So it has been a little over two weeks since I have arrived in Mali. I am sitting in my room at Tubaniso, which will now be officially known as T-so, and listening to some Lily Allen. I can’t believe it has been two weeks. Wow, so much has happened, my thoughts are all unorganized, like the rest of my life, haha. I love my home stay and my home stay family. My home stay is in a medium town (apparently, I think its small) called Mountugula. It has about 3 boutikis, which sell chocolate cookies (my downfall) and COLD soda. Now if you know me you know I don’t like soda, or even calling it soda, but I have grown to love it because it is the only cold thing I ever get. It is hot here, and it is not even hot season, SOOO CRAY. I don’t even know what I am going to do when it does get to 120 degrees outside and inside and ever side. Anyways, my home stay village is a new home stay village for the PC so many of the people there have never seen a Tubab (white person) before. I was named “Gnamanto Sacko” when I got there and now wherever I go I have little kids yelling “I ni sogoma” to me every morning, and then due to the culture I have to go through a HUGE dialogue just to greet that one person, or that one little kid and then one second later, right after I left that one person I have to and do it ALL OVER AGAIN WITH EVERY SINGLE PERSON I SEE ON THE STREET. All of us here are like “can we have a village greeting” every morning. Our school is legit a 6 min walk but it takes us like 20 minutes because we have to stop and greet every person. Haha.
So my schedule every day goes somewhat like this:
1. Up at 7, and yes I DO get up at 7 ☺
2. Shower with my bucket in the Negen (Malian bathroom), pee
3. Get dressed in my room
4. 7:30 eat breky with my host sister/mom Sally. She makes me lipton tea every morning, or she makes me sugar with a little lipton tea added and a bulu Shefan which is a fried egg sandwich.
5. Get to school by 8
6. Learn Bambara for 4 hours until 12
7. Walk back home, take a nap, be tots anti social and then eat
8. Back to school at 2:30 to 4:30
9. Go sit under a tree with the girls
10. Around 6 go back home
11. Shower again, pee number two of the day. It is very important in this time to shower BEFORE dusk because that is when all of the cockroaches come out of the negen hole (aka Hannah and cockroaches do not mix)
12. Eat some sort of din
13. Go over to laurens and talk with her fam fam
14. Bed by 9
We go to school Monday through Saturday and then have Sunday for homework. It is always an exhausting day. Every moment is trying to learn or speak Bambara and I am NOT good at Bambara at all. I get frustrated at myself that I am not picking it up as easily as everyone else, but know that I can not compare myself either. Everyone has a different experience here and mine just might be a little more concentrated on the Bambara.
I do like it here though. Everyone is talking about culture shock and what stage we are in. We had the “initial enthusiasm” about being in Mali, which turned into the “initial culture shock” and now we are supposed to be in the “getting used to it” stage. Maybe its because I have traveled so much on my own, but I am not getting the culture shock aspect yet. I mean yes, I pee in a hole twice a day because I don’t want to have to go any more, and I eat out of a bowl and have the most random things for dinner, like French fries and fried plantains, yes that’s it, but I am not having too much of a problem yet (knock on wood). I am really glad to have made some good friends here, but I definitely miss everyone at home. It was so true, I didn’t go to UVA to get a husband, but to get bridesmaids. The friends I have back at home, I know now being here for only two weeks, will be my friends for life. I am so blessed to have people in my life who love me and understand me, for all my silly craziness. I miss not having to explain my language or the way I talk because my friends understand everything I am “trying” to say. LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Not to be saddened or anything, but I do find that if I start to think extensively about everyone back home I get sad, so I tend to only look forward to the experiences I will soon be able to have.
When I signed up for the PC and actually arrived here, I was hoping that my life back home would help me to prepare for my life here. It is so true. I am in this experience and know that it can only go up from here. I guess I feel that in my short 23 years of life I have already experienced more good and bad things than many people will ever dream of. I have an amazing uncle who gave me the gift of education and was able to study at one of the top and most prestigious universities in the nation. I was blessed with my travels abroad and the people I met. I AM blessed with the most amazing family in the world. Although I may not always understand my sister, I do know she is always there and hopefully she knows that I am always there for me. I am blessed with the most courageous mother anyone could have, someone who is selfless because she only wants the best for my sister and I. I am blessed with an AMAZING and phenomenal aunt and uncle, who will always be, in my heart, my second parents. And I am blessed with some of the best friends someone could ask for. Along those lines, I have lived through some of the most horrific hells a person could go through. As I sit here, I think if I have lived and survived so far, I can, hopefully, get through anything life throws at me. When it gets hard, I just think of the last four years and know that I can do this, and not only do this but be successful at it. I guess that’s why they call us “survivors”. We really are.
