Friday, July 18, 2014

Traveling & Orientation: Wait..Where I am I? What Day is it?

Written on6/13/2014
Staging in Philadelphia was fun, but compared to the last few days of travel and orientation - it was a meer bleep in my experiences for this week.
TRAVEL (note - I was exhausted so the details might be a bit fuzzy. Also - in general not that exciting.)
Leaving Philly, we first took a 2(ish) hour bus ride to NYC - the JFK airport. Our bus drive was an adorable little gentleman named Barry. As we hit the road out of Philly he started his greeting, "Hello. My name is Barry I will be your bus driver today. We are first heading over the Delaware Bridge, then we might go over the Washington Bridge. Or, if the traffic is okay, we will go under the Lincoln Tunnel and through Manhattan!" Ooohs and Ahhs echoed across the trainees on the bus, "But only if the traffic is okay. I'll tell you when we get close!" From behind me another trainee said "Oh Barry!" and he laughed the most precious old man laugh I've ever heard. Barry was probably the coolest "pilot" we had!!
Next we sat in the airport for a few hours, I had some coffee. We got through security (probably a bit too easily - a few of the trainees unknowingly got through security with half drunken Gatorade bottles or even full bottles of water). Then we sat for a few more hours at our gate. Next was my first international plane ride. I got my first airplane meal - which was more food than I think anyone really needs. Because the plane was out of chicken, I got the vegetarian meal - tortellini, two bread rolls, a small pasta salad, crackers and slice of cheese, a snicker bar, and a little slice of cheese cake.
This was followed by a mix of making a solid, yet mostly failed attempt at sleeping and watching a few movies (Gravity, That Awkward Moment, & Her) on the provided mini TV screen on the seat in front of us.
We arrived at Johannesburg and traveled from our gate to another security checkpoint. There my half asleep self forgot about the full water bottle in my bag and had to travel to the nearest restroom to dump it out. Luckily, I didn't have to reenter the security line - mostly likely because of the fear on my face when I pulled it, filled to the rim with water, out of my bag and my incident apologizing.
Before the flight to Antananarivo, we took a VERY small bus from the gate to our plane. From the look of the faces of the non-Peace Corp people accompany us I imagine we looked quite silly packing ourselves as tightly as possible into the bus - afraid to leave anyone behind. Little did we know, there was another bus available for our big load of passengers.
I slept most of the way to Tana (the short version of Madagascar's capital city) and only awoke when I was bumped by the trainee next to me because our home for the next 2 years was in sight. This country is beautiful from the air, and as soon as we landed I learned it was even more beautiful on land.
After getting of the bus the Peace Corp people met us at the gate. They were all friendly and repeated things often - understanding that we were too tired to understand and much to tired to attempt to communicate. We knew a few things - get our bags. Talk a little. Take picture. Get Dramamine/anti-carsick drugs if we needed them. We grabbed our bags and headed to the buses. After taking our photo and explaining a few things, Dee, the Country Director, took two bags of small yellow pills and smiled, "Okay! Who wants drugs?" We all laughed and she said, "I'm serious, even if you've never had car-sickness before I encourage it. These roads are up and down and bumpy and swervy and all over the place. I'm not forcing it...but you should probably take it." I'm fairly certain all of us held out our hands eagerly to take the tiny pink pill.
And we were all glad we did. It's impossible to explain the amount of bumping and swerving and starting and stopping that we did. It was an amazing ride nonetheless. It was the first time all of us would see the place that would be home.
PSTC & ORIENTATION
After the two hour roller coaster bus ride from Tana we arrived at PSTC (PreService Training Center - Peace Corp loves acronyms too - I feel so at home coming from HRL!!). It could not be more beautiful. Its a collection of different sized buildings on a small peninsula that is surrounded by a beautiful lake. Across from us (and evidential, where I will be living with my host family starting TOMORROW! :D) is beautiful rolling hills/maybe small mountains? Trying to explain how beautiful this site is is nearly impossible. I promise at some point I'll take my camera out and take a picture!
At PSTC, we have been spoiled. Electricity, flush toilets, wonderful food (that is a mix of Malagasy traditional cuisine and an interpretation of American food - not quite American but not something the would have traditionally in Madagascar - like Mac n' Cheese or French Fries).
The PSTC compound is surrounded either by the lake or by fencing and has a gate. To leave we must sign out with the Security Guard outside of the gate and we must return by dark (I've only left once and it was to visit a home with my language class). There are two ADORABLE security dogs - Stuffy and Killer. They are so friendly and often found sleeping in the sun - they work nights, often waking us up with barking, which would be annoying if they weren't not only keeping us safe, but incredibly precious. Killer has the sweetest hazelnut eyes and is sort of shy. Stuffy is extremely affectionate and when someone starts coming to pet him he gets so excited that his entire bottom half wiggles.
I go to my host family tomorrow I will write more about that in a different post after I meet them. To build suspense - I'll be living with a family of 3 - A mom, dad, and child who have a pig, cow, and some chickens. It's there first time hosting a trainee!!
No clue when I will have internet to post this or the last post I wrote.
Until then, with love,

Elizabeth

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