Christmas Eve for me was actually one of my harder days at site. Nothing really happened; it was just a normal day and at first it really upset me and I felt like Christmas just didn't exist here and I so I got a little homesick and mad that no one was celebrating. But then the next day I was invited to lunch by a super sweet family after church and then the rest of the day people showered me in kindness and my Christmas felt redeemed. At dinner then that night with my host family I was talking about Christmas in America and how there were parties and my host dad basically told me there isn't Christmas here because everyone still has to work in the fields and that hit me really hard. I realized how privileged I was to be able to celebrate Christmas the way I do in the States and so I felt guilty for being upset the day before. It was a pretty humbling experience.
What has been the best thing so far?
So so so many wonderfully beautiful souls here who have shown me so much kindness and hospitality. My heart sometimes can't handle how amazing people just randomly are to me when I can barely communicate with them half the time. But the best thing is probably my students. I love them so much it hurts. They bring me so much joy and laughter and so much more. I love teaching but I also love all our interactions outside the classroom too. I love that I have the time here to just play soccer or basketball or go on walks with my students. I love how relational this culture is.
What has been the worst part?
Other than the passing of my uncle Mike, the worst part about being here is probably the location of my house. I live in a room under my host family's house who I love and I don't mind that part but in our little fenced in area is another couple who hosts French and other European volunteers and so many people think I'm one of them and we have very different programs and are just very different. Madagascar was a French colony and so some of the Malagasy perceptions of the French aren't always the best and so I really don't like people thinking I'm one of them but the longer I'm here the more I've been able to distinguish myself from them, but its just been difficult dealing with people's perception of me based on how the other volunteers behave and interact with Malagasy.
What gross things have you eaten?
Ha! Surprisingly really nothing, my diet is pretty bland. I eat rice and some kind of protein such as beans, lentils or fish everyday for lunch. I have bread and coffee for breakfast. Then veggies and eggs usually for dinner.
What is your favorite part of the day and why?
As far as something I can count on every day being good I'd say teaching at the CEG (the equivalent of middle school where I teach 6th and 7th graders), because my students are so great and make teaching fun but usually my favorite part of each day ends up being some unexpected moment where I jump into a little game of soccer or I have a good conversation in the market, or my students do something that makes me laugh in class. Every day is different and brings its own moments of joy.
Do you have good water pressure/hot showers?
Ha! My "shower" is a bucket of water I pull from the well and a cup that I pour onto myself. I'd say the one way I do spoil myself more than any other way though is I tend to heat up the water so at least I'm not taking cold showers.
What is your daily routine like?
I wake up around 5:30 and get ready for the day and then head to the market around 7 where I sit and drink coffee or milk and get breakfast. I start teaching at 8 Monday and Wednesday at a professional development association so sort of like a university. I have two classes there and so I finish teaching at 12. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I don't start until 10 at the CEG.
At my association my class sizes are only around 6-15 students. At my middle school my class sizes are 55, 68, 72, and 70. I enjoy teaching at both places and both places bring their own set of joys and challenges. I like the association because the students are all my age and so they are more like my friends I'm tutoring than students. However, I really think I've found a niche teaching at my middle school. I just love those goobers so much and teaching them is just so much fun.
After teaching then in the morning I come home and eat lunch every day with my host family which is super kind of them to let me do because I would end up eating super late otherwise. 12-2 then the town is pretty much shut down as people either eat or nap. I usually lesson plan during this time. From 2-4 I teach again most days. After I get done teaching I hang out with friends for a little bit or play basketball for a little while before going home and cooking dinner. After eating I basically just go to bed around 8.
And that's basically the main events of my day. Unfortunately that does little to describe the moments throughout the day that make living here some of the best days of my life.
What do you miss most from home? (Other than friends and family)
Quick food/food I don't have to prepare and cook (And good coffee). I'm usually so tired at the end of the day that I don't feel like cooking but that's really my only option here. And burgers. I miss burgers, in particular Hoffar burgers. So December 2020, Hoffars, be prepared, I'm coming over ASAP.
Most remarkable experience thus far?
New Year's here was the big holiday and on New Years Eve was the finale for the soccer tournament that had been going on each day for a week and a lot of the town showed up to watch and it ended up going into PKs and everyone circled around the goal and the shooter and then once the team won a swarm of kids ran over to some nearby bushes and dragged out a goat and then gave this goat to the winning team and everyone was celebrating and it was quite the spectacle and it was so fun to watch, everyone was so hyped. Then on New Years Day no one works and just walks around town and hangs out and so the main road was just full of people and all day I just spent time with random groups of friends and it was kinda like a perfect day for me, I loved just being with people and having the whole day to see everyone in my town.
What is your typical dress each day?
There are other regions that have a little more "exotic" dress but where I live everyone just wears typical American style clothes. To teach I usually where a sundress or skirt but on days I'm not teaching I'm usually just in shorts and a T-shirt. There is "frip" here though which is kind of like thrift store shopping and I have picked up some stuff from that. My latest purchase was a dress with little sheep all over it. Not something I would have ever worn in the states but I like it here and I've gotten several compliments on it from Malagasy ha!
Best/worst thing you have eaten?
There's nothing too exciting about most of the food here, a typical meal is rice with some sort of side dish. But maybe not the "best" thing I've had here, but my favorite meal is called ravitoto with pork. Ravitoto is ground up leaves which sounds strange and at first I didn't like it because it has sort of an earthy taste but now I love it.
The worst thing I've had? Hmm, nothing is really coming to mind. Every now and then I get rotten bananas and that's kind of a bummer but I like pretty much all of the food here. Its mostly just rice and then fresh fruit and vegetables. I can't really complain.
Best cultural faux pas so far?
