Darcy vs. Nature: The Mango Tree

I've had an interesting problem at my house lately. 

Mango tree branches hang 12 feet over my tin roof, and while raindrops pattering on a tin roof sound nice, big fat mangos hailing down on it do not. It is full into mango season right now, and I love mangos, but many of these looming tropical frenemies have been gracing me with their booming arrivals. Either the neighborhood kids shake the mangos down while I'm inside the house, which sounds like WWIII has descended upon me, or the mangos go unshaken and drop on their own in the middle of the night to wake me up. So I've been caught in a lose-lose situation... Until today. 

Laughing Linguistics

Learning a new language takes patience and practice. The process of mastering foreign tongue is often challenging, frustrating, confusing, and exasperating. My experience of learning Malagasy is no exception. Fortunately, however, in my plight of this arduous task I have encountered moments of happy sunshine beaming through in the forms of hilarious-sounding vocabulary and phrases. Even more fortunately, enough of this candescent hilarity has occurred to inspire a list of my 10 favorite Malagasy words to say, which I now present. I am also sharing 10 of my favorite Malagasy proverbs (in their English translations), which I value for both humor and wisdom.


My favorite Malagasy words

» Adaladala (ah-dahlla-dahlla): adj. Kind of crazy

» Migaka (me-gack-ah): v. To drink (Antakarana dialect)

» Madinky (ma-dinky): adj. Small or Tiny (Antakarana dialect)

Ex"Site"ing Times

At last, after 10 weeks of training and one week of traveling, I am moved into my Peace Corps site where I will live for two years of service. Revealing the diversity of Madagascar, my site is quite different from the community I lived in during training. Fortunately, I am fond of these differences, and am rather excited to be in this region. What's it all like, you ask? Well, here's a glance at my new life:

First-World Withdrawal

"I'm here...and they have everything...and I can buy it!!" 

Floating through the aisles, I filled my shopping cart with the desires of my heart: Milk, rocky road ice cream, Columbian coffee, trail mix, Pop-Tarts, and more. Nearly to the point of tears, I was flooded with overwhelming joy. Even the store floor tiles shone with the light of Heaven, with the promise of all things good.

Secret Police

It is nearly impossible to remember every person you meet the first few days after moving to a new place. This is true at least for my experience of installing at Peace Corps site. There are few people I actually remember meeting, and even fewer names that I can recall.  Yet, even in the blurred flood of names and faces, there is one encounter from my first week at site I will never forget. 

It was my third day in my new home. While sitting in my doorway doing laundry, I heard a "hodio!" called from my gate. In Madagascar, "hodio" is the equivalent to a knock, meaning "can I come in?" I looked and saw I man I hadn't met yet, so I went to meet him at my gate to see what he wanted. He seemed a bit strange, but not threatening, so I commenced speaking to him with the gate in between us.