Mogo den!

I love this saying "Mogo den". It translates as children of people and the context of when they say it and how is so much like if someone in America said "some people's children" while shaking their heads in a disapproving manner. They are usually scolding a child or they are talking about what somebody did and then they say 'Mogo den' and I have to chuckle to myself, because it makes so much sense finally I'm understanding what people are saying without trying so hard to translate word by word. Do not get me wrong the language is still hard and I'm occassionally reminded of my deficiences during a lanuguage lesson or on an off day. My most recent lesson was translating a small paragraph written in English by my tutor. I read it and thought this is going to be easy. I messed up on the title of the text! and nearly every sentence had an error except for the three last sentences. Again I learned you cannot compare Bambara to English and you cannot translate word for word, and there are words in Bambara that have different meanings depending on the context, etc. I felt a little deflated after that lesson, but the learning carries on.

After I got back from the Festival sur le Niger in Segou, my host mother and homologue informed me we were going to visit a village the following week to meet with a women's association I will be working with, I have been waiting months for an opportunity to get to this village so I can start travelling there on my own. This meeting also meant I would miss out on an annual softball tournament with Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal, but there is always next year.
So wednesday morning I followed my host mom and work counterpart to the village, me on bike and them on a small moto. We were following a guy going to another village that was in the same direction, he was also on bike, well my host mom decided to pass us on her moto and she went left at a crossroad. He tried to yell at them to stop, but they didn't hear. Turns out the path they took to the left goes to the village, but is longer, and the narrower path to the right is shorter. He's going left, because the other village is also in that direction so I figure I'll find my way to the village on my own on the shorter path and most likely my host mom and work counterpart will arrive before me, because  they're on a moto. I'm riding my bike for about 30 minutes passing mud houses in the bush and taking paths at crossroads in hopes I'm on the right path. I come across some women working in a field and they point me in the right direcion, until I arrive in a small village and the next person I ask escorts me directly to the village chief. Well I arrived way before my host mom and work counterpart, later as I'm sitting with women at the shea grinding machine I notice I have seven missed calls. Well they got a little lost and got a flat tire. All in all the meeting was successfull and I will be back this upcoming Saturday to spend the day with them while they work and attend a meeting in the afternoon.
There always seems to be something going on in my dugu kono (in village). I went to another marriage party to partake in some dancing, and this time I took some videos! It was fun I went on my own and after when I got back home my homologue came over and told me there was a meeting taking place right now that she was late to and I should go with. So I went and it was a meeting with every important person in town and a few other towns nearby. Apparently the town-hall meeting takes place every year, so I'll have to wait a whole year to arrive on time for the next one.

Tree of Africa

Festival sur le Niger

afternoon speaker tests

The Segou Music Festival was amazing! Family and Friends come and visit me in Mali next February for Segou's 8th Music Festival. Leaving for village in 30 minutes need to get ready.