"Sita! Sita! Jacumen beyi Ameriki?"

"Awo Shaka, jacumen beyi Ameriki ani jacumen bilebileba beyi fana"

A five-year old boy, Shaka, is very curious as to what exactly is in America. Most recently he asked me if there are cats in America. I told him yes and that there are also big cats. We could spend the whole afternoon talking about what exactly is in America, unfortunately most things that are only found in America are not so easy to explain in Bambara (local language). Even if I translate words using French, no one understands I guess you have to see it to believe it. Sooo, I planted strawberries! They sell strawberry jam in the big cities at nice boutiques. I bought some, but it quickly spoiled before I could share with my family what a strawberry tastes like. Hopefully my seeds will sprout and i'll be eating strawberries in December or January. I've also planted basil, which has already began to sprout. Anyway they are also pretty amazed at what is not in America. The staple food millet in Mali, used to make the Mali dish "to" is something you will not find. Pretty shocking.

You guessed it. In the photo above he is asking if there are machines in America.

Most recently while at site I went to a party celebrating a woman's wedding engagement. Lots of music and dancing. I didn't take any photos of the festivities, because I didn't want to draw more attention to myself or make people feel awkward. I saw a lot of familiar faces of women that I have met in the village on walks or through acquaintances. Some women praised my family name and said wonderful things about my family name and asked for money. I told them I shouldn't have to pay them, because they don't know my family or where my grandfather is from. I told them my last name was really Ramirez and not Sanou, and she couldn't even pronounce it though she tried. A tutor told me it is common for a griot/jeliba to attend social events, their job is to know the history of your family and what is great about your name. Technically if they can't tell you about your family it is rude for them to ask for money. Their was a local band providing the musical entertainment two men on the drums and two women singing. They usually dedicate a song to someone and they have to get up and dance. I saw someone asking somebody what my name was and knew then that I would have to get up soon and dance although I already joined in on several other dances. When it was my song my host sister came and grabbed me to start dancing. It was awkward, because I was the first one out on the dance area, but soon enough I was joined by many women. They put there shawls around me and grabbed my hand raising it high in the air. We danced in a circle going around like a conga line, this is how the majority of all the dances are until the very end of most songs the beat picks up and people began to break away from the circle and really move their feet. The crowd quickly disperses and usually only 4 remain from the 30+ people dancing for this fast-paced part of the song. I did get a photo taken while the photographer they hired was taking pictures.

Should of fixed my musoro (head wrap) before the picture, but oh well it came out nice. Upper left corner speaker system for the party, lower left corner rope and rubber bag for fetching water from the well. After I left the party we went to a friend's house, because it was the day of her child's denkundi (naming ceremony). Seven days after the child is born, Islamic religious leaders join together with the men early in the morning to read the Koran and name the baby. The women serve bread, coffee, and sometimes a traditonal type of porridge. The man hands out candy or biscuits to friends. They also shave the baby's head. The child's name is Omar. I went later in the evening to give soap and a cloth used to wrap the baby on the mother's back. This all happened on Thursday and now it is Saturday evening and I am in my banking town, to receive/send letters and enjoy the company of other Americans before I get on the early morning brusse mobile back to site. Until next time. "Ala ka hamina kow nogoya" May God give you what you need. Love Sita



The Traditonal Things~ Bamana kow

I'm trying my best to stay productive at site, planning things in advance. I took a long walk to a village to greet the dugutigi (village chief) and his family. Unfortunately when I got there the only people there was a child and a muso koroba (old woman) that was extremely difficult to understand. Possibly she was speaking Malinke, because it definitely was not Bambara. A man came soon after I arrived and told me everyone was gone in the fields picking cotton. I told him I just came to say hello, and then left to make it back in time for lunch. The walk was very pleasant, I passed fields of cotton, millet, and a bunch of shea and mango trees.

 Every Monday I make a different Malian dish with the ingredients I buy from the market. Most recently I made Na ji with white rice. All the recipes are very similar to one another, I think I'll have to cook with different families to expand my knowledge of Malian cuisine. But I now know how to wash rice to get out all the stones and sand.

 Above pictures I took of the cooking process on two different Mondays. One dish called Zame and the other Na ji. I'm working on keeping track of the recipes, but there is always something added to a dish that has some weird name that I can't figure out what it is, for instance Sumaya or samaya mugu. mugu I understand means powder, but sumaya/samaya means malaria or cold and neither of those make sense or give me any hint to what kind of powder it is. I'll ask my tutor next time I have a lesson.

