine and am feeling great now). He was happy to hear that I am getting along with my sister so well (it is definitely making my village stay a lot better).

After Roland left, my aunt commented on how well he speaks Malagasy, and was super surprised when I told her that he was married to a Malagasy woman. Then I went to sit in the kitchen with a bunch of people. People slowly left until I was the only one there, so I left. When my mom came back, she grabbed me and gave me a knife to cut carrots (I got to help again! So exciting!)

After lunch, a bunch of people came in and we did more vocabulary for a long time. Afterwards, we moved outside and talked. It was mostly 1 man asking me questions in Malagasy which 2 others than translated into French for me. We talked about salaries and ages. Apparently most people get married between the ages of 13 and 17 and start having kids right away. There was a 25 year old there who was pregnant with her 6^th child (the oldest is 8). It was during this conversation that I learned that the girl from yesterday (whose name I now know to be Lova) who went to get water with us, is actually 10. I guessed right! I also learned that my host mom is 29 (but she looks so young!)

After this conversation, I went with Mendrika and Lova to “manasa lamba” = do the laundry. I don’t know why Lova came, she didn’t do her family’s laundry, but I did notice that my sister did all of my and her parent’s laundry while she did the kids’ laundry. To get to the river, we walked down a hill, then up a hill, then down that hill. I t was so pretty! To do the laundry, they put water in a bucket, then add powdered detergent. They soak the clothes for a little while, before rinsing them off. They then get down to scrub. They rub soap on the piece of clothing, then scrub it vigorously. It was incredibly effective. They then leave the clothes on rocks to dry. After all of the clothes were washed, they swam/washed themselves for awhile while I saw with my feet in the water and washed my sandals (they were really dirty!)

When we got back home, I did a little more vocab with Mendrika, then was left alone for a while (I think they realized that I don’t mind if I am left alone!) Vola, my host mom, came in at one point to offer me what I thought was a peanut. She took it out of a shell like a peanut, but it was really white and kind of tasted like grass. Maybe it was a peanut and I just wasn’t used to it because it wasn’t roasted. There is really no way for me to ask to find out.

Before dinner I showered. Today’s addition to the shower: a ladder type thing, laid on the ground, so that I cam walk out of the shower without walking through the mud I just made. Dinner was rice and roasted peanuts (so the thing before was a raw peanut – pretty gross compared to the roasted ones [note: this was written in 2 different sittings]). I guess that is to make up for the meat I had (but hey, at least it was more protein, something I thought I’d be lacking during this homestay, which thankfully didn’t end up being the case).

Sunday 10/2 – Technology and Long Walks

Last night while I was in bed, I could hear my parents talking. The topic of conversation? September 11^th and Barack Obama. No idea why these topics came up or what was said about them, but that is what they were talking about before sleeping. This morning I was up by 5:15, but my siblings slept in. They were silent until 6! Breakfast was vary soa-soa and meat, but the meat was hard and tasted like burnt bacon, but I know that it must have been zebu. After breakfast was another vocabulary lesson. We stayed in the kitchen until my mom did something to the fire which made my eyes hurt, although everyone else was fine.

When we went outside I became the village photographer. Random people would ask me to take their picture and then I’d show it to them on the camera screen. At the time I thought we were supposed to go to church (at least it was the time when they had told Roland we’d be going), my mom grabbed my arm to take me upstairs. A bunch of people followed and then someone asked for my SD card. Turns out that we have a gas-run generator and a TV, so they plugged the SD card into a DVD player and we looked at the pictures on the TV. Then we watched some music videos off of a DVD (my family is definitely the richest [or one of the richest] in the village).

I watched some people play cards before lunch. The game was sort of like rummy, but there were some differences. Lunch was rice and lentils (Rivo explained to them yesterday how to cook them, because they had no idea what they even were) and then it was time to hang out. I let my siblings use my camera, so I have some pretty adorable pictures that they took. Then I got sort of bored when I was alone so I started making origami flowers. When my sister came back, she liked them so I taught her how to make them. During this time a few teenage boys came in and one made an origami box.

After our origami fest, I went with Mendrika and Lova to the next village over, about 3 km away. We went to buy potatoes and green beans. After that excursion we went to watch a soccer game. The teams surprisingly had matching jerseys and one team had matching shorts. During the game was the first time I felt really overwhelmed. I had been standing with my sister, but then a few people got between us. I was sort of tired so I decided to go sit next to the 8-year-old I’d gone to the river with on the first day. After a few minutes, all of the kids came and stood around me at once. I couldn’t see the game any more, only a wall of kids a few feet away in all directions. Thankfully the game ended soon after and I got to go back and hang out with Mendrika and Lova. During the game, I again noticed how popular my mom is. When she says something, everyone stops to listen and if she takes me away from a potentially overbearing situation (she’s done that a few times) no one dares to follow her besides my sister, Vola, and a few other villagers that I’ve come to know (and obviously none of them overwhelm me).

Instead of having a ladder to get out of the shower, today there was a log to use for walking out. Dinner was rice, fried potatoes, and the leftover lentils, which were better the 2^nd time around I thought.

