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
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