So our training at the good ol' Mantasoa was good. I did get my first illness where I couldn't keep any food down for a few days, but am feeling completely back to normal by now. Besides that, our training went well. It was great to see everyone and catch up after 9 months! After our training we were back in the capital for a few days. On Sunday, my old Country Director from Guinea and his wife had a potluck/bbq at their house for all RPCVs and PCVs. It was really great to see them and catch up. And their dog, PITA, has gotten so big and fluffy. He reminds me of my parent's dog, Samson. We left the capital today, me, Alison, Brian and Ralf. We are in our Regional Capital, Fianarantsoa and are taking the train to our banking town on Thursday. I'm excited for that. Enuf room to get up and walk around rather than being stuffed in a seat way too small for any person taller than 5'5" to sit in.Not much more to report. I'll try to get some pictures up while I'm here. After we leave here I won't have good internet until mid-April.
Which brings me to another point. I booked my ticket to Thailand! Me and 2 other Volunteers are going over Easter for 2 weeks! We leave April 15th and fly back on April 30th. It's a 8.5hr flight so not too shabby. One of the girl's parents sent her the Lonely Planet Thailand book and we were reading thru it at our training and I absolutely cannot wait! I wish it were next week. But I'm not ready yet. I'll be back in my village and hopefully the beans and corn that we planted before I left are sprouting nicely. However, there has been talk about how late the rains are. They were supposed to start in November and have barely been falling. So this could cause a huge problem in the project but I guess I'll find out soon.
But yeah not much else new in this girl's life. I won't be able to skype until mid-April again but add me if you haven't. I think my full name is my first and last name. Otherwise my username is my first and last name backwards without a space. I luv you all and thank you so much for all your letters and packages. They all mean the world to me. I am very grateful for all the luv and support I get from all my friends and family. It helps me get thru the tough times. Sending much luv your way! LUV YOU ALL!!!!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Happy holidays and happy trails.
Back in the capital again. Man has the last couple weeks been great. Me and Julie and Esther went up to visit Diego, north Madagascar. It was a long journey but well worth it. I didn't feel like I was in the same country. Became jealous of the volunteers that live around there but am happy we took vacation up there. We hung out with another volunteer that lives there and she was a great hostess....Dorothy what what!!! But we spent a little over a week up there. Went swimming in a fabulous pool with a marvelous lunch to go with it. Saw lemurs while on a walk. Met some guys from Tanzania on vacation that treated us to a few fancy meals and beverages. It was overall one of the best times I've had yet here in country. Oh saw my first Baobabs!!!! Didn't get a picture because my battery was dead but it'll be in my mind FOR-EVER!!!! We celebrated Christmas at the volunteer house in Diego by making homemad TACOS!!!! Yeah it was delicious. We had a really relaxing day and it was great and much deserved.
After a little over a week there we started the trek to Mahajanga. This is Northwest of the capital. It was HOT there. Oh my!!! I think I may have gotten heat exhaustion after a couple days. But nothing rest and relaxation couldn't cure. There was a huge baobab tree there and it was so beautiful and amazing. That's the word I've been using the most to describe my trip....amazing....it was nothing short of it! But yeah. We then made the trek down to Tana to prepare ourselves for our Mid-service conference. Whoohoooo. Yeah it's another week of training at Mantasoa. All us volunteers that were transferred from Niger will be together. It shall be a week of chaos and hopefully volleyball and chilliness. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrr!!! I am never prepared for the coldness of Mantasoa. But I'll deal. It was great to be able to skype with the few of you that I was able to. So lovely to hear your voices and see some of you! But anyhoo. I hope all is well and Happy Holidays to you all! Hope they were full of luv and happiness and good food. LUV YOU ALL!!!!!