Monday 6/3 – Lots of Sitting Around and Sudoku

I went to bed late last night! I didn’t go to bed until 8! (How pathetic is it that here, 8 is late?) I got up at 5:15, but my siblings didn’t get up until 6:15, when my mom came up and yelled at them to get up because the rice was getting cold (mangatsika ny vary!) She got embarrassed about yelling when she saw that I was up and just sitting there doing Sudoku. Breakfast was rice with that same meat again, but now I’m thinking that its actually smoked. The meat had been hanging above the stove and because they use fire to cook, a lot of smoke is generated.

Today we went to do laundry again. This time it was me, Mendrika, and her aunt, who is always around (she tried to talk to me all the time, but I very rarely have any clue what she’s asking so I just smile and nod. She sort of gets of my nerves sometimes). We went to a different place along the river this time; it was close to where we went on the first day. After about 2 hours, Kanto and his friends showed up, but before that, my aunt asked me about (in order) Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, and Michael Jackson. Once the boys showed up, we all washed our feet, and my aunt gave my sandals a much needed good scrubbing.

When we finally got back (more than 3 hours later) it was time for lunch. Like we have had before, we had rice with carrots, green beans (a woman came this morning just to sell the bean to my mom), and potatoes. After lunch we did some more origami (I taught my mom how to make the flowers). After a while, it was just me, Mendrika, Lova, and the 8-year-old from the first day. I gave them all a Werthers to try and I think that 2 of them liked them (the 3^rd gave a weird, mixed reaction).

A few more kids came in and started playing cards (with my cards no less) but didn’t invite me to play, which was sort of awkward. A weird thing that happened during this time is that Rotsy (who had been napping) woke up and another person there, who has a 4 month old, tried to nurse her. Rotsy wanted nothing to do with it, but it was sort of weird to watch.

After this I saw my mom really work for the first time. She was sifting rice (to get rid of rocks?) Then someone showed interest in Sudoku. Somehow (although I really don’t know how) I managed to explain how to play and I started a Sudoku craze (literally). A ton of people would work on one at once (at one point I counted 7!) When I finally went back upstairs, I found Solofo (24, who speaks French) and his wife Sisy (16) (who are an adorable couple expecting their first baby) working on one, so I joined in to help. The village is getting pretty good at Sudoku (at least the easy ones).

Because of all of the Sudoku, I didn’t start my showed until later than normal, so my siblings and dad were already eating. I ended up having a nice candle-lit dinner with just my mom. Before my sister keft I had asked what something was and she said “trondro kely, petits poisons” (little fish). Later on, my mom, who basically speaks no french, says “tsara, ny petits garcons” which was something I never thought I’d hear anyone say (=good/tasty, the little boys). I corrected her, but she didn’t actually know the meaning of what she had said. I still can’t believe that she’s 29 though! At one point today she had on a dress and baseball cap and literally looked about 15. Its crazy!

Tuesday 10/4 – The Last Full Day. What? Sad!

Last night when my mom came in to set up my mosquito net, she spotted my chapstick on the bedside table. She asked (in French!) what it was and then coyly put some on. Super cute! When everyone was in bed I could hear my parents and sister practicing my full name - “Rachel Elizabeth Osofsky” – but with an adorable Malagasy accent.

This morning I woke up at 4:45 to my parents going out. Around 4:50, Rotsy started making noise so that was it for sleep. For breakfast, we had rice with what you could probably call peanut butter. It was pulverized, roasted peanuts, with a little water and sugar. While eating breakfast, I was sitting sort of cross-legged, but with one foot up and my siblings were amused, so then I did it with both feet up. Kanto was the only one who came even close to be able to do it, and it took him a long time and he could barely hold it for even a second. After breakfast, my mom cut up meat for lunch, but there was a part with a big bone across the back so what did she do? She overturned the little bench and used an axe (the one they use to chop dead wood). Super amusing to see her reacting to my reaction.

After that I hung out in the kitchen with Mendrika, Lova, Solofo, and Sisy. Solofy translated everything for me/them, so conversation was actually possible. After a while we got my cards and when I shuffled they were super amused. Malagasy people shuffle cards differently and had never seen anyone do it my way, so of course they all had to try (no one came even close). We played cards until lunch. While talking I pulled out my chapstick and my mom saw it and put some on, so of course Sisy, Mendrika, and Lova all did too, but then Vola couldn’t figure out how to close it. She was trying to twist the top on.

After lunch I hung out for about half an hour and then my aunt invited me to her house to eat corn. I was still full from lunch so I ate as much as I could but had a lot left over. After I watched people playing cards for a while before I went to play with my sister. After that we went fishing. It was me, Mendrika, Lova, my aunt, Kanto, and 2 of Kanto’s friends. It was in nasty water, but they actually caught a fish. When we got home Mendrika prepared it.

Before dinner I showered (today I had a big rock to step on to avoid the mud). Dinner was rice, leftover beans, the fish (I didn’t have any), and sausage (but they gave it all to me for some reason, even though I only ate about a third of it). I can’t believe I leave tomorrow! I am going to miss everyone a lot. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am seriously considering coming back here for my ISP.

