Jam nyelli! That's good afternoon in Fulfulde, the language that I'm learning here. I've had a couple requests for the description of an average day, so I thought I would give y'all a brief description of what I do here most days. Tomorrow I go back to my village, and will be there for the next twelve days. Most of my days will be almost exactly like this, with the occassionally variation and French fry goodness surprise.
Around 4am, the call to prayer at the mosque across the street sounds. Now I sleep through it, and barely notice it even during the day. At 5am, the rooster starts crowing and the donkey in my family's concession starts hee-hawing. I had no idea donkeys could be so loud! The pigeons that live in the coop beside my room also wake up around this time and start dancing through the roof. I also sleep through all of this. Finally at 6:30am, my alarm goes off, and I get out of bed to give my bucket to my host mom to fill for my morning bucket bath. So I take my bucket to the nyegen (hole in the ground bathroom, like an outhouse but with no roof) and "shower." You can't greet anyone until after you bathe in the morning, so after I get dressed and everything, I walk around my concession and greet my family members individually, starting with my host dad. Then I eat some bread and cirre (rice cereal/porridge) and drink some powdered milk with chocolate added in (yummy!).
Around 7:30am, my friend Eliza comes by to pick me up for our walk to language class - it's a twenty minute walk, and one of my favorite parts of the day. They're kind of my rock. It's a nice time to just be quiet, but more often it's our chance to laugh and forget about whatever is stressing us at the moment. Eliza's going to be a really good friend of mine here - we are in the same sector, and both going to the Mopti region. She's from Ohio, went to OSU, and just finished her first year of grad school at SIT in Vermont. I'm glad we ended up in the same homestay village.
Anyway, I then have language class from 8am-12:30pm. Then we walk home for lunch, which is usually toh and fish sauce. So I eat some fruit, and my family brings me a soda, which is really nice of them. Afterwards, it's back to language and/or culture class from 2:30pm-6 or 6:30pm. Then we return home and I take another bucket bath - it's really hot here, so it's usually necessary! Then I play with my host sisters and brothers for a while, until the totally awesome French soap opera comes on TV at 7pm. It's the corniest, most ridiculous thing. Naturally, I'm totally addicted. Then I eat some rice and sauce for dinner with my host brother, who is one of the only ones who speaks French in my family. He's about 16 and really into soccer. By the time I finish thanking my three host mothers for dinner, it's about 8pm. I go read, study, or listen to some tunes for a while, and am usually asleep by 9pm at the latest. I know, I live such a wild life! But by 9pm I am out for the day. My family watches a DVD of Bob Marley in concert every night though after dinner, which is pretty sweet.
So that's basically my day here! Sorry if it was excessive detail, if you have any questions or want me to write about anything in particular let me know and I'll do my best when I return to the internet in 12 days. Photos are a no-go for right now, sadly, because I don't have a laptop and I can't use the PC comps to upload them. I'll figure something out though for the future. Miss y'all :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Back at Tubaniso!
I just got back from my homestay village and am back at Tubaniso for a couple days! It is absolutely wonderful to be back here - eating yummy food, hanging out with people, no donkeys and roosters waking you up at 5 am...haha! First round of homestay...complete! I'm at Tubaniso for two more days, than back in village for another 12. So if you want to reach me via email and get a close-to-immediate response, then now is the time.
Below are two entries from when I was in village that let you know a little more about my life there. I will update a little more with some more blog-ish entries if I have time, but there are 66 of us and two computers for three days, so we'll see what happens.
The letters, package, and huge amount of emails from home have been great though! I love hearing stories from home, no matter how random they are. Know that you all are in my thoughts every single day. :)
Below are two entries from when I was in village that let you know a little more about my life there. I will update a little more with some more blog-ish entries if I have time, but there are 66 of us and two computers for three days, so we'll see what happens.
