1st month done!

Written May 10^th

Finally an update! haha I arrived at my site May 5^th! The PC SUV got stuck on the way in so we had to carry all my crap into my site. The whole community helped and sang songs on the way into our village; it was a great welcoming for me! I’m all settled into my little tree house with my huge bed haha. The people here are very friendly and welcoming of me. So you might have some questions as to what I have and will be doing here. I too have the same questions haha but I just take it one day at a time.

What do I do while I’m at site?

Well, usually I’m woken up at 5am by the roosters and don’t actually get up until 7ish. I like to read while I eat breakfast. I study Malagasy, read up on farming stuff, and anything I think will be of benefit to my village. I try not to stay in the house too much because I like interacting with them as much as possible. Usually around 11 or after lunch I’ll venture out and there is always some game to be played with the million kids here or I’ll talk and hang out with the villagers. I never know what each day will bring. Around 6 its dinner time so I go home to cook and listen to VOA News and they have a show called Boarder Crossings that plays music from around the world every week night. After I eat and wash the dishes I go back out and sit around and talk, or play a game and if it’s Friday then there’s a dance party. They love to dance and sing, so I try to encourage it as much as possible as well. I’m hoping their dance moves will rub off on me haha. At night they like for me to teach them English words for things like animals and clothing. I love sharing my culture with them and they love sharing theirs with me. I don’t think they still get why I’m there, but we still have a good time and I’ll probably be explaining it for a while why I’m there. I am also starting a garden in my yard and will have my very own rice field soon. Between those and the projects I have started I’ll be pretty busy. I have also helped in harvesting rice, but am definitely not as good at it as they are and don’t think I ever will be.

What do I eat?

Carbs, lots and lots of carbs. I’ll have oatmeal and tea for breakfast most days. Once a week I’ll make pancakes and sometimes an omelet or hash browns. I eat a lot of bananas and oranges right now because they are in season and people give them to me. Other than that I eat a ton of pasta and rice. I make stir fry and tuna casseroles, mac ‘n cheese, spaghetti, and rice with beans. I made my own peanut butter the other day as well. I have some carrots and potatoes as well sometimes. I just kind of eat whatever and whenever I feel like it. I eat a lot of pb & j’s here as well with the pineapple jam here that is delicious! So yeah, I pretty much eat fruit, proteins, and carbs. My dinner here is by candle light, so it’s pretty romantic every night haha

My village and accessibility

My village is pretty small, but its off a main road and its pretty easy to leave if I need to. There are taxi’s that pass by everyday and I’m friends with the drivers. I have a BLU so I can get BBC News and VOA which keeps me up to date with what is going on in the world. I would still love to get newspaper clippings preferably with pictures so that I can show my village. They really don’t have a concept of the outside world, so I hope to bring them that. For example many of them think that all American’s or people from other countries are only white and if you’re black that you’re Malagasy. It’s understandable because it’s all they see here really and sad at the same time. I want to be able to show them the world that is out there. I’m not really too close to internet so I’ll possibly be on once a month or so. I do have cell reception close to my site, but not in my house. That means you couldn’t just call me, you would have to let me know a few days beforehand what time so I could climb up the nearest hill to talk to you. haha It’s a beautiful view though!

How do I like it?

I love it! I can’t say enough about the people here. I truly feel lucky to be here. The language barrier can be hard sometimes but I carry around my dictionaries to help me out. I love that each day brings new opportunities for me to learn about them and for me to teach them and help them improve their lives.

Written May 25^th

I’m writing this (not typing of course) on top of this pretty decent sized hill I guess I would call it. If your name is Dede you would call it an aunt mound or something like that haha. Anyhow, the view from up here is amazing and reminds me of the Sierra’s of Yosemite, but grass and tree covered. It’s a gorgeous view and you can see for miles up here. I can see my tiny village from here as well. If you come visit Ill take you up here on day. Not too much has been going on really, I harvested rice with 15 other ladies the other week for about 6 hours. Most people here are harvesting rice right now, so they’re busy. I hang out with our villages Pastor and his family a lot. They are really sweet and know some English so they are pretty easy to talk to. They really want to learn English so that he can visit the States one day. A lot of people here want to learn English, so I posted some simple words/phrases/numbers on the main store in town. They already know ‘very good’ and say it all the time. They are pretty smart. The other week we watched a movie! Haha Yes, someone in my village has a TV and DVD player and a generator. It’s crazy, but awesome at the same time. We watched some Malagasy karate film and I didn’t really understand it but who cares. I never thought I’d be watching a movie here. So…If you would like to send me DVD’s then that would be awesome! Anything would probably do but it would be great to have some educational ones, cartoons, something for kids, or anything about Madagascar. They really have no concept of what makes this island so special and why so many tourists visit here. I really want to share that with them while I’m here and would love to start an environment club and take them to Ranomafana National Park. I’m trying to look into how exactly I would finance it and the logistics. If you can come up ideas then let me know! Haha

