So before I get to the coup, a few things to say first...
Happy Thanksgiving all my American Friends! i hope you ate some turkey and drank some beer for me. i had to work so no Turkey for me. plus I wouldnt even know where to go to find turkey in my town. im not even sure if there is turkey. so instead I went italian and had pasta. what can you do?
Next CONGRATULATIONS to my Eric, my bro, and Becca for getting into Teach For America. Its so awesome that you got in (though i didnt have any doubts about you getting in) and am excited you are both going to do it. keep me updated on how its going and what you have to do.
so on to the coup. last Wednesday, which i think was the 17th, MAD had an referendum election for a new constitution. key changes were the lowing of the age to be president (the current one is 36 and you are supposed to be 40. he took control during the last coup so of course he wants to be eligible to actually run for president when there are elections) and the 6 month rule, which means you have to live in the country for 6 months prior to the election (which makes the former pres, the one ousted in the coup, ineligible cause he isnt here and if he comes back, he will be arrested and serve the rest of his life in prison). anyhoo a group of soldiers decided that they didnt like the new constitution so they hold up in an army barrack by the airport and stated that they had taken over the governement, were dissolving/halting government institutions and forming a military committee to run the government for now. what happened next you ask? nothing. absolutly nothing from a operational standpoint. people in my town had no idea there was a coup, or if they did, dismissed it as a little coup that was all tanas problem. I still had school to teach and everything ran smoothly. The end result of the coup? the 20 military people were arrested after other military stormed the barracks and at no time was I in danger. it was basically a lot of smoke. boring! hehehe
that was the big event since last time I blogged. teaching is going ok. i love my 2nde class and 2 out of my 3 6eme classes. I think the third 6eme class is actively trying to give me an ulcer. They are never quiet, goof around all the time, and love to tattletale on each other. my angry voice has come out more times then I would have liked and next semester had better be better or they are really not going to like me. i will start moving kids around, sending them to the office and docking points from their tests. shits about to get real for them if they dont start listening. They are by oldest 6eme class so maybe that contributes. who knows. i just know that i dread teach there class cause it takes so much out of me.
I did give all my classes a quiz recently, which was fun. I caught 10 cheaters in my 6eme classes but none in my 2nde. my 2nde students did pretty well, for the most part. Here its just passing or failing. ABCD doesnt matter, at least as far as I can tell, and more people passed then failed in my 2nde class. the same can not be said for my 6eme. most of them failed and i gave them that test on a silver platter. i had a review the class before where i gave them the entire test and more then 50% still failed. they really just dont care. at least thats the theory Im going with, since i hand feed them the test. I have to give the 6eme kids their final next week (which i didnt know till this last thusrday. the last day of school in dec 18, according to the MAD govt and we are ending 2 weeks early. absolutely no idea why) so we shall see how that goes. thay donùt have that much material to review so they should do ok. SHOULD being the key word. im not holding my breath. I give my 2nde kids their final next week, since i have to miss the last week of school for out IST (inter service training).
I am getting excited about IST. i cant wait to see everyone and trade stories. also to just chill with other Americans. i am supposed to be going to the beach for xmas, so that will be fun. it will be a good chance to even out the tan lines i have from my socks. nothing else is really going on right now, besides school. I am tutoring 2 different woman. ones a teacher at a private school and we usually just chat. the 2nd is a university student on break right now, who really isnt that good. i am tutoring her as a favor to my counterpart. we spend a lot of time on vocab and things like that. i made pancakes for the doctors family one friday and they loved it. it was really fun to cook american food for them. ummmm been on a lot of walks, cooked a lot of food, and planned out a lot of lessons. thats it!
i will be coming back into town on Dec 9th so if you have news send it by then. i will be checking my email and hanging out. I miss you all (and america) and will talk to you soon!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Kids be fightin already. Oi Vey
FaratsihoGreetings one and all! and no you didnt read that title wrong. I have already had one incident of hitting in my 6eme class. FML. anyway more on that in a second...
so I am in Antsirabe for the night to bank. I thought i was going to be able to get my debit card today but nooooooo. i have to get it in Tana, since thats where i signed up, even though PC had told us we would get it at our sites. so know i have to deal with the stupid checkbook, which i have to do all in french, for another 6 weeks til i go back to Tana. yuck. it takes forever to get out money with the checks. good thing i always have reading ,aterial on me or i may have lost it. then it was off to the post office, lunch (which took a ridiculously long time. they must have had a turtle making the food) and then to our hotel for some R&R. after this, its off to the grocery store. so exciting i know :)so this was my first full week of teaching and i would have to say it went well, minus the hitting thing. I love my 2nde class. they are smart, laugh along aith me when i goof up, and are willing to try new things. I think we are going to get along well. right now, we are reviewing the simple present grammer tense, greetings, and question words. fun times. my 6eme classes on the otherhand, are very hit or miss, depending on the class, the time of day, and what stage the moon is in. I consitently have to tell them to be quiet and I have my fair share of jokers who like to repeat everything i say, especially ahen i say things like 'silence' or 'be quiet'. one kid likes to say 'fermer la brouche' which means close your mouth in french (though i may have misspelled that). the classes are split roughly along age and the class with the joker is the oldest class. they cause me the most trouble, but not that much more. and we are only in week one so we will see what happens. my angry voice has made an apperance multiple times already. these kids are going to shave years off my life i swear. oh not to mention the CEG switched my schedule again so mow i teach there Tues morns from 730-1130, wed morn 930-1130 and kept the thurs 130-430. they are so disorganized. so the hitting....
