Musings on Madagascar: Cornrows and Independence!

Sorry it’s been a while between updates(maybe the plethora of pictures at the bottom will make up for it), but this last weeks was one of those where all of the exciting things come at the end, and since Tessa and I both had the sniffles at the beginning of the week, there’s not much to say about it. The weekend, though, has been nonstop, so here’s the rundown.

Friday Tessa and I went to the beach with a family of Australian missionaries. It was ‘the tops’ as they say! The beach here is amazing! We drove out over the dunes, it looked like a desert till you rounded a curve and there was the beautiful ocean! I had forgotten how much I missed swimming in salty ocean water! So that was Friday, it was so cool to see this huge beach and be the only people you could see for miles, pretty different from the beaches that I am used to in the US.

Sunday is the Malagasy Independence Day so on Saturday we had a big party with the youth group. Independence Day is a really big deal here and everyone seemed to be having some sort of ‘fety’ or party. We went over to the church and hung out for a bit, waiting till everyone got there, during which time I got my hair braided up, it’s amazing how fast she was able to do it! Then the whole group went as a whole to visit with Mark, Mamy’s son, and from there we all went, with Mark, to watch the fireworks. They were supposed to start at 7....they started around 7:45 (this is africa!). While we waited, we sang. Seems to be one of the most common Malagasy pastimes. I love to listen to them sing, it seems like every Malagasy person out there has a beautiful strong voice and knows every song by heart. And of course there is the fact that they all have this innate sense of rhythm! We even sang a few songs in English! I joined in those. The fireworks were great!! They went on for almost a good hour and there were all kinds!! After that we drove everyone back to the church where most of them stayed the night and came home. Today we had church and then we all ate together for lunch. We had chicken and beef, rice, and a tomato, vinegar type salad. Malagasy cooking is amazing. I was talking to Tessa and said, ya know, I bet I could make this in the States. She said, you could try, but it will never taste to same. And I’m sure she is right, sorry folks. I’m still sniffing quite a bit so I slept all afternoon, and that, ladies and gents was the weekend.

Probably my favorite part was hanging out with everyone while waiting for the fireworks and while eating lunch today. The girls are all so sweet and warm. They laugh at almost anything, including my sad attempts at speaking Malagasy and their rather good attempts at speaking English. The language barrier here does one of two things. It either makes you feel very isolated or it stretches you and gives you a ton of things to laugh about. And from what I have seen in myself these past few weeks, it largely depends on your attitude going into the situation. It’s like when you wake up, you could just lay there (that would be being isolated) or you can put in the effort and stretch. Of course, the situation also makes a difference. For example, when Tessa is having some serious conversation with someone, one that doesn’t lend itself to being translated, I just have to stand there. But when we are hanging out with people in a group and I am able to smile my way around, pick up on some stuff, and have Tessa translate a bit, it’s a lot easier to feel at ease. There are all those cheesy quotes about “Everyone smiles in the same language!” And it really is true, if you can figure out that something funny is happening, you can join in. And it seems that with this wonderful group of students, there is a lot to laugh about! Today, while we were eating, I had been served a really big portion of the salad like first course and I wanted to save room for the chicken and rice, so Tessa asked Mark if he wanted to finish it for me. This, and the berating that I received for not being able to put away as much food as him, were funny enough in themselves, but the best part was, when we had moved on to the chicken and rice, Mark looked over at Tessa with the funniest grin on his face and said, “Tessa, I’m full, do you think you could ask your sister to finish my food for me?” Maybe it’s one of those had-to-be-there-stories, but to me it’s an example of the fun that I am able to share with the people here even though I can’t speak to them directly.

There is a lot more that I want to share with all you folks. A few things that I have dealt with along the lines of culture shock, as well as a few really funny things that Tessa has translated for me. But I expect to have some down time this week as we get ready for the trip to the forest, so I’ll work on getting those out to you then. Hope everyone has a good Sabbath and Happy Madagascar Independence Day!!