Weeks of Cultural Learning

These past two week have gone by quite quickly. They have also been two exciting weeks involving experiencing a Comorian Wedding, learning about my site, and having my site visit.

During the week it has been quite chill, with going to training every day and coming home just to relax for the evening. However, beginning Wednesday evening myself and other volunteers have been busy attending different events for a Grand Marriage (Wedding), here in Mvouni.

Unlike in the USA where a traditional wedding is one day long has normally only contains a ceremony and a reception, here Grand Marriages are normally a 4-5 day ordeal. Wednesday night kicked it off with a Henna party. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the get together. From what I understand happened at the henna event was that the bride came and received henna. After she danced in the group of people everyone sat down and received some food. When the food ended everyone got up and started to form a line, which they all danced in towards the bride. While they were dancing towards the bride each person has a little gift, majority was monetary, and when they arrived to the bride they handed the gift to her. Unfortunately, since the electricity went out they were unable to finish the party. But from what I was told after everyone gave their gifts there was a dance session with henna.

The following day was a celebration of sorts for the soon to be husband, with that being said I am not quite sure what that entailed. Friday was another celebration for the husband, where the men formed a circle and, from what is understood, performed a cane dance. Saturday was another celebration, which was basically a huge dance party. On Saturday the bride was not able to attend, as traditionally she is waiting until Sunday to continue the celebrations. The women of the village line up with money in hands and they dance around and give money to the people singing and someone else (I have yet to figure out). The money that is collected will be brought to the bride the following day by the husbands’ family. That brings us to Sunday, the final celebration. The day starts with the grooms’ family leaving from their house and dancing to the brides, where they hand the money collected over to her family. After which there is a sort of reception held by the bride, where the women of the village dance around to greet the bride and celebrate the marriage.

Although I am still not quite certain on all aspects of the wedding it if a very interesting and fun experience. It also blows our traditional weddings out of the water, as they are all day events that occur within the 4-5 days of events.

In other news not much other occurred during the week. When the weekend came some other volunteers and I went to Moroni for the afternoon. As well as Sunday we held our first Club America (English Club) in the village. It was a great success. I taught an intermediate class as well as a professional class.

The following week brought may anticipated events and some new adventures. Monday morning began our first model school experience, which was luckily just an observation day. Later in the afternoon we learned our sites and schools where we would be teaching. I will be teaching in Singani, which is a village on the road to the south of the island. It turns out that my village is also considered the Pompeii of Grand Comoros, though the village was destroyed no lives were lost, as far as my understanding. The following day I experienced teaching at an English school, luckily with a co-volunteer. It turned out really well and helped to begin preparations for when I have to teach by myself. Wednesday was a bite more nerve recking as I had to teach all by myself for 2 hours straight, even with the minor hiccup of not having enough material to teach over, it still turned out to be a good learning experience.

Thursday began with meeting my counterpart from my village, as well as having a quick workshop before heading off for a weekend at site. Once I arrived to site things moved slowly, but also quickly. My site is about a 40 minute taxi ride from the capital, so not too bad of a journey. Once at site I was greeted by what would be considered my host family, although they live behind me. After greeting several people in the village, whose names of course I do not remember, I headed off to bed for an early start the next day meeting the village and taking a tour of the region. Friday I woke up bright and early to have a great breakfast of bread with homemade pineapple jam, made by one the villagers. Afterwards I went on a cruise through the 5 different villages within the region of Hambu. Upon returning back to my village it was time to go and great the elders of the village. It turned out a success, they said they were very happy to have me and that I was welcome to the village. Then it was time for me to go visit the school that I will e teaching at for the next 2 years, inshallah (If God Wishes). I also was able to meet with my director and begin talking about my school schedule and all the logistics to me teaching at the college (middle school equivalent). We also managed to take a trip to the village next door where I met with some of the elders to introduce me and all. The evening was spent just hanging with the host family and met some more people from the village.  Saturday was an adventure with several different family members where we went to the north of the island for a beach day. During the day we grilled food, played soccer, and danced. It was a super fun time and was a great experience of a Comorian BBQ. Sunday was just a more relaxed day and involved repacking to return back to my village im staying in during training. All in all the site visit was a success and I am looking forward to moving back there in a month to begin my service. 

