23 down, one month to go!

Hi all! So I'm down to my final month in Mali, and I've been scrambling to finish all the work I wanted to do and enjoy my life over here as much as possible before it's gone. After returning from Croatia, I've felt like I was back in track, running a long-distance race. I started to see the finish line, and I began sprinting hoping that my burst of energy wouldn't die out before I crossed it.

(a couple recent sunsets from my balcony -- I'm trying to soak up as many as I can!)

I have been working near-full days (which is pretty unheard of over here -- even for Malians who have office jobs). I've been working with Mme. Koumare to create a Web site for the CRPA (my counterpart organization). It's been fun, but I'm quickly realizing that I took on too much and won't finish it before I leave. Hopefully whoever replaces me will be able to finish it up -- it actually will make a great first project for them. Mme. Koumare and I have been traveling all over the city to various artisan associations -- jewelers, fabric dyers, bogolan makers, etc. -- and taking pictures and getting information for the site. It's been a fun way to wind up my service.

(women dying "bazin" fabric in the Niger)

(Mme. Koumare posing with some silver jewelry -- she's been modeling for lots of the Web site pics. I think she enjoys it!)

Sadly, I did run out of steam...or at least I ran into a hurdle. Last week I got sick (again...grrr!), and was out for two days with a fever. But it didn't slow me down too much, and now I'm back at work. I've also been spending some quality time with all my favorite Malians, drinking tea and having great conversations. My friend Mariam (she's the secretary at the CRPA) and I had a long talk about the differences in Malian and American culture in regard to family. I explained that, because we value being independent and self-reliant, parents don't typically let their children (or any other relative) live off them once they've reached a certain age. If a relative moves in and doesn't show any motivation to find work or earn money, but expects you to feed them and let them stay as long as they like, we'll eventually turn them out (or at least talk to them).

(Mariam)

Over here, families take in any and all relatives for as long as they want to stay. Even suggesting to the relative that they're a burden on you, or that they should get a job and provide for themselves rather than taking advantage of you makes everyone view you as a horrible, selfish person. It's such an interesting difference... Another fun conversation happened just yesterday during my English lesson at CARE. Rokia, the secretary there, was telling me about this crazy American girl who used to live here who had a cat. She couldn't believe how this girl treated her cat (keep in mind I have two cats that I adore over here!). The girl bought her cat MILK (even though she herself didn't drink it), and fed it better food than most kids over here get to eat. She let the cat sleep in her bed and treated it like it was her child. Both the Malian women I was talking to thought this was such strange behavior -- that the American woman would baby a cat but not have any actual children. They said that 1) women who like cats that much are usually viewed as witches/sorceresses; and 2) cats are for catching mice and such and should be able to find food on their own (or at least don't deserve better food than people eat).

(Jaba panting because of the heat...you know it's hot when your cats pant like dogs!)

I couldn't really argue with their logic. I also told them about the microchips that people now put in their pets to ID them in case they get lost. Justine, the admin assistant at CARE, said in reply, "I think that Europeans and Americans have so much money, they don't know what to do with it all. So they find strange ways to spend it." Again, I couldn't argue with the logic! Well, that's about it. I'm slowly but surely getting prepared for the next chapter in my life -- grad school. This week I've registered for classes, bought season football tickets (woohoo!), and potentially found an apartment. It's all making me excited to come home...but I'm also starting to get sad thinking about leaving my life over here! I'll finish this entry with a lightning picture taken a couple nights ago from the balcony of my house. I love thunderstorms over here!

(pretty cool, huh?!)

More Croatia/Italy Pictures

I'm finally back in Bamako, about to take the four-hour bus ride to Segou, but I thought I'd post a few more pictures from my trip. Emily and I had the craziest fun time traveling through Italy to Croatia and back to Italy. I have so many fun stories to share, but I know I won't be able to fit them all in. So I'll just share a few and include some pictures. I'll have to save the rest for when I come home (in two months!! can you believe it?!).

