Here are some random ponderings I've had since coming home that may give you some insight into the last three weeks... or maybe they wont, but either way, they are the things that have been on my mind:
1. In the Paris airport I wanted to buy a bottle of water. I walked confidently up to the first vending machine I had seen since last November (I saw them in South Africa, but never in Mada) with my card at the ready. I was a little worried that maybe my banking info hadn't been updated to say that I was in Paris and that my transaction would be denied. My fears were unfounded though as I never even got the chance to try. There was no stinking spot to stick my card into! There wasn't even a cash option! The machine read "contactless payment only." After surveying the scene and deciding nobody was paying attention to me I gave it a try. Nothing. Try again. Nothing. Somebody walked up behind me and stood waiting for me to finish. They probably knew what contactless payment was - I could have asked. Instead I smiled shyly and made my way back to where Krista (my fellow Mada YAGM) was sitting. "Where is your water bottle?" she asked. "Have you ever heard of contactless payment?" I countred. We both just laughed. I should have known then that coming back was going to be a little more difficult than I had originally anticipated.
2. We were warned that fruit would never be the same again. Bananas are just about intolerable. My site was home to a plethora of the best bananas in the world (totally unbiased opinion). We had yellow bananas, sure. But we also had green bananas that were as sweet as any yellow banana and we had red bananas with orange flesh that left your mouth feeling warm. My house was surrounded by fruit, I was often gifted fruit, and I would often gift fruit myself. The lychee season is short - and when it came I was ready for it. There is a large lychee tree at Fihaonana and it wasn't uncommon for me to carry whole branches full of fruit back to my house. It also wasn't uncommon for my students to bring me bundles of them. You can buy a surprising number of lychee for a couple hundred ariary in the Manakara street market. On days when I went there for internet I would buy a bag full and share them with strangers on sidewalk, children at the brousse station, and the parents of screaming infants on the drive home. I'm sure I had seen them at Woodmans prior to living in Madagascar. I probably looked at them, thought them an odd fruit, and forgot about them. But not this time. This time they caught me by surprise my first week back stateside. There they were, all boxed up in cheap plastic, dull in color, situated next to some large papaya that looked like they had a rough journey. Lychees remind me of hot days by the ocean and freshly made juice and my host siblings running around with handfuls of sweet, sticky fruit. Now they also remind me of that time I cried in a Woodmans' produce section.
3. Crosswalks. What are they? How do I use them? Why are all of the vehicles suddenly stopped?
4. Why on Earth was I ever eating my rice with a fork? Spoons are a much better tool for the task and I can't believe that it took me traveling literally across the world to figure that out! I mean, just look at them! Good gravy, Serena. If you are still eating your rice with a fork I implore you to give the spoon a try.
5. I want to talk about Mada. I want to talk about it so badly and I want to talk about it with anyone who will listen. I want to talk about my experiences, the people, the culture of my community, the beauty of the land. I want to share my limited Malagasy with you. I want you to know that my host mom's name is Olivia and that for my first three weeks at site my host sister would hide behind her mom's skirt every time she saw me, but by week four she would climb into my lap at church and flip through my hymnal. I want you to know that every morning I woke up to the sound of my students worshiping in the chapel that shared a wall with my house. I want you to come over and try mofo gasy while we jam out to "folaka la cle." I want to teach you how to wrap a lamba and sift rice and read my Malagasy/English bible. I want to show you pictures. But not all of them - there are somethings that I, quiet selfishly I'll admit, prefer to keep to myself. At least for the time being. But please, ask me. Ask me specific questions. Ask me generic questions. Don't be afraid to ask me tough questions. I worry about being a bit overwhelming in my responses when people ask me about my experience, so I'm guilty of giving the "it was incredible and challenging and totally worth it. It's very different from here." type of response. If you want more than that PLEASE let me know because I would love to give it to you. Also, tell me about what YOU'VE been doing! Share the joys and successes and trials with me! I know staying in touch throughout this last year was difficult. I want you to know that I was thinking of you and aware that you were doing incredible things where you were/are as well. I want to hear about them. I want to celebrate them with you even if I am a little late to the party.
There are so many other things I want to add to this list. Like that I cringe putting my produce in plastic bags and will avoid it at all costs; even if it means my apples rolling around in the cart and a cashier giving me an exasperated look as she tries to wrangle all of my potatoes onto the scale. That I feel sadness, shock, and anger when I tell someone that I was in Madagascar and they ask me where in Wisconsin that is (it's happened twice...). That I miss the simplicity of my Telma phone and the lovely exchanges that I would share with the woman who ran the closest kiosk to my home when I had to buy phone credit. How weird it is to be able to blend into a crowd. My lack of success at showing up to literally anything on time anymore as I haven't adjusted out of a mora mora (slowly slowly) lifestyle. That people, weirdly enough, don't want to discuss intestinal parasites with me here when it was just a part of daily life there...
I think that's enough of my ramblings for one post. If you've stuck with me this long I'll share some photos with you! (my computer with all of my pictures on it recently broke :( I'm working on getting the pictures off of it and onto an external hard-drive, so i'll be uploading a bunch of pictures in the weeks to come. In all honesty, it's taken me a long time to be able to sort through them without getting a bit emotional which is why they haven't been uploaded already. Sorry)
For a little info on each picture feel free to give them a click :)!
Again, thank you so much for you love and support. I am incredibly excited to be home and I am just as thankful for your continued patience and encouragement here as I was in Mada!
Love and light, beloved friends.
Serena Rae
** The Traveler's Tree in Malagasy is a Ravenala, it's spelled incorrectly in the caption, but I'm unable to go in and change it without having to delete the entire album!