Alright! So apparently the hardest part of Peace Corps is the initial training and then the first few months at site. If this is true it should be "smooth sailing" from here on out!
For the past week me and my stage mates came back into the capital for our IST (In-Service Training) It was really great to see everyone again! Some of my favorite people are in completely different areas of Madagascar - I've got a friend isolated in the West, people who are fly sites and travel is only affordable when PC pays for it on official business and we've got a black hole here in M/car too where some great people are...
The training consisted of administrative stuff, how to get funding, how to collaborate with other sectors and the like. But mostly it was a chance for us to see each other again, share and vent about what has been going on at site and just relax for a bit before taking on the next leg of service.
After we left the training site a bunch of us were staying in the capital while we were getting ready to head back to site. We have just entered into the rainy season here so one night it was raining and for some reason the medical unit at the volunteer housing had a bunch of water coming off it so someone put a trashcan under the spot where most of it was coming off. A room downstairs where a bunch of beds are had water get in it the pervious night so someone was trying to prevent that from happening again. Well...the rain stopped but water was still just pouring off the medical unit and I realized that it was actually coming off the second floor balcony and not the roof....
So I went investigating. I walked in the door and the first floor had a bunch of water everywhere! Then I went up the stairs and it looked like a scene from the Titanic - water was just flowing down the stairs and all the rooms on the second floor were flooded.
What I found was that the water heater on the second floor had a tube pop off! I walked into a humid room with a high pressure stream of water just blasting in one of the rooms! It had probably been going on for something like at least 3 hours. In broken Malagasy we all tried to get the guards to turn off the water - we were calling the regular duty phone as well as the medical duty phone to try to get someone to get the water off and check things out. It was hilarious and frustrating all at the same time.
The main water did finally get shut off after like half an hour or so of franticness. Then a couple of us started to get all the boxes up off the floor and sweeping all the water from the rooms off the balcony. One of the PC doctors finally got there around 12:30 pm which is hella late here and he said that we had done enough for the night and to leave it until morning. Nothing got super damaged as far as I know so that is good.
The next night it rained pretty hard and the same building I was just talking about was dangerously close to flooding again. It kind of sits at the bottom of a hill and the area was flooded a bit - about ankle height. It kept raining but the flooding stayed just barely under the bit of raised porch-ish area outside of the rooms.
...Oh Madagascar...
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Reflections of 2010
The year the world tapped me on the shoulder and said "You should know this by now but - You can accomplish anything."
2010 has been one hell of a year! So much has happened...
1. Made a rediculous New Year's Resolution that I actually stuck to throughout the entire year
2. I worked under a new supervisor - the ambiguity and off-hands approach was something I was not used to and really nervous to engage in, but I grew a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities
3. Graduated from CSU in May - I'm a first gen and it felt amazing. I still don't think it has fully hit me yet that I have a college degree!
4. Did a lot of crying in terms of my love life and had to let go of a good dog. The upside to this is that I have come a long way and I know that I will be ok
5. I was the Maid of Honor in my sister's wedding. I love her So much and could not be happier for her
6. Worked with my dad for a couple months crawling around in attics and installing insulation - Dirty dirty work but I am so proud of my dad for having such a good business going.
7. All my Peace Corps process came together! I remember first thinking about it, making the decision to apply, getting the application in, all the interviews, all the paperwork and finally getting the paper saying I was going to Madagascar for 27 months!
8. I have gone through Pre-Service Training in Peace Corps Madagascar and met some great people and made some good friends! I've been trained to talk to rural communities about Health and have learned a foreign language - the Betsileo dialect.
9. I have made it through 2 and a half months at my site. Kids come by way too often, men are creepy, my mayor is kind of a big deal and my commune is so well established in terms of people knowledgable about health issues and whatnot that my biggest problem will be finding how I can help. Made it to In-Service Training!
10. Had friends to my site and did an information session with the health educators in my commune about the "Hot Bow" - basically a make-shift crock pot to help them save on wood/charcoal. Did a demonstration in one of my other fokontany but didn't end up going to the other scheduled ones because well, it's Madagascar...but all good, watched a lot of Dexter!
There is so much more that I went through in 2010 but it is just too much to keep track of. I have grown so much as a person and in ways that I can't even really explain. I am going through a once-in-a-lifetime experience in my early 20's and it has only just begun.
I can only imagine what 2011 will bring!
2010 has been one hell of a year! So much has happened...
1. Made a rediculous New Year's Resolution that I actually stuck to throughout the entire year
2. I worked under a new supervisor - the ambiguity and off-hands approach was something I was not used to and really nervous to engage in, but I grew a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities
3. Graduated from CSU in May - I'm a first gen and it felt amazing. I still don't think it has fully hit me yet that I have a college degree!
4. Did a lot of crying in terms of my love life and had to let go of a good dog. The upside to this is that I have come a long way and I know that I will be ok
5. I was the Maid of Honor in my sister's wedding. I love her So much and could not be happier for her
6. Worked with my dad for a couple months crawling around in attics and installing insulation - Dirty dirty work but I am so proud of my dad for having such a good business going.
7. All my Peace Corps process came together! I remember first thinking about it, making the decision to apply, getting the application in, all the interviews, all the paperwork and finally getting the paper saying I was going to Madagascar for 27 months!
8. I have gone through Pre-Service Training in Peace Corps Madagascar and met some great people and made some good friends! I've been trained to talk to rural communities about Health and have learned a foreign language - the Betsileo dialect.
9. I have made it through 2 and a half months at my site. Kids come by way too often, men are creepy, my mayor is kind of a big deal and my commune is so well established in terms of people knowledgable about health issues and whatnot that my biggest problem will be finding how I can help. Made it to In-Service Training!
10. Had friends to my site and did an information session with the health educators in my commune about the "Hot Bow" - basically a make-shift crock pot to help them save on wood/charcoal. Did a demonstration in one of my other fokontany but didn't end up going to the other scheduled ones because well, it's Madagascar...but all good, watched a lot of Dexter!
There is so much more that I went through in 2010 but it is just too much to keep track of. I have grown so much as a person and in ways that I can't even really explain. I am going through a once-in-a-lifetime experience in my early 20's and it has only just begun.
I can only imagine what 2011 will bring!
My new November
The end of November brings rain
Beetles crawl out of the moistened soil
"There are already lots of kids!"
She says with urgent excitement
Having grown out of my childhood courage
I watch as they swat grasses with fallen sticks
Provoking flight
And leaping through dusk air
While a zinga of water traps their next meal
Beetles crawl out of the moistened soil
"There are already lots of kids!"
She says with urgent excitement
Having grown out of my childhood courage
I watch as they swat grasses with fallen sticks
Provoking flight
And leaping through dusk air
While a zinga of water traps their next meal
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Vanity Fair
*So my palm-tickler stoped by while I was tweaking this piece. In my limited Malagasy I told him it was about men and women. I found it ironic - maybe he thought the poem was about him - and partially it is. The angry part of the quiz for comic relief.
*He is not allowed to visit me at my house anymore by the way. I'm pretty sure that whenever I went to the market and his friends saw me, they would go tell him and then he would end up visiting. Not cool. So I finally went and told the people at the commune office and they went to him with the commune police saying he couldn't come around anymore.
I always wondered what I'd look like with a shaved head
It seems so easy
No dealing with curling irons or straighteners
Shower time cut in half
All I'd need are some clippers
What do you think y'all?
Could I pull off the G.I. Jane Demi Moore look?
Or maybe Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta?
Could I be the
No-I-don't-have-hair bad-ass
Dying in a blaze of gunfire
But only after I have seduced you in ways that you've only imagined
Could I be a type of sexy like that?
Nope
No, I'm too scared
'Cause what if my head is a wonky shape
Or it never grows back the same length
Or what if people think I'm sick
That cancer is my hairdresser
And the only beauty they see in me
Is because they think I know more about life than they do
Why give up my hair
My one vanity
My beauty like that?
And besides
I'm afraid it wouldn't make a difference
I'm afraid I'd still be beautiful
Still have to ignore cat calls
And learn to speak rejection
Like I learned that
Below here, you're a prude
But above here, you're a slut
Call me shallow
Call me a bitch too obsessed with looks
Tell me beauty is only skin deep
And what matters is inside
Tell me of course I don't believe in plastic surgery
Because I'm already beautiful
That I do not know what it feels like
To break mirrors
That repeat time and time again
That this world is not fair
Call me vain
Call me anything but pretty
Tell me anything but beauty
Becuase beauty is cat calls and rejection
It's learning to yell fire
Becasue no one responds to
No, Help or
"Stop!"
It's skipping meals to go to the gym
A guilty binge with a painful purge
And still two inches away from looking like her
Jealousy and competition
Tainting bonds of friendship
Of sisterhood
It's unearned privileges
And the constant struggle
To prove you have a brain
It's swallowing pride
Facing the reality
That you are one of the lucky ones
One of the lucky ones
That only gets gropped and grabbed
Only belonging to lustful thoughts
And unwanted stares
One asking each and every day
How can I trust you or any of your brothers?
I wish I were plain
I wish years of this shit
Hadn't made me this way
I'd donate my vanity
To the Locks of Love
My smooth skin
To the puberty impared
And to the woman buying anit-wrinkle cream
In Walgreens
As for the cross-dressing man
Awaiting surgery
Every curve would go to her
I'd give away all these things
People told me were beautiful
If it would allow me even a moment's rest...
But I'm afraid it wouldn't make a difference
*He is not allowed to visit me at my house anymore by the way. I'm pretty sure that whenever I went to the market and his friends saw me, they would go tell him and then he would end up visiting. Not cool. So I finally went and told the people at the commune office and they went to him with the commune police saying he couldn't come around anymore.
I always wondered what I'd look like with a shaved head
It seems so easy
No dealing with curling irons or straighteners
Shower time cut in half
All I'd need are some clippers
What do you think y'all?
Could I pull off the G.I. Jane Demi Moore look?
Or maybe Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta?
Could I be the
No-I-don't-have-hair bad-ass
Dying in a blaze of gunfire
But only after I have seduced you in ways that you've only imagined
Could I be a type of sexy like that?
