June 18, 2014
In honor of having exactly one month remaining, (and the
fact that I just had my first real good-bye with a Malagasy friend) I thought I
would talk about the things I have loved here and will miss, and of course the
ridiculous things that I definitely hope never to have to encounter again.
Things I Will Miss:
·
The people.
I have met so many interesting people, and I know I will stay in contact
with some, but others will be more difficult to stay connected with, and I will
miss them everyday. This includes the
Malagasy, as well as the multitude of multinationals that became part of my
“Team Vazaha.” I also love how accepted
and welcomed I feel in some of the families I know, like I am a part of them.
·
The mountains.
As anyone who has ever traveled with me can tell you, I am a sucker for
mountains. Probably because Michigan
doesn’t have any. Looking forward to
attempting to climb the Ozarks when I move to Arkansas in January :) .
·
“My” dogs and cats. Gray (cat), White (cat), Pixie (dog), Mino
(tiny kitten), Bleu (dog), Boba (dog), Melky (dog), Rex (dog), and Marlo
(dog). I think that is all of them. As I write this, Gray is curled up in my lap,
and Pixie is sleeping with his enormous head on the doorstep (purebred German
Shepard). While none of them technically
belong to me, since I vowed after the guinea pigs that I was not allowed to own
pets, (I get too attached anyway) I adopted several animals that my friends
own. And I am going to miss them
terribly.
·
Random wandering cows and chickens. I know it sounds weird, but there is
something always amusing about having to pause a soccer game because a cow is
lazily munching his way across it. Or
the chickens who look like raptors (seriously, these things are weird)
scurrying across the road avoiding the foot and vehicle traffic. I also love ducks, I think they are just the
funniest, and will be looking for them in America.
·
Near complete lack of schedule. Agriculture and health volunteers have
project and personal goals, but unlike the education volunteers, we don’t
really follow a set schedule. If I want
to nap between 12 and 2, I can. If rain
makes it impossible to work, that’s just how it goes. I will definitely miss having complete
control over my schedule.
·
Thunderstorms.
They are so good here. Power cuts
aside, sitting on your porch, watching as the lightning dances across the sky
and the deafening thunder rolls in is such a wonderful experience.
·
The ocean.
Need I say more? While I do not
live very close to it, every single trip I have been on in this country (which
is actually quite a few) has involved a trip to the Indian Ocean or the
Mozambique Channel, and I will never be able to get enough.
·
Fresh seafood. Now, this really only applies to
when I go to the ocean, but I have had $12 lobster and prawns the size of my
head. Also, the north makes everything
coconut and saffron rice, and it is the absolute best.
·
FRUIT!
Did you know I thought I didn’t like pineapple? That was because I had
never had it fresh. The tropical fruit
in this country is to die for. Mango,
pocanelle, mandarin, avocado, pineapple, 100 kinds of bananas, and LITCHI!! I
will miss litchi most of all. If you
have never tried fresh litchi, you need to make that happen. I am looking forward to apples and
strawberries in the states though.
·
Cheap cost of living. I can buy 2.2 pounds of tomatoes for about a
dollar. My rent is one of the most
expensive in Peace Corps, and it is about $60 per month. I don’t make a lot of money here, but things
don’t cost a whole lot either. Not
looking forward to the cost of living in the states.
·
Biking. I
own the nicest bike I ever will, courtesy of Peace Corps. It has been quite fun biking through the
countryside of the Itasy region. I am
looking forward to testing my bike at home to see if it still works, and to try
for a little more flat ground and excellently paved roads.
·
Being multi-lingual. While this isn’t going to go away completely,
I know my Malagasy skills will diminish with lack of use. I have been improving my French, but it still
has a long way to go. I will really miss
being able to talk to people in Malagasy, and making fun of other “vazaha” in
Malagasy when they don’t understand.
People were always so surprised by my Malagasy level, and I liked that.
·
Flora and fauna.
Swimming in waterfalls, feeding lemurs of all sizes, crossing paths with
a chameleon or tenerec. The flora and fauna of Madagascar is so unique, and I
am definitely going to miss it. Not the
spiders though, or the cockroaches. I
have been lucky and haven’t had any rats.
·
Frip. Ahhh second-hand clothing markets. It was no secret that thrift stores were my
favorite places to shop in the states, but here it is really all people
do. I love paying no more than $4 for
every piece of clothing I own. It also
makes for excellent costume and theme parties.
·
Meva free box.