After a little over a week there we started the trek to Mahajanga. This is Northwest of the capital. It was HOT there. Oh my!!! I think I may have gotten heat exhaustion after a couple days. But nothing rest and relaxation couldn't cure. There was a huge baobab tree there and it was so beautiful and amazing. That's the word I've been using the most to describe my trip....amazing....it was nothing short of it! But yeah. We then made the trek down to Tana to prepare ourselves for our Mid-service conference. Whoohoooo. Yeah it's another week of training at Mantasoa. All us volunteers that were transferred from Niger will be together. It shall be a week of chaos and hopefully volleyball and chilliness. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrr!!! I am never prepared for the coldness of Mantasoa. But I'll deal. It was great to be able to skype with the few of you that I was able to. So lovely to hear your voices and see some of you! But anyhoo. I hope all is well and Happy Holidays to you all! Hope they were full of luv and happiness and good food. LUV YOU ALL!!!!!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
some of my life.
marosca!
i went up and asked them to explain to me about Peace Corps.This was our booth at the fety.
the middle schoolers put on a dance.their skirts made the madagascar flag.
one of the dancers.
a male gecko...the males have blue tails.
i asked these kids if they would be my family.
enjoying the fety.
all dressed up for the fety.
Friends of Madagascar donated these jerseys for soccer teams in my village.
a really nice snack shop in Fianar.
The Middle School all decorated for our festival.
"What's up homeslice!"
some of my kids.
blacky walking me home.
get up stand up.
Dec 16
So it's been awhile. I'll try to mention some of the high points of the last couple months. I have been trying to get this garden project started at my local clinic with the health volunteers in my community. This has been a very difficult task. I set up meetings with them, and no one shows up. I've even had them tell me what day and time work best for you all, and still i've had some no shows. However, we did have a few successful meetings where we re-voted for who would be President, Vice President, Secretary, Accountant, etc. We also had one successful planting day where we got half the garden prepared and planted beans and corn. The next meeting I had scheduled to finish planting, no one showed up and unfortunately it was a few days before I was leaving my village. So at least we got half of it done.
We had a great Thanksgiving spent in my banking town. There were 6 of us total. We bought a live turkey and the boys took care of killing and all that jazz when it came time for it. Our menu consisted of: Turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, turkey gravy, stuffing, a green bean casserole, biscuits and banana pudding for dessert. We had plenty to eat and plenty left over to eat for dinner. It was a feast spent in great company. Also at this time, my foot got infected and swelled up and made it very difficult to walk. I was put on antibiotics and was feeling 100% in no time.
One of my good friends from my group that went to Niger came down to visit. Every year on the 9th of Dec, my village has a big party celebrating the coming of the NGO, Missouri Botanical Garden. MBG buys a couple cows and provides a lunch and cocktail for all in attendance. There were speeches and songs and dancing all day. So my friend came down and we prepared for it all week, we had a booth set up to explain about Peace Corps and what it is that we're doing here. We ended up doing a handful of condom demonstrations for groups of men and talked about nutrition and hygiene with many of the kids and women. I even gave a speech. I was really nervous. Still not that confident in my Malagasy (the language here). It was interesting. Music and dancing went well into the early hours of the night. Fun was had by all.
We headed up toward the capital. Ventured around Fianar which is a beautiful city. From Fianar to Tana it usually takes about 8-9 hrs by taxi. We arrived in Tana about 9hrs after leaving and were 4km from the taxi station where we get out and get all our bags that are on top when we hit traffic. I mean the worse traffic I have ever seen. We finally arrived at the taxi station 4 hrs later! It took 4 hrs to go 4 km!!! A friend of mine decided to go home, and was leaving at 10pm to go to the airport. Because of the traffic, I missed him by 30mins. I did get to talk to him before he left so that makes me feel a little better but I always like hugs.
But so here I am in the capital for the weekend. I'll be heading on vacation hopefully on Monday for the holidays. I should have internet access for most of the trip, not all but a good chunk. I set up a skype account. It was so weird but amazing to be able to video chat with friends from home. I'm still a little weirded out by it but welcome all you my friends and family to add me so we can chat. I highly doubt I'll be able to use skype while I'm at site so this may be my only opportunity to use it, the next month or so. Just search my real name as the full name and you should be able to find me.
We had our mid-service conference the beginning of January. We are half way done! It's been 14 months since I left the states. It seems so long ago but just like yesterday. I hope all is well back home. I luv and miss you all a lot. Keep those letters coming. I can't express how much it means to me. Take care. over and out.