The letters, package, and huge amount of emails from home have been great though! I love hearing stories from home, no matter how random they are. Know that you all are in my thoughts every single day. :)
"I'm not settlin, for anything less than everything"
July 19, 2009
After four days at homestay, I am feeling more and more like Mali is home. The routine helps, as does the little bit of language I've learned. We have language class eight hours a day - very intense! Some days we have environment training as well, and we have a practice garden at one of the other PCT's houses in our village. The garden is coming along very well for the moment. We made five raised beds to plant veggies in, and one pallpaniere (which I'm not spelling correctly, but it's like a nursery for our lettuce and cabbage). So that's exciting, hopefully it will work out and the chickens won't eat everything. We start our tree nursery on Tuesday, which I'm WAY excited about - that's what I'll be doing for the next two years! Yeah reforestation! :)
Communication is getting a bit better - my family is so funny. Every night, a guy comes over who speaks French. And every night, he says I should learn both Bambara and Fulfulde. "It's easy!" he says, but it's not at all. Relearning French, learning Fulfulde, and Bambara on top of that? Nope, too much. So I tell him that my brain is too small to learn both at the same time, and he dies laughing every time. It's like our nightly ritual - he checks to make sure that my brain hasn't grown, and then laughs his head off when I tell him it has not. Pretty funny.
My host sister, Sali, is pretty much the cutest kid ever though. She's probably a little less than a year old, and just learning how to walk. So everyday we walk around the concession together until she gets tired, and then we sit and I talk to her in English about my day. I've started singing her Sugarland songs too, which her mom is greatly amused by. Settlin is her absolute fave - she always starts giggling during the chorus, and it's adorable. I probably sing it at least ten times a day. We have a dance and everything to go with it. The kids here are so great, and we've been having fun coloring and looking at pictures together. I showed them a picture of the White House, and said "Barack Obama lives here" - and they love Barack Obama here - and they were floored. That huge house is Obama's? Crazy!! I couldn't communicate that every president lives there, but they understood the general concept. Language success!
After four days at homestay, I am feeling more and more like Mali is home. The routine helps, as does the little bit of language I've learned. We have language class eight hours a day - very intense! Some days we have environment training as well, and we have a practice garden at one of the other PCT's houses in our village. The garden is coming along very well for the moment. We made five raised beds to plant veggies in, and one pallpaniere (which I'm not spelling correctly, but it's like a nursery for our lettuce and cabbage). So that's exciting, hopefully it will work out and the chickens won't eat everything. We start our tree nursery on Tuesday, which I'm WAY excited about - that's what I'll be doing for the next two years! Yeah reforestation! :)
Communication is getting a bit better - my family is so funny. Every night, a guy comes over who speaks French. And every night, he says I should learn both Bambara and Fulfulde. "It's easy!" he says, but it's not at all. Relearning French, learning Fulfulde, and Bambara on top of that? Nope, too much. So I tell him that my brain is too small to learn both at the same time, and he dies laughing every time. It's like our nightly ritual - he checks to make sure that my brain hasn't grown, and then laughs his head off when I tell him it has not. Pretty funny.
My host sister, Sali, is pretty much the cutest kid ever though. She's probably a little less than a year old, and just learning how to walk. So everyday we walk around the concession together until she gets tired, and then we sit and I talk to her in English about my day. I've started singing her Sugarland songs too, which her mom is greatly amused by. Settlin is her absolute fave - she always starts giggling during the chorus, and it's adorable. I probably sing it at least ten times a day. We have a dance and everything to go with it. The kids here are so great, and we've been having fun coloring and looking at pictures together. I showed them a picture of the White House, and said "Barack Obama lives here" - and they love Barack Obama here - and they were floored. That huge house is Obama's? Crazy!! I couldn't communicate that every president lives there, but they understood the general concept. Language success!
Gift registries and dancing
July 16, 2009
Well, I moved in with my host family yesterday! I am officially a part of the Coulibaly family, and was named Sitan after my host mother. My host dad has at least three wives and many many children. He is a traditional healer, and it's really neat to observe his work. Women bring their sick babies to him, and he says a blessing over some herbs, and then gives them to the woman, who will make tea for her baby out of them, or bathe her baby in them. I really want to know what the herbs are. I think they are more for peace of mind and mental health than an actual medical solution, but any little bit helps here. People go to him instead of a medical center because he doesn't charge them if they can't afford it. I think he refers bad cases to the medical center though. Either way, he's a pretty cool guy.
