Indeed I am back in town. A little bit of a struggle to get here. I figured instead of biking to where the mobilis load I would ride my bike in the direction of my town and wait for the vans or buses to come by and hail them like a taxi. Unfortunately, I waited for an hour with no luck, no vans or buses where going to my town. So after another ten minutes I reloaded my bag on my bike and headed to the place I was the day before. The instant I said where I wanted to go to they grabbed my bike and bag and tossed it a top the van. Note to self in the future choose a better van it was smaller than the usual ones. I got my ticket and sat.. and sat... waiting... they don't usually leave until the van is completely full. Completely full. My head was an inch from the ceiling and we were off to the gas station : (. Ok and then we were off to my town. The jerk of a driver didn't stop when I asked him to so we rode through town on the busiest, most crowded of market days, because Tabaski is Wednesday. So I had to meander through crowds of people, motos, buses, donkeys, goats, etc. etc.
I arrived home to a warm welcome. I handed the pineapple I bought the day before to Shaka to give to my host mom. Gave quick greetings and threw my bags into my house. Phew! I made it home. They had a warm bowl of rice with sauce served for me when I arrived, I ate with them. Shared some of the events that occured over the weekend. Showed them a sweet video of Malian children dancing, showed my scrapes from my fall in the sand, and drank a bit of tea before fetching water from the well to take my b-bath. I usually always go to market day, but today I didn't have the energy or the time, because my tutor was coming at 2 p.m.
I talked a bit in Bambara of how I despised the mobili tigis that lied to me and didn't stop the bus when asked. Then we went on to read a text in Bambara to translate into English. Today's text was "Makoro Kuman" ~ "Old People's Talk". It was about in the past people would always tell the truth, but nowadays people tell lies to get the things they want. Things have changed from the past, our children no longer follow us. What should we do? ~ An be mun ke? Should we make them our enemies? ~ An ku ke an juguw ye wa? No that is not what I think we should do. Through time the world will give them advice. The old people said, If you are hot in your house~ Ni funteni b'ila i ka so kono, ~ You can make a hole for wind to come through~ i be seka fuyin bo da bo sola, ~ but if you are hot in another person's house ~ n'ka ni funteni yi mine waliso kono, ~ you can leave and sit under the shade of a tree ~ i be bo ki da yiri suma koro.
"Du konona ka di ni bee bi joyoro fa." ~ "The family house is good if everyone takes care of their obligations."
We then moved onto sentence building and passe compose etc. It was a good lesson. I'm thankful I have a very capable tutor.
Later on after the lesson I begin the tedious task of unpacking and cleaning house. While I was gone the ants on steriods ate holes through a plastic bag of sugar, and were having a field day. I find out soon after there is a whole in my house where they enter by the dozens. I move everything off the shelves sweep my entire house, including behind my pantry/clothes shelf. Its already dark and thankfully the electricity is now on so its easier to sweep. I'm done sweeping up all the dead ants and sugar and I sit outside bringing some dates (tamaro) for the fam to eat before dinner (to served with beobab leaf sauce and a piece of fish). I then return into my house for water and i'm shocked to see the ants returned running around my shelf, which i just thoroughly cleaned. Now I'm being called outside to grab my piece of papaya, but I'm stomping and sweeping all the ants and call out "menemene caman beyi n ka so kono" "there are many many ants in my house". They come to investigate and call someone to assist with the situation. In about 5 minutes a cekoroba (old man) is in my house; I untie a bag of 3 kilos of cement I bought the week before and he patches up the ant entrance. We sweep out the remaining ants and return to sit outside to watch a soap opera. Bed time I use the neygen, brush my teeth, put away my clothes, write this blog, turn off the computer, wash my face, and lie in bed. Its cold season, but its hot inside....
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