10 months...

As of today we can say 2 things significant about Marshall's life so far. First, he has now spent more of his life outside the womb than inside...that 3 extra weeks made it about a 10 month gestation. Also, as of today specifically, he's spent more time in Mali than he did in the states.

Marshall is more and more amazing everyday and we laugh more and more with him as he grows and discovers everything around him. As you can see, the walking is progressing nicely, we expect him to do it sans chair any day now...granted I think we've been saying that for about 2 months.

Lets be honest here...

We're Obama supporters in this household.  And, we're not liking what we're reading about Hilary Clinton these days.  In fact we've never been big fans.

From the moment talks of her being a presidential candidate started, I cringed.  Not because of Hilary herself, but she is a terribly polarizing figure in the states.  Talk to any Republican, event those unhappy with GW or McCain, she is not liked.  There are too many bad jokes still circulating from her husband's days in office, like it or not.  I want the Democratic party to have a chance in November, and in my opinion, she is not the way to do that.

And I'll admit, we've in some ways just blindly jumped on the "Hope Train" wanting some kind of change and currently seeing Obama as one of the only choices with promise of that.  We weren't this way from the beginning.  I was actually a bit excited by Chris Dodd's candidacy for a bit.  He is the first Returned Peace Corps Volunteer to run for president and has an impressive foreign policy record.

That brings up an important point that experience living abroad is a huge factor for us in this household.  I think foreign policy is the #1 issue in this campaign not only because of the war, China, Tibet, Darfur or any other trendy issue, but because we are increasingly interconnected to the rest of the world and our domestic issues often complicated by international sub issues, or distracted by trying to keep those that continue to dislike us at bay.

Can someone who spent a few years as a kid in Indonesia make all the difference?  Probably not single handedly, but I have more faith in him than someone who didn't.  As do others on the world stage as we see international media here being incredibly embracing of Obama and the ideas he carries with him.

But our love is not blind.  I think his health care plan is weak.  Like it or not, as well, he still has to play the DC game.  He is promise, but not the messiah. 

In addition, we find Hilary's campaign tactics unsettling, to say the least.  I also really feel strongly about 20 years of power being in the hands of but 2 families.  And I'm not sure how I feel about her stance on Israel.  I've even had moments where I think she's rigged the election.  The international stage makes it seem like she can't be nearly as popular as the votes are reflecting.  

And I'll shamefully admit it, we've had moments at particular dirty points in the campaign where we've said we'd vote for John McCain, antique, conservative and against many of our ideals and all, simply to not see her in office.  I've accused her supporters of being a bunch of thoughtless bandwagon women supporting her simply because she is a woman. 

But this morning, early this morning as Marshall decided to pull an all nighter for some reason, I read this great article on salon.com that put me in my place a bit.  As a woman, I have to admit, there is this little piece of me that feels a bit guilty for turning on a female candidate, but at the same time, I will not vote for a woman just because she is a woman.  Regardless, there is something a bit unsettling about how a female with ambition is still seen with such contempt.  I admit, I get caught up in it as well, using words I shouldn't use when she acts in a way I disapprove of and that I should be ashamed of using in front of my still innocent 10 month old son.  

I hope you take a look at the piece and think about what a female candidate really means and if she is really being given a fair shake, like her or not.  Perhaps this is a common discussion in the states, but its new to me here, and one of the first ones out of many thats actually made me pause and reflect on my stance and what I'll do in any instance.

Firsts these past 2 weeks

There seem to have been a lot of them, so thought I would share:

• Ice cream taste.  Didn't like it.  I'm not sure he's mine...
• Riding in the grocery cart child seat thing.  LOVED IT.  Frowned for about 2 seconds before we started moving around and then I think he thought he was in a parade waving and chatting with everyone.  I swear he's going to be a politician
• Sitting in a high chair.  Thank God.  And Mimi for sending the portable thing our way.  He loves it.
• Making himself laugh.  Great great skill.
• Tomato.  Was scared of it at first.  Cried when he saw it on his tray, but after expressing his discomfort with it for a while, he decided to give it a go.
• Standing on his own for a while being aware of it.
• Drinking out of a straw.