So it's been awhile. I'll try to mention some of the high points of the last couple months. I have been trying to get this garden project started at my local clinic with the health volunteers in my community. This has been a very difficult task. I set up meetings with them, and no one shows up. I've even had them tell me what day and time work best for you all, and still i've had some no shows. However, we did have a few successful meetings where we re-voted for who would be President, Vice President, Secretary, Accountant, etc. We also had one successful planting day where we got half the garden prepared and planted beans and corn. The next meeting I had scheduled to finish planting, no one showed up and unfortunately it was a few days before I was leaving my village. So at least we got half of it done.
We had a great Thanksgiving spent in my banking town. There were 6 of us total. We bought a live turkey and the boys took care of killing and all that jazz when it came time for it. Our menu consisted of: Turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, turkey gravy, stuffing, a green bean casserole, biscuits and banana pudding for dessert. We had plenty to eat and plenty left over to eat for dinner. It was a feast spent in great company. Also at this time, my foot got infected and swelled up and made it very difficult to walk. I was put on antibiotics and was feeling 100% in no time.
One of my good friends from my group that went to Niger came down to visit. Every year on the 9th of Dec, my village has a big party celebrating the coming of the NGO, Missouri Botanical Garden. MBG buys a couple cows and provides a lunch and cocktail for all in attendance. There were speeches and songs and dancing all day. So my friend came down and we prepared for it all week, we had a booth set up to explain about Peace Corps and what it is that we're doing here. We ended up doing a handful of condom demonstrations for groups of men and talked about nutrition and hygiene with many of the kids and women. I even gave a speech. I was really nervous. Still not that confident in my Malagasy (the language here). It was interesting. Music and dancing went well into the early hours of the night. Fun was had by all.
We headed up toward the capital. Ventured around Fianar which is a beautiful city. From Fianar to Tana it usually takes about 8-9 hrs by taxi. We arrived in Tana about 9hrs after leaving and were 4km from the taxi station where we get out and get all our bags that are on top when we hit traffic. I mean the worse traffic I have ever seen. We finally arrived at the taxi station 4 hrs later! It took 4 hrs to go 4 km!!! A friend of mine decided to go home, and was leaving at 10pm to go to the airport. Because of the traffic, I missed him by 30mins. I did get to talk to him before he left so that makes me feel a little better but I always like hugs.
But so here I am in the capital for the weekend. I'll be heading on vacation hopefully on Monday for the holidays. I should have internet access for most of the trip, not all but a good chunk. I set up a skype account. It was so weird but amazing to be able to video chat with friends from home. I'm still a little weirded out by it but welcome all you my friends and family to add me so we can chat. I highly doubt I'll be able to use skype while I'm at site so this may be my only opportunity to use it, the next month or so. Just search my real name as the full name and you should be able to find me.
We had our mid-service conference the beginning of January. We are half way done! It's been 14 months since I left the states. It seems so long ago but just like yesterday. I hope all is well back home. I luv and miss you all a lot. Keep those letters coming. I can't express how much it means to me. Take care. over and out.
Friday, November 12, 2010
a little of this...a little of that.
Nov 6, 2010
Today is Saturday, market day. I walk 2km to Alison’s village where there is a bigger market and a bigger variety of food but still very little. On the walk over, I mentally prepare myself for it because it is always hot, crowded and very frustrating. There are little paths between rows of venders selling things from rice and beans to new clothes and old clothes to dishes and flashlights. There are no lines going one way or the other just people pushing to try to get through with the more than occasional person stopping in the middle of the path to either ask how much something is or to start up a conversation with someone. All this causing a halt to the flow of traffic. The sun beats down making it almost too hot to handle but somehow I maneuver my way through the crowd and get what I need. I buy maybe some bread, tomatoes, rice and soap. Leaving the market is just as difficult as coming in but without as much frustration because I know I’ll be able to breathe soon enough. Walking on the outskirts of the market reminds me of a music festival. There are vendors selling food that is freshly made, mainly some sort of bread or bananas or anything of the like. It’s my little taste of home.