It’s been interesting living by myself for the first time. I really enjoy it though. I guess I can’t ever say I’m really along though. As I’m writing this 5 kids on their way home from school saw me and are watching me in amazement as I write this haha. I’m pretty much the only entertainment there is here when there is no videos or dancing going on. (This happened when I climbed down from the hill) Everyone here is inquisitive about pretty much everything that I have or do. Sometimes it can get to you, but I just remember that they are because they really have no idea what a cell phone even looks like or and Ipod. Thing like that are a big deal when the only toy you’ve ever had was a soccer ball made out of plastic bags and twine. I’ve seen a little girl here with a piece of twine wrapped around a large insect and dragging it around like it was the coolest toy ever. It’s crazy if I really think to compare the kids here to ones in America, I can’t really do it. Life here for them is so different and I think there is a lot that we can learn from it as well. I’m glad I get this experience for myself and I hope you enjoy reading about it!

Written June 3^rd

Winter in Madagascar?

Yes, believe it or not there is a winter season here and it’s right now. It can get chilly at night and the mornings. Lucky for me I brought some hoodies and jeans. Most of the villagers however aren’t as lucky and don’t have enough clothing most of the time to keep warm. It’s a fact of life here and I don’t think the churches and other organizations that donate clothes here know about. You would rightfully assumes its warm all the time here and in some places here that is true and others it’s not. Hopefully I can use this to educate and help the people here.

It is nice to have seasons though and the weather here reminds me a lot of South Carolina. Some days I’ll be really hot and the next it’s cold and rainy. You just never really know. There is the rainy season though and where I live we get a lot of rain. The rainy season will be fun though, I just know it. haha The joys of living in what used to be a rainforest! I can’t really complain though, the people are great and while noisy at times we get a long great. I talked with the school director and he gave me the go ahead for teaching about the environment. I’m really excited and it should be awesome! This won’t happen until September, but I’ll have it to look forward to! Soon I’ll be busy with various projects but for now I play a lot, read a lot, and think a lot. I’ve been studying and researching more than I did in college. haha I really want to help them to improve their lives and I think the basis of this comes down to educating them. In order to educate them I first must educate myself. That’s not always so fun, but I find all of this stuff very interesting so that helps. Who knows maybe I’ll become a teacher when I’m done here. haha

It can be hard at times living in this foreign land and ‘working’ 24/7. There are no set hours for working in environment and some volunteers work along side NGO’s like WWF or National Parks and probably have a more structured work schedule. I’m slowly finding my own balance and what works for me here. That’s what our first 3 months are for, to kind of hand low and find out how and where you fit into your villages dynamic. Right now I hang out a lot and play with the kids. There are so many kids, its crazy I tell ya. Kids here get married as young as 14 sometimes. There is a 22 year old woman with 4 kids already. Breast feeding is a common occurrence in public. haha I told them it’s not common back at home and they laugh. Even when we were harvesting the rice a few of them were breast feeding while doing so. The women here really are amazing and do a lot. Men can be lazier here, but are really good at building stuff. It can be hard sometimes because I don’t think they are used to a white person living here. Most are and help out but others continually stare, so I stare back. haha They don’t mean any harm and I know that and I try to not let it get to me so much. My patience gets tested sometimes here, but I know they just aren’t used to me yet. The little babies still cry when they see me. haha They said its because the doctors who gave them shots and stuff were white so they associate that to me. When the babies aren’t scared of me then I’ll know I fit in. haha Not all of them are scared, the one little girl loves to play with me and others have let me hold them. Right now I still have my ’15 minutes of fame’ and it’ll wear off as the months pass. I’ve always wanted to be famous though, so I kinda like the attention. haha They love to look at my pictures and it’s great to hear them try to pronounce ‘Gump’ and other names. The picture I have here that gets the most attention is the one of Kelli and I where she is biting my hat. They love it! They already know she’s crazy! haha Of course I miss my family and everyone else but this is my life now and I knew that coming into it. I do get cell service near my site so I’m really only a phone call away! That’s how I think of it. I still love getting letters though because I can read them over and over. I love writing too and have done a lot of it since arriving here. It’s crazy to think that a year ago Dede and I were on our road trap! Time flies by fast and I’ve already been here for 3 months and have finished my first month at site! It’s really gone by faster than I thought! Know that I think about you guys all the time and show you off in my pictures! Thanks for thinking of me and sending me letters/packages/emails! You guys are awesome and I couldn’t be here without your love and support!