"Well, I am the Karamogo..."

We have this joke, well, perhaps its more mine, around our house, about how Ian is supposedly the only one somehow that can have insights about people or culture because, well, he "is the anthropologist." This is often said when we have differing insights about something regarding said people or cultures and is intended to remind me of his expert status.  Right...So to add to his supposed to "stop my comments in their tracks" book of phrases, he can now call himself a Karamogo as well.  Karamogo(which is Kara's full name by the way) is a master of some kind, in this instance, of the sands/divination/marrabaga.  It literally translates to teacher. 

So he's spent the past month being taught the sands and, of course our little over acheiver, mastered them in no time.  Kara had been hinting that Ian's initiation would be coming soon and earlier this week it did.  Think of it like graduating from medical school.  He still has a residency to go...Regardless, this is a big deal and we're all really proud of him.

Anyway, all sorts of things had to happen to finalize his position such as, sand readings, trips to the outskirts of town.  Here are Ian, Kara, and a goat on the final day of initiation

At the end of this day, Ian came home with 3 impressive fetishes, a marked up egg that he still needs to eat hard boiled and whole, a bag of sugar that represents "goodness" that we all have to taste from, and a hindquarter of the above goat.  

I debated what to do with the leg o' goat and thought that I should just take it to our local smoker to cook it up for me, but after a little research online, decided to do it myself.  So, turns out, according to my foodie websites, that goat is making a comeback Stateside.  Its being sold for $10 a pound at farmers markets and is being touted as a low calorie, low fat meat.  I found all sorts of recipes from tasty jerked leg of goat, to Mexican goat stews, to even a Molto Mario recipe that involved mint and lemons that sounded pretty tasty.  

Unfortunately, most of these required a grill with a certain level of control I could not achieve (or didn't have the patience to) or a key ingredient that I couldn't get or properly replace.  So here is what I did with it and I think it turned out pretty tasty.  Marshall did to.  

Roasted BBQ goat leg

1 hindquarter of goat, bone in

2T minced garlic

1/2 c white vinegar

1/2 c bottled BBQ sauce (or homemade, I just used some Jack Daniel's Spicy Original Sauce that we got at the commisary)

Mix garlic, vinegar and BBQ sauce together and marinate goat in this mixture overnight.  Heat oven to 350 and roast lightly covered with foil for 1.5 hours.  Uncover for last 10 minutes of cooking.  I flipped it half way through as well.

It turned out good, albeit a bit overdone(I cooked for 2 hours thinking it needed it...), but really tender and flavorful, almost like something you'd find at a roadside BBQ place.  I highly recommend picking up some goat if you can find some.

As for our Karamogo, he's already dropped the phrase when being picked on for not doing something as if he was above it.  Jokingly, of course...right...?

Zoo

Last week we made a family outing we'd been trying to get to for a while.  We went to the zoo.  Yes, Bamako has a zoo.  It was a required field trip of ours when we were in the Peace Corps.  Although we remembered it as a depressing place, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Marshall respond to some crazy animals.  

It was a great time.  Marshall really liked seeing the animals, well, we all did, as depressing as it was...you can just tell the animals aren't getting enough to eat and some of them are in cages too small.  But at the same time, I give Mali credit for investing in it.  There were parents and children there learning and interacting, and isn't that what the zoo is really all about?

Not pictured here is a relatively new fish and reptile house we saw.  It was actually really nice by local standards.  We received a private tour by their keeper.  Ian showed off his knowledge.  They exchanged phone numbers and I'm sure will soon be besties.  Here are some highlights.  Apologies for there only being one family shot. 

A small antelope thing, perhaps a bush buck?  

