Madagascar



Credit: aleixcabarrocas

Exciting news: I was invited to teach English in Madagascar! I got the invitation last week, but have been too busy with class and homework to justify spending time blogging about it. And while the initial excitement may have worn off, it doesn't take much to give me chills. Look at this photo and you'll understand. So I'll be in the land of the Malagasy people, lemurs, and 10,000+ plant species. The fourth largest island in the world, its biological diversity has led some to call Madagascar the eighth continent.

I really wasn't expecting anything this spectacular out of my Peace Corps service. I knew I could deal with just about anything, so I was expecting the worst that Peace Corps would give me (which still probably wouldn't have been too bad). Better to have low expectations and be very pleasantly surprised than get your hopes up and be disappointed, right? I was counting on super-hot West Africa, which would have been great too. But I got mild, wild Madagascar.

And of course, I regard the non-human biology as a plus. The people are the reason I'm going, and I'm very excited to meet and live with the Malagasy people! Everything I've read has been positive, but I don't want to write too much before I have even met a single person.

Speaking of different cultures, I'm reading Kwame Appiah's book Cosmopolitanism for class right now. (I'm actually going to write a rap about it too, but that's another story.) He emphasizes that humans have much more in common than not, something I like to point out as well, and one of the most important things for a Peace Corps Volunteer to remember. It's what makes Peace Corps possible, really. My advisor has really good timing assigning the book right before I leave to immerse myself in a new culture, and I can only imagine how often I will think of it when I'm in Madagascar.

That's pretty much all I've got right now. When I have time, I'm trying to get my feet wet with the Malagasy language and read what I can about the country. I graduate from Seattle U in about two weeks, which means I leave the US in about six. Going to miss everyone a lot of people, especially the family, but honestly I could leave tomorrow.

Until next time!