Sunday, April 24, 2011
My First Week at Site
4-23
So I just spent a week at my new site. Things are great!! Also, you can find an article about our swear in here:
My Malian counterpart teaches basic literacy classes in my village so I have been attending those and helping out when I can. This is very interesting as he just very recently learned to write. The whole thing is very inspirational, a little heartbreaking, and very funny. Funny because I can help the people sound words out because I can recognize letters and the sounds they should make, but I have no idea what some of the words mean. For instance, I can sound the word “jala” out, but I could definitely not use it in a sentence. I am slowly picking up on meanings, but it is very funny. I think where I am most helpful is with math. They are working on very simple addition and subtraction, which I can explain with my limited vocabulary and fingers, sticks, rocks, or lines drawn on paper. Mainly, I try to work with the people who can’t read or write at all. They get left behind quickly in class, and it is fairly painful to watch them try to force their hands to write their names or 1-10. Sometimes I make them repeat writing letters or their names, and other times I write something down and make them tell me what letter or number it is.
I also will be distributing mosquito nets from a US AID project. Yesterday I had to go around and figure out how many people are in each family and write them a receipt so when the nets arrive they receive the proper number, which is one net for every 2 people. It was also a good way for me to meet more people in my village, and get a count. There are 574 people. I know I am just lucky to have so much to do already, I know that the first three months are generally filled with a distinct lack of things to do, but I have plenty on my plate already. I mean, I only got one nap in yesterday!!! That means I had lots to do. Between drinking tea, counting people, reading, playing mini guitar concerts, and working on my garden I have tons of stuff to do.
Speaking of garden, I have built a fence just outside my house. It will be a bit of a walk from the nearest water, but I think I can handle it. The fence design is fairly brilliant in its African simplicity. I did not think of it. I’ll have pictures at some point I hope. The chief and I built it. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I’ll put up a picture sometime soon. It is basically a very thick bush that we built out of branches from various bushes, and then lashed between posts. Horrible description, but it’s the best I’ve got for now. I also dug one bed so far and will be hunting for seeds today in Sikasso.
I am lacking tables. I was told I could get a table in village, so no reason to buy one in Sikasso and then have to put it on a car to get to site. But this is not the case. I asked the chair builder if he could build me a table. He said no. I showed him that a table is just a chair with no back essentially, but he said he could not do it… Silly. I’ll have to figure that out at some point.
I’ve also started playing my guitar for an insanely, insanely skinny woman. She is not that old, but she can’t really take care of herself so either her brother or husband takes care of her. I think she enjoys it, but I can’t really tell. She just sort of looks like she has given up and is waiting to die, which from the looks of her will not be very long. Though she does have the occasional brilliant smile when I say hi. I hate to end on a depressing note, but I think that’s all the news I have for now. Things in general are really, really good and life is really relaxing in village. I am busy, but I still have plenty of time to read in my hammock that is made of what appears to be shoelaces. That was a brilliant purchase I must say!
So I just spent a week at my new site. Things are great!! Also, you can find an article about our swear in here:
My Malian counterpart teaches basic literacy classes in my village so I have been attending those and helping out when I can. This is very interesting as he just very recently learned to write. The whole thing is very inspirational, a little heartbreaking, and very funny. Funny because I can help the people sound words out because I can recognize letters and the sounds they should make, but I have no idea what some of the words mean. For instance, I can sound the word “jala” out, but I could definitely not use it in a sentence. I am slowly picking up on meanings, but it is very funny. I think where I am most helpful is with math. They are working on very simple addition and subtraction, which I can explain with my limited vocabulary and fingers, sticks, rocks, or lines drawn on paper. Mainly, I try to work with the people who can’t read or write at all. They get left behind quickly in class, and it is fairly painful to watch them try to force their hands to write their names or 1-10. Sometimes I make them repeat writing letters or their names, and other times I write something down and make them tell me what letter or number it is.
