The who, what, why, where, when, and how questions of the first two weeks at my site

Who’s going to eat all those cakes?

My second day at site I came across a group of women baking in a house. When one of the ladies invited me inside, she showed me a bunch of cake layers they had baked. They told me it was for a wedding the next day. They asked me if I’d been to a Malagasy wedding and when I said no they invited me to join them. The next day at the wedding they let me sit near the front to take photos. It was much like an American wedding, except the bride and groom shared a first dance at the church as well as at the reception and the dance after the dinner reception. The bride wore a beautiful white wedding dress with gold thread embroidery which she later told me she bought in the capital. After the wedding, there was a long processional of cars through the village and everyone came out to see the bride and groom as they rode in the back of a pick-up during the processional to the reception hall. There was a nice three course dinner; which of course included rice; awaiting us at the reception hall. The bride and groom had one large sheet cake and a bunch of small round cakes around it which they lit with sparklers as they cut the cake. After their first dance the couple led a traditional Malagasy dance. It’s a bit hard to explain, but it’s kind of like a line dance where the couple faces the same directions and holds each others’ hands in the air and then other couples line up behind them and they all move their feet to the right and then to the left in time to the music. After a few songs we started going back and the family I was with asked if I was going to the ball (dance). I was really confused since there already was dancing at the reception, but apparently they clear all the tables away and a couple hours later, the whole town is invited to a dance. When we arrived back there for the ball(dance) there were no tables, but benches on the sides of the hall. For about 20 minutes I had flashbacks to junior high; with boys on one side of the gym, girls on another, and nobody dancing; but then I realized we were waiting for someone to give a welcome speech(kabary). We didn’t stay too long as it was already really late and we were tired.

What did I get myself into?

That was the thought that entered my head when the Peace Corps staff drove away after installing me at my site. That question was immediately replaced with what am I going to cook for dinner? Then I ventured out to the market to buy some food, dishes, pots & pans in order to cook dinner for myself. I walked past the post office) on my way home to say hello to the people who set up my new PO box. (my new addresss: B.P. 35 Amparafaravola 504 Madagascar) The past few weeks I’ve walked to the market several times a day to buy fresh food every day and get acquainted with the food vendors. In addition to selling fruits, veggies, household items such as dishes, cups, and buckets; vendors also sell used clothing called frippery. One day when looking through a pile of frippery, I thought to myself how much it felt like shopping at a second hand clothing store without racks of clothing and much to my surprise I came across both Value Village and Goodwill price tags on a couple items of clothing. I now know what happens to some clothing that doesn’t sell at those stores, it comes here to my town. While I didn’t purchase either of the items with Value Village and Goodwill, I did find a dress, 2 shirts, and a skirt. It’s much like a treasure hunt and I have a lot of time on my hands now to sort through piles of frippery.

Why aren’t you already good at speaking Malagasy, you look Malagasy?

The process of integration into the community has been really interesting the past few weeks as a number of people have commented that I look Malagasy. Most people react with confusion as to why I can’t say very much to them in Malagasy or when I can’t understand what they are saying to me. I normally try to tell them I am American and they I arrived in Madagascar in July and that I am learning Malagasy because I will live here for 2 years. Once I have a mastery of the language, there may be some additional benefits to looking Malagasy. There are a number of benefits and drawbacks to looking Malagasy. Sometimes I feel that people may have different expectations for me socially and expect that I know more about the culture than I do, but then again it’s nice not to everyone immediately know that I am a foreigner(vazah) when they see me. A couple weeks before our training ended, our group had a discussion about integration as part of our cultural session. Some of the members of our group wanted to know why Malagasy people will say(sometimes shout) vazah every time a foreigner walks by. Our cross-cultural trainers tried to explain that it was just another way Malagasy like to state the obvious as part of conversation. For instance, is commonplace for people to make statements such as “you are taking a walk” or “you are eating a banana”. While this would be strange; and almost socially awkward; in the United States, it is a way in which Malagasy often begin conversation. I enjoy this and use this technique to learn language. I think it is great that people don’t think I am strange when I say things like “there are a lot of baby chickens” or “I am tired because I was running”. Our conversation about Malagasy people calling out vazah when we walk by soon turned into a discussion about privilege and what it means to be an American. It was interesting that this conversation had a lot of similarities to conversations I had with my study abroad group 6 years ago when I traveled to India. The next two years will be an interesting case study as to social construction of race here in Madagascar as the Malagasy have both African and Asian cultural influences. Perhaps for the first time, I will feel like the majority and not the minority for once. I am not sure if I will always like that, as there are some added social responsibilities I feel I need to balance with educating Malagasy about American culture.

