A really cute little neighbor girl who just got a western style weave put in her hair has been walking around proudly showing it off. The other day, I told her how pretty her hair was. She looked at me and proudly said, "Mesh-y flie." Its mesh!
Jeff told us this story one night after he went out exploring Bamako. A French man approached him asking for clarification on some English words and they started to chat a bit. The French man said that Malians speak French like the Germans, they just refuse how to speak it properly...had no idea...
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Sampler
Sorry for the delay in posts and not so meaty ones as of late. I was having to catch up on a bunch of emails I was behind on. Apologies to everyone who I hadn't written back to in a while, especially those from 2006...I'm posting between that project and actually getting my thank you cards done for baby gifts. To all who gifted who are reading this, yes, my mother DID teach me better and I am SO embarrassed they are not done yet. Please know that I do think about each and everyone of you and your generosity each time I use something I was given.
OMG, best image ever I wish I could’ve captured. A 10 year old girl just ran by in front of my window. She was drenched, by herself and the definition of joy. She was laughing and flailing her arms above her head. I was never into kids that much before Marshall. Now, I think they are such a great reminder to not take life too seriously. Sigh. That just made my day!
Ok, more about Marshall. I hope he doesn’t hate me for telling this story when he grows up, but its too funny not to share. Either that, or a great example of how resourceful and bright this kid is…yeah, Marshall, that’s what it is…
A couple of days ago he was taking his afternoon dip in the bath. I was taking his being occupied as a chance to fold laundry. I took some that I had folded into the bedroom real quick and came out to see him looking down towards his belly and rubbing his hands over his chest in a curious manner. He seemed to be discovering something, so I held back and watched. A second later, he grabbed his left nipple in his fist and tried to shove it in his mouth. It was priceless. No, he was not successful…
A couple of weeks ago, I called Ian at the market and he mentioned that an American named Jeff had come and found him and was hanging out with him. He was sent to find him by a Peace Corps Volunteer that Ian has interacted with a few times. Here is Jeff that day being tormented by one of Ian’s animal part vendors. He's taking notes on the language and his experience. We’ll call this the Jeff “before” picture:
He’s biking(as in bicycle, not motorcycle) across West Africa. He had been in Mali for about 5 days, just arrived in Bamako. It was the halfway point in his journey and he had travelled almost 1500 miles from Dakar, Senegal through Guinea and Gambia. He speaks little French although everywhere he goes he tries to at least learn how to greet in the local language. This guy is a hardcore, doing it right kinda traveller. We invited him to come stay with us while he was in Bamako.
Here is Jeff, in what we'll call the "after" picture:
Quick side note: Back right corner of picture is a guy wearing an outfit made out of perhaps the most popular fabric here right now. Don't know if you can see, but its larger than life fingers floating on a speckled background. Its bizarre. We're getting some to be back, for sure. That and the deforestation fabric with bleeding tree trunks...what in the world?
Jeff hung with us in Bamako for a week while he took care of some business like getting visas for the rest of his trip, saw some live music(see previous post) and hung out with Ian at the market, eventually getting a fetish made. He was really interested in Ian's research and Kara and the boys embraced him, language barriers and all. As you can see from above, he was well integrated the day before he left.
Turns out Jeff is from Portland. Such a small world. And he's friends with a woman I did prenatal and mother baby yoga with. Also turns out that Jeff is the kind of guy we'd be friends with in the states, but we're glad we met him here and could offer him a small piece of home at the midpoint in his journey. In return, Jeff did the dishes, cooked dinner and even babysat Marshall(they really liked each other) so Ian and I could go have a lunch date. Well, and was a friend to the two of us who realized we desperately need to socialize with more Americans more often as we kinda babbled silly around him we were so happy to have someone else to talk to. We look forward catching up with him stateside and hearing about the rest of his trip in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana and Togo.
So for our super romantic date(new parents can read the sarcasm in that. still nice to be away though!) we went out to eat at this crazy place a couple of people had told me about called the Broadway Cafe. It was reported to have real American stye food as it was opened by a couple of Malians who had lived in NYC for a bit. I was wary as one woman who supposedly knows Tex-Mex food opened a restaurant here called the Appoloosa that, to give it credit, looks like Chili's on the inside, but they call chicken wrapped in pita with tomato chutney on top enchiladas. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised. We could've been in a coffee shop in Portland. The food was good and real American fare. Ian had a great cheeseburger(the ones at the other places seem made of horse on stale buns with overly sweet coleslaw on top. ick.), I had a chicken sandwich. It was a great getaway and a pleasant suprise.