So American zoos give these animals African names.  African zoos give them Western names.  This is Leo.

A Jackal looking frighteningly like our dog Flynt.

The lion enclosure.  The white specs you see are picked clean bones of thier last few meals.  Turns out the zoo is where Bamako's donkey's go to die.

A curious and endearing warthog

One of two monkeys tied to trees to interact more with the public.  Marshall had a ball with these guys.  He screamed at them, they screamed back.  He waved his arms with glee.

So, according to a plaque on the wall of the snack bar, the signs were all done by a high school graphic design class.  Here is the manatee that is no longer there...

Marshall's other favorite animal(besides the monkey) he saw.  He really responded to this porcupine.

The first animal Marshall saw at the zoo is one he sees everyday, a donkey.  They are used as filler, it seems, for enclosures since left empty by other animals.

Maribou stork.  Ugly bird.

The butt of a chimp that was posturing at us.  Marshall thought it was funny to be mooned.

Crocodiles or "Bama", the root of the name of Bamako because they are in the river that cuts through town.

So two funny things about the signage here...first, the sign on the left is asking that you please respect the fencing as all the animals are dangerous, including the domesticated goats it seems.  The one on the right is asking that you do not give the animals your cigarettes.

Creepy hyenas

Hot and cranky leopards

Yeah...so, no there are no dinosaurs still in Africa in case you were wondering...Mali's not Jurassic Park.  But here we are walking out of the zoo and down towards the museum to find a taxi to take us home.  Ian stops dead in his tracks and lets out a bad word and we see this...all alone and with out explanation....we walk up a little further to catch a glimpse inside the gates and find...

...this...which is all built into the natural surroundings.  a couple of teenage boys walking down the street come up behind us and Ian asks what this is.  One of them says that these are Sunjdata's people...right....so there were cave men and dinosaurs still in Mali in the 13th century?

As we get closer to the museum(which is redone as of 2003, BEAUTIFUL on the outside and the definite place of our next family outing), we finally see a sign on the front of a gate leading in.  Turns out it is the "Jardin de Prehistorie" or the Prehistoric Garden.  We're looking forward to checking it out.

Some things that are just great about this country

A couple of girls from a wealthy neighbor family just stopped by to say hi on their way home from school. 14 to 16-ish. They played with Marshall for a bit and then we were in the kitchen getting him some water and they saw the huge pile of dishes I'd let go for the past couple of days. They asked where the sponge was and I said, no stop and they said, "Ok, later then." I said no, I would get it, happy to just have some people watching Marshall for a bit so I could get a few things I set out to do done today. This blog being one of them, the dishes being another. They go back to watching Marshall, I start some laundry and go into wash dishes. Marshall starts to cry. I go to him and before I know it, they are both in the kitchen watching the dishes. I can't stop them. They look at me like I'm crazy when I try to. Marshall starts to fuss a bit and they come to get him from me. So now, here I am, getting the blog written and quite frankly not to sure what to do with myself...It is nice to not have to be doing the dishes, though...

I took a couple of pictures and gave them some pens, I think they will be coming by more often and thats just fine with me...

Anything but Marshall

I really like Marshall's name.  We were unlike many parents when choosing a name.  The boy's name was the easiest and we had it chosen 3 months into my pregnancy.  The girl's name, not too much harder(Soryn Raia, not to give it away if there is ever a sister in his future), but just took a wee bit longer, like a week.

Anyway, I'm trying hard to use it more because it seems like we very rarely call him by his name.  To Malians, he's Kimberie, Kimbu, Kimby or Kiberlie, for his proper name.  He's also called Djarra Ce(Djarra is his last name, Ce means man), Djarra Ce Nin(little Djarra man), Djarra Den Nin(Den is child, so little Djarra child), simply Djarra or even Kelly, which is my Malian last name.  Sometimes its just Den.  Oh, and with Kara and the gang, he's Warable, or pattus monkey.

