I thought this week I might try to interest you in some questions I get about America. In general, what Malagasy people know about America, they learned from a movie, so you can imagine why they would have a lot of questions. I have a friend whose house I hang around a lot, and there are always other people there visiting her and hanging out. It's seems to be the neighborhood chill spot. This is where I often encounter conversations of the “How is America different from Madagascar?” nature. I tell people that I can't answer that question- that they can ask specific questions, because otherwise I'd have no idea where to begin. Invariably they want to know about the climate, the environment, and the food. These questions are hard to answer too, and the “How is American different from Madagascar?” conversation always begins with me explaining how big America is and the fact that there's basically everything you can think of in America (mountains, beaches, rivers, lakes, deserts, paradise, frozen tundra, etc) and that it's always hot somewhere and always cold somewhere. Basically the main idea is that you can't make general statements about America besides that you can't make general statements about America.
My friend was asking me about the weather in Dayton. I came into the house drenched in sweat and fanning myself (my normal state of being) and threw myself onto the couch muttering about the heat. He asked me if it was hot like this in Dayton right now, and I told him that not only is it not hot like this in Dayton right now, but that there was a foot of snow on the ground. He was flabbergasted, and exclaimed with concern “But what about the vegetables?! Do they die?!” Thus I explained that they've been dead for months and that we import or food from all over creation to where nothing is ever “out of season.” What a crazy concept, if you really think about it.
One of my classes has a tendency to get me off topic by always asking me “America” questions whenever there's inspiration on the board. I don't mind this; I'm sure they learn more from these 'off-subject distractions' than from the actual lesson. This was a tactic I often employed in French class- anytime you can get the conversation moving away from grammar and towards culture, it's a bonus. Anyways, I had the sentences “Do you have some milk?” “No, I don't have any milk.” on the board, so they wanted to know if I like milk. This line of questioning went from me explaining that I like milk in America, but that I don't drink milk here, all the way to the fact that I've never milked a cow (which they found hilarious) and that there aren't cows walking through the streets of Dayton. I explained to them the different grades of milk and how you can buy it from the store cold and already pasteurized, and that I don't drink milk here because the idea of drinking warm whole milk is altogether nauseating to me. They think I'm so weird!
I was relaxing in the teachers lounge between classes (yes, we have a teachers lounge! if only it had a vending machine!) and the geography teacher had an intensely interesting line of questioning for me. I usually get interesting questions in the teachers lounge. He wanted to know about the geography of the United States, which I explained has everything he could think of. He asked me to explain the “culture of consumption” in the US (yeah, this conversation was in French, I definitely don't have the vocabulary to handle that in Malagasy), so I explained that Americans throw away broken things and buy a replacement instead of getting it fixed. He was fascinated by this. Here nothing goes to waste- I even saw a guy taking apart the metal bars of broken umbrellas to make jewelry- amazing. He also wanted to know about Native Americans. I get questions about Native Americans more than I would have ever thought, and they always inspire a complicated conversation. He asked about their culture and history- something which is altogether impossible to summarize in any language. I try though. I wish “the trail of tears” was in my French dictionary.
There's this other guy who comes by once a week for English lessons. He always asks the strangest questions and never believes my answers, which is really frustrating. He asked me if I went to Ohio University, which I found odd; what does this guy know about Athens? It turns out that he was under the impression that there are 50 universities in America, one for each state (Alabama University – Wyoming University). I explained that there are state universities but also lots and lots of other universities, and he absolutely refused to believe me. Then he wanted to know how many football players there are in America- and was frustrated that I didn't know. I'm like NFL players? I have no clue whatsoever.
Invariably, people want to know how much money Americans make. This is a tough question. Some people live on $8000/year, some people make a million dollars in one day! The salaries are as diverse as the geography! So they want to know how much a teacher makes, which is still impossible to answer because it depends on the state, the district, years of experience, etc etc etc. When I throw a ballpark salary at them (and I don't even know!) they are astounded by how much money that is. And then rolls in the explanation of how while $8000 is a hell of a lot of ariary, it ain't gonna afford you any kind of lifestyle in America. Explaining America is a tough job, and all of my answers are completely different than the answers another American would give. That's what America is all about, I guess.
It's incredibly hot, by the way. The sun rays shoot down from the sky and stab my flesh as I make my way to and from school twice a day. It's like I'm living a sunny sauna.
Time for mail shout outs! Major package shout outs to Francis, Peggy and Matt! Thanks a million. Letter shout outs to my stage mates Derek, Fraser, Beth, Lorna! Thanks! I will reply to every letter I get!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Apple Excitement
Now that I have retrieved my computer from Diego, you will be sure to find more frequent, longer, and more elegantly worded blogs because I can type them on my computer for free and then upload them at the cyber cafe. Now I won't have to pay 100ariary a minute to feverishly type a hasty blog on the French keyboards. Look out world!
