Because I’m Housing

(written by Chris July 14, 2008; posted by MOM)

Today I spent some time working with my neighbors, who are building an attachment to their house. The kids were working on the final stages and I asked to lend a hand and learn a bit about Malagasy construction. Houses are made out of mud/clay bricks around a wooden structure. During the past week, the family raised the many beams and supports to create a wooden skeleton of a house. They also thatched the roof. Then today it was time to complete the walls. The red clay dirt is mixed with water to form a sticky substance, which is then taken in small sections and applied to the wooden skeleton to make the walls. So we spent today throwing mud bricks on to the wall and smoothing them together. It was a lot of fun (full disclosure: not all of the mud ended up on the wall, some may have been “accidentally” thrown at fellow workers).

This is the time of year for home improvements (cue Tim Taylor grunts). The rice, the main livelihood in Madagascar, has been harvested and sold, so now people have means to build. Throughout town, stores and homes are being expanded, new animal enclosures built, new animals acquired, etc. Of course, nothing lasts forever, and soon the rice planting will begin again (Sept. or Oct. maybe), and there will be no spare money for such projects. But it is fun to see the new improvements all over town while they last.

Yesterday I broke out the football (Americain) with some of the local kids. It went over well, at least as a brief novelty perhaps. I thinks they still prefer the variety that you kick only, but we had some fun playing keep away and throwing spirals (and end-over-enders too). Speaking of kids, as I expected, my Sweet Home Alabama serenade has led to a new chant. Instead of merely yelling my name when I pass through, now groups of children chant “Bama, Bama, Bama, Whooo!” I fully support this, and often stop to conduct them, give fist pumps or sing along. So far, I have not been asked to translate that line into Malagasy, thankfully; the song itself would be tough to explain, let alone the chant. If pressed, I will probably go for “firenana tsara indrindra,” or “the best state”, although that would be pretty huge props to a state I have never visited, but it also translates as “the best country” so I can pretend it is an American pride song. Which, in a way, it sort of is....right?

I have also had my first semi-formal English lesson recently. I worked with a few men from one of the farmers’ groups, mostly on simple greetings and pronunciation. In case you were unaware, English is a difficult language. It is easy for us native speakers to forget this, but trying to explain it and teach it makes me appreciate those who have mastered it as a foreign language a lot. I found learning Malagasy tough, yet it is an easy language in some respects since there is no verb conjugation, few tenses, and lots of adapted French and English words (such as La biera = beer or telefaona = telephone). But I rarely know what voice or tense I am using in English. I tell anyone who ask to learn that I am not a teacher and therefore “Tsy Mahay” (not knowledgeable) at the grammar, but I would gladly teach words and phrases. So with the farmers, we focused on phrases to use with English-speaking tourists, such as “hello”, “how are you?”, “thank you”, and “you are welcome”. It was a slow start, but a start nonetheless!

Finally some of you have asked “what can I send you?” While I love care packages, I know they are ridiculously expensive to send. Letters are awesome, but if you feel the urge to send something substantial, you can include a CD. My Mom mailed me an old Discman, pointing out that people could include a CD with a letter cheaply and easily. Thus you can return to the John Cusack-era mixtape or maybe a copy of some new album that you think I need to hear. If you feel so inclined, I may even play your song on the local radio when I get the chance to select tunes. Tempting, is it not?

Malagasy 101—Home Improvement Edition:

House—trano—“trah-new”

To improve—manatsara—“man-ah-tsar-ah” (tsar like the Russian ruler). Tsara is Malagasy for “good”, so basically it means “to make more good”

Tool Time—fotoana fiasana—“foo-tone-ah fyas-ah-nah”. Fiasana comes from the very miasa, meaning “to work”

More power—hery betsaka kokoa—“airy bet-sa-ka koo-koo-ah”—I totally made this one up, and apparently “hery” is more like power wielded by a king, but close enough!

Argh, argh, argh—argh, argh, argh—really reach down deep for this one, it comes from the back of the throat (some things are just universal, right?)