Gettin' rugged

I have been super busy with finishing my project, buying presents, saying goodbye, etc. since I am leaving in two days!

I also really haven’t had internet for quite sometime now, but I will try and get a good update about “finals week” part 1 and part 2 hopefully by tomorrow!

Well I am determined to edit this paper right now so toodaloo! 

Amurica, get ready for my corn rows and tan!

In case there are things I forgot to mention you can check out

emmamacfarlane.blogspot.com

ivanatakesmadagascar.blogspot.com

What a pimpin week here in the wonderful capital of Tana. Since it’s my last week of research I have been researching like crazy. Luckily for me research consists of talking to people at beer companies, observing people at bars, and going to beer promotions. It’s a hard life I am leading.

Ivana and I went to a Skol promotion the other night in Ambohipo aka the ghetto at night. The event was obviously at night. It was obviously bumpinnnnnnn!!!! We just hung out with Skol people, which at first was awkward. Our presence was also confusing for people at the bar since it was pretty much an all Malagasy bar. We made friends and had admirers aka a man who stood behind me and stared at Ivana. He clearly had mad game because nothing really gets a girl like creepily staring at them for 4 hours. Ivana also ate some brochette. Wait, my bad I meant she ate zebu heart. Again, what’s better than free beer, eating heart, and having a man stare at you? Ivana for the win. At some point everyone decided we would only speak Malagasy; I used the 10 phrases I knew over and over again. So around 10:30 (that’s really late for us considering we go to bed at  the Skol guys told us they would take us home. This meant that I got to go in the Skol truck and Ivana got to go on a motorcycle #winning! Well #biwinning because her motorcycle driver perhaps wasn’t the most sober, but hey it’s Madagascar. When we got back to our house/hotel I remembered I had to take my Malaria medicine. Then it got stuck in my throat and I had to drink water from the sink so I am looking forward to the parasites that occur from this.

Last night we tried to find the Skol event again that was in 67ha aka the ghetto all day every day. Our taxi driver didn’t know French and apparently know one knew where this bar was that the promotion was at. Our taxi driver was very persistent in trying to find it though. So persistent that he got out of the cab (this is at like 7:30pm so it’s pretty dark out) to ask for directions to the bar… he left us for 5 minutes in a cab that doesn’t have locks, doesn’t have doors that really even close, but has windows that slide open. We weren’t scared or anything as people were hitting the taxi when they walked by like especially because there was a power black out. We for sure weren’t afraid of getting taken or stabbed…. So finally our cab driver came back. Thank goodness. We gave up and went back to the hotel.

Luckily, everyone was still there so we all went to a concert together… in Ambohipo. Apparently, I am trying to get robbed based on the places I have been the past week. The music at the concert was reggae-esque and super fun. The dancing was magnifique. We did the natural thing and danced with Malagasy people for an hour or more. Then Sophia’s love interest showed up. So I got to being the pimp that I am aka wingmanin!!!!!In between my dancing in a circle with my friends and Malagasy moms and talking to one of the most famous singers in Madagascar I worked my magic. We decided to leave. Couldn’t find a taxi. I then convinced the policemen to walk us up the hill. Pretty sure they were also hitting on us, but we pretend we don’t understand whatever language they are asking for our numbers in. We then hit up Mojo, which is a bar by our hotel that we had been warned not to go to by our AD because it’s a good area to get mugged at. But guess what… we didn’t get mugged! I did break my sandal (actually I think Ben broke it) although it was a little scary trying to walk back with no lights and only one shoe. Besides breaking my sandal, I would consider Mojo to be very successful due to several things 1) my pimpin skills… I sense love in Soap’s future 2) the salsa music followed by LMFAO 3) a guy telling me “I don’t know you, but you seem really mean.” Sorry I am mean because I didn’t want to dance with you 4) ben’s dancing.

Tomorrow, I am going to Tamatave for 8 days and I am pretty pumped. I gots ta work on my tan. It is 90 degrees in Tana, but there are no beaches and lots of smog. Tamatave is 90 degrees with beaches and bungalows.Probably no internet. Oh well.

This wasn’t a very good blog post, but it’s what’s up. For sure living up my last week in Tana. Sorry for pimpin (but like not actually pimpin just getting free beer, motorcycles, and setting my friends up).

I know I can get amazing internet anywhere.