Nope
No, I'm too scared
'Cause what if my head is a wonky shape
Or it never grows back the same length
Or what if people think I'm sick
That cancer is my hairdresser
And the only beauty they see in me
Is because they think I know more about life than they do
Why give up my hair
My one vanity
My beauty like that?
And besides
I'm afraid it wouldn't make a difference
I'm afraid I'd still be beautiful
Still have to ignore cat calls
And learn to speak rejection
Like I learned that
Below here, you're a prude
But above here, you're a slut
Call me shallow
Call me a bitch too obsessed with looks
Tell me beauty is only skin deep
And what matters is inside
Tell me of course I don't believe in plastic surgery
Because I'm already beautiful
That I do not know what it feels like
To break mirrors
That repeat time and time again
That this world is not fair
Call me vain
Call me anything but pretty
Tell me anything but beauty
Becuase beauty is cat calls and rejection
It's learning to yell fire
Becasue no one responds to
No, Help or
"Stop!"
It's skipping meals to go to the gym
A guilty binge with a painful purge
And still two inches away from looking like her
Jealousy and competition
Tainting bonds of friendship
Of sisterhood
It's unearned privileges
And the constant struggle
To prove you have a brain
It's swallowing pride
Facing the reality
That you are one of the lucky ones
One of the lucky ones
That only gets gropped and grabbed
Only belonging to lustful thoughts
And unwanted stares
One asking each and every day
How can I trust you or any of your brothers?
I wish I were plain
I wish years of this shit
Hadn't made me this way
I'd donate my vanity
To the Locks of Love
My smooth skin
To the puberty impared
And to the woman buying anit-wrinkle cream
In Walgreens
As for the cross-dressing man
Awaiting surgery
Every curve would go to her
I'd give away all these things
People told me were beautiful
If it would allow me even a moment's rest...
But I'm afraid it wouldn't make a difference
If mechanics wrote love haikus
I only crash cars
That belong to my close friends
My record is clean
First car: age sixteen
Silver Honda Accord
It was a death trap
I learned to shift gears
By the feel of it: Listen,
Now let out the clutch
Then, from grey to blue
Angst became my fuel
Shifting with every impulse
Red, fast and wild
A Toyota Celica
Perfectly fitting
Too eager, too young
Overheated and broken
I'm no mechanic
Then I saw, I saw..
A Chilean stallion
A fable creature
You, my Elanore
Shilby GT 500
Unattainable
We had a nice ride
Cruising, Blasting rhythms of
"I love you so much"
It's hard to describe
Shifting into happiness,
Into your great light
You, fable creature
You have an amazing light
Of course you must share
I will wait for you
There are those who need your light
You must go to them
And you went to them.
I can only wait for so long
Before I must shift
It was a hard choice
Either I abandoned you
Or gave up my dreams
My dreams of travel
To find a me beyond men
To take time to walk
Desperate, I waited...
But to walk, one cannot wait.
It was a hard choice.
Unknown direction
Taking in my surroundings
Aimlessly, I walk
A poor man's Lexus
There, rusting in the hot sun
Awaiting new paint
That belong to my close friends
My record is clean
First car: age sixteen
Silver Honda Accord
It was a death trap
I learned to shift gears
By the feel of it: Listen,
Now let out the clutch
Then, from grey to blue
Angst became my fuel
Shifting with every impulse
Red, fast and wild
A Toyota Celica
Perfectly fitting
Too eager, too young
Overheated and broken
I'm no mechanic
Then I saw, I saw..
A Chilean stallion
A fable creature
You, my Elanore
Shilby GT 500
Unattainable
We had a nice ride
Cruising, Blasting rhythms of
"I love you so much"
It's hard to describe
Shifting into happiness,
Into your great light
You, fable creature
You have an amazing light
Of course you must share
I will wait for you
There are those who need your light
You must go to them
And you went to them.
I can only wait for so long
Before I must shift
It was a hard choice
Either I abandoned you
Or gave up my dreams
My dreams of travel
To find a me beyond men
To take time to walk
Desperate, I waited...
But to walk, one cannot wait.
It was a hard choice.
Unknown direction
Taking in my surroundings
Aimlessly, I walk
A poor man's Lexus
There, rusting in the hot sun
Awaiting new paint
Rano - Rano - Rano Madio
Thursday Nov. 4th, 2010
I had the honor of attending the opening of 5 new water pumps in my commune. The organization Grand Lyon funded the construction of 5 new pumps located in 4 different fokontany.
We went to each fokontany where people were gathered around the new pumps. They all had a sky blue fence around them with empty buckets lined up outside of it - waiting to be filled. Most of the time was spent, as is the Malagasy culture, of introducing everyone who is present and thanking each other. There were a lot of speeches in Malagasy and in French (the Grand Lyon people all spoke French and no Gasy which is typical and the reason people are confused when I don't understand French). Thus I was picking out Malagasy words here and there that I understood, leaving me partially confused, and then totally lost the rest of the time people were using French.
After the speeches the pumps were opened, turned on and the Grand Lyon people, the commune Mayor and the fokontany mayor washed their hands and took a quick drink of the water. Then the village people came in to fill their buckets. At the first pump, the kids from the primary school sang a song while the buckets were being filled. Mostly I caught the word for pump and "Rano - rano - rano madio" which means water - water - water clean. I totally teared up listening to them sing and pulled the "oh, there is something in my eye" eye wipe technique to cover up how big of a sap I am!
The second fokontany did not do anything particularly special for us but as the mayor walked to the pump someone said "what's new?" and he replied not much but "misotro rano Antotohazo" which means drinking Antotohazo (the fokontany) water. He was super happy about it. Then we were clapped into the third fokontany as the kids chanted "Merci". This pump was at the primary school where they had different Eau'Vive bottles filled with dirty water and clean water from the pump. In between the speeches and the hand washing deal there were 6 girls who recited poems they had written about water/the new pump.
By the time we got to the last pump, in the commune, everyone was tired and hungry so there was less enthusiasm... But the commune thanked all the people involved with bringing in the new pumps with hand woven baskets with "Grand Lyon" and the commune's name woven into each side. Accompanied with a box of tea of course!
Good times!
I had the honor of attending the opening of 5 new water pumps in my commune. The organization Grand Lyon funded the construction of 5 new pumps located in 4 different fokontany.
We went to each fokontany where people were gathered around the new pumps. They all had a sky blue fence around them with empty buckets lined up outside of it - waiting to be filled. Most of the time was spent, as is the Malagasy culture, of introducing everyone who is present and thanking each other. There were a lot of speeches in Malagasy and in French (the Grand Lyon people all spoke French and no Gasy which is typical and the reason people are confused when I don't understand French). Thus I was picking out Malagasy words here and there that I understood, leaving me partially confused, and then totally lost the rest of the time people were using French.
After the speeches the pumps were opened, turned on and the Grand Lyon people, the commune Mayor and the fokontany mayor washed their hands and took a quick drink of the water. Then the village people came in to fill their buckets. At the first pump, the kids from the primary school sang a song while the buckets were being filled. Mostly I caught the word for pump and "Rano - rano - rano madio" which means water - water - water clean. I totally teared up listening to them sing and pulled the "oh, there is something in my eye" eye wipe technique to cover up how big of a sap I am!
The second fokontany did not do anything particularly special for us but as the mayor walked to the pump someone said "what's new?" and he replied not much but "misotro rano Antotohazo" which means drinking Antotohazo (the fokontany) water. He was super happy about it. Then we were clapped into the third fokontany as the kids chanted "Merci". This pump was at the primary school where they had different Eau'Vive bottles filled with dirty water and clean water from the pump. In between the speeches and the hand washing deal there were 6 girls who recited poems they had written about water/the new pump.
By the time we got to the last pump, in the commune, everyone was tired and hungry so there was less enthusiasm... But the commune thanked all the people involved with bringing in the new pumps with hand woven baskets with "Grand Lyon" and the commune's name woven into each side. Accompanied with a box of tea of course!
Good times!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Haiku titled: Where there are no textbooks
Ny mpianatra
Tsa maintsy manoratra
Mba mahay tsara
Roughly translated:
The students
Must write
In order to know
Tsa maintsy manoratra
Mba mahay tsara
Roughly translated:
The students
Must write
In order to know
Mazoto ny mpanentana ara_pahasalamana izay mandeha tongotsa
Roughly translated: Zealous are the Health Educators who go by foot
October 25 - October 29 was Mother and Child week. This means getting Vitamin A, Deworming pills and the Measels vaccine out to every mother and child who needs it. The mayor and doctor brought in other docotrs/nurses/midwives from Fianar to come help go out to all the fokontany where the health educators gathered people to get medicine.
Posters were put up throughout the commune in the week before. Thursday notes were send out to the mpanentanas (health educators) to come to a meeting at the CSB II on Friday. Monday I accompanied a nurse and another worker from the hospital with a cooler for the vaccine, bottles of pills and capsules and seringes.
We went to 2 fokontany. One 5k away from the commune and the other 7k but they are on the same road that loops back around to the commune. There was a misunderstanding on the part of the mpanentanas and no one was gathered... So we walked back to the CSB and helped out there. Tuesday we went out again and this time there were people - a lot of people.
The first fokontany set up was pretty disorganized although it was the only time we all had charis and a table to work at. The Vitamin A came in these capsules that we had to cut to cut the top off of and squeeze into the kids mouths. This was my task - along with popping the the pill in there afterwards. Picture it - Me, who does not have the greatest soft spot for children, sticking my fingers in the mouths of about 400 kids between the ages of 9 months to 4 years old... many of whom were crying screaming, slobbering, snotting and just being plain out difficult... yeah... it was a shit show and we didn't have lunch or water between sometime before 7:30 AM and 6:00 PM when we got back from the second fokontany.
