Blogs from Madagascar, Africa - page 24

Well that was an epic! 2 days later I am finally in Diego and have met the team I will be working with, thankfully they both seem really nice, could be a nightmare if we didnt get on, going to be stuck in the jungle together for months at a time! Spent this morning in the capital Antananarivo (Tana) sorting out visa stuff, it is a surprisingly beautiful place, Im told that is a recent transformation though. It is so wonderful to be back in Africa, although this is very different from Malawi, the poverty is nowhere near as widespread or desperate. And here in Diego every other person is white, male and has a local "girlfriend", and so far no kids have come racing after me shouting mzungu. Cant wait to get to the jungle, ... read more

Dear friends, I have been living in Tsarazaza for 2 weeks now, hardly enough to tell you anything. But I'd love to invite you all to a typical day in my life...Mazatoa! Sun rises around 4:20am. The town slowly awakens while I lie in bed hoping to sleep for just a few more hours! Around 6:30 I begin to rouse myself and open the shutters to the shiny world of Tsarazaza. If people are out and about, they call out "Salama o!" to me, and a few feel compelled to tell me I am "Natory atoandro ianao" (sleeping till noon). I go about the house doing some small morning chores: put up the mosquito net, make my bed and bid adieu to the fleas until the evening hours, take my Po to the kabone and empty ... read more

Not much else to say besides...I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer! I swore in this morning at 9:30, had a lovely afternoon at the Ambassador's house, chill afternoon, got caught in a torrential downpour, ate some amazing Indian food for dinner, and went out dancing! Who could ask for a better day? Not this girl...... read more

there is a chameleon on the ceiling...i'm assuming he's eating the mosquitos that could potentially provide me with malaria. i have had fivalanana 9 times today. (that's diarrhea for all you non-'Gasy speakers) jack's playing on i-tunes. i'm swearing in as an official pcv in 5 days. i ate indian food tonight, and i think it's the most flavor i have experienced in 2 months. in one week, i'll be living in a village...all alone...with 200 malagasy "best friends" :) i'm not sure what to think about it. training has been grueling. but it's vita now. i'm glad, even though i feel miserable. i'm looking forward to the change, but it's well...what's the word? intimidating? i'm moving to a village in the middle of nowhere with only 2 months of 'Gasy language behind me (mbola tsy ... read more

1. dirt is stickier in 3rd world countries 2. i can go to bed at 8pm—and i’m even tired at that time! 3. mud huts are not as romantic as i imagined…nor are mud kabones 4. i am not an abstract learner 5. cockroaches make a lot of noise crawling over your belongings in the middle of the night 6. i have more stuff than i thought—even though “i didn’t bring enough” 7. getting mail is like the best birthday ever 8. you can gain weight even though your main diet consists of rice (ahem…Bolos) 9. it’s good to pee in a bucket at night because there is a witch (clearly…why don’t we do this in america? Oh…right…we have toilets! i forgot!) 10. it is impossible to describe the moon in madagascar… 11. it is ... read more

There is much news! I have just returned from a site visit to Tsarazaza. I am halfway through training, and I have to say that putting site visit in the middle of all the intensity of training is very good. So, the previous Tuesday I took off for Tsarazaza on a very long uncomfortable taxi-brousse ride with my counterpart, Dokotera Rija. We arrived in Fandriana where I was heartily greeted by Vola and Voangy, a very friendly couple who own a hotel there. They are friends of PCVs and very warm and welcoming. They discovered I don't much like meat and went to work preparing me some amazing vegetable loaka. Meanwhile, Rija worked on convincing me to eat meat---and I did! I ate brouchettes, which are like little beef shish-kabobs. They're excellent! Broke the "no red ... read more

Manakory o! Where does one begin? I'm in Madagascar! I live in a little village called Alarobia (meaning Wednesday, because that's when we have market). I spend the majority of my days in language training or "technical classes"---learning about malaria, immunizations, safe motherhood, etc. I am currently with my training group still--sans two members who have "ETed" already. Alarobia is near Ambatomanga which provides a venue for nice hikes and wonderful cheese factories. The cheese is fabulous, and rumor is a man from Wisconsin came to teach the people how to make cheese! We really have little time to hang out, however, because we train all day, and must be "home" before dark, circa 6:30pm. But our families are lovely and helpful. I have a brother, Tendry (10), and sister, Tahiry (13), and of course mother ... read more

As I'm typing this up, I'm just hearing news of the bomb blasts in London. As you may know, I'm a Brit. It looks as if a lot of people could have been killed. My sympathies are obviously with all those who have suffered. There's not a lot you can say in the face of horror. At the end of the last blog I rather played down how ill I was feeling. In fact, I was shitting liquid and felt like death warmed up. As I result, I lost a few days feeling unwell, which means that I haven't visited as many places in Madagascar as I intended. Eventually, I decided to do something about my illness. I went to a chemist and bought Ciprofloxacine, which is a powerful and expensive anti-biotic over the counter. All ... read more

I’ve always wanted to see a baobab in real life. I think it’s a Petit Prince thing. I just like saying Baobab in a corny French accent. Or to the tune of the Maoman biscuit ad jingle. So this is me in Madagascar, living the dream. On the whole I loved that country, despite the fact that it was so hot I sincerely considered shaving my head every single morning. Which takes me to something I found quite interesting: in more rural areas a lot of people felt the need to come up and touch my head. Not in an aggressive way or anything, they’d be giggling the whole time. It was like they were daring each other to do it. I couldn’t understand why until I was told that so many people have never seen ... read more