Even better than buying second-hand clothing? Getting the clothing and
such the other volunteers leave behind, for free. Reminds me of rummaging through my friend
Kiri’s closet in high school and ridding her of anything she hadn’t worn in the
last year.
Things I Will Definitely Not:
·
Verbal harassment. Quite possibly my least favorite thing about
being here. Being an (extremely) white
woman, I am easily noticed, and the Malagasy are all about pointing out the
obvious. It is completely acceptable for
people to run around shouting “vazaha, vazaha!” whenever I am near (white
person, foreigner). They also often
greet me in that manner, saying “bonjour vazaha,” assuming I am French. The kids I can forgive, if I haven’t
corrected them before. One of the most
rewarding things is to have a kid greet me in Malagasy with my proper
name. However, the men are the absolute worst. Bonjour Cherie, I love you, je t’aime, are
you married, come home with me, all in the sleaziest of voices. That is usually where it ends, but there has
been the occasional inappropriate grab, and I am looking forward to a culture
where that is no longer acceptable.
·
Taxi-brousses and other transportation. Not that
it isn’t fun to try and squeeze 30 people in a van that has a capacity of 16
and then try and climb hills while the engine groans and warms the floor
beneath your feet…Not to mention the fact that the taxis in Tana are all from
about 1965.
·
The roads.
Don’t get me wrong, my main road is fantastic and I love it. But, stray about 10 feet and you’ve got a
complete mess on your hands, and it takes YEARS to get anywhere. This country is roughly 1,000 miles
long. It would take you over 3 days to
get from North to South.
·
Crime.
The pick-pocket and robbery situations have gotten out of hand in
Tana. I have been lucky, thankfully, and
only been robbed once. (Don’t worry,
nothing that couldn’t be replaced, and I wasn’t hurt.) I am looking forward to being back in a place
where I feel safer after dark. My town
is no problem, but everything closes at 7, haha.
·
“Sauce.” Anything “sauce” on a menu is just oil
and MSG. No wonder I gained 10 pounds
the first year. (Don’t worry, I have since figured out balance in my life).
·
Odd foods.
Fish heads for cow brains for breakfast? No thank you. Jiggly pieces of fat? None for me. At least I have been spared some of the foods
I have heard other volunteers eat: locusts, cockroach-esque bugs, sea turtle
eggs, bat, tenerec, bull testicle…
·
Mountains of rice. This place doesn’t mess around. Seriously, the most rice per capita in the
entire world. And when you are eating
with friends, they decide when you have had enough. Did I mention the 10 pounds?
·
Being a “pet.”
It is inevitable, when you are as white as I am, people like to have you
as a friend just so they can show you off to people. This is not all of my relationships,
certainly, but there are definitely some that feel this way.
·
Begging.
Again, when you are white, people assume you have money, and bombard you
with begging. The most annoying is when
you think someone is your friend and then they ask you if they can have your
stuff, or tell you that you should give them a “New Years” present.
·
Power cuts.
While I do love the quiet ambiance of a town lit by candlelight and that
is incapable of blasting thumping music at deafening decibels, when your
computer battery doesn’t work it is quite annoying when the power goes out
almost every day of rainy season.
·
Water cuts.
The worst. All I want to do is
shower, but when it doesn’t rain from May-October, I have to save that water
for drinking. Luckily it is cold so I
don’t smell (much).
·
Mountain burning. Every year they blacken my beautiful
mountains so the cows can have new growth to eat, leading to a complete lack of
trees, soil erosion, and a general destabilizing of the environment. I don’t see it changing, and the lack of
awareness and forward thinking is definitely something I am not going to miss.
·
Risk of tropical diseases. Whatever happened to the common cold? Let’s
go back to that. I have been lucky, only
dysentery…twice. Other volunteers have
suffered from things like malaria, giardia, worms, dengue fever, and scarlet
fever. Feeling healthy and lucky!
And as a bonus…
Things I Am Looking Forward To in America:
·
FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!
·
Things open past 7:30.
·
Barbeques.
·
Pools.
·
Snow.
·
FOOTBALL!!
·
Sandwiches.
·
Salads.
·
Bars.
·
Pizza.
·
Movie theaters
·
Bowling alleys.
·
Game nights.
·
Decent cars.
·
Awesome roads.
·
Apples.
·
Seasons.
·
Hi-speed Internet.
·
Unlimited texting.
·
Cheese.
·
Strawberries.
·
Unlimited hot water.
·
Concerts of people I actually know.
·
Not the constant center of attention.
See you soon America!
-Sarah
