ALSO....June 28th-July 20th=see you in America!!! Meet me at any all-you-can-eat buffet. On a related note, I had a dream last night that someone sent me 3 turkey sandwiches in the mail. mmm....
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
i'm still terrified of bulls,
but i try to remember the "animals can sense fear" theory. that and, "they're more afraid of you than you are of them." the yard next to my house is a grazing ground for cattle. and sheep, and goats, and the one albino donkey that lives across the road. oh yeah, and the annoying chirpy guinea fowl that like to hop over my wall sometimes. ooh! here's a picture! this is one of my first days in Niasso...the view from my house (picture taken by Susie). The buildings are the primary school so the normal view is of several million screaming little kids. And there's no grass there anymore..there hasn't been since October.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Bara daminera
=Work has started. Sort of. My villagers have started digging a well, with the idea that we can fence the area around it. I myself am not feeling so confident about this project, because the area to be fenced is right next to another fenced area with nothing in it, which is the result of a failed tree-planting project. I have flashes of the word "sustainability" every time I think about this project, being the peace corps volunteer that I am..and I still haven't figured out how to say "it doesn't make sense" in Bambara. As in, building a new fence right next to this old one...it doesn't make sense!
Village politics are also increasingly keeping me from understanding why we can't just plant trees inside the existing fence. I think my Bambara is getting better just from arguing with people, and I'm figuring out how my village works-apparently, those community members with money have more decision-making power than even the village chief. Those without money are, and I quote, "afraid" of those with money. I have the urge to tell people, "that's not how it works in America!" but I don't know if that's entirely true.
On the bright side, I'm gaining confidence in myself as I figure out how I fit in in my village. After weeks (actually months. since the beginning, really) of moping and thinking I have the entirely wrong personality for this job-I'm not a leader, I'm not even much of a talker-I (think) I've finally sucked it up and realized no one's going to do my job for me. The reality of this is still setting in, but I'm not afraid of anyone in my village, so that gives me an advantage already.
Here's a cool thing I saw yesterday...3 little girls throwing old D batteries at a lined up collection of other batteries. Some kind of improvised battery-bowling game, haha.
The sunsets are amazing lately. It's hot again, and the winds blow like crazy, always East to West. I realized this week that every house in my village is built in the same direction, with the doors and windows on either the north or south side of the house, I guess to deflect the force of the winds, and eventually the rain that will blow with it.
Sorry for the lack of updates...I'm still trying to figure out what people want to read. Oh yeah, still working on that trip home in the summer.
Good things to send = CDs with new music...girl scout cookies...letters!
p.s. are yall really paying 4 dollars a gallon for gas??
Village politics are also increasingly keeping me from understanding why we can't just plant trees inside the existing fence. I think my Bambara is getting better just from arguing with people, and I'm figuring out how my village works-apparently, those community members with money have more decision-making power than even the village chief. Those without money are, and I quote, "afraid" of those with money. I have the urge to tell people, "that's not how it works in America!" but I don't know if that's entirely true.
On the bright side, I'm gaining confidence in myself as I figure out how I fit in in my village. After weeks (actually months. since the beginning, really) of moping and thinking I have the entirely wrong personality for this job-I'm not a leader, I'm not even much of a talker-I (think) I've finally sucked it up and realized no one's going to do my job for me. The reality of this is still setting in, but I'm not afraid of anyone in my village, so that gives me an advantage already.
Here's a cool thing I saw yesterday...3 little girls throwing old D batteries at a lined up collection of other batteries. Some kind of improvised battery-bowling game, haha.
The sunsets are amazing lately. It's hot again, and the winds blow like crazy, always East to West. I realized this week that every house in my village is built in the same direction, with the doors and windows on either the north or south side of the house, I guess to deflect the force of the winds, and eventually the rain that will blow with it.
Sorry for the lack of updates...I'm still trying to figure out what people want to read. Oh yeah, still working on that trip home in the summer.
Good things to send = CDs with new music...girl scout cookies...letters!
p.s. are yall really paying 4 dollars a gallon for gas??
Day 1 of well-digging. We're on day 15 now and we still haven't hit water. cross your fingers...
Monday, March 3, 2008
I'm back in Mali
3/3/08
...and I think I ate cow stomach last night. I was asking my host father what it was, and all he could say was "meat." It was truly delicious though, after a week of sorghum-based food. WAIST and Senegal were amazing, the overnight bus ride there and back on the world's crappiest road (all the way across Senegal) notwithstanding. I don't know if I deserved this vacation, but I definitely enjoyed it. I think our team won some softball games...I was kind of too busy laying by the pool at the American Club and eating HOT DOGS to pay much attention. Dakar is like America and nothing like Bamako...all the roads are paved! there aren't donkey carts everywhere!
...and I think I ate cow stomach last night. I was asking my host father what it was, and all he could say was "meat." It was truly delicious though, after a week of sorghum-based food.
Dakar!!! aka Paris in Africa
some of team Mali in our awesome uniforms. note ocean in background. (!!!)
sunset over Dakar
hanging by the pool at the American Club
team Mali went to a real beach after the tournament...me and Tam having a romantic moment in the sunset
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