Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Yay Election!
Before I actually write this message, I would just like to congratulate our nation on another successful democratic election. Way to go USA! Even without me there and without the timely arrival of my absentee ballot (UGH), it went off wonderfully and now I am suffering from a severe lack of sleep, since we stayed up for Obama's speech, which was at around 4:30ish am our time. I'm more than content right now. Exhausted, but happy.

Wait, did you say bears?
Okay, so back to the blog. None of the above listed in the title, really. Sorry for getting your hopes up. It's more like monitor lizards, mice, and scorpions, oh my! Just as scary when you read about the bacterial-ridden mouth of the lizard, the thought that my good food might be eaten (including my peanut butter) and that the smaller scorpions are actually the more poisionous of the scorpions-- and I've had more than my share in and around my house. Exciting the first time. Nerve-wracking the second, third, and fourth when I have to plan an escape route before getting out of my mosquito net tent just in case things get bad in my attempt to ward off the second two. Luckily for me, I have yet to find the monitor lizard anywhere near town... my town says that they live in the forests, so that's why I'm not going there any time soon. The picture I have of this 2 1/2 ft (at least) beast is coming, but again, the lack of adequate internet is preventing me from sharing that.

Celebration of successes
My small victories of the past few weeks include: (1.) successfully travelling to the larger village about an hour a way and filling my gas tank to hook up to my three burner mini-stove in a certain time limit because the tank was too heavy to bring any way that wasn't by car, which only comes once at certain times on market day. Phew! Which led me to... (2.) making French toast with cinnamon and sharing it with my host family, who doesn't like it as much as I do and therefore let me eat most of it! It even made my house smell delicious for the next few days. (3.) Making curtains for my windows out of an old skirt that I couldn't wear anymore. You would be surprised how some curtains really spruce up a home.

The Hundred Shea-acre Woods
I've drawn a map of the route that I take whenever I bike the 8km to the road for market or for language tutoring. I'm not so sure why I'm proud of this, but I've named most of the sections of my road. It definitely makes the trip more enjoyable and let's me think of home or other happy thoughts. Again, I have pictures, but they will have to wait for another day. Until then, let your imagination don a bicycle helmet and travel with me on a typically day:

First, when leaving village, I take route 345. For those of you from home, you'll probably figure out that this is the road that goes by the school before heading on to bigger and better things. The first hill is Red Rocks, PA named mostly because of the red rocks. The top of the hill is called Leischman's Pt and sits just outside of view of town, but reminds me that I'm almost there on my way home. Myrtle Beach is the first of two really sandy sections of the road-- really annoying during rainy season because mud is almost more difficult to bike through than sand... almost because you often will end up getting of your bike to push your way through anyway. Since the rainy season has officially ended, I won't be seeing that mud anymore until next June! Agrocrag-- isn't that what the huge mountain was called on the Nickelodeon show "Guts"? Well, there's a mini-one here. It's hard.

The Hundred Shea-acre Woods is what I'm calling my region in general because of the vast number of shea trees there and the innumerable shea nuts that have been collected and will be collected. At this point in my trip, the shea trees become more apparent out in the fields (of corn, millet, cotton, sesame, etc). The wide open spaces, recently razed to clear the tall grasses are Lion King inspired-- the Pride Lands. The first two are called Nala and Simba. Like I said, no lions, though, so it's more that I just picture that part in the movie where Simba looks on the pride lands and is sad because of the lack of food. Rafiki field comes next. Supposedly other volunteers have seen monkeys there, although I've missed them the bazillion times I've ridden by so far. Oh well. I know that rafiki is swahili and actually doesn't even mean monkey, but rather friend. Meh. Again with the Lion King theme are the Pride Rocks at the end of Rafiki field and at the peak of a small hill, which becomes Pride Lands #2, Zazu on the other side. Unlike Simba field, I have seen Zazu birds there.

