one month down, 26 to go

Greetings,

So I have almost made it through my first MONTH here in Madagascar. I can't believe it. it seems very very surreal. I am sitting in the MEVA house right now, which is the PC transit house in Tana, hanging out until I leave tomorrow morning to go visit my site. YAY!!! I can't wait to see what it looks like. My site is Faratsiho (that may not be exactly how you spell it, but its close enough), which is in the central highlands and about 5 hours, i think, from Tana. I will blog about my trip there as soon as possible, since thats where I will be for the next 2 years!

the last few days we have been at the PC training center in Mantasoa, where we have been experiencing what other PCers before us dubbed "Camp Peace Corps". the site is huge, with dorms, a mess hall, a tv room, a library and canoes, which yes I did go out on, though we are not allowed to swim in the lake, due to these foot snail things that can give you a clubfoot if you don't treat it fast enough. We have gotten great meals, from fried chicken to lasagna to, of course, rice, though all the PCers steered clear of the rice. I have pretty much lounged around for the last 2 days, since people have been going to Tana in stages and I was in the last car of people going. its been great. I got to talk to Brian for an hour, watched a few movies, played my first game of hearts not on a computer, played scrabble and took long walks. its been a great few days and a nice break after all the training we have had. We do always go to the training center on Thursdays, so we will get to return there sooner rather then later. on that note, every time I go to the PCTC I have to get a shot. I have gotten 3 rabies shots, a southern hemisphere flu shot, a meningitis shot, a typhoid shot and other things that I can even remember right now. and I was one of the people with the most complete vaccine records. others are getting yellow fever and polio boosters and hep A & B and tetanus shots. its madness!

Language class has been moving along. I took my first assessment the other day and I am at novice high, which is right where I should be. I have to get to intermediate mid before training is over so I have some studying to do. My EDU tech sessions have only been ok. There are people in EDU that ask a lot of unnecessary questions and talk way to much and its very frustrating. Also the tech sessions have not been going as I would have liked, in terms of what im learning, so thats also been a little frustrating as well. I am hoping they get better once we get back from site visits, since we will actually be starting to mock teach, which is really scary but very useful. from what i've heard, PC host families are the people we are going to be doing all our mock teaching in front of, so it will be a lot more nerve wrecking that way.

I am doing well, health-wise. I have only had one cold so far, which I think was brought on by my typhoid shot, since i got a fever from that. no weird stomach bugs yet, knock on wood, though a lot of people have had those stomach bugs and i am praying i don't catch any, though i know at some point i will. "double dragon" is our new term for real bad stomach issues that require both ends of your body to be used as exit points. a little graphic for this blog i know, but i just wanted to let everyone know. I miss everyone, of course, but i know that each day that goes by brings me closer to seeing everyone again. I have NOT received any letters from anyone yet (though in fairness I know that brian has sent me 3 and my parents at least 2 they just haven't arrived yet) so get on that! If you want to get a piece of mail from me, send me something with your address clearly visible so i can write back.

I definitely have a lot of stories, some appropriate to blog about, others not so much, but do know that I am having fun. Mantasoa has been a muddy hole since we got here, which has lead to lots of falling in rice paddies and into muddy roads, but it looks like summer is coming so that will be good. A fire broke out at the PCTC this week while we were there, which caused a lot of excitement. the fire started in chimney, while a bunch of us were in a big room doing our nails and cutting hair, and we were all told to run toward the fire, which we thought was odd till it was brought to out attention that there isn't a fire dept and everyone has to help put fires out. I didn't contribute anything, since it was a little fire and there were boys dealing with it already, but it was interesting to watch. I also went canoeing, like I mentioned earlier, which was a ton of fun. I didn't really have to paddle, since i was in the middle seat, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the boat ride. thats how I like to canoe. we also went to a famindhana, which is a turning of the bones. basically once every like, 7 years a family breaks into their ancestors tombs and takes the bones out, dances with them, then re-wraps them and puts them back in the tomb. this is all accompanied by lots of drinking and dancing. 2 girls from the village passed out, though to be fair im not sure if it was b/c of the alcohol or the emotions of the event, since women really aren't supposed to drink here (and no I haven't been really following that culture norm). it was really interesting to see. there is a big party at night, which we couldn't go to, but i saw them take the bodies out and dance with them. never thought I would see that, but they do it to celebrate those who've died, which is cool.

I don't really have much else to say right now. life is good and everything is going well with my host family. My oldest sister had her 16th bday on monday, and boy are those different. they didn't really do anything special or different. i bought a big coke for all of us to share and my host mom made some bread thing we had never had before and thats it. I didn't see any presents and she still had to do all the normal chores and things. It wasn't a big deal, her birthday. let me see anything else...... I want to thank Brian for typing out my last blog. I had a horrible time getting on the Internet the last time we were in Tana and I had to send my blog post to him as an attachment to post and then, of course, it wouldn't copy and paste so he had to type the whole thing. Thank you so much sweetie! my dog can now swim, which is good, and my bro just moved to West Hollywood, just to give you an update on family life (so bro, send me a letter with your new address). I have been eating mofo (bread) and chocolate like its nobodies business. they have these great mofo balls, doughnut-y things, and i eat them all the time. not to mention my phone is sucking up my ariary ariary like mad (thats the money) with my texting to the USA. (I am only texting Brian and my parents so send me texts all you like just don't expect me to text back, though little texts about the world and whats going on would be much appreciated). all in all thats my life. Veloma!!!!!!

PS. Still no lemurs. boo!!!!