Friends and family, Yes I am still alive and sorry I have been pretty AWOL the last few weeks. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have already started my work (or a little bit) in my village of Alakamisy Ambohimaha. I got a puppy (and she has become quite the vazaha princess. And [...]
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Meet the newest addition to my family, Parasy Betro (or in English, Flea Rabbit). She is two months old we think and was one of a litter at my site mate Savanna’s neighbor’s house. Animals here are not really treated the way they are in the States, but rather abused and neglected. I saw Parasy [...]
The Peace Corps saying is no joke…the toughest job you’ll ever love. The last week has probably been the hardest and yet best week in country. I moved to Alakamisy Ambohimaha, my village for the next two years. It is a village of 30,000, but spread out over a huge area of land, with 18 [...]
The feelings toward Peace Corps Volunteers vary from day to day. Yesterday, I was efa mahay in Malagasy and ‘one of them.’ A mpivarotra even yelled at another vender for trying to give me the vazaha price–pretty much just double what the cost should be and that’s the vazaha price. I was even able to [...]
April 25th marked World Malaria Day. Stomp Out Malaria is a Peace Corps Initiative, and regardless of our primary job responsibilities, we are expected to work on Malaria prevention and education. Here in Madagascar, many Malagasy feel they are immune because they have built up a tolerance from living in this country. This is in [...]
Did you know Madagascar needs a subway system? No…cause I didn’t either until I took my LPI today and said that’s what it needed (final language test of PST to see where I test in my language). For a minimum of 25 minutes, we’re supposed to converse with the tester. The questions are based off [...]
Warning, this is going to be a really gushy blog post, so beware. :). And be warned as well, my English spelling has slowly slipped away so I apologize in advance for any misspellings. Peace Corps has these awesome posters all over the PCTC and their offices that are really inspirational: The corner office can [...]
Dramamine, hostels, vazaha food, and long car rides have been the focus of this past week. It seems it has just slipped by. My fellow stagemates spent the last seven days on the road visiting different current volunteers sites and having technical lessons in a wide range of categories. This week, aka Tech Trip, was [...]
Manasa-ing lamba deserves a post to itself. Washing clothes sucks here in Mada. With the continuous rain and humidity, it takes a good two days for any article of clothing to be semi dry. And the back pains from bending over a bucket for a few hours scrubbing, no fun. So Leslie, Sarah, and I [...]
I would say yesterday was our first real taste of traveling Mada style. We have the luxury of having PC drivers whenever we go anywhere, but for our IGA, we had to travel like the Malagasy do. What is an IGA you might ask? It stands for Income Generating Activity. As a CED volunteer, we [...]
This past Sunday, we were given the task to cook for our homestay families using their methods of cooking. We could cook anything we wanted, but vary and tsaramaso were required. The groups were decided by location of our houses, so naturally, Lance, Sarah, and I were assigned to cook with each other. Not going [...]
Site placement, Alakamisy Ambohimaha!! The 29 volunteers in my stage were told our sites yesterday at PCTC. It was actually really cute how they told us. A huge map of Madagascar was painted on the basketball court and the LCFs and PCVTs (PCV trainers) blindfolded us and let us to our sites where we all [...]
I have absolutely no idea what just happened. One minute I’m studying in my room and writing in my journal, the next, one of my host sisters is knocking on my door telling me I’m going to Lance’s to study. Lance lives in the house directly behind me, so I tend to see him a [...]
Never and I mean never trust a guy who says he knows a shortcut home through the rice fields when you have only lived in this town for three weeks. Never! To me, Saint Patty’s Day was a day to come and go without notice. However, I’m in Madagascar now; things are different. I don’t [...]
Madagascar. You dazzle me. This country is my home now. It’s a different culture and lifestyle than I’m used to. Completely different. The last threeish weeks have been a rollercoaster with highs and lows, much more highs than lows though. :). Culture shock doesn’t even begin to describe what I went through my first few [...]
Well it’s no longer an imagination, but a reality. Today I start my 27 month experience with Peace Corps. I’ve been thinking about joining PC for years and today is the day I can officially call myself a Peace Corps Trainee. I will be boarding a plane to Dulles/Washington DC at 745 this morning for [...]
It only took five months of packing and unpacking, but I finally did it! I figured out what I am going to bring with me to Madagascar. It was not easy! It is extremely difficult to pack for two years, let alone to live on a completely different continent. And I think I did the [...]
Disclaimer: this has nothing to do with Peace Corps or my preparations for departure, but rather my OBSESSION with The Big Bang Theory. “Knock Knock Knock, Penny. Knock Knock Knock, Penny. Knock Knock Knock, Penny.” Living so close to Los Angeles, I take advantage of the opportunity to see any taping of a show [...]
It’s a little weird and overwhelming to go through your things from the last 22 years of your life and clean everything out. Especially when you don’t realize how much stuff you really own and have accumulated over the years. Every week since July, when I accepted the offer to be a volunteer, I try [...]
“Om Namah Sivaya. It’s 5:30” will always hold a special part of my heart. The past week, I had the pleasure of spending a week in an ashram in Northern California, more specifically in Grass Valley. For those who don’t know what an ashram is, it is a monastic community of Buddhist individuals, always located [...]
So as I’m sitting here in a hospital room at Irvine Hoag on Thanksgiving day, my thoughts kept drifting to family. Yes, my dad keeps snoozing off in the hospital bed across from me, my sister is reading a book in the chair next to me, and my mom and other two sisters are at [...]
Recently, it seems that everyone wants to know my reasoning and decision to join the Peace Corps and what I’m going to be doing in Madagascar, so here’s my answer. As many of you may know, I have been in the application process for nearly 2 years, originally applying in January 2010. Contemplating joining the [...]
This is what I have learned about what my life will be like for the next three years: • I better get used to eating rice. Lots and lots of rice. • Marriage proposals will come quite frequently. • Don’t EVER look into the latrine. • Crystal light packages are a very strong payment method [...]
A few weeks ago I visited my sister in San Diego. She is an officer stationed on the USS Gridley and I haven’t really seen her very often since my sisters and I graduated from high school in 2007. Especially with my departure next year, the more time I spend with her, the better. Our [...]
Expect the unexpected. I’m going to Madagascar! Even though Madagascar was my second choice–my first being Ghana–it honestly didn’t register this is where I would be assigned. Francophone Africa is essentially Northern Africa besides Madagascar, so the odds of me getting my second choice were slim to none. However, picture my surprise when I open my [...]
So the eleven most exciting words popped up on my application status page this morning: “Congratulations! You have been invited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer.” It was January 2010 when I first contemplated joining the Peace Corps and it was March when I submitted my application. To think that I have come almost two [...]
The last couple of weeks, the Peace Corps has come under attack by multiple media channels for not protecting their volunteers abroad. The case in point they used was the murder of Kate Puzey, a PC volunteer stationed in Benin who lost her life in 2008. Dateline unraveled what they feel to be the truth [...]
So I”m sitting here at work, 2 hours into the new year and I realize that this year is going to be a lot of firsts for me. I’m graduating college and if everything still goes according to plan, I will be celebrating the holidays and the end of a year in another country. I [...]
WordPress is something very foreign and new to me, however I thought it was necessary to get one as an easy way of communication for those that I care about when I possibly leave next year–nothing is a guarantee but at this point my fingers are crossed and I hope that I get into the [...]
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