Last language lesson my tutor warned me of the dangers of sorcery in Mali. "You see that chicken there, a man can make himself look just like it, he can" Farati Baala/You must pay attention to yourself. Also there is a traditional practice called 'lo' in which strong young men in the Boron ethnic group cover there bodies with a costume and wear a mask so they cannot be seen. In their district the men carry sticks and dance, unfortunately I will likely never see this ceremony, because these men also carry sticks to beat people with if they can. My tutor said they will chase you so you must run very fast, if you are hit it is very bad and your luck will never change. He also warned me of other traditional things such as sorcery and how some people are very skilled. "Some wives will change themselves into birds, dogs, and animals... they do this during the night..... it is very dangerous, they will kill you if they can". I'll do my best to not offend anyone and keep well away from the area of 'lo' when this ceremony takes place. I know where the tree and house of lo are in my village so I just have to avoid that area when it takes place two times out of the year.
Also the seliba (big feast) is coming soon. Not just one but two the Mali feast and Thanksgiving! I plan on traveling to Sikasso to celebrate with other Peace Corps volunteers. Well I'm heading to the post office soon, try to make another update before going back to site tomorrow.

"Boli ni bobara sine te bin"

Translation: "You cannot run and scratch your butt at the same time."
     Well ain't that the truth. I don't know why I put that in the title, but I found it a hilarious proverb. I am heading back to village today. It has been a nice break and the language training was helpful. Although I was surrounded by Americans for the majority of my time here, so we've been speaking a lot of English. Hopefully it doesn't cause a shock to my system when I get back out there in my village and all I can speak is my broken Bambara. I'll be arriving the day before our Market day, so hopefully the traffic will not be bad or crowded. I'll probably plan on staying at site until the end of October and then I'll make a trip into town to go to the bank and post office. I tried to send out letters yesterday, but the office was closed. I am going to leave in a little bit to see if its open to send out a few letters.
When I return to site I am going to visit a few towns and their shea machine facilities. I'll also probably try to plan a trip to visit a PCV couple's site. Maybe start a compost bin and plant some of the veggie seeds my loving parents sent from home. While also walking, jogging, or biking around town everyday and visiting people I have befriended. I also have my language lessons every Friday, Saturday, and Monday morning. But I don't know if my schedule will change, just because school has started and my tutor teaches English along with music and drawing at the local school. I'll probably sit in on one of his language lessons for a few days if I can. Although I hear that they squeeze about 100 students into one medium sized classroom.
My birthday is also in about 5 days so I am thinking of ways to celebrate. I'll probably treat myself to some Mango juice I found at a store in my town. And when I get back to my banking town I'll splurge and buy ingredients to make myself an apple pie. Love and God Bless, talk to you at the beginning of November.

"Well we want to tickle all the taste buds." James Allen, PCV

Today is Market Day. Once a week in any town in Mali there is a market day. A huge array of items from different areas are brought into town via large trucks and diesels with people sitting on top of the merchandise. It looks incredibly dangerous and rightfully so it is, considering not all the roads are in great shape. I love browsing, its something I even loved doing in the states so I get lost in the market. People also love calling me over to their stand to try and get me to buy something. If you take a glance at something at their stand or shop, they ask what it is your looking for; my common response "foyi, n b'a fe ka laje doron" "Nothing, I would just like to look." This week I bought a sweet Brasil soccer jersey and shorts and today I'm going to look for some sandals.
Well this week we have been tickling the taste buds. Myself and the five other volunteers in our banking town have split up each night to prepare a meal for everyone. Sunday night, taco salad; Monday night, Fried eggplant sandwiches; Tuesday night, Spanish tortilla and Bruschetta with Hobo Sangria; Wednesday night, Tomato soup with Garlic Bread and no-bake cookies for desert. My cook partner and I were in charge of Sunday and Wednesday night and both were a success. I have never heard of no-bake cookies before, and they were incredibly easy to make and were also very delicious.
No-Bake Cookie Recipe:
> 10 min prep time, Let the cookies set for at least 45 minutes
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 packet of sucre vanille (substitute for 1 tsp of vanilla extract, not sold in Mali), 3 tbs of Choco Punch (substitute for 3 tbs of cocoa powder), 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon, 3 cups of quick cook oats, 2 tbs of nutella, and 2 tbs of peanut butter, 1/2 cup of milk, and 1/2 cup of butter
First mix the sugar, sucre vanille, choco punch, cinnamon, butter and milk together in a medium saucepan and boil for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from flame or charcoal stove and add 3 cups of quick oats, peanut butter, and nutella. Mix together well and spread mixture onto a cake pan. After about 40 minutes, cut and serve.
"They're like fudge cookies"