I must admit some kids were cute, like the ones who ran away when we jokied about giving them vaccines too. I did my tounge trick at one point and they loved the shit out of that - they always do. On Thursday we weont out again to just do vaccines for anyone who was missed. Instead of having one big group gathered like before, we went out to each individual tanana* and the mpanentanas pretty much made sure that each house came and got the kids vaccinated. Very, very cool! Anyway, even though the kids were screaming and crying over all the vaccine business they were cute and it was funny all at the same time, I guess because they were so dramatic about it.
Coolest thing about all this is that it was happening all over Madagascar!
*So I think I figured it out. The commune is the whole community, the biggest and also called the center of the community. Then the fokontany (10 in Sahambavy), is the small villages that are the surrounding subsets. The smallest is the tanana which are the little clusters of houses within the fokontany.
October 25 - October 29 was Mother and Child week. This means getting Vitamin A, Deworming pills and the Measels vaccine out to every mother and child who needs it. The mayor and doctor brought in other docotrs/nurses/midwives from Fianar to come help go out to all the fokontany where the health educators gathered people to get medicine.
Posters were put up throughout the commune in the week before. Thursday notes were send out to the mpanentanas (health educators) to come to a meeting at the CSB II on Friday. Monday I accompanied a nurse and another worker from the hospital with a cooler for the vaccine, bottles of pills and capsules and seringes.
We went to 2 fokontany. One 5k away from the commune and the other 7k but they are on the same road that loops back around to the commune. There was a misunderstanding on the part of the mpanentanas and no one was gathered... So we walked back to the CSB and helped out there. Tuesday we went out again and this time there were people - a lot of people.
The first fokontany set up was pretty disorganized although it was the only time we all had charis and a table to work at. The Vitamin A came in these capsules that we had to cut to cut the top off of and squeeze into the kids mouths. This was my task - along with popping the the pill in there afterwards. Picture it - Me, who does not have the greatest soft spot for children, sticking my fingers in the mouths of about 400 kids between the ages of 9 months to 4 years old... many of whom were crying screaming, slobbering, snotting and just being plain out difficult... yeah... it was a shit show and we didn't have lunch or water between sometime before 7:30 AM and 6:00 PM when we got back from the second fokontany.
I must admit some kids were cute, like the ones who ran away when we jokied about giving them vaccines too. I did my tounge trick at one point and they loved the shit out of that - they always do. On Thursday we weont out again to just do vaccines for anyone who was missed. Instead of having one big group gathered like before, we went out to each individual tanana* and the mpanentanas pretty much made sure that each house came and got the kids vaccinated. Very, very cool! Anyway, even though the kids were screaming and crying over all the vaccine business they were cute and it was funny all at the same time, I guess because they were so dramatic about it.
Coolest thing about all this is that it was happening all over Madagascar!
*So I think I figured it out. The commune is the whole community, the biggest and also called the center of the community. Then the fokontany (10 in Sahambavy), is the small villages that are the surrounding subsets. The smallest is the tanana which are the little clusters of houses within the fokontany.
One of those cheesy magazine surveys - Turning anger into humor
So the other day a guy came around and I'm pretty sure he was saying that he was looking for a wife... I started out really pissed off and wrote some angry poetry (that I will post later) but I wrote this afterwards in order to take a comic relief angle instead or staying frustrated.
How good are my chances to marry Tisa??
Question 1: Do you smoke?
A. Yes
B. Sometimes
C. No
Question 2: Who drives?
A. You, I umm...lost my license
B. You, my Mustang is in the shop
C. You, I only commute by bike
Question 3: Describe your physical activity
A. I pump iron 3 times a week - here feel my pecs!
B. I take the stairs instead of the elevator
C. The workers at REI know me by name
Question 4: How often would you compliment my looks?
A. Everyday, I think you're pretty
B. When you dress up and wear make-up
C. Not often, I have more important things to say to you
Question 5: Tattoos?
A. None, I think they are tacky
B. I've got a tribal around my bicep
C. I know a guy who can fix whoever chooses B
Question 6: Talk to me about Social Justice
A. What does Social Justice mean?
B. I let other people worry about that stuff
C. That's a little too general...are we talking SES, feminism, gender, race??
Question 7: How would you propose to me?
A. Hey, I'm looking for a wife. It could be you!
B. Lit up on the scoreboard at a baseball game
C. During a slam at a coffee shop
Question 8: How long do you want to wait before actually getting married?
A. Why wait? Let's get hitched now!
B. Year long engagement - enough time to plan the wedding and find a home
C. Marriage?! I thought we were just getting to know each other..!
Question 9: How many kids do you want?
A. 7 boys, 7 girls
B. 2.5 - it's the ideal size
C. None - but adoption if we change our minds
Question 10: How many pets do you want?
A. None, I hate animals
B. A dog, but it has to sleep outside
C. A great dane, at least 2 cats and...a pig!
If you chose:
All A's: No way, you don't have a chance
There is no way in hell that I would ever marry you. Not only do you seem like a total tool but your frame of thought is Completely different from mine. You can leave now. Bye.
All B's: Hate to break it to you but it's best to give up now
You seem like a nice person but I don't think it would work between us. We don't want the same things and that would only hurt us in the long run. If you'd stop hitting on me now I'm sure we could still be friends
All C's: You've got the potential but alas...
You have some pretty ideal qualities - you must have lied about something... But if you do happen to exist I hope we run into each other someday, maybe we could grab some coffee.
How good are my chances to marry Tisa??
Question 1: Do you smoke?
A. Yes
B. Sometimes
C. No
Question 2: Who drives?
A. You, I umm...lost my license
B. You, my Mustang is in the shop
C. You, I only commute by bike
Question 3: Describe your physical activity
A. I pump iron 3 times a week - here feel my pecs!
B. I take the stairs instead of the elevator
C. The workers at REI know me by name
Question 4: How often would you compliment my looks?
A. Everyday, I think you're pretty
B. When you dress up and wear make-up
C. Not often, I have more important things to say to you
Question 5: Tattoos?
A. None, I think they are tacky
B. I've got a tribal around my bicep
C. I know a guy who can fix whoever chooses B
Question 6: Talk to me about Social Justice
A. What does Social Justice mean?
B. I let other people worry about that stuff
C. That's a little too general...are we talking SES, feminism, gender, race??
Question 7: How would you propose to me?
A. Hey, I'm looking for a wife. It could be you!
B. Lit up on the scoreboard at a baseball game
C. During a slam at a coffee shop
Question 8: How long do you want to wait before actually getting married?
A. Why wait? Let's get hitched now!
B. Year long engagement - enough time to plan the wedding and find a home
C. Marriage?! I thought we were just getting to know each other..!
Question 9: How many kids do you want?
A. 7 boys, 7 girls
B. 2.5 - it's the ideal size
C. None - but adoption if we change our minds
Question 10: How many pets do you want?
A. None, I hate animals
B. A dog, but it has to sleep outside
C. A great dane, at least 2 cats and...a pig!
If you chose:
All A's: No way, you don't have a chance
There is no way in hell that I would ever marry you. Not only do you seem like a total tool but your frame of thought is Completely different from mine. You can leave now. Bye.
All B's: Hate to break it to you but it's best to give up now
You seem like a nice person but I don't think it would work between us. We don't want the same things and that would only hurt us in the long run. If you'd stop hitting on me now I'm sure we could still be friends
All C's: You've got the potential but alas...
You have some pretty ideal qualities - you must have lied about something... But if you do happen to exist I hope we run into each other someday, maybe we could grab some coffee.
Shout out!
Shout out to my family and friends! I love you so much!
I also want to give a special shout out to Tom and his class:
Ryan
Becky
Jacob
Brett
Ruth
Desi
Ed
Subrina
Gabriel
Andrew
Sam
These awesome people are in a Correspondece Match Program through PC. Thanks for reading!
I also want to give a special shout out to Tom and his class:
Ryan
Becky
Jacob
Brett
Ruth
Desi
Ed
Subrina
Gabriel
Andrew
Sam
These awesome people are in a Correspondece Match Program through PC. Thanks for reading!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Health Care in my rural commune
CSB II weekly schedule
Monday: Prenatal Consultations
Tuesday: Vaccines
Wednesday: Illness Consultations
Thurdsay: Family Planning
Friday: Vaccines
I go in on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The way it works is when people arrive, mostly women, they stack their karnes (little booklets where all they health info is, their health passport, if you will) outside the door - this is hz they keep track of the order. They sit and wait for the midwives and doctor to arrive, wait for their name to be called and then go in for their consultation. While they wait is an opportunity to get out health messages. This is eo oh eo (more or less) where I come in, well this is where they let me do my PC thing. I can talk about STIs, HIV/AIDS, Diarreah, ARI, Hygiene, Clean water, Safe motherhood, Nutrition - there is a lot!
The only thing is that the CSB II is already pretty well established. They have a doctor. They have 2 midwives. An organization called SALFA is working with the CSB II, they have established health educators in each fokontany (surrounding villages) and I basically do what they do but in poor Malagasy. There is also a WASH worker here to talk about latrines/kabones, clean water and hygiene.
This is great! But I feel like my biggest challenge is going to be finding projects to do that they don't already have covered... I might need to help motivate the health educators to do more - that will be most sustainable. And going out to the far fokontanys will probably be best.
Monday: Prenatal Consultations
Tuesday: Vaccines
Wednesday: Illness Consultations
Thurdsay: Family Planning
Friday: Vaccines
I go in on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The way it works is when people arrive, mostly women, they stack their karnes (little booklets where all they health info is, their health passport, if you will) outside the door - this is hz they keep track of the order. They sit and wait for the midwives and doctor to arrive, wait for their name to be called and then go in for their consultation. While they wait is an opportunity to get out health messages. This is eo oh eo (more or less) where I come in, well this is where they let me do my PC thing. I can talk about STIs, HIV/AIDS, Diarreah, ARI, Hygiene, Clean water, Safe motherhood, Nutrition - there is a lot!
The only thing is that the CSB II is already pretty well established. They have a doctor. They have 2 midwives. An organization called SALFA is working with the CSB II, they have established health educators in each fokontany (surrounding villages) and I basically do what they do but in poor Malagasy. There is also a WASH worker here to talk about latrines/kabones, clean water and hygiene.
