The Last Few Weeks

This should be short and sweet.  I went on a rock climbing trip to Siby, Mali with some of my friends.  I was there for five days and had a blast.  I camped out most of the nights, and when I stayed in the hills outside the city it was cool enough that there were no mosquitos so I was able to sleep under the stars.  Most of the routes were bolted which made the logistics of climbing with a lot of people easier, and we also were able to rappel down the middle of a huge arch that is up there.  It was beautiful and I really enjoyed myself.

Then I went to a Halloween party in Bougouni.  I had a great time there.  My costume was Osama Bin Laden.  Some people thought that it was a bit riskee but most people really liked it.

Then I went back to Sikasso and went to a friend's village to paint a World Map on the side of a school there.  It turned out really, really well, and on top of that I felt like I accomplished something which is a nice feeling to have every so often.  Also, it was really nice to spend more time among my English-speaking American friends.  I have some pictures, but as usual will have to get them posted another time, or they may end up on Facebook at some point.

Then back to site for a while where I continued to wait for money, and work in my counterpart's adult literacy class.  My big achievement this week was explaining to him what the point of comprehension questions is.  He was confused about the questions at the end of the reading passages without answers.  I explained that the answers were found within the passages, and if students understand the passage then they will be able to answer the questions.

Yesterday, I left site at 6 AM and went to Sikasso from which I hitchhiked to Bamako.  My luck was a bit lacking this time as I hiked for a good 3 and a half hours before I got picked up, and as luck would have it I forgot my trusty hat so my face got a bit cooked in the lovely African sun.  Today, I ran a half marathon for the most recent stage's In Sevice Training like I did for my stage's IST.  I did a bit better this time with a time of 1:41 minutes on the dot.  I was very happy with this time and should be able to break 1:40 next time since I shaved 5 minutes off my last time.  That's it.  I am going to go help with some trainings for the brand new stage that just came in a week ago or so for the next few days and am looking forward to that since I enjoy teaching.