Tyler Swain Madagascar Day 10

Madagascar Day 10:

So I'll go ahead and say that of the four of us studying, I appear to have the most conventional Malagasy living environment (more on that later). At first it was frustrating, especially to hear that one student even has wifi in his home--not normal here by any stretch of the imagination. Well, I quickly got over all that, and in having the most conventional living environment, naturally I have the most amazing host family. Today we went to the countryside to plant trees in celebration of my host father's mother's (host grandmother's?) birthday. Well for whatever reason, before we did that, I went with my host dad and his brother-in-law up a hill, not having any idea what lay ahead. It was cassava--think potato meets carrot on steroids. So in the rain and the mud, I helped them pull cassava roots out of the ground. Of course we got muddy (and I got stung), so we had to rinse off. Where else would you go except to your host dad's uncle's (host uncle's?) house--read: shack--to pick up some soap then off to the rice paddies. Yep, I rinsed my self off with rice paddy water. All in all, my host dad and I missed the tree-planting, but I'd say it was well worth it.

Now about that "conventional Malagasy living environment": my toilet is in the Turkish style, as I've already mentioned, which is to say it's a hole in the ground with some porcelain around it. Is it rude to talk about this? Anyway I secretly vowed to myself to never use it for anything other than standing activities, if you catch my drift. Well, the weekend comes and there is no classroom to go to, so I can now confidently say I used the toilet to the full extent of its capabilities. It may sound gross to you, but this is HUGE--a major personal accomplishment. High five anyone?