Okay, so I have to start this out with a HUGE thank you to my parents and our family friends, the Squatritos. They sent packages to me around the end of september. I believe they arrived fairly quickly but I hadn't been able to get to them until another volunteer helped me out and brought them to me. Thanks Al. I never seen such a beautiful site than what was in those boxes. It was pretty much all food and it was all fantastic! Thank you.
Speaking of the food that was sent, I got some Oreos from my parents. I opened them last night and not even 5 minutes later one of my teacher friends came over, but I couldn't put the Oreos away in time. About 15 minutes later I had 6 left. That was probably one of the hardest moments I have had since I got here. Just kidding, but seriously a huge bummer. I actually just ate the rest of them for fear of having another spontaneous visitor in the near future. He enjoyed them though, so that's good.
Food here is not too exciting, so you can imagine my joy when I opened those packages. Malagasy people eat rice 3 times per day every day. It is a big bowl of rice with a small side dish called loaka. The loaka is usually some beans or vegetables or maybe some meat. People ask what I eat back in the united states and when I tell them I don't eat rice 3 times it's a huge deal- like there is no God. Religion is also a big deal over here, but I'm not gonna get into that. But back to the rice. Two teachers at my lycee are paid by the equivelant of the parent/teachers association in the US. Since they don't get as much as the rest of the teachers do, each student also has to bring in 5 cups of rice by mid December for these two teachers. I thought that was a pretty unbelievable scenario. At the same meeting of the parent teachers association where this was decided, I gave my first speech in Malagasy. It went really well. I basically just introduced myself and explained my position with peace corps and what I was doing, etc. it was pretty cool.
Several funny situations have come up since i got here so i thought id share a few: Malagasy people think every American singer is Michael Jackson (one guy was even positive that MJ was still alive. I didnt give him the bad news) although some r&b songs will elicit a Chris brown reference. I'm assuming the rihanna thing didn't have as much of a negative effect with the Malagasy people. One person asked me if there is a moon in the states. I also got sick two weekends ago (less funny), but on several occasions during that weekend I had a teacher come over to my house and rub oil on my stomach. Apparently it is some kind of Malagasy cure. I don't think it worked because the vommitting continued. Moral of the story, I won't be buying eggs in this country ever again.
I have also seen several cock fights since I arrived at site, which was originally a really shocking thing after watching some espn features and working in the news. Now, walking by a cock fight is almost no big deal which is kind of messed up. A cock fight around here is about as normal as.... I don't know, but something really normal. Insert your own clever metaphor. They are pretty unbelievable. In the first one I saw one chicken looked like he was on death's door, but he pulled through. Another shocking thing to see was a guy smoking (thats not the shocking part) then he threw the butt on the ground. A boy, who couldn't have been more than 8 years old, walked over, picked it up, and started smoking it.
But on to more positive things. I successfully built a gutter system on my house using what looks like tree bark, some sticks and a few nails. It's awesome although it hasn't rained in a while. When it does, I have a full stock of water within 10 minutes. It's a beautiful thing. Now I need to buy a big basin to put at the end of the gutter so my supply can last longer than the rain. Hopefully I can get some pictures of that up soon.
Teaching is going well. I gave my first tests last week. After the review I was really excited, but they ended up not doing as great as I had hoped. A few of the other teachers didn't seem phased by the scores which was sort of shocking. Apparently it is really common over here for kids to not do so well, which is probably why I am here in the first place. Anyways, I guess it's back to the drawing board to figure out how I can get the lesson across better. Not sure if I mentioned this yet, but I have roughly 170 students in 3 classes so one on one interaction is a bit more difficult. Cheating also appears to be a problem. When you have 2-3 kids squished into a desk built for two very small children it can be hard to prevent, but I think I got the message across after the first test.
I think that is all I have for now. There is a bball game today teachers vs. students. Pretty pumped. I have about a foot advantage over the tallest person here. I'll let ya know who wins.
Oh last, but not least. I am headed back to our training center in December along with the other 24 volunteers who came with me to Madagascar in July. There is a training session and recap sort of regarding our first 3 months as volunteers. Will be good to see everyone again, but I should also have Internet for a bit so hopefully I can get some pictures up during that time. Stay tuned.
Rory
Ohh. PS. Nick I saw ur message about sending stuff. Yeah, the conversion is crazy. It's like a dollar to 2,000 ariary. Unfortunately American money is useless where I am. I have no way I using it and I can't convert it unless I'm in the capital. With that said, feel free to send anything anytime you want. Getting that stuff from my parents and the Squatritos was unreal. Thank you again you guys. I will happily pay any amount of ariary at any time for anything anyone may want to send. Thank you for thinking of me.
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