I haven’t been having the best of times here the last few months. It’s been difficult to find work and when I schedule to go to another village with someone to promote nutrition or hygiene or prevention of diseases, it has always failed. The person has either left without me or just didn’t stop by my house to pick me up. I need someone to go with because some of these villages are 15km away and I do not know the way. But so life has been really hard. However, I woke up this past week, still feeling groggy and unsure of what the day would bring, and later in the day a wave of sunshine came through my body. I had went to my banking town to get something off my email for PC and got an email from my mom. In it, it had said in one way or another, how proud my dad was of us kids and he wouldn’t trade us in for the world. This may have been the thing I needed to hear and from then on, it seemed as though I did a 180. Things are looking up, I feel like I’m in a better place now than I was for the past few months. Which, I know, is a long time not to feel good. There was some sort of weight on my shoulders and I felt it had been lifted. I do feel better.
Unfortunately for use, a PCV near me has decided to go home. I spent her last night with her at her site and helped get her things together and just talked. After that, I realized it was a good decision on her part to go home and she seemed happy about her decision. It wasn’t an easy one for her. She had battled a lot during her first month at site, which was clear once I spent the night with her. She will be greatly missed but know she will move on to do bigger and better things for herself.
I was planning on doing this big garden project with my community and had applied for $600 in funding. After waiting for almost 4 months I go news that it had been rejected. All projects that were submitted were rejected. I also felt like I was trying to take on too much and so I hope to decrease the size of the project and resubmit it to another funding source. Hopefully that won’t take nearly as long.
The kids are loving coloring. So thank you to those of you that have sent coloring books and crayons. I get kids at my door everyday asking if they can color. While they color, I teach them about oral hygiene, hygiene, prevention of malaria, diarrhea, and about proper nutrition. It doesn’t stick if I say it just once so we go over it every time. So yeah things are looking good for me. I hope all is well back home. Know that I think of you all very often. I miss you and wish I could teleport myself home for even just 10 minutes every once in awhile. Thank you for all your love and support. Keep the letters coming. They are always a joy to get. Take care. LOVE.
Oct 15, 2010
Well hello there. I am reporting from Farafangana, my banking town. I came in today to do some work. Get some things emailed off to Peace Corps and do some personal business. Things have been moving in my village. Slowly but surely. We had a group of visitors, Malagasy visitors, come visit my NGO, Missouri Botanical Gardens. They came from way up north near Sambava and south of Vangaindrano. They stayed for three nights. We went for a walk yesterday on the outskirts of the forest looking at the plantations of replanted trees that MBG has done over the last few years. It was beautiful. Alison accompanied us as well. We had lunch out in the forest. It consisted of rice and beans, served on banana leaves, using banana leaves as our silverware. Me and Alison were befuddled as to how to use the leaves as our silverware but then we saw one guy sitting next to use had made a spoon out of it. He saw our amazement and offered them to us. In return, we gave him our leaves and he made more spoons. We also couldn’t finish even half of the serving they gave us so we offered the rest to him, and he and a couple others gobbled it up in no time. That was interesting and fun. Something new everyday I tell ya. For the last couple months, I’ve been planting the tree Moringa, its leaves are very nutritious. I have also been handing out toothbrushes that were donated by Friends of Madagascar. The same place where the soccer jerseys for my village came from. I have been teaching the importance about oral hygiene to the kids while handing them out. Along with overall hygiene.
At the end of September, we welcomed 4 new PCVs to our banking town, including one living in the banking town. They are all great additions to our little group down here. It’s kind of weird having so many people down here. For the first three months, it was just me and Alison. Then Abe and Brian came in May and now another 4. It’s great. Shakes things up a little.
I have been walking a lot lately. At least 4km a day (2.5miles). I have taken up drinking 3L of water and day and trying to limit my salt intake. HAHA. Yeah I love salt a little too much and I already miss it but I’m in great health.
