June 8th to June 14th 2024
I didn’t have that much to do this week, so it gave me time to hang out at the American Corner and relax a little. Two of the teachers from the American Corner also asked me to meet with their class, so I did that too.
On Tuesday and Thursday this week, I went in to do some teaching. On Tuesday, I took the bus an hour out to the countryside with one of the teachers from the American Corner. I was impressed by the English level of the students out there. We had a really fun day; I taught them some English and they taught me some Malagasy. We also played Bingo, which they seemed to enjoy. The students were motivated, and I hope that giving them the chance to talk with a native speaker motivates them to continue their English learning journey. On Thursday, I taught at the local STEM university in Majunga. The students’ English level was lower, but they all participated, and we also had a fun day. I also thought that it was funny because, at the end of the class, every single student wanted to take a picture with me. There were 30 students, and I took 30 individual pictures.
Wednesday was a fun adventure day. A group of us from the American Corner and my Peace Corps friend Cyrus went to explore the caves out in the countryside. The first cave we went to was really deep underground. I think we descended about 10 meters. At the cave, I learned that it was a sacred place for Malagasy people, and they come to make offerings to their ancestors there. I also learned that there were a lot of bats in this cave. They were flying over our heads, which freaked me out a little.
After the first cave, we went to three other caves. These ones weren’t deep underground, and they didn’t have any bats, which I was thankful for. I did get to see some pretty cool things in the cave, though. We saw a tree that was growing on the surface but extended its roots meters into the cave to look for water. We also saw some really big stalagmites, and I learned that they grow one centimeter every 100 years. The funniest thing that we saw were “boob rocks” in one of the caves, and our guide told us that women come here and touch the rocks when they are trying to get pregnant.
It was a decent week, but there were some sad moments along the way. This was the last time I would see Cyrus, and I had to say goodbye to him, which was tough. He is going to Tana for a training, and then his family is coming to visit, so I wouldn’t see him before I left Madagascar. Miguel, Natalie, and Abi moved to a new place, so they are no longer my downstairs neighbors. It was sad coming home this week and not hearing them downstairs. Things are definitely starting to come to an end here, which is sad, but I’m also impatient to be completely done and get on my flight to come home.