This is great! But I feel like my biggest challenge is going to be finding projects to do that they don't already have covered... I might need to help motivate the health educators to do more - that will be most sustainable. And going out to the far fokontanys will probably be best.
Some Rants and Raves
Rants:
-I feel like I am being used as a baby-sitter
-People keep asking me for English tutoring
-It seems like my counterpart is in this weird circle of exclusivity that she wants me to be a part of...
-I have to be cautious about who I make friends with, who I let in my house and what things I let people see.
-Men are not afraid to flirt and touch you... I've got men hissing at me, grabbing at me, and telling me they love me...One guy at my site, a teenager, is particular annoying... He does this creepy cultural palm-tickle thing, tags alng whenever he sees me, tells me I'm handsom, buys street food for me and whatever kid I'm hanging out with and stops by my house smetimes when it is already dark... My American signs of "step off" are not wrking quite well so I have to start being more aggressive and straight forward
Raves:
-There is little to no light pollution here. I can see the Milky Way every night from my front yard
-I eat local and I eat fresh! Carrots, tomatoes, spinach, onions, green beans, beans, mangos, pibasy, cucumber, garlic..! A friend gave me sweet potatoes right from her front yard - they were still warm!!!
-I'm learning how to cook! I made pancakes with fruit compote from scratch!
-I'm starting to get why kids are so cute
-I feel like I am being used as a baby-sitter
-People keep asking me for English tutoring
-It seems like my counterpart is in this weird circle of exclusivity that she wants me to be a part of...
-I have to be cautious about who I make friends with, who I let in my house and what things I let people see.
-Men are not afraid to flirt and touch you... I've got men hissing at me, grabbing at me, and telling me they love me...One guy at my site, a teenager, is particular annoying... He does this creepy cultural palm-tickle thing, tags alng whenever he sees me, tells me I'm handsom, buys street food for me and whatever kid I'm hanging out with and stops by my house smetimes when it is already dark... My American signs of "step off" are not wrking quite well so I have to start being more aggressive and straight forward
Raves:
-There is little to no light pollution here. I can see the Milky Way every night from my front yard
-I eat local and I eat fresh! Carrots, tomatoes, spinach, onions, green beans, beans, mangos, pibasy, cucumber, garlic..! A friend gave me sweet potatoes right from her front yard - they were still warm!!!
-I'm learning how to cook! I made pancakes with fruit compote from scratch!
-I'm starting to get why kids are so cute
Birthday #23 in M/car
Do I feel any older? No, somehow you never do on your birthday
What did I do? Not a whole lot in terms of celebrating, birthdays are not big here. I worked, cooked the same food as always, did a bit of laundry - just another day really. But I did have a beer after my dinner haha
It is the beginning of week 4 at site. Holy crap!
Tamana tsara! (settled well)
My first week I realized how different it is to live alone. It is really quite at night. Have you ever heard stuff at night and totally freaked yourself out for no reason at all?? Yeah, I did that my first week... Long story short - I thought someone had gotten through my fence, the police and mayor ended up at my house, nothing was actually wrong and people are still talking about it... I feel like such an idiot!
Anyway, I have two rooms (bedroom and kitchen), a good sized yard with space to garden. There is a water pump near by and I am close to the commune, CSB II (hospital) and market too.
A glimpse into my day to day:
-I go to the CSB II three mornings a week
-Cook every meal
-Language tutoring three times a week
-Big market days are wednesday and sunday. Bargaining is a big part of the culture
-Saturdays I play with my counterpart's kid
-Sundays there are soccer games
-Another volunteer lives 8k from me and comes on sundays for market so we chill
-Free time is spent reading, cooking, chatting with people and walking aroung. I do a fair amount of just thinking too (like wondering what cyclne season is going to be like) haha
What did I do? Not a whole lot in terms of celebrating, birthdays are not big here. I worked, cooked the same food as always, did a bit of laundry - just another day really. But I did have a beer after my dinner haha
It is the beginning of week 4 at site. Holy crap!
Tamana tsara! (settled well)
My first week I realized how different it is to live alone. It is really quite at night. Have you ever heard stuff at night and totally freaked yourself out for no reason at all?? Yeah, I did that my first week... Long story short - I thought someone had gotten through my fence, the police and mayor ended up at my house, nothing was actually wrong and people are still talking about it... I feel like such an idiot!
Anyway, I have two rooms (bedroom and kitchen), a good sized yard with space to garden. There is a water pump near by and I am close to the commune, CSB II (hospital) and market too.
A glimpse into my day to day:
-I go to the CSB II three mornings a week
-Cook every meal
-Language tutoring three times a week
-Big market days are wednesday and sunday. Bargaining is a big part of the culture
-Saturdays I play with my counterpart's kid
-Sundays there are soccer games
-Another volunteer lives 8k from me and comes on sundays for market so we chill
-Free time is spent reading, cooking, chatting with people and walking aroung. I do a fair amount of just thinking too (like wondering what cyclne season is going to be like) haha
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Untitled
Dear family,
I know there is an 8 hour time difference between here and the states but why haven’t you called?
I’ve already been done a month…
Whatever
Anyway
Listen
You know how we imagined African winter to be warm
Skirt, shorts and t-shirt weather?
Yeah, Disney fucking lied!
They lied about the whole dry thing too
Life is completely different here
Let me tell you about the kabone
It’s a big hole in the ground
Built around it you’ve got walls, a roof
And a door that doesn’t quite shut all the way
Stand on the floor, squat and aim for a hole about the size of your foot
An outhouse essentially
But you know how if you drop your phone down the toilet…
You can bite the bullet; reach in there and save it?
Here it would be more like biting a grenade to go back for a fallen comrade…
Fuck no, that shit is lost forever!
I can’t remember how to eat with a fork
I maybe shower twice a week
In half a bucket of river water
I haven’t told you about the rice-patties yet
Imagine field after field of stagnant water
Swimming with feces from cows, pigs, chickens, dogs and humans
There are narrow pathways to get through them
But you feel like you’re playing that lava game as a kid
You Will Die if you fall in!
Do you remember how you felt the first time you aced a test?
Or drove a car alone without crashing?
Or the Rocky movie – when he gets to the top of the stairs?
That’s how I feel every time I manage to come home not covered in mud
I remember sitting in an air-conditioned burger joint
Stuffing my face with the most delicious combination of
Meat, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, lettuce, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise
Ever smashed between two pieces of bread
And now I eat rice
Rice and cold laoka
What I wouldn’t give for a grand slam breakfast right now…
2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausage links, ham, 2 pieces of toast and a short stack with butter and syrup
Could you put that in a box,
Send it over for a small fortune,
So I can get it in a month?
I don’t care if the postman jacks the butter
Or the rats get at the bacon
I just want some fluffy pancakes dripping in maple goodness!
I remember walking from my car to my house in blissful silence
There were not brat kids
For 3 miles!
Yelling vazaha at me every 5 minutes!
Or singing that damn chicken song!
And you know what else I remember??
I remember when I was that little shit kid too
Annoying the hell out of everyone just because I could
I remember being a teenager
Thinking I was invincible
Too cool to listen to authority
And you know what – they are the same here
I may not understand when they ask
Tia mananihany olona ve ianao?
But I know how much weight that word carries
It’s how many kilos of comfort is created from a grandmother’s hug
It’s the pounds of ice cream it takes to heal a friend’s broken heart
It’s the amount of poetry she wrote about him before that day
Yeah, that translates
This may all sound cheesy
But Laughing Cow is equal in cost
To a phone call home
Whether it’s dolls or rocks
Kids still play out how they understand the world
Imagine who they will become
They still pluck the wings of dragonflies
Before they realize what it means
For beauty to be free
I know there is an 8 hour time difference between here and the states but why haven’t you called?
I’ve already been done a month…
Whatever
Anyway
Listen
You know how we imagined African winter to be warm
Skirt, shorts and t-shirt weather?
Yeah, Disney fucking lied!
They lied about the whole dry thing too
Life is completely different here
Let me tell you about the kabone
It’s a big hole in the ground
Built around it you’ve got walls, a roof
And a door that doesn’t quite shut all the way
Stand on the floor, squat and aim for a hole about the size of your foot
An outhouse essentially
But you know how if you drop your phone down the toilet…
You can bite the bullet; reach in there and save it?
Here it would be more like biting a grenade to go back for a fallen comrade…
Fuck no, that shit is lost forever!
I can’t remember how to eat with a fork
I maybe shower twice a week
In half a bucket of river water
I haven’t told you about the rice-patties yet
Imagine field after field of stagnant water
Swimming with feces from cows, pigs, chickens, dogs and humans
There are narrow pathways to get through them
But you feel like you’re playing that lava game as a kid
You Will Die if you fall in!
Do you remember how you felt the first time you aced a test?
Or drove a car alone without crashing?
Or the Rocky movie – when he gets to the top of the stairs?
That’s how I feel every time I manage to come home not covered in mud
I remember sitting in an air-conditioned burger joint
Stuffing my face with the most delicious combination of
Meat, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, lettuce, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise
Ever smashed between two pieces of bread
And now I eat rice
Rice and cold laoka
What I wouldn’t give for a grand slam breakfast right now…
2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausage links, ham, 2 pieces of toast and a short stack with butter and syrup
Could you put that in a box,
Send it over for a small fortune,
So I can get it in a month?
I don’t care if the postman jacks the butter
Or the rats get at the bacon
I just want some fluffy pancakes dripping in maple goodness!
I remember walking from my car to my house in blissful silence
There were not brat kids
For 3 miles!
Yelling vazaha at me every 5 minutes!
Or singing that damn chicken song!
And you know what else I remember??
I remember when I was that little shit kid too
Annoying the hell out of everyone just because I could
I remember being a teenager
Thinking I was invincible
Too cool to listen to authority
And you know what – they are the same here
I may not understand when they ask
Tia mananihany olona ve ianao?
