The sweet smell of tea

It’s a waft of cotton candy should you be napping while the “Mali” thé is brewing*. Malians love their tea with sugar or sugar with their tea, after it has been brewed for over 30 minutes and the water starts to evaporate they pour in the sugar. It is an art to watch; many are prided on how much foam they can make in the glass when its served. You have to be skilled and have callused hands because its HOT to the touch. Burning coals, metal teapot, and tea served in glass shot glasses. It's hot stuff.

Tea is a big deal. I remember during home-stay (the training period in which Peace Corps leaves us with a Malian host family, days after we arrive in country) my host family would watch a soap opera that centered around one guy making tea through out the day. Scene never changed, people just came and went drinking tea. On transport you can still expect a shot of tea, either they brew it on the bus which is rare, but I’ve seen it or there are tea vendors at different stops.

PCV Geoff in good pour form

Also there are different brands and qualities, every Malian has their go to brand of tea, though its all imported from China and its all loose leaf green tea. The first round is the premiere, the strongest most bitter or most syrupy depending upon the amount of sugar added (that‘s when you get the faux cotton candy smell). When I first came to Mali drinking the first round, premiere, would give me headaches. I didn’t drink coffee or caffeinated beverages on the regular so it was quite a shock to my system. But I didn’t want to refuse so I took tea with my host family and again when visiting other trainees hanging out with their host families. The second round, deuxieme, less strong and my preffered choice. I now request the second round and usually pass on the first. And lastly there is occasionally a third round if time permits and people are willing to brew it, probably the equivalent of a green tea bag brew with slightly more sugar added than is needed.

I ni baradji. Thanks for the tea.

somewhere out there a man is selling tea... i just know it

*Tea in Mali Verte de Chine

What Peace Corps Mali volunteers say and do...

Eh! Allah!
Everything is delicious. Not tasty, good, but a lot of times things make the amazing list. "This is delicious!" O my gosh, I had brunch there and it was amazing!" "Wow this is delicious. How did you make this?"

We text other Peace Corps volunteers when we have to wait over 2-3 hours for transport.

We one-up others on transport horror stories. The bus was full, but we kept pulling over to pick up more people. There are so many speed bumps on the newly paved road it still takes three hours to get out of my site. The roof of the van had a lot of holes, sheep were tied to the roof and pee dripped down on me through out the ride. The sheep beneath me keep fidgeting and poking me with their horns. Eww why is it wet under my seat? The kid next to me threw up. The kid on my lap peed. The kid next to me had terrible diarhhea and I couldn't breath. The van broke down, we waited on the side of the road for 4 hours. We got a flat tire and had to wait for a spare. It is raining sideways and this van doesn't have a real window. I don't have reception to call someone to complain. AHHH! I've been waiting for 3 hours and the guys keeps saying we are leaving sooni (soon) or sisan sisan (now now)!

In the market we try our very best not to get cheated. We are embarassed to tell other Peace Corps volunteers what we paid for a broom in fear that we were overcharged by 50 cents. Everything we say is expressed with emphasis! Good Morning! How is your FAMILY? Sleep well? How much is this? Two dollars. Eh! O ka CA! A BARIKA! (what! that is too much! Reduce your price!)
We have no shame in calling people bean eaters, referring to their family members as donkeys, telling them they are not real people; in hopes to resolve a conflict, get a better deal on a cab fare, or spark a conversation. Ex: Bar tab comes back and volunteers are overcharged by 3 large beers. Argument ensues. The situation is diffused, because they find out the bar tender is a Coulibaly (common last name everyone can joke with) so he obviously is not smart enough to count and speaks a donkey language. No more problems, basi te.

Every regional capitol house has one show that everyone is addicted to watching and someone is always waiting for a new season to download.

Volunteers have tried many things to get flies out of their nyegens, but there is no permanent solution.

"What was the first thing you ate when you went back to America?" Most popular question asked by PCVs when a volunteer returns from vacation in the states.

Everything is better when cheese is involved.

