Camp Bandro

I finally saw Lac Alaotra which is what my region is famous for aside from all the rice farming. The other PCVs in the area and I arrived on a Friday afternoon and immediately met some German girls who were conducting research in the lake as part of their master’s degree. They were nice enough to take us on a hike up one of the nearby mountains (have I mentioned that my region is completely surrounded by gorgeous mountains?). We enjoyed a beautiful view of the entire lake, nearby commune, and miles of rice fields. However, Lac Alaotra is only about 20% of its original size and is quickly shrinking.

We camped for a night and got up around 4:15 the next morning so we could catch a canoe (with a guide) to see the lake and the Bandro (aka Gentle Bamboo lemur). The lake itself was more of a wetland and had a definite swamp-like smell. However, it did have pretty vegetation including plants I called, ‘Dr. Seuss trees.’ In many places the lake was only centimeters deep and we got stuck a number of times. We did catch a glimpse of the endangered Bandro lemur which was exciting since it is only found on this one lake in Madagascar. It's rarity is largely due to habitat loss. I also watched local Malagasy fish which consisted of swinging a basket back and forth through the water. They must be successful because the fish from Lac Alaotra even reach my site which is one of the farther areas from the lake.

You know you’re a PCV (in the Lac Alaotra region) when:
-the hardest you’ve laughed in country was at shadow puppets
-you’re a talented artist
-you appreciate how hilarious your own jokes are  

Cooking Demos and School Teachings

A few weeks ago I did my first cooking demonstration. I worked with one of the CHWs who also works at the SEECALINE. SEECALINE is an organization which provides education about nutrition for children 5 years and younger. We cooked rice, eggs mixed with a type of leafy green, and bananas. There were about 20 mothers and 30 kids watching me prepare the food all in a small room, and then we cooked outside. I talked about nutrition, safe water treatment, and asked questions about health and priority needs in the community while waiting for the rice to cook. The kids rarely give me any personal space normally, and while I was prepping the food, they crowded so close I could hardly move my arms! I had fun though, and I think everyone enjoyed the food. We’ve scheduled another cooking demo this upcoming week.

Two different teachers asked me to teach a class in the schools within the same week. I taught about proper hand washing in five classes between two fokontany with the help of my CHWs. We played a game in the beginning, learned about the content, and then sang ‘Zaza Manasa Tanana,’ a song about kids washing their hands. I told the kids to sing the song while washing so that they wash their hands long enough, and then to dance to air dry their hands. The kids and teachers all laughed at my dancing but I’m hoping that helps them remember to wash their hands. We had a lot of fun, and the teachers asked me to come back in a few weeks before their school vacation.

You know you’re a PCV when:
-Getting mail is as exciting as Christmas come early

Language

Malagasy 101
-All verbs begins with the letter M
-For past tense, replace the first letter M with N
-For future tense, replace the first letter M with H
-Most nouns begin with F and have an extra NA at the end of the verb

Verb: Mahalalala
Past tense: Nahalalala
Future tense: Hahalalala
Noun: Fahalalalana

This makes a lot of words sound similar which is super confusing for the non-native speaker.
Ex. 1 ‘Bevohoka’ (pregnant) and ‘be vovoka’ (lots of dust). This was more confusing in the CSB setting.
Ex. 2 ‘Mikakakaka’ (to laugh hysterically) and ‘mikaka’ (to poop). Also super confusing.

So I speak Malagasy only, all day every day at my site. I’m slowly getting better but I still speak broken Malagasy. However, few people actually correct my language mistakes so I often don’t know if I’m saying something incorrectly. It’s also frustrating when I’m trying to tell a story and don’t know the key word in Malagasy in the story. Then on the flip side, I often can’t understand the main word in a sentence or question that someone is asking me. I’ll say ‘tsy mazava’ (I don’t understand/it’s not clear), then the person will repeat the exact same sentence very slowly and yelling. I still can’t understand the words you’re saying even when you speak louder. It was also difficult to learn my role in the CSB and understand the paperwork (which some is in Malagasy but mostly in French) and not knowing how to ask my questions in Malagasy.