So for several days my mom and I (and some nice people at microsoft and my mom’s IT guy) have been trying to figure out how to get microsoft back on my computer. We bought a version that I can download the other day. This is when problems started to ensue. Downloading something in Madagascar means that many factors are against you 1) limited internet access 2)horrible access connection 3) power blackouts. I encountered all of these things while trying to download microsoft office over the course of several day. Yesterday, I sat at cafe de la gare because that’s where the best wifi is. Ooops, I meant I sat there for over 6 hours and only got 40% downloaded. Today, I was literally so lucky because someone at the embassy told me to come over and just try it. Factors against you at the embassy are 1) security 2) library being closed 3) security. By the graces of Jane the Chief Consulate here I was able to finally get microsoft downloaded onto a flashdrive and onto my computer. Thank you America for having great internet even in Madagascar.

After my short visit to little America I got in a taxi to head back to the program center. Don’t worry my taxi driver only spoke Malagasy, but I was still able to understand the following phrases “do you want to have a drink with me?” “you are really beautifu?l” “what’s your number?” “do you have a boyfriend?” “pretty girl” “do you want to be friends?” “so pretty.” “I invite you to have a drink with me.” Also, don’t worry this was only a 30 minute cab ride.

Then I was in a bad mood for many reasons (the cab driver hitting on me actually made me in a worse mood) and oops called the United States to talk to my best friend Meggles. I think I forgot how funny she is and what a good friend she is considering she picked up at 4:30am. I also forgot how loud and obnoxious I laugh when she says weird stuff.

Anyways, now I am in a great mood because I remembered I am an extremely lucky person with microsoft and great friends.

I also haven’t figured out why everyone loves James Blunt so much here… I mean come on James Blunt??

I believe there are a many of you who aren’t really sure what I’ve been doing Madagascar besides the weird things that I post.

So my first six weeks here/until the middle of October I lived in the capital of Antananarivo or better known as Tana. During those six weeks I lived with a host family (Jenny, Lanto, Lolee, Phephee, and Harena). Every week day I had class 8am until about 4:30 at our program center just learning Malagasy, French, Field Study, and about life here in Mada. At some point during those six weeks my program went to Vatomandry for a couple of days on the east coast. This also when I realized I had a parasite. We then returned to our homestays in Tana for a few more weeks.

Sometime around the end of September/beginning of October I hit up village life! I went and lived in a village called Ambarivatry with a hostfamily again (the Pastor, Justine, Solofo, brother whose name I couldn’t pronounce, and Hasina). So I did that for about 6 or 7 days. There was a mouse in my room, the food was delicious, there were so many chickens, got to farm, and watched a weird Malagasy movie. Oh yeah and pretty much only spoke in Malagasy after studying it for only a month.

Again, we returned to Tana for about a week and lived with our hostfamilies. Thennnnn we headed to Mahajanga on the Mozambique Channel. Man oh man was it hot there, but I got tan and my host family was awesome (as were all of my other ones). I accidentally killed a lizard there. Also, everything was super relaxed there like I didn’t have to worry about being mugged every time I walked down a street past 5pm. I also ate a lot of shrimp and fish, which for me was good and challenging considering I don’t eat meat (or fish whatever). I lived in Majunga for two weeks and while there I also had to decide what to do for my ISP Independent Study Project that happens the whole entire month of November. I decided on beer marketing in Madagascar here’s why… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMEkcNammng crazy, right? Just remember that Madagascar was Forbes’ worst economy of 2011. Then we headed back to Tana in taxi-brousse that I literally did not fit in. On the way back I was also convinved my parasite was back… it wasn’t… or was it?

For the past three weeks I have been living, researching, and being Malagasy in Tana. This time in Tana I am living with my friends in a hotel for a bunch of different reasons, but a huge one is because it’s pretty easy to conduct research at any hour on our own rather than in a house. Everyday I try and do research on the two big beer companies here, eat at hotelys or snacks, find funny and pretty presents for people, and try not to get mugged. I love Tana so I love all of this. My research is going okay I suppose it will be done Saturday. Sunday I am heading out to Tamatave with a few friends to write our ISPs because they are 30-40 pages. Plus, we need a change of scenery and we can go snorkeling near Tamatave.  November 28th I will be back in Tana again to do ISP presentations for a couple of days then a week later I head home!

