Continuation

I'm back, and I can't believe it's July. I have only 36 days until I'm back home in the States! (Not that I'm counting or anything.) That means this adventure is almost 2/3 done.

Unfortunately there isn't much to report on our project. The project has turned sour, and honestly this summer has been a huge challenge and a huge learning experience. It will take some creativity and a lot of hard work to pull a masters practicum out of this past month. But I know what I am looking to avoid in future work environments, supervisors, and contracts. I have realized what kind of academic projects I prefer and which ways of bossing me around are most and least effective. Additionally, I've figured out that if you do not explicitly concentrate on group dynamics, your group will self-destruct under strenuous 24/7 conditions.

So I guess life on the academic/professional front has been pretty hum-drum lately, but life otherwise is still fun. Deciding that 3 meals a day was not sufficient, we took it into our hands to start baking in Ho Avy's solar oven. We made perfect chocolate chip cookies, banana bread that turned out more like gooey banana brownies, baked potatoes, garlic bread, and oatmeal raisin cookies. Next on the list: cinnamon rolls with frosting.

Other fun news is that the sugar cane in Ranobe is getting ready to harvest. The patches around the research center are still growing at 10 feet tall, but in other parts of the village, the stalks are ready to cut. I love fresh sugar cane! It reminds me of being a kid and sitting out at Grandaddy's farm, chewing and spitting slices that he cut for us with his pocket knife. The kids here are so much more skilled at gnawing and chewing and spitting than I am. Even the toddlers can peel the stalk with their teeth and break off giant chunks to suck on. I am much slower to peel even with the help of my knife. And all the little fibers get stuck in your teeth, but the taste of fresh sugar cane is well worth it! Mmmmm mmm.

And finally, since I tend to have a lot of spare time in Ranobe, I've been making friends with the kids. (Maybe they'll share some sugar cane tips?) There are tons of kids and they are all adorable, if somewhat messy and muddy. (They live in a giant sandbox.) I've been teaching every kid I come across how to high-5 and the youngest ones are really good at funny face contests. The hands-in-your-ears-with-tongue-stuck-out seems to be a winner. The toddlers love to be tickled, too, and a certain pair of boys likes to play chase with me catching them at the end and tickling them until they shriek. The problem is, they always run into the village, where I'm technically not supposed to go... and of course I don't have the Malagasy language skills to tell them to come back. I worry that maybe their mothers think this mean foreign girl is chasing them away every day??

I can also guess which of the kids are in school and which aren't. Three girls, probably around ages 6-9, always introduce themselves in French, although no one in the village speaks any French at all. School lessons are often conducted in French, which is how these girls know what to say. Liseta is the oldest, and she's brave. She's always dragging her younger sisters over to the research center to follow me, to talk to me, to watch what I'm doing.

And finally, there is Chris, the son of one of the women who cooks for us. Chris is probably 8, but he's mature beyond his years. When Anthony wanted to take us on a tour of the agricultural fields around Ranobe, he had Chris lead us. Chris is quiet but playful and has a super smile. I love his mom, Rasoa, as well. She's probably in her late 20s to early 30s but already has 7 children. The youngest is just an infant, and I like to think that by cooking for us and helping Anthony at the research center, Rasoa can enjoy several hours of freedom from her (admittedly precious but still overwhelming) seven kids.

Unfortunately Chris has been sick lately, possibly with malaria. He is doing better now, but it does make me sad to realize that part of the reason women like Rasoa have so many children is because many will not make it to adulthood. And for those that do, life expectancy is still only 55.

It's just not fair, is it?