Sunday, January 27, 2008

Busy Week!

There are about 70 people in The Breakfast Club, and there are about 7 Katies/Kates. I asked how they differentiated me and I’m “Southern Katie.” I found that really funny.
On Sunday, we went back to Sikasso. It was wonderful to be back home! I went to sleep at 8 pm!
On Monday, we went to my work, and some other bureaus. I was surprised to see the Malian Flag everywhere: on motos, on people, decorating businesses. It turns out that Mali was playing football that evening. After Mexican Night at Trinh’s place, (We pride ourselves on year round avocadoes), I stopped at a beauty shop to watch Mali play Camaroon. It was so exciting! When the game was over, I was (as well as every other Malian) proud. There was a leader running blowing a whistle 3 times, and all these people following him would shout “MALI!” It was a lot of fun (except I almost got hit by a moto, even though I wasn’t on the road, but that’s another story). When I went home, the water was off. I was thinking it’s just Mali, but the next morning, it was still off and the water outside was off too. I talked to a guy downstairs, and he said that the bill wasn’t paid. Great. How come I’ve never seen the bill?
On Tuesday, we visited every touristy site in Sikasso. We went to the Waterfalls at Waroni. It was a lot of fun, except I met the village chief, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. There are still some issues, and I may go to the village and live there for 2 weeks or so. I”ll let you know. We then went to the Doors to Sudan. It was so interesting because the road to get there was formerly the road to Ivory Coast. I’m sure glad they built a new road! We then went to the Mamalon, Tata, and the Caves of Missiroro. I found the caves very cool because some people still live in the caves! I felt like I was intruding just a bit. I’m glad nobody can wonder around my living room! There were 2 separate caves for Animists and Muslims. The Animist side had lots of feathers and animal skulls (for sacrifices).
Wednesday morning, we left for Segou. I was a little panicky (I don’t know why…it is Mali) because I thought I was going to miss my bus. I made it in plenty of time (we were 30 minutes late leaving). The bus was trying to charge us money to put our bags underneath the bus. I think most PCV would agree with me that we don’t mind paying for a service, as long as everybody is paying for the service too. We spoke with some other Malians, and they had to pay also. So many times people see the color of our skin and the price doubles.
So many people sell things at the bus station, and I regret not buying this really cute Malian belt. Surly they have to sell it in the market?
The road from Sikasso to Segou is so wonderful! It’s paved the whole way with practically no pot holes!! It was such a pleasant ride! When we got there, we went to a volunteer’s house. It was unreal! It overlooks the Niger and is just lovely. I can’t remember what we did that afternoon, but for dinner, we went to a really nice restaurant and I got lasagna! It’s not Gramma’s or Mom’s or even Stoueffer’s lasagna, but it was delicious!! The restaurant also overlooked the Niger River, and we were able to see the sunset. It was weird to me to see other Tubabs. I didn’t realize that Segou had so many tourists! (The Segou music festival is this weekend, so I would imagine some people came early.)
On Thursday, I felt like a real jerk. I saw another volunteer eating Vascuri (cheeselike spread), so I thought, well, I better go get something to eat. I went and got bread and eggs and brought them back to cook. Only I was the only one. Oh, well. I thought it was every person for his/herself. We were running late, but I managed to cook breakfast, eat breakfast, and still wait on some people. We went to a tailor school where a Segou volunteer did some work. Then, we went to the tourism place. After that, we went to the guide center. Lunch was okay. Because I went big the night before, I got….rice. That afternoon, we went to a Bogolan place, and it was my favorite part of field trip. There were so many people dyeing so many different items! Part of the tour, we each got a piece of cloth and painted it. I once again remember why I got a C in art class. On the taxi ride home, I saw a completely naked man on the side of the road. Things you don’t see everyday.
I do know if you realize how big of a deal this is, but I ate a HAM SANDWICH for dinner!! I was craving one a week ago, and it’s so satisfying when you get to quench the desire. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in my life! Hurray for tourism and animists!!
Friday morning, I caught what I thought would be a quick bus (it was loading 30 minutes before “departure time”). While we were off to a quick start, beginnings can be deceiving. Our first stop was so a guy could get some hot coals to start a fire to make tea on the bus. I think I was the only one of the bus that laughed out loud, but after a stop every 30 minutes for more tea, cigarettes, yeagen breaks, I was irritated. I finally made it back home! I was happy to see the guy who works in the apartment below me was in. I asked to see the bill (no water…surprise). Apparently, in 5 months, nobody paid the bill. It was about 72,000 CFA (about 150 USD). He told me my part was 52,000 CFA. I was so frustrated and wanted to cry because 6 people are on the same bill! I ended up calling Echin to come and mediate. Malians write there 1s weird, and I thought the one was a scribble, so my part ended up being 15,200. The guy had this crazy calculation thing going on (neither Echin nor I could understand), but he figures out how much people owe by the amount of hours they stay. Because I live there, my portion would be higher than the companies that are occupied for 8 hours a few days a week, which makes complete sense to me. I just really wanted to understand where he was getting these numbers from. I ended up paying my part, and am hoping that the water will be turned on tomorrow. I would imagine that even in the ghettos of America, the water is separate for each dwelling. This is another example of some of the luxuries Americans have without even thinking about it. So, I’m sure some people are wondering how I’m getting water. Currently, every morning, I go to my neighbors’ house, pull my water from a well, and carry it to my apartment, which includes a flight of stairs. This experience reaffirms my decision that if I had to choose between running water and electricity, I would go water all the way!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Random Updates