Along the way I have seen lemurs, met a lot of cool people, seen a lot of chickens, experienced many cultural and language misunderstandings, realized I have maybe had a parasite for 2 months now, struggled through power blackouts every single day, seen some of the most beautiful things, laughed at the weirdest/funniest things I never imagined would happen, and this list could go on and on. Even though I can’t wait to see my friends, family, Miles, my clothes, and my MacBook (side note: my netbook’s charger fried during a blackout, my computer died at some point, the internet often sucks here, and most recently microsoft stopped working so this is why I am anxious to see and use my MacBook again) I am I couldn’t be happier to be here because it’s such an incredible experience. That’s SIT’s whole thing anyways “experiential learning.” I’ve learned to take Madagascar for what it is, partially know it, accept it, and love it.

So par usual here on the Red Island things have been pretty interesting. Not this is weird or anything, but last Friday Ivana, Jimbo, Emma, and myself gave a presentation to a class of over 200 high ranking public administration students. About what? Obviously about America and its political system. Yes, we did this. Hopefully well, but there’s a good chance some things were lost considering it was half in French and half in English (with a few Malagasy words thrown in there). We made a powerpoint with some graphs found online and talked about the things that the people here think are really strict of the United States government such as jaywalking. We explained that unlike here we have designated places to cross the street to avoid being hit by a car, but several students thought it was crazy that we could be fined for this. At the same time, I think it’s crazy that I am almost hit by a car at least 10 times a day. We also presented on American culture. Without realizing we made a powerpoint slide that consisted of Michael Jackson, NASCAR, 9/11, beer, American football, hotdogs, Oprah, and McDonald’s. I mean that is America… right? Probably not. Ivana also explained to the students that we talk behind each others back and it’s not polite to be rude to someone’s face or tell them that they look weird. We also shared that it was impolite to be rude to a meeting or job interview and that using cell phones during a meeting with someone or out with friends is also inconsiderate. This was shocking to a few students. The culture here has a very different view on those cultural behaviors. That was definitely not a bizarre experience or anything….

To continue with not bizarre things today Ben and I were in pursuit of the always present Eminem shirts that say “rap on rap.” Literally, it seems like every other day if I were to walk into a market I could find a vendor who only sold these Eminem shirts and a few John Cena shirts.In the large town by the villages there was pretty much a market that only sold these shirts. We head to China Town and hit up a huge shopping center aka a bunch of weird booths in a big building selling things from China. We even used Malagasy to ask where we could find these shirts and obviously said Eminem with a Malagasy accent to avoid confusion. In the first shopping center there were tsisy! Uh oh that means there were none. So we ask “Aiza?” That means “where?” So the people there direct us to another large shopping center… and those people direct us to another large shopping center… and this goes on four about 4 shopping centers.

We make an executive decision to look at the street vendors by Cafe de la Gare because there are always people selling them. We make it there and there are again no Eminem Rap on Rap shirts. Alas there is hope because we see an ice cream cart vendor wearing one. We ask, “Aiza mividy Eminem Rap on Rap?” (where to buy eminem rap on rap) He laughs, but then a guy POPS out of nowhere and we are pretty sure in Malagasy he tells us to follow him so we do! We are walking really fast behind this man who told us to follow him down the main street in Isotry then he stops at a random  t-shirt vendor. They discuss how we want these specific t-shirts. The woman asks how many we need and we tell her then she books it down the street in pursuit of these shirts. We end up waiting around for about 45 minutes on this main street for this woman to return with our infamous rap on rap shirts. Without a doubt benny boo bear and I entertained ourselves by dancing to the Malagay music and just standing around (probably with Malagasy people making fun of us and definitely with people hitting on us). Alright, so the lady shows up and that guy who lead us to here is still there. She presents us with one Rap on Rap shirt and on 50cent shirt. Welllllll what to do with that?? Ben buys the Eminem shirt and we explain that we still need a few more she starts to run (and when I say run I mean sprint). We stop her and tell her that we can buy them tomorrow. We agree on a time tomorrow to stop by and it’s back to sprinting down the street for her… followed by the guy who lead us there. So much sprinting for Rap on Rap. I guess tomorrow at 12 we will have more Rap on Rap shirts.

There’s a child in Madagascar named Clinton after Bill Clinton. Why? Because he was born on Bill Clinton’s election day. He also has the same birthday as Jimbo and Ratsiraka.