I also will be distributing mosquito nets from a US AID project. Yesterday I had to go around and figure out how many people are in each family and write them a receipt so when the nets arrive they receive the proper number, which is one net for every 2 people. It was also a good way for me to meet more people in my village, and get a count. There are 574 people. I know I am just lucky to have so much to do already, I know that the first three months are generally filled with a distinct lack of things to do, but I have plenty on my plate already. I mean, I only got one nap in yesterday!!! That means I had lots to do. Between drinking tea, counting people, reading, playing mini guitar concerts, and working on my garden I have tons of stuff to do.
Speaking of garden, I have built a fence just outside my house. It will be a bit of a walk from the nearest water, but I think I can handle it. The fence design is fairly brilliant in its African simplicity. I did not think of it. I’ll have pictures at some point I hope. The chief and I built it. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I’ll put up a picture sometime soon. It is basically a very thick bush that we built out of branches from various bushes, and then lashed between posts. Horrible description, but it’s the best I’ve got for now. I also dug one bed so far and will be hunting for seeds today in Sikasso.
I am lacking tables. I was told I could get a table in village, so no reason to buy one in Sikasso and then have to put it on a car to get to site. But this is not the case. I asked the chair builder if he could build me a table. He said no. I showed him that a table is just a chair with no back essentially, but he said he could not do it… Silly. I’ll have to figure that out at some point.
I’ve also started playing my guitar for an insanely, insanely skinny woman. She is not that old, but she can’t really take care of herself so either her brother or husband takes care of her. I think she enjoys it, but I can’t really tell. She just sort of looks like she has given up and is waiting to die, which from the looks of her will not be very long. Though she does have the occasional brilliant smile when I say hi. I hate to end on a depressing note, but I think that’s all the news I have for now. Things in general are really, really good and life is really relaxing in village. I am busy, but I still have plenty of time to read in my hammock that is made of what appears to be shoelaces. That was a brilliant purchase I must say!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Becoming official
So, later today we are all going to the Presdential Palace and becoming sworn in as official volunteers, and the next day I am leaving for my site!! Last night we had a huge party. We went the "American Club" during the day which has a pool! And pretty good burgers, then to a hotel in the evening then there were shuttles arranged for several bars/nightclubs. The whole night was incredibly entertaining, and there was much ridiculousness. However, everyone here has become really close in the last two months, and I am definitely going to miss most of the people...a lot. I'll see them again in two months for In Service Training, but not really until then because we aren't supposed to leave our site for the first two months. (Normally it is three months, but there is another training group coming in June or July so they scheduled our IST earlier than normal), which personally I am glad about because the volunteers all celebrate holidays together, and Fourth of July is usually a pretty big event in one of the cities, and now I should be able to attend. If the other groups was not coming in, our IST would have fallen during the Fourth, so we would have been at the training center unable to travel far. I'm defintitely going to try to get some pictures at swear in, and hopefully will be able to post them in a semi-timely manner.
I am very excited to start service, and to start cooking for myself! The food at the training center is pretty good, and well balanced, but I was not a huge fan of the cooking when I went to my site to visit a few weeks ago. It didn't necessarily taste too bad, it wasn't great, but every meal I got some sort of fish sauce, and it generally sat out a bit too long in the sun, and it just turned my stomach. I bought a stove, and will be buying a table to put it on when I get to Sikasso so I should be able to start cooking right away. Now, I just need to figure out how to build a solar oven and I'll be in good shape...MMMMMMMMM.... Pie.
I am very excited to start service, and to start cooking for myself! The food at the training center is pretty good, and well balanced, but I was not a huge fan of the cooking when I went to my site to visit a few weeks ago. It didn't necessarily taste too bad, it wasn't great, but every meal I got some sort of fish sauce, and it generally sat out a bit too long in the sun, and it just turned my stomach. I bought a stove, and will be buying a table to put it on when I get to Sikasso so I should be able to start cooking right away. Now, I just need to figure out how to build a solar oven and I'll be in good shape...MMMMMMMMM.... Pie.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Rain!!!