The Great Divide is just a split in the road and then Global Guts (this Agrocrag is twice as long as the first). Finally we arrive at Daytona Beach with more sand and can stop at the well I've deemed the Pit Stop to get water. Well, I can't. The High Road inspires the lilty song in my head. This was one of the first areas on my trip that I learned to recognize. I'm still not sure if the low road was dug purposely to collect water during the rainy season-- the drain or ditch of sorts, or if it is the former road, now abandoned because of it's tendency to be more of a river than a path.

Then comes the 7th Inning Stretch (or 3rd if you're going home). A whole bunch of nothing exciting. Included in the 7th inning stretch are the mines where they make charcoal. It's not mined, but smoked... I'm not really sure how they do it, actually. Yogi Berra is what I've named the fork in the road (I take it every time). And then we approach South Bend, the final turn that signals the end of the 7th inning stretch.

Troubled Bridge Over Water is not really a bridge and not really water, but enough so that during the rainy season this section of the road is almost impassable. Again, musical inspiration. After the bridge we reach the Thruway that gets pretty heavy with traffic on market days... I'll usually have to pass a donkey cart or two. The first exit takes you to the Rapids: a section of really bad road that would be treacherous to walk, swim, or kayak, let alone bike, during the rainy season. You have to know just where to go or you'll drop suddenly into a pit or pool of water. Kinda scary even when it's completely dry.

The last section I've named Custard's Last Stand for no reason other than I wanted to... that's what kept popping into my head! It has a slight grade, but isn't really that daunting at all. Because then you arrive at the Banana (Mango) Split or two huge mango trees that welcome you at the top of the hill. You have arrived. Finally, I bike through the Stage Door to get to Hollabaugh's or a small mango grove that reminds me of the fruit orchards of Pennsylvania.

Now all you have to do is try to picture it. It's a ton of fun.

Are you working yet?
Yes, yes, the magical question. Like I said before, I'm expected to integrate first before doing any real "work," but I have really enjoyed my time so far hanging out with my villagers and heading out into the fields. I've pulled peanuts, husked a ton of corn, among other things. It's absolutely amazing to see where all of our pre-packaged madness in American actually comes from and the effort that it takes to farm, harvest, prepare and store. Being in the fields also helps me to realize how difficult the agrarian lifestyle is... I'm exhausted usually by mid-afternoon and ready for my evening bucket bath.

I'm still attempting to work with my women to get them registered as a real women's association, but because it IS harvesting time, coordinating a meeting has become difficult. Soon, things will start to be more focused once all of the crops have been harvested. Malians LOVE the question: "Can you find THIS in America?" Corn and peanuts, yes. Other things like the guava and papaya are a little lacking in the states.


This was a pretty random entry, I know. Apologies. :-) I'm pretty sure the next time I may be internet bound is Thanksgiving. So until then!

Three months in

Minnie N Majo
Some of the days during my first month at site have been extremely trying, from the times when children would stand outside my closed door and then, peeking in my windows, yell my name, after I told them that I was going to lie down, to the general lack of English language and good conversation that I had grown accustomed to during pre-service training. In these cases, the strangest things seem to be comforting and refreshing, including the taste of my favorite childhood snack: Peanut butter balls from my Minnie N Me Disney cookbook. Yes, all of the ingredients are here and readily available (minus the wheat germ) and yes, I now eat peanut butter balls all the time, made with the freshly produced peanut butter from the market. As I eat an entire batch, sitting at the table in my house, I think back to the times when I would do the same thing at home, but this time mom isn't here to yell at me...