I don’t have much to say. Not a whole lot going on. Still learning the language. It’s coming along everyday. There is a big party in my village in Dec to mark the anniversary of the local NGO, MBG, and Peace Corps’ arrival. There are booths all day long with the various associations in my community that teach about what they are doing. I have decided that I’d like to have a Peace Corps booth and explain what we are and what we’re doing. I hope to have other volunteers like Alison, who is environment, hopefully Jackson, who is Small Enterprise Development, maybe an Education volunteer (if they can get out of work) and me, a health volunteer all present to describe each sector. It’s a big event in my village and people come from all over the district. So that’s something to look forward to.
Anyhoo. I miss you and all think of you often. Keep writing. Hearing from home really gives me encouragement and love. I hope all is well. It’s all good on this side of the world. Take care. And Happy Holidays if I don’t get back before then. CHEERS!
Today is Saturday, market day. I walk 2km to Alison’s village where there is a bigger market and a bigger variety of food but still very little. On the walk over, I mentally prepare myself for it because it is always hot, crowded and very frustrating. There are little paths between rows of venders selling things from rice and beans to new clothes and old clothes to dishes and flashlights. There are no lines going one way or the other just people pushing to try to get through with the more than occasional person stopping in the middle of the path to either ask how much something is or to start up a conversation with someone. All this causing a halt to the flow of traffic. The sun beats down making it almost too hot to handle but somehow I maneuver my way through the crowd and get what I need. I buy maybe some bread, tomatoes, rice and soap. Leaving the market is just as difficult as coming in but without as much frustration because I know I’ll be able to breathe soon enough. Walking on the outskirts of the market reminds me of a music festival. There are vendors selling food that is freshly made, mainly some sort of bread or bananas or anything of the like. It’s my little taste of home.
I haven’t been having the best of times here the last few months. It’s been difficult to find work and when I schedule to go to another village with someone to promote nutrition or hygiene or prevention of diseases, it has always failed. The person has either left without me or just didn’t stop by my house to pick me up. I need someone to go with because some of these villages are 15km away and I do not know the way. But so life has been really hard. However, I woke up this past week, still feeling groggy and unsure of what the day would bring, and later in the day a wave of sunshine came through my body. I had went to my banking town to get something off my email for PC and got an email from my mom. In it, it had said in one way or another, how proud my dad was of us kids and he wouldn’t trade us in for the world. This may have been the thing I needed to hear and from then on, it seemed as though I did a 180. Things are looking up, I feel like I’m in a better place now than I was for the past few months. Which, I know, is a long time not to feel good. There was some sort of weight on my shoulders and I felt it had been lifted. I do feel better.
Unfortunately for use, a PCV near me has decided to go home. I spent her last night with her at her site and helped get her things together and just talked. After that, I realized it was a good decision on her part to go home and she seemed happy about her decision. It wasn’t an easy one for her. She had battled a lot during her first month at site, which was clear once I spent the night with her. She will be greatly missed but know she will move on to do bigger and better things for herself.
I was planning on doing this big garden project with my community and had applied for $600 in funding. After waiting for almost 4 months I go news that it had been rejected. All projects that were submitted were rejected. I also felt like I was trying to take on too much and so I hope to decrease the size of the project and resubmit it to another funding source. Hopefully that won’t take nearly as long.
The kids are loving coloring. So thank you to those of you that have sent coloring books and crayons. I get kids at my door everyday asking if they can color. While they color, I teach them about oral hygiene, hygiene, prevention of malaria, diarrhea, and about proper nutrition. It doesn’t stick if I say it just once so we go over it every time. So yeah things are looking good for me. I hope all is well back home. Know that I think of you all very often. I miss you and wish I could teleport myself home for even just 10 minutes every once in awhile. Thank you for all your love and support. Keep the letters coming. They are always a joy to get. Take care. LOVE.