We had our first rain yesterday. It was an awesome thunderstorm for about an hour. I, of course, stood in the rain for some time then ran through the puddles as it was my first rain in Mali, and I wanted it to be a memorable one.
Today, we went to a women's cooperative that makes Shea butter, lotion, and soap. It was really, really cool, and will someday soon be very profitable I think. And shea is really good for skin, so if you are someone who is inclined to sport lotions, or if you like to bath using soap try ordering some!! They only ship large quantities due to infrastructure logistics, but at least look at their website: http://www.maisondukarite.org/pages/sibysheabutter.html or google it. It's even in English (mostly). I got to mix some of the shea stuff by hand with them today to extract the oil. They create elaborate beats and rythyms while they beat the shea paste by hand, and it is just a really cool set-up. I bought some soap that they added cucumber to, it smells delicious. I'll try not to eat it before I bathe with it. The co-op is located in Siby which has a lot or rock climbing near it with bolted routes and guides. It is a neat area for sure that will definitely need to be explored further.
Today, we went to a women's cooperative that makes Shea butter, lotion, and soap. It was really, really cool, and will someday soon be very profitable I think. And shea is really good for skin, so if you are someone who is inclined to sport lotions, or if you like to bath using soap try ordering some!! They only ship large quantities due to infrastructure logistics, but at least look at their website: http://www.maisondukarite.org/pages/sibysheabutter.html or google it. It's even in English (mostly). I got to mix some of the shea stuff by hand with them today to extract the oil. They create elaborate beats and rythyms while they beat the shea paste by hand, and it is just a really cool set-up. I bought some soap that they added cucumber to, it smells delicious. I'll try not to eat it before I bathe with it. The co-op is located in Siby which has a lot or rock climbing near it with bolted routes and guides. It is a neat area for sure that will definitely need to be explored further.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Death
Hippos spotted: 0 People bitten in half: 0 Pairs of pants soiled: 1
Okay, so. My pre-service training is rapidly drawing to a close. My last few weeks in my training village were great, and I had few interesting experiences. The first beeing that I pooped my pants. This was a major stepping stone in my Peace Corps service, and I feel very accomplished now. No, actually, I was really quite sick, and it wasn't too fun for a day or two. I had a really bad cold, and then pretty excessive diarrhea on top of it, plus that week was really hot. The average temperature in my nice, shady room at midday while I napped was just over 100F, so the days I was sick were kinda rough. But, on the flip side, I personally think I am adjusting well to the heat. I discovered that putting a plastic "prayer" mat on my bed, and sleeping directly on that is far superior than any sheet. I think because the prayer mat allows the sweat to drain through it, or it will evaporate so when you roll around in bed it is less likely that you will roll over into a swamp. The pillow is a tricky endevour though. I currently wrap it in a sheet, so there are four or five layers of cloth between me and the pillow. It helps, but still my pillow can literally be wrung out when I wake up in the morning.
I've also spearheaded a moustache movement in our stage. We are getting shirts made that say "Moustage" on them with a nice moustache decal on the front. This is because, at my and my friend Regis' prompting, all of the men in our stage (minus a 2 or 3 weenies) will be sporting their finest moustaches at the swear-in ceremony at the presidential palace. It will probably be mankinds' finest hour, so far. It will be a fine time for us, and it won't be too ridiculous as moustaches are completely normal and accepted in Mali, instead of being the sign of a child molester as they are in America. Also, the swear-in clothing I had made is wonderful. In true Ethan style, it is fairly ridiculous, but my language teachers thought it will be great for "swear-in."