But I know how much weight that word carries
It’s how many kilos of comfort is created from a grandmother’s hug
It’s the pounds of ice cream it takes to heal a friend’s broken heart
It’s the amount of poetry she wrote about him before that day
Yeah, that translates
This may all sound cheesy
But Laughing Cow is equal in cost
To a phone call home
Whether it’s dolls or rocks
Kids still play out how they understand the world
Imagine who they will become
They still pluck the wings of dragonflies
Before they realize what it means
For beauty to be free
Untitled
I’ve been speaking with my heart lately
She’s not happy with me
We spoke about her last lover
How she taught my fingers to play his spine the way a musician touch their guitar
How she used my chest plate as a dance floor
Dropping beats to the rhythm of his breathe
Left bruises on my neck from practicing the steps
I can still taste the sweat
Two left feet when he was gone
She took up hoe-baggin, lying and stealing instead
Just to pay the rent
No use talking to her when she’s like that
So I packed gun power down my throat
Iron gated my rib cage
Brick walled back
Collar bone booby trap
I forgot what her voice sounded like
Let the answering machine get it for so long
But there is actually a message for once
She can’t breathe
So I’ve been speaking with my heart lately
Speaking like I know where I come from
Like I know where I’m going
Like I know how to close the gap between who I am and who I want to become
Speaking honesty like it is the last thing that can save me
She’s not happy with me
We spoke about her last lover
How she taught my fingers to play his spine the way a musician touch their guitar
How she used my chest plate as a dance floor
Dropping beats to the rhythm of his breathe
Left bruises on my neck from practicing the steps
I can still taste the sweat
Two left feet when he was gone
She took up hoe-baggin, lying and stealing instead
Just to pay the rent
No use talking to her when she’s like that
So I packed gun power down my throat
Iron gated my rib cage
Brick walled back
Collar bone booby trap
I forgot what her voice sounded like
Let the answering machine get it for so long
But there is actually a message for once
She can’t breathe
So I’ve been speaking with my heart lately
Speaking like I know where I come from
Like I know where I’m going
Like I know how to close the gap between who I am and who I want to become
Speaking honesty like it is the last thing that can save me
One item on my life list is to someday perform in a Slam
I Love slam poetry. Andrea Gibson, Ken Arkind, Panama Soweto, Buddy Wakefield. The Denver slam team, I was born with two tongues and all the poets on podslam.org to all the ones performing in places like the bean cycle. I have major respect for them and have fantasized about one day becoming a spoken word artist. Envisioning myself on a stage in front of people rattles my nerves but thrills me at the same time. I haven’t written much poetry since the awful stuff I used to write when my world would cave in over romantic affairs or the woes of, well puberty. I have been writing here in Madagascar though and am actually finding some confidence in my poetry.
So here it goes, putting up my own words for everyone to see, not really caring if you like it or think its good but hoping that you do. Keep in mind that my current poetry was written with intension to be preformed.
Written on my ride back from site visit:
I don’t take medicine
Over the years I have convinced myself that they are a scam
But I am half an hour into an 8, 9, 10 hour taxi-brousse ride
Falling into Dramamine drowsiness
Glad I am not nauseous like the vazaha next to me
We are still in the city of Fianarantsoa
Yet the people are no less intimate in their engagement with the environment
No one wears white in the villages
It is a tainted love affair they have with these rivers
Women trace its outline daily
Secretly to escape away
They know its bumps, its wrinkles
Search for their favorite curves to wash away sweat, red dirt and car exhaust from the past week
Soap
Scrub
Brush
With a parasitic rinse cycle
Let hang dry 3 days
No, the city is wed to its rice-patties
They even span the dips and valleys in the heart of it
Betsileo are the most romantic
They know how mody this land is
Thigh deep in brown skin
Using every tool to give birth to their most sustainable relationship
It’s a rough path to take, this marriage
Worn in with years of practice
Of women bearing the weight
Not only on their backs but atop their heads
Bags of men’s work
Jenga stacked bricks
And buckets, buckets of water
I’m amazed they never drop a tear
They must be steadied from their reality of choosing
Help over knowledge
Work over hunger
Life over choice
They must have to master this balance
As to not slip and fall
To the ground
Dirty palm stretched out like a Baobab tree
Branching fingers to catch as much light and hope as the world can offer
I mistake the smog for dew rising up from the trees in that light
I’d rather see the beauty
I’d rather terrace my heart
Dig
Carve
Create more space to grow and care and bleed
But mostly to understand
Peace Corps by choice
Betsileo by the grace of …
I want to believe their lives can be better
And that we will have something to do with that
But I’m all drugged up
Remember that better is relative
And let these winding roads rock me to sleep
So here it goes, putting up my own words for everyone to see, not really caring if you like it or think its good but hoping that you do. Keep in mind that my current poetry was written with intension to be preformed.
Written on my ride back from site visit:
I don’t take medicine
Over the years I have convinced myself that they are a scam
But I am half an hour into an 8, 9, 10 hour taxi-brousse ride
Falling into Dramamine drowsiness
Glad I am not nauseous like the vazaha next to me
We are still in the city of Fianarantsoa
Yet the people are no less intimate in their engagement with the environment
No one wears white in the villages
It is a tainted love affair they have with these rivers
Women trace its outline daily
Secretly to escape away
They know its bumps, its wrinkles
Search for their favorite curves to wash away sweat, red dirt and car exhaust from the past week
Soap
Scrub
Brush
With a parasitic rinse cycle
Let hang dry 3 days
No, the city is wed to its rice-patties
They even span the dips and valleys in the heart of it
Betsileo are the most romantic
They know how mody this land is
Thigh deep in brown skin
Using every tool to give birth to their most sustainable relationship
It’s a rough path to take, this marriage
Worn in with years of practice
Of women bearing the weight
Not only on their backs but atop their heads
Bags of men’s work
Jenga stacked bricks
And buckets, buckets of water
I’m amazed they never drop a tear
They must be steadied from their reality of choosing
Help over knowledge
Work over hunger
Life over choice
They must have to master this balance
As to not slip and fall
To the ground
Dirty palm stretched out like a Baobab tree
Branching fingers to catch as much light and hope as the world can offer
I mistake the smog for dew rising up from the trees in that light
I’d rather see the beauty
I’d rather terrace my heart
Dig
Carve
Create more space to grow and care and bleed
But mostly to understand
Peace Corps by choice
Betsileo by the grace of …
I want to believe their lives can be better
And that we will have something to do with that
But I’m all drugged up
Remember that better is relative
And let these winding roads rock me to sleep
Officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!! Blog written on Sept. 20th 2010
Four years ago I remember driving with my family and best friend up to Fort Collins to move into a college dorm room. I was excited but terrified at the same time, wondering who I would meet and what I would learn. I remember hearing that college wasn’t for everyone and not knowing if it was for me or not but still going because - hey I was a good student, the college thing sounds kind of cool and maybe it’ll help me find a good job.
A year and a half later I remember being nervous for an interview to be a peer mentor for the Key Service Community that had gotten me through my first year of college. I was applying for my junior year but was asked in my second follow-up interview if I would be willing to jump in early since they had a spot open. I was slightly in disbelief; I had never really considered myself a leader but took the opportunity hoping that I could meet the expectations.
Four months ago I was sitting in my college graduation ceremony. I couldn’t hear what the people on stage were saying because all the speakers were pointed towards my family and friends. Instead I heard echoes of all the support I had accumulated over the four years - from old friends, new friends, lovers, family, mentors, professors, authors of books, co-workers and sometimes even random people on a bus. I couldn’t help but to rock my cheeseburger smile.
Two months ago I remember Freaking Out the day before leaving to Washington D.C because I didn’t think I had packed any of the right clothes. I cried in the security line after saying good-bye to my father – sad to be leaving, wondering how I had gotten there and having no idea what the next two years of my life were going to look like. My anxieties momentarily fell away when I met other Peace Corps trainees who too had not studied Malagasy that much. A week later I was meeting my Malagasy host family, terrified about the next few hours until I could disappear into my room.
Currently, I am sitting at the Peace Corps training center. It’s my favorite time of day when the shadows start becoming longer and longer. My fingers are remembering how to use a key board on a friend’s laptop and another friend is calling my name. I’m wearing clothes from the U.S. that will not be washed in a machine for the next two years. I am constantly shooing bugs to get out of my face and my stomach is still out of wack from two days ago because there is something wrong with the rum in this country! I feel like I hear poetry in the words I am writing because ever since I’ve gotten here I’ve actually had time to write it, maybe it’s because there are fewer distractions here.
Tomorrow we leave to the capital and soon we will be sworn-in as Peace Corps volunteers. Training “technically” has been 10 weeks, but really it has only been 8 since the first one didn’t really have any training and this last one was full of presentations, language assessments, good-byes and preparing to get to site. I’ve given presentations on diarrhea, nutrition, reproductive health, sanitizing water, respiratory infections and breastfeeding – all in Malagasy (Betsileo dialect) and in front of people from the community. I’ve killed a chicken, I’ve lived with a Malagasy family who I have really come to love, broken several Malagasy fomba (tradition/culture norms) and been awarded the “Most likely to eat the most Malagasy street food” superlative by my fellow trainees.
All 42 of us have made it through training and all of us will be heading out to our individual sites to be on our own for two years. I am once again terrified. I am scared of leaving all the new friends I have made. I am scared of being the only foreigner in my community. I can only imagine what it is going to feel like to watch the Peace Corps car drive away and I spend my first minutes in what will be my home for the next two years. Yes I will have a community all around me but somehow I will still experience a type of solitude I have Never experienced before… I am nervous about working in the CSB II/commune hospital. I am nervous about my language. I am nervous about what I am going to eat the first week. I have never felt this kind of horrified before.
I recognize there may be some people who are bit worried about me after reading that – maybe even wondering what the hell I’m doing here
. . .
I received a gift from the Women’s Studies department when I graduated. It is a picture of Audre Lorde with a quote:
“When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
A year and a half later I remember being nervous for an interview to be a peer mentor for the Key Service Community that had gotten me through my first year of college. I was applying for my junior year but was asked in my second follow-up interview if I would be willing to jump in early since they had a spot open. I was slightly in disbelief; I had never really considered myself a leader but took the opportunity hoping that I could meet the expectations.