The CEG
The Lycee
so I am in Antsirabe for the night to bank. I thought i was going to be able to get my debit card today but nooooooo. i have to get it in Tana, since thats where i signed up, even though PC had told us we would get it at our sites. so know i have to deal with the stupid checkbook, which i have to do all in french, for another 6 weeks til i go back to Tana. yuck. it takes forever to get out money with the checks. good thing i always have reading ,aterial on me or i may have lost it. then it was off to the post office, lunch (which took a ridiculously long time. they must have had a turtle making the food) and then to our hotel for some R&R. after this, its off to the grocery store. so exciting i know :)so this was my first full week of teaching and i would have to say it went well, minus the hitting thing. I love my 2nde class. they are smart, laugh along aith me when i goof up, and are willing to try new things. I think we are going to get along well. right now, we are reviewing the simple present grammer tense, greetings, and question words. fun times. my 6eme classes on the otherhand, are very hit or miss, depending on the class, the time of day, and what stage the moon is in. I consitently have to tell them to be quiet and I have my fair share of jokers who like to repeat everything i say, especially ahen i say things like 'silence' or 'be quiet'. one kid likes to say 'fermer la brouche' which means close your mouth in french (though i may have misspelled that). the classes are split roughly along age and the class with the joker is the oldest class. they cause me the most trouble, but not that much more. and we are only in week one so we will see what happens. my angry voice has made an apperance multiple times already. these kids are going to shave years off my life i swear. oh not to mention the CEG switched my schedule again so mow i teach there Tues morns from 730-1130, wed morn 930-1130 and kept the thurs 130-430. they are so disorganized. so the hitting....
The CEGThe hitting incident happened in my middle class, which is just a little bit older then they should be for the grade. I didnt see it happen, unfortunatly. i always walk around the room, to see how they are doing and the boy hit the girl when i was passed his row and was looking at the people across from him. i start to go down his row and i see this commotion so i go up and ask what happened. i got that the girl had been hit (in the face with a ruler if i understood correctly) but they pointed at 2 different boys, so i took both of them, plus the girl, to the office, cause my malagasy is not good enough to deal with that. plus the school has a lady whos job it is to discipline people. the girl and one of the boys eventually came back, but the one boy was still sitting in the office over an hour later when i finished teaching.
The LyceeThis week i also did a lot of cooking, making my english muffins and pasta a lot. and
looked through bridal mags! (thanks Jenn)! if anyone else wants to send me some bridal mags i am having a blast planning and thinking about different things (dont worry brian we will talk it all out. i just have ideas.) also any PB m&ms anyone wants to send my way would be much appreciated. oh and brown sugar. theres none here and my oatmeal just deosnt taste the same! well thats it for now. i will be checking my e-mail and posting again Turkey day weekend. Miss everyone!
Friday, October 22, 2010
A few updates till next week
so i have a few minutes of internet and i wanted to relay a few things
1. i had my first taxi brousse break down yesterday (some tire issue), so a 3 hour ride became like a 5 hour ride. not to mention we sat for an hour in the actually taxi brousse station waiting to leave and then had to stop and pick up dried fish on our way out of town. joy. Anyway I officially do not like the Tana taxi brousse station, not because of the broken taxi brousse but because they are so pushy. They kept trying to grab my bag and hustle me into a car. oh and they tried to swindle me. Not a happy camper by the end.
2. a few more wish list items: Brown sugar (for oatmeal), hand sanitzer, lotion (it is super dry here and i look like an alligator), reeses peanut butter cups, bbq sauce (especially wendys bbq sauce) and thats it for now on the wish list front
3. thank you to everyone who sent me a package or letter. I picked up everything that has arrived yesterday. If you sent a pacakage after Oct 1 i probably didnt get it but everything else i did. I got letters from like oct 5th. Send everything to the new address!
4. Happy birthday to all my OCT bdays: Katie, Kathy, Troy, Kyle, Zach, Blair, Tali, Ryan, Brittany, Sam and anyone else i forgot
5. I will be checking email next fri so if you have something to send do it by thursday night your time!
Peace!
1. i had my first taxi brousse break down yesterday (some tire issue), so a 3 hour ride became like a 5 hour ride. not to mention we sat for an hour in the actually taxi brousse station waiting to leave and then had to stop and pick up dried fish on our way out of town. joy. Anyway I officially do not like the Tana taxi brousse station, not because of the broken taxi brousse but because they are so pushy. They kept trying to grab my bag and hustle me into a car. oh and they tried to swindle me. Not a happy camper by the end.
2. a few more wish list items: Brown sugar (for oatmeal), hand sanitzer, lotion (it is super dry here and i look like an alligator), reeses peanut butter cups, bbq sauce (especially wendys bbq sauce) and thats it for now on the wish list front
3. thank you to everyone who sent me a package or letter. I picked up everything that has arrived yesterday. If you sent a pacakage after Oct 1 i probably didnt get it but everything else i did. I got letters from like oct 5th. Send everything to the new address!
4. Happy birthday to all my OCT bdays: Katie, Kathy, Troy, Kyle, Zach, Blair, Tali, Ryan, Brittany, Sam and anyone else i forgot
5. I will be checking email next fri so if you have something to send do it by thursday night your time!
Peace!
so 2 MAD army get in my taxi brousse with AK-47's....