This next bit it farily depressing, but still a wonderful cultural experience. One of the last days in my training village, I attended the funeral of an infant. Our language teacher informed us a child had died, and he said it would mean a lot if we went to the funeral... So we did. We showed up at the family's housing compound and the women and men split up. We offered some blessings, and then sat while the older men said some prayers. After a little while, the men brought the body out wrapped in a mat with some Islamic symblos on it. The laid it on the ground and then the Muslim men in the group (most of them) prayed over it for a bit. Then the men went to the cemetary and buried the body. Being a man, I went along. They placed the body in a narrow grave and then stacked some mud bricks on top. Then Imam said some stuff in Arabic, and then they shoveled dirt over it. They placed a mud brick at the head, as a head stone, and then cut a bough off a bush, and laid it on top of the grave lengthwise. Then we went back to the compound for some more praying, and then it was over. Apparently, the women's side of the service was a bit more wild for the following reasons. Number 1, the father was sick in Bamako. The father is supposed to be the person who lets people know that the child died. Since he was not there, no one took it upon themselves to do this, and so no body let the mother know that her child had died as the mother was out in the fields working. While the men were busy burying the baby the mother returned. She poked her head in the door, and they told her what had happened. She collapsed in a heap and started weeping and yelling. The family quickly ran out and reprimanded her, picked her up, and ushered her out of public view. It is okay for the mother to cry silently at a child's death, but anything beyond that is culturally unacceptable. A child's death is sad, but not seen as a big deal in Mali. If an older person dies, then funeral happens usually within 24 hours, but the festivities will last for many days. I was thoroughly shocked at this funeral, but I have accepted it for what it is. Also, I got preturbed at the child who started beating the crap out of a dog during the funeral. Usually, when I see excessive animal abuse going on I'll yell at the kid, and chase him down, or throw a rock at him/her, but seeing as I was in the middle of a service I didn't think this would be acceptable. So, I just watched as this dog kept trying to crawl into the kids lap, and roll over on its back, completlely submitting, and the kid just kept smacking with an underripe mango, which are quite firm. Anyways, the day ended well when we made egg sandwiches and mango salsa. Delicious!!!
The next day we had a going away party, and the chief of the village had a grandchild. So, the census almost worked out, except late in the day a kid drowned in the canal, but we didn't attend this funeral, if it even happened. Anyways, we got back to the training compound a few days ago, and as I was writing this I got my birthday package from my parents!!! Yay! That's it for now.
This picture is one of million Barack Obama merchandise examples.
My two awesome language teachers: Labassy on the right, and Claudine on the left.
My host sister, Kadiatou, on the left, and host mom, Awa, on the right.
My training village group: Claudine, Mario, Thera, Laura, Labassy, Me, Matt, Judy, Rob (L to R)
Rob and Thera making some choice Mango salsa.
My host family (and a few random people who happened to be nearby when I got out the camera). My host dad, Dramane, is the guy on the right with the blue shirt. The guy I talked to the most is in the white jersey holding the kid in the green shirt. The kid is not his, but is terrified of me. The kid's name is Amadou, and the guy is Douda. Douda is a rad, smart guy. He wants to be a lawyer, but is trying to save up as school is pricey. The older woman on the left is Mase, Dramane's mother. His wife is Awa in the middle. The only kid that is his in this picture is the girl in the red shirt, Kadiatou. Kadiatou is a pistol. She is a piece of work, but is probably one of the happiest people I have ever met.
Okay, so. My pre-service training is rapidly drawing to a close. My last few weeks in my training village were great, and I had few interesting experiences. The first beeing that I pooped my pants. This was a major stepping stone in my Peace Corps service, and I feel very accomplished now. No, actually, I was really quite sick, and it wasn't too fun for a day or two. I had a really bad cold, and then pretty excessive diarrhea on top of it, plus that week was really hot. The average temperature in my nice, shady room at midday while I napped was just over 100F, so the days I was sick were kinda rough. But, on the flip side, I personally think I am adjusting well to the heat. I discovered that putting a plastic "prayer" mat on my bed, and sleeping directly on that is far superior than any sheet. I think because the prayer mat allows the sweat to drain through it, or it will evaporate so when you roll around in bed it is less likely that you will roll over into a swamp. The pillow is a tricky endevour though. I currently wrap it in a sheet, so there are four or five layers of cloth between me and the pillow. It helps, but still my pillow can literally be wrung out when I wake up in the morning.