Four months ago I was sitting in my college graduation ceremony. I couldn’t hear what the people on stage were saying because all the speakers were pointed towards my family and friends. Instead I heard echoes of all the support I had accumulated over the four years - from old friends, new friends, lovers, family, mentors, professors, authors of books, co-workers and sometimes even random people on a bus. I couldn’t help but to rock my cheeseburger smile.
Two months ago I remember Freaking Out the day before leaving to Washington D.C because I didn’t think I had packed any of the right clothes. I cried in the security line after saying good-bye to my father – sad to be leaving, wondering how I had gotten there and having no idea what the next two years of my life were going to look like. My anxieties momentarily fell away when I met other Peace Corps trainees who too had not studied Malagasy that much. A week later I was meeting my Malagasy host family, terrified about the next few hours until I could disappear into my room.
Currently, I am sitting at the Peace Corps training center. It’s my favorite time of day when the shadows start becoming longer and longer. My fingers are remembering how to use a key board on a friend’s laptop and another friend is calling my name. I’m wearing clothes from the U.S. that will not be washed in a machine for the next two years. I am constantly shooing bugs to get out of my face and my stomach is still out of wack from two days ago because there is something wrong with the rum in this country! I feel like I hear poetry in the words I am writing because ever since I’ve gotten here I’ve actually had time to write it, maybe it’s because there are fewer distractions here.
Tomorrow we leave to the capital and soon we will be sworn-in as Peace Corps volunteers. Training “technically” has been 10 weeks, but really it has only been 8 since the first one didn’t really have any training and this last one was full of presentations, language assessments, good-byes and preparing to get to site. I’ve given presentations on diarrhea, nutrition, reproductive health, sanitizing water, respiratory infections and breastfeeding – all in Malagasy (Betsileo dialect) and in front of people from the community. I’ve killed a chicken, I’ve lived with a Malagasy family who I have really come to love, broken several Malagasy fomba (tradition/culture norms) and been awarded the “Most likely to eat the most Malagasy street food” superlative by my fellow trainees.
All 42 of us have made it through training and all of us will be heading out to our individual sites to be on our own for two years. I am once again terrified. I am scared of leaving all the new friends I have made. I am scared of being the only foreigner in my community. I can only imagine what it is going to feel like to watch the Peace Corps car drive away and I spend my first minutes in what will be my home for the next two years. Yes I will have a community all around me but somehow I will still experience a type of solitude I have Never experienced before… I am nervous about working in the CSB II/commune hospital. I am nervous about my language. I am nervous about what I am going to eat the first week. I have never felt this kind of horrified before.
I recognize there may be some people who are bit worried about me after reading that – maybe even wondering what the hell I’m doing here
. . .
I received a gift from the Women’s Studies department when I graduated. It is a picture of Audre Lorde with a quote:
“When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
Friday, August 20, 2010
, Training, break, Training, lunch, Training, break, Training, dinner and free time
This is my daily schedule during the week. There is a lot of training! In the morning the focus is on language. The first few days was “survival Malagasy” to get through our nights with our homestay families. We have started to learn numbers, bargaining at the market, family, professions and expressing needs. The way PC teaches is really efficient and we’ll be able to communicate pretty well by the end of training. I guess the nice thing about Madagascar is that even though there are something like 10 different dialects all the sentence structure stuff is the same, so all Malagasy understand each other which I guess doesn’t happen in other African countries.
In the afternoons we have technical training. For all the Health trainees out main focus will be women’s and children’s health along with reproductive health in youth. We have been learning a lot about vaccines/immunizations and malnutrition which are big issues here in Madagascar. The sessions can get pretty depressing for me anyway because there issues occur often and can end in death but there are very simple solutions, preventative actions, they can take to avoid them but a lot of people just don’t know about them. Our role is to try closing the gap which hopefully will save many lives.
I have already found out where my site is going to be! I will be in the southeastern highlands. My village is Sahambavy which is just southeast of Fianarantsoa (Fianar for short). Here is what I know about it so far:
-Approximate population: 17,000
-Cold March through August…But I hear it is dry which I really hope it is!
-Spoken dialect: Betsileo. I have already started to learn it rather than standart Malagasy but the switch doesn’t seem to like it will be too difficult.
-I’ll have pretty reliable transportation to Fianar, Tana and Manakara. Taxi-Brousse and train.
-Sahambavy is known for it’s tea industry.
-People come to Sahambavy from Fianar to have picnics. I hear it is really pretty and I am lucky to be placed there!
-My house is one big room, built out of brick and concrete I think. I’ll have a kitchen, latrine, fence, a well (hopefully close) but no electricity which is totally fine.
Next week on Friday we leave to go to our individual site visits! I am actually not sure what that week will look like but I am pretty juiced about it!
In the afternoons we have technical training. For all the Health trainees out main focus will be women’s and children’s health along with reproductive health in youth. We have been learning a lot about vaccines/immunizations and malnutrition which are big issues here in Madagascar. The sessions can get pretty depressing for me anyway because there issues occur often and can end in death but there are very simple solutions, preventative actions, they can take to avoid them but a lot of people just don’t know about them. Our role is to try closing the gap which hopefully will save many lives.
I have already found out where my site is going to be! I will be in the southeastern highlands. My village is Sahambavy which is just southeast of Fianarantsoa (Fianar for short). Here is what I know about it so far:
-Approximate population: 17,000
-Cold March through August…But I hear it is dry which I really hope it is!
-Spoken dialect: Betsileo. I have already started to learn it rather than standart Malagasy but the switch doesn’t seem to like it will be too difficult.
-I’ll have pretty reliable transportation to Fianar, Tana and Manakara. Taxi-Brousse and train.
-Sahambavy is known for it’s tea industry.
-People come to Sahambavy from Fianar to have picnics. I hear it is really pretty and I am lucky to be placed there!
-My house is one big room, built out of brick and concrete I think. I’ll have a kitchen, latrine, fence, a well (hopefully close) but no electricity which is totally fine.
Next week on Friday we leave to go to our individual site visits! I am actually not sure what that week will look like but I am pretty juiced about it!
: Po Corps: I’d give you 10.000 Ariary if you could top this fady..!
Day/Date: Sunday July 25, 2010 (about 4 days into my homestay)
Time: Sometime before dinner, between 6 and 7:30pm
Location: Homestay house/my bedroom
Description: I commit a major Malagasy
So at my homestay we do not have a toilet, we have a kabone. This is a brick structure built around/over a huge hoe dug in the ground. There is a floor built over that too with a much smaller hole, where you do your business…there are pieces of wood or bricks that you use while you squat (balance, aim and thigh strength required) This is behind the house a bit and is only for daytime use.
What do people do at night? --You may ask…
Well since it gets really dark and can get slippery they don’t use the kabone at night but a po instead. A po can be used to spit in after brushing your teeth, it can be used to wash your hands off a bit, it can be used to shave (if you are skilled enough not to spill outside of it) but it’s main use is for #1 and #2! The po is a bucket with a lid. You use it, empty/rinse it out in the morning, let it “air out” during the day and put it in the corner of your room at night.
It is a very personal item…
One night, the night of the 25th, I am studying Malagasy with my host family in the common room. It is starting to get dark and I have to tinkle so I go use the po in my room, and come back to continue studying…
“Knock, knock”
Oh what a surprise! It is our upstairs neighbors…they usually do not come over around that time. They begin to speak Malagasy with my mom and I hear a familiar word…”po”..! Turns out…I brought the wrong po into my room!!
I was mortified!!! They all thought it was hilarious and of course I laughed along with them! Their po was next to my family’s po outside, and it is blue just like mine but in a different shade..! My po was in my Ladosy (shower)… They kept telling my that their po is manga (blue) and that mine is mangamanga (bluish). While I kept trying to ask if I could wash it out before giving it to them, without actually saying I had already used it!!! But that didn’t happen…so they took their po…with my pee in it…
Me = Dumb American. I am so thankful the joke only lasted for 2 days but who knows how many people in out village heard about it!
Time: Sometime before dinner, between 6 and 7:30pm
Location: Homestay house/my bedroom
Description: I commit a major Malagasy
So at my homestay we do not have a toilet, we have a kabone. This is a brick structure built around/over a huge hoe dug in the ground. There is a floor built over that too with a much smaller hole, where you do your business…there are pieces of wood or bricks that you use while you squat (balance, aim and thigh strength required) This is behind the house a bit and is only for daytime use.
What do people do at night? --You may ask…
Well since it gets really dark and can get slippery they don’t use the kabone at night but a po instead. A po can be used to spit in after brushing your teeth, it can be used to wash your hands off a bit, it can be used to shave (if you are skilled enough not to spill outside of it) but it’s main use is for #1 and #2! The po is a bucket with a lid. You use it, empty/rinse it out in the morning, let it “air out” during the day and put it in the corner of your room at night.
It is a very personal item…
One night, the night of the 25th, I am studying Malagasy with my host family in the common room. It is starting to get dark and I have to tinkle so I go use the po in my room, and come back to continue studying…
“Knock, knock”
Oh what a surprise! It is our upstairs neighbors…they usually do not come over around that time. They begin to speak Malagasy with my mom and I hear a familiar word…”po”..! Turns out…I brought the wrong po into my room!!
I was mortified!!! They all thought it was hilarious and of course I laughed along with them! Their po was next to my family’s po outside, and it is blue just like mine but in a different shade..! My po was in my Ladosy (shower)… They kept telling my that their po is manga (blue) and that mine is mangamanga (bluish). While I kept trying to ask if I could wash it out before giving it to them, without actually saying I had already used it!!! But that didn’t happen…so they took their po…with my pee in it…
Me = Dumb American. I am so thankful the joke only lasted for 2 days but who knows how many people in out village heard about it!
Oh diggity I’m in Madagascar! Here’s how it’s going…
As of August 3, 2010:
So I have been in Madagascar for about two weeks now! I met the other 41 trainees in Washington D.C. and had a short orientation. We sat on a plane for about 20hours, stopping in Dakar to refuel and landing in Johannesburg, South Africa for the night. The another 3 hour flight the next morning to Antananariva (Tana for short), Madagascar and stayed a night there. All our training is in a village called Mantasoa. This was a 2ish hour, bumpy as hell, 14 person packed van ride. As soon as we got to Mantasoa (just southeast of Tana) we met our host families and had out first night with them! Tad bit intimidating but we all survived just fine.
