Manakory Jiaby! (hello everyone!)

So hello from Madagascar!

Ahhh this is a French keyboard!..... I apologize in advance! So where to even start... I'm sitting here at an internet cafe in Tana, the capital of Madagascar with about 10 or 15 other trainees. I sent a letter to my parents (yes... snail mail) so when they get that, they can let you know more, but for now, lets just say life is challenging in so many ways, and absolutely incredible at the same time. Some highlights/interesting info about my life here so far:

* ok ok, YES Ive seen a lemur!... but it was someone's pet and literally tied to another one with a string around its waist... in a little park about an hours walk from my little training village. It was way cute, but also sad. BUT I SAW A CHAMELEON ON THE WAY THERE!!!! So rad.

* I live with a Malagasy family that is also awesome. Mom, dad, 2 teenage brothers and a teenage sister.... a houseful for a tiny 3 room house. They know no english, so I'm slowly learning to communicate without using 99 percent hand gestures and/or receiving lots of laughs or blank stares. I taught them to play war with cards and now me and my 'brothers and sister' play by candlelight almost every night after dinner. My host mom reminds me to dress warm whenever it rains, and heats my shower water for me in the morning on the fire. (And by 'shower' I mean a shack outside with a bucket and a cup) They are caring and super good people. My siblings and I laugh a lot... (a lot of the time its because I did/said something funny/embarassing/totally ridiculous to them... but I'm all about laughing at myself) We have an inside joke. Once I called a pineapple 'manasasy'; when it's really called 'mananasy'. So now I call it the wrong thing on purpose everytime and it cracks them up. Everytime. I'm a lot funnier in Madagascar than I could ever hope to be in the USA. I'll take what I can get.

* the other trainees ROCK. I've gotten close to 2 girls especially.... people refer to us as the 3 stooges or just 'trouble'. It's good to have support/people to laugh with and be sarcastic and joke around with and talk about stuff with. But the whole training group (32 of us) is really really awesome... we get along well and have a lot of fun..... such good times. We're staying at this huuuuge house right now while were in the capital... so much like a huge frat house, but for Peace Corps. These people are great..... laid back, funny, and like-minded. So good.

* Peace Corps training is language classes (I'm learning Betsimisarika dialect of Malagasy) and technical training, where we learn stuff like how to make good compost or how to improve rice farming...I'm constantly muddy... no joke, but I'm kind of alright with that. Also classes about safety and medical stuff for when we're out there alone. Its cool but information overload.... pretty challenging.

* I found out my site (where I'll be the 2 years after training)... it could not be more amazing sounding.... the area in the North Eastern coast of the island!!!! I'll be on the beach, near the most bio-diverse rainforest in the country.... I've been told by more seasoned volunteers that I hit the site jackpot, but will probably come back with the craziest jungle illnesses (minor, mom!). It rains like 9 months out of the year, but its hot, and I'm an Oregonian.... I can deal with rain. I'm sooooo stoked. We get to visit our sites in about 2 weeks. YAY!!

* I wake up at 5:30 or 6am everyday and go to bed around 9pm. I haven't used an alarm clock yet. A little different from my old sleeping schedule!

* Rice: its whats for dinner. and lunch, and breakfast. Everyday. No joke.... but its pretty good stuff with beans and veggies, and the fruit here is out of this world. It's easy to be a vegetarian here... I might as well be a vegan actually. My host mom is a good cook. (How am I going to learn to cook well on a fire???)

* Life is simple in some ways (no electricity, no running water, no tv, no computers, no cars in the village) but I kind of love it. Life is also really really busy and full with training. My brain is constantly filling up with language (plus my host family speaks a different dialect from the one I'm learning in class....brain...explode!!!) and farming/environment/education info. It's a lot to take in, but I'm super-inspired and I'm sooo excited to start service when I 'swear in' on April 30th.

* This place is SO beautiful, its impossible to explain. There's like 50 different plant species in a square inch it seems like. Amazing.... I can't wait to go see the rainforesty parts of the country!!!

* Poverty: ridiculous. In my tiny village and here in Tana.... too much to explain but it's shocking. I went to an orphanage today and Im not even really done processing it. I had to hold back the tears at one point, and if you know me, I'm not really a crier. I held some babies, watched the older kids dance for us, and practiced my Malagasy with them while painting and drawing with them. Amazing kids.... their stories break my heart, but the Malagasy people/
Ex-pats working to preserve their safety/ improve their lives tenfold are super-inspiring. Amazing day.

Well I guess thats it for now, I miss you all!!! Life is great and insanely different and I'm having an incredible time here and can't wait to start doing some good work in this amazing country!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!


Veloma! (bye!)