13

Things that are different:

The oranges are green

you eat the avocado with sugar

tortillas have disappeared from the earth

On the way to school I see a man sitting in a dumpster, I see a cow leg hanging from a hook, there is a boy looking at me over his shoulder, smiling over his blood-streaked pousse-pousse “vazaha?!”

I come home and my dad picking guavas off the porch tree. Guava jus at dinner isan hariva

Taxi rides are max 5 dollars

I am telling the big-eyed dirty city ankizy tsy manana vola! but they are reaching into my pockets anyways

My race is instinctively yelled to me several times a day “vazaha!?” “vazaha?!” in case I didn’t know

I hear myself parting ways on a Friday night, saying bizarre things such as 5:30 tomorrow? Because we want to go running under a sunrise.

When I sleep until 7:30 it is “sleeping in”

When I stay up past 10 it is “late”

I am a celebrity to my neighbors

My neighbors are asking me for 500 ariary please he wants cigarettes

When I see a white person I notice

When I see a person washing a pig intestine on the street, I don’t

Things that are the same

The oranges are still orange on the inside

Sometimes I eat crackers

Coffee at breakfast

There are nephews who come to visit

There are tv commercials telling you which type of noodles to eat

There are silly soap operas

There are piano lessons

There are grandpas forgetting their glasses upstairs ah les lunettes encore!

There are grandchildren squirming at the dinner table je peux m’excuse s’il te plait

But no you must first finish your rice

I need to buy toothpaste

I need to buy sunscreen

I have written an essay in a coffee shop. The wifi code is Cheesecake

I have had iced coffee with whip cream

I have a mom who is worried about my bug bites, a dad who is telling me to set my alarm maraina be!

I am TAMANA BE