First Full Day In Mali

So I arrived, through the rain and through the storm (jk but definitely through a long two days of traveling and air transfers and confusing events)! I am SOOO blessed because instead of having to spend my 15 hour Moroccan layover languishing in the airport or cavorting dangerously through the city as a single foreign female, I spent it in a wonderful hotel! Apparently, a hotel room was included in my flight ticket! And I had free breakfast and lunch and transportation. It was just an absolute Godsend. :) And I'm so proud of how I found out about it (certainly not through the airline attendants cause they were actually positively awful and of no help at all) but by stalking someone I heard saying (in French) they had a transfer to Bamako. My French is rusty, but everyone speaks French so I will get plenty of practice since I don't speak any other local language. I met some cool people throughout my travels and heard interesting stories.

Anyways, I arrived at 1am in Bamako, where the temperature was still 32 degrees celsius (89.6 farenheight) and humid. At first none of my bags were coming! But then, they explained that the belt was broken and more luggage was coming. So I got both of my bags, no problem! Then I walked out the door and saw my wonderful sister! It was a sweet reunion :).

Back at the hostel, we have a single room with two beds and mosquito nets. There are common bathrooms with real toilets! That's one thing I am worried about, using the "nyegen" which is a hole in the ground...

In the morning we woke up and ate a western breakfast at the hostel (sausage, steak, eggs, tomatoes, baguette, and hashbrown!) and took our malaria medicine! We met some interesting folks in the dining area and chatted with the Malians about a lot of things. Jade is teaching me some Bambara and about cultural things as well.

One thing that really strikes me is how dark everyone is. I am really light here. They stare at me (but not in that obvious and obnoxious way like they did in China) and call me white "tubab"(bambara) or "blanche" (french). However, someone also told me today that I look like I have Malian or West African roots. I've only been here one full day, and I've had two Malians ask me what country my roots are from. They don't take it very well when I say that I don't know or have no idea. It's interesting to see how important your origins probably are here. But alas, I really only know about as far back as my great great grandparents. That's all I've got. Sigh.

Oh! They have lizards here! That's probably been my favorite thing so far. They are SOOO funny. They stop in the middle of the ground and they make a push-up motion over and over. It is hilarious to me. I must look pretty dumb snapping pictures of lizards but they are soo interesting to me! And they are multicolored. There are even maize-and-blue lizards :) No lie.

We went to a "tubab" store today, and it was soooo expensive. Cheese was like 20 dollars. Yogurt was like 16 bux. Chocolate bars were like 8 bux. Tortilla chips, $12...It was just unreal.

We left the hostel and walked around to go buy water and fruit in the markets. Not gonna lie, the city is relatively awful. The part of the city we visited was very dirty, underdeveloped (no real buildings), fly-infested, and full of trash. I see now that I was spoiled when I was in China, cause I was thinking it was lacking, but that's no comparison to here. Jade says there is a nice part of town somewhere near the Peace Corps office, so maybe I will have more positive things to say about the city? I don't feel negatively about the city, but I am just being brutally honest. I've seen abject poverty in Morocco in patches, but this was more extreme than that. Jade also says that the villages are nicer because they are less crowded. I can understand how that could be true. We are leaving the city to go to her village tomorrow. I am sooo excited! I can't wait to see all of the people she has been talking to me about. Also, she is going to buy chickens for my arrival! I guess there will be a little party :).

Well I won't really have reliable internet access outside of this hostel, so for now, I say goodbye and I'll blog when I can!

Getting Ready for Africa!

So...I'm really not ready. Most of the time, when I make these big decisions like this, I don't fully grasp the decision I've made until I'm on the plane. That's how it was with France. That's how it was with China. That's how it's looking to turn out with Mali. I will be leaving on Saturday and staying about a month, returning June 27th. But I am excited to see my sister! I haven't seen her since last July.

The hardest part so far has been shopping for clothing. I really thought I dressed relatively modestly, but even most of my clothes were not really appropriate for wearing in Mali. Everything must fall below the knee, preferably to your calf. No fingertip rule there! Clothing needs to be loose and basically, very covering. Novel idea huh? :)

I also had to get a tent for sleeping (no malaria for me!), headlamps (think caving), all kinds of bug sprays, plenty of gifts for her multi-family household (polygamist family and extended as well). And let's not forget about vaccinations for Polio, Hepatitis A, Yellow Fever, and Meningitis! Pray for us y'all!

I just finished cleaning out our shower bag...Yes that's right, we will be showering with a solar shower bag. It's basically a black bag that you can fill with water and hang up, with a little spout attached. I'll have to take a picture for you. And having the shower bag is actually much nicer than how my sister has been bathing while there this whole time....in a bucket. There are countless other niceties I will be giving up. I couldn't even tell you because I'm not quite sure myself.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I'll be a good blogger. I don't always feel like I've got something worth sharing. But uh...hopefully you'll find it interesting anyway!