Yep thats right. 2 army men rode in my taxi brousse for about 30 minutes and they were fully equipped with the weaponry. on the plus side, no one messed with us, but no one had been messing with us so really its a moot point. kathy, another PCV with me, hearts skipped a beat but she later recovered. and that was my morning. on to other news...
I have been at site now for basically month and I am still not fully used to everything. I am still getting into the routine of early mornings and early evenings, bargaining for food, not going outside after its dark and peeing in a hole (which, when your kabone [bathroom in Malagasy] hole is as small as mine, presents some difficulty in the aiming department), though it is nice to be able to go to the bathroom in my kabone at night, since mines close by, as in its in my backyard.
My house is slowly starting to come together. I have a couch and a love seat, though they are not American sized. People are smaller here so my couch and love seat are smaller. I have to get cushions/foam for them, so they are comfy to sit on, but they aren’t too bad right now. I have 3 tables, one I use as a table, one as a desk and one to put all my dishes etc on. I have a nifty cooking stand, with shelves underneath for food, which I love. It’s the perfect height for me and makes life so much easier. I have a bed (duh) and shelves built into the wall for my clothes. I have an indoor ladosy (shower), which now has a shower curtain up. Yay! The carpenter had to come and make a frame to hold the curtain but it was worth it (the carpenter was a hassle though. He was a week and a half late on the shower, couch and sofa. Good thing it wasn’t essential). I also have 4 chairs and 2 paintings. Plus a partridge in a pear tree. Syke! My house is big, nice, has electricity and I love it. It will be just fine for the next 2 years.
The outside of my house with my new fence
The front room of my house
The front room of my house
my bedroom/second room
I have become quite a cook since I’ve been here (pretty much because I’ve had to or starve) and I really enjoy cooking. I have made pancakes, English muffins, spaghetti (I made the sauce from scratch too. Im the next Guy Fieri), home fries, scrambled eggs, fried rice, mac and cheese, “reeses” peanut butter balls, tuna burgers, fries, pounded my own peanut butter and coffee, and have made multiple times a delicious banana/pineapple fruit salad. I am going to buy enough ingredients to make more dessert things, like fudge, oatmeal, no bake cookies and lots of other stuff. PC gave us a cookbook which is how I know how to make all this stuff, though the spaghetti sauce was created with the cookbook and trial and error. Brian and I will not be lacking in the food department when we finally live together, since he’s learning how to make different foods too. I haven’t tried anything that an oven, cause I don’t have one, nor have I tried anything with a long ingredient list, but that will come. I do know that I will never not make pancakes from scratch again. They are just too good when you make them yourself. Plus, I love adding a splash of vanilla to them. Makes them even more nummy! Also fun fact I now like yogurt. In fact I have a yogurt lady! I go to her pretty much every day, cause then I don’t have to worry out not getting my calcium. If anyone knows of any good recipes that you make in a frying pan and that’s easy send them my way!
So from the time I got to site (which was September 23rd, though my first full day alone wasn’t until sept 26th) till October 18th I had nothing to do but cook and read and watch movies and take 2 hour walks (yep that’s right. I literally had nothing to do/was so bored that I voluntarily took 2 hour walks, which happened about 5 times a week. And the real crazy part is that I want to continue to take 2 hour or longer walks once school starts cause it’s the only way I get exercise. Plus I eat a lot of peanut butter and nutella and I have to work that off somehow). I have made it through 2 seasons of Friends, countless movies, and have explored all the major roads leading in and out of town. I have found some beautiful views and I lost my watch, which is a bummer, but my mom is going to send me a new one. Kathy and I hung out a lot, going back and forth between our sites and my site mate showed up a week after I got there. Its been going pretty well, better than I expected. Its nice to have someone to speak English with and to share the stares. Though some days I just like being by myself. I have read quite a few books since I last posted and here they are…
The Wild Things
Bacchus and Me
The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, book 1
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Chuck Klosterman IV (which I forgot to put on my list last time)
The Last Templar
Cutting for Stone
Sh*t My Dad Says
The Immortal Life of Henreitta Lacks
Bite Me: A Love Story
School was supposed to start on Oct 11th, or so I thought, but no, I was wrong. Well it did sorta start on the 11th, but more on that in a second. I am teaching mostly 6eme, 3 classes worth, on Mon, Tues and Thurs from 1:30-5:30, but I am also teaching a class of 2nde (which is 10th grade) Mon 9-11 and Wed 7-8 (also fun story. They originally told me that I was teaching 4 classes of 6eme, which is why I am only teaching one class of 2nde. I only found out there was 3 classes of 6eme, not 4, when I went to find out where the 4th 6eme class met and they told me that there wasn’t a 4th class of 6eme. Needless to say I was really confused for about 5min then was like oh well. I do feel a wee bit bad, since I know that the lycee wanted me to teach another class of 2nde, which I couldn’t do when I thought I had 4 classes of 6eme. Now its too late, since school already stared). I had to go to the CEG (the middle school) at 7:30am on Monday the 11th, for what I wasn’t sure. I showed up and was stared at by all the kids. That was to be expected though. I could not tell you for the life of me what happened for the first 2 hours I was there. The kids eventually started to move around, out of there lines, and around 8:45 these 3 girls came over to talk to me and ask me questions. They were 3eme students, so they knew a little English. They would ask me questions in English and I would answer in Malagasy. Well, their coming over to talk to me was the straw that broke the camels back. All of a sudden, a stampede of kids rushed over to where I was standing, not to talk to me, but to stare at me. For an hour this went on, with them staring and me smiling uncomfortably, with the occasional brave soul piping up to ask me the same set of questions: whats your name, where are you from, do you have any brothers, how old are you. Yada yada yada. None of the teachers came to rescue me, even though they were standing 10 feet from me. Finally, at 9:45am, all the teachers got called into a teachers meeting so I got to make my escape. Then, for the next 90min, I once again had no idea what was going on, since it was all in Malagasy. I introduced myself then whoosh, incomprehension.