I have my own room with a bed, screened-in window, screened-in door with a lock (and metal door on the outside - hot!), PC trunk, and...wait for it....electricity! My family lives right by the main road, so in addition to having light and a plug in my room, there is also the light from the street lamps in our concession (courtyard). It's very nice. My host family are incredibly nice and do a great job of taking care of me. Despite that, though, they speak Bambara, and I'm learning Fulfulde. And only one person, my host brother, speaks French. So it is a pretty extreme language barrier, which can be pretty isolating at times. I like to call it confusion immersion instead of language immersion. It really makes you realize how fundamental language is in our lives. How many things a day do I say just to say them? You don't realize that until you can't talk at all. But I go over to my friend Eliza's house a lot - her family speaks Fulfulde, so I get a chance to practice, and she lives right across the street.
Last night there was a huge dance on the village's soccer field. My host sister grabbed me after dinner and we ran down to the field. We had a great time dancing to what seemed like Malian rap music. They had certain groups of people stand up and perform this one dance - about 200 people were seated aruond them in a circle watching. About five girls in one line, then 5 guys across from them a little while away in another line. When the music started, they would dance across one by one and trade places. My host sister convinced me to dance once, and now everyone in the village knows my name and starts dancing when I walk by. It's pretty comical.
One more quick story - today at cross-culture training, we were discussing American and Malian practices of gift-giving. And Eliza, Emily, and I literally laughed until we cried - about the idea of gift registries! Try explaining a gift registry to someone from another country - and the third poorest country in the world at that. It still makes me laugh. Think about it - could Americans be any more lazy AND efficient at the same time? Lazy - the gift-giver has to do nothing, you can just order it online if you want to. You don't have to leave your couch. Efficient - the gift-receiver gets exactly what they need/want in an orderly fashion, and doesn't get more than one of the same gift. It's great, in the most ridiculous fashion. Maybe you had to be there. :)
Well, I moved in with my host family yesterday! I am officially a part of the Coulibaly family, and was named Sitan after my host mother. My host dad has at least three wives and many many children. He is a traditional healer, and it's really neat to observe his work. Women bring their sick babies to him, and he says a blessing over some herbs, and then gives them to the woman, who will make tea for her baby out of them, or bathe her baby in them. I really want to know what the herbs are. I think they are more for peace of mind and mental health than an actual medical solution, but any little bit helps here. People go to him instead of a medical center because he doesn't charge them if they can't afford it. I think he refers bad cases to the medical center though. Either way, he's a pretty cool guy.
I have my own room with a bed, screened-in window, screened-in door with a lock (and metal door on the outside - hot!), PC trunk, and...wait for it....electricity! My family lives right by the main road, so in addition to having light and a plug in my room, there is also the light from the street lamps in our concession (courtyard). It's very nice. My host family are incredibly nice and do a great job of taking care of me. Despite that, though, they speak Bambara, and I'm learning Fulfulde. And only one person, my host brother, speaks French. So it is a pretty extreme language barrier, which can be pretty isolating at times. I like to call it confusion immersion instead of language immersion. It really makes you realize how fundamental language is in our lives. How many things a day do I say just to say them? You don't realize that until you can't talk at all. But I go over to my friend Eliza's house a lot - her family speaks Fulfulde, so I get a chance to practice, and she lives right across the street.
Last night there was a huge dance on the village's soccer field. My host sister grabbed me after dinner and we ran down to the field. We had a great time dancing to what seemed like Malian rap music. They had certain groups of people stand up and perform this one dance - about 200 people were seated aruond them in a circle watching. About five girls in one line, then 5 guys across from them a little while away in another line. When the music started, they would dance across one by one and trade places. My host sister convinced me to dance once, and now everyone in the village knows my name and starts dancing when I walk by. It's pretty comical.
One more quick story - today at cross-culture training, we were discussing American and Malian practices of gift-giving. And Eliza, Emily, and I literally laughed until we cried - about the idea of gift registries! Try explaining a gift registry to someone from another country - and the third poorest country in the world at that. It still makes me laugh. Think about it - could Americans be any more lazy AND efficient at the same time? Lazy - the gift-giver has to do nothing, you can just order it online if you want to. You don't have to leave your couch. Efficient - the gift-receiver gets exactly what they need/want in an orderly fashion, and doesn't get more than one of the same gift. It's great, in the most ridiculous fashion. Maybe you had to be there. :)
Monday, July 13, 2009
We made it!