The market was good, I did not spend to much time shopping just because it was so hot. I bought a coconut, apples, bananas, and at the store I bought some strawberry and rasberry yogurt so I had a fruitful delicious lunch. Claire, Elyse, and I also found a store/bar across from the catholic mission that sells boxed wine! Ok it looks nothing like Franzia, but we'll see  how it tastes tonight with our meal. I also found a masking cream at the pharmacy next door so I am going to give myself a facial later this afternoon. It has also been great to be here in my banking town for an extended period. I am much more familiar with the area and have found several decent restaurants. I also have made friends with several people. Just the other day as I was walking to the market to buy some ingredients for the no bake cookies a man on a moto that I met last time I was in town offered me a ride. Of course, I declined. Peace Corps doesn't allow volunteers to ride motorcycles or ride on the back of them. Fair enough considering traffic is absolutely crazy, lanes not clearly marked, very few wear helmets, the roads are bad and so on, but some of the motos here are pretty sweet. I miss riding my motorcycle in the states. I feel I won't remember how to ride it after two years. Well class is going to start in about an hour so I'm going to watch a little bit of It's Complicated before. K'an ben. See you.

Tonso Ni Ala ka Teriya Ko

The Friendship Ended Between Tonso the Bat and God

Tonso and God are friends. Tonso ni Ala ye teriw ye. They were very good friends. U tun ka di kosebe. While they were friends, God's people got sick. K'u to nogon fe teriyala, Ala ka mogow banana. God told this to Tonso. Ala ye o fo Tonso ye. God told Tonso that a ripe shea fruit though it was dry season, would be able to heal the people. Ala y'a fo Tonso ye ko: tileman fe shemo, o de be se k'ale ka banaw keneya. The ripe fruit can heal sick families. O be se k'ale somogo ka banaw keneya. Tonso travelled all over the world, to look for the ripe fruit to give to God. Tonso yaalala dine yoro bee, ka shemow nini ka n'u di Ala ma. God gave the fruit to his people, and they became well. Ala y'o di a ka mogow ma, olu keneyara. After the people were healed, God and Tonso were still good friends. Olu keneyalen ko, u tora nogon fe teriya la. Soon Tonso's mother also became sick. Sooni Tonso fana ba banana. Tonso told God: My mother is sick, It is said that if the rain comes during the dry season, my mother will get better, the fortune teller forsees. Tonso y'a fo Ala ye ko: ale ba man kene, ko a dun fora ko ni tileman fe sanji ma na ko ale ba te keneya, ko lajelikela ko ten. Tonso's mother said to find a way to make the rain come (she knew of his friendship with God). Ale ba ko: a ka cogo nini sanji ka na. So Tonso went to God and asked for rain so that his mother could get better. O la, ale taara Ala fe , ko Ala ka sanji di walisa ale ba ka keneya. The sky blackened in the afternoon. San  finna, wulafe. The wind came and passed. The clouds darkened at high noon (the next day). Sanji finna tilegan fe. Again only wind came, but it passed without rain. O fana kera fiyen ye, o temena. Rain did not come, Tonso's mother died. Sanji ma soro minke, Tonso ba sara. After her death, Tonso was angry. O salen ka don, Tonso dimina. He said God betrayed him. A ko: Ala ye ale janfa. God betrayed him, there friendship did not work anymore. Ala ye ale janfa, ale ni Ala ka teriya te ne tun. Even if Tonso hangs in a tree he hangs his head down. Hali ni ale be sigi yiri kan, a be sigi k'i kun suli. He does not want to see God. A t'a fe ka Ala ye. He hangs so that his head points to the ground. A b'i sigi ka kun suli duguma. He also chooses to eat at night, so that he cannot see God. N'a b'a fe ka dumunike fana, a be dumunike su fe, walisa ale kana Ala ye. This is how God and Tonso (the bat) friendship became broken. Tonso ni Ala ka teriya tinenna nin cogo de la.

Author Unknown. Mali ziri. Malian Story.

Why bats hang upside down and hunt at night.

