February 3rd to February 16th 2024
Hi everyone! You may have noticed that you did not hear from me last week… That is because I got a little bit behind on writing and now have to combine the past two weeks together. The beginning of the first week was eventful, but then I got sick and did not do much because I figured my body needed some time to recover.
Over the weekend, I spend a lot of time at the American Corner and a lot of the Peace Corps were in town too, so I spent time with them as well. For one of my free afternoons, I hung out at the ACM, and I taught some of the people there to play the card game called Exploding Kittens. Exploding Kittens is one of my favorite games and it was really fun to play with some of the Malagasy people once they understood how to play. For the first couple of rounds I coached them on how to play and then I played for the last round. No big deal, but I was able to win and beat all of them.
I also participated in Small Table Talks and we had our second and third week of STEM club. Small Table Talks is a program where intermediate English learners get a chance to speak with a Native speaker in a small group. I really enjoyed that because we were able to have a more casual conversation and I got to talk to some people at the ACM that I don’t see all the time. STEM club also went well these past two weeks. I introduced them to the Bridge Designer Program by West Point, and we had a little competition on who could build a functional bridge at the cheapest point. I really enjoy helping to lead the STEM Club because it allows me to use what I learned from engineering and teach people. Next week we are going to learn more about programming, which will be a good topic too.
As I mentioned, all the Peace Corps people were in town for the weekend as well. We all went out to celebrate one of their birthdays on Saturday night. That was a lot of fun because some of my friends from ACM came too and we had a good night with karaoke, pool, foosball, and drinks. The next night we all stayed up to watch the Super Bowl. Well, I had class in the morning, so I slept for 4 hours and then woke up to watch the game at 2:30 am. It was weird doing something very American in Madagascar, but I think all of us appreciated watching together. I unfortunately had to leave to go teach before the game ended. And even more unfortunate was that the Chiefs had won again.
I taught more for the rest of the week, but then I got sick, probably because of my lack of sleep over the weekend. The students are currently doing reviews for their exams, so the teachers did not really need me to come in anyway. That was good because I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything, and I spent the next part of the week sleeping and recovering.
I now have been in Madagascar for 4 months. I’m still figuring out if that feels long or short. Some days I am super busy, and the day goes by quick; other days it feels like it drags on for a long time. I have moments where I really miss home and wish I was back. I felt like this especially when I was sick, and I just wanted the comfort of my own home. But I am also trying to appreciate the hard days here because this is a unique experience, and I’ll probably look back at this time at some point in my life and wish I was back here. It’s a lot to think about and sometimes it’s better to not think about it at all. So, I’ll just continue to take it one day at a time and see where everything takes me.