I had to go to the high school, the Lycee, on the 12th, which went a wee bit better. I actually talked to the teachers more, and one guy, Mister Eddy, spoke very good English, which was a plus. I had to introduce myself again and then the teachers talked for awhile, then all of a sudden, there was a rush for the blackboard. I sat there, trying to figure it out and finally it hit me; they were making the schedule for the year. My principle did mine so I just sat there for 90min, writing a letter to Brian/staring out the window. My lycee is a 40min walk from my house, so I get my exercise every time I go. Yah
On the 14th I had to go back to the CEG for I had no idea (it was nice that I got my b-day off, which wasn’t planned. Thanks for all the b-day wishes everyone!). I was there from 7:30-11:30 and did 2 things for a grand total of 20 mins. That’s it. I introduced myself to one class of 6eme and watched while they elected a head student then had about a ten minute teacher meeting about something. I did talk to more teachers, which was cool. And later that afternoon another English teacher from a private school came by and asked if I could speak English with her. Now so far I have had 4 people, including her, ask me to tutor/speak English with them and I turned down all of them but the teacher. The other 3 were students and I told them that I wasn’t allowed to do anything besides teach my classes for the first 3 months (which is true, though there is some flexibility in that, but I didn’t feel like using it with the 3 students. 2 came and talked to me while I was washing my clothes. Not the best time to ask me for help). I said yes to the teacher cause she’s a) a fellow English teacher b) she already speaks good English and c) she was nice and accommodating when I said I didn’t want to start till November. We shall see how that goes.
So I finally made it through the first week and was ready to start teaching. My first class was the 2nde students and I was just giving them an assessment the first week, to see where they were at. So I took attendance, read my classroom rules and went straight into the assessment. When I saw them again on Wednesday they still had 3 more exercises to do and once class ended I collected all their copybooks and brought them home with me so I could look them over. There were definitely exercises that few people did (even though all my exercises came from the curriculum guide for troiseme, the grade before and one girl wrote on the first page of her copybook that she doesn’t like speaking English and wants to just speak Malagasy. What I thought was interesting about that is she didn’t do half bad on the assessment. I have a lot to go over with them next week, but that’s ok. Almost no one got the advice exercise I gave so good thing there is unit on advice this year. The kids seem like they will be fine. The CEG is a different story, however.
So I get there on Monday at 1:30 ready to go. I had a lesson all planned out (hi, how are you, goodbye etc) and I was curious to see how these students would be compared to the 2nde kids. Well apparently the schedule wasn’t set yet so for the first 30-40 minutes the teachers had to create the schedule (even though they had already given me my schedule the week and a half before, no one else got theirs. Apparently). Anyway then they tell me that this first week of school I wasn’t supposed to teach, just introduce the class and myself. Well that does not take up 2 hours so I sorta started to panic. So I introduced myself, went around and made each person introduce themselves (for the 2nd and 3rd class I taught they also had to tell me how many siblings they have and how old they are. I have quite the range of ages. I have anywhere from 10yr olds to a 17ys old. I know. Crazy!). I read the classroom rules in my limited Malagasy and then I taught them the ABC’s cause I couldn’t think of anything else to do. They have a hard time with H-K. not sure why, but that section really trips them up. After that, I went over the difference between good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. I still had time left so I played a game with them. I asked them yes or no questions and if their answers were yes, then they raised their hands. Some kids raised their hands every time but oh well. That kept them occupied (for my 2nd and 3rd class I ended up letting them out an hour early, though in my defense I only did that cause other teachers were doing it too). I have a joker in one of my classes and he’s the head student (at the 6eme level its an elected position. Afterwards, it’s the top student, grade-wise, how is the head student). He is going to be a pain in my butt I can already tell. He kept yelling the words I asked them to repeat and making jokes on the sly. I have already had to tell him multiple times to stop doing something. Oi vey. I am going to have to be really stern in that class since any wiggle room there it this kid will take it. He is ruining it for everyone.
So my CEG still doesn’t have a schedule. I found that out yesterday when I was supposed to show up for what I thought was my first day of teaching (even though they had told me not to teach the first week what else was I supposed to do with them for an hour?) and they said it was ok if I didn’t come. I think they were going to clean the school, which I thought happened last week, since most of the students were carrying branches of leaves. Basically I am still real confused when it comes to the CEG, but I will show up on Monday at the time I think I’m supposed to and that will have to do.
So thank you to everyone who has sent me letters and packages and facebook messages. I really appreciate it. And just to repeat, my new address is Megan Van Aelstyn, BP 26, 114 Faratsiho, Madagascar. Write to me everyone! I LOVE mail and I haven’t gotten any at my new site yet. Miss everyone and hugs and kisses to all!!!!!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
My New Address!!! (If I was Megan and living halfway across the world!!)
