PST is finally coming to an end. It’s been a long two months. Actually it feels like these last two months have flown by, but each day seems to drag on forever. I’ve starting living on a week by week basis instead of day by day. I feel like larger increments of time go by faster. The last couple of weeks at homestay I lost track of time all together and every day just melted into the next. During PST we’ve at least been able to keep a loose grasp on time since our schedules are pretty rigid, but in Africa, it’s hard to stick to a schedule. That’s probably why most Malians base their concept of time on the seasons. We are currently approaching the end of the dry season, which is split into cold and hot. The heat here every day is like during the hottest days of summer in Texas. That’s another reason why days seem so long. It’s really hard to motivate yourself to get things done.
We all left our homestay villages on Sunday morning. It was really sad event, having to say good-bye to our host families who we all got really close to during the short time we were with them. Knowing that we probably won’t ever see them again made it that much harder to say good-bye. Two days before we left they had a small celebration to send us off. It basically consisted of all of the Malians gathered in a circle and making us dance in the middle. After all I’ve been through, it’s safe to say I have little to no inhibition at this point, so dancing in front of a hundred laughing Malians and making a complete ass of myself is now a part of everyday life. I’m really going to miss Mountugala. I felt like I really fit in there. Part of me wishes I could stay there and work, but Bankass is an amazing city and right on the border of Dogon country, which is one of the most beautiful regions in all of West Africa. Its beauty is not just in terms of natural landscape, but the rich history and culture of the Dogon people. Life is more modernized now throughout Mali, but cultural heritage is still strong and probably nowhere more so than in Dogon.
We went to a museum in Bamako a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t very big, but we saw some interesting stuff. There were a lot of masks from different regions, including Dogon masks, which looked really cool. There was also a textile exhibit, which may sound boring, but Malian clothing is starting to become an interest of mine. I like going to different markets and trying to find really unique fabric designs and get outfits made. So far I’ve had two complete sets done. Fabric is really cheap, about 6 dollars for 5 meters. The museum was part of a big park in the middle of the city. It was the first time I saw lush green grass in 2 months. After the museum we visited the American club for a few hours to swim in the pool and drink a few beers. The beer of preference here is Castel. It’s not good, but given the situation, I can’t complain.
Finding things to do is never much of a chore. During homestay I would go to class from 8am to noon, then come home, eat lunch and read/ take a nap until 3. This is during the hottest part of the day, and trying to take a nap inside is like slowly roasting in brick oven, so I would find a nice shady spot in the courtyard, spread out a mat and pass out. Then class would start back up from 4-6. Class really regressed the last week since it was too hot to focus and we had pretty much covered all major points by then. Afterwards I would go to the soccer field and play until sundown, then head home take a bath and eat dinner. I’d usually sit around the house for a couple hours after dinner and people would come over and we’d talk and make tea. Sometimes I would go walk around visiting people. Mountugla was usually really quiet at night, but people stayed up late. Usually Malians don’t sleep the whole night. Instead they either go to sleep really late or just take long naps. I always went to sleep pretty early.
Right now as I’m writing this it’s thundering outside. I hope it rains soon. Afternoon rains here are really nice, although very rare during the dry season. Everything cools off and it gets nice and windy. It’s a good break from the steady heat. Sometimes we get a dust storm mixed in, which isn’t very pleasant. The other day I was taking a bath outside at my homestay site and I saw huge dark clouds coming in that I thought was a thunderstorm. I was quickly trying to towel off when the winds kicked up and I was consumed by a cloud of dirt. It’s funny how the storm didn’t even faze the rest of my family. They stayed outside cooking right through the worst of it while I finished drying off in my room. I ate inside that night.
Reading and writing have proven to be great ways to kill time. I always feel guilty when I substitute language study for other outside interests, but I’m sure I would go crazy if I didn’t take up any hobbies. Language is really frustrating. Some days my language is on and I can talk to everyone but then I do a complete 180 and feel like I’ve forgotten it all. I’m actually trying to learn two languages at the same time, French and Bambara. One thing I’ve noticed in learning these languages, is that English is by far one the most diverse and colorful language in the world. French is fun to speak but difficult and Bambara is extremely limited as far as vocabulary when compared to either English or French. I like it, but trying to convert from English to Bambara is literally impossible since it’s such a simple language. While most of the men here speak French, the kids are raised speaking Bambara, and the women usually don’t go to school long enough to become fluent in French. In all likelihood I’ll be learning at least some sort of Dogon dialect as well. This is life. [C’est la vie] {dinyetige be}.
That’s about all for now. Next week is the big swear in day. I leave for Bankass the day after. Moving all my stuff out there is going to be exciting. There’s really nothing like being out on your own in a foreign country trying to negotiate transport in a language you can hardly speak on an overcrowded, hot, smelly, bush taxi with several armloads of luggage, then ride 100 km to site sitting next to a couple goats as you pray that it doesn’t break down in the middle of nowhere or that all your stuff doesn’t fall off from the mass of junk piled on top of the roof. It’s thrilling.
I’ll try to write in the next couple of months while I’m at site. I won’t have internet access so I don’t think I can make any posts, but I will have cell service.
Peace,
Andrew
Update: It did rain, and it was awesome!
