I assume that many of you watched President Obama’s Inauguration, and I thought this would be a good time to compare experiences. So think back on it, remember where you were, what you were doing, what else was going on...got it? Now, let me tell you what I was doing.
On the day before there was a huge tropical storm here. It rained all day and I was basically stuck in my house. On Inauguration Day, the storm broke in the morning, but we did not have school since it rained so hard yesterday. The morning was beautiful, and I went for a run in the cloudy late morning heat. I cooked and ate lunch with Brad, we played guitar and then tried to figure out what time the Inauguration would happen. My mom said 9:30, is that Pacific time (11 hours different) or Eastern? What time is that here? What did the radio say this morning?
By the time we had it figured out (turns out we were wrong anyway), it looked like rain again. Brad has the working radio and we have to cross town to get to his house. We left just in time to get caught in a tropical deluge. It then rained as it only can in the tropics, for the next two hours. We found a BBC station on the short-wave that promised coverage. Then the station moved. So we found its new frequency, got beers and waited.
For the speech and ceremony, it was 7:30 pm. The rain had stopped, but we were still wet, eating rice, sitting close to the radio with a dubious connection and picking fleas off of our legs as fast as we could find them. We were able to make out the speech, and it was definitely a memorable experience.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Natural Disaster days.
This time of year you at home may be missing school or work because of snow. Today I did not teach because of a tropical storm that is slamming into the East coast of the Island. Peace Corps issued a warning, retracted it, then told us to stock up on food and prepare for power and cell phone outages because the storm was coming.
It was easy to tell something was up: Yesterday from my window I could see 6 people repairing their roofs and throwind sandbags on them to keep them from blowing away. Th National Radio was issuing some kind of warning, and even though I couldn’t understand it all, I could hear ‘Warning (Tendremo)’ and ‘Vavatenina’. My landlord told me to stock up on food.
So it was windy and rained all day. It was exciting, but relatively un-eventful. For all the talk about the storm, this one turned out to be minor, just a tropical depression. There is a real cyclone on the West coast right now, and who knows where that will go? And there are 3 more months of cyclone season, so there is plenty of time for the weather to pick up the slack and send us something more exciting.
It was easy to tell something was up: Yesterday from my window I could see 6 people repairing their roofs and throwind sandbags on them to keep them from blowing away. Th National Radio was issuing some kind of warning, and even though I couldn’t understand it all, I could hear ‘Warning (Tendremo)’ and ‘Vavatenina’. My landlord told me to stock up on food.
So it was windy and rained all day. It was exciting, but relatively un-eventful. For all the talk about the storm, this one turned out to be minor, just a tropical depression. There is a real cyclone on the West coast right now, and who knows where that will go? And there are 3 more months of cyclone season, so there is plenty of time for the weather to pick up the slack and send us something more exciting.
The New Work-out Plan:
For me to stay sane and in good spirits, it has always been important for me to stay in shape. I never was much of a long distance runner, but due to limited resources, I am now. At least 3 times a week I run about 10km into the ‘ambabivolo’ (counrtyside). Last weekend I topped 24km running, and the Monday before that I biked 42km with my site partner Brad.
It is an interesting experience to go into the ambanivolo. I am already stared at in town, but when I run through some of the small villages it might be their excitement for the week. It is harder for me to communicate with people farther out of town, as they are less educated and speak with more slang and improper grammar. I am not one to be picky about their grammar, I’m sure mine is terrible, but it makes them much more difficult to comprehend. I barely have a grasp on the language as it is.
They also all think I am crazy for working out. This is a cultural difference. They lead such active lives anyway that the thought that someone might want to exercise is very foreign. To them, fat is also a sign of prosperity and health. If you don’t have to sweat in the fields all day, you have enough to eat and time to relax, you want to get fat so everyone knows how good you’ve got it.
I am hoping to send these posts from Fenerieve Est. If you are reading it, it means that I have biked the 46km there to visit my friend Michelle with the two other volunteers from out here in the countryside. It is a struggle to stay healthy here, fighting all the tropical diseases, lack of nutrition, heat and plain laziness, but I am managing. I will be sleeping on Michelle’s floor this weekend. She has rats (as do most volunteers) and some of the rats here carry the bubonic plague. Yes, also known as the Black Plague. If I get it, I promise I’ll let you know what it is like.
21 janvier 2009
It is an interesting experience to go into the ambanivolo. I am already stared at in town, but when I run through some of the small villages it might be their excitement for the week. It is harder for me to communicate with people farther out of town, as they are less educated and speak with more slang and improper grammar. I am not one to be picky about their grammar, I’m sure mine is terrible, but it makes them much more difficult to comprehend. I barely have a grasp on the language as it is.
They also all think I am crazy for working out. This is a cultural difference. They lead such active lives anyway that the thought that someone might want to exercise is very foreign. To them, fat is also a sign of prosperity and health. If you don’t have to sweat in the fields all day, you have enough to eat and time to relax, you want to get fat so everyone knows how good you’ve got it.
I am hoping to send these posts from Fenerieve Est. If you are reading it, it means that I have biked the 46km there to visit my friend Michelle with the two other volunteers from out here in the countryside. It is a struggle to stay healthy here, fighting all the tropical diseases, lack of nutrition, heat and plain laziness, but I am managing. I will be sleeping on Michelle’s floor this weekend. She has rats (as do most volunteers) and some of the rats here carry the bubonic plague. Yes, also known as the Black Plague. If I get it, I promise I’ll let you know what it is like.
21 janvier 2009
Who needs a TV?