Thursday night, I went to sleep with a headache. Sleep is a wonderful, natural medicine, but unfortunately, I still woke up with a headache. It progressively got worse (despite the migraine medicine), so last night, I ended up going to Bamako. I spent the night in the medical office. They were super nice, and I got a quiet, dark room. The clock was REALLY loud (for all you non-migraine sufferers, sound is magnified), so I took it off the wall. I slept for a good 11 hours or so. I woke up at 4 amish, with my head still pounding, and I was sad thinking about a classmate in high school who had a 2 week migraine!! But, at 8:30, I was feeling better, not 100%. I felt good enough to deal with my airplane ticket. The Malian travel agency does not accept credit cards, so I had to go to the bank 4 times, 4 different days!! Today, they gave me a price about 20 dollars cheaper, so I was happy about that. The rest of the day was spent napping, I got a shot (God knows what for, I have been shot so many times, I stopped asking what for), and gchatting.
Oh, the highlight about staying at the med office? A hot shower:)
This week and last week has blended together. Sometime during the past two weeks, a language tutor found a black cobra in the library! No joke! So that was exciting to say the least.
Also, we had 2 really good guest speakers. One guy was an apprentice for a fetish seller (a guy that sells random animal parts such as monkey heads, elephant nails, etc.). His dad is way up on the ladder for protecting animals, but this guy is working on his Ph.D. in anthropology, and it just worked out that he would be this main fetish sellers apprentice. The guy who he was working for may even be into sorcery. It's like real life HP! He wanted to experience first hand to better understand why people kill animals. I found it extremely interesting and eye opening that they use the entire animal. They eat the meal, sell the fur, perhaps sell different parts of the body for medicinal or religious reasons.
The other guest speaker whom I thoroughly enjoyed listening to was an extremely passionate individual who inspired me all over again of why I'm here. He started a small non-profit organization called African Sky. Check it out when you have some time.
http://africansky.org/

I thought I could remember more, but apparently, I can't. I went alot of meetings, ate a lot of rice and sauce, and enjoyed talking to my roomies once again.
Tomorrow, I am going back home for a field trip! I'm excited to go home for a little bit, and then the rest of our field trip is in Segou. I love going to new places!!