My host family:
I live with a woman in her 50’s who I call Neny, which means mom. She farms rice and raises chickens. Her daughter also lives with there. Her name is Nomena, she is 18 and has the same birthday as me! They are both super nice! They teach me their lifestyle here and are eager to help me learn Malagasy. This is their first time hosting a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) and I’m hoping they are having a good experience… I am for sure!
I taught them how to play Go Fish last night. It went over pretty well! Explaining the rules was a bit rocky but we got it and had fun. I tried to explain “beginner’s luck” when Nomena won but my language skills are not quite at that level yet haha I may have to start introducing more games though because we played like 25 rounds tonight…Go Fish is only entertaining for so long!
How about a bit about my lifestyle out here??
Contents of my room:
A desk, a chair, a bed, a mosquito net, a water filter ( I have to treat all the water I drink with a chlorine solution), a trunk for safe keeping, a trash basket, a broom, a bucket for fetching water/showering, a po (see Po Corps blog for a hilarious story) and all the stuff I brought with me from home. It is simple but I have a good amount of space and I have a door directly to the outside. This is nice because I have more “me” space than it seems some other trainees do with doors connected to other rooms in the house.
My daily/weekly activities:
-I eat all three meals with my host family and let them know where I am going/what I am doing. It is interesting being in the family setting again, with people you do not know very well.
-I walk about 300 meters to get water for a shower. The path is sometimes slippery and muddy and I have to carry a bucket full of water back that distance.
-I make my bed every morning and usually sweep my floor too. I use the “brosy” (not sure of the spelling, but it is half a coconut shell) to break up the dirt on the floor first and then sweep it out the door.
-I wash my clothes in a river, and hang them out to dry. It’s pretty cloudy and sometimes rainy/drizzly here right now so it can take 3 days for clothes to dry sometimes. I have to be strategic in what I was since I do not have many clothes.
-Electricity is expensive so we use candles at night.
There is definitely more but I will share that throughout the coming weeks when I get the chance
Thursday, July 15, 2010
T minus 2 days..!!! Did I hear that right??
Yes! I leave Sunday...yeah this Sunday...so there's tomorrow, the day after that and then the next day I leave...!!!!
huh yeah I'm kind of really freaking out. Thank goodness for all of my friends who are calming me down. My old supervisor Jess in particular reminded me of how at this point it is pretty normal to be freaking out - I relaxed for about oh...2.5 seconds and then proceeded to freak out but in a healthy way : ) I feel like I have done a pretty good job of keeping my composure thus far but I am starting to stress pretty good, I'm pretty sensitive today haha my mom keeps asking me to do stuff to get ready for my going away party tomorrow and I got upset because I'm freaking out of course and had to leave so I could cry it out a bit to refocus. And now I am back to being happily freaking out : )
It's so surreal right now...I have a lot to do to get ready but I don't at the same time. I am stressing about stuff but in days that will all just melt away because I am going to be in Africa! I still cannot believe that it is actually happening. I remember when I went up the Peace Corps table to ask the people what is was all about and found out that it actually didn't have anything to do with the military HA! Then talking to the recruiter at CSU who was super nice and told me all about her experience...finding out Jen Johnson (CSU Alt Break Coordinator) had gone which made it that much cooler...making the decision and submitting my application...going to my interview dressed business casual and they were in crocs...getting my medical packet...getting my phone call and invitation to serve and now...now it is 2 days before I get on an airplane and go do what I have been planning and talking about doing for the past year! How does someone even handle that?!
Happy tears accompanied with a happy dance I think will suffice!
I'm going to miss hot showers. Being the wise person that I am I have been gorging on sugar and fat infused foods over the past few month that I am pretty sick of them now and will not be missing them very much..or at least for the next two weeks. Same goes for my family haha ok just my mom hahaha but I love her and all of them so much and I will miss them. I will miss all my friends too, I love them all So much. My dogs, Colorado sunrises, the mountains..I know this will all be here when I get back though. And I know that I will make more friends, they will become family too and I'll find beauty in the sunsets of Madagascar.
I am so unbelievably happy with my life
I'll take the partially shady past, the broken hearts, the fly-shit that annoys me and yes I will give up computers, internet, cell phones, electricity, running water and luxury...I've done this and more and I will continue to knowing that I am doing exactly what is making me happy. That I am going to see the world, see it in ways I cannot predict. I am going to be part of something that is so much bigger than me and so important. Never again will I be the same person as I've been before Sunday. This is going to be...I don't even know how I could put a word to it...it's going to be the Peace Corps!!
(Pause for dramatic effect)
Needless to say, it is getting kind of heavy. I switch from excited to anxious every five minutes and somehow both at the same time. I am picking and choosing what to take with me for the next two years, donating a quarter of all my stuff and packing the rest away into storage. I'm taking books on meditation, it is the closest to religion/spirituality I have gotten and hope it will help me when I need to breathe. I am leaving my most prized possessions to stay safe at home. I keep playing with a lip ring that isn't there and I am getting used to the cheapo earrings that feel nothing like the ones I have worn since I had my ears pierced.
I feel like I am focusing a lot on what I am letting go...which I think is fine and normal but I am going to have to switch it soon and I'm thinking that will happen without me even noticing.
I keep reminding myself:
I applied only after I knew I was committed for the two years
The Peace Corps invited me to serve
I am strong and I can do this
Emotional roller coaster is normal during a transition period
Everyone will be fine while I am gone
"Remember happiness is a way of travel, not a destination."
"The only constant is change."
**Found out that Madagascar has one of the highest rates of volunteers extending their service
huh yeah I'm kind of really freaking out. Thank goodness for all of my friends who are calming me down. My old supervisor Jess in particular reminded me of how at this point it is pretty normal to be freaking out - I relaxed for about oh...2.5 seconds and then proceeded to freak out but in a healthy way : ) I feel like I have done a pretty good job of keeping my composure thus far but I am starting to stress pretty good, I'm pretty sensitive today haha my mom keeps asking me to do stuff to get ready for my going away party tomorrow and I got upset because I'm freaking out of course and had to leave so I could cry it out a bit to refocus. And now I am back to being happily freaking out : )
It's so surreal right now...I have a lot to do to get ready but I don't at the same time. I am stressing about stuff but in days that will all just melt away because I am going to be in Africa! I still cannot believe that it is actually happening. I remember when I went up the Peace Corps table to ask the people what is was all about and found out that it actually didn't have anything to do with the military HA! Then talking to the recruiter at CSU who was super nice and told me all about her experience...finding out Jen Johnson (CSU Alt Break Coordinator) had gone which made it that much cooler...making the decision and submitting my application...going to my interview dressed business casual and they were in crocs...getting my medical packet...getting my phone call and invitation to serve and now...now it is 2 days before I get on an airplane and go do what I have been planning and talking about doing for the past year! How does someone even handle that?!
Happy tears accompanied with a happy dance I think will suffice!
I'm going to miss hot showers. Being the wise person that I am I have been gorging on sugar and fat infused foods over the past few month that I am pretty sick of them now and will not be missing them very much..or at least for the next two weeks. Same goes for my family haha ok just my mom hahaha but I love her and all of them so much and I will miss them. I will miss all my friends too, I love them all So much. My dogs, Colorado sunrises, the mountains..I know this will all be here when I get back though. And I know that I will make more friends, they will become family too and I'll find beauty in the sunsets of Madagascar.
I am so unbelievably happy with my life
I'll take the partially shady past, the broken hearts, the fly-shit that annoys me and yes I will give up computers, internet, cell phones, electricity, running water and luxury...I've done this and more and I will continue to knowing that I am doing exactly what is making me happy. That I am going to see the world, see it in ways I cannot predict. I am going to be part of something that is so much bigger than me and so important. Never again will I be the same person as I've been before Sunday. This is going to be...I don't even know how I could put a word to it...it's going to be the Peace Corps!!
(Pause for dramatic effect)
Needless to say, it is getting kind of heavy. I switch from excited to anxious every five minutes and somehow both at the same time. I am picking and choosing what to take with me for the next two years, donating a quarter of all my stuff and packing the rest away into storage. I'm taking books on meditation, it is the closest to religion/spirituality I have gotten and hope it will help me when I need to breathe. I am leaving my most prized possessions to stay safe at home. I keep playing with a lip ring that isn't there and I am getting used to the cheapo earrings that feel nothing like the ones I have worn since I had my ears pierced.
I feel like I am focusing a lot on what I am letting go...which I think is fine and normal but I am going to have to switch it soon and I'm thinking that will happen without me even noticing.
I keep reminding myself:
I applied only after I knew I was committed for the two years
The Peace Corps invited me to serve
I am strong and I can do this
Emotional roller coaster is normal during a transition period
Everyone will be fine while I am gone
"Remember happiness is a way of travel, not a destination."
"The only constant is change."
**Found out that Madagascar has one of the highest rates of volunteers extending their service
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
A month to go..! Yeah, that's one..one, no longer plural
So I guess technically it is a little less than a month away because I just booked my flight today for my staging (aka orientation) event and I leave July 18th! Oh my gosh! It is in Washington DC! Funnily enough I was actually just out on the East Coast to visit my friend Chris so I have already been to DC, and I was out there once before that to see my friend Jesse too But I am going out there for totally different reasons this time and it is going to be crazy exciting/scary/intense!
