gasyfotsy

Taxi-brousses. Every time you get into one. A taxi-brousse is the only type of long distance travel method here in Madagascar and throughout many parts of Africa. Cars and plane tickets are simply too expensive for the majority of Malagasy people. A taxi-brousse is a sort of mini-bus that has far too many miles on it and not enough inspections. These buses travel thousands of miles in one trip (often at night), driven by men who are usually sleep deprived, possibly drunk and almost always driving too fast on incredibly narrow roads. One of the scariest and most unsettling feelings is sitting in a taxi-brousse on an overnight trip watching as the driver swerves to dodge potholes on a road so windy that the slightest mistake could mean the car goes over the edge and plummets to a death several hundred meters down. The entire time you want to fall asleep because that is the only way to alleviate the anxiety, but you can't bring yourself to do it because you are too fixated on the road and his driving.

I won't comment on your particular relationship, but I started here in PC Madagascar at 24 as well. Everyone is different, but I had wanted to do this for some time and I didn't have any reservations back home. I am 27-years-old now and I am still in Peace Corps Madagascar. I have missed friends' and relatives' weddings, family birthdays, and the death of a close family friend. While I am incredibly sad to have missed all those things, I do not regret being here for one second.

I will say, though, that you need to be mentally and emotionally committed to this decision and it sounds like you're not there yet. I can't speak about Peace Corps in general because no two volunteers are the same. I can tell you, however, that, Peace Corps is a mental and emotional struggle and missing a significant other back home will make it that much more difficult to be successful at integrating, working and just living happily. Good luck!

There are just about the same kinds of insects here in Madagascar as in the States, just on a much larger scale. For example, cockroaches swarm at night and it doesn't really matter how clean your house is. Ants are everywhere and find their way into everything. The one thing that you won't see in the States is massive spiders with bodies as big your thumb and eight legs, each as long as your middle finger. Other than that, I really haven't run into too many unfamiliar or shocking insects.

In Madagascar people are so poor that the English education initiative seems strange at times. Why are people who can barely afford the food on their plate learning English? Why is this a priority?

If you go ahead with this attitude, you'll go crazy. You have to remember what you, as an Education volunteer, should represent and explain to them. You are a reminder of the opportunities and possibilities that education can offer to someone with nothing else. If you can remember that and you can pass that message along I'm sure you will be happy with your service.

All the time, but particularly towards the beginning of my service when everything was really new, especially culture. Madagascar has a lot of "fady" or taboos and to commit one can be an interesting learning experience. Body gestures are what come to mind when I think of myself commiting faux pas. For example, when you ask some to "come here" you usually signal by extending your arm out with palm up and almost fanning yourself. Well, in Malagasy culture, this is the way to call a dog and to compare anyone to a dog is incredibly disrespectful. To call someone over in Madagascar you extend your arm out with your palm down and then sort of grab the air and pull in. Another fady is to smack your fist to the open palm of your other hand - something we do in American culture just to do something with your hands usually when you are nervous or uncomfortable. Well, I was nervous while teaching one of my first classes and I walked up and down the aisles of the classroom smacking my fist into my open palm which I later remembered is a reference for sex.