Madagascar

Today was just a good day. I sculpted this morning. I am enjoying the sculpting and I am enjoying being with the other people who are participating in the workshop. But also part of it is that I finally know what is expected of me—that was the big mystery with the internship: What do they want me to do? But with the sculpting workshop…I just sculpt.

Also, though, I’m not a guest there. I’m just part of the group. It’s funny, but being a guest so often lately is one thing that I have had a hard time with. And finally I can help do the dishes and not worry if it’s polite or impolite.

The mother of my host family is from Madagascar. She has a relative getting married, so the house has been full of cousins and aunts and uncles. Tonight dinner was much more noisy, more busy. The uncles play the guitar and sing, loud and in harmony. One of the French cousins was curious about the US and posed lots of questions. We talked about the school system, about the death penalty—comparing the countries, and also comparing to Madagascar talking to another cousin who lives there.

The Madagascar cousin and I went up to my room to practice English. She recently got back from China—she was there to export “contrefaçon” clothes and toys to Madagascar. She has her bachelor’s in law and is looking to get a master’s in France. We talked more about the school system: in Madagascar, the schools are in French, and business operates in French, but friends and family speak in Malagasy. Madagascar was a colony of France until 1960, and the country bases its civil code on that of France. Then the French cousin found us, and we talked about relationships.