At Site

I have now been at site for a little over a month. Right now I'm taking my banking days in Fianar -- staying at the Peace Corps house, eating ice cream, and watching all of Arrested Development, seasons one and two. The 6-ish hour drive from Mananjary to Fianar is gorgeous - a windy road through the rainforest - so even though we were stopped for an hour when our van broke down, and then another hour when we were inexplicably detained by the gendarmes about 15k out of Fianar, it was a lovely trip.
My site is great. It is...rural, to the extreme. Makes our training site look like a thriving metropolis. But I'm learning to really appreciate it. For one, I don't have to hear "bonjour vazaha (foreigner)" everywhere I go. Everyone has been really friendly, and I'm speaking so much Malagasy. It's exhausting, but I'm learning fast. I live in a two room house/hut; no electricity or running water. Every day i fetch water from a well that has seemed a lot further away now that i've started carrying two buckets at a time. There's a pump right down this hill from my house, but you have to add about half a bucket of water to get it going, which is too much of a hassle for me most days. (Plus you have to remember to go get water while you still have a bunch of water left...) About every 4 days I hike or bike 11k into Mananjary to buy food and hang out with the Peace Corps volunteer who lives there. He speaks English. It's wonderful. The road is super strenuous (the first time I biked it, I thought i wasn't going to make it, but it turns out the trick (which all the Malagasy people do) is to walk your bike up every hill, no matter how short. This seemed ridiculous to me at first, but it's the only way to arrive in Mananjary and not need a half-day recovery nap and a shower), but it's nice to have regular access to a decent-sized town with a market, restaurants, the beach(!), but still have all the community benefits of living in a really tiny town.
Work-wise the past month has been...slow. It's kindof frustrating that we get installed at site right before everyone stops working for Christmas vacation. My site has been super quiet and empty, and none of the people that I'm supposed to be working with have been working. So I've been hanging out and getting to know the people in my community. There is a constant flow of people stopping by my house to stare at me, so I've been talking to them about clean water and healthy babies and family planning. I'm supposed to work at least 3 days a week at the clinic, but I have seen a grand total of 7 people there the entire month, so there hasn't really been anything for me to do so far. On friday I finally gave a presentation about infant vaccinations to 3 mothers who trekked miles to the clinic for vaccination day -- not that there were any vaccines to be had. Sigh. Last week I started hanging out a bunch with one of the health educators in my village, and apparently once the community health educators really dive back into work after the holidays they'll be giving presentations 4 days a week (-ish) so I'll start hiking the bajillion kilometers that separate the villages in my commune to find people to listen to my health presentations. I really need people to go with me at first though because otherwise I will get lost in the wilderness and eaten by giant spiders.
My most critical task for once I get back to my site is to find a cat. My house has a serious mice problem (they ate through my TUPPERWARE!) and at night they completely take over. I think i got about 4 hours of sleep a night last week. They are so loud. I'm going crazy.
Well, I'm going to go buy some more ice cream now, and finish Arrested Development. I should have email access about once a month now, so emails would be greatly appreciated. Also take note that I have a new mailing address. I miss you all loads!