I finally have slowed down. The past few weeks have been unimaginable. The day after we buried my grandma I began my journey back to Mali. A red-eye flight to Paris and an extended layover in the freezing terminal, I made it to Mali in the middle of the night (the following night). Now, after 5 days of traveling by car, airplane, bus, 10+miles of bicycling, and more buses I am back in Bamako for 3 weeks of training. I had about 20 minutes to run to my village to tell them that I am back in the country, but I will be gone for another month or so. I was asked how my family back home was and got some blessing for the soul of my grandma, and the healing of my mom. Very nice.
Overall, I am happy to be back here in Mali. I really like my life out here and what I am doing. I’ve met some really interesting people here, and I was happy to see that people were glad I came back.
So, now that I’m living in Africa I have to get used to my realities here: checking my cloths/shoes for bugs before I put them on, using the hole in the ground to do my bathroom businesses, having little control of what I eat for my 3 squares, bargining for everything I buy, and washing my underwear by hand. On the brighter side, the sun is shining here. I’m guessing it’s been in the 70’s, maybe low 80’s. It’s my perfect weather: not hot, and not cold. Just perfect, almost like Albany in early September.
Not too much else to report. My Bambara got tested and I was pleastantly surprised that after 2 months of not speaking a language, I tested into the intermediate level I have a lot of extra language studying to do in the next 2 weeks, but it’s needed. I now have 1.5years left here….how the time really does fly.
Thanks to everyone for your support during this really difficult time. It really helps that I have friends and family that really care.
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