Newbies, this one's for you!

Hey hey soon to be PC/Mada trainees! Congrats on getting it an invite and surviving the craziness that is the application process. Maybe you’re scouring the internet doing Peace Corps research, some of it through reading Peace Corps blogs (which I did obsessively during the years I considered and applied for Peace Corps), so if you’ve happened to stumble across this blog, this post is to help you, as you may be running all over the place, buying stuff, racking your brains trying to figure out what and how to pack for the next 2 years of your life. In August, I’ll be at the training center helping with your guys’ training, so I’ll get to meet you all and offer more help re: being a PCV in Mad Land and impart some of my wisdom (tee hee). As far as helping now, I didn’t particularly come to Madagascar prepared, thinking I’d be in Niger for 2 years, so now I know what I would’ve packed, and have some things that are good to have no matter what country you’re a PCV in and I’m glad I brought them. So, here goes:


Great things I brought:


For women:
The Diva Cup – www.divacup.com - buy it NOW! Actually, maybe buy two in case one falls down a latrine hole. I LOVE it and was using it way before Peace Corps; I seriously can’t believe I ever used tampons. Best invention EVER!!! (or at least right up there with TV shows on DVD...)
Sports bras – taxi brousse rides can be, um… bouncy.

In General:
Quick Dry Towels – great when it’s humid/rainy season (Dec-April, even longer on the east coast, and it RAINS), so you can avoid mildewy towel situations

Nalgene – an extension of my arm and an object of complete fascination for everyone in my town, for what reason I’m still not sure. Its hot where I live and I talk a lot when I’m teaching (and sometimes yelling at mitabataba-ing students) so I bring it with me everywhere and even though its taken quite a beating, its still standing, probably always will be, and I love it! Get the sip guards too, so you don’t wear your water when you try to drink it.

Headlamp – I used it more in Niger than here, but it’s still a good thing to have whether or not you do have electricity and its better than a plain old flashlight because it keeps your hands free. I brought 2 in case one broke or fell into a latrine. I still use it during occasional power cuts, when I’m bucket bathing at the end of the day and its dark, or when I want to read in bed so I can turn out the lights, get comfy in bed, and don’t have to get out of the mosquito net to turn off lights when I want to sleep. It will also be of use when you are camping and doing night hikes in nat’l parks (i.e, part of my amazing vaka coming up but more on that in another post)

Cotton clothing – its easy to wash, dries quickly, and is durable; clothes can take a beating through lots of wearing and hand-washing

Solio Charger – again, used it more in Niger buts its still pretty nifty and I like it. The one I have only charges small things, phone, iPod, speakers for iPod (which broke so it doesn’t matter; another thing I recommend bringing) and there’s LOTS of hot sun in Western M-Car so it charges pretty fast here; I’m not sure about the highlands

Chacos – I LOVE them! I wear them EVERYWHERE and I have a fantastic tan line to prove it (when I figure out how/get internet that’s not painfully slow I’ll post the picture) Very comfortable, durable, and just plain amazing. There are discounts for PCVs.

LOTS of underwear – they’ll take a beating and get stretched out from so much washing, so bring a lot and seal some of them off in a bag and save them for midservice, maybe hide them somewhere in the bottom of your luggage so you won’t be tempted to use them after 2 months at site, and then you just have a ton of really stretched out undies by the time you get to midservice. Or have more sent from home.

Reading material and DVDs, or any hobby-related material – there’s a lot of down time here. The volunteer hostels have lots of books so you can get some there as well. I didn’t bring that many DVDs because in Niger, I wouldn’t have had electricity to constantly recharge my laptop. If you’re and education volunteer, you WILL have electricity. Also, I’ll be getting some neighbors near my site, so you and I can trade DVDs since I blew through mine already  If you’re more tech savvy than I am, put movies/tv shows on a flash drive; I couldn’t figure out how to do that. A few people have Kindles too or other equivalents, so you can have lots of reading material without taking up space in your luggage. Again, I’m not that tech savvy and have a weird thing about not being able to comprehend what I read off screens. In college when profs put huge ass articles online I always had to print them out to read them, armed with my highlighters, so I could understand them. But that’s me, maybe you’re different.

French Press, if you love coffee – my boyfriend got me a cute, nalgene-sized French press as a going away present, so you can make coffee in the bush, no electricity or filters needed. Madagascar has decent and strong coffee (it grows on the east coast) so you can buy it here and make it in the French press. Or you can just make it with a coffee sock like Gasys do, but I think the French press is pretty nifty. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to drink too much coffee anymore, as my gastrointestinal tract often hates me.

