From Rice Paddy to Rice Paddy: Going Full Circle

I'm almost three months in. Since the last post, I finished Pre-Service Training, sworn-in, and moved into my new house where I'll be living for the next two years.

The End of Pre-Service Training

You meet 38 other people in your stage, spend ten weeks learning Malagasy with them, share too much information about yourself and all of your bowel movements, essentially become family with the quickness, and boom it's over and everyone is scattered across this huge island and moving into the next chapter in two short days. I've never been in a similar situation where you get to know people that fast- as if bonding is required if you want to survive. Regardless, I feel I have made a boatload of lifelong friends and thats pretty neat. 

Swearing-In

We left Mantasoa and headed a couple hours north to Tana where we swore-in at the ambassador's residence. We all had to stand and take the same oath as the president and got to meet a bunch of people from various groups like USAID and RPCV's curently living in Madagascar. They also had great finger foods.

Installation

Spent a day buying essentials for the house such as Nutella, Snacks, and oh a bed and frame, a gas stove, and furniture. Not a big fan of shopping but a big fan of the two hour nap I took after.

Melodramatic Goodbyes to our Peers

One by one we saw our peers drive off into the sunset to be installed to their site. For some, this meant not seeing them again until after 5 months when we meet again for In-Service Training. There were hugs and I love you's. One girl, I won't name any names (Tara) even stuck her tear-stricken face out the window like a helpless puppy as the car drove off:

Living at Site for Two Weeks

The first week alone was refreshing and lonely all at once. I did many uncharacteristic things like polishing and waxing my wood floors and  talking to my parents and saying strange things like, "It is so good to hear your voice mom and dad." I felt odd as I mouthed these bizarre foreign words over the phone. However, my neighbors are awesome. I live upstairs in a two-story house and have a balcony which I eat breakfast on every morning. My neighbors downstairs run an epicerie and have an endless supply of tropical fruits and veggies at their fingertips.

 

I've met and talked with many small business owners and have been invited to three community events, one with Croix Rouge (Red Cross). They want to start a seller's association to generate some income. Pretty cool. I'm also going to start teaching my neighbor computer skills. I told him he must know Excel and he agrees.

But the thing I'm most proud of is the day I worked in the rice paddy with my neighbor and his dad. It made me think about my Viet ancestors who have probably done the exact same thing: cutting rice, hitting it against a rock, repeat for 5 hours. 

My philosophy: How else do you really build a relationship with a new friend whom you can barely speak to except by sharing a day of the same hard work with no reservation. It's worth noting that I could barely keep up with them - I tired pretty quickly and they did not.

While working, I had a great conversation with the dad while slapping rice bushels on rocks about grandparents who've since passed on. Though language was limited I could see it in his eyes the same kind of grief weve both shared in losing a loved one. I told him my grandma died in 2009 and my grandpa in 2004 and he just paused and looked at me with a look that was not foreign to me at all. I realized how similar the human experience is. 

Outtie.