Goodbye trainee, hello PCV!

Hey everyone! I will change from trainee to volunteer soon! Thats right, TUESDAY AUGUST 28th, I will swear in as an official PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER!!

I feel like I have been here for four years, and even if I went home now that I would be a changed person.

The language is amazing here.... I love using it and learning it. I hope to become fluent.

I am getting a puppy. Another PCV has a neighbor whose dog just had 9 puppies. In order to get the puppy from the owner.. it is tradition to first give the owner a knife in exchange. Don't ask me why. All I know is that soon, I shall have a puppy, and he shall have a knife.

I feel like anything and everything I do in the future will be easy compared to what I am overcoming right now.

I know that I am not profound here.. but I'm exhausted.. done with training... and extremely nervous to be dropped off at my new home in less than four days. I will ride in a peace corps vehicle to my site... they will help me buy a wooden bed, foam mattress, small table, chair.. and a gas camping stove. Then, they will leave and it will be me and my stuff... and it will be up to me to forge relationships wtih people in my community and find friends. I have been told a million times by numerous other volunteers.... the first three months suck. You WILL be lonely. You will cry.. You will write a million letters and get none from back home. You will read tons.. but FORCE yourself to go outside and use the little language you have to create relationships... and that is what I will have to do. The school year starts Sept 11 here... so after 10 days.. I will be busy with teaching, grading.. and the like.

Yesterday I met the Minister of Education, shook his hand, asked him some questions, then snacked on some creme puff ducks and Fanta (it was a weird spread as far as a governmental snack set up) Tuesday we go to the new US Ambassador's residence for the ceremony and it will be televised throughout the country on the major station. We're kind of a big deal... haha.. ok not really, but this is definitely getting super real!! I was in awe as the Minister told us how much he needed us here and all the things we could do to help his country. It really helps to understand the President and his cabinet's vision of the development of the country, and where we fit into it all.

Site announcement!

I hope you are all healthy and happy! I want you to know that I think of you all daily, but that I am healthy and love it here. I just finished my first week of practice teaching. We are still in training, and still living in our training town. I have 2 more weeks of practice teaching and then I get to visit my site for a week! I’m really excited. Right now I am teaching all different levels of students, from ages 11 – 20, at a summer camp-like English school. It is winter here, but it is the “grand vacation” for the students, so like our summer in the US . I teach either a 2 hour or a 1 hour lesson everyday, and it takes tons of time to plan a lesson. I have been able to transition from teaching Social Studies to teaching English. We are observed everyday by our trainers, who are Peace Corps Volunteers who have taught here for a year already and they give us feedback on our lessons and teaching. So far, I have had positive reviews which feel good to know I am capable at this job. It builds confidence for when I leave this group of people and am on my own. My days are extremely busy lately because of practicum. I wake up at 5:00am , teach from 8 – 10, have class from 11 – 12:30, then lunch, and then Malagasy language class from 2 – 5pm . Then I go home, eat dinner/help prepare dinner and plan lessons from 7 – 9. I go to sleep very easily J at 9:00pm . Anyways, back to my site. Our swearing in day is scheduled for August 28^th. If we pass our language test and are qualified as teachers, we are sworn in as PC Volunteers that day! Wahoo!! My site is a big town called Ambatondrazaka. It is 260 Kilometers from Tana and northeast of Tana as well. It has 70,000 people in it, which is very large for a Peace Corps site. I have the second biggest site of our training group. It is located on the edge of the biggest lake in Madagascar , Lake Alaotra . I will live in a house on the grounds of the Lycee (or High School). My house had 2 rooms, running water, electricity, a simple shower, and a flush toilet! I will be living in luxury compared to my host family’s house! A flush toilet is almost unheard of here for Peace Corps Volunteers! I lucked out! Also, my city has cell phone reception, and internet cafes! Most other sites have to take a taxi-brousse hours or even days away to have internet access! Again, I lucked out! So, please do not email me until the second week of September, because I will not have internet access until then. Right now my dad is typing up this letter I mailed to you all and emailing it to you. So please wait until Sept. to email me. But, I would love to get hand written letters until then! I can still get all of the letters addressed to me at the address I gave you even after I move to my site, so don’t worry about it no getting here in time. They go to the Peace Corps office and they send them to me. At my site I will teach at the high school. The city is just off the plateau, so has seasons and doesn’t get uncomfortably hot, which his good. My city has large rolling-hills, forests, terraces of rice fields, the lake and the largest rice growing and harvesting industry in the country. There has not been a volunteer there for 10 years, so it will be weird. If you are white or a foreigner here, they call you a “Vazaha”, even when walking down the street. I think it’s the 3^rd word they learn after mom and dad, because even infants yell it out at us! I didn’t have much space to write a lot about here, but once I get to site in September, I will update you all and write on my blog as often as possible (Depending on how much internet costs.) I will add pictures too! I can’t wait to show you all my life, and Madagascar ! It is a beautiful country, with hospitable kind generous and loving people!