(Written 8/31/2008)
Yes, I am out in a small town in Madagascar, living alone, speaking a foreign language, fetching water from a pump and using a pit latrine. But we recently had a modern technology arrive here: cell phone service! This is the modern Peace Corps experience, a merging of worlds. Now I see people washing their clothes by hand in the river, and stopping to talk on their cell phones. It is all quite surreal!
What does this mean for you reading at home? Well, you can call or text me now if you like. I usually check my phone in the evenings (still no electricity to keep it charged for full-time use), or late morning for most of you reading in the States. Calls are expensive for me to make, but free to receive, and texts are still cheap for me to send. Not sure the best way to call (my Dad uses Skype), and since my phone is not always on you won’t necessarily reach me, but texting is just as easy as in the States (although I do not know the cost for you folks). I’d be happy to hear from you, and my number is 261330607796 (261 is the country code… I’m not sure what exactly you need to dial to get me from the States, sorry!)
The other benefit to cell service is, when I hear a phone ring, I get to yell: “Phone is ringin, oh mygod!” I cannot tell if this confuses people more or less than when I do it in the U.S.
Last week I took a 25 km bike ride to visit a tree nursery. Along the way, my companion stopped to point out two large boulders across a large ravine from us. He told me that it was custom to try and throw a rock across the ravine and hit both boulders and then the large undergrowth below (in one shot), or as he described it the “breasts and stomach of a pregnant woman.” If you could hit all three with the single rock, you would receive good luck (specifically, health and wealth). We did not try, partially because he said it was impossible, and partially because it took me untile we were a ways down the road to fully grasp his explanation. Silly language barrier. Anyway, 15 minutes later he found a 5000 Ariary note on the road (a rather significant amount). He decided he was rewarded for sharing the tradition with me, even if he did not attempt the throw. Considering we barely saw any other people the whole journey, it was quite the coincidence!
Also on this journey, I saw my companion get a full massage next to the dinner table from an elderly masseuse. Nothing wrong with that, but it was unnannounce and a bit of a surprise. One minute he is eating and conversing with me, the next he is shirtless on the bed receiving his massage. Mad’car: Expect the Unexpected!
One other thing I found interesting on this trip: on our way back from the reforestation tree nursery, a 2 hour hike into the forest, we stopped and had some banana sandwiches. Bananas on bread. I thought I was the only one to master this simple delicacy (and that I was weird for enjoying it). I was encouraged to find fellow banana-sandwich fans! Of course, this does not cancel out my weirdness (for instance, I often breakfasst with bananas and sugar on rice).
Yesterday there was a dedication ceremony at my neighbor private school, Mitsinjo (“to take care of”). We had all sorts of Minisiters and education bigwigs (the “Lehibes”) to see the school and officially cut the ribbon. I will probably teach some environmental lessons at this school when lessons start in late September. The ceremony and subsequent party was nice (when I asked what we would do at the party, I received the response of “Eat rice… what else would we do?”), but I enjoyed taking pictures of the assembled kids, all of whom would fight over each other to see their picture. The digital camera and cell phone: two modern technologies making their presence felt in rural lands.
Fun with Malagasy words – I enjoy seeing how Malagasy words are formed. For instance:
Rano = Water
Nono = Breast
Ronono = Milk (or “Water of the Breast”)
Sira = Salt
Mamy = Sweet
Siramamy = Sugar (or “Sweet Salt”)
Aza = Don’t (the command)
Fady = Taboo/forbidden
Azafady = Please/sorry/excuse me (or “Don’t let it be taboo/forbidden!”)
No comments:
Post a Comment