Where’s your cat from?

My response is that my cat is from Montasoa. This is the name of the town where our training was held and the place my host family lived. While the logistics of getting my cat and transporting her on the 8 hour ride, 2 nights in a hotel, and then to my site were a bit tiring, I am glad I have her. I don’t have an official name for her yet. I thought I would call her Mimi since that is what everyone calls cats here, but people keep asking me if I have another name for her, so I will have to think of an American name as well. She’s been a nice companion even though she likes to meow a lot. She’s also proven to be useful in the first few weeks by killing and eating a gecko, cockroach, and grasshopper in my apartment. She’s also nice as company and fun to play with as well.

When can you teach my kids English?

I don’t think I can count the number of times that people have asked me to teach English. My standard response to them is that I can’t teach English right now because I need to learn Malagasy and that I am not an English teacher, but rather that I work at the health center(CSB) and I teach health. My work schedule is really dependent on when people come to the health center. Right now, I go to the health center and help weigh babies, record weight and height of pregnant women, and fill out the mosquito net distribution book. Since my language is still really limited, I’ve only given one health speech and I am not sure how much of what I said they understood. Luckily the nurse introduced me and told the group that I was still learning Malagasy before I gave my speech. The most difficult part of my work at the health center was when the nurse wanted me to ask each person their name and what village they lived in and then record this information in the book just from hearing the people tell me. Well if you thought the name of my town(Amparafaravola) is difficult to spell, it is nothing compared to some of the names and the villages. Since it was really hard to hear people and they spoke to fast for me, they let me copy down that information from the people’s medical charts when I fill out the mosquito net distribution book. After making lunch and taking a siesta, I normally spend the afternoons integrating into the community and shopping at the market for dinner food. This last week I started talking to a few people about the Community Diagnostic Survey(CDS). This is a study of the community I will work on during the first few months to help me identify potential projects to work.

How much is that chicken in the church?

Nope, that’s not the line of a song, but rather a question I asked the first Sunday I went to church here. I was informed that in lieu of taking a special offering for the deacons fund at the church, one Sunday a month people bring food to sell at the church. While this also happened at the church in the town I lived at during training, I only say fruits and vegetables being sold there. I was really surprised to see a live chicken and duck at the front of the church for sale during the service. Besides the selling of the livestock, the rest of the service seems about the same as church services I’m used to attending the U.S. Since one of the Protestant churches is located right next to the Hospital compound where I live; I’ve started attending that church. While I can’t understand much of the sermon I enjoy listening to the hyms being song and people enjoy watching me read along in English when scripture is being read. This is probably the first time I’ve needed to bring a dictionary to church, but it comes in handy to translate passages of the bible during the service. In what other setting would I learn the Malagasy words for blessed, pray, resurrected, spirit, revealed, believe, patience, salvation, strength, and more. For those who are interested here is a translation of Jeremiah 29:12 “Ary hiantso(call on me) Ahy hianareo ka handeha(go) sy hivavaka(pray) amiko, dia hihaino(then I will listen) anareo Aho(to you).

Thanks for making it to the end of this long blog post. Hopefully it was informative and interesting. Please write (B.P. 35 Amparafaravola 504 Madagascar )and let me know what questions you may have and I will try to include answers to those questions in future blog posts. A special message to my friend and former neighbor Taylor; who is on his way home as I type this; We’ll miss you here in the Lake region and people here have already asked about you and want to send their greetings to you as well!