Ha! Somehow I don't think I personally have had any good blunders but the other week I was with a group of other volunteers doing a tree planting bike ride and we were at a guys site and biked through this little tented area that had people sitting around it. We were all friendly and cheerily greeted them. I thought it was people waiting for a brouse. Some of us thought they were getting ready to watch a movie and so hollered at the people sitting and asked what they were going to watch. Turns out all 12 of us crazy vezahs biked right through a funeral...
How is the experience different than what you expected?
Coming into Madagascar, I had very few expectations, this was such a foreign experience that my brain couldn't really form any expectations. But one thing I guess I didn't really expect was to enjoy learning a new language so much. Every now and then I'll just have a really solid conversation in Malagasy and afterward I'll just feel really BA, or I'll reflect back on it and just think how cool it is that 6 months ago I would have absolutely no clue what was going on. Language is just such a cool thing to me
Since you didn't choose your country or site, how has it been living in Madagascar? If you were to do it again would you try to choose a different location?
When I applied for PC I was kinda hoping for somewhere in mainland Africa so it would make traveling to other countries a little easier, but now being here I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Plus this gives me the opportunity to really get to know Madagascar by traveling around in-country. And as far as my location goes here at site, this is exactly what I had hoped for. My site is a small, rural, middle of no where town. Its kind of like a small town America where everyone knows everyone. It's made it easier to become known and the people here are so friendly. I love my little town!
Are the women treated equally? If not how have you handled that?
That's a tough question to answer. And my answer is going to be significantly different than other volunteers who live in different regions or bigger cities.
But women here are my definition of incredible. They are some of the strongest, busiest, and strong willed people you will ever meet. Women at my site do all of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, they fetch the water etc. and then they go out and work in the rice fields as well. Men also work incredibly hard to provide food for their families. I think because my site is so rural and most people don't have a lot of money and it's right in the heart of rice country, everyone works hard and works together.
Men and women are definitely different though but so far I haven't really seen women treated poorly but their roles and expectations are different I guess.
Why haven't you posted more pictures?
I'm kamo (lazy). Kinda. Its partly that but honestly no the real reason is that I really haven't taken too many pictures yet and I've been hesitant to bring out my phone to take pictures. I've always been a big believer of living in the moment but then once the French volunteers arrived I may have gone overboard and became a little overly stubborn in that belief because there were times when we'd all be out on the soccer field or basketball court and because we're vezahs there'd be swarms of kids around. I'd usually play soccer or just talk with the kids because they always have a million questions for me but the other volunteers would just sit and watch or they'd just play basketball with themselves. But then after a while a volunteer would pull out their phone and the kids would swarm them and cheer and be super cute which I'm sure made for a great picture but I hate fabricated moments like that where those volunteers know nothing about the kids and don't even really spend any time with them but then they'll post all over social media about how great these kids are. And so I decided I don't want to be like that and that I'd rather actually spend time with people then just take pictures to show off. Sorry, rant over. And I know taking none is a little extreme and I'll try to take more/post more. (And honestly if I just let my friends have my phone there's usually a photo shoot to follow, so I just need to carry my phone around with me more)
How are the middle schoolers in Madagascar the same/different than the youth you've worked with in the States?
They're so tiny here! At least it feels that way. But I'd say the biggest difference is the way they spend their time. Since none of the kids have phones for computers they are actually forced to interact with each other. The middle schoolers in the states were constantly on some kind of device and were dependent on that for entertainment. Kids here are just content going for walks, picking fruit, and playing sports. I'm really learning to enjoy the simplicity of life here.
But in some ways the kids are similar too. They're still immature and figuring things out. For instance, the other day when I was helping with the tree planting program at another volunteers site, we were making little seed bombs out of clay and dirt and had to confiscate a couple penis shaped seed bombs. So yeah some things are definitely the same.
Have you gotten up the nerve to play soccer or are you still a spectator?
I haven't played in any legit games yet. The guys here are actually pretty good and it would require me buying cleats so I haven't decided whether I even really do want to come out of retirement. But I do play soccer a lot, usually just with little kids or students. I'll juggle every now and then too with my host brothers and its been a good bonding activity. Surprising I have also started to play a lot of basketball. Not a lot of girls play soccer (which is one thing I'm hoping to change soon), but they play basketball so I've started playing more, and who knows, maybe I'll come out of these two years and not be quite as terrible. There's always hope.
Have you tried to plant a garden yet?
Good question, I'm still conflicted on this because if I grow a garden then that means I'm not buying food from people at the market and I like contributing to the economy and I just like going out to my market because it gives me a chance to talk to all my market friends. However, I do like the idea of having a garden and I think it would be a fun hobby but I'm still thinking of how I could do it and use it as a learning tool or as a way to help my community in some way.
Are there kids there starving like the kids in Kenya?
Poverty all over the world looks different and even in Madagascar it's different. For instance urban poverty and rural poverty look very different here. Just speaking from my personal experience at my site, the people don't have a lot of money, but there are lots of fruits and vegetables and everyone eats rice. However meat is rarely eaten at my site and so the most common form of protein is beans. There is a lack of information about the food groups and it I common here for people to have three square meals of rice. So at least at my site, I haven't seen people starving and while they may not have a lot of money, everyone looks out for their friends and family so there aren't kids begging on the streets or anything.
What's it like there? How are you?
I don't have an adequate answer to that first question. Beautiful. Transformative. Relational. Challenging. Amazing. The list could go on. Hopefully my previous answers have given some insight into what it's like here but you all should come check it out for yourself :)
I'm so incredibly happy here guys. Even my worst days here there is always something that happens that just lifts my heart. Some days I can hardly believe that this is actually my life.
Ready to re-up?
Ha! It's still early but as of right now, as much as I love it here, I don't plan on extending for a third year, but who knows! Ask me again in 20 months.
