Happy New Year!

I hope it was well passed by all. New Year's Eve has always been a quiet night for us, being that its the anniversary of when we got together. A romantic evening...a bit different with a 6 month old. Now, romance is being able to get a bit of sleep regardless of the holiday. Ian made it until midnight. I got to about 11:07 and then conked out. Ian woke me with a quick kiss at midnight, I heard lots of fireworks go off and then, miraculously, about 30 minutes later, pure silence. It was odd, because most nights here, I dont even hear that until about 2:30am.
We did celebrate in typical Malian style, something that had slipped past us the last time around here. Basically, with the eating of chicken and french fries. There were chickens being sold everywhere! BIG chickens too...already cleaned chickens...and everyone was in such a great festive mood. We added the un-muslim piece of some banji, or palm wine. It was good banji, but I'm still not a huge fan. Ian loves it. I think it tastes like urine. Give me a millet beer anyday.
Honestly, I was, perhaps naively, surprised that it was such a big celebration. I remember coming back from my Peace Corps service and reading a blurb in the NY Times about a film collection of shorts of how people were ringing in the millenium around the world. One was of this village in Mali, a couple of old guys sitting around drinking tea, and listening to the radio. In otherwords, nothing out of the ordinary. But, despite the fact that this was a film, it took place in the village. This is Bamako, the party capital of West Africa. Basically, we didn't know how big it was because a. we didnt live here and b. New Years was a time for PC Volunteers to get together and celebrate Ameriki style...none of us were ever in our towns or villages to experience it.
New years day is not unlike the states. Everyone is tired. They greet their neighbors with tidings for a good year, but for the most part, relax, stay quiet and watch TV. We hung out with Abdolaye for a bit who came by to greet us.
So in getting settled and dealing with Marshall teething(those top two should be in ANY day now), I honestly have not had much of a chance to get to my list of things I want to do while here. Thats my sole New Year's resolution.

I hope all of you have a happy, healthy and successful year.