Oct 15, 2010
Well hello there. I am reporting from Farafangana, my banking town. I came in today to do some work. Get some things emailed off to Peace Corps and do some personal business. Things have been moving in my village. Slowly but surely. We had a group of visitors, Malagasy visitors, come visit my NGO, Missouri Botanical Gardens. They came from way up north near Sambava and south of Vangaindrano. They stayed for three nights. We went for a walk yesterday on the outskirts of the forest looking at the plantations of replanted trees that MBG has done over the last few years. It was beautiful. Alison accompanied us as well. We had lunch out in the forest. It consisted of rice and beans, served on banana leaves, using banana leaves as our silverware. Me and Alison were befuddled as to how to use the leaves as our silverware but then we saw one guy sitting next to use had made a spoon out of it. He saw our amazement and offered them to us. In return, we gave him our leaves and he made more spoons. We also couldn’t finish even half of the serving they gave us so we offered the rest to him, and he and a couple others gobbled it up in no time. That was interesting and fun. Something new everyday I tell ya. For the last couple months, I’ve been planting the tree Moringa, its leaves are very nutritious. I have also been handing out toothbrushes that were donated by Friends of Madagascar. The same place where the soccer jerseys for my village came from. I have been teaching the importance about oral hygiene to the kids while handing them out. Along with overall hygiene.
At the end of September, we welcomed 4 new PCVs to our banking town, including one living in the banking town. They are all great additions to our little group down here. It’s kind of weird having so many people down here. For the first three months, it was just me and Alison. Then Abe and Brian came in May and now another 4. It’s great. Shakes things up a little.
I have been walking a lot lately. At least 4km a day (2.5miles). I have taken up drinking 3L of water and day and trying to limit my salt intake. HAHA. Yeah I love salt a little too much and I already miss it but I’m in great health.
I don’t have much to say. Not a whole lot going on. Still learning the language. It’s coming along everyday. There is a big party in my village in Dec to mark the anniversary of the local NGO, MBG, and Peace Corps’ arrival. There are booths all day long with the various associations in my community that teach about what they are doing. I have decided that I’d like to have a Peace Corps booth and explain what we are and what we’re doing. I hope to have other volunteers like Alison, who is environment, hopefully Jackson, who is Small Enterprise Development, maybe an Education volunteer (if they can get out of work) and me, a health volunteer all present to describe each sector. It’s a big event in my village and people come from all over the district. So that’s something to look forward to.
Anyhoo. I miss you and all think of you often. Keep writing. Hearing from home really gives me encouragement and love. I hope all is well. It’s all good on this side of the world. Take care. And Happy Holidays if I don’t get back before then. CHEERS!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Cumberland blues.
So yes here I am again...let me start off by saying.i luv you.ahhh that felt great.So the last couple months have found me wandering around Madland.Yeah so after the bike trip me and a good friend, Esther, went down to my site.Yeah she took the three-day trek with me.Wasn't impressed.no surprise there, meaning strictly the longness of it.but the beauty you know i take it in everytime I go down there so.But we hung in my village met up with Brian and Abe, banking town buddies (we have a banking town where we go in to get money and for me and Alison, buy food and everything else we just might need). There were good times had by all. It was great to back in my village after being gone for 6 weeks even though it would be short. But I felt the love of my village when I got there and it was a great feeling to be back home. We headed back to the capital after a week and decided to take the train from Manakara a city about 130km north of me to Fianara me regional capital. It was a beautiful and relaxing trip.We are considering it whenever we have to head in that direction.Got to Tana after a hop skip and a jump in a taxi brousse. I went to train the newbies. Showed them how to make a mud-stove (i've been specializing in them lately) and was just there for support and whatnot...it was a great trip back to the training site (got to the dogs). After training, I went out to the East coast to visit some Business Volunteers .Ryan, Julie and Vickie. and make the mudstoves at their sites. It is so beautiful out there and it was a great and productive trip. Everyone was very interested and motivated to watch the demonstration to the point that some of the women in Julie's site went off and made another one after we made our first one.It was great.Me and Jules sang with some kids a song about nutrition and washing your hands.it was an overall great trip and a needed escape for me.But so now here I am in the capital.We have these Volunteer houses in some of the regions here and there is one in the capital that we can stay at fully furnished and equipped with lots of good stuff, including wifi. However, the house in the capital is closing meaning that this is prolly my last time staying here and I may not have internet access for quite awhile. There is internet is my banking town but it's unreliable, slow and a little spending.So yeah I may not be back on the internet for some time.But know I luv and miss you and all and sorry this is a mess.take care and keep sending the luv.Cheers!
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