Lots of pictures – to get all nostalgic sometimes and to show to your host fam and people at site

Anything that makes you happy, laugh, smile, reminds you of home – for obvious reasons

Whatever candy, snacks, etc. you like – squeeze it in your luggage somewhere and have more sent to you in care packages. Bring some packets of drink mixes too; it’s nice to drink something sweet once in a while instead of plain water


What I didn’t bring that you might want to:

Professional-ish clothes, if you’re an ed volunteer – thinking I’d be in Niger and covered in sand and sweat all the time (though, in Western M-car, I still am) and working as a health volunteer, I didn’t bring too many business casual-type clothing. Even though teachers at my school show up in shorts, jeans, and track suits, you should still dress somewhat neatly and professionally. You’ll be the center of attention for the next two years – enjoy!

Cute clothes – you can get away with wearing them here; PC/Mada’s not really a 2 year camping trip. Try to stick to fabrics that are easily washable though, and don’t bring anything that’s super expensive or that you’d be upset over if it got ruined.

Warm clothes – again, thinking I’d be in Niger, I only brought one pair of sweat pants and one sweat shirt. Bring MORE. The highlands, where the training center is and where you’ll be for the first 10 weeks, are FREEZING in the winter, which, in the southern hemisphere is now; again, when you’ll be training. Bring a jacket (like what you’d wear in fall or spring instead of a down winter coat, but you may want one of those depending on your cold tolerance), scarf, hat, I am NOT JOKING. Also sweat pants, sweatshirts, long sleeves, socks, and long pants. I brought leggings to wear under pants when its gets really cold and it helps. Bring a good raincoat as well; it rains a lot during the rainy season, especially when there’s a cyclone (during which the temperature will drop at least 10 degrees so, again, warm clothes). Even if your permanent site isn’t in the highlands, the coastal areas can still get chilly in the winter at night and in the morning. I bought a wool blanket at the market and sleep in sweats and am still cold sometimes. During the day, instead of constantly-dripping-sweat-can’t-breathe hot, its just hot and I still walk around in shorts even though the Gasys will walk around in down coats and dress their babies in fleece onesies with knit hats, even though its probably 80 degrees, haha.

Shorts and tank tops – not ok in Niger, though I did bring a few of each just to wear in my house, but I wear shorts all the time here, in public, and it’s ok, unless you’re in a predominantly Muslim area. If you’re a woman, you’re going to be undressed by the eyes by sketchy Gasy men about 10 times a day no matter what you wear. You’ve been warned. Also exercising, running/biking in shorts, is acceptable.

Don't Bring

Medical stuff - Peace Corps will provide you with all medical stuff, so save your packing space for other things. Upon arrival at the training center in Niger, we were given small brief case sized medical kits. If you go through something pretty quickly or are particular about something (i.e, me and Chapstick), maybe bring some of it, or just be really on top of requesting refills from PC far in advance (especially if you’re far away from the capitol, like me) so you don’t run out. If you take prescription meds, you need to bring enough to get you through training and then PC will refill it from there. I’m told contact solution can’t be found here, so if you wear contacts, bring enough to get you through training and have your parents send you more.

Ditto for toiletries – you don’t need to bring 2 years worth of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. Maybe bring enough to get you through training, but you can get it here. If you’re particular about a brand, maybe bring more, or have your fam in the U.S. send it to you, but your standards WILL change. You can find American brand things in Tana and bigger towns but they can be pricey.

A ton of clothes – a week or two worth of outfits is fine, you can do laundry and buy more clothes here; frippery, or just frip (secondhand clothes from the U.S., why its called frippery I’m still not quite sure) is king in Madagascar, with piles of used clothes at markets for the equivalent of 50 cents per item. Frip can be hit or miss, usually the bigger towns will have better frip, and you may have to do some serious digging to find something good (i.e, tops from Old Navy and Express, instead of ridiculous 80s wear). New clothes are available as well but are more expensive and, again, more available in bigger towns. I’ve gotten great articles of clothing, both frip and new clothes, at my site and banking town.

Hair straightener, blow dryer, eyeliner, etc. – don’t be that person

That’s the general packing advice I have; as far as mental preparedness, you’ve done the research, you went through the mess of an application process, its normal to be nervous and anxious (or, as was the case with me, go from being extremely excited to freaking out about 5 times a day in the few days before leaving) but when you get to staging and meet your fellow stagaires (i.e, friends, family, support system for the next 27 months) you will feel more at ease, realize you’re not alone in how you feel as you get to talking and getting acquainted at your “last supper” (i.e, fabulous American meal before leaving) and during your long plane rides. When you get to M-car, you’ll start getting exciting about getting to be a volunteer, even though training can be tough at times. Bottom line: nervousness is normal but you’ll be fine, you’ve worked hard for this and when you actually get to the country you’ve been invited to serve in, you’ll be pumped and your nervousness will slowly dissipate. Can’t wait to meet you all!!!! Good luck with the final preparations!

As far as updates on me, that will (hopefully) follow sometime next week. Till then...