Wednesday –Friday 10/5-7

Last night I could again hear my parents and sister talking in bed. This time they were going over “jack, queen, king, ace, clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.” We had talked about that while playing cards and apparently they decided to practice. This morning Kanto watched me pack and started to cry (but he tried to hide it) which killed me. After breakfast, I thought I had about 2 and a half hours left (I was told the day before, by Madame Bakoly, that they’d be coming around 9:30 to get me) so we started playing cards and then around 8:15 someone pulled up on a motorcycle and asked if my bags were ready because the van was almost there. I barely had a chance to say goodbye to people!

When we got back to the hotel we all talked for a long time with eachother. There were 2 students who left their homestays early. One left on Saturday after her host father sat her down and basically told her that because she was now a part of the family, she had to help him become rich, or otherwise he would be the laughing stock of the village. She ended up getting really sick that afternoon after leaving anyways so it was good that she left. The other one was handed a letter on Monday night asking for money so that her family wouldn’t be poor and she was picked up on Tuesday morning (families are specifically told not to ask for money).

It sounded like I had one of the best times in the village, which I think had a lot to do with my family and how small my village was compared to the others, which allowed me to really get to know some people. It also helped that I had a few people who could translate conversations for me so that I could actually talk with people with whom I had no real common language. Today was the birthday of a girl on the program, so Roland bought her 2 cakes which we had with lunch after singing to her.

Before lunch we had a debriefing session with Roland, but he had to relay some bad news to us: one of the girls on the program, who had returned to Tana instead of going to her village because of back problems, had decided to go back to the US. She saw 3 different doctors in Tana and no one could figure out what was wrong. We weren’t able to say goodbye to her (she was flying out the day before we returned) so that was pretty sad. That afternoon Roland and Rivo left to go see her the next morning and we had the whole afternoon/night to ourselves.

The next morning our drivers helped us pack up the vans (they came back to Tsiroamandidy on Wednesday) and then Madame Bakoly saw us off. We were headed to Ampefy! When we got there it was gorgeous. The hotel was located on Lake Anosy and they had done a ton to make it beautiful. We hung around until lunch, which was huge! There were a ton of whole tilapias (probably 1 per every 1.5 people), rice, curried beans, French fries, cucumber salad and salsa. And then we all got dessert too! I had a crepe with ice cream in it which was delicious.

After lunch I hung out with 4 other people for a long time before Roland and Rivo arrived, and then about 12 of us sat with Roland in my room (there were 4 of us staying in the room) and he told us about seeing off the girl who had left. When we thought everyone was back we went to place orders for dinner and then had another group debriefing session. We started outside but it was ridiculously cold and windy so after about half an hour we decided to move back into our room for another hour or so. After that was dinner time. We got pizza! It was delicious! And then we also got dessert again. That night we were all really tired and went straight to bed.

Friday morning we had breakfast and then headed back to Tana, where we had lunch at the SIT center. After going to a cyber café and hanging around for a while, I headed back to my host family’s house, but they weren’t there, only their new maid, who seems really nice, but doesn’t totally understand that I understand some Malagasy, but definitely not even close to all. My family finally got back around 6 (all of the kids started school while I was gone) and so of course I had to put all of my pictures on the computer to show to them. After dinner I showered and went straight to bed because I was really tired and had a little fever (100.6, not too bad). I slept like a log for about 10 hours straight and woke up feeling much better and with no fever any more.

Unfortunately though, come Saturday afternoon, the fever was back (this time 101) and I wasn’t feeling all that well. I talked to Roland and decided to start taking Cipro. I basically was in bed from about 2 pm on Saturday to 7:30 am on Sunday, both reading and sleeping, but I woke up feeling so much better on Sunday morning after having taken 2 doses of Cipro. My family was worried because I didn’t have dinner with them on Saturday night, but I explained that when I’m sick, I often don’t want to eat that much and would rather just rest (of course, I did have a granola bar in my room because I was a little hungry, but I really wasn’t feeling like going to dinner).

Don’t worry though because I really do feel a lot better now and the fever is gone (hopefully for good) and I have my appetite back! The only bad thing is that I didn’t think to put down my mosquito net until about 8 last night and when I turned on the light this morning, I realized how bad of a mistake that was because I have a few nasty bug bites (for some reason, I am allergic to the mosquitoes here and the bites get way bigger than normal) but it isn’t anything that I can’t deal with (and I have been using anti-itch cream which helps!).

Thankfully Sunday I felt a lot better! My family was worried I hadn’t eaten but I explained that I don’t like to eat a lot when sick and they understood. In the afternoon Hannah and I went on a walk setting out in some random direction, figuring we could always take a taxi back if we got lost. Well, we didn’t, we just don’t know how in the world we ended up at café de la gare, where we had chocolate mousse and cold, fresh squeezed juice and then chatted with another girl from the program who was already there. For dessert last night we had mangos! We all got out own and a knife and it was amazing!