This week has been interesting... I have been administering my oral quizzes in all of my classes. The quiz has four questions: 1) What is your name? 2) What do you like to do? 3) What do you hate to do? 4) I write a number (perhaps 5611) and they have to read it out loud. I told them all of the questions in advance, did demonstration quizzes with some brave students, wrote model correct answers on the board and all that jazz. They should all be able to get #1 (right? please?) and #4 is a matter of really knowing the numbers because you don't know what you're going to get, so it's the only one that genuinely assesses their English skills. #2 & #3 you can simply memorize two sentences, and you're golden; and I said (possibly a hundred times) that 2 & 3 must have a gerund (we've been working on gerunds for 2 weeks). Still I got a lot of “I hate is banana” or “I like is music” (sigh). But thankfully some of them pulled out some gems like: “I hate washing all of my family's dishes everyday.” “I like studying English as a pupil in Miss Dorothy's class.” “I hate smoking cigarettes because they are unhealthy.” “I hate talking in class, but many people like it.” I wished I had created some sort of bonus point system! Of course most students said something along the lines of “I like playing basketball” and “I hate swimming.” Still correct, just not as flashy as the previous examples. I really do have a lot of smart students. I have been grading them too easily for their level, but some of them step up and beyond every time. Some are bored and tired of reviewing things they've known for four years now. But I'm trying to appeal to everyone. Next week, however, is for the advanced students. I'm doing a lesson called “talking like a young American” and I'm going to teach them vocabulary like “dude” “hey guys” “what's going on?” “whatever” “gonna” “y'all” “I don’t care”... most of the students will have no idea what's going on, but this will be a lesson for the kids who have been bored with the American teacher so far.
English club has been fun, as anticipated. They're really all just in it for the music. I do a different song every week, and then some sort of game or activity which confounds them (no matter how smart they are or how much English they know, you can't teach creativity in an hour). I've been thinking about doing a really challenging song, challenging for them and me. For example, how about Kayne West “Jesus Walks”... there's a lot of cultural stuff there that has to be explained and a lot of slang and colloquial vocabulary (and lines like “I need Jesus the way that Kathy Lee needed Regis”), but I think it might be possible. Another challenge would be Erikah Badu “Bag Lady”... I'll try these and update you- I'm also open for other suggestions. (A related aside- When I first began my search for a difficult but possible song, I was listening to my music with this in mind. I decided that the most ridiculously difficult -and completely inappropriate- musician would be Eminem. Ha. The next time you listen to Eminem -for most of you that's probably never- try and think about how you would try to explain any of it to English as foreign language learners in the 3rd world – wow.)
Ok, enough teachery stuff, no one cares about that crap anyway, right. I know what you want to hear about...
So I've got this skin fungus... I had it last time too; it's no crisis situation. It just leaves little white dots on your skin (think negative freckles) that stay even after the fungus is dead. The thing of it is, the white dots are NOT lighter than my natural skin color, so I can only see them where I'm “tan” i.e. my arms and shoulders. So I anti fungal creme the bastards, no problem, and then I have these negative freckles to complement my standard freckles and only when I'm tan which is never in America... but I could have it all over my back and would never know until I tanned my back, which is not likely. It's kinda funny, but also kinda gross. Most of the people here have it, and much worse than me. I think it comes from the water (perhaps it's actually better to not shower daily?).
Also, speaking of showers. I've got these little leeches that occasionally invade the floor of my shower. It's unpleasant. I wear flip flops in the shower regardless (it's not like what you picture when you imagine 'shower'). Sweeping them down the drain doesn't work; they just slither back up. I pour bleach on them (sur'eau suckas!) and that kills them... but new ones take their place after a week or so of imagined victory. I am open to suggestions on dealing with this problem.
To end on a more pleasant note: It's apple season! I'm going to feast on apples everyday until they're gone! The apples grow in the highlands, and I wasn't expecting them to make it up here to the North. I was pleasantly surprised to see them, and even found myself an “apple lady.” I'll be “keeping the doctor away” for a few weeks. Apples!
This week has been interesting... I have been administering my oral quizzes in all of my classes. The quiz has four questions: 1) What is your name? 2) What do you like to do? 3) What do you hate to do? 4) I write a number (perhaps 5611) and they have to read it out loud. I told them all of the questions in advance, did demonstration quizzes with some brave students, wrote model correct answers on the board and all that jazz. They should all be able to get #1 (right? please?) and #4 is a matter of really knowing the numbers because you don't know what you're going to get, so it's the only one that genuinely assesses their English skills. #2 & #3 you can simply memorize two sentences, and you're golden; and I said (possibly a hundred times) that 2 & 3 must have a gerund (we've been working on gerunds for 2 weeks). Still I got a lot of “I hate is banana” or “I like is music” (sigh). But thankfully some of them pulled out some gems like: “I hate washing all of my family's dishes everyday.” “I like studying English as a pupil in Miss Dorothy's class.” “I hate smoking cigarettes because they are unhealthy.” “I hate talking in class, but many people like it.” I wished I had created some sort of bonus point system! Of course most students said something along the lines of “I like playing basketball” and “I hate swimming.” Still correct, just not as flashy as the previous examples. I really do have a lot of smart students. I have been grading them too easily for their level, but some of them step up and beyond every time. Some are bored and tired of reviewing things they've known for four years now. But I'm trying to appeal to everyone. Next week, however, is for the advanced students. I'm doing a lesson called “talking like a young American” and I'm going to teach them vocabulary like “dude” “hey guys” “what's going on?” “whatever” “gonna” “y'all” “I don’t care”... most of the students will have no idea what's going on, but this will be a lesson for the kids who have been bored with the American teacher so far.
