The first month... TRAINING....

Manohoana! (Hello)
Ok, so I have made it through to week three officially. Which really has not been so hard. I have really lucked out with my host family as they are AMAZING and flea-free (which seems to be a luxury with everyone here) and I have not yet gotten sick (which also seems to be a luxury). I am living in a small village right now for training which lasts until August 22nd when I swear-in at the Embassy in Antananarivo a.k.a "Tana" and become an official Peace Corps Volunteer…. Yeah I am still not even considered a volunteer, just a trainee. My family consists of a beautiful little girl 8 yrs old, a funny brother 2yrs old my "mom" 28 years old and dad 35 years old as well as a family relative who lives/works with us age 17. They are basically amazing. They own a store in the lower level of the house and I have been helping out, but minimally as my Malagasy is still pretty choppy.. Obviously. It’s only been three weeks. My mom also takes care of the family pigs, one of which was killed for the Madagascar Independence day party last week… that was seriously crazy waking up and looking outside to see a pig sliced in half… but whatever!!! I have a prime time spot here at my house because it is directly next to the market which happens every Wednesday, and because it is basically like part of the town square, which makes it quite interesting when parties (like the Independence Day one) take place because I get a birds-eye view of everything going on. It is certainly not an uncommon little town for word to get around fast in. people love to talk. What the Americans are doing… which one is sick…. Where the went hiking, who are "Sipa's" or Boyfriend/girlfriend. It is pretty much just like being at Denison all over! J
The language is not that difficult grammar-wise.. for all of you language buff’s : the verb "to be" in Malagasy does not exist! Nor do irregular verbs. Which is sooooo nice, however, that means that adjectives and prepositions have to be put in the past and future tenses which can get tricky. Also many words sound almost exactly the same. Orona (nose) Olona (people) Orola (problem) Orana (rains) they sound basically all the same, especially when people are talking a mile aminute to you. That is the other problem. It is difficult to prounounce the words. The "o" is almost always pronounced as the long sounding "oooo" and people skip words and mix them together. That is the hard part is that it really doesn’t sound anything like any other language I have ever studied so it is difficult relating the words. But little by little, I am getting it
Here is a typical daily schedule in a day of my life:
5:45 wake up.. Go running at the field across from my house
6:30- empty my Po (or indoor bucket for toilet use) and full up my bucket (another bucket, not the Po) with hot water and use the plastic covered logs as shelter for my Ladosy or shower
7:15- eat breakfast… usually consisting of rice or some starch, but now since I have started cooking, eggs or oranges
7:50- clean my room floor with a cut-in-half coconut brush for scrubbing the dirt by using my foot and a broom to sweep it up afterwards
8:00- school starts with either a four hour session of language or a four hour technical session (as in- how the hell we are going to teach here in Madagascar and all of the problems that come with teaching in this country) or a four hour medical/safety and security lesson (as in- how to not get malaria, schisocoliza [don’t even know how to spell that] worms, how to cook food correctly, how to be as safe as possible, how to immediately notify peace corps of an emergency etc)….. Basically that’s everything
12:00- home for lunch- always rice with some sort of "topping" like beans or lentils or soup or meat, and some side dish such as carrots with vinegar, salad with vinegar, tomatoes with vinegar… basically anything with vinegar, which I actually really enjoy… the food is actually really good here… just way too much rice consumption for one person.
12:45ish- either do my laundry hand-washing… it sucks. It makes me appreciate sooooo much having washing/drying machines in the states. You literally soap up every part of your pants/skirt/shirt/underwear and SCRUB it till it’s clean. Its frustrating, but the clothes really do get really clean… then it takes about three days to dry because it is "winter" here now, which means the 50-70 degree weather doesn’t dry it quickly enough for the short period the sun is up.
If I don’t do my laundry, I help out in the store, hang out, study Gasy, and do whatever, till 2:00 when "training" starts up again (which basically feels like I have started elementary school all over again at some points. Which is funny kinda… but then again not so much. ) Afternoon sessions are language, tech, or safety/security…
After class at 5pm I go home or chill outside the school (which is also like three feet from my house) and either help with dinner or help feed the pigs at the other end of town which I really like doing because they are funny and fat and it’s a great time to have time with my host mom talking and plus the walk is beautiful
At 6:30ish/7ish we eat dinner and it always consists of rice and a topping, a side dish, and now, they are making me pasta too…. But not to substitute the rice, they put the pasta on top of the rice.. .no seriously though, a Malagasy meal is not complete without rice, my host mother, who by the way speaks no English, tells me, even if there is pasta, it doesn’t matter.