Within the next few weeks there are many different planned events, lets see how they play out. 

Until Next Time. 

Week of Holidays

Wow, this past week has been quite busy and full of adventure, with our independence, Comorian independence, Eid (ending of Ramadan festivities), a beach trip, and a walk around in the capital of Comoros (Moroni), it has been nonstop.

So where to begin the week. Beginning from where I left off the weekend was spent just hanging out around the village with other volunteers and also spending some time with me family. When the beginning of the week rolled around it was time for 4th of July, or America's independence. To celebrate the day we went to our Country Director's house and had a massive 4th of July celebration. It was great to have a break from the village and to be able to enjoy some good food with even better company. We ended the celebration with youtube fireworks. Needless to say it was a well spent 4th. The following day was spent with a day full of training. Upon arriving home everyone was in celebration as Eid was confirmed to be celebrated on the 6th, which also happens to be Independence day in Comoros.

When the day of Eid arrived everything was in full swing. The morning began by me going with my family to a family members house, where we celebrated Eid and a Grand Marriage (Wedding), there was lots of dancing it was almost overweleming, especially since I had no clue what was occurring. After sometime there I procceeded to visit a volunteer, who lived right next door, and enjoyed some time with her. Then I went to visit my neighbor and her sister. While there I ran into a lot of the guy volunteers. As I was not wanting to sit around for the celebration I went to visit with another volunteer, who had the same idea and already went to visit a different volunteer's house. So I ended up going to their house and me and the volunteer hung out some time eating and then we headed out to visit some other volunteers in the village. After we finished our adventures walking around we went back to the house to relax for a little. As orginally I was suppose to go to Moroni to celebrate the independence with a parade I went over to my neighbors, who was going with us, and waited until everyone was ready to go. Since she was not yet ready we decided to go walk around the village some more and visit other volunteers we had not yet seen. Then we returned and headed out to get a taxi to Moroni. Since everyone was wanting to go to the parade, we did not succeed in getting a taxi so I went back to a volunteer's house and hung out with her while she made dinner with her family. In the end her family invited me and some other volunteers to eat with them so we returned home to tell our families and then went back to enjoy the dinner. It was great to just spend a dinner with everyone and relax for sometime. Afterwards I headed home and to bed for the night. Thursday was just a relaxing day as Eid has worn me out quite a bite. I hung out with some volunteers for the day, but all in all did not do anything too special.

Friday brought some more adventures. This time to the north of the Island to visit one of the beaches called Maloudja. It was such a beautiful beach, it did not even seem real. It was also really neat as since it was low tide we could walk out for what seemed like miles. The downside to that was us walking all around coral reefs. Which although super cool to see, a pain to be near as one wrong step and you could land on one, and not only does it hurt it can hurt the life there, so it made for a challenge. After some time exploring the area it was time to head back to the main land to relax a little. Of course right when I came back onto the main land I did not relax but instead took a stroll to some other beaches that were in the area. All of them were just as incredible as the last. When we returned back to the orginal beach I headed to eat some food and just hung out for the rest of the time. When it was time to go we all packed into the buses and headed to the East side of the island to take a little trip around there. We ended up stopping and seeing the salt lake, which was quite different. After about 2 hours of driving we made it back to our village at which point I headed straight off to bed.

The following day brought even more things to do as we headed down to Moroni for the day to learn some basic things that we will be utlizing the next two years. This included shopping at the market, how to withdraw money, how to send out letters, and how to cook with a typical stove. Needless to say it was both very fun while also very tiring, as we walked all of Moroni. At the end we all came back and had ice cream as a form of celebration, which was a great suprise for us. When all was said and done we went back up to our village and after dinner meet up for a Volunteer movie night. Although the rain ruined the night it was still super fun and the view, movies under the stars, was incredible. Today was a much more melow day. Though we did enjoy watching a soccer tournament here in Mvouni, which was quite an experience. All in all things are going well here and the days/weeks seem to be going by quicker each day. This week coming up nothing to crazy is planned, apart from being apart of the Grand Marriage. IIll give more details on that in the next update.

Until Then.