I've also spearheaded a moustache movement in our stage. We are getting shirts made that say "Moustage" on them with a nice moustache decal on the front. This is because, at my and my friend Regis' prompting, all of the men in our stage (minus a 2 or 3 weenies) will be sporting their finest moustaches at the swear-in ceremony at the presidential palace. It will probably be mankinds' finest hour, so far. It will be a fine time for us, and it won't be too ridiculous as moustaches are completely normal and accepted in Mali, instead of being the sign of a child molester as they are in America. Also, the swear-in clothing I had made is wonderful. In true Ethan style, it is fairly ridiculous, but my language teachers thought it will be great for "swear-in."
This next bit it farily depressing, but still a wonderful cultural experience. One of the last days in my training village, I attended the funeral of an infant. Our language teacher informed us a child had died, and he said it would mean a lot if we went to the funeral... So we did. We showed up at the family's housing compound and the women and men split up. We offered some blessings, and then sat while the older men said some prayers. After a little while, the men brought the body out wrapped in a mat with some Islamic symblos on it. The laid it on the ground and then the Muslim men in the group (most of them) prayed over it for a bit. Then the men went to the cemetary and buried the body. Being a man, I went along. They placed the body in a narrow grave and then stacked some mud bricks on top. Then Imam said some stuff in Arabic, and then they shoveled dirt over it. They placed a mud brick at the head, as a head stone, and then cut a bough off a bush, and laid it on top of the grave lengthwise. Then we went back to the compound for some more praying, and then it was over. Apparently, the women's side of the service was a bit more wild for the following reasons. Number 1, the father was sick in Bamako. The father is supposed to be the person who lets people know that the child died. Since he was not there, no one took it upon themselves to do this, and so no body let the mother know that her child had died as the mother was out in the fields working. While the men were busy burying the baby the mother returned. She poked her head in the door, and they told her what had happened. She collapsed in a heap and started weeping and yelling. The family quickly ran out and reprimanded her, picked her up, and ushered her out of public view. It is okay for the mother to cry silently at a child's death, but anything beyond that is culturally unacceptable. A child's death is sad, but not seen as a big deal in Mali. If an older person dies, then funeral happens usually within 24 hours, but the festivities will last for many days. I was thoroughly shocked at this funeral, but I have accepted it for what it is. Also, I got preturbed at the child who started beating the crap out of a dog during the funeral. Usually, when I see excessive animal abuse going on I'll yell at the kid, and chase him down, or throw a rock at him/her, but seeing as I was in the middle of a service I didn't think this would be acceptable. So, I just watched as this dog kept trying to crawl into the kids lap, and roll over on its back, completlely submitting, and the kid just kept smacking with an underripe mango, which are quite firm. Anyways, the day ended well when we made egg sandwiches and mango salsa. Delicious!!!
The next day we had a going away party, and the chief of the village had a grandchild. So, the census almost worked out, except late in the day a kid drowned in the canal, but we didn't attend this funeral, if it even happened. Anyways, we got back to the training compound a few days ago, and as I was writing this I got my birthday package from my parents!!! Yay! That's it for now.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Site Visit Etc
For the last five days I've been at the site I will be living in for the next two years. It is pretty great. I have a nice two room house to myself on the edge of the village. The village is called Vamarabougou, and is just north of Sikasso a little ways. And I am definetely in the bush. I have no transportation in or out except my bike, or in the unlikely event someone has a car, I can hitch with them. But I would be impressed if the roads are even rempotely passable during the rainy season. The nearest market is an 8km ride, and the nearest place to catch a bus and the main market is a 20km ride. I did this ride yesterday morning with my full pack, and it was a pretty good workout. Many people have these metal push carts in the city, and I am thinking of getting one of these, and a bike hitch from America, and having a welder in town fashion me a nice trailer which will make bigger market trips a bit easier. The chief of my village is a cool and very spunky old man. I went hunting with him!!! He has this really ancient break action shotgun, which I thought was pretty neat. We didn't get anything, but he said we could go again when I get back there in April.