I have sweat dripping down my leg
I want to Angelina Joli a baby. The only probs is that she never wears pants and the shirt to vag ratio is WAY TO HIGH. Its like I don’t want that on me, put pants on, wipe your nose, stop eating trash and then we can have a discuss (she is only like 1 though).
There is trash everywhere and no such thing as a trashcan. I put my trash down the negen because I HATE littering, but sometimes you just have to ☹
I’m a vegetarian. Well at home stay at least. The meat in T-So is good.
My hair is white now. Welcome to Mali.
The end.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
IT IS OFFICIAL, I ATE A FRIED BALL OF DOUGH
It is true. I ate piece of fried dough today…and it was GREAT! We had our Malian culture festival today, which allowed us to buy so pagnes (Malian skirts), get henna, witness some traditional Malian dancing and eat FANTASTIC FATENING AND CARBO LOAD Malian food. All Malians eat is carbs. They are officially my favorite people EVER! Ok, to go back to the beginning.
We arrived in Mali on the 2nd of February to a hot night of 90 degrees. The first thought that emerged into my already filled with emotions head was “shit, its hot”. The next one, almost immediate to its prior friend was “wow, I can’t believe how much I love Mali”. I never knew that I could fall in love with something. There were very few people in life I have loved, and an object, nonetheless a place, was included in that category. But for Mali, it did not matter I was in love. The smell of the Malian air, the humidity that filled my throat, the terminal that I had first placed my foot once I stepped off that plane and onto the country that I would soon call my home. It’s so weird to think of Mali as my home. All of my friends are either in grad school or are doing something amazing with their lives in the states, and here I am, in Africa, officially calling Mali as my new home.
Anyhoo, the first couple of days have been a blur. Other than learning Bambara, which is the local language here and learning how to say “I ni sogoma” (which is good morning in Bambara) and so many other phrases I feel like my brain is on overload, but it’s a good overload. Everything I have experienced here I am in love with. As I mentioned earlier, I love carbs and therefore I love the food. The sauces are delicious and filled with spices. Everything that I had previously heard about Malian food was that it was dull and tasted the same, which is kinda true, but it is also SOOO good. The fact that it is full of carbs and I am going to gain thousands of pounds, I love the food and therefore I love Mali (wow I sound like a commercial).
In order for me to somewhat categorize my experiences I have a list below:
1)First animal sighting, frog, 11:40pm, February 3, 2011. It was in the roadway on our way to our huts, and yes I said huts (look at pictures below).
2)First time peeing in a hole, on the 3 of February, at night (I avoid this action at any cost, holding in my pee until I cannot hold it any longer, not because I am peeing in a hole, but because it is a HOLE and I am a TERRIBLE aim)
3)First time pooping, not yet. Yes I know it sounds gross but everyone poops. I hear that the PC gives you a thick skin and soon volunteers talk about everything from pooping to farting to sexing. Well, is that different than me at home? I am scared, and also think I am having a bit of Mr. C (We have had a whole 3 hour session on Mr. D, I can’t wait….not)
4)First time I ate communal (follow pics). AWESOME experience but totally gets you messy. You don’t eat with any utensils, only your hands, so it gets everywhere and there is grease and rice all over your clothing, oh what an adventure.
5)And last first time I saw the Niger River, February 6, 2001, approx 2pm in the afternoon. Beautiful. That is the only word to describe it. Beautiful.
So far I have been in Mali for 4 days, have peed in a hole, ate communally out of a bowl with two other Malians (one being my Bambara teacher so I was a little shy), stood next to one of the biggest and most important economically rivers in the world, danced in the Malian style, worn Malian pagnes, eaten fried dough and more carbs than I eat in a month, and had the time of my life. I can’t believe the short time I have spent in this country and cannot wait for what is to come. It helps so much to have a positive attitude here. If one is negative it all goes down from there. We also have to remember NOT to look at the whole picture, because that is scary. Realizing that we will be in here for 27 months is such a daunting task that looks impossible to achieve, but when we live for the minute, which is what I believe everyone should do, the task ahead of me looks like the most fun and challenging adventure I will ever have.