I’ve found a new way to kill time. At dusk the bugs come out and stay for the night, so I leave my windows and drapes open and lure them in with my light. At seven I usually have a handful of flies and moths, harmless insects just unable to stop flying around the light. Then at 7:30 or 8, the fun begins.
My collection of small bugs is usually enough to attract a large predatory bug who comes in and cleans up. Usually it is a praying mantis (who knew they could fly?), but I have had plenty that I’ve never seen before. Some are so freakishly outlandish I couldn’t begin to describe them. Brown, green, red, purple with two wings, four wings antenna longer than their bodies, pincers, claws, big eyes, they’re amazing.
Last night I had the most impressive one yet. He came in looking lost and hit the wall 4 or 5 times, but then he got to business. He ate 6 moths and all the flies in about 2 minutes, then landed and scrambled under my bed where I could hear him wreaking havoc on all the poor bugs that live there. He was about 6 cm long, brown with short wings and a huge head. By far the most impressive insectivore I have seen at work.
My hope is that once I lure them in, they stay for a while and help me keep things in check. I’ve got a few resident spiders and some lizards too, but they apparently could use a little help. My house really isn’t that bad now. If I keep clean the ants and cockroaches raid my neighbors instead. Occasionally a scorpion still shows up, but I am hoping that they will be out competed by the lizards soon. Whoever wins out, I definitely have a healthy ecosystem and endless entertainment watching the battles and feasting play out.
7 janvier 2009
My collection of small bugs is usually enough to attract a large predatory bug who comes in and cleans up. Usually it is a praying mantis (who knew they could fly?), but I have had plenty that I’ve never seen before. Some are so freakishly outlandish I couldn’t begin to describe them. Brown, green, red, purple with two wings, four wings antenna longer than their bodies, pincers, claws, big eyes, they’re amazing.
Last night I had the most impressive one yet. He came in looking lost and hit the wall 4 or 5 times, but then he got to business. He ate 6 moths and all the flies in about 2 minutes, then landed and scrambled under my bed where I could hear him wreaking havoc on all the poor bugs that live there. He was about 6 cm long, brown with short wings and a huge head. By far the most impressive insectivore I have seen at work.
My hope is that once I lure them in, they stay for a while and help me keep things in check. I’ve got a few resident spiders and some lizards too, but they apparently could use a little help. My house really isn’t that bad now. If I keep clean the ants and cockroaches raid my neighbors instead. Occasionally a scorpion still shows up, but I am hoping that they will be out competed by the lizards soon. Whoever wins out, I definitely have a healthy ecosystem and endless entertainment watching the battles and feasting play out.
7 janvier 2009
Suddenly it’s HOT.
I guess it kind of crept up on me. It has been hot for months now, hardly a day goes by without someone pointing that out. We all say it, we all agree. Mafana be ny andro. But now it’s HOT.
I don’t know quite when it happened, but we have turned a corner. It hasn’t been below 32 degrees in my house since mid-December. I sleep with the window open and fan on, if I can sleep at all. I sweat, non-stop, and the only thing I can eat for lunch is fruit. I try not to leave my house between the hours of 11 and 3 but I have class some days at 2, so I walk and sweat and suffer.
The nights are nice to be out in. The town cools to about 30 by 10pm and I don’t have to worry about hiding in the shade. I have early classes during the week though, so I try to not enjoy the night for too long. It is a struggle to get into bed. It is hotter in my house than outside, hotter in the mosquito net than in the house, and the foam mattress that has been killing my back also gets hot really quick.
What I am hoping for now is that when the rains come, they will cool us down and bring wind too. Swarms of mosquitoes may be more enjoyable than the heat, at least I can hide from them.
5 janvier, 2009
My hopes have come true, sort of. The rainy season is starting, but so far it means hard rain for two or three hours around sunset. This means (inconveniently) that it is still scorching hot during the day, but some of the nicest hours of the cool evening are taken up by sitting out the rain. I do sometimes go out in it at my own peril. The mud keeps my sandals stuck to the ground when I try to pick them up, but refuses to let my foot stay in one place when I step down. The roads are disintegrating under my feet. It is cooler at night though, so I have been able to sleep. You win some and you lose some. C’est la vie.
17 janvier 2009
I don’t know quite when it happened, but we have turned a corner. It hasn’t been below 32 degrees in my house since mid-December. I sleep with the window open and fan on, if I can sleep at all. I sweat, non-stop, and the only thing I can eat for lunch is fruit. I try not to leave my house between the hours of 11 and 3 but I have class some days at 2, so I walk and sweat and suffer.
The nights are nice to be out in. The town cools to about 30 by 10pm and I don’t have to worry about hiding in the shade. I have early classes during the week though, so I try to not enjoy the night for too long. It is a struggle to get into bed. It is hotter in my house than outside, hotter in the mosquito net than in the house, and the foam mattress that has been killing my back also gets hot really quick.
What I am hoping for now is that when the rains come, they will cool us down and bring wind too. Swarms of mosquitoes may be more enjoyable than the heat, at least I can hide from them.
5 janvier, 2009
My hopes have come true, sort of. The rainy season is starting, but so far it means hard rain for two or three hours around sunset. This means (inconveniently) that it is still scorching hot during the day, but some of the nicest hours of the cool evening are taken up by sitting out the rain. I do sometimes go out in it at my own peril. The mud keeps my sandals stuck to the ground when I try to pick them up, but refuses to let my foot stay in one place when I step down. The roads are disintegrating under my feet. It is cooler at night though, so I have been able to sleep. You win some and you lose some. C’est la vie.
17 janvier 2009
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