During site visit I would wake up pretty early, and go do some activity. One day I went to the fields with the chief and said hi to all the farmers, another I went exploring, another I went and met the teachers in the village. Then I usually have nap number one. Then I do some reading, sometimes followed by another nap. Then I'll eat some lunch, and do some more reading or take another nap. In the afternoon I get out and walk around the village and say hi to people, then I typically have tea with the chief. He comes over to my house quite a bit with his radio, and sometimes he'll turn on the BBC which is very nice of him, as he can't understand it. During his visits, usually I am reading, and he'll just nap in the chair next to me, usually with a child sleeping on his lap. In the evenings, I'll either go exploring, play soccer with the kids, and the one day I went hunting. The first bit at site will be pretty tough at times just do to boredom, and just speaking to people can be very tiring as it takes a lot of effort to even have simple conversations.
The other volunteers had a party for us new kids in Sikasso on Friday night. Many of the current and new Sikasso region volunteers stayed at the Peace Corps stage house in Sikasso. We went out to eat, and then managed to get free tickets to a concert sponsored by an alcohol-free malt beverage called Bavaria. They gave us the front row seats, but we didn't stay long. Then we went to a night club and danced to a bizarre collection of music. Some American pop, some native Malian pop mix stuff, and the occasional acoustic guitar accompanied by a thumping base line with a singer who was clearly did not have English as his first language. I had a blast. We got to ride public transport between Bamako and Sikasso both directions which was not too crazy, but still a bit different. On the way to Sikasso, a soldier rode with us accompanied by his automatic rifle, and one of the windows had spiderwebbed due to what was clearly a bullet hole. One the way back our bus literally had some of the aluminum siding held on by ropes stretched into the aisle and attached to the luggage racks. The road between Sikasso and Bamako is not bad by Malian standards. It was paved almost the whole way, with maybe only a 30km detour around construction on some dirt roads through the bush. Other people have it way worse. The pavement is just barely, barely wide enought for two cars to pass, so needless to say there is a lot of horn honking, swerving, and the occasional hard break when the bus has to slow down quickly behind a donkey cart because there is an oncoming semi, so passing the donkey cart is not an option. It takes abour 6 hours to get from Sikasso to Bamako, so that is not too bad, and the bus stops at regular intervals to people can get out and stretch. When you do get out though, you are immediately mobbed by street vendors selling all sorts of stuff, some of which is very delicious, and other stuff which I do not try such as the warm milk convieniently packaged in used coke bottles.
I got back to Bamako yesterday, and there is a place that sells soft serve ice cream near the Bamako stage house!!! That was awesome, as we are getting into hot season, and though I haven't found it too unbearable, it is defintely toasty. I am the training center today, and on Tuesday I will go back to my training village for my last two weeks or so of language training. My new address will be:
Ethan Vimont
Corps de la Paix
BP 227
Sikasso, Mali
Packages can be shipped there now-ish as they take a month or so to get here. Letters take about two weeks, and I will be in and around my old Bamako address until April 12ish. So send wisely I guess. It was very neat to see my site, and I am quite excited. We have the day off today, so I'll try to get some pictures up, if the internet cooperates. Which I don't think it will, so when I publish it may or may not have 20 pictures on it. I can't see them on this page, so I can't put captions on if they are even attached. Silliness, maybe later I'll try again.
During site visit I would wake up pretty early, and go do some activity. One day I went to the fields with the chief and said hi to all the farmers, another I went exploring, another I went and met the teachers in the village. Then I usually have nap number one. Then I do some reading, sometimes followed by another nap. Then I'll eat some lunch, and do some more reading or take another nap. In the afternoon I get out and walk around the village and say hi to people, then I typically have tea with the chief. He comes over to my house quite a bit with his radio, and sometimes he'll turn on the BBC which is very nice of him, as he can't understand it. During his visits, usually I am reading, and he'll just nap in the chair next to me, usually with a child sleeping on his lap. In the evenings, I'll either go exploring, play soccer with the kids, and the one day I went hunting. The first bit at site will be pretty tough at times just do to boredom, and just speaking to people can be very tiring as it takes a lot of effort to even have simple conversations.