Before I updated you on Mahajanga and other things I feel obligated to write about this past weeked.

Besides being sick this weekend has been a great and bizarre weekend. Would I expect anything less from Madagascar? No. Friday night not only gave us Ratsiraka’s birthday (the former president of France who is exiled in France), but also my good friend Jimbo’s 21st birthday! Jimbo obviously wanted a great 21st birthday and his host brother wished him “the most beautiful birthday of [his] life” so we had to attempt to make this happen. All of us still in Tana went out together and at some point we decided it was probably a good time to go to sleep. Unfortunately, there were 6 of us so this means having to take two cabs. Even worse, a group of cab drivers saw us and made a fixed price of 5,000ariary for us. Not nice. Alright, 5,000ariary is only $2.50 US. Jimmy and I decided we would take a taxi and everyone else decided that this price was lafo be (too expensive); the others walked. From Le Six to our hotel isn’t that far of a walk, but for you of those who don’t know Tana is a RED ZONE (the red zone is defined by Peace Corps). This means that it’s too dangerous for peace corps volunteers to be here, especially at night all of Tana turns to a “red zone.” This is why I decided not to walk. Well here is the catch 22 in this situation: the police and military.

Being a vazaha means paying the former and the latter bribes from time to time. I have been lucky enough to avoid this… until Friday night. While the others were walking through the red zone, Jimbo and I were in our taxi being stopped at the police/military check point. I told Jimmy to pretend he didn’t know French when we got stopped, but this didn’t work. So Jimmy pulled out his notarized copy of his passport… ooops I forgot mine! The officials start pestering us and Jimmy tells them I don’t know French; this tactic did not work. They opened my car door and told me to “descende!” This translates to “get out!” Jimmy keeps telling them I don’t know French and they tell him to explain to me to get out. One more thing, Jimmy gets the weird old frenchman personality from time to time from body language to his French accent, which made this situation pretty hilarious. As the soldier is asking me to get out Jimmy tells him to wait because maybe my copy is in his wallet (all in French). He pretends to look around his wallet and pulls out a 10,000ariary bill and said,” ca marche?” This means “does this work?” Well, it did and we were free to go. Hope that was the most beautiful birthday of his life.

Saturday consisted of such a surreal experience due to the fact that we spent the day at the American Consulate’s home. Being at her house made me miss my mom because of a) all of the art b) the artichoke dip c) she was so motherly. It also made me realize my Mom should definitely be living somewhere more exciting than Vernon Hills. It was weird to hear other people speaking English and being able to drink ice water! Yummmm. Small luxuries, small luxuries. We got to talk politics in Madagascar and internationally with several people from the embassy. It was great. So surreal though, but also made me realize what a great immersion experience I have had here. I completely respect the people of the State Department and what they do because they are constantly moving around every few years and have to adjust to new cultures and problems. At the same time, it’s so crazy that they live in these countries and don’t know the culture as well as we do yet have to work with some of the most important political figureheads here. What a hard and cool job. A great thing also happened because someone from the embassy knows several people that work for the Madagascar beer companies, which is great for me because it relates to my Independent Study Project. Oh, I also got to hummus, pasta, diet coke in a can (there is no diet coke in this country) and BLACK BEANS. Black beans are my favorite and I even got to take home three cans of black beans. What a splendid and bizarre experience because it made me understand (at least halfway) what returning to the United States will be like.

Today, we came to Cafe de la Gare for lunch and to do homework. Emma and I were sitting by the windown and saw our favorite bus driver NARI! So I went and got Ivana to chase him down in the parking lot with me to say “hi.” In chasing him down in the parking lot we saw a bunch of men in red dresses and also a Skol beer station. So, we find Nari and say hi. I decided to go find out why there were all of these people in red dresses and why the heck Skol was there as well. I found out it was/is (because it’s still happening) a Red Dress Run/Walk through Tana and Skol was/is sponsoring it. I decided to ask if anyone worked for Skol that was at the even and GUESS WHAT?? I was talking to the CEO! So I believe I have an interview with him this week. Thank you Nari for being awesome enough for us to want to chase you down because you pretty much made it possible for me to meet a really important person for my ISP!

Maybe to you this isn’t that exciting, but it was just a really interesting weekend for me and everyday being super different.