Ian gives everything nicknames.  I am often amazed at what he can nickname/shorten or otherwise lingo-ize.  Its an endearing trait.  I, on the other hand, made a vow pre-child (I could write a book on these vows I made that have been quickly broken...)that he would not be called silly names or talked to in baby talk voices.  

Yeah...so the baby talk vow went out the window, as did the nicknames.  Here are some of Ian and I's favorites...most to least popular.

Monkey(Ian's favorite)

Bug

Lovebug(my favorite)

Bugaboo

Monkey Doo

Boo Bug Doo

Honey

Sweetie

Monkey Doodle

Love

Little One

Honeybug

Cutie

Snugglebug

Grumpalupagous (when he's cranky)

Sigh.  It looks even more cheesy when I write them all out.  But such is the love we have for this dear boy.  And at least we're not calling him Marsh.  Its the only thing I don't like about his name.  Its a horrible shortening of it...icky.  Please don't call him that unless he asks you to.

Mango vs. Banana

Banana 0

Mango  2

Final Score

More Mango Love...

I'm just gonna taste it...

Dad, stay away from the mango

What?

Seriously, Dad, stay away...I'm not afraid to hurt you

Mango drunk

Mango Madness

Its the peak of mango season around here and as you can see from above, we are literally swimming in the juicy wonderful fruit.  If you have never been lucky enough to eat a mango at the peak of season in a place where they grow(I'm sorry, but the grocery store mangos in the states are a sad substitute), you must put it on your life list.  Its comparable, although quite different, to a peach at the height of season.  They come in all different shapes, sizes and colors around here.  I saw a green and red one the other day that was the size of a human head.  The most typical here in Bamako, though, is the small yellow kidney mango, best eaten by rubbing it soft, nipping off an end and drinking up the juice.  Ian came home with manguru nin the other day, literally translated to little mangos, although I think its referring more to the small seed because there is a ridiculous amount of heavenly flesh.

We've started a bit of a routine around here.  We eat the outside bits closest to the flesh and then leave some meat on the seed for Marshall to gleefully suck dry.  He enters another dimension when he's eating them.  He's not to be disturbed.

I've been thinking about new ways to take advantage of mangos in my cooking.  Here is something we've had the past couple of nights that was super tasty and that can easily me made with Ameriki mangos or even subbed with peaches.  It also takes advantage of the avocados that are now in season around here.  I'm truly in heaven...this, in particular, will be hard to give up.

Pulled pork in Mango bbq sauce on bread with avocado

Serves 2

1 loaf crusty French bread

1 soft large avocado

1/2lb pulled pork or sliced pork tenderloin(I marinated mine in mango juice 24 hours before cooking it.  A good smoked pulled pork though would be best.  We had to boil ours...seriously...so sad)

Mango bbq sauce

1 T light olive oil

1/4 c minced onions

1 t minced hot pepper

1 1/2 T minced garlic

1/3 c white vinegar

1 c really soft minced mango or mango mixed with mango nectar or peaches or other combos of the two...

1 T sugar...if doing this with a mango bought in the states, make it 2 T

1/2 t hot dijon mustard

Heat oil over medium high heat.  Cook onions and pepper  in it for 3 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Degalze the pan with vinegar and bring to a boil, cook down a bit, maybe a minute or two.  Add mango/peach/whatever, sugar and mustard.  Bring to a boil again and simmer until everything is really soft and smooth.

Turn off heat and mix pork into sauce.  Break 2 6-8" pieces off the bread and open up.  Smash 1/2 of avocado into each evenly, top with pork and fold closed.  Enjoy!  If I was really motivated, I would serve with some yummy plantain chips.

I'm so happy that peach season will be peaking when we are set to get back to Oregon.  There is going to be some serious withdrawl around  here.  We even like the dried ones here that we've vowed to line our luggage with on the way home.

Go enjoy a mango today!