Hey West Coasters, NGPers, ex-Buffaloes and More,
This is Brian. As always, I am happy to serve as the conduit between Megan and the States. She wanted me to pass on her new address:
Megan Van Aelstyn
BP 26
114 Faratsiho
Madagascar
However, if you are going to send a large package, you still want to use the previous Tana address. Hope all is well.
B
This is Brian. As always, I am happy to serve as the conduit between Megan and the States. She wanted me to pass on her new address:
Megan Van Aelstyn
BP 26
114 Faratsiho
Madagascar
However, if you are going to send a large package, you still want to use the previous Tana address. Hope all is well.
B
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
I am an unofficial American
My host mom and I at the host family party one of the last days of training
half of the group
I AM NOW AN OFFICIAL PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER!!!!!!!!
(im using the word official a lot. sorry bout that). I swore in this morning in a ceremony that was short, sweet and to the point. loved it. we had to dress up so we all looked fancy. because the ceremony was in Tana, we had to get up at like 530 this morning to make it into Tana by the 10am ceremony. it was brutal, especially since we all stayed up late the night before to be together one last time. we had a reception right after the swear in and then it was off to get my mail and my money! i had a lot of mail (once again, from just brian and my parents so people PLEASE step it up!) and i got the next 9 days living allowance. i then headed off to the cookie shop, which is basically an American coffee ship that has delicious food. its kinda embarrassing how much money i spent there so im not going to say how much it really was. i did have an amazing bbq chicken sandwich and a brownie sundae so i was supremely happy. then it was off to jumbo, a big target-like store, to pick up a gas stove and other essentials for the next 2 years. then back to the MEVA for some r & r. i think we are headed out to dinner later, though i am running low on funds after the cookie shop.
the fact i am going to be here for 2 years is hitting me hard. i can't believe that i haven't even started my countdown yet, since my COS date is sept 29. so I have another week to go before its 2 years. crazy! I am starting to be realize i really must be crazy for coming halfway around the world (cause i am literally halfway around the world) to work for free for 2 years in a country where i don't know the language and won't know anyone. im nuts. so send me food so i don't go crazy. and books, and dvds and anything form america. my friend katie had a great idea, which was to write down all the books she will read here so she knows. i am going to steal that idea and post it all on here, so you can see the ones i have already read and know not to get those books. so here they are!
East of Eden
The Sun Also Rises
The Inheritance of Loss
A Walk in the Woods
a trashy romance novel whose name i can't remember and i have passed on the book so oh well
Drink, Play, F***
The English Patient
Brazil
I think theres more but im blanking. i will fill it in later if i remember. ok well i guess thats all i have to say right now. i will post my new address as soon as i have it! miss everyone!
Madagascar: The Hufflepuff of Peace Corps
Dear everyone!
long time no post I know. A lot has happened but also a little. A lot, in that I have been in Mantasoa for a month and have had stuff to do everyday but a little because I have basically been doing the same thing for the last month. So first I am going to post my wish list, since that to me is the most important thing right now. There are a lot of things, both big and small, that I want so everyone can send me stuff, if they want. If you send something, post what it is in the comment section so I don’t get duplicate books or movies. Really, the food can be duplicated so if someone says they have sent me a pack of Orbitz gum, feel free to send me another pack. So without further ado, heres my list!!!
Peanut butter or plain m&m’s
Granola bars
Brown sugar pop tarts (or any that sound like they should be dessert, not breakfast)
Beef Jerky (there is brown sugar beef jerky but its very tricky to find, but if you find it…..)
Cake/cookies/brownie mixes
Orbitz gum – sweet mint, strawberry mint, bubblemint etc.
Movies (hit up the $5 dollar section at target. Would love new movies too though)
Magazines (Time, People, US Weekly, anything trashy really, Newsweek, the Economist, Vanity Fair etc)
Rainbow Chip Frosting (This one is for Katie, to take you back to our cabin days, though I actually do want it)
Old Navy Flip Flops
Target Leggings
Anything cheap and cute, clotheswise
A plain baseball cap, any color but orange
Instant Quaker oatmeal (brown sugar. notice a theme?)
Condiment packages: Ketchup, maple syrup, mayo, taco bell fire sauce, teriyaki)
Johnnys seasoning salt
Gorilla pod
Mac and cheese cheese packs from King Arthur. You can find it online somewhere. White cheddar too!
Easy Mac
Nail polish
Baby wipes
Sudoku and crossword books
Cds (I have a dvd player that also plays cds so I would love new music or any type of mix you want to send. Dad, would you burn a copy of the last 3 glee cds [Madonna, showstoppers, journey to regionals] and send me them?)
Books: Crime and Punishment, wuthering heights, jane eyre, the namesake, the book thief, the old man and the sea, listening to Duran Duran, one flew over the cuckoos nest, the shining, thunderstruck, it, Cinderella (from the guy who wrote Wicked), don’t wake me at doyles, my friend leonard, the mists of Avalon, the blind assassin, handmaidens tale, west with the night, out of Africa, the last king of Scotland, kiss the girls, along came a spider, fried green tomatoes, fear and loathing in las vegas, fist stick knife guns, northanger abbey, guns germs and steel, angela’s ashes, david copperfield, oliver twist, collapse, John Irving books (not cider house rules), anything interesting and good. Joe, if you could send any old paperbacks you don’t want anymore that would be great. Go to used bookstores to find these, since that will be real cheap
Send all of this in PADDED ENVELOPES. They have a better chance of going all to my site then a boxed package, which will get stopped in my banking town and I will have to go there and pick it up. Or, for the next 2 months, you can still send padded envelopes and packages to the Tana address (which if you really want to send me a boxed package, always send it to tana) Send anything to the Tana address no later than NOVEMBER 1, 2010. After that, all padded envelopes/letters to my new address if you haven’t started doing that already, which I will have within the next week.
