So i thought that having this giant mango tree outside of my house would be like the most amazing thing ever... when have i ever lived in a place where i could have fresh mangoes drop from the sky all day long?
Well... let me tell you how wrong I was..... with having a mango tree, it does indeed involve many delicious mangoes which do drop like rain every day. However, just like everything, negative aspects naturally trail the positive. its all about balance...
Most mornings i go running... to stay in shape, to think by myself, to feel productive... when i go running, i get up at 4:30 and sneak out before my neighbors get up... its still dark. by the time
I return circa 6:00ish, there are approximately 10 neighborhood kids lined up at my fence not just waiting in a nice orderly line (just a note, people i am pretty sure, dont know what a "line" is here, not to mention the idea of "lining up") but literally fighting with each other to be the first to be let into my fence. no hello from the kids. nothing. just.... mango frenzy...
The second I open up the fence, it is like the gun just went off at the olympics and kids RUN, STAMPEDE into my fence to gather all of the mangoes, which usually ends up with AT least two kids fighting and the smallest of the bunch, I'll call him "D", falling down face-first in the dirt while the older kids trample him. For this, i try to keep two mangoes in storage to give to him from the day before, otherwise, he SCREAMS his little lungs out.
Now, if i DONT go running, perhaps i am feeling like sleeping in until 5:30 or 6:00 or perhaps just really want some quite time alone in my house reading, cooking, whatever, the kids start screaming through my fence "Miss Lauren Lauren Lauren LAurennnnnnnn, give us mangoes! give us mangoes!! we are hungry!!!!" You would think i would drop what i was doing and run to open the gate for thsoe sweet hungry little children... but I dont. i am trying to teach them patience. i am trying to teach them respect. but failing miserably. i am pretty sure i just have to learn to ignore them, or sleep with ear plugs. you may think i am being a horrible person. but trust me, this not only happens in the mornings, but every hour of every day. i have no privacy anymore. kids, adults alike baning on my door jfor mangoes. and i cant let everyone in. i have my safetly to worry about.
I hvae started allowing kids only into my fence three times a day to get mangoes at scheduled times. other than that, people can forget it. my language of rejecting people has gotten better though. i have really learned how to say no and have really learned how to build my boundary for people to respect and for my limits. because trust me, every single day, my limits are tested by people here. how far they can push me, what they can get from me. my final decision on this matter, because i am REALLY frustrated, is to make it all into a joke. when someone demands i give them my earrings, i tell them, these arent earrings, they are cows. and they laugh, think i am dumb or cant speak the language correctly, and leave me alone. or, i play dumb and act like i dont understand. or say i am in a hurry. many coping mechanisms. they are important!!!!
Other than the mango tree saga *which i am sure will continue the MINUTE i get back to my house, I have just spent an AMAZING past couple of days in Mahajanga with my fellow volunteers who have gathered here to be with each other for the elections among other reasons. We woke up really early Wednesday Morning (tuesday evening US time), found the only TV in this town , gathered around and waited, waited waited. It was really amazing, the outcome i mean, and many of us were teary-eyed listening to the speech of our soon-to-be new boss. It especially touched me when he aknowledged all of "those Americans in forgotten corners of the world, huddled around radioes" because that was literally us! I mean we were huddled around a TV, but most of us rarely ever see tv's and if we are lucky, like myself will have the luxery of a radio at one's site. It touched me.
We celebrated last night alongside our friends birthday with pizza and red wine. which was by far the most expensive meal i have had in a loooooooooooong time (i could buy food for a week with waht i spent for dinner last night) but it was well worth it. it was definately a day for celebration!!!
I will be heading back to my site tomorrow which i am excited and ready for. its funny.... you know you are well adjusted (or at least used-to/getting used-to everything) when you leave for a weekend to do whatever, and you actually miss your house, your commmunity, in my case, my dog... and even my mango tree.
The next time I will be able to write will be Decemberish when i go to the capital for IST... its the first meeting all of my group-mates from my Education Stage, will meet up and discuss our progress/issues/get prepped on ideas for secondary project etc... I CANT WAIT. but, that measn i will not be in touch for appx six weeks. I will get to spend thanksgiving with a couple of friends though, not in a town with internet. my part of the thanksgiving meal, buying and killing the chickens (there ARE turkeys in this country, however FAR to expensive and way to much meat for four peopole to share) and brining two big boxes of instant mashed potatoes my mom sent... YUM! looking forward to an interesting feast!!!
until then.....
-Lauren
