Some pics!

Yes that is correct, I am cutting millet out in the fields with the men. They thought it was hilarious. And after about 30 minutes they made me sit down and rest hahaha.




This is me with my 2 little host brothers


And the women in my town dancing after Tabaski

And the next one is me with a blow up santa. See danny, santa does come to Mali.

The last picture is me on top of a cliff in Sikasso after thanksgiving. We went for a bit of a hike!

I forgot Tabaski!

So I completely forgot that I had not yet talked about tabaski. I don't even know where to begin. So the night before Tabaski officially began, I ended up hanging out with my host brother and his friends, who are all about my age and mostly speak french and of course, bambara. And we listened to music, drank tea, and usually I go to bed early, buttttt, I managed to stay up with them until like 4 in the morning. Malians don't sleep, I dont know how they do it, i get exhausted, but it was really fun. At like 3 am, they brought out macaroni and chicken and bread. So tabaski is like a three day thanksgiving feast. And everyone eats a lot of macaroni because its a fairly expensive grain so its a treat for them. Anyway, so the next morning, I got all dressed up in my matching skirt and top, had on some new jewelry, and of course my host sisters had braided my hair and done henna on my hands and feet. And we walked around, greeted people, I helped the women cook. They slaughter a ton of sheep, and everyone eats sheep at three meals for three days. Yes, that is correct, meat in the morning, noon, and night. By the end of the three days, I literally did not want to look at another piece of meat. My host family gave me a bunch of meat that I prepared in an american style, basically I grilled it! But they loved it! And then we danced, the women all got together and danced, with traditional drums going. And then, after a week, we had an end of tabaski party, with dancing, anddddd all the women got outfits made out of the same fabric, as a town fabric, so I, of course, once again, was styling in my outfit. Which, they thought was fantastic because I had the tailor make a westernized tank top.

So what I thought was going to be an overload of malian time turned out to be really fun. I think the fact that I can communicate a lot better now definitely helps. And I know that everyone in my town really appreciated my participation in their holiday.

On another topic...we had a picnic today for former peace corps volunteers living in mali. They were volunteers in countries around the world and their families all came. It was a ton of fun. But I have to say, for some reason, it was so so so bizarre to talk to young children in english. I didn't expect it to be, but it really threw me off. I guess i've spoken to other adults in english, but its been 6 months since i've talked to a kid in english. I found myself talking super slowly to like 8 year olds and then turning to people to talk about the kids in front of them, expecting them not to understand. hahaha. It was certainly a very odd moment.

Ok, that is all for now. I shall write more soon!

Post Christmas

So christmas and new years were a blast!!! I guess I should start from the top. So we went up to Manatali, which was so much fun! First, they just built this HUGE dam there. Apparently if it operates at full capacity it is large enough to power all of mali and much of west africa. And you can swim in the dam, so that was amazing to actually be around water again. One of my friends had a friend from america come visit, so she brought all of this food for us for christmas, including stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, marshmallows and graham crackers for smores, spices, brownie mix, cookie mix, pumpkin pie filling, mashed potato, and YOGURT COVERED RAISINS (my favorite, wink wink, hint hint, nudge nudge). And we had a sheep killed and several guinea fowl, all of which were absolutely amazing. And after we had a bonfire to make smores. All in all, an excellent christmas. Although I do have to say, I miss the snow. Annnnnd, there are monkeys in Manatali, and they will basically come up to you to see what you're up to. I also got to see a baboon. Luckily it was chained, because that thing looked pretty nasty and mad.

After that, we went to Bamako for New Years, which turned into an excellent evening. Malians celebrate new years, but they don't do the whole counting down and such, and don't really go out until like 1 AM. So we were the only ones at this bar, but we made them count down and then we sang auld lang syne. And then we stayed out dancing until the morning. Bamako has some amazing clubs and bars because of the large french and lebanese ex-pat population, so it turned out to be a rather westernized new years. Which was nice for a change! We met some embassy workers and NGO workers and such.

My site is going excellently. My host family has literally become like my family. We fight like brothers and sisters. Hahaha. My mom sent pictures of the family doing karate, and my family went NUTS. They made me show everyone who came into our compound. And my host brother keeps making me promise that if (when) my parents come to visit they will teach them karate. And my mom also sent a giant blow up globe, which was FANTASTIC. I showed them where NJ was in comparison to mali. And, even more importantly, that the world was round. And the kids of course loved that it was a giant blow up toy. hahaha. Annnnd, i just received light up socks from my mom, and I cant wait to show my family. Ok, thats all for now, I shall write more soon b/c i'll have internet for a while!!