Side note: I apologize for not posting pictures. I love pictures too, but I'm having difficulties with my camera. When I go to the States in April, I will take the camera to the repair shop, and if that doesn't work, I will purchase a new one (or even a used one). I gave my camera to a Malian coworker during the Balafone Festival (see post beginning of November), and it hasn't been the same since. Things that make you go ummm. I could find pictures from the internet if you would perfer for me to spice my blogs up until April.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Tubaniso

It's so different being back at "summer camp". (Some volunteers have another name for it, but I wouldn't go there.) This week has gone by sooo slow!! When I first got to Bamako, I had a delicious cheeseburger...probably one of the best of my life!!! Honestly. And, then I got ice cream:) I got caramel and chocolate, and it was real ice cream, none of that fake cheap stuff they have in Sikasso! I forgot how much I've missed REAL ice cream!! It was amazing!!!! The next day I got another cheeseburger, and to my surprise, it was better than the day before!!!! The last day we were in Bamako before going to Tubaniso, I got 4 scoops of ice cream! But, before you start judging me, the scoops are way smaller than America. I was really loving life!! 2 chocolate scoops and 2 caramel!! (This is why I can't go to Bamako alot b/c Bamako sucks the money right out of you!!!)

I've been SHOCKED at how cold Mali can get at night!!! We have campfires every night. I checked www.weather.com and the low for Bamako was 54!!! I'm convinced that because Tabinso is near Bamako and not in Bamako, it must be at least 10 degrees colder here!!!

I took my language test again. On paper, I haven't improved in 3 months. Which, I know is a lie! But, I'm still really frustrated. Sigh.

I haven't found the sessions super helpful, thanks to all the wonderful business classes I took at Auburn. But, I have found the guest speakers super motivational. One guy had me so motivated! I'm ready (except the minor language barrier) to go back to site to get some work done!!! For the next 3 months, my goals are:
~I'm am going to encourage the construction completion at Waroni. There are some issues with that, but that's another story for another day.
~I am also going to work on getting signs up for the tourist sites.
~I will begin working on a map of Sikasso. Sikasso has a paragraph in the Lonely Planet West Africa book, but I would love to have more information and a map to send the publisher! (I don't know if that will do anything, but it's important to me to try.)

The more I think about it, the more I want to start a girls after school club. I will continue to work on my French so I don't look like a complete doofus. Also, a few months ago, I was approached by a community near where I live because most of their wells are dried up. During hot season, the women have to get up at 3 am to get clean water! I told them I would assist them, and I think one of the speakers gave me the contact information I need. I think (but I need to encourage what the community wants), that because they are so close to the city, they should think about getting the pipes extended...which costs a lot of money, but it's where the organization I am going to contact would come into play. I'll keep you posted.

I'm going to Bamako today because I only brought 1 long-sleeved shirt with me. I can't wash it because it's my only source of warmth! I haven't taken it off in over a week! Seriously, I sleep in it, I go to meetings in it, I exercise in it, etc.) So, I'm going used-clothes shopping for some warm clothes!! (I know I am going to laugh hysterically at the post in about 2 months.) Who would have thought? I might get some more ice cream while I'm there....

Saturday, January 5, 2008

New Year's 2008 and then some

New Year's 2008 was so much fun! I was in Sikasso with Anna, Brooke, Lindsay, and Christine. Christine is getting her Ph.D. and is doing research in Mali for a few months and then she will go on to another country.
Right now, I am in Bamako (using free internet:). I went to my homestay village of Droit II today. I found out yesterday that my Malian father passed away last week. I got really emotional when I saw my MM (Malian Mom), covered in white, laying on a mattress on the floor in the living room. Of course, crying is a faux pas in Mali (don't do it!), but I am emotional. Sigh. I ate lunch with my MM and sister and my MM's sisters. My MM is so thoughtful and bought me a soft drink! And, she paid me the highest compliment I could ever receive...she said I was "faultless" (which we all no is not true, but it was still a really great compliment!) I also was able to see 2 of my brothers.

Afterwards, I went to a "Tubab store" (similar to an American supermarket, but not quite...) and had so much fun walking up and down every single aisle! I then had the best cheeseburger of MY LIFE and am now using the free interent, getting attacked by the mosquitoes. Always something.

My Malian Father, RIP: 1954-December 24, 2007