Weekly Check-In

This past week has been quite an interesting experience while also been a cultural exchange. Last Friday I left off having been placed in the capital for the weekend due to falling. In positive news I am doing much better. On another note my weekend in the capital, Moroni, was helpful for recovery and also destressing. The first night there I spent enjoying the wifi and amenities that the hotel had. Saturday was quite more adventurous as some of the other volunteers came down from our host village and we spent the day relaxing and exploring the hotel grounds. It is quite a nice place, as there is a view of the water and few different access locations to the water. When dusk started to come they decided to head back to the village and I said my goodbyes. Instead of just hanging at the hotel for the evening I ended up hanging with some of group 1 volunteers and spent time learning more about Comoros and the different islands. As well as hearing about their experiences. Sunday brought an adventure with both groups to another hotel and a beach day. It was such a perfect day and the water was truly breathe taking, it was super hard to believe what I was seeing (Comoros is truly a tropical paradise). When the evening came I said goodbye to everyone and headed back to my hotel for one last evening.

 Monday was a day for readjusting and getting back into my routine. Upon returning to our training center I was thrown straight back into the usual routine of classes. Even though the hotel was a nice break from everything it was nice to go back and see everyone in my group and to get back into the swing of the daily life during PST. When our day of training ended I headed home to see my host family for the first time since going to Moroni. The greeting quite took me by shock, as we were told that here affection is quite different than that in the USA, so being greeted with hugs was both great and a surprise. Luckily our nightly schedule was not distributed with my return.

Tuesday brought an interesting experience during dinner time. Normally in my family we all eat together, it is relatively a small family (Me, my host mom, aunt, grandma, and nephew). However, instead of having our usual dinner we had a huge family get together to celebrate the breaking of fast. It was an experience as unlike normal dinners we separated into genders, women on one side of the room and men on the other. We also all sat on the floor (which I quite enjoy doing). Being as separating genders to eat, even if it is in the same room, is quite foreign to me I asked my friend about it, however she was unable to provide information besides to say that it is how it is. I guess that will be something I will try to figure out over the next few years. During dinner we also had a funny talk about married. Here married is a very important aspect and within a matter of seconds of meeting you they will ask if you are married. So during dinner I was asked if I was married, which I openly said no, (and if you know me I am quite prideful in being single and have no expectation in being married anytime in the near future). Once I said no though my friend’s mom told me that should would find me a husband by Friday, which I stated in multiple ways that I did not want to get married. They just laughed, though not sure if they believed me or not, I continued to state though how I was not wanting to marry. Then her mom said how I should get married and have kids, which I really stated no. Finally, after being asked multiple times why I did not they eventually dropped the subject and understood I was not going to give in. However, the conversation did not end. When dinner finished one of the male family members came up to ask why I was not wanting to get married. We had a very interesting conversation, unfortunately though neither of us were giving into the other’s idea nor did he understand my logistics behind it. It was however, an eye opening experience because as for them here they have a belief that being married is a responsibility for each person and that you are supposed to continue on your family heritage. Which in a way is how married was viewed many years ago in the USA. Trying though to explain how now we (in the USA) do not put an emphasis on married and that in general we view marriage as something you do when you are ready, is quite a hard aspect to explain (in particularly with the language barrier). I also know that this change of ideas will only come with time and will not be something I will try to force them to change unless they want to.

Wednesday through today have been quite normal days. During the day I continue to improve my language skills and learning about techniques to prepare for teaching for the next two years. In the evening I return home and hang out with my host family. Some evenings I take an adventure around the village to visit other volunteers or friends of my friends, but really nothing too special. The weekend has now arrived for us, which means a lot of relaxing in the village. Tomorrow my family and I are planning on going into Moroni to do some shopping. Otherwise nothing too special is planned.

So far the time is beginning to past faster and we have really begun to have a routine. The next few weeks holds lots of adventures for us, we will travel around the island to visit a beach, have a 4^th of July celebration, celebrate Comoros’s independence, Eid (the end of Ramadan celebration), and announcements of our sites.

                As for adjusting everything is coming bit by bit. It is quite different here than any other country/culture I have lived in. But every day is a learning experience with it and it gets better. The biggest challenge thus far has been the underlying gender roles, but of course it is a cultural aspect and I am not going to try and change their ideas because I do not hold the same ideals for my life. At the same time even with said roles they are very understanding that being American I have different ideas of what I can and can’t do and they respect that. I know though the learning experience will continue and understanding will advance.

Until Next Time