Ring ring...ring ring..... "Ha-lo, ha-lo. jon don?"..... "Eh n balima ke! i ka kene wa?"......."O ayiwa, d'accord"....."d'accord"........ "Owo!"........."K'an ben."......."Amiina"...."amiina amiina"...."Ka tile here."

There is much more to add, but I do not have the time at the moment. K'an ben sooni.

Holiday Message from The White House

International Volunteer Day

On Saturday morning I was sitting in the In-Country Resource Center checking e-mails and scanning the articles posted on the New York Times. A PC staff member walked in with a large bag of t-shirts, he greeted me and asked if I was interested in playing a soccer game with a group of international volunteers. “Yeah I will!” (Eyeing the large bag of t-shirts). He handed me a few and asked if I knew anyone else in town that would be interested. The next volunteer I saw, Henry, was also equally excited as me to play and to get a free Peace Corps t-shirt. After that it was easy to find two or three other volunteers to participate.
Monday morning I arrived at the Peace Corps Bureau in Bamako to travel with Peace Corps staff to the International Conference Center for the inauguration of 100 Malian volunteers. We set up a PC info booth and then sat in the conference room for an hour and a half waiting for the arrival of Malian’s President Amadou Toumani Toure (A.T.T.). Guest speakers from various organizations gave speeches. Peace Corps was represented by a Peace Corps Response Volunteer working in Bamako. She did a wonderful job; the crowd was pleased and surprised by her ability to speak Bambara, as she spoke of her experience as a PCV in a rural village near San, Mali, and gave blessings to the future Malian volunteers. During the event there were several animations, one that stands out the most was a Malian rapper that gave a lip-synch performance. It was riveting. I have only seen lip-synch performers briefly on ORTM (a Mali television channel) so it was a treat to watch one live.

Standing for the President A.T.T.'s entrance

Malian lip synch rapper

The Malian volunteers stood and took an oath swearing-in to serve their country.

Immediately after, Peace Corps staff and I along with other volunteers present scurried down the stairs to the Peace Corps booth to wait for A.T.T. to pass by with his entourage. We all got to shake hands with the president and offer a Peace Corps pin that he placed on his suit. Enjoy the following pictures below.

the hand shake

Peace Corps booth: Volunteers and Staff with U.S. Ambassador on far right

We then had 2-3 hours left before the volunteer soccer match scheduled at 4 p.m. So we grabbed lunch and rested before getting PC transport to Stade Coulibaly. The field had real grass! The 4 other volunteers and I ran on to the field to kick a ball around.

Around 4 p.m. they begin passing out blue and yellow futbol uniforms. The teams consisted of a mix of Malian men and women, British volunteers, Japanese volunteers, Chinese volunteers, and Peace Corps volunteers. I was on the blue team. With in the first 5-10 minutes the yellow team scored, but by the half it was 1-1. The game ended in a tie so there was a shoot-out and my team blue won. Some guy then grabbed me and said I was going to represent my team as the captain to receive a trophy from the president of sports. It was all a little over-dramatic in the way it was being presented and with the tv station recording the event I decided to be a little over the top. When the trophy was presented to me I kissed it and raised it into the air and then some guy next to me grabbed my hand to bring the trophy down to a level that he could kiss it as well. It was too much, but awesome at the same time as we cheered to our small victory. Then sadly as we were leaving we had to return our yellow and blue jerseys. “What we don’t get to keep them, lame.” Walking out to the car we passed a row of photos on the ground taken from the event, there were some good ones, but as usual the price per photo was more than what any of us Peace Corps Volunteers were willing to spend. Which is sad, because they were only $2, what the hell are we going to do when we get back to America and are expected to pay 4x that for a similar sized photo.


Dancing during the half



The Start of Something Special

Monument 1: Large Soccer Ball Roundpoint

Bamako is a city of many interesting monuments, statues, and structures. I am hoping to take some time to travel around the city and document as much of the monuments I can. Here are some of the first photos of my mission.