Images from the first year - part one

These photos are also a bit chaotic.

My Bambara teachers Labassy and Claudine in my training village.

Obama clothes are everywhere.

My host mom from my training village, Awa.

My training village host family and me.

Swear in!! Me and Suzie.

Typical Regis.

The President of Mali, A.T.T. (I only know his initials).

Country Director

Randy doing a speech in the Donoso language.

George doing a speech in Bambara.

ATT at swear in.

Me and Suzie post ceremony.

Me and Thera

Me and Michaela.

Me and Regis

My house in April 2011, and the fence I had just built for my garden.

The inside of my garden...pre-anything.

Running with my "Africa tree" in the background. (Yes I took a picture of myself).

Some dance when I first showed up in village.

Happiness...

Sunset over my village.

Some picture of the falls at Woroni May 2011.

Not quick enough. Tim, Me, and Joanne.

Made it this time.

Lots of people.

Back row (L to R): Roger, Tim, Jenny, Lauren, Delissa, Joanne.
Front row: Me, Elizabeth, Jess, Hannah

Literacy class with my counterpart.

My counterpart, Siaka, lounging in a chair.

Arouna and me outside my house April 2011.

Typical day when I first showed up at site.

Garden after a week of no week pulling in May (I was in Bamako with malaria).

...Three hours later.

Sunset at village.

Truck stop in Kati.

Free hotel room in Kita with Thera.

The streets of Kita in the morning.

Hmmm... They only sell drinks. (Kita)

The road to Manantali with Thera.

The river at Manantali at sunset with Bethany and Thera.

And me!!

Some fishermen at Manantali.

The dam at Manantali:

The fish truck leaving Manantali with Thera and Cecilia.

In addition to being very clean, we definitely did not smell like fish after this ride.

Post Fish Truck

Riding home... or rather standing on the side of the road on the way home.

Nice bird.

Another nice bird outside my house.

Dogon Country.

This is one lucky volunteer's site in Dogon.

The cliff dwellings of Dogon:

Sandstorm coming in!!

3 minutes later... I wonder why my camera is broken....

Waterfall post thunderstorm in Dogon country.

with suzie!

Suzie and Thera crossing the flashflood.

Thera almost across.

Camping in the cliffs.

Thera and Suzie on top of the cliffs of Dogon.

Me, Suzie, and Thera looking out at Dogon country.

The same waterfall from above, but the day after the rainstorm...Pretty much the same I'd say.

Visitations of the First World

It has been a long time since the last update, but that's okay because for a lot of that time a majority of my huge reader base was here with me in Mali.  But before they came we had a good Thanksgiving in Sikasso with more than 90 volunteers in attendance.  Then I went to site for a month.  This went very well for me, I got really involved in the potato farming process, and after maybe a week I was able to use their work techniques well enough that I actually contributed to the work as opposed to just getting in the way.  I also noticed the a very big difference between the way the men and women worked.  The men working reminded me of the military.  There was a lot of ego and hoo-rah, but this seems necessary in order to be able to have a farming operation as big as they have around my village.  This sort of really competitive working was very apparent in my counterpart's farming association.  Each day they set out to till a section of the fields (by hand, of course), and each guy was given a certain area to till, and when they finished they were given a new area.  These areas were usually 5m x 15m or something like that.  Frequently, two guys whose sections were near each other would race to finish their sections.  When these races got going they always involved a lot of whooping and exclamations like "yi-yi-yi-yi-yi" in very high pitched voices.  But without this desire to prove who was the strongest I doubt the fields would be tilled nearly as fast, and maybe not in time to get the potatoes planted when they needed to be.  The women of course have different jobs, but their working was much more focused on working together.  Large groups of women get together to beat rice with sticks in order to remove the rice grains from the plant and they sing the whole time and set up intricate beats to keep in time together.  Their is more laughter and fun with the women's groups, but I guess I just found in very interesting how different the approaches to work were.

I can this post is going to be a bit foggy as I seem to have contracted TB or something and my head is quite foggy. (Not actually TB, stop panicking, just a cold).

We also got the money for my project and have started making some cement molds to put around the wells.  But I have not been at my site for a while due to my parents and little brother coming to visit.  We went up to Dogon country, my site, and spent some time in and around Bamako.  After my parents left my little brother and I went out to Manantali, and then on a short climbing trip in Siby.

Highlights for me:
Seeing my family.
Riding in a rented car.
Eating yummy food in restaurants that I can't afford to eat very often.
Watching to see what my family thought was really crazy or nifty, and then watching how they got used to the craziness in the two weeks they were here.

When they first showed up, everything got an exclamation from them (as it should have because their is lots and lots of crazy shit that goes down here), and by the time they left there were a lot less exclamations because as it turns out humans are very adaptable creatures.

I think some of the highlights for them included:

The first taxi ride at the airport.  The taxis here are notoriously janky, and this one was no exception.  And then we experienced a fairly good third world juxtaposition as we were entering Bamako proper.  You pass under this elaborate archway that is lit with fancy neon purple lights that says "Welcome to Bamako" in several languages.  And as we're passing under this super modern, Vegas-like sign my dad asks, "What's that smell?"
"Oh that's just the fields of burning trash," I reply.  Classic Bamako.

Also, I think the drive out of Dogon in which we had 5 people in the car, and our guide as well as two hitchhikers sitting on the window sills for a total of eight people... oh yeah, we also had two live chickens strapped to the side view mirror so they didn't crap in the car.

Everyone did well considering it was Mali, and nothing here works right.  We had a good New Year's Eve meal finally at about 10:30 PM because it took us a long to find the restaurant that was recommended, and when we finally did, they were out of chicken, beef, and pasta...and vegetables.  Basically everything.  They had one bottle of wine with the label rotting off.  We opted to leave and go elsewhere that actually had food.

It was super awesome to see my family, and I can't wait to see them all again, and hopefully my older brother will be able to make it out here.

Yesterday I had a good "Wow, that is REALLY crazy" reaction to a truck stacked with goods.  I don't get those very often anymore.  I was standing on the street in Bougouni, waiting for a ride, and I see this truck stacked way, way high with something stop in the road.   Two of the four people in the cab get out, and take these poles on the side of the truck off.  The poles have a wide, flat top, sort of like a push broom, and are maybe 20 to 25 feet long.  They take the poles and push the power line wires that are across the road up because the truck is so high it can't fit under them.  Then the truck drives by me, and I get whiff of something gnarly.  The truck was packed with goat skins.  Thousands and thousands of dried and slightly rotting goat skins.  Who needs that many goat skins, and for what?  That is my question.

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.