Still here: tropical island style

Hi everyone! I am currently in Nosy Be, safe and still here for the time being. The current status of things is a bit too close to be able to describe at the time being, but here is some of what I had been writing over the past weeks of cyber silence:

Life in Majunga is hard to describe in its ability to fulfill. I have succeeded in endearing myself to my family and in making some solid Malagasy friends. In my neighborhood, few people call out to me now other than to say hello and ask how I’m doing and whether or not I’m en route to the beach (the answer is usually yes). In a country where, for the first time really, I’ve felt myself stick out as an incredibly visible minority, it has been wonderfully welcome to finally be allowed to just be and not feel as if my presence is constantly under question. I wanted to know what it’s like to be a minority and in that this has been exceptionally useful to me: it’s tiring and nearly constant. It is not a good feeling.

Which is why I love living here. I am finally feeling that I am starting to belong here, that people are expecting me and embracing me; that for the first time really I am not taking from a touristy surface but am sinking in and living symbiotically. I’m making the coffee every morning, buying a bottle of water from the same woman every afternoon, cleaning up after dinner every evening with Nasila, my 24-year old uncle who has become the best friend I’ve made with so small an amount of words spoken. He’s shy in French and I’m terrible at Malagasy but with good humor and a love for dance parties with my little brother and sister, we have become nonverbal partners in crime. Lenny and Keira have now completely taken to me and will come to me as they would any other primary protector. My host mother Esmeralda is young, 27, and over the course of my weeks here has opened up more and more to take on the position of a girl friend and confidante. We cook seafood together and she tells me the scientific names and information of each species. When we go to the beach, we’ll give the kids over to Jean-Yves and Nasila to watch and then go swim far far out, floating on our backs while she tells me stories of growing up in Nosy Be.

Majunga itself is a veritable Malagasy melting pot. The people here come from ethnicities all over the island (Esmeralda is from Nosy Be, Jean-Yves and Nasila from Diego Suarez) and pride themselves for their ‘cosmopolitan’ city, full of different points of view and generally calm in the face of many national problems. It’s pretty idyllic, which helps. Along many routes are women selling coconuts that they hack open with oversized machetes and hand to you with a straw. You drink the coconut milk, hand it back, and then they whack it open for you to scrape out the insides. This costs about 400 Ariary, or less than a quarter.

At night the boardwalk comes to life with all manner of people and families walking along, stopping to each tiny shishkabob-like creations called brochettes or buy coconut cookies. Heaven is fish brochettes with lemons. I made this comment one day the first week and then the day before my birthday when we were at the beach Jean Yves and Esmeralda haggled with a fisherman for his prize of the day, a three-foot-long fish whose name (both in Malagasy and in scientific denotation) I have forgotten. The beautiful creature was carved and made into my birthday dinner of ‘fishkabobs’, complete with lemons Nasila and I grabbed off the tree behind the house. That birthday dinner was the most delicious I have ever eaten, one even vegetarian Marit could not pass up.

Marit’s host family consists of middle aged parents to have long conversations with about economics and social climate, parents to older teenaged siblings, great for going out with in the town and for meeting Malagasy friends. My host family consists of younger host parents good for contemporary conversation and perspective, parents to young children who are such terrific fun to play and goof with all day long. It didn’t take long for us to combine forces to the best of both families; we share houses, meals, siblings. For as much like sisters as the Malagasy (and we) have come to perceive ourselves, it’s strange that we really never met until now, until here, despite being in the same program at the same school. Oh Madagascar.

Lately things have been heating up here, though, following with the trend around the country. In the middle of an event with no clear outcome it is always difficult to describe the situation to others completely on the outside. The context of what the past days have brought to Mada, particularly Majunga, is difficult for me to learn as an American living here, much less for someone reading for an update back home on the other side.

I could try and relate the piecemeal story of what is actually going on in Madagascar in this blog but I’m not sure it would do the situation justice. In Mada people have continually tried to explain to me that the Malagasy are a patient people, taking their time and hoping for the best. To a point. In the eyes of many many Malagasy, Ravalomanana has crossed the line into unconstitutional governance; when he ceases to act in the best interests of the people he has, in effect, nullified his constitution and his legal, legitimate right to govern. And once the trigger is snapped, however, there is no turning back until radical change is put into place, even if it means the equally-as-shady Rajoelina. And I’ve learned to see elections as a decidedly western brand of democracy which doesn’t necessarily come to mind when the Malagasy speak of installing a democratic government. The rules of American government just don’t work in Malagasy society, don’t make sense in the history of the culture and the country. These events, ridiculous as they are, do make quite a bit of sense looking at the Malagasy system of doing things like picking people to lead them.

I’ll try by recognizing foremost: Madagascar is a funny place, a land of binaries and contradictions. This is not a new concept that I’m introducing into my blog: remember the latrine but laptop in Tana? I was right to believe then that it was just the beginning.

I began a list of binaries I’ve identified about Mada. Here are a few:

• There are two currencies, which people switch between at random. Five-ish years ago the Ariary replaced the Madagascan franc at a rate of 1:5 in an attempt to fight rampant inflation after the World Bank absorbed the national debt. At the moment, the exchange rate is roughly 2000 Ariary/$1 US, or 10000 francs/$1 US. Generally the value rate is 200 Ariary is thought of as the equivalent of $1. The largest bill in common circulation is a 10000 Ariary note, generally equaling $5 US. People’s eyes pop if you hand them that note.
• There are two main languages, Malagasy and French. This is reflected in the above currency, but in many other aspects of life here:
• Each larger city or town has two names, a Malagasy name and a French/international name. Tananarive=Antananarivo. Majunga=Mahajanga. Taomasina=Tamatave. Fort Dauphin=Antsiranana. The list goes on and causes confusion.
• Madagascar is a country composed of a mélange of immigrants ranging from Indonesia to India to Saudi Arabia to Kenya, composing 18 distinct ethnic groups. However they have fierce national solidarity and are quick to brand non-Malagasy as ‘vazah’, or foreigner.
• In Madagascar, the French cellular company Orange is everywhere; as you look down the street it is full of the square orange Orange logos, naming both the company and the color. However, in Madagascar all oranges are green.
• The number one tourist spot in Mada is the island of Nosy Be, deemed by many to be a paradise version of your typical dream tropical island. The capital of this heavenly isle is named Hell-Ville.
• On the island of Madagascar, you can drive to an island off the coast of Madagascar. At least that’s what we attempted to do, finally taking a speedboat over to Nosy Be.

So that's where this post finds me, on Nosy Be, far from the fray. Snorkeling, finding banana markets, finishing up the first segment of classes. Thank god we move into homestays on Saturday, and I have been so very fortunate to move in with Esmeralda (Majunga host mom)'s family here on Nosy Be. I had lunch zith them on Sunday and I'm about to have two new younger brothers, two tortoises, thirteen ducklings. Ohh Madagascar, despite everything you still have the power to enchant! The past week of the past heavy month has been particularly eventful. But I am here, I am carrying on, and I love receiving emails from you all. Thank you for taking the time to reach out; even when I don't post on the blog I do respond to emails, from major life crises to mundane facts about Madison's temperature. The only thing I wouldn't mind not hearing is about the dismal state of the American economy. Not quite ready for that yet.
Love you all!