12/8 Sorry that it has taken me so long to update this thing! My semester in Madagascar is officially over, I simply cannot believe it.. The last few weeks went by so fast and I think that is part of the reason I haven’t been able to blog. Just been trying to get everything in.
I finished up my ISP and I am extremely proud of the final result. It is the longest paper I have ever written (37 page body, 42 page total) and the first time I have ever done anything like first hand research for a month, let alone in a foreign country. If anyone is interested in reading my finished product, please let me know and I can send it over. We went through a few days of presentations and it was really cool to hear about everyone else’s’ projects as well on lots of different topics ranging from environment, ethnicity, income tax, non-government organizations to alcohol and beer marketing.
We then took a two-day drive to the Southwest coast, a city called Morondava. On the way, we stopped at a famous spot called the “Avenue of Baobabs” and got to take a lot of great pictures. Then the last few days we stayed in bungalows on white-sand beach and went through some final discussions about how the semester was and what it will be like to return to the United States. We then flew home which was much easier than the 2-day drive but pretty funny as well. First, our program assistant was able to check in the 19 students using copies of our passports, check luggage and get our boarding passes as well. When we arrived, she handed them out and when we eventually boarded (moramora, late) we didn’t show any form of identification nor go through any type of security check. Understandably, not much to worry about on the Morondava-Tana flight but I thought it was funny that a Malagasy woman was able to check in 19 Americans without us proving who we were at any point.
We stayed in Tana for a couple days finishing up last minute things and I got to eat dinner with my host family one last time, which was pretty sad, but a lot of fun. Now, a few friends (Emma, Andrew and Ivana) and I are in Cape Town, South Africa for a week!! Gonna be another great, and shorter, adventure! Probably not going to blog from here but wanted to let you know about the last few weeks. When I return to the States, I am going to post more pics here and I hope to write a final reflection on my semester.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Jean-Michel
11/18 – During our time at Foulpointe, we met this guy named Jean-Michel who ended up doing quite a bit for us. He was one of the guys who walk around the beach and tries to sell things to foreigners are visiting. He took us out on a little pirogue twice so that we could go snorkeling in the coral reef! We saw dozens of different types of tropical fish and held starfish and sea urchins. It was a really cool opportunity and ridiculous to think that I was snorkeling a couple times during finals week. WTF!
Jean-Michel also cooked dinner for us a few times, the first time he went and bought us 2 kilograms of fresh, giant prawns and grilled them on the beach, which we ate with rice and papaya salad. It was so good! Afterwards, we decided to order a special dinner for Thanksgiving because we were all devastated to be missing it at home. On Thanksgiving night, JM made us a kg of the shrimp, a kg of lobster and a small fish in addition to salad and rice. These meals fed 5 of us and cost about $30 total for the lobster dinner and even less for the shrimp one.
Jean-Michel also cooked dinner for us a few times, the first time he went and bought us 2 kilograms of fresh, giant prawns and grilled them on the beach, which we ate with rice and papaya salad. It was so good! Afterwards, we decided to order a special dinner for Thanksgiving because we were all devastated to be missing it at home. On Thanksgiving night, JM made us a kg of the shrimp, a kg of lobster and a small fish in addition to salad and rice. These meals fed 5 of us and cost about $30 total for the lobster dinner and even less for the shrimp one.
Finals Week
11/28 - WOW, I am back from finals week on the East Coast. It was an incredible week that was very productive and a lot of fun. We took a Taxi-Brousse, which is a city-to-city bus system here out to Tamatave. After 7 or so hours, upon arriving in Tamatave, we catch a taxi to our hotel and our taxi driver tells us that the hotel is too dangerous and brings us to a different one. Not a terrible place and Tamatave seemed like a cool city but we didn't really explore much because we were going to Foulpointe beach the next morning.
Last Monday we got another Taxi Brousse that was overly crowded but the ride was only a couple hours. We settled into our villa bungalow that was literally right on the beach and relaxed for the rest of the day. The remainder of my 'finals' week was spent with a similar routine. I would wake up relatively early, although an alarm was never set, and work on my ISP paper for a while. Everyone would get up; we would go get 40-cent soup at a hotely (picture coming) and some bread or possible a fried banana that costs 5 cents. Then get back to work for a little bit. Every morning, our study break would be tanning on the beach and swimming!!! Foulpointe is on the East Coast like Vatomandry (where we went early in the semester, with the big waves) but the difference is that there is a huge coral reef that surrounds the beach and keeps the water calm. Afternoon would be more work and usually a beer or two for me with a possible nap. We also had a plethora of fresh fruit ranging from litchis that are just coming into season to pineapple, coconuts, papaya and more. This process was repeated for the week with a few days that were special but that is coming in the next post.