Hello all! I made it to Mali two days ago after goodness knows how many hours traveling...the highlight was that almost the entire group of 66 PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees - what I am right now) slept for eight hours on the floor of the Paris airport! It was pretty hilarious to see, I'm sure the French were appalled. We did see the Eiffel Tower from a distance though just as we were leaving, after we ate our last Ben & Jerry's ice cream for the next 27 months (I had cookie dough and phish food, if you were curious).
In Mali, we are at the PC training center, called Tubaniso. It is a beautiful place, and very green!! I have two fabulous roommates in my hut, and it is actually pretty cool in the evenings. Yesterday morning we woke up to a rainstorm so it was cool all day. So lovely! We have classes all day, every day - in technical aspects (that's environment for me), language, cross-cultural, and health. Today in my environment sector classes we learned how to conduct a Farmer Field School (FFS), where we would act as facilitators to a farmers group - it turns the farmers' fields into classrooms. Instead of the old top-down approach of development, the FFS acknowledges the knowledge that people already have and the skills they bring to the table. Hopefully I'll be able to implement a group like that in my village. We also learned about gathering seeds and creating plant nurseries.
Speaking of my village, I have a very very tentative site placement! I will potentially be in the Mopti region of Mali in a small village 20 km outside of a city. I will be working with a NGO worker in the areas of reforestation and agricultural ecotourism. It sounds really cool, so I hope that it works out! I would speak Fefeulde (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right, sorry). Apparently it's a little harder to learn than Bambara, but the language teachers are great, so hopefully I won't have too much of a problem.
In other news, I saw a monkey today!! And I bought my first pagne (like a skirt) yesterday and love it, I plan on wearing it when I go to my host family on Wednesday. I will be there for a week, and am very excited to meet them and hopefully speak a little bit!
To answer some questions I've got via email:
- The time difference is 4 hours
- I am not sick (yet)
- I am not sunburned
- Only 2 mosquito bites! The bug zapper thing that my Uncle Ron gave me really works - they don't itch at all!
Hope you are all doing well, the emails and fbook posts from home have been great. I know I've only been here three days, but with all the things we've been doing, that feels like a long time! So thanks for all the support :)
In Mali, we are at the PC training center, called Tubaniso. It is a beautiful place, and very green!! I have two fabulous roommates in my hut, and it is actually pretty cool in the evenings. Yesterday morning we woke up to a rainstorm so it was cool all day. So lovely! We have classes all day, every day - in technical aspects (that's environment for me), language, cross-cultural, and health. Today in my environment sector classes we learned how to conduct a Farmer Field School (FFS), where we would act as facilitators to a farmers group - it turns the farmers' fields into classrooms. Instead of the old top-down approach of development, the FFS acknowledges the knowledge that people already have and the skills they bring to the table. Hopefully I'll be able to implement a group like that in my village. We also learned about gathering seeds and creating plant nurseries.
Speaking of my village, I have a very very tentative site placement! I will potentially be in the Mopti region of Mali in a small village 20 km outside of a city. I will be working with a NGO worker in the areas of reforestation and agricultural ecotourism. It sounds really cool, so I hope that it works out! I would speak Fefeulde (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right, sorry). Apparently it's a little harder to learn than Bambara, but the language teachers are great, so hopefully I won't have too much of a problem.
In other news, I saw a monkey today!! And I bought my first pagne (like a skirt) yesterday and love it, I plan on wearing it when I go to my host family on Wednesday. I will be there for a week, and am very excited to meet them and hopefully speak a little bit!
To answer some questions I've got via email:
- The time difference is 4 hours
- I am not sick (yet)
- I am not sunburned
- Only 2 mosquito bites! The bug zapper thing that my Uncle Ron gave me really works - they don't itch at all!
Hope you are all doing well, the emails and fbook posts from home have been great. I know I've only been here three days, but with all the things we've been doing, that feels like a long time! So thanks for all the support :)
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