Despite these frustrations I often hear, ‘Mahay miteny ‘Gasy ianao!’ (You can speak ‘Gasy!) or ‘efa mahay ianao!’ (You already know [Malagasy]). I modestly say, ‘mahay kelikely aho sy mbola mila mianatra!’ (I know a little and still need to study!’ from which I’m always reassured. The Malagasy are very encouraging. Also, I have attained a relatively high level of Malagasy considering the short time I’ve been in country. I took French for 6 years in middle school, high school, and college and I still knew more Malagasy by the end of 2 months of training than French. However, while I can speak conversational Malagasy, I lack vocabulary which is really just memorization and usage. This is where I can fall back on French (many Malagasy are fluent in French- the school and hospital systems are all in French) and I’m surprised with the French vocabulary I do remember (I whipped out the French word for ruler the other day. Seriously, I could remember ‘regle’ but I couldn’t remember how to factor when studying for the GRE!?’ However, since many Malagasy are fluent and speak French to me (often with me unsure which language they are speaking). My French is so poor that I tell them I don’t know any.

Many people have requested English lessons from me. I plan to start an English club in August, and if the number of people who have asked me for lessons show up, I will easily be teaching over 100 people. There are two people in particular who come to my house 1-2 times per week to ask me English questions. One is a teacher who wants to learn English well enough to teach it in the schools. They already know English pretty well and it’s always nice to give my brain a break from Malagasy. They are reading a high school science book making their English questions hard! I have to try and explain words like ‘fossil fuels’ in a mixture of English and Malagasy. They are also reading an English book and have questions regarding phrases such as ‘I am crushed,’ or ‘street punk.’ Also difficult to explain in my limited Malagasy.

But really, I enjoy speaking Malagasy because I never thought I would be fluent (using that word loosely) in another language. I watched ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ the other week with some other volunteers. At one point the main character is in Italy and her friend orders a coffee in impressive Italian while claiming she’s only been learning for 6 weeks. We all completely scoffed at how much Italian she knew so easily. But then again, maybe that’s how we sound to people who can’t speak any Malagasy?

You know you’re a PCV when:
-You’re not sure which language you just spoke, ‘Was that Malagasy, French…or Spanish?’
-Your English is gradually getting worse.

Deliveries and Dancing and Weddings

So in one week I watched three births…out of nine! I just quietly stood in the back and hoped no one asked me to do anything. The first birth was a difficult one, although what delivery isn’t? I’m not sure how many hours the woman was in labor but once she started pushing, the baby was out within 45 minutes. The midwife delivered the baby in her regular street clothes and flip flops. The friends and family of the woman were changing buckets of water and cloths…while barefoot. There was no option of an epidural and if the mother needed an emergency cesarean section, she would have had to get a taxi to the banking town which is 2-3 hours away. There were some difficulties when the baby came out as he wasn’t breathing. The doctor stepped in and worked his magic for a few tense minutes until the baby finally opened his eyes and began to cry. The baby weighed in at a healthy 5.1 kg! The other two births I watched went much smoother and were both girls. Also, none of the women made a single noise during their labor. I felt bad watching in the corner but the family would joke with me about how big my eyes were as I watched. There have been births since that week but have taken place at night or when I’m at my fokontany. I’m sure I’ll see plenty more in my two years.

One Sunday when I was attending church, I got called up front. I didn’t realize I was called up until the nice family I was sitting with urged me to stand up. I shook my head and said I was embarrassed-there were over 300 people there! The pastor called up the elderly to pay respect and then finally someone came and pulled me up front. As soon as I stood, everyone clapped and thanked me for my service. The pastor handed me the microphone. I paused for a minute and took a deep breath before speaking. I introduced myself and explained my purpose…in Malagasy…in front of 300 people. Then they put on music and had me dance with the elderly people! All I kept thinking was, ‘Now dance for us!’ The rest of the week, all the community members told me how they either watched my performance or heard about it. They did tell me how happy they were to see me dance with the other Malagasy and I just hope they were laughing with me, not at me.

