Three Key Lessons Learned in Year One

This month I had my one year anniversary for living in my Malagasy village. I've already spent one whole year in my community! Looking back on this Year One of my Peace Corps service, I definitely can sum it up as a totes adaladala experience. I saw a lot of places, did a lot of things, and felt a lot of feels. Through the adventures, trials, and seasons of it all, the lessons I have learned are beyond measure. And because the lessons are many and sometimes indescribable, it has taken me a while to process them all. But in this reflection, I've identified three lessons that I have had the greatest impact on me at this time...

Lesson 1: Not only can I still be friends with people I disagree with, but I can actually learn a whole lot from them even as we disagree.

Jamie and Brienne in Game of Thrones. Image from tumbler

It's not easy to be around people who don't see eye-to-eye with you, whether that be in politics, values, cultural differences, or the quality of Justin Bieber's music. Because of this, I think it is often too easy for us to surround ourselves with only the people and ideas we agree with and then shut out, dismiss, or even become aggressive towards anything opposite or outside of our set way of thinking. I sometimes did this in the United States whether I meant to or not; I did know several people very different from myself, but I never had to spend time with them on a consistent basis or build more meaningful relationships with them because is was so easy and convenient to surround myself with people just like me. But now that I'm in Madagascar, that is no longer an option simply because people just like me don't exist here. So, in this last year on the Red Island I've been strongly challenged to live, work, and go to a deeper human level with people different from me on an everyday basis.

Tropical Depression

Wow, has it really been five months since I've written my last blog post?

Oops.

Well, anyway, the good news is that I'm still kickin' and livin' in Madagascar, and despite my blogging silence, these last few months have indeed been eventful. For example, I:

-Went on a Thanksgiving trip to the east coast (50% work, 50% play)
-Facilitated volleyball games and drills at a Peace Corps sports camp
-Went on a Christmas/New Years trip on the west coast
-Taught nutrition at a school's youth health club in my region
-Visited a cocoa farm
-Visited an awesome national park near my home (Ankarana Park)
-Hung out with my awesome community
-Started a Volunteer sports and fitness group
-Completed more of my home gym
-Began planning activities and projects for my second year of service
-Survived rainy season!!!

Yet, while these last few months didn't lack in eventfulness, they weren't exactly easy, either. During the rainy season (December-March) travel and work become much more difficult. Road outages were a huge problem all throughout my region, and otherwise it wasn't unusual for me to often be stuck inside my house. So things felt a bit slooooooooooow, and, at times slightly depressing. Doesn't it sound so poetic, though, to feel depressed while it's raining? I thought so, which led me to write this about rainy season:

Rainy season in Madagascar
A season of grey and green
A season of cloudy days
A season of cool nights
A season of stillness
A season of growth
A season of mold and mildew
A season of trial
A season of thought
A tropical depression 

It's no top 20 country song, but you get the point. And while rainy season was a little slow, depressing, and inconvenient, there was, if you will, also a silver lining. First of all, the crops and vegetation were pretty happy from the rain at least. Second of all, coming out of rainy season, I actually feel much more connected with and comfortable in my community and Madagascar. I think that might be because I really had to buckle down in life to keep myself from going totally insane; in the process, I was reminded of how much I truly love being here in Madagascar, how great my neighbors are, and how much I care about fulfilling my two-year mission and commitment. Now I'm even happier and more confident about where I am and what I'm doing here. 

That's the neat thing about rain...a tropical depression might be a storm, but its nature facilitates growth. And a period of depression might be a tribulation, but it can be an opportunity to foster strength. So it goes with my rainy season in Madagascar. 

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.

Nutshell

This is the end my friend, this is the end....

...of Pre-Service Training!

As described before, PST was a whirlwind experience. I did everything from planting pineapples, to bargaining for a live chicken, to learning how to say "smell ya later!" in Malagasy, to beyond. It's been an educational 10 weeks, a tough 10 weeks, a wild 10 weeks. I wish I could capture and depict the experience in its entirety, but my mind is still exhausted and currently doesn't have the capacity for that level of processing. (And how can you truly describe PST, anyway?). So I've selected three major components of my PST experiences to feature "in a nutshell": Homestay, Technical Training, and PCTC Life. 

Viewfinder

Pictures convey what words cannot explain. 

My best description of the Peace Corps training, communities, and nature I've experienced my first six weeks in Madagascar are in the photos below. Enjoy!

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:

finis

Movie still from Madagascar (2005)

Preparing to die.

That's what I feel I've been doing for the last five months. More in an amusing way than a morbid way. An amusing--but very real--way. 

Reality sharpened when I received my Peace Corps assignment and departure date. Priorities shifted at the realization of an approaching drastic life change. 

The first thing that changed? I stopped dressing up every day. Just kidding... I've never dressed up every day. But other things quickly became unimportant and impractical. I quit