The other volunteers had a party for us new kids in Sikasso on Friday night. Many of the current and new Sikasso region volunteers stayed at the Peace Corps stage house in Sikasso. We went out to eat, and then managed to get free tickets to a concert sponsored by an alcohol-free malt beverage called Bavaria. They gave us the front row seats, but we didn't stay long. Then we went to a night club and danced to a bizarre collection of music. Some American pop, some native Malian pop mix stuff, and the occasional acoustic guitar accompanied by a thumping base line with a singer who was clearly did not have English as his first language. I had a blast. We got to ride public transport between Bamako and Sikasso both directions which was not too crazy, but still a bit different. On the way to Sikasso, a soldier rode with us accompanied by his automatic rifle, and one of the windows had spiderwebbed due to what was clearly a bullet hole. One the way back our bus literally had some of the aluminum siding held on by ropes stretched into the aisle and attached to the luggage racks. The road between Sikasso and Bamako is not bad by Malian standards. It was paved almost the whole way, with maybe only a 30km detour around construction on some dirt roads through the bush. Other people have it way worse. The pavement is just barely, barely wide enought for two cars to pass, so needless to say there is a lot of horn honking, swerving, and the occasional hard break when the bus has to slow down quickly behind a donkey cart because there is an oncoming semi, so passing the donkey cart is not an option. It takes abour 6 hours to get from Sikasso to Bamako, so that is not too bad, and the bus stops at regular intervals to people can get out and stretch. When you do get out though, you are immediately mobbed by street vendors selling all sorts of stuff, some of which is very delicious, and other stuff which I do not try such as the warm milk convieniently packaged in used coke bottles.
I got back to Bamako yesterday, and there is a place that sells soft serve ice cream near the Bamako stage house!!! That was awesome, as we are getting into hot season, and though I haven't found it too unbearable, it is defintely toasty. I am the training center today, and on Tuesday I will go back to my training village for my last two weeks or so of language training. My new address will be:
Ethan Vimont
Corps de la Paix
BP 227
Sikasso, Mali
Packages can be shipped there now-ish as they take a month or so to get here. Letters take about two weeks, and I will be in and around my old Bamako address until April 12ish. So send wisely I guess. It was very neat to see my site, and I am quite excited. We have the day off today, so I'll try to get some pictures up, if the internet cooperates. Which I don't think it will, so when I publish it may or may not have 20 pictures on it. I can't see them on this page, so I can't put captions on if they are even attached. Silliness, maybe later I'll try again.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Just getting my sweat on...
I'll see if I can do a quick update before the internet dies again. I still have not pooped my pants. I'll try to expand on the tea drinking from my last post another time. I've done some pretty neat things like hitchhiking on top of a dump truck. Oh boy, this is going to be fairly unorganized I think...
I am back at the training facility and I now know where I will be placed for the next two years. I am going to a little village that I can't spell about 18 km North of Sikasso. Sikasso is down south, so it is very green, and very, very humid. I will be leaving to visit there for a few days tomorrow, then will be coming back here, and then back to my training village of Soundougouba Koro for the last two weeks of training. This has flown by so far. Ill try to update about my village when I get a chance. My language is coming along well, and I met my Malian counterpart yesterday. So far I know that he has three kids. I haven't gotten too sick yet, just some minor tummy issues now and again, and a cold a few weeks ago.
It is getting very humid here now. I do A LOT of sweating. I sleep outside here at the training facility, but in my training village my family sweeps the ground at about 5 in the morning so I still sleep in my room there.
