Feelin’ MADA Thankful

While Thanksgiving may not exist here and I have no plans to really celebrate, I want to take just a moment to reflect on everything that I am thankful for. I have a lot to be thankful for and unfortunately not too much time to write about it all so I am just going to talk about the things that my experience in Madagascar has made me thankful for.

I came to Madagascar believing that I lived my life with a very open mindset. I soon learned that this was not the case as there were many comforts that I had in the U.S. that I had a very difficult time giving up…so much so that it had caused me to look down upon the lifestyle here. Thankfully, that period of unwarranted superiority was short-lived and I learned that I needed to listen to the sticker I had plastered on my computer which read, ‘normal is relative.’ The first thing I am thankful for is the way in which my time in Madagascar taught me how to have a truly open mind. There are still things here that culturally do not sit right with me; however I have learned to accept that those things exist and that it is not my place to say they are wrong, they are just different. The normal here is not the normal in America, nor is my normal the same as your normal…the term really is relative and once you accept that, you will have a much greater capacity to adapt to your surroundings.

This leads me to how my time here has made me more thankful than I think any experience ever could have for everything that I have. I feel blessed to have the many luxuries that I do back home in the United States which, until I came to Madagascar, I viewed as absolute necessities. I am thankful that I always have access to clean water, a bed to sleep in, a toilet and that I am always able to be connected to my friends and family. I have spent the last year and a half ‘prancing around the world’ as my dad likes to put it, and my time here has made me more thankful and excited to return to the United States than I have ever experienced before. Of course, it wouldn’t be an excursion for me if I didn’t make a few stops along the way home…which brings me to how thankful I am to have the luxury to travel for pleasure. There are few things in the world that make me happier than getting on a plane, bus or train to experience somewhere new, and I am so thankful that I am able to have that experience again and again whenever I want to jet-set to another place in the world.

The next thing that I am thankful for is the how my time here with my friends and teachers, in classes and outside of the classroom, has significantly improved my French skills. This is so important to me because for the longest time, the one thing that kept me from ever progressing in my quest to learn the language of love was that I had absolutely no confidence in my knowledge of the language. While I am still nowhere near fluent, I am thankful for all of the people who have helped me realize that I am capable of speaking French and for helping to build my confidence to do so. The moral of this thing that I am thankful for is that anyone can truly do anything if they set their mind to it and have the support they need to complete their goals. Special shouts out go to my French group (Nick, Abby and Madame Martine) and my three goobery CEL friends with whom I normally had to speak French with in order to communicate/get my point across (Ginot, Julio and Tahiry). SO much love to those wonderful individuals, I am more thankful for you than you know.

This leads me to the last thing I am thankful for which is all of the wonderful people that I have met here in Madagascar, especially those that I must say goodbye to today here in Ft. Dauphin. To the CEL students, I hear about how other SIT programs do not get to work with local students and I honestly just feel bad for them because living and learning with you guys was one of the highlights of my time here (I would write this in French but I know none of them read my blog haha). To Tahiry, my favorite CEL student and my noodle, I am going to miss you so much and I am so thankful to have had you in my life while I have been here. You are the biggest goober ever (literally and figuratively) and I love being around you more than words can even explain. To my SIT homies, I literally could not think of a better group to have spent my time with here, learning both inside and outside of the classroom. I am thankful for all of the silly times and adventures we have had together and I can no longer imagine school without you guys and our small ass classroom at Libanona/makeshift classrooms whenever we are on the road. To my homestay families in Ft. Dauphin, Tanadava (Faux Cap) and Manakara, thank you so much for welcoming me into your homes and communities and taking the time to teach me Malagasy and allowing me to play with your children. You all did so much more for me, however, I am trying to keep this short.  To Casey, Mamitiana and the rest of ONG Azafady, thank you so much for bringing me in during my ISP period and teaching me so much about what I think I want to do with the rest of my life. And finally, to all of my teachers, you are literally the craziest bunch of teachers I have ever had however I would not want any other people to have been my teachers during my time here. I have learned probably more from you all outside of the classroom than inside of it which is exactly what I wanted when I chose and experiential learning program…so thank you for making my semester in Madagascar truly a period of experiential learning.

Today I am thankful for everything in my life, all of the people, experiences and luxuries that I have been afforded during my time here on this planet. I feel like one of the most blessed individuals in the world.

Peace, love and blessings to all my friends out there, I hope you will take this day to be thankful for all that you have and if you are in America, please eat an extra plate of thanksgiving dinner (sans gravy) in my honor…