After dinner at 8ish I usually either play cards or go to my room and get to bed. People go to bed really early here. To bed when dinner is over, awake at the crack of dawn. Literally. But there are roosters to tell you every morning when dawn is if you forget or get lazy and sleep in. they are everywhere, and they run around the town, but everyone seems to know which one belongs to whom. It’s really interesting, the concept of community and private space. Nothing is private here. Everyone just seems to eat the same thing, sleep in the same bed, share EVERYTHING, which is an ideal concept, except for a person like myself who has grown up in a society which praises individualism and who has very much learned personal boundaries from a young age.
Two weeks ago we found out our permanent sites…. The trainers made it really cutsie and taped out a map of Madagascar with clues on our names for us to translate which led us to our sites… I will be at a brand new site in the North West coast of Madagascar near Katsepy. I am really happy about being there, as the west/north is the general area of preference I had. I don’t know much about it, other than it is HOT all the time (which I love) and that I will be starting school (most likely) EARLY in the morning at 6-7 to avoid the heat… which I also don’t mind, seeing as though I am in bed by eight anyways and everyone goes to bed extremely early. It is really funny… I am probably the healthiest I have ever been in a REALLLLY long time! I am eating well, sleeping EXTREMELY WELL (certainly better sleep than any college kid has EVER gotten,) and I am exercising every day… but, I am really looking forward to my own place in August!! The 23rd, I will move in to my new place and will have a few weeks to adjust to town before starting off the school year in the fall. Which will be weird to be all alone... Here at training, it is nice to at least have the other PCV trainees/trainers with me and my kick-ass family… honestly, if there was a competition for the best family, I think I would win. I am definitely going to be back here MANY times to visit. They are too sweet, and sooo patient with my Malagasy and my progress here. My mom keeps telling me that I have so much courage to be here. She is wonderful and I really admire her.
The markets every Wednesdays are really beautiful. Mostly, fruits, veggies and meats are sold, but also candy from Tana, and there are always "Fripery" or second hand-clothes sold. As far as I know, second-hand clothes are about the only clothing that comes into Madagascar… there is a wide range of good-will type clothing which everyone likes to mix and match (as long as its clean and un-holey) which also rarely happens. The dress style here is certainly interesting to say the least. Also, in terms of laundry, most people have laundry people to do it for them. My family does, but I told them I need to learn to do my laundry myself so I can do it at site, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I will probably just hire someone to do my laundry for me. I was upset and taken aback by that a first, but many of our trainers (who are PCV’s currently and come one week at a time, usually in pairs to train us) tell us that in some places, if you as a "Vazaha" or foreigner, do not hire someone, it is looked down upon by the community because you are seen as cheap, because the general opinion is that all Vazaha, no matter gender or color or nationality, is rich. Right. I am volunteering and making basically no money… but that money I do make here goes a long way. The people here are really nice and the kids are so beautiful. It is hard to explain the general appearance of the people because they are all mixed of origin. Many look Native American, or Hispanic or African, while many look Asian as well, and most of them look like mixes of everything, which is beautiful.
Basically, I am so happy here, right now. I feel refreshed. I feel happy. I feel really carefree, and at the same time, constantly full of thoughts. I really do love it here. It does get lonely, but the feeling of loneliness is important for me to have now in my life. I need to experience it, and need to experience being by myself and struggling with my successes and failures and frustrations without anyone around me and without any distractions. I really am so happy to have free-time to read or write or just think or look at the sky. It’s nice to slow-down my college paced mind and just chill.
For all of my friends leaving soon for the Peace Corps (Jonzey, Sia, Treeeeeecia, Duffy) you are going to be CRAZY busy the first months, but just go with the flow. Make good with your family. But just make sure to enjoy yourself. Don’t stress out about the language or about the crazy diseases the doctors will make sure to scare you about. It’s just a part of the job…. And for those of you already serving (EMILYY KRIDLER, Patrick Hamilton) I hope you are enjoying your service as much as me and Emily I will be trying to call you hope you packed enough cold winter clothes!:)
My new phone number is the following:
From the States 001 (261) + 331383301 If you want to call me, just make sure to remember I am 7 hours ahead of Ohio Time or Eastern Time Zone. Don’t call past 9pm my time cuz people will be sleeping!
Basically to sum everything up, I am lucky and blessed to be livin’ the good life here in Madagascar!
Veloma!
-Lauren