English club has been fun, as anticipated. They're really all just in it for the music. I do a different song every week, and then some sort of game or activity which confounds them (no matter how smart they are or how much English they know, you can't teach creativity in an hour). I've been thinking about doing a really challenging song, challenging for them and me. For example, how about Kayne West “Jesus Walks”... there's a lot of cultural stuff there that has to be explained and a lot of slang and colloquial vocabulary (and lines like “I need Jesus the way that Kathy Lee needed Regis”), but I think it might be possible. Another challenge would be Erikah Badu “Bag Lady”... I'll try these and update you- I'm also open for other suggestions. (A related aside- When I first began my search for a difficult but possible song, I was listening to my music with this in mind. I decided that the most ridiculously difficult -and completely inappropriate- musician would be Eminem. Ha. The next time you listen to Eminem -for most of you that's probably never- try and think about how you would try to explain any of it to English as foreign language learners in the 3rd world – wow.)
Ok, enough teachery stuff, no one cares about that crap anyway, right. I know what you want to hear about...
So I've got this skin fungus... I had it last time too; it's no crisis situation. It just leaves little white dots on your skin (think negative freckles) that stay even after the fungus is dead. The thing of it is, the white dots are NOT lighter than my natural skin color, so I can only see them where I'm “tan” i.e. my arms and shoulders. So I anti fungal creme the bastards, no problem, and then I have these negative freckles to complement my standard freckles and only when I'm tan which is never in America... but I could have it all over my back and would never know until I tanned my back, which is not likely. It's kinda funny, but also kinda gross. Most of the people here have it, and much worse than me. I think it comes from the water (perhaps it's actually better to not shower daily?).
Also, speaking of showers. I've got these little leeches that occasionally invade the floor of my shower. It's unpleasant. I wear flip flops in the shower regardless (it's not like what you picture when you imagine 'shower'). Sweeping them down the drain doesn't work; they just slither back up. I pour bleach on them (sur'eau suckas!) and that kills them... but new ones take their place after a week or so of imagined victory. I am open to suggestions on dealing with this problem.
To end on a more pleasant note: It's apple season! I'm going to feast on apples everyday until they're gone! The apples grow in the highlands, and I wasn't expecting them to make it up here to the North. I was pleasantly surprised to see them, and even found myself an “apple lady.” I'll be “keeping the doctor away” for a few weeks. Apples!
Birthday Excitement
13 February 2010
I’m writing to you now from the wonderful city of Diego. We made Gatorade, and mine is chilling in the freezer (yes!). I arrived to Diego Thursday night and proceeded to make delicious processed soup and watch trashy tv on dvd at the Peace Corps house. Yesterday was a lot of shopping and eating. Life is good.
Speaking of life being good… My 25th birthday was AmAzInG. My Malagasy friends had a party for me. They are so good to me and help me with everything and are always there if I need anything. They made me pizza and mashed potatoes for dinner. I was hesitant about the pizza when they said they were going to make it. Usually when Malagasy people make “vazaha” food it always ends up being a weird version that only makes you crave the real thing more. (But they make Malagasy food great, so you’d just rather have that!) The pizza actually was amazing. They are always friends with the volunteers and somewhere along the way someone taught them how to make a darn good pizza. The mashed potatoes were my influence though, haha.
The next day, the day of my birthday (insert fanfare here), a few fellow vazaha and I made the short trip to Ankify, the beach 20k away from Ambanja. It is from Ankify that you can travel to Nosy Be, one of the top tourist destinations in Madagascar (look up Nosy Be on google images if you want to know why). I think that Ankify is more than sufficient, though… I mean, how much more beautiful can Nosy Be be? Ankify’s beach is a white sand, palm tree wonderland. I know I’ve written about it before, but its tropical paradisiness (spell check says that’s not a word- add to dictionary- it is now) can’t be overstated. We saw a fisherman dock his canoe on the beach in front of the hotel/restaurant and sell them a huge grouper fish. They asked us if was wanted fish for lunch, and we said yes, and we ate it. That’s as fresh as it gets. We spent hours in the water and lounging on the beach, feasting from a 42oz bag of m&ms (thanks Amy’s mom!!) and listening to Bob Marley (it’s his birthday too). This was the first year I spent any time on my birthday outside doing anything besides shivering in the chill of the wind or making my way through snow and ice. For everyone who was at consolidation last year for my birthday, while that was… fun… this was a much more ideal “Madagascar” birthday. I couldn’t have lucked out more on the weather, and we even got to watch the sunset over the Mozambique Channel as a rainbow arched across the sky in the distance.