We celebrated International Women's Day on March 8 called Huit Marasi here. The other trainees in my village all invited our host mothers and grandmothers and maybe some sisters or aunts up to our School Tree and cooked them French Toast. They liked it. Some families really celebrated March 8, but others didn't really get into it. I can understand why. The kids don't have to go to school, and the women get to tell their children to do a few more things, but they still have to clean the house, yard, get all the water, and cook all the meals. Some of the men who teach at the local school slaughtered a goat about 10 feet from my classTree for the occasion. They gave me some, and it was good.
The other general comment I want to make is about Obama. He is very well loved here. There are Obama shirts, sandals, backpacks, cookies, and he is painted on the side of 70% of the taxis. The American flag is probably on close to 100% of the taxis, and if Obama's face is not on the side then it is Che Guarva (or however that is spelled), with the occasional rapper thrown in to keep us on our toes.
We learned some exciting news about our swear in ceremony in April. It is the 40th anniversary of Peace Corps in Mali, and Mali's 50th anniversary from French occupation, and so our swear in service will be held by the President of Mali (ATT, cause no one can pronounce his name) at his presidential palace. Needless to say, I am stoked about this news. I got some pretty neat fabric to make an awesome swear in outfit. Also, I've acquired some nifty and highly colorful shirts at my local market. I am currently wearing one that is half purple and half bright red with red and purple stripes. Oh yeah, also today is my birthday. Two people made me cards, and one person gave me their headphones because their mp3 player is dead. Also, since we are at the training facility some of my friends talked to the kitchen staff and apparently they are making cake. Totally awesome! Well, I think that is all for now. I'll try to update when I get back from Sikasso, and also, I'll try to put up a few pictures if possible. BAM!
I am back at the training facility and I now know where I will be placed for the next two years. I am going to a little village that I can't spell about 18 km North of Sikasso. Sikasso is down south, so it is very green, and very, very humid. I will be leaving to visit there for a few days tomorrow, then will be coming back here, and then back to my training village of Soundougouba Koro for the last two weeks of training. This has flown by so far. Ill try to update about my village when I get a chance. My language is coming along well, and I met my Malian counterpart yesterday. So far I know that he has three kids. I haven't gotten too sick yet, just some minor tummy issues now and again, and a cold a few weeks ago.
It is getting very humid here now. I do A LOT of sweating. I sleep outside here at the training facility, but in my training village my family sweeps the ground at about 5 in the morning so I still sleep in my room there.
We celebrated International Women's Day on March 8 called Huit Marasi here. The other trainees in my village all invited our host mothers and grandmothers and maybe some sisters or aunts up to our School Tree and cooked them French Toast. They liked it. Some families really celebrated March 8, but others didn't really get into it. I can understand why. The kids don't have to go to school, and the women get to tell their children to do a few more things, but they still have to clean the house, yard, get all the water, and cook all the meals. Some of the men who teach at the local school slaughtered a goat about 10 feet from my classTree for the occasion. They gave me some, and it was good.
The other general comment I want to make is about Obama. He is very well loved here. There are Obama shirts, sandals, backpacks, cookies, and he is painted on the side of 70% of the taxis. The American flag is probably on close to 100% of the taxis, and if Obama's face is not on the side then it is Che Guarva (or however that is spelled), with the occasional rapper thrown in to keep us on our toes.
We learned some exciting news about our swear in ceremony in April. It is the 40th anniversary of Peace Corps in Mali, and Mali's 50th anniversary from French occupation, and so our swear in service will be held by the President of Mali (ATT, cause no one can pronounce his name) at his presidential palace. Needless to say, I am stoked about this news. I got some pretty neat fabric to make an awesome swear in outfit. Also, I've acquired some nifty and highly colorful shirts at my local market. I am currently wearing one that is half purple and half bright red with red and purple stripes. Oh yeah, also today is my birthday. Two people made me cards, and one person gave me their headphones because their mp3 player is dead. Also, since we are at the training facility some of my friends talked to the kitchen staff and apparently they are making cake. Totally awesome! Well, I think that is all for now. I'll try to update when I get back from Sikasso, and also, I'll try to put up a few pictures if possible. BAM!
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