Ok so that’s the wish list. I hope that this helps people decide what they want to send me, if you are sending me anything. Speaking of sending me things, brian is in the lead with letter (surprise surprise ;)) with my parents and Diana pretty much tied in 2nd. And that’s it. So friends and family of mine, please send me mail. I really really like when I get it. It makes me feel loved (Selena and Brenna, you have a get out of jail free card right now in letter writing, since you are both leaving the US of A soon. But as soon as you get back, the card is lifted). And when you send stuff, if you could throw in a news story or a sudoku/crossword that would be amazing.
So my life here in MAD. For the last month I have had training, which has had its ups and downs. I had Practicum for 2 weeks, which meant that I taught willing children from Mantasoa English in every grade level. I don’t know why the volunteered, cause lets be real I never would have, especially to take a test, which they did do at the end cause we (PC-ers) made it, but a lot of people did. I had to teach all sorts of things and was scared each and every time. I have so much more respect now for teachers in America. Making lesson plans is hard work, harder than I thought it would be. I still am not sure what grade I’m teaching at site, but I am like 75% sure its sixeme, which it basically our 6th grade, so they will just be starting English, which is the best thing for me since everything will be basic and I don’t know English grammer. That also means I have to deal with 11 and 12 year olds every day. I plan on being quite strict, especially at the beginning, otherwise they will eat me alive. There is a girl in our group who is super nice and has accepted that the kids are going to destroy her cause she’s so nice. I am lucky cause I think I am only going to be teaching one grade, which means one lesson plan for the week, instead of 2 so yay! Still though 6th graders. They scare me.
Every day was real long and tiring. We were go go go all day long. In addition to teaching, we had language every day, some days more than others. Some days, I was in language for like 5 hours. It was awful, but necessary. We had to take a language exam a few days ago and I passed, which I know I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had so much language. And I needed to pass. If you didn’t pass, you couldn’t swear in as a PC volunteer. I am writing this on my friend James computer and few days before we swear-in, so Im not sure what that will all entail, but I will keep you updated. We have to swear in saying the official government oath, which will be fun. We did find out that the ceremony was televised and like 350 people will be there. I know nuts!
Right now we have a free weekend at the PCTC, where we can do laundry (check), read (check), watch movies (another check), eat till we burst (semi-check, haven’t burst yet) and just relax (real big check). We had one 45min session sat morn and have been free since then. We have some sessions tomorrow but im not really sure about what or when or why. Really I don’t know anything. I just go with the flow. I do know I am leaving on Wednesday to go to my site, which I am semi-glad/semi-terrified to do. Glad, cause there are a lot of people I want to kick off the island and I don’t like being stuck with (though this weekend people have really only been hanging out with their friends, so that’s been nice) and terrified cause I don’t want to leave my friends and the people I do like. I am really nervous to be by myself in Faratsiho with no one around (and yes, that girl really did switch into my site, but I want to pretend like shes not there for the first month so I have the PC experience I thought I was going to have). I already told Brian I was going to call him crying every night for awhile so lucky him! Oh that reminds me. B-day shoutout! Happy birthday to Brian, Gabe, Selena, and Grandpa. If I forgot you, im sorry. My brain is a little unclear at the moment cause im real sleepy while I type this but those are who I remember at this point. Also hello Mrs. Janz! I really like your daughter! And hello to everyone else who reads my blog who I don’t know. I hope no ones offended by anything I write.
I have already started to make a list of things I want from the USA when my parents/brian/eric/anyone else comes out and visits. If anyone is going to come, let me know and I will give you a list and send you money. I would literally give up my dvd player without a chord for a Chipotle burrito right now. You never realize how good we have it in America, food wise, until you leave. Plus I love the USA’s electricity and appliances and stores that are open 24hours and movie theaters and real beds. I feel like if anyone is pissed off at American commercialism go to a non western euro country for awhile. you will grow to appreciate you washing machine and sit down flush toilets real fast. Or clean water for that matter. It sucks having to filter your water and then add chlorine to it. It can sometimes taste like a pool.
