So it happened. I got sick. The first week in a foreign country, particularly one that is less developed than others, often entails a bit of diarrhea and/or general stomach upset. However, when you mix that with potential food poisoning of 22 weak-stomached “vazahas” (Malagasy word for “white people”)… things don’t turn out so well. Many of us were very sick for the first two or so days in Fort Dauphin (we suspect the shrimp we ate the first day) which was not pleasant.
Other than that, Fort Dauphin is pretty beautiful. The ocean is almost anywhere you walk and it is so blue!! Our classroom, in Libanona, is a little cottage in the woods on the top of a cliff surrounded by the ocean. We spend our days in class with warm breeze blowing in and take pretty long breaks in between classes where we lay on mats in the grass and watch/listen to the ocean. I often take a little nap after lunch which is always a delicious full-fledged meal in the yard. It’s pretty unreal that this is considered school.
The first day in town, we were sent out on our own all day to find our way around and answer some questions like how much a taxi costs, where you can exchange money or buy a cell phone, and we were given money to find a restaurant on our own for lunch. Dan and I were paired up and eventually met up with Sophie and Zach and found a tiny French library in “L’alliance francaise” which we fell in love with, and later picked up Sam who had been sick earlier and was without a partner. It took us a pretty long time to find our school since it’s at the farthest point in town and a little secluded. Not to mention we had no real map. That night we met our host families at a big party thrown just for us at the Town Hall. We were brought in and stood like cattle while our host families came up to us, recognizing us from pictures they were given, and introduced themselves with three kisses on the cheek. It was a little strange. We all sat and ate appetizers (very little, still being sick) and there was a local music and dance group performing. They kept bringing Becca and me up to dance with them in front of everyone. I’m guessing it was because we were the most into it. It really just entailed a lot of energetic kicking. It was probably a bad idea though because by the end I was feeling too sick to even talk to my new family and ended up sleeping through dinner at the hotel.
The next day, after class, we were picked up by our families and taken to our new homes. My homestay house has a beautiful view, and really nice and friendly family members. The only problem I had is that there’s no running water or toilet paper. I will continue to take bucket showers for the majority of my time here but I’ve come to find them pretty nice actually. It’s never cold enough to need warm water anyway. As for the toilet paper, my “aunt” who speaks English explained to me that they just wash when they use the toilet. That is not something I can get used to so I went out and bought a pack of toilet paper for myself. I’m getting pretty comfortable in my house now. It’s pretty far from school but I can usually grab a taxi in town, which the program reimburses me for. My mother speaks mostly Malagasy but fairly good French. We’re probably on the same level, her maybe a little more advanced. And my two aunts, one of which is my age, speak very good French and one speaks very good English. So communication is never really a problem. It’s good practice to speak to them in French but I can ask my aunt a question in English if it’s unclear and she’s around. I have a little brother, Adolphin, who is 8 and very smart and sweet. He is always studying or trying to read Le Petit Prince, which was one of my gifts to the family, and softly sings songs all the time from Malagasy songs to Justin Beiber. We hum together at dinner a lot. My little sister, Assia, is 3 and very grabby and nuts-o. If I ever need to get anything done while she’s around, she just gets all up in my business. She also hasn’t learned much French yet so I don’t know how to tell her to calm down or that she can’t touch something. But that’s what 3 year olds are for, I guess. She’s still adorable. There are also two kids who help out around the house but don’t actually live with us. They cook and clean and eat with us. The girl is older (I’m guessing 15 or so) and she helps me practice my Malgache from my book. We learned the Malagasy national anthem the other day and I sang it with them! Another culturally moving experience.
Our first Friday night in town was pretty exciting. French class was cancelled so we had a half-day which ended with cake for Anne’s birthday so we all went down to the beach just below our school. There was some sort of fundraiser or party going on for Aza Fady, a local sustainable development aid group, so there was a number of people and loud music playing. It really felt like we were on vacation. The ocean is the warmest water I have ever felt. It was perfect for jumping right in for a swim, although the tides are really strong so we have to be careful. I need to go there more often and even out this tan. Everything has tanned so much in the past week except I have major shorts and tank top lines. My stomach is so much whiter than my arms and legs. I had three options for Friday night: most of the SIT kids were going to a local South African woman’s club for an 80’s dance party, which ran pretty late (way too late for me to be going home alone safely), Anne invited me to her homestay for birthday cake which is pretty far across town, and my Aunt invited me to go with her and a friend to Karaoke after dinner. This place is pretty exciting on the weekends! However, after being at the beach and playing with Assia for a couple hours, I accidently passed out before dinner. When they called me to eat dinner, I was total zombie status and had to just go straight to bed. It was probably a good thing because Saturday morning I had to actually wake up when the roosters told me to.
We had to meet at the Post Office (about a half hour walk from my house) at 6:45am for our hike to Peak St. Louis, the highest (or second highest?) mountain in FD. I finally found Sidonie’s house which is conveniently directly on my way into town so we can walk together to school from now on. Climbing that mountain was the hardest thing I’ve ever done!! (and apparently it’s not the hardest thing I’m going to do during this trip) It took four hours total, and by the end the muscles in my legs were trembling and I may have developed asthma. It was totally worth it though because the view was incredible from the top. And it was very fulfilling to say that I made it. On the way up, we were taking a break in the grass and when I got up I looked at my arm VOILA!! There was a little praying mantis or something crawling up my arm!! I guess I was a friend to the bugs, having not showered in three or four days. The local science students joined us, as they will on several other trips, and were playing popular American music, or translated in French, through their backpacks. It added motivation to the hike singing well-known hip hop songs. I had World’s Greatest by R. Kelly stuck in my head the majority of the time as well. When we reached the bottom, we had a picnic all together where they played live music and we sat in the shade. I had a cold fruity soda beverage for the first time in a while and it felt AMAZING. I take things like cold beverages for granted in the US. That day called for a nice bucket shower for sure.
Sunday was our first free day to catch up or spend time with our host families. A cruise ship was coming in the port from the UK or somewhere and my host aunt, Nadia, works at the port so she tried to get us passes to go in the ship and look around. We ended up just being able to go up to it. She tried to get me to look ligit and speak French to this guy and get us in but I’m obviously not that good at it yet. Getting a ride home was ridiculous since all the taxis quadrupled their fares for the vazaha tourists. But we eventually made it out and went to the market. I guess I have been eating meat from the outside market… but it hasn’t made me sick so I guess it’s mind over matter. I asked my host mom to teach me how to make fried bananas one day so I can bring that knowledge home with me. As well as these delicious coconut flavored cookies I found!
No comments:
Post a Comment