Finish Line

So I only have five days left in Bamako and he finish line is rapidly approaching. Like I already said, I have only just recently grown to love Sikoro in all of its glory and as I prepare to leave, I am trying hard to soak up everything around me so as to never forget it. With that in mind, here is a list of 20 things I will miss about Mali when I leave:


1.) First and foremost, Niang. If he lived in the US, I would want to be his surrogate child. Minus the fact that he occasionally beats the child he does have… But aside from that, he is an amazing man and a very talented businessman. I will definitely miss him. 2.) The rest of Niang’s family. Even Fifi.

(P.S. To follow up on that love story, after I told her I couldn’t love her, Fifi turned ice cold to me for two weeks. Even after I brought her a reconciliatory apple from the market. She only just started liking me again, and luckily I think I will be gone before it re-escalates to love and heartbreak. In short, I think the crisis has been averted. Mom, Dad – no Malian brides this time around. Save the goats and dates for the next lucky lady’s bride price.

3.) Everyone in the neighborhood who now knows me by name and corrects strangers when they call me Toubab. 4.) Making really scary dinosaur cries when children from the neighborhood get too close and bothersome. Don’t worry they like it. They just think I’m part dinosaur. 5.) The bean tigi being ten feet away from me (and costing 50 cents). 6.) Living in a courtyard surrounded by mango trees. I pretty much made myself sick of mangos for a good long while, but it’s still a romantic place to take a nap in a hammock. 7.) Bucket baths outside. Surprisingly, they’re really fun. And it’s so much more fun to get clean outside than inside. 8.) Pit latrines, even if it’s only because I think they’re a challenge to use. I might even miss the cockroaches and maggots that live inside. Then again, maybe not. 9.) Cheap, beautiful fabric and the ability to have any sketch turn into an actual outfit for less than $10. 10.) Carrying toilet paper with me everywhere I go – because as much as I want to assimilate into Malian culture, I’m not quite ready to wipe myself with my hand on a regular basis. It was a fun reminder of a lesson I learned a while ago – it doesn’t matter if you speak the language or dress the part; you’ll always be a Toubab. 11.) Making a fool out of myself trying to dance at balanies. 12.) The griots that always drag me in to make a fool out of myself at balanies. And just griots in general. Their songs are a little jarring at first, but actually really beautiful. 13.) Waking up with the call to prayer at 4AM on a semi-regular basis. I’ve pretty much learned to sleep through anything now, but also add to the list of things I will NOT miss at wee hours of the morning: dogfights, card games in the courtyard, mortar and pestle grinding, and teenage tomfoolery. 14.) The joy of finding American foods I don’t even like back home and devouring them because they are NOT rice and fish sauce. 15.) Seriously, though, I will miss De Guido’s pizza. It’s the best I’ve ever had, stateside or in Bamako. 16.) Zaban and zabanji (juice). I wonder if I can make the equivalent back home by soaking Sour Patch Kids in OJ… 17.) Malian cheese-yogurt. It sounds gross and tastes ALMOST fermented, but it’s actually an amazing dessert. 18.) Eating/drinking any and everything from a plastic bag. 19.) The constant battle to find an adapter that both fits into the sockets and won’t crap out after two uses. 20.) The constant amusement of looking through field health manuals and trying to determine which difficult to pronounce disease is giving everyone diarrhea. Maybe it’s amoebas, maybe is djiardia. Who knows?

(P.P.S. I found out recently I also joined the ‘moebes club. Much more empathy to Cari now. They’re nasty little buggers. Luckily, I started treatment yesterday and already feel a million times better.)

This is just a starting place. I know there are more things than this to add, but I need to eat banana with some peanut butter and take a break from thinking so my head doesn’t overheat. More to come.


5 Days! AHHH!


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