In case you’re wondering what the title of this blog meant fear not! I will explain. We were listening to the political/econ guy from the US mission (there is no embassy here in MAD right now. The ambassador hasn’t come back since the coup, since the US govt doesn’t recognize the current govt. yet we’re still here. Go figure) and he was telling us how he is an RPCV (returned PC volunteer) from Morocco. Basically, though his talking, we discovered that morocco was the Gryffindor of PC (the cool, brave, house that gets all the good people and wins) and that MAD was the hufflepuff b/c we are the loser country cause we are in a country that has the talent/ capability/potential financing to not have PC in it but just cant get its act together (his words, not mine). And I really can’t take credit for saying that, since my friend Katie (who is from b-more and goes to the same chipotle that brian and I go to) said it. Im just stealing it. Hufflepuff had been popping up a lot in my life cause I won a $20 bet with hufflepuff. My friend Amber and I were discussing harry potter and somehow the question came up “what house was cedric diggory in” and I said Hufflepuff (cause that’s what he was in) and she said Gryffindor (which is obvi wrong, at least to me) and I said I would bet $20 on it, thinking she wouldn’t do it and she did. I called Eric and made him google it at 9pm at night his time and she got her sister to google it later, so we would see who won. I did! That $20 will be my water heater and I am really excited about it. Wow just looked at my skin and it is really dry. Not attractive
In other non MAD news, just essential news about my life, Brian and I have picked a date!!! YAY!!!! The date makes it so much more real. We are getting married August 11th, 2013. Yay! In Puerto Rico though we don’t know where yet. Those details haven’t been worked out yet, though I think we may have some time. We have our colors (Black, Cream and Plum, with silver if need be) our save the dates, our venue list, our guest list, our honeymoon spot (a year later, so august of 2014, in the south pacific. We need time to save up money but more importantly for me to save up vaca time from my job so that we can go for 2 weeks), our basic outline of the way the nigh will go, our bachelor/bachelorette parties and I have my spa day all planned. The only thing we need is our first song and I am open to suggestions from the peanut gallery. Yay! I love planning this wedding and talking about it and pretty much anything that has to do with it. But its not just cause I want to get married, its because I really want to get married to brian. Awwwwww I know we are so cute J. And in love. And I probably just grossed people out but whatever.
Ok well that’s all for now. My fingers hurt and I need to shower. Its been awhile. Over and out!
long time no post I know. A lot has happened but also a little. A lot, in that I have been in Mantasoa for a month and have had stuff to do everyday but a little because I have basically been doing the same thing for the last month. So first I am going to post my wish list, since that to me is the most important thing right now. There are a lot of things, both big and small, that I want so everyone can send me stuff, if they want. If you send something, post what it is in the comment section so I don’t get duplicate books or movies. Really, the food can be duplicated so if someone says they have sent me a pack of Orbitz gum, feel free to send me another pack. So without further ado, heres my list!!!
Peanut butter or plain m&m’s
Granola bars
Brown sugar pop tarts (or any that sound like they should be dessert, not breakfast)
Beef Jerky (there is brown sugar beef jerky but its very tricky to find, but if you find it…..)
Cake/cookies/brownie mixes
Orbitz gum – sweet mint, strawberry mint, bubblemint etc.
Movies (hit up the $5 dollar section at target. Would love new movies too though)
Magazines (Time, People, US Weekly, anything trashy really, Newsweek, the Economist, Vanity Fair etc)
Rainbow Chip Frosting (This one is for Katie, to take you back to our cabin days, though I actually do want it)
Old Navy Flip Flops
Target Leggings
Anything cheap and cute, clotheswise
A plain baseball cap, any color but orange
Instant Quaker oatmeal (brown sugar. notice a theme?)
Condiment packages: Ketchup, maple syrup, mayo, taco bell fire sauce, teriyaki)
Johnnys seasoning salt
Gorilla pod
Mac and cheese cheese packs from King Arthur. You can find it online somewhere. White cheddar too!
Easy Mac
Nail polish
Baby wipes
Sudoku and crossword books
Cds (I have a dvd player that also plays cds so I would love new music or any type of mix you want to send. Dad, would you burn a copy of the last 3 glee cds [Madonna, showstoppers, journey to regionals] and send me them?)
Books: Crime and Punishment, wuthering heights, jane eyre, the namesake, the book thief, the old man and the sea, listening to Duran Duran, one flew over the cuckoos nest, the shining, thunderstruck, it, Cinderella (from the guy who wrote Wicked), don’t wake me at doyles, my friend leonard, the mists of Avalon, the blind assassin, handmaidens tale, west with the night, out of Africa, the last king of Scotland, kiss the girls, along came a spider, fried green tomatoes, fear and loathing in las vegas, fist stick knife guns, northanger abbey, guns germs and steel, angela’s ashes, david copperfield, oliver twist, collapse, John Irving books (not cider house rules), anything interesting and good. Joe, if you could send any old paperbacks you don’t want anymore that would be great. Go to used bookstores to find these, since that will be real cheap
Send all of this in PADDED ENVELOPES. They have a better chance of going all to my site then a boxed package, which will get stopped in my banking town and I will have to go there and pick it up. Or, for the next 2 months, you can still send padded envelopes and packages to the Tana address (which if you really want to send me a boxed package, always send it to tana) Send anything to the Tana address no later than NOVEMBER 1, 2010. After that, all padded envelopes/letters to my new address if you haven’t started doing that already, which I will have within the next week.
Ok so that’s the wish list. I hope that this helps people decide what they want to send me, if you are sending me anything. Speaking of sending me things, brian is in the lead with letter (surprise surprise ;)) with my parents and Diana pretty much tied in 2nd. And that’s it. So friends and family of mine, please send me mail. I really really like when I get it. It makes me feel loved (Selena and Brenna, you have a get out of jail free card right now in letter writing, since you are both leaving the US of A soon. But as soon as you get back, the card is lifted). And when you send stuff, if you could throw in a news story or a sudoku/crossword that would be amazing.