Things are going well at site. This week is “School Days” (a celebration for all the schools and students that usually involves yard work, soccer games, dance performances, parties, and apparently parades.) I was told to be at the elementary school on Wednesday morning, but with no more specific instructions as to where exactly to go and why my attendance was requested. Sure I could have inquired more deeply, but you learn to go with the flow here; everything always works out, and sometimes knowing what’s going on before hand makes it worse. I got to the Elementary school and saw that all of the students from all of the schools in Ambanja were there (there are about 20 schools). I had no idea where to go and knew that my wandering around would be very conspicuous (being the only vazaha around). Luckily I spotted one of my students and found our group with him. There were lots of banners around with different school and club names, and I was beginning to have the sneaking suspicion that I was about to be in a parade. When I got to my school’s group, the students clapped with excitement that I was to lead there section of the parade (news to me). We (all of the students and most of the teachers from every school in the city) paraded around town, drumming and chanting. After the parade there were some musical performances (my school has a choir and they are excellent, the best, actually, if I may say so). It was a strange morning, and I was not expecting any of it (to demonstrate an oft used Peace Corp Volunteer phrase: “I never have any idea what’s going on!”).
I’m loving Ambanja, but excited to head back to the highlands for “In Service Training” in March and be “cold” for a week. (Grammar check is insisting that “I’m loving” be changed from present progressive tense to present tense. How interesting. A particularly intelligent and motivated student asked about this rule -how you can’t use “to like” “to dream” “to hope” etc in the present progressive because they aren’t temporary emotions. Oops, I just lost most of my readers. I however, think that’s rubbish… I’m loving Ambanja, right now! That’s doesn’t mean I will be loving it next week with the emotional roller coaster of Peace Corps life). (Come of to think of it - wow, I’m really going off on a tangent - the McDonalds catch phrase “I’m loving it” is present progressive, and if McDonalds uses it, it’s can’t be wrong, take that, grammar check!) The people in Ambanja have been very nice and welcoming. I have some good friends that I can socialize with. My best friend there is a 23 year old woman who is single and doesn’t have kids- that doesn’t happen often here. It’s so nice to spend time with someone my age and gender. There are some really nice teachers who are interested in practicing English with me. I have a lot of great students who are advanced enough to have a decent conversation and love asking me hilarious questions (i.e. “what is ‘country’?” -I translated it to French- “hmmm… what does it mean ‘she’s gone country’?” ha hahaha). I could write pages and pages just on questions from this one girl… and probably will at some point.
Next week I’m giving an oral exam… the resulting blog should be interesting!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Quarter Century! I’m loving it!
I’m writing to you now from the wonderful city of Diego. We made Gatorade, and mine is chilling in the freezer (yes!). I arrived to Diego Thursday night and proceeded to make delicious processed soup and watch trashy tv on dvd at the Peace Corps house. Yesterday was a lot of shopping and eating. Life is good.
Speaking of life being good… My 25th birthday was AmAzInG. My Malagasy friends had a party for me. They are so good to me and help me with everything and are always there if I need anything. They made me pizza and mashed potatoes for dinner. I was hesitant about the pizza when they said they were going to make it. Usually when Malagasy people make “vazaha” food it always ends up being a weird version that only makes you crave the real thing more. (But they make Malagasy food great, so you’d just rather have that!) The pizza actually was amazing. They are always friends with the volunteers and somewhere along the way someone taught them how to make a darn good pizza. The mashed potatoes were my influence though, haha.
The next day, the day of my birthday (insert fanfare here), a few fellow vazaha and I made the short trip to Ankify, the beach 20k away from Ambanja. It is from Ankify that you can travel to Nosy Be, one of the top tourist destinations in Madagascar (look up Nosy Be on google images if you want to know why). I think that Ankify is more than sufficient, though… I mean, how much more beautiful can Nosy Be be? Ankify’s beach is a white sand, palm tree wonderland. I know I’ve written about it before, but its tropical paradisiness (spell check says that’s not a word- add to dictionary- it is now) can’t be overstated. We saw a fisherman dock his canoe on the beach in front of the hotel/restaurant and sell them a huge grouper fish. They asked us if was wanted fish for lunch, and we said yes, and we ate it. That’s as fresh as it gets. We spent hours in the water and lounging on the beach, feasting from a 42oz bag of m&ms (thanks Amy’s mom!!) and listening to Bob Marley (it’s his birthday too). This was the first year I spent any time on my birthday outside doing anything besides shivering in the chill of the wind or making my way through snow and ice. For everyone who was at consolidation last year for my birthday, while that was… fun… this was a much more ideal “Madagascar” birthday. I couldn’t have lucked out more on the weather, and we even got to watch the sunset over the Mozambique Channel as a rainbow arched across the sky in the distance.
Things are going well at site. This week is “School Days” (a celebration for all the schools and students that usually involves yard work, soccer games, dance performances, parties, and apparently parades.) I was told to be at the elementary school on Wednesday morning, but with no more specific instructions as to where exactly to go and why my attendance was requested. Sure I could have inquired more deeply, but you learn to go with the flow here; everything always works out, and sometimes knowing what’s going on before hand makes it worse. I got to the Elementary school and saw that all of the students from all of the schools in Ambanja were there (there are about 20 schools). I had no idea where to go and knew that my wandering around would be very conspicuous (being the only vazaha around). Luckily I spotted one of my students and found our group with him. There were lots of banners around with different school and club names, and I was beginning to have the sneaking suspicion that I was about to be in a parade. When I got to my school’s group, the students clapped with excitement that I was to lead there section of the parade (news to me). We (all of the students and most of the teachers from every school in the city) paraded around town, drumming and chanting. After the parade there were some musical performances (my school has a choir and they are excellent, the best, actually, if I may say so). It was a strange morning, and I was not expecting any of it (to demonstrate an oft used Peace Corp Volunteer phrase: “I never have any idea what’s going on!”).
