June 26 signifies the independence of Madagascar from France. This year marks 56 years of independence and like always there was a huge party to celebrate the occasion. (You can read a detailed description of last years Independence Day in Vondrozo here or in Mantasoa two years ago here.) Like last year, everyday of the week proceeding independence day was marked by individual parties and performances of dancing and singing on the podium at the Commune.
The morning of Independence Day itself was unfortunately marred by a down pour of rain, but that did not stop the celebrations. After the flag was raised and the national anthem sung the new Chef District (similar to
Secret Language
In Madagascar
the two official languages are Malagasy and French. While both are known by almost everyone,
French is rarely used (or possibly not well known) by those that live in the
countryside. English on the other hand
is known by very few. That is where I
come in, to teach English, but even in the classes that I teach the
comprehension level is fairly low.
That gives English speakers the
ability to talk to each other without worry about if others can understand
us. Volunteers take full advantage of
this but it sometimes backfires when we least expect it. It is great until the time when some Malagasy
person around us turns and starts also speaking English to us. We are not the only ones that do this
though. It is almost inevitable that
whenever those around us do not know who we are (sometimes even if they do know
us) they will begin to talk about us in Malagasy, not knowing that we also
speak Malagasy and can understand what they are saying.
Two Years Have Come and Gone
Two years
have come and gone while I have been here in Madagascar. My Stagemates and I have finally finished our
TEFL requirements and have become the first
group of Peace Corps Volunteers to graduate from the program and receive our
certificates. This two year mark was
also, like all of the volunteers before us, was marked by attended our Close of
Service Conference in Mantasoa. Here was
detailed the next steps for our last two months of service and the years to
come.
My conference, along with a handful
of other volunteers, was slightly different than that of the others. About a month ago I had applied for a one
year extension with Peace Corps Madagascar as the Volunteer Leader for the
north of the country. I had just had my
interview with the senior staff about my extension the day prior to going to
the conference and there I waited for their response. The sessions we all attended were the same;
resume building, interview skills, job hunting, ext. The
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