Tomorrow is the day I get installed at my site. As of now I am still in my banking town hanging out with the PCVs living in the same concession as the stage house. Yesterday we made tacos for dinner and banana bread for dessert. That was my third time making banana bread in Mali and I think we found a recipe keeper. For 1 loaf of B Bread: 2 cups flour, 3/4 cups sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 1 packet vanille sucre; mix dry indgredients. Smash bananas (5) depending on size add 1/2 cup butter and two eggs to the dry ingredients. Mix all together. Prep breadpan. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake 45-55 min. Wala! Bon appetit! I told my host family I was going to bring them a Tabasco bilebileba (large) from Bamako, but I did not have the money at the time to get it when I was in Bamako. So instead I plan on bringing them a loaf of banana bread. Maybe sometime in the next two years I can convince my host family to build a mud oven.
Currently I am waiting for my backpack to arrive, because it has all my keys to all of my luggage. So unfortunately I have no more clothes to wear, except the ones I wore to get here. Since I've been here I've placed an order for a twin bed frame to be made, I think I'll pick it up tomorrow morning along with a mattress. I also bought a hammer, paint, paint brush, a table, rope, ketchup, liquid soap, strawberry jam, a broom, dried mangos, toilet paper, and I think that is all. I'll need to get more things to make my house a home, but I hope to find the rest at site. Market day is Thursday I believe so I'm excited to see what's available. I'll be at site until October, because I'm returning to my banking town for an on-going language training session. I hope to set-up a 3 or 4 day language training schedule with my tutor at site. Hopefully by December my language skills will be awesome! I am getting a lot of practice in the Market now, just by buying things I need. This morning I went to the bank with another PCV and it took FOREVER. We probably arrived around 9:30am grabbed our numbers from the ticket dispenser. Mine was 975 and the display read 836. 'Ok we got some time to kill". We walked around for about an hour, did a little shopping and yalayala. Came back and the numbers hardly changed, we even had time to walk across town hang out at her work for 20 min. headed back and waited for another 30 minutes. Now I know when you need to go to the bank you'll be there for a long time or i'll get there before it opens.
The end of Ramadan feast is coming quickly I think it is taking place this Thursday or Friday around sunset. I think next year I will try to fast with my family, from dawn to dusk, but now it would be too hard for me to attempt while learning the language and the overall adjustment.
I plan on compiling a list of things that I brought to Mali, and what I found useful and what I should have brought in case by chance a future Mali PC applicant comes across my blog. Good luck to you and to family and friends God Bless and chat with you soon.
"Ala kan kelen kelen wuli"
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| Mudcloth (Bogolan) to decorate my kitchen |
Currently I am waiting for my backpack to arrive, because it has all my keys to all of my luggage. So unfortunately I have no more clothes to wear, except the ones I wore to get here. Since I've been here I've placed an order for a twin bed frame to be made, I think I'll pick it up tomorrow morning along with a mattress. I also bought a hammer, paint, paint brush, a table, rope, ketchup, liquid soap, strawberry jam, a broom, dried mangos, toilet paper, and I think that is all. I'll need to get more things to make my house a home, but I hope to find the rest at site. Market day is Thursday I believe so I'm excited to see what's available. I'll be at site until October, because I'm returning to my banking town for an on-going language training session. I hope to set-up a 3 or 4 day language training schedule with my tutor at site. Hopefully by December my language skills will be awesome! I am getting a lot of practice in the Market now, just by buying things I need. This morning I went to the bank with another PCV and it took FOREVER. We probably arrived around 9:30am grabbed our numbers from the ticket dispenser. Mine was 975 and the display read 836. 'Ok we got some time to kill". We walked around for about an hour, did a little shopping and yalayala. Came back and the numbers hardly changed, we even had time to walk across town hang out at her work for 20 min. headed back and waited for another 30 minutes. Now I know when you need to go to the bank you'll be there for a long time or i'll get there before it opens.
The end of Ramadan feast is coming quickly I think it is taking place this Thursday or Friday around sunset. I think next year I will try to fast with my family, from dawn to dusk, but now it would be too hard for me to attempt while learning the language and the overall adjustment.
I plan on compiling a list of things that I brought to Mali, and what I found useful and what I should have brought in case by chance a future Mali PC applicant comes across my blog. Good luck to you and to family and friends God Bless and chat with you soon.
"Ala kan kelen kelen wuli"
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