I’m loving Ambanja, but excited to head back to the highlands for “In Service Training” in March and be “cold” for a week. (Grammar check is insisting that “I’m loving” be changed from present progressive tense to present tense. How interesting. A particularly intelligent and motivated student asked about this rule -how you can’t use “to like” “to dream” “to hope” etc in the present progressive because they aren’t temporary emotions. Oops, I just lost most of my readers. I however, think that’s rubbish… I’m loving Ambanja, right now! That’s doesn’t mean I will be loving it next week with the emotional roller coaster of Peace Corps life). (Come of to think of it - wow, I’m really going off on a tangent - the McDonalds catch phrase “I’m loving it” is present progressive, and if McDonalds uses it, it’s can’t be wrong, take that, grammar check!) The people in Ambanja have been very nice and welcoming. I have some good friends that I can socialize with. My best friend there is a 23 year old woman who is single and doesn’t have kids- that doesn’t happen often here. It’s so nice to spend time with someone my age and gender. There are some really nice teachers who are interested in practicing English with me. I have a lot of great students who are advanced enough to have a decent conversation and love asking me hilarious questions (i.e. “what is ‘country’?” -I translated it to French- “hmmm… what does it mean ‘she’s gone country’?” ha hahaha). I could write pages and pages just on questions from this one girl… and probably will at some point.
Next week I’m giving an oral exam… the resulting blog should be interesting!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Quarter Century! I’m loving it!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
a random picture.
I had big plans to put up lots of pictures today and write something insightful and interesting, but the internet is maddening today. There's one picture... it took 20 minutes to load. I give up, it's barely even typing....
happy lost watching tonight!
Friday, January 29, 2010
yeah, it's still hot...
This is me and Brittany about to eat a small child.
hey party people... what's going on?
i'm here at the fine internet cafe with the "new girl"... She's from the group that transfered from Niger after four weeks of training. She will be living about an hour South of me (and is therefore my new best friend). She's great- I'm usually blessed with good neighbors, because, well, most PCVs have a lot in common anyway (read: we're all a little crazy).
This week was a little slow, again. School was canceled for a few days for different completely ridiculous reasons (in my opinion) so I ended up doing a lot of reading and was very exciting to have another American dropped off at my door last night! Had another 6am class today... only 6 students were on time... sigh.
My ceiling rat friend has been MIA lately, but not missed.
I had curry coco agnou (fish) for dinner at the "fancy" restaurant last night. They were playing Bob Marley. The new girl (henceforth known as Katie) was impressed. It's really fun showing a new person around after being the new person for so long.
That's all for now. Birthday week is going to be great, I know it.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
There's Nothing Exciting In This Blog...... so
ok... so... nothing exciting... life has been pretty slow...
My health is not in despair, the weather is hot, classes are going... there has been no event of interest to report.
so I will complain...
What is it with these kids and being on time?!?! I had a 6am class this morning (I know that sounds dreadfully early in America, but here that's a normal time to be up and going, since it's still cool and everyone goes to bed around 9 anyway!) I got to class at 6am on the dot, and there were only 5 (of 76) students there. By 6:15 their numbers grew to about 20. The thing about them being late is that they have this absurd (i think) routine. When students are late from class, they are supposed to knock on the door, wait for the teacher to tell them to come in, and then they walk to the teacher and greet them. How disruptive! I'd rather they quietly sneak in and sit down and try not be noticed! It's their culture to do this, and to them it is polite, I understand that. But to me it's a huge disruption, especially when 90% of the class is late. It's almost a constant parade of tardy students. I shut the door at 6:30 (a half an hour in to a two hour class, I think that's more than generous) and didn't allow anyone who arrived after then to enter. This was a fuitile attempt to stop distruptions, because telling them they can't come in is more of a disruption, but they've got to learn they can't come to my class late. Another aspect of this daily trouble is that the teachers are late. The students are late because the teachers are late and the teachers are late because the students are late. Part of me is like, well, if no one shows up on time, why don't I just show up a half an hour late that way I don't have to deal with it. None of the other teachers show up before 6:15. Are the students late because the teachers are always late or are the teachers late because the students are always late? (what came first, the chicken or the egg?). ok, end rant.
Things are generally good. I get a new banking partner next week (thank goodness!). The other two girls from the North who reinstated (Brittany and Corie) are coming down for my birthday in a couple of weeks. Things have been slow this month, but I have a lot that I'm looking forward to.
My health is not in despair, the weather is hot, classes are going... there has been no event of interest to report.
so I will complain...
