San Ji=Rain...literally sky water

Today was a bit of a lazy day cool day due to some light rain. We left the swanky hotel finally! There were some people giving us dirty looks every time Marshall made a noise, happy ones mind you. One of us was about to say something inappropriate to them…
After watching in amazement as 5 guys packed our luggage that took up most of a land rover when we arrived into the back of a hatchback pugeot, we arrived at hotel tamana which feels so much better. Its this three story crazy terraced building with a great big rubber tree and a great big flamboyant tree offering a superb shaded courtyard. Here is the link for great pictures http://www.hoteltamana.com/anglais/enter.htm. It tried to take one to show the stereotypical image with the mosquito nets, but not so good…
We then had to try this place across the street called “the Crazy Horse.” Yes, in English. So odd…owned by some folks from India, there is some Indian fare, but its mostly bar food…brochettes, burgers, meat sandwiches…they did offer the only Malian value meal I’ve seen yet(Hamburger assiette!, Buger, fries and a soda, $5). It was bizarre. There is a boutique attached to it that sells mostly toilet paper, cereal and then all sorts of booze(Jim Beam, Johnny Walker, etc).
We came back here, got some rest and met up with our taxi friend, Sidibe, who is working on helping us find a place to live. Its crazy…lots of options, lots of pressure, and as well there should be as the guy who brokers the deal gets a half a months rent. Lots of conflicting information, lots of wacky guys, but some good leads. Confident we’ll be in a place soon. It was funny, as they came, they often ran into me first. I am officially treated as a Malian woman now. They lazily greet me, don’t make eye contact and ask for my man. I guess these are the things I need to get used to being a kept woman! We shared a great meal with a sweet young Brit named Sam who is now out with Ian sharing his first Castel (Malian beer made with formaldahide to stop the fermentation process). We are still getting some dirty looks but they are much less here.
Marshall awakes now. The mosquito net is something he has a love hate relationship with and I need to tend to him before it stops being intriguing. In the meantime, here are some lists I put together today…

A list of things I want to do this time around in Mali:

1. Read a Malian newspaper at least weekly
2. Hang out with the street food ladies and learn how to make the following really well. Most of the ingredients are simple, but is all in the technique that makes it oh so good when done right:
sho(beans)
steamed bean cakes
tiga diga na(peanut sauce)
zame(yummy rice)
she(chicken, again, done just right)
yassa(tangy onion sauce with chicken or fish)
plaintains
fried dough ball things in a spicy sauce(I guess I should learn the name of this…)
more things that I can’t think of right now.
3. Eat a mango every day.
4. Feel fluent in French and bambara
5. Learn how to greet in at least 5 other languages spoken in Mali
6. See at least 3 Malian films in local venues
7. Read more
8. Write more
9. Make more Malian friends
10. Pay closer attention
11. Do yoga every day

Things I want Marshall to experience while here
1. The sense of a village even in a city
2. Laughing every day
3. Bright colors and cool sounds
4. Two parents with time to love and appreciate him
5. Lots of languages
6. All sorts of friends
7. Being entertained by the simplest of things

Bambara/French words I learned today(or relearned)
Manguru=Mango. Seriously, Ian and I BOTH were at a loss for this all too often used word
Anolos=Plaintain

Hope to add some Fulani words to that one soon. My Malian last name is a Fulani last name(its important to have Malian names to connect in a lot of ways culturally. We dubbed or friend Sam, Solo Djarra) and as I ran across a Fulani man, I was told what I bad Fulani woman I was for not speaking his language. Shame on me!