I have (crossing fingers) reliable internet until Saturday, so I may overload on blog posts while I have this luxury. Email. Write. Reply. I am online.

Today I received my second package from my parents and it was Awesome! I felt like a kid on christmas day. The post office was closed the first day I came to town and I was worried I would not be able to send or receive anything until late November. I took an actual shower first, not a bucket bath. So I could sit and enjoy meticulously opening the package and examining all of its contents. Thank you MOM & DAD again so much and Nina Sandra for the card and gifts. All the little snacks are going to make many days extra special. I also cannot wait to finish making flash cards, because the ones I made with the paper here are falling apart.

"Mogo te here soro ni ma nani."



Oiling the bread pans

"We can't have happiness without difficulty."

What to say and where do I begin???

I have been at site for nearly a full month now. My language skills have not changed much, but that is also partly due to my poor study habits. I just cannot seem to study in my concession with people there it is too distracting. I also don't like to study in my room, because A) it is usually hot and B) I don't want to be rude or antisocial. Plus side is I have started language classes with my local tutor and now I am in my banking town for Language In-service Training, so we'll be able to review and hopefully set goals or work out lesson plans we can share with our local tutors. Thankfully my tutor can speak a decent amount of English that we understand each other. He is also very proficient and seems very excited to work with me and is very open to what I am interested in learning. I am grateful because the first session we had I was very frustrated; he reviewed the Bambara alphabet and was going over basics that I had already learned from the 9 weeks of training we had at our home-stay villages. After that first session things improved greatly I told him I was interested in the Malian bread-making process. So he got in touch with a local bread-maker and we were invited to see the entire process from start to finish. It was awesome. They were a truly wonderful family, I had tea and ate a little bit of lunch with them; while we waited for the fire to grow big in the little mud house. The bread was delicious, I ate it warm and bought some to take to my host family. Though they gave me more bread than I paid for, very hospitable. They told me I must come back later in the week to see how they make their sweet bread.



Preparing to bake

I came back on Mali's 50th anniversay CINQUANTANAIRE! After attending a celebration at a large field near the prefet's house and eating a Malian meal with my homologue. I made banana bread though it came out more like a skinny banana pancake. There are no muffin pans or bread pans, just metal roofing they cut into smaller pieces and lay the bread across the shallow divots. But all in all they loved it. I promised them a real loaf of banana bread when I get back from Koutiala since there is an oven here and a bread pan at the Peace Corps stage house. Unfortunately I am here now and there is no internet, hence I am at an Internet Cafe, I don't have any more phone credit, I will buy some soon, the post office is closed so I can't receive any mail or send any of the letters I wrote and finally to top it all off the gas tank for the stove/oven is out and there is nowhere in town at the moment that is selling gas to replace the empty tank. Hopefully all that changes before I leave back to site on Saturday.

When I get back to site I am going to travel by bike to another neighboring town where there is a shea machine. I've been to one town about 20 minutes by bike. It was fun following behind my homologue and friend on their moto with my host mom behind me on her moto. I pedaled as fast as I could to keep up. I passed over a small creek that filled up from the heavy rains the two days before, women walking on the path carry loads on top of their heads, kids on a donkey cart, men in the field working, large mango and shea trees left and right with large fields of corn, sorghum, and cotton. It was a beautiful ride and I can't wait for the opportunity to go to the town again. I think I'll probably be traveling out of my town a lot by bike, and hopefully working on 2-3 gardens in my village. One small one in my concession with my host family, currently they have no compost pile and throw all their kitchen scraps and corn husks and peanut hulls out on the side of the road on top of trash piles. My homologue is interested in building a garden in her concession and she has plenty of space with a well nearby and chickens and goats. And lastly the women's association has a garden and they are going to lend me some space, but as of now due to the rainy season there garden is in a flood zone so they don't work on it until well I don't really know when.

Voila!

Time for sleep it is only 10:10, but already I'm in the habit of sleeping early and waking early. However, according to Malians 6 a.m. is not early. And I am reminded by that fact, because every morning when I greet my host mother and give blessings, she says "I sunogora kosebe?" "Did you sleep a lot?" To satisfy them I say yes, but I'd like to say no, just because I wake up occassionally in the middle of the night due to a rainstorm, a large truck honking its horn down the main road directly outside my window, the crickets, the prayer call from the mosque every morning between 4:30 and 5 am or I can't get to sleep, because people are hanging out talking or kids running around outside until midnight.

Helping Hands