What is it with these kids and being on time?!?! I had a 6am class this morning (I know that sounds dreadfully early in America, but here that's a normal time to be up and going, since it's still cool and everyone goes to bed around 9 anyway!) I got to class at 6am on the dot, and there were only 5 (of 76) students there. By 6:15 their numbers grew to about 20. The thing about them being late is that they have this absurd (i think) routine. When students are late from class, they are supposed to knock on the door, wait for the teacher to tell them to come in, and then they walk to the teacher and greet them. How disruptive! I'd rather they quietly sneak in and sit down and try not be noticed! It's their culture to do this, and to them it is polite, I understand that. But to me it's a huge disruption, especially when 90% of the class is late. It's almost a constant parade of tardy students. I shut the door at 6:30 (a half an hour in to a two hour class, I think that's more than generous) and didn't allow anyone who arrived after then to enter. This was a fuitile attempt to stop distruptions, because telling them they can't come in is more of a disruption, but they've got to learn they can't come to my class late. Another aspect of this daily trouble is that the teachers are late. The students are late because the teachers are late and the teachers are late because the students are late. Part of me is like, well, if no one shows up on time, why don't I just show up a half an hour late that way I don't have to deal with it. None of the other teachers show up before 6:15. Are the students late because the teachers are always late or are the teachers late because the students are always late? (what came first, the chicken or the egg?). ok, end rant.
Things are generally good. I get a new banking partner next week (thank goodness!). The other two girls from the North who reinstated (Brittany and Corie) are coming down for my birthday in a couple of weeks. Things have been slow this month, but I have a lot that I'm looking forward to.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
2010 - the year of awesome
Happy 2010!
My holiday adventures were fairly low key after the trip to Ankarana National Park. Ankarana was amazing- we saw lemurs, all manners of reptiles and birds, tsingy rocks, all of the things that you are tempted with when you open a Madagascar tour book but never see in “regular life” here. The lemurs were obviously used to interacting with humans (aka humans feeding them) so they came right over to us expectantly, posing for photos in exchange for an expected treat… but good Peace Corps Volunteers don’t feed the wildlife! One of these days I’ll get some pictures uploaded. Ankarana = awesome.
After that, we headed up to Diego and stayed the Peace Corps house. It was a very relaxed holiday. We played a lot of scrabble and monopoly and watched a lot of dvds whilst lounging on couches and drinking cold water from the refrigerator… The simple pleasures… We spent a couple of days at the pool with the swim-up bar, which is always a confusing pleasure (confusing because it’s so nice and luxurious- you’re like, is this Peace Corps? Is this Madagascar? But you go with it and order another cocktail.) We enjoyed the culinary offering of Diego (shrimp, and shrimp, with shrimp please), but didn’t do too much in the ways of adventuring. No one really had much money because of the way our pay dates fell. Oh well.
On Christmas day we took a walk to the rocky coast (there isn’t really a beach in Diego, you have to take a boat across the bay to get to sand) and enjoyed the fine breeze and huge chameleon sightings and played an epic game of monopoly and enjoyed pineapple dipped in melted chocolate. The next day we went to the market to get food to prepare a meal and found a big grouper fish (it was big and awesome). Chris-heijn filleted it and we had beer battered fish tacos with black beans and rice- amazing.
The next leg of my holiday adventure took me to Brittany’s site, Anketrakabe. She’s an environment volunteers, and it’s a long running “joke” that environment volunteers are “real” peace corps volunteers, whereas education volunteers are “posh” corps volunteers. When comparing our sites, it’s easy to see where this idea came from. She lives in a small village that doesn’t have electricity where she has to carry water from a pump to her bamboo hut, all the things that I pictured doing when I daydreamed about life in Peace Corps from the window in the back drive-thru at McDonalds. Don’t get me wrong, I love that I have running water, electricity, a toilet, etc, but it’s definitely not what I was expecting when I “signed up.” I spent New Years at Brittany’s site, spending most of the days playing with the little kids in the village and teaching them funny things in English (there are videos). We actually managed to stay up until midnight on New Years Eve, and spend New Years Day at a family’s party where they set up a TV outside playing Malagasy music videos powered from a generator. They cooked an insane amount of food and we ate and danced. There was a makeshift “discothèque” with a live band that they set up in the market. It was hot, crowded, and full of drunken men and staring children, in other words, my personal hell. I think we stayed there exactly 4 minutes before escaping to Brittany’s house (which is about 20 yards from the “discotheque”). It was so loud, and the band played from 3pm-6pm and 8pm-5am… that band had some stamina. All and all it was a very strange but very fun welcome to 2010.
I voyaged back to site on Sunday in the front seat of a brousse that had a dvd player in the sun visor that played American music videos and a Leonardo Dicapro movie- yes!
As soon as I got back to site, however, my health dive bombed into a perilous state. I was so sick Sunday-Tuesday- I leave the house, much less teach. I read and gripped my stomach in pain and shivered with fever. Being sick is never fun, but I’d say it’s worse here. When you’re sick, you just want to be as comfortable as possible in whatever way you can. I lay across my horridly uncomfortable bed for hours at a time, feeling my body made an ever deeper indentation in the mattress, making it increasingly uncomfortable. I will spare you the exact details of my peril, but know that it was not pretty. I am doing much better, though.
I am now in Diego, even though I was just here two weeks ago. The other two PCVs in my region are heading to Tana to train the Niger transfer group, and it’s my last chance to get out of site and socialize with fellow PCVs for a while. I’m loving site and everything, don’t get me wrong, but it’s important to soak up as much time like this with them as possible. I barely taught this week, so I’m actually looking forward to going back to site and teaching a full week next week.