I recently attended a Malagasy wedding. It worked out because I met the couple on a Monday afternoon, was invited to the wedding on Tuesday morning which took place on that Friday. I attended the wedding with my doctor, pharmacist, and one of the midwives. However I was very confused because they kept telling me that the wedding wouldn’t take place until August and they would throw another fete then. What took place on the Friday was the sorotra or civil marriage. Everyone was still wearing wedding attire, the pastor attended and spoke for a while, everyone ate lunch, and there was dancing. At one point the DJ announced that I would dance in front of everyone. I thought, ‘what!? Not alone!’ So two young girls danced with me for a few songs while everyone giggled at my moves. When I sat down, I was assured that I was ‘mahay mandihi’ (good at dancing). I’m going to have to get over this fear of dancing in front of people quick (I know I was a dance teacher but this is not choreographed jazz dancing!).

You know you’re a PCV when:
-You’ve literally swept chickens out of your yard
-On beautiful, sunny days you think, ‘What a perfect day for laundry!’

Spare Time

In the beginning especially volunteers tend to have a fair amount of spare time. People choose to spend their free time in many different ways getting more creative as time goes on I imagine. I choose to spend my free time reading and cooking. I’ve read 15 books in the six week at site making 20 books since arriving in country. Originally my goal was to read 100 books during my service. That may not be too impressive for some but I probably only read 10 books in a year prior to the Peace Corps. However, I’ve since upped my goal to 120…then to 150… then maybe to 200 judging by how quickly I’m finishing books. I’ve added a running list to my blog as a side note if anyone’s interested and I’m open to any book suggestions!

I also spend the majority of my time cooking, thinking about what I’m going to cook, or going to the market to buy what I need to cook. I’ve always liked cooking-mostly baking-but in the States I was too impatient or lazy. My meals were quick and easy-bowl of cereal, apple and peanut butter, mac and cheese, or else I would pick up food that was already ready to eat. I rarely cooked despite having an entire kitchen, oven, four stovetop burners, and all kinds of kitchen utensils (orange peeler anyone?). I can’t wait to have an entire kitchen when I get back to the States, and I plan to fill it with even more utensils (I dream about the day that I own a garlic mincer). However, that is not my reality now. I’m extremely lucky to have a separate kitchen and a stove with two burners. Most Malagasy in my community have 1-2 pots that sit on three bricks and an open fire beneath (hopefully outside!). So everyone is impressed with my stove top and gas tank when they come over. I have plans of making an oven eventually (giant pot, sand and 3-4 empty cans) but I’m still collecting supplies.

I try a new recipe almost every time I cook but my meals mostly consist of pasta and sauce (spaghetti, creamy spinach, spicy fresh tomato), (rice (curry fried rice, Spanish rice, leek and potato risotto), soup (tomato, potato and cheese), or bread and dip (guacamole, hummus). Everything is made from scratch of course and on average takes me an hour to cook. My lazy meal is a scrambled egg sandwich with green onions and tomatoes, with carrots on the side. The Malagasy think my cooking is crazy and are surprised every time I tell them what I’m making. However, there isn’t word I know of for spice so when they ask what I’m making, I say, “rice with green peppers and tomatoes.” They say, “That’s it?” click their tongue disapprovingly, and say “I’ll teach you how to cook.” What I can’t translate is that I add cumin*, cayenne pepper, and garlic salt to make it more flavorful. The conversation ends with me saying, “mahafantatra aho fa hafahafa” (“I know it’s/I’m weird).

*Cumin is one of my favorite things I packed and become somewhat of a prized possession.

 You know you’re a PCV when:
-You know how to make an oven out of a pot, sand and cans
-You impress people by telling them you’re cooking rice that day. Side note-people sometimes show off to me how much rice they can eat, ‘I eat 2 kapoaka (can sized amount) of rice for lunch!” As a reference point I eat about ¼ kapoaka of rice every few days. The Malagasy really love their rice!