Whatelse. A few days ago it was Mohammed’s birthday, a national holiday. HUGE wedding down the street from us on that day. The bride was waiting in front of the garden across from our house. She was talking excitedly and a bit annoyed on her cell phone. People around her were trying to be comforting, but seemed annoyed with her. Guess bridezillas exist everywhere.
This morning went for a walk to the top of the big market on the hill and looked down on Bamako from above, amazed at how big this place that seems so small to me really is. Still, when you take out all the big box stores and parking lots, stuff five times as many people in 2 bedroom apartments our American cities might seem smaller too.
So I called this the sampler as this will be a hodgepodge sampling of some of the things that we've been up to, I've been thinking about, that have happened in our life recently. Hope you enjoy!
First, its raining right now. After 7 years in Oregon, I forgot what a good real rainstorm was like. In Oregon its just flat out wet. Here there's thunder, a temporary sheet of water from the sky, heat lightening, that great smell and a general relief of coolness that comes over everything. Its the first rain since we first got here. The kids were all out in the street dancing a couple of minutes ago. It was great. You can just feel this sense of calm over everything right now. It was really getting pretty hot and a cool refreshing rain was just what was needed.
Marshall is growing up so fast. I've been a bit sad about how quickly he's growing up. As exciting as it is to see him learn and grow, I'm realizing he'll never be a baby again. I guess such is the curse of parenthood. I actually asked Ian the other day when he would think it was creepy if I was still breastfeeding. Here its normal to feed kids until they are 3. The WHO recommends 2. I somehow think this will keep him a baby...call it hormones. Here are some pictures of him today showing off his ability to drink from his sippy cup and standing.
OMG, best image ever I wish I could’ve captured. A 10 year old girl just ran by in front of my window. She was drenched, by herself and the definition of joy. She was laughing and flailing her arms above her head. I was never into kids that much before Marshall. Now, I think they are such a great reminder to not take life too seriously. Sigh. That just made my day!
Ok, more about Marshall. I hope he doesn’t hate me for telling this story when he grows up, but its too funny not to share. Either that, or a great example of how resourceful and bright this kid is…yeah, Marshall, that’s what it is…
A couple of days ago he was taking his afternoon dip in the bath. I was taking his being occupied as a chance to fold laundry. I took some that I had folded into the bedroom real quick and came out to see him looking down towards his belly and rubbing his hands over his chest in a curious manner. He seemed to be discovering something, so I held back and watched. A second later, he grabbed his left nipple in his fist and tried to shove it in his mouth. It was priceless. No, he was not successful…
A couple of weeks ago, I called Ian at the market and he mentioned that an American named Jeff had come and found him and was hanging out with him. He was sent to find him by a Peace Corps Volunteer that Ian has interacted with a few times. Here is Jeff that day being tormented by one of Ian’s animal part vendors. He's taking notes on the language and his experience. We’ll call this the Jeff “before” picture:
He’s biking(as in bicycle, not motorcycle) across West Africa. He had been in Mali for about 5 days, just arrived in Bamako. It was the halfway point in his journey and he had travelled almost 1500 miles from Dakar, Senegal through Guinea and Gambia. He speaks little French although everywhere he goes he tries to at least learn how to greet in the local language. This guy is a hardcore, doing it right kinda traveller. We invited him to come stay with us while he was in Bamako.
Here is Jeff, in what we'll call the "after" picture:
Quick side note: Back right corner of picture is a guy wearing an outfit made out of perhaps the most popular fabric here right now. Don't know if you can see, but its larger than life fingers floating on a speckled background. Its bizarre. We're getting some to be back, for sure. That and the deforestation fabric with bleeding tree trunks...what in the world?
Jeff hung with us in Bamako for a week while he took care of some business like getting visas for the rest of his trip, saw some live music(see previous post) and hung out with Ian at the market, eventually getting a fetish made. He was really interested in Ian's research and Kara and the boys embraced him, language barriers and all. As you can see from above, he was well integrated the day before he left.
Turns out Jeff is from Portland. Such a small world. And he's friends with a woman I did prenatal and mother baby yoga with. Also turns out that Jeff is the kind of guy we'd be friends with in the states, but we're glad we met him here and could offer him a small piece of home at the midpoint in his journey. In return, Jeff did the dishes, cooked dinner and even babysat Marshall(they really liked each other) so Ian and I could go have a lunch date. Well, and was a friend to the two of us who realized we desperately need to socialize with more Americans more often as we kinda babbled silly around him we were so happy to have someone else to talk to. We look forward catching up with him stateside and hearing about the rest of his trip in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana and Togo.
So for our super romantic date(new parents can read the sarcasm in that. still nice to be away though!) we went out to eat at this crazy place a couple of people had told me about called the Broadway Cafe. It was reported to have real American stye food as it was opened by a couple of Malians who had lived in NYC for a bit. I was