Mail shout-outs to Nina, Derek, Jen and Mom! Thanks for sending me mail! (and to everyone who has sent stuff that I haven't gotten, whoever you are)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
"We Have To Go Back To The Island" -Jack Sheperd
It's been over a month since my return to Madagascar, and I've been at my new site, Ambanja, for three weeks now. Going from the highlands to the Northwest coast has been a big change. The most prevelant difference is the heat. I hardly ever left the house without a jacket in Anjozorobe, but in Ambanja, turning over in bed is enough to trigger a new sweat down pour. Other differences include increased insect size (particularly roaches), increased insects with ablity to fly (particularly roaches), exellent proximity to the beach, flora and fauna are more tropical, less catholics and more muslims, my site is a big city instead of a village, etc. It might as well be another country.
This time I am teaching 10th grade English instead of first year English to 10 year olds. This is a huge positive for me. My students can ask questions and speak good french. It's amazing how much more you can accomplish when you can understand each other. Also, in my opinion, it's much more meaningful to have a native speaking teacher at this level. The principal speaks almost fluent English, and he is hilarious. This eliminates a lot of the stress that I had in Anjozorobe. Overall, Ambanja is wildly superior to Anjozorobe... at least to me, every site has its pros and cons.
After less than three weeks at site, I've taught two weeks, given and graded 375 tests, and gone to the beach twice. It's a 20 minute drive in a taxi. It's a tropical paradise with white sand, crystal clear blue water in the middle of the moutainous rain forest. (Google image search: Ankify Madagascar) Last weekend, Amy and Chris-heijn (the married couple who transfered here after their evacuation from Guinea this fall) came to Ambanja (it's their banking town). They are an amazing couple, and I feel lucky to live in their banking town! We went to Ankify for the day, ate fresh crab and shrimp on a balcony that overlooks the beach, and swam in the warm calm waters of the Mozambique channel. The possiblity of a day trip to this picturesque beach is a hughlight of my new site.
If you google Ambanja, you'll get a lot of entries about the pqnther chamelion. Theyre pretty rad... the other morning I spotted a big one outside my window on my fence. My house is next to the elementary school, and the school yard was full of kids, but I decided to stick my head out the window to take pictures anyway. I caught it using its long sticky tounge to eat a bug on video! All the kids noticed me and ran over to see me and then realized what I was doing. Malagasy people are terrified of chamelions, so the kids started freaking out. I inadvertantly drew attention to the creature, so I felt responsible for its well being (people tend to kill things that scare them). I stayed and watch it (they're so cool!) until class started and all the kids were safely inside. I moved it to a tree it could climb and be safely out of reach. While it was on my fence it was as brown as the sticks, but as soon as it was on the tree in the sun, it turned all kinds of greens and blues. (It should be noted, however, that according to Malagasy stories, I'm going to die as a result of touching it. I tried not to let anyone see me move it to avoid them thinking I'm insane).
Later, my friend Carlos came over. He's pretty good at English, and I've been helping him prepare for university study. We discuessed the chamelion issue. He says that Malagasy people are afraid of them because of their "form." I don't understand being so afraid of anything that's so slow. I explained to him that I thought roaches, spiders, and rats are scary, but I'm not afraid of chamelions -even saying "chamelions" to Carlos made him recoil and gasp- but he laughed at me when I made a face with the word "roaches"... oh cultural exchange. Speaking of cultural exchange... he wanted me to transcribe the lyrics to the Akon song "Beautiful"... look up the lyrics if you want to imagine how funny that was.
I spend a lot of time with a Malagasy family that lives down the street. It's a mom, and her daughters (17, 19 and 22 years old I think). They have been amazingly helpful and are good at speaking slow, clear Malagasy with me. I eat dinner with them a lot. They are so nice!
I got my first letter this week (thanks JEN!) It only took 2 weeks!
It's Christmas vacation time now! grades are done and turned it, and I'm waiting for a taxi brousse to Ankarana national park- we are determined to see some freaking lemurs. Then Amy, Chris-heijn and I are meeting up with two other volunteers in Diego. It will be amazing.
please excuse the rampant spelling errors... the computer only wants to spell check them to french...
Happy holidays!!
This time I am teaching 10th grade English instead of first year English to 10 year olds. This is a huge positive for me. My students can ask questions and speak good french. It's amazing how much more you can accomplish when you can understand each other. Also, in my opinion, it's much more meaningful to have a native speaking teacher at this level. The principal speaks almost fluent English, and he is hilarious. This eliminates a lot of the stress that I had in Anjozorobe. Overall, Ambanja is wildly superior to Anjozorobe... at least to me, every site has its pros and cons.
After less than three weeks at site, I've taught two weeks, given and graded 375 tests, and gone to the beach twice. It's a 20 minute drive in a taxi. It's a tropical paradise with white sand, crystal clear blue water in the middle of the moutainous rain forest. (Google image search: Ankify Madagascar) Last weekend, Amy and Chris-heijn (the married couple who transfered here after their evacuation from Guinea this fall) came to Ambanja (it's their banking town). They are an amazing couple, and I feel lucky to live in their banking town! We went to Ankify for the day, ate fresh crab and shrimp on a balcony that overlooks the beach, and swam in the warm calm waters of the Mozambique channel. The possiblity of a day trip to this picturesque beach is a hughlight of my new site.
If you google Ambanja, you'll get a lot of entries about the pqnther chamelion. Theyre pretty rad... the other morning I spotted a big one outside my window on my fence. My house is next to the elementary school, and the school yard was full of kids, but I decided to stick my head out the window to take pictures anyway. I caught it using its long sticky tounge to eat a bug on video! All the kids noticed me and ran over to see me and then realized what I was doing. Malagasy people are terrified of chamelions, so the kids started freaking out. I inadvertantly drew attention to the creature, so I felt responsible for its well being (people tend to kill things that scare them). I stayed and watch it (they're so cool!) until class started and all the kids were safely inside. I moved it to a tree it could climb and be safely out of reach. While it was on my fence it was as brown as the sticks, but as soon as it was on the tree in the sun, it turned all kinds of greens and blues. (It should be noted, however, that according to Malagasy stories, I'm going to die as a result of touching it. I tried not to let anyone see me move it to avoid them thinking I'm insane).
Later, my friend Carlos came over. He's pretty good at English, and I've been helping him prepare for university study. We discuessed the chamelion issue. He says that Malagasy people are afraid of them because of their "form." I don't understand being so afraid of anything that's so slow. I explained to him that I thought roaches, spiders, and rats are scary, but I'm not afraid of chamelions -even saying "chamelions" to Carlos made him recoil and gasp- but he laughed at me when I made a face with the word "roaches"... oh cultural exchange. Speaking of cultural exchange... he wanted me to transcribe the lyrics to the Akon song "Beautiful"... look up the lyrics if you want to imagine how funny that was.
I spend a lot of time with a Malagasy family that lives down the street. It's a mom, and her daughters (17, 19 and 22 years old I think). They have been amazingly helpful and are good at speaking slow, clear Malagasy with me. I eat dinner with them a lot. They are so nice!
I got my first letter this week (thanks JEN!) It only took 2 weeks!
It's Christmas vacation time now! grades are done and turned it, and I'm waiting for a taxi brousse to Ankarana national park- we are determined to see some freaking lemurs. Then Amy, Chris-heijn and I are meeting up with two other volunteers in Diego. It will be amazing.
please excuse the rampant spelling errors... the computer only wants to spell check them to french...
Happy holidays!!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Round 2
Please check back soon to hear about my adventures in my second round as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Consolidationation
So... I suppose I ought to write a blog explaining the political situation and the Peace Corps 'consolidation' experience.
Firstly, the people here have a serious problem with the president (Marc -last name a long unnecessary detail, has been president since the disputed election of 2002). He is the 'richest person in Madagascar' and it often seems that his policy making is geared more towards increasing his wealth than improving the country. So there is already general discontent with the president. Enter Andry, the mayor of Tana. He declared himself president and fanned the fires of anti-Marc sentiment. At the end of January, there were angry mobs in Tana and in other cities around the country who looted and burned the stores and distribution centers of the president's company, Magro. The death toll in these events are disputed (20-80? I've read lots of conflicting reports). Andry doesn't seem to have a whole lot of support, and most people outside of Tana have never heard of him. He's relying on people disliking Marc. Events have continued, but the most notable one was a few Saturdays ago when Andry's supporters marched to the presidential palace for a takeover and 20ish people were shot and killed by the soldiers/guards/mercenaries (no one really knows who). This insighted a lot of anger among the people. Things haven't “gotten better” but it's not been very violent. Ok, so that's a very watered down simplistic version.
So, where was I for all of this?
The Peace Corps called me to have me 'consolidated' on the 30th of January after all of the looting and burning and expressions of violence. Banks were short on money and it was impossible to buy phone credit thus making me unable to contact them in an emergency. I went to Tana on the 31st where 30 other people were already consolidated. There were too many people to stay at the Peace Corps house in Tana, so were all moved to the training center at Lake Mantasoa (equipped for about 100 people). Other groups from different regions met us there. At first there were 46 PCVs there but by the end there were 80 something. It was intense.
Think about what would happen if you took that many Americans who live out in isolated villages and rarely speak English and rarely socialize with one (let alone 80) other Americans. Mantasoa has room with 2-6 beds. We are served 3 meals a day in a dining room. There are volleyball and basketball courts, canoing, and board games. It could have been really fun, but we were all going insane wondering if and when we'd be evacuated or go back to site. The tension of uncertainty was palpable. I could really go on and on about the atmosphere, events, nonevents, and parties of those 17 excruciating days, but I won't.
Except to say that my birthday was a weird day... it was consolidation day 7 and everyone was getting pretty stir crazy and social tension was high. We had my Birthday Dance Party for Peace (whoever dances the longest cares about peace the most... I think I won). I watched a lot of Lost season 4. They made me a birthday cake. It was probably the weirdest birthday of my life.
So, instead of rambling on trying to explain something that doesn't make sense in the first place, I'll leave you with my favorite quote from consolidation. (I'm keeping a book of quotes that people say that make everyone laugh so we can read them later and laugh again)
"Live everyday like you'll be evacuated tomorrow!" -Beth
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