I moved in with my host family. My mom is 32 years old, dad is 38 and they have 3 children, a boy 9 years old, a girl, 7, and a girl 5. They are very nice. The house is in a small village.
We went to Church earlier today. The service was 2 hours long and the bench was rough. There was a lot of singing, which was nice. In the afternoon, my "mom" and I took a hike up to a big rock/mountain with Matt, Joanna and their "mothers:". It was about a 30 minute hike and all the way up. At the top we sang a Malagasy version of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.”
The bathroom is called a “kabone” It is basically a wooden outhouse on higher ground in the compound. I have to duck to get through the door and the ceiling is so low that I cannot really stand up straight. It is a hole in the ground and it is full of spidery things.
I have discovered why people here are so sick. It is because of the way they prepare their meals. They make mini-fires inside the house and the house fills up with smoke. Almost everyone has an upper respiratory infection due to smoke inhalation. Peace Corps is going to try to teach us to make a “cook stove” which should cut down on the amount of smoke and lessens the amount of firewood needed. I did teach the little kids to cough and sneeze into their arms.
Laundry is an interesting situation. Nothing dries completely because of the dampness in the air. I went to put on a shirt this morning and noticed that it was dry enough, but then the mom took it from me to check herself. She put it to her face and said it was dry enough to wear. Then one of the little girls put the shirt to her face so she could feel it too and a huge snot-bubble came out of her nose onto the shirt. I had to wear it anyway, since I had no other dry semi-clean clothes. So gross.
We actually wash our clothes in a pond in a rice field. To get to the pond, there is a path about a foot wide. It is always slippery, muddy, and full of gnats and flies. As I was trying to wash my clothes, I decided that it would be easier just to sit-down rather than fall down, so the pants I was wearing got filthy with mud. My “mom” just started laughing and instructed her daughter to run back to the house and get a towel. They had me take off my pants right in the rice field so I could wash them right then and there.
We get water from a well that is at the corner of the rice fields, the path to which is steep and slippery. The family gets income by farming, mostly rice. They also have some livestock – chickens and a cow. It is really cute when the mama chicken sits on top of the baby chicks when it is cold and you can’t even see them, except for a few beaks and feet sticking out. Then she will stand up a little and you can see the little chicken feet sticking out. Then, randomly all the baby chicks run out and it looks like a little clown car. I help the family with the dishes, getting the water and taking care of the children. Although, I can only carry one bucket of water and the boy can carry two buckets at the same time. Peace Corps gives them money for food. The food is great. There are lots of fruits and vegetables – cucumbers, tomatoes, cassava. They also make a wonderful fried banana bread.
I am doing language training with Maya as we will be in the same part of the country. The dialect is Sakalava. It is very similar to French. We should arrive to post at the end of January. I will call you as soon as I find out what my mailing address is.
I haven’t received any packages from you, but no one has yet to receive packages.
I love you.
Jessica
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