PC Mada memories: my first glimpses of the big red island

Excitement, anticipation, fear.
I don't even remember being at the airport in Tana.

Driving through the streets of the capital to a small community an hour from the bustling big city, the new health volunteers for Madagascar arrive in September of 2006! Stopping first briefly at the Tana PC house (Meva) to sort through luggage and file papers, we also get to meet other PCVs who marvel at how squeaky clean we look. Secretly, I want to grow dreads.

Sambaina, our new home far, far away from home.
Each PCV is dropped off at the house of their prearranged host family.
It's just in time for dinner. I'm too excited to be hungry. I ate soup with stale bread and thought the world of my new host mom for serving it to me. We try to hash out ideas like family and where I come from in the states using a map and a few pictues I brought along.

This town has electricity! And buildings 2 stories high! It's located along a major road to the capital, and the road is paved!

The view off the balcony looks onto a huge rice field where I see people working everyday. Everyday.

50 years ago today....

....the Peace Corps was started by John F. Kennedy.
In honor of it, I'd like to share pictures and/or stories of my experience with you as Peace Corps month is celebrated.

There is a lot for me to share with you all. But at the same time, when I go back and look at some of the pictures I took, I can't help but think "oh, why didn't I take any pictures of us doing this or that", or some more everyday type of stuff. I suppose it's the same reason I don't take pictures of doing the laundry or dishes now (not that I would!); I don't think of it when it's happening, and besides my hands are full! I also kind of felt even more scrutiny (than the usual) whenever I pulled a camara out. Looking back on it, I wish I hadn't been so self-conscious.
That said, there are literally hundreds of photos for me to sift through, and though I can't show you all of them, I'll try to pick the best ones so you can imagine things a little more clearly.
I'll take the rest of this month to go through my years of service in Madagascar chronologically. Feel free to pop in with comments about stories I may have told you all through letters. I may end up going through all my old received letters later tonight. They were one of a few cherished bunches of things that I took when I left Madagascar.
I'm so excited to share all of these memories here!
Be back soon!

Update on Madagascar

All of you out there unfamiliar with the proportion of the politcal problems that have added up over the past year and a half should watch this short documentary. When Alex and I lived over there, it was already the 12th poorest country in the world. I wonder where that ranking has sunk to now. Madagascar has always been close to our hearts and when the current govt took over, we feared the friends we left behind would fall deeper into poverty. It's heartbreaking, frustrating, and outrageous all at the same time.

March 8th is International Women's Day!

Instead of festivities, I'll spend today privately remembering the women who's lives I was so lucky to be a part of in Madagascar, and with whom I spent 2 consecutive Women's Days celebrating. Before that, I had never celebrated the day, in fact, I was only vaguely aware of it's exsistence. Yet another example of how living in Madagascar changed my life. Many villages there did have organized women's groups, which took on year-round volunteer activities as well as having big blow-out celebrations every March 8th.

Here's a look at women's day in my past:

In particular, I'll be thinking of "Mama Vazaha", named so before I arrived, but the name really became meaningful after we spent so much time working, living, and celebrating together.

Once a good book, always a good book

Today I used my battered, smattered, and partially torn copy of Mampalicious (it's a cookbook of course! when am I not talking about cookbooks?) that I received during training in the Peace Corps. "Mampa" is put before a verb in Malagasy which means "to make someone or somthing do something", so the title means "to make something delicious", (in the fun mix of english and Gasy).
Every so often, the ol' Mampa gets taken off the shelf to be used as inspiration for whatever I'm got left in my kitchen (ya know, the day or two before you make one of those awfully big trips to the grocery store to stock up on staples). It's a great cookbook because all of the recipes are easy, I repeat, EASY, and don't require unusual ingredients. That's because it's meant for people who A) may have just graduated college and haven't been cooking much on their own; B) don't have access to grocery stores or really to much of anything in general; and C) are wondering what else they can make with rice. In fact, there is a whole chapter dedicated to rice recipes, because let's face it, eating plain rice gets kinda boring after just a few months (at least when you're an American living in Madagascar).
When I first got my hands on Mampalicious, I was stoked, I mean, cooking is a huge part of life anywhere, but when you're out of your element and have limited supplies, it's so helpful to have a little guidance instead of spending your tiny peace corps budget on street food or hotelys (not a hotel, just a restuarant that is usually run by a family who probably lives on the back of the property). The book even has instructions on how to make your own oven, although I wasn't so successful with that one. Also, there's a small section on Vache Qui Rit, perhaps some of you know it in English as Laughing Cow cheese. Every so often, I would buy a round package of this wonderful stuff on a trip to Ambanja, about 50km north of the village I lived in. I would conserve it carefully, and try to make the 8 wedges last as long as possible. I missed cheese so much, and this was all I could get my hands on since I had no refridgerator (or electricity or running water for that matter). Pasta was another luxury, it being more expensive than rice, because really are there any Malagasy who would rather eat pasta than rice? There were a couple of mornings where I treated myself and made Mac and Vache for breakfast. (Just to change it up, to give myself a break from the normal katakata and mofo-vary). Then some vanilla-cinnamon coffee in my little coffee sock. Breakfast of champions, I tell ya. What a great way to start the day.
For this time however, I only wanted to make tapioca pudding, but couldn't remember the portions of milk to sugar and tapioca granules. It's 1/2 cup of tapioca, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 3 cups of milk, by the way. I also threw in a halved vanilla bean.
Thank you Mampalicious, for making my cooking experiences easier and more tasty here and in Madagascar. I'll be using you again soon, it's almost time to go to Jumbo. When I see Vache in the grocery store here, I always think of my Mac and Vache meals. But now I won't touch the stuff, because now, I have a vast array of cheese choices, swiss, bleu, cream, mozzeralla, ricotta, camebert, etc. Also, and perhaps more importantly, we have a refridgerator to keep them in!

Under the Sea

As a little girl, I dreamed of being Ariel from the little mermaid. I would sing all the songs from that classic Disney movie and imagine myself being swept away by all the fun I could have living in the ocean. Looking back, it seems as though I've been able to live that dream.

(doesn't this look like the cave where Ariel kept all her treasures?!)

In the early part of the time I spent living in Madagascar, Alex took me on my first dive. Although I was completely terrified and thought I'd never survive, it really was a stunning and sublime experience that I encourage all people to try at least once. I was incredibly lucky as a first-timer. The sea was beautifully clear, in the almost untouched waters off the coast of this huge red island in the Indian Ocean. I saw a sea turtle, a sting-ray, and a couple of octopus's (how do you pluralize that?) making babies. Awesome. I couldn't wait to go back.

Since then, I've gotten my first level here in Réunion, and seen just about everything except for sharks. Not that I'm exactly missing seeing them or anything. One day though, I hope to work up the courage (and funds) to go cage diving with the sharks off of seal island in South Africa. Hey, dreams really do come true, even if you're a little girl wishing, no, yearning to be like a mermaid under the sea.