Whirlwinded

Overwhelming. Enthralling. Stressful. Exhausting. Vibrant. Grounding. Confounding. Riveting. Intriguing. Intense.

Many words can describe Peace Corps training. It's a multifaceted experience. You are plunged into a new language, culture, and lifestyle. Amidst the rapid adaptation, you are fed a vast wealth of information. Survival skills, technical skills, and logistics are all crammed into your head in a thimble of time. You are immersed in your new life, absorbing as much as you can...You are constantly adjusting, growing, and learning....and it is stressful, but absolutely fantastic. 

It is fantastic because the experience produces high yields. Greater perspective, capability, knowledge, and strength are fostered by all I see and learn. The adventure of a new land and the passion for purpose stimulate my progression. The stress is real, but I take it in stride. I know all I am gaining is worth the stress. I embrace the whirlwind.

So training is fun. Training is challenging. Some of training builds off my previous knowledge and experience. Some training is relatively new. All-in-all, it's an experience of a lifetime. And I've only been here two weeks!

Here's some details of my Peace Corps Madagascar lifestyle, observations, and experiences thus far:





-My host family consists of two people, a mom and daughter (the daughter is my age). They are both very kind, hospitable, and helpful.

-My host family has chickens, rabbits, a cat, and a 30-year-old tortoise. We live on the second floor of a two-story house made out of bricks, wood, and mud. The first floor is a barn.

-For the entire first week I thought I was telling my host family "Your food tastes really good" in Malagasy. I was actually saying "Your food tastes average." 

-Chamber pots aren't so bad. 

-Living without running water or electricity is actually fun. With living on the second level, it's kind of like living in a treehouse. 

-I get to brush my teeth out my bedroom window.

-I've learned how to wash all my clothes by hand.

-I eat pretty well here, or at least I have no problem eating rice every day. 

-My house mom can make banana pancakes (JACKPOT)

-I'm learning the language well and quickly. Fortunately, it's a relatively easy language. It has a lot of fricatives, so it suits me well. ;)

-"Bae" (spelled be) is a real word in Malagasy. But instead of being an awkward derivative of "babe," it means "big" or is said with another word for emphasis (tsara be = really good).

-Unsurprisingly, I'm a big, strong white girl who is  bigger than most of the Malagasy. One night at dinner I was joking with my host family about how big I was (while trying to cram my legs by the table), and said "Darcy BE" (big Darcy). An unforeseen consequence, the name has stuck and now my host family calls me "Darcy Be"!

-I have successfully educated my host family on George Strait.

-The English words "question" and "Christian" basically sound the same in some Malagasy accents. It's a 50-50 shot answering either "Yes, I am a Christian" or "No, I don't have a question."

-I haven't seen a lemur yet. They aren't in my current area of the country. 

-Madagascar is mind-blowing beautiful. 

-The Malagasy are friendly and courteous.

-The Madagascar Peace Corps trainers and staff are Malagasy, so the language and culture trainings are fairly thorough and effective.

-At least where I am now, the Malagasy firmly believe in mid-morning and afternoon snacks (am I in heaven?).

-We eat fruit for dessert. HOLLA!

-There is no shortage of coffee here (PTL)

-Yes, I have gotten sick already, along with several other Peace Corps Trainees. But it only lasted a couple days. I reference it as "the Peace Corps' first strike."

-I got to bargain for and buy a live chicken at the market.

-Trying to explain what an Aggie is through language and cultural barriers is quite a chore.

-I have not forsaken my "Howdy!"s "Whoop!"s or "YEE-YEE!"s. In fact, these phrases may transmit to those around me like a virus, for I am relentless.

-Chicken farming is the most common form of animal husbandry. Part of my work in food security will be improving better poultry production and practices. I'm pretty excited about that (hail to protein!)

-I'm with 17 agriculture and 22 health trainees in my Peace Corps Training group. It's pretty cool how fast we connect and turn into a family.

-Rats live in my ceiling and I hear them scamper to-and-fro at night. But other than the scampering, they don't bother me and I don't bother them. ;)