On the last night, a bunch of South African miners who were working in Madagascar moved into our hotel and were celebrating the end of their term here. We ended up talking to some of them and drank for a while; they had some tips for my trip to South Africa coming up. Also met some Peace Corp volunteers, which was interesting. Next morning we caught a couple Taxis back to Tana, and in case you were wondering, 9 hours of travel on a crowded bus and a very windy road, after only a 3 hour drunken nap, while very hung-over, is not as much fun as you think.
Overall, it was a pretty amazing week and a great way to finish up a stellar month of November.
Last Monday we got another Taxi Brousse that was overly crowded but the ride was only a couple hours. We settled into our villa bungalow that was literally right on the beach and relaxed for the rest of the day. The remainder of my 'finals' week was spent with a similar routine. I would wake up relatively early, although an alarm was never set, and work on my ISP paper for a while. Everyone would get up; we would go get 40-cent soup at a hotely (picture coming) and some bread or possible a fried banana that costs 5 cents. Then get back to work for a little bit. Every morning, our study break would be tanning on the beach and swimming!!! Foulpointe is on the East Coast like Vatomandry (where we went early in the semester, with the big waves) but the difference is that there is a huge coral reef that surrounds the beach and keeps the water calm. Afternoon would be more work and usually a beer or two for me with a possible nap. We also had a plethora of fresh fruit ranging from litchis that are just coming into season to pineapple, coconuts, papaya and more. This process was repeated for the week with a few days that were special but that is coming in the next post.
On the last night, a bunch of South African miners who were working in Madagascar moved into our hotel and were celebrating the end of their term here. We ended up talking to some of them and drank for a while; they had some tips for my trip to South Africa coming up. Also met some Peace Corp volunteers, which was interesting. Next morning we caught a couple Taxis back to Tana, and in case you were wondering, 9 hours of travel on a crowded bus and a very windy road, after only a 3 hour drunken nap, while very hung-over, is not as much fun as you think.
Overall, it was a pretty amazing week and a great way to finish up a stellar month of November.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
End of Research
10/17 I also wrapped up my artists interviews today, y final one being with one of the most famous Malagasy artists, the King of Salegy, Jaojoby! I met him at a café near our center where he promptly introduced me to one of the head government officials in charge of copyrights and I began my interview. After a few minutes, he asked if we could just go back to his house because he hadn’t eaten lunch yet and was really hungry. Having played soccer all morning, I was quite hungry too and obviously had no complaints about the switch in location so we drove over to his neighborhood. He showed me the club that he had recently opened where they have live music most nights (and where I hope to return tomorrow night, Friday) and then walked down a ridiculous set of small, dangerous, incredibly smelly steps to his house. When we got there, his wife and her traditional Malagasy music group were in the midst of filming a music video! After watching for a few minutes we sat down and had a delicious meal of rice (duh!) and some crab.
Afterwards we got to talk for a while and he answered all of my questions and then some. He then let me pirate his cd too; I wanted to buy it from him but it isn’t coming out until sometime next year and he only had one copy. Afterwards, he even gave me a ride back to our program center. It is so amazing how accessible and how nice the Malagasy people in general, and the musicians in particular, have been during my stay here. What American artist would invite some random student to his house for lunch, give him music and then drive him wherever he was going?? I have been so lucky with all of this and it really has led these past few weeks of Independent Study Project to be 3 of the best weeks of anything called “School” that I have ever done. Am I really getting credit for hanging out with the biggest musicians in Madagascar???
Another thing worth noting was that there were a couple of vazahas hanging out at his house as well. There was a German guy who Jaojoby met in 1982 in Berlin where they decided to become blood brothers (like legitimately did that whole blood exchange) and now visits Madagascar when he can and stays near by (or with him, not sure). And there was also an American who lives in, you guessed it, the Bay Area. Richard was from Berkeley and has traveled all over the world but fell in love with Madagascar and is now on his 3rd visit, applying for his 2nd yearlong residency visa. He travels around the island taking photos and videos then giving them to the people and has made a lot of music contacts here on the island. He also works(ed) for Bay Area Music Magazine, so I of course took down his contact.
Jaojoby’s house was crazy busy between all the vazahas hanging out, music videos being shot and the normal activities in a Malagasy house and it was yet another incredible experience that I will not forget.
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