So my life here in MAD. For the last month I have had training, which has had its ups and downs. I had Practicum for 2 weeks, which meant that I taught willing children from Mantasoa English in every grade level. I don’t know why the volunteered, cause lets be real I never would have, especially to take a test, which they did do at the end cause we (PC-ers) made it, but a lot of people did. I had to teach all sorts of things and was scared each and every time. I have so much more respect now for teachers in America. Making lesson plans is hard work, harder than I thought it would be. I still am not sure what grade I’m teaching at site, but I am like 75% sure its sixeme, which it basically our 6th grade, so they will just be starting English, which is the best thing for me since everything will be basic and I don’t know English grammer. That also means I have to deal with 11 and 12 year olds every day. I plan on being quite strict, especially at the beginning, otherwise they will eat me alive. There is a girl in our group who is super nice and has accepted that the kids are going to destroy her cause she’s so nice. I am lucky cause I think I am only going to be teaching one grade, which means one lesson plan for the week, instead of 2 so yay! Still though 6th graders. They scare me.
Every day was real long and tiring. We were go go go all day long. In addition to teaching, we had language every day, some days more than others. Some days, I was in language for like 5 hours. It was awful, but necessary. We had to take a language exam a few days ago and I passed, which I know I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had so much language. And I needed to pass. If you didn’t pass, you couldn’t swear in as a PC volunteer. I am writing this on my friend James computer and few days before we swear-in, so Im not sure what that will all entail, but I will keep you updated. We have to swear in saying the official government oath, which will be fun. We did find out that the ceremony was televised and like 350 people will be there. I know nuts!
Right now we have a free weekend at the PCTC, where we can do laundry (check), read (check), watch movies (another check), eat till we burst (semi-check, haven’t burst yet) and just relax (real big check). We had one 45min session sat morn and have been free since then. We have some sessions tomorrow but im not really sure about what or when or why. Really I don’t know anything. I just go with the flow. I do know I am leaving on Wednesday to go to my site, which I am semi-glad/semi-terrified to do. Glad, cause there are a lot of people I want to kick off the island and I don’t like being stuck with (though this weekend people have really only been hanging out with their friends, so that’s been nice) and terrified cause I don’t want to leave my friends and the people I do like. I am really nervous to be by myself in Faratsiho with no one around (and yes, that girl really did switch into my site, but I want to pretend like shes not there for the first month so I have the PC experience I thought I was going to have). I already told Brian I was going to call him crying every night for awhile so lucky him! Oh that reminds me. B-day shoutout! Happy birthday to Brian, Gabe, Selena, and Grandpa. If I forgot you, im sorry. My brain is a little unclear at the moment cause im real sleepy while I type this but those are who I remember at this point. Also hello Mrs. Janz! I really like your daughter! And hello to everyone else who reads my blog who I don’t know. I hope no ones offended by anything I write.
I have already started to make a list of things I want from the USA when my parents/brian/eric/anyone else comes out and visits. If anyone is going to come, let me know and I will give you a list and send you money. I would literally give up my dvd player without a chord for a Chipotle burrito right now. You never realize how good we have it in America, food wise, until you leave. Plus I love the USA’s electricity and appliances and stores that are open 24hours and movie theaters and real beds. I feel like if anyone is pissed off at American commercialism go to a non western euro country for awhile. you will grow to appreciate you washing machine and sit down flush toilets real fast. Or clean water for that matter. It sucks having to filter your water and then add chlorine to it. It can sometimes taste like a pool.
In case you’re wondering what the title of this blog meant fear not! I will explain. We were listening to the political/econ guy from the US mission (there is no embassy here in MAD right now. The ambassador hasn’t come back since the coup, since the US govt doesn’t recognize the current govt. yet we’re still here. Go figure) and he was telling us how he is an RPCV (returned PC volunteer) from Morocco. Basically, though his talking, we discovered that morocco was the Gryffindor of PC (the cool, brave, house that gets all the good people and wins) and that MAD was the hufflepuff b/c we are the loser country cause we are in a country that has the talent/ capability/potential financing to not have PC in it but just cant get its act together (his words, not mine). And I really can’t take credit for saying that, since my friend Katie (who is from b-more and goes to the same chipotle that brian and I go to) said it. Im just stealing it. Hufflepuff had been popping up a lot in my life cause I won a $20 bet with hufflepuff. My friend Amber and I were discussing harry potter and somehow the question came up “what house was cedric diggory in” and I said Hufflepuff (cause that’s what he was in) and she said Gryffindor (which is obvi wrong, at least to me) and I said I would bet $20 on it, thinking she wouldn’t do it and she did. I called Eric and made him google it at 9pm at night his time and she got her sister to google it later, so we would see who won. I did! That $20 will be my water heater and I am really excited about it. Wow just looked at my skin and it is really dry. Not attractive
In other non MAD news, just essential news about my life, Brian and I have picked a date!!! YAY!!!! The date makes it so much more real. We are getting married August 11th, 2013. Yay! In Puerto Rico though we don’t know where yet. Those details haven’t been worked out yet, though I think we may have some time. We have our colors (Black, Cream and Plum, with silver if need be) our save the dates, our venue list, our guest list, our honeymoon spot (a year later, so august of 2014, in the south pacific. We need time to save up money but more importantly for me to save up vaca time from my job so that we can go for 2 weeks), our basic outline of the way the nigh will go, our bachelor/bachelorette parties and I have my spa day all planned. The only thing we need is our first song and I am open to suggestions from the peanut gallery. Yay! I love planning this wedding and talking about it and pretty much anything that has to do with it. But its not just cause I want to get married, its because I really want to get married to brian. Awwwwww I know we are so cute J. And in love. And I probably just grossed people out but whatever.
Ok well that’s all for now. My fingers hurt and I need to shower. Its been awhile. Over and out!
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