Karol in Kianjavato

I went to visit a fellow volunteer named Karol. She lives in Kianjavato, about a 3 hours ride down the mountain. She’s originally from Colombia and since I’ve spent a lot of time there I’ve always got something to talk to her about. She extended her service and now is about to leave Madagascar after 3 years of service.

 

Kianjavato Trip

I put together a video of the Woman’s Day Festival at her site and I wanted to bring it to her first hand. Her town is in the jungle, the type of site I yearned for. I had such a good time. She was a great host and took me up a nearby mountain with a cross on top, and the trail went through scenery that blew me away. Karol is an awesome girl and I’ll miss her.

Filming a Documentary

This last weekend, May 6th and 7th I went a few hours south to visit a friend, Dan Villar from Philidelphia, and filmed his beehives. He’s an agriculture volunteer and he’s got six hives and they’re on their way to being fully functional and producing honey. I’m making this video for the Peace Corps. During the filming I got scared because the bees were buzzing around me and some were even crawling on me. Later the bees of one of the hives started swarming above. It looked ominous. “Why they swarming?” I asked Dan. “They’re about to leave.” “Why?” “Because the queen left.” We looked for the queen and Dan’s Beehive partner, Francois, found it. He put it in a cage and put the cage in the hive, and then slowly all the bees returned.

Stressful living’

On the way home strangers were bugging me so I told them to cut it out. Another shitty day where I feel like shit at the end of the day.

Upon waking in the morning, I wanted to be happy and friendly but I soon turned into asshole. Punishing students. My first class was disruptive and talkative so I said lets be quiet for 20 minutes but I extended this to an hour and 10 minutes, then ’til the end of class. I then had one of the most disruptive students accompany me to my next class. I don’t think this is the best way to handle things but I feel like I’m drowning.

Reverse Psychology

I had a good day at work, because I decided to not teach. I told all my Wednesday classes upon entering the classroom that we were just going to chill. I sat down at my desk at the front of the class, and turned on the songs that I had been teaching the students: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and “Starry Starry Night”. Then I thought it would be a good idea to invite students up to my desk one by one to ask them a question or two. Get to know them a little better.  It went well, I didn’t have to discipline and I didn’t get angry at the students. Plus, even though I told all the students to talk amongst themselves while I talked to the invitee, they ended up all watching and listening to my interactions with the students. This worked out so well. Even though I didn’t “teach” English, I kinda did and I was happy and in a good mood.

Conclusion

When the going gets tough, just turn everything upside down.