So to leave all of you out there reading my incredibly long blog, I have a couple words of advice:
1)NEVER complain about your bed
2)Be JOYFUL every time you see your toilet, praise it for its glory
3)Be MINDFUL of what you see, because it may a glorious vision clouded by the rose color glasses of life
4)Be THANKFUL for your friends and family, because they are the most important people in your live
5)Be HAPPY for living, for the gifts our parents have bestowed on us, and for the opportunities we have
6)And LOVE, continuously love.
Love your African beauty,
hannah
We arrived in Mali on the 2nd of February to a hot night of 90 degrees. The first thought that emerged into my already filled with emotions head was “shit, its hot”. The next one, almost immediate to its prior friend was “wow, I can’t believe how much I love Mali”. I never knew that I could fall in love with something. There were very few people in life I have loved, and an object, nonetheless a place, was included in that category. But for Mali, it did not matter I was in love. The smell of the Malian air, the humidity that filled my throat, the terminal that I had first placed my foot once I stepped off that plane and onto the country that I would soon call my home. It’s so weird to think of Mali as my home. All of my friends are either in grad school or are doing something amazing with their lives in the states, and here I am, in Africa, officially calling Mali as my new home.
Anyhoo, the first couple of days have been a blur. Other than learning Bambara, which is the local language here and learning how to say “I ni sogoma” (which is good morning in Bambara) and so many other phrases I feel like my brain is on overload, but it’s a good overload. Everything I have experienced here I am in love with. As I mentioned earlier, I love carbs and therefore I love the food. The sauces are delicious and filled with spices. Everything that I had previously heard about Malian food was that it was dull and tasted the same, which is kinda true, but it is also SOOO good. The fact that it is full of carbs and I am going to gain thousands of pounds, I love the food and therefore I love Mali (wow I sound like a commercial).
In order for me to somewhat categorize my experiences I have a list below:
1)First animal sighting, frog, 11:40pm, February 3, 2011. It was in the roadway on our way to our huts, and yes I said huts (look at pictures below).
2)First time peeing in a hole, on the 3 of February, at night (I avoid this action at any cost, holding in my pee until I cannot hold it any longer, not because I am peeing in a hole, but because it is a HOLE and I am a TERRIBLE aim)
3)First time pooping, not yet. Yes I know it sounds gross but everyone poops. I hear that the PC gives you a thick skin and soon volunteers talk about everything from pooping to farting to sexing. Well, is that different than me at home? I am scared, and also think I am having a bit of Mr. C (We have had a whole 3 hour session on Mr. D, I can’t wait….not)
4)First time I ate communal (follow pics). AWESOME experience but totally gets you messy. You don’t eat with any utensils, only your hands, so it gets everywhere and there is grease and rice all over your clothing, oh what an adventure.
5)And last first time I saw the Niger River, February 6, 2001, approx 2pm in the afternoon. Beautiful. That is the only word to describe it. Beautiful.
So far I have been in Mali for 4 days, have peed in a hole, ate communally out of a bowl with two other Malians (one being my Bambara teacher so I was a little shy), stood next to one of the biggest and most important economically rivers in the world, danced in the Malian style, worn Malian pagnes, eaten fried dough and more carbs than I eat in a month, and had the time of my life. I can’t believe the short time I have spent in this country and cannot wait for what is to come. It helps so much to have a positive attitude here. If one is negative it all goes down from there. We also have to remember NOT to look at the whole picture, because that is scary. Realizing that we will be in here for 27 months is such a daunting task that looks impossible to achieve, but when we live for the minute, which is what I believe everyone should do, the task ahead of me looks like the most fun and challenging adventure I will ever have.
So to leave all of you out there reading my incredibly long blog, I have a couple words of advice:
1)NEVER complain about your bed
2)Be JOYFUL every time you see your toilet, praise it for its glory
3)Be MINDFUL of what you see, because it may a glorious vision clouded by the rose color glasses of life
4)Be THANKFUL for your friends and family, because they are the most important people in your live
5)Be HAPPY for living, for the gifts our parents have bestowed on us, and for the opportunities we have
6)And LOVE, continuously love.
Love your African beauty,
hannah
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