Well, first of all, our trip started four days early. Aparently, Royal Air Maroc cancelled all their flights from Bamako to Casablanca from May 2-9 (we were supposed to fly out May 2nd). So our travel agent informed us that he moved our trip to May 9th. We were really disappointed, as it is extremely hot here in Mali right now and thinking about this trip was just about the only thing getting us through the hot days. So I asked if we could leave before May 2nd. They said yes -- we could leave that night (April 29th). Emily was still in her village, and I was in Segou, but we packed all our stuff in about 10 minutes, hopped on a minibus and rode to Bamako. We arrived in Bamako around 11pm, and went to the airport at midnight. It was a crazy way to start our trip, but we are so glad we didn't wait until May 9th!

We stayed a couple nights in an artsy hostel in Milan, where all the people working there were perpetually drunk or hungover (as they put it in English "I am still a little drunk about last night." But it was cheap and they were nice, and we could walk all around the city. Milan was really fun -- we got to go shopping and buy some warmer clothes for our trip (it was freezing up there).

(the Duomo in Milan)

We then took a train to Venice and walked around for the day. Venice was beautiful, but really touristy and expensive. We were excited to get over to Croatia.

(Venice)

We took a night train to Zagreb, where we met Marin (the documentary filmmaker whom we "couch surfed" with). Marin was awesome -- he gave us advice on what sites to see in Croatia, and even took us over to Slovonsky Brod (on the Bosnia border) and we ate Sarma at his mother's home. He's the one who suggested we see Plitvice National Park, which was the highlight of the trip.

(More Plitvice photos)

After five days in Zagreb and the surrounding areas, we took a night bus down the Croatian coast to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was beautiful! The mountains were very dramatic, and the sea was crystal clear. We hiked all over the old part of town and up a little into the cliffs to get a better view of the city. Then we bussed back north to Makarska.

(looking over Dubrovnik)

(inside one of the Cathedrals in Dubrovnik...a tribute to Lourdes)

Makarska is a smaller town between Dubrovnik and Split. Marin's friend hooked us up with a sweet apartment, where we had a computer w/internet and a kitchen (we saved a lot of money by cooking a few nights).

(a waterslide in Makarska...but we didn't go down it -- the water was a bit cold)

We walked all over the town and hiked up the cliffs. We also got to play tennis on the most beautiful clay court I've ever seen -- with views of the sea and the mountains. It was the most exercise I've gotten since moving to Africa! We were a little sore the following few days.

(Makarska)

We met a lot of fun people who were extremely generous. We were treated to dinner several times -- the best was a seafood restaurant in Makarska, where we ate fresh fish (I don't even know what kinds) and shrimp.

After a few nights in Makarska, we took a bus to Split and then ferried back to Italy (which took 10 hours! we slept on the ferry floor). We sadly didn't have enough time to see Rome or anywhere in southern Italy, but instead we took a train up to Treviso (a really rich town 20 minutes from Venice). Emily's childhood friend lives there and teaches English, so we spent a couple nights there. We got to go to her English classes (middle school) and talk to them about our experiences in Mali. That was a fun cultural exchange, although the children were quite different from Malian kids (and even American kids).

Emily's friend Ginny also treated us to one night at a Bed and Breakfast, which was such a nice surprise! We ate just about everything that next morning for breakfast. I can't even begin to describe all the good food we ate! We definitely spent more money on gelatto than on anything else! And the espressos were amazing.

(the first of many gelattos...this was our first day in Milan)

We finally came back to Milan and left for the airport....but our shuttle broke down on the freeway, and we missed our flight! We had left three and a half hours before our flight, but the Italians were all so relaxed about getting to the airport that we didn't make it in time for check in. Luckily our travel agent in Bamako got us on another flight leaving a day later, so we trekked back to that same strange artsy hostel and stayed one more night (I can think of worse places to be stuck in than Milan!).

It worked out in the end, though, because in Casablanca we met Habib Koite and his band and flew back with them to Bamako. Habib Koite is one of the most famous Malian musicians (the Malian equivalent of a rock star). He was super nice, and we ended up sitting right beside him on the plane! So Emily chatted a bunch with him the whole flight. It was the perfect ending to the perfect vacation!

(me and Habib)