Some of my favorites (so far)

Malagasy saying:

"Olombelo tsy akoho." Literally meaning "People are not chickens." It is used to stop a taxi-brousse when you have to go to the bathroom, the idea being that chickens a) do not pee, but people do, and b) unlike chickens, people don't do their business in the same place they sit.

My favorite sign:

"NOTICE FOR THE ROAD USERS

For reason acheminement of the pipelines on this road

,disturbances will be provide.

Thank you for your comprehension"

From my host family:

When telling me about the last volunteer they hosted:

"Her mom is Japanese and her dad is American. So she is Chinese." Obviously.

Color:

Mavo = yellow

Kelly = small

Mavo-kelly = pink

Go figure.

Witches:

You don't go out after dark in many small villages, because of the witches. This means that when you have to pee after dinner, you have to use your po (pee pot) even though it's only 7:30pm. However, getting up and on the road at 3:30am with the oxcarts is fine. Apparently once you have gone to sleep and woken up, it is no longer night time and the witches are knocked out of the equation. If only I had known that as a kid!

Mefloquine:

Some people love the dreams mefloquine gives you, and others can't sleep the night after they take it; it varies from person to person. Mefloquine day is every Thursday, and we were to leave our home-stays on a Friday. Nimrod, the PC guy in charge of all PC property, was going to come to each house to pick up all of the PC issued stuff, like sheets and mattress and water filter etc. 

The last night, Thursday, I woke up in the middle of the night with the realization that I had wet my bed. I lay there for five or ten minutes wondering exactly how I would explain the wet smelly mattress (they're just foam with cloth around them so they wouldn't hide much) to Nimrod. I wasn't sure if I should try to pretend I had spilled water on it, or fess up and tell them they should really clean my mattress. At age 23, this was going to be an extremely awkward event to have to explain. 

After some time, I decided to get up and do something about the wet bed. Sitting up, I felt my pajamas, only to realize that they were absolutely dry and happily pee-free. What a dream! Thank you mefloquine.