African Frogs
My first pet as a child came as a gift from my aunt and uncle and although it wasn't a typical pet, such as a dog or a cat, it began to teach me the lessons of responsibility and patience. North country friends, you might remember Amy and Bill, our "African Frogs" that lived in an aquarium, first in my room and then in my basement. They definitely escaped more than once and died more than once (but we got replacements, Amy II and Bill II). Well, the frogs in Mali are multidinous and quickly reproducing, but look nothing like the African frogs I had so many years ago. It makes me think of the exoticism that we placed on the word "African" that actually leads to a generalization and grouping of the whole continent into a single place, a single idea. It also has allowed me to reflect on the idealization that I, myself, had of Mali and the "developing world"--that all of the issues here are completely different and not the social issues that I often complain about in America. But, no, perfection isn't here either, just like it's not at home. Again, I think that we're in need of some great compromises and meeting in the middle so that the world as a whole and the human population as a population can move forward.

Mothers are ba's everywhere
For those of you still worried about my health, I would like you to know that yes, I am still healthy with only the most minor of health concerns, including a one day horrendously sore-throat two weeks ago. I would also like you to know that mothers will continue to be mothers and care, almost too much, for your well-being.

After I had told my homestay family about my sore-throat and taken the morning to attempt to sleep it off in my house, I returned with some of my own tea and asked my dia-tigi or homestay mother to warm some water for me. That seemed to mean that I was willing to try to eat things (no, no I never said that) and do you know what is best for a sore-throat when you can barely swallow? Fish balls. Yes, pulverized whole fish (bones included) mixed with a flour-y paste and cooked in fish juice. Let's just say that it's not quite the chicken soup I was looking for and no, I didn't eat more than one bite. It's the thought that counts, right?

Okay! I have to go right now, right now... I have more to write, but it will have to wait! Ah! Talk to you in a few weeks!

P.S.

P.S. Check out the other pictures that I've posted to the right of this on my blog. Click "Sara's pictures" More will be coming when I have time to sit at a computer and upload them.

An ka taa

Here we go...

After successfully swearing in on Friday, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer to serve in Mali for the next two years. You have no idea how excited I am to get out there and get busy getting to know my new community.

What will I be doing there, exactly? Good question. A lot of just integration and hanging out in order to best assess the needs of the community. Although I have a few projects already in mind and a few suggested to me, it's not my job to tell the people what they need. I will be working very closely with the women's association and the economic development committee in the small community in order to improve the current conditions of the town. In other words, I'll be doing community development, but in Mali-- an environment with which I am completely unfamiliar.

Dooni dooni

I would write the phrase with crazy o's that are present in the Malian phonetic alphabet, but I can't find them on this keyboard. "Small small," or "slowly slowly" my Malian counterparts are always telling me. That's how I intend to work towards becoming a part of my rural community. The first three months at site, I'm technically not allowed to start any funded projects, but that's okay with me! I'm planning to spend a lot of time improving my language skills and just becoming Majo Bagayogo. This time at site, I will be able to explore the surrounding towns and see what role they play in perhaps organizing with my own community.

On my own

Being on my own is a pretty daunting thought right now, but I also can't wait to just get out there. I'm not sure the next time I'll be able to write, but know that you are all in my thoughts. Take care across the ocean! I know that I'll have a lot to say very very soon...

And a few more before I become a volunteer

Took my language test yesterday and received an Intermediate High level!! I'm more than excited that my skills have progressed so much in such little time. Ah, it feels good. I might, just might, be able to communicate in my village when I arrive next Tuesday. Here are some more pictures to hold you over.


Picture 1: The gwabugu (kitchen hut) at sunset. Also, see our awesome corn crop that I will be eating soon.

Picture 2: And you thought that we prepared a lot of food for our weddings. I doubt that I could have ever gotten the proportions right for this much rice....

Picture 3: Host family picture (it was late at night, sorry) Try to figure out which one I am. My mom and dad are seated, mom in front of me and dad in the brown shirt. Picture 4: My host brothers and sisters are adorable. I can't wait to watch them grow up over the next two years. :o)

That's it for sisan (now), as PC has brought one member from each of our homestays to come eat dinner with us the night before we swear in. I'll be spending a few days after swear in back here at the training center, so I'll be writing a final entry before making my way to site.