What if I got to meet Obama?? That would be so awesome! I'd have to play it chill like "Oh hey Barack, how you doing today?" and "Michelle, ha that's my middle name!" or "How are the girls liking the dog?" Don't worry I'm just kidding, I would totally be respectful...I would actually be completely speechless haha either way the situation is very unlikely but I would have amazing bragging rights if it did ; )
Anyway! The day after I arrive I will be going through an orientation with other volunteers to...well..orient us to life as a trainee. Probably going to be a fair amount of paper work, talking aobut expectations and (dun, dun, dun) shots. Boo. I'm super stoked though! It'll be really exciting to meet other people in the same boat although I am not sure if all of the people at this orientation will be going to Madagascar but I'm sure there will be some at least. Then the day after that I ship out to Madagascar!!! Baaaaaahhhh! What?? It's starting to sink in a tinsy bit what I have gotten myself into, while I am absolutely sure that I still will have absolutely no idea what it will really be like until I wake up my first day there! What a trip! Did I mention the flight is 17 hours and 25 minutes? I have a window seat at least... One stop over in Johannesburg, South Africa and then a 3 hour and 10 minute flight over to Antananarivo, Madagascar. So quite litterally a month from today I will be IN Madagascar, I will be IN my host country of service = (excited) damn!!!
I am reading yet another one of the booklets that Peace Corps provided in my invitation packet that talks about adjusting to staging, training and service. I will say that they provide very realistic expectations which is a bit nerve wracking but I am also sure it will be better than having it all sugar-coated and bail out when you hit some road bumps.
I am trying to practice meditation on my own. I have been figuring that almost Everything that I am accustomed to is going to be gone and I will even have to relearn how to do stuff like how to go to the bathroom (this is what the book is telling me anyway) The ways I normally deal with stress may even be hard to do but I'm thinking meditation can pretty much be done anywhere and it has always been great when I have done it in the past. Plus, not having a spiritual base is really starting to get to me and what has realy fit me the most so far has been yoga and meditation.
A few other things that are going on right now:
I have stopped wearing my contacts/I threw out my last pair. Since running/clean water may not be available and supplies for contacts might be limited they suggest glasses anyway so I ordered a pair of those transition glasses today.
I am procrastinating taking my lip ring out... I've had it for four year... I really like it but they are taboo in Madagascar and not easily hidden thus I must take it out... but I'm getting over being sick right now and I want my body to focus on that rather than closing up the hole in my lip... and Yes... I'm trying to rationalize! On a good note though I am finally going to get my back tattoo finished next Tuesday Yay!!!
Manahoana! Fahasalamana? This means Hello! How are you? in Malagasy. I have been going through the introductory language lessons that the Peace Corps has provided. This language stuff is going to be intense! Good thing I have had language (spanish) classes in the past, I hear it's easier to learn more languages once you have learned one other than your native tongue. I borrowed some French books too, which by the way, French and Malagasy sound nothing alike from what I can tell so it'll be interesting if I have to learn both.
I have decided that instead of being super responsible I am going to keep my options open for an opportunity I may not have again. There is this readjustment stipend that each volunteer gets after their service but they allow you to take money out of that stipend if you need to make monthly payments in at home if you need it. I was going to do this with my student loans, consolidate them and make payments so that can start getting tackled while I am away. But a returned Peace Corps volunteer said he took his stipend and travelled around the world for 6 months after his service. I asked my dad if I should be responsible or not and he said not consolidating my loans wouldn't be irresponsible so I have decided just to deffer them : ) Thanks Dad! Love you!
I have a couple last hurrahs to do in Fort Collins.
My lovely sister is getting married this Saturday (I'm the Maid of Honor).
I get to see my best friend Shannon one more time before I go.
I have a family reunion to go to the day after the wedding.
Need the H1N1 vaccination
Get all my stuff into storage (what a silly concept by the way)
And I need to start figuring out what to pack!
What if I got to meet Obama?? That would be so awesome! I'd have to play it chill like "Oh hey Barack, how you doing today?" and "Michelle, ha that's my middle name!" or "How are the girls liking the dog?" Don't worry I'm just kidding, I would totally be respectful...I would actually be completely speechless haha either way the situation is very unlikely but I would have amazing bragging rights if it did ; )
Anyway! The day after I arrive I will be going through an orientation with other volunteers to...well..orient us to life as a trainee. Probably going to be a fair amount of paper work, talking aobut expectations and (dun, dun, dun) shots. Boo. I'm super stoked though! It'll be really exciting to meet other people in the same boat although I am not sure if all of the people at this orientation will be going to Madagascar but I'm sure there will be some at least. Then the day after that I ship out to Madagascar!!! Baaaaaahhhh! What?? It's starting to sink in a tinsy bit what I have gotten myself into, while I am absolutely sure that I still will have absolutely no idea what it will really be like until I wake up my first day there! What a trip! Did I mention the flight is 17 hours and 25 minutes? I have a window seat at least... One stop over in Johannesburg, South Africa and then a 3 hour and 10 minute flight over to Antananarivo, Madagascar. So quite litterally a month from today I will be IN Madagascar, I will be IN my host country of service = (excited) damn!!!
I am reading yet another one of the booklets that Peace Corps provided in my invitation packet that talks about adjusting to staging, training and service. I will say that they provide very realistic expectations which is a bit nerve wracking but I am also sure it will be better than having it all sugar-coated and bail out when you hit some road bumps.
I am trying to practice meditation on my own. I have been figuring that almost Everything that I am accustomed to is going to be gone and I will even have to relearn how to do stuff like how to go to the bathroom (this is what the book is telling me anyway) The ways I normally deal with stress may even be hard to do but I'm thinking meditation can pretty much be done anywhere and it has always been great when I have done it in the past. Plus, not having a spiritual base is really starting to get to me and what has realy fit me the most so far has been yoga and meditation.
A few other things that are going on right now:
I have stopped wearing my contacts/I threw out my last pair. Since running/clean water may not be available and supplies for contacts might be limited they suggest glasses anyway so I ordered a pair of those transition glasses today.
I am procrastinating taking my lip ring out... I've had it for four year... I really like it but they are taboo in Madagascar and not easily hidden thus I must take it out... but I'm getting over being sick right now and I want my body to focus on that rather than closing up the hole in my lip... and Yes... I'm trying to rationalize! On a good note though I am finally going to get my back tattoo finished next Tuesday Yay!!!
Manahoana! Fahasalamana? This means Hello! How are you? in Malagasy. I have been going through the introductory language lessons that the Peace Corps has provided. This language stuff is going to be intense! Good thing I have had language (spanish) classes in the past, I hear it's easier to learn more languages once you have learned one other than your native tongue. I borrowed some French books too, which by the way, French and Malagasy sound nothing alike from what I can tell so it'll be interesting if I have to learn both.
I have decided that instead of being super responsible I am going to keep my options open for an opportunity I may not have again. There is this readjustment stipend that each volunteer gets after their service but they allow you to take money out of that stipend if you need to make monthly payments in at home if you need it. I was going to do this with my student loans, consolidate them and make payments so that can start getting tackled while I am away. But a returned Peace Corps volunteer said he took his stipend and travelled around the world for 6 months after his service. I asked my dad if I should be responsible or not and he said not consolidating my loans wouldn't be irresponsible so I have decided just to deffer them : ) Thanks Dad! Love you!
I have a couple last hurrahs to do in Fort Collins.
My lovely sister is getting married this Saturday (I'm the Maid of Honor).
I get to see my best friend Shannon one more time before I go.
I have a family reunion to go to the day after the wedding.
Need the H1N1 vaccination
Get all my stuff into storage (what a silly concept by the way)
And I need to start figuring out what to pack!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
My Invitation to serve is for......drumroll please.........!
I received my Invitation Kit about 4 or 5 days after my call from the Peace Corps and it has a Bunch of information in it. The first of which is my assignment:
Country:
Program: Community Health Project
Orientation date: July 19, 2010
I had to read a little booklet about my assignment which included information about the history of the program in
After I accepted my invitation the next step was to send my host country staff an updated/restructured/expanded resume and an aspiration statement to kind of introduce myself. Another step that had to be done as soon as possible was applying for a passport and a visa. The only thing was I still had this whole graduation thing to do! Haha My best friend Shannon flew in the evening that I accepted my invitation and we were pretty busy up until she left a few days later. We hung out with a few friends in Denver that Thursday night she came in, went to one of my other best friend's/roommate's (Lauren) graduation stuff the next day, Lauren and I had a graduation party on Saturday, my graduation ceremony was that evening and my sister, shannon and I went out in old town Fort Collins that night, had my own graduation party at my parent's house on that Sunday, helped my supervisor and drove a student up to the CSU foothills campus on Monday, some wedding dress stuff with Shannon that evening and then Shannon left Tuesday afternoon....whew...busy, busy! So needless to say, I had little time to do Peace Corps stuff.
I just sent in my resume and aspiration statement the last couple days and there is still a lot I have to do before I leave.
1. Move out of my place in Fort Collins and transition into my parent's house. I have lived in the place in Fort Collins ever since moving out of the dorms and I have been there with Lauren the whole time...I have been slowly taking stuff down, packing things and bringing it to my parent;s place and it's been pretty sad...I Love CSU, I Love Fort Collins, I Love my roommates and I Love who I have become in my time there...it will always hold a very special place in my heart and I don't really want to leave but life must go on and my next chapter will be exciting as well.
Now I will be staying with my parents...I love them, I love them very much but it is hard to go back to living with them after 4 years of being away...My mom and I have always driven each other crazy but that's ok, it's only 2 months before I leave. My dad does projects around the house all the time and now that I don't have a lot to do...I am automatically volunteered to help, which is fine, it's only 2 months until I leave. I am also working for my dad and his insulation business for the next couple months, which is dirty work but again, only up until I leave. Ok, ok, it's really not all that terrible. I would rather spend this time with my family and friends than be anywhere else!
2. Get everything (life) in order and tying up loose ends before being gone for two years! This means: packing up all the stuff I want to keep and selling off all the stuff I don't need, paying off debts, figuring out student loan stuff, finishing my tattoo, finishing volunteer hours for an AmeriCorps award and writing appreciation letters. I'm sure there is more but it's just so much I'll just have to make a real list for myself sometime to it all gets done!
3. Prepare for my service. There is the logistical stuff that I will have to do like filling out a bunch of forms and setting up my flight. There will also be a lot of mental preparation. I'm going to be doing a lot of reading and researching (Peace Corps has already provided me with a lot of information and resources) about Africa,
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