Monday, July 14, 2008
Catch-up!
OK, everyone. So first of all, I want to state loudly and clearly that I am alive. Sorry for not posting more this week – it’s been a busy one. I will do my best to catch people up and in order to avoid one humongous post, I am going to split it up over a few. Here goes!
Work
Work has been good. We have gotten tons done. I changed my plane ticket to come back the 31st for a prior engagement in early August and no sooner had I done it than work picked up and we finally started to get stuff done. We’ve met with the Sante Diabete program representatives about scaling our program up to work with them and include diabetes education/treatment. And we’ve met with the artists to get our new education cards made and laminated. And before we could do that, we met with the CHAG and tons of other important doctors to narrow down our list of diseases to add to our program to a mere ten. It’s now just a race against time to get our list of things done before we leave. I hate having the time crunch now and feeling like we wasted a month, but maybe it had to happen this way. In any event, we are getting work done and feeling good about it. I finally feel like I am getting stuff done.
And along those lines, I also feel much more comfortable in Sikoroni. My Bambara has improved so I can have many basic conversations in Bambara and hence, defend myself against children and win them over with my language skills. I can buy food for myself and bargain down prices. I can go where I want in town and do whatever I want without Caitlin, mostly (though she’s much better at everything and helps with saving money). However, the point is, Cari asked me if I would come stay for a year and I immediately said no whereas everyone else said yes. And I realized that even though I was unhappy before, I’m not now. And it’s OK that that changed. I COULD live here for a year if I wanted. It just so happens that I don’t. But I know that I could if I needed to and that’s good enough closure for me.
Now the big plan is to take a brief vacation with Katie and go up to Dogon Country in the north for a week while all our work is taking care of itself (e.g. cards getting made, supplies being bought). We are planning on a day up to Mopti by bus (a long and grueling trip), a day to find a guide in Mopti and explore, then two days in Pays Dogon with homestays, and a day to get back to Bamako for work. It’s going to be swell. Then Caitlin leaves two days after we get back to go home for a few months and Katie and I leave shortly thereafter. And then it’s over. It’s kind of sad to know that it’s so close, even though I was unhappy for so long. But I’ve come to like and love this place. X Adama X
And along those lines, I also feel much more comfortable in Sikoroni. My Bambara has improved so I can have many basic conversations in Bambara and hence, defend myself against children and win them over with my language skills. I can buy food for myself and bargain down prices. I can go where I want in town and do whatever I want without Caitlin, mostly (though she’s much better at everything and helps with saving money). However, the point is, Cari asked me if I would come stay for a year and I immediately said no whereas everyone else said yes. And I realized that even though I was unhappy before, I’m not now. And it’s OK that that changed. I COULD live here for a year if I wanted. It just so happens that I don’t. But I know that I could if I needed to and that’s good enough closure for me.
Now the big plan is to take a brief vacation with Katie and go up to Dogon Country in the north for a week while all our work is taking care of itself (e.g. cards getting made, supplies being bought). We are planning on a day up to Mopti by bus (a long and grueling trip), a day to find a guide in Mopti and explore, then two days in Pays Dogon with homestays, and a day to get back to Bamako for work. It’s going to be swell. Then Caitlin leaves two days after we get back to go home for a few months and Katie and I leave shortly thereafter. And then it’s over. It’s kind of sad to know that it’s so close, even though I was unhappy for so long. But I’ve come to like and love this place. X Adama X
I'm BACK!
So Julie and Katie and I had an adventure earlier this week. We basically decided that we all have tons of free time while our projects are kicking into gear, so we took a walking tour of Bamako for a full day. From Sikoro we walked up the hill and through the Marchine de Medine, the extremely smelly market that is a less boisterous and less touristy marketplace. The food section (particularly the fish vendor strip) is one of the foulest smellest I have smelled in a while and every time we pass it in transit, we usually gag and make jokes. I brought my camera for the day and got some great pictures. I’ve been taking a lot of them recently, especially now that I have rediscovered its amazing macro lens function for extreme close-up shots. From the Marche de Medine we went to the National Museum to brush up on Malian culture and history. The short story is that the site is one of the prettiest (if not the pretties) I have seen in Bamako, but the museum itself was a little lackluster. Regardless, it was nice to relax in the courtyard and sleep in the shade of tall trees, even if one of them contained a lizard that can only be described as Baby Godzilla.
After the market, I finally returned my broken mosquito net to get back Caitlin’s really big and really not filled with holes net that I accidentally left at my first homestay. I don’t know if I brought this up earlier, but I’ve been sleeping in a torn up net of that family’s that offers no protection really, but still blocks the breeze. Hence me being covered with mosquito bites all the time and probably getting malaria (pray the doxicycline works!). The point is, now I have a great net and I can finally sleep in relative peace.
We went to the Grande Marche afterwards so the girls could mail some letters and I made the discovery of the trip: the MOST BEAUTIFUL baisin fabric I have ever seen. Baisin is an expensive(-ish) fabric here that is used in formal outfits. It’s a high thread count variety that usually comes in solid colors and is coated with gum arabic to make it stiff and crinkly. They also sell it in printed varieties that look like strange tie-dye and I found one that is gorgeous. I bought three yards of it and actually bargained it down to a fair price, from what Maman (“mom” in French) tells me. I have already been sketching my designs for the tailor and I can’t wait. All I will say is that it includes a hand-crafted black leather panel I’m commissioning from my backdoor neighbor and it’s going to be my new favorite piece of clothing that I own (even better than the boubou!). The nice thing about Mali is you can get ANYTHING made here. And when it comes to clothing, you can get EVERYTHING made here – and cheaply. This whole piece will only cost $30 for the fabrics, leather, and fabrication. Nice, right? Who says I couldn’t have made it at RISD?
When we got back, I had a (very drowsy) conversation with Niang about sorcery and magic in Mali. He told me that witches and sorcerers live all over Bamako and that they are known for everything from stealing the inside of your mangos (and leaving you an intact skin that is still inflated to look full) to killing people. He told me many stories, but he most entertaining was that oftentimes witches will cast spells to protect themselves so that no one can hit them. That in itself is interesting, but what makes this spell even more magical is that everyone who tries immediately gets their right big toe forcefully shoved up their ass as punishment and warning. Niang did not smile when he told this story, which I kind of understand since that’s an odd angle for legs and feet to bend at.
As a side note, I will miss Bamako’s bean tigis. Dinner here on the street costs fifty cents and consists of a bowl of spaghetti, beans, and boiled potatoes. It’s delicious, really. I will also miss fifty cent baguette chunks, ten cent water sacks, ten sent popsicles in every flavor imaginable, and paying a mere dollar for an entire kilo of bananas. Even if those bananas make me sick. Apparently a kilo is too much for one boy to eat at once. I’m not convinced. All of this having been said, I also have a newfound appreciation for PB&J.
At the end of our day, we crashed at the Libyan Friendhip Hotel, aka the Sofitel. It was so nice. It was like a real hotel with fifteen stories and a huge beautiful pool out back. So we pretended to be guests for a while, including having a fake business meeting in their nice leather chair supply room. Unfortunately, when we ventured out to the pool, we got discovered. They asked for our room number and when I told them our parents were in 324, they weren’t amused to inform us that that room number does not exist at the Sofitel (though I’m not sure how...). Anyways, we got politely asked to leave. I guess our dirty feets and sweaty clotheses gave us away. X Adama X
After the market, I finally returned my broken mosquito net to get back Caitlin’s really big and really not filled with holes net that I accidentally left at my first homestay. I don’t know if I brought this up earlier, but I’ve been sleeping in a torn up net of that family’s that offers no protection really, but still blocks the breeze. Hence me being covered with mosquito bites all the time and probably getting malaria (pray the doxicycline works!). The point is, now I have a great net and I can finally sleep in relative peace.
We went to the Grande Marche afterwards so the girls could mail some letters and I made the discovery of the trip: the MOST BEAUTIFUL baisin fabric I have ever seen. Baisin is an expensive(-ish) fabric here that is used in formal outfits. It’s a high thread count variety that usually comes in solid colors and is coated with gum arabic to make it stiff and crinkly. They also sell it in printed varieties that look like strange tie-dye and I found one that is gorgeous. I bought three yards of it and actually bargained it down to a fair price, from what Maman (“mom” in French) tells me. I have already been sketching my designs for the tailor and I can’t wait. All I will say is that it includes a hand-crafted black leather panel I’m commissioning from my backdoor neighbor and it’s going to be my new favorite piece of clothing that I own (even better than the boubou!). The nice thing about Mali is you can get ANYTHING made here. And when it comes to clothing, you can get EVERYTHING made here – and cheaply. This whole piece will only cost $30 for the fabrics, leather, and fabrication. Nice, right? Who says I couldn’t have made it at RISD?
When we got back, I had a (very drowsy) conversation with Niang about sorcery and magic in Mali. He told me that witches and sorcerers live all over Bamako and that they are known for everything from stealing the inside of your mangos (and leaving you an intact skin that is still inflated to look full) to killing people. He told me many stories, but he most entertaining was that oftentimes witches will cast spells to protect themselves so that no one can hit them. That in itself is interesting, but what makes this spell even more magical is that everyone who tries immediately gets their right big toe forcefully shoved up their ass as punishment and warning. Niang did not smile when he told this story, which I kind of understand since that’s an odd angle for legs and feet to bend at.
As a side note, I will miss Bamako’s bean tigis. Dinner here on the street costs fifty cents and consists of a bowl of spaghetti, beans, and boiled potatoes. It’s delicious, really. I will also miss fifty cent baguette chunks, ten cent water sacks, ten sent popsicles in every flavor imaginable, and paying a mere dollar for an entire kilo of bananas. Even if those bananas make me sick. Apparently a kilo is too much for one boy to eat at once. I’m not convinced. All of this having been said, I also have a newfound appreciation for PB&J.
At the end of our day, we crashed at the Libyan Friendhip Hotel, aka the Sofitel. It was so nice. It was like a real hotel with fifteen stories and a huge beautiful pool out back. So we pretended to be guests for a while, including having a fake business meeting in their nice leather chair supply room. Unfortunately, when we ventured out to the pool, we got discovered. They asked for our room number and when I told them our parents were in 324, they weren’t amused to inform us that that room number does not exist at the Sofitel (though I’m not sure how...). Anyways, we got politely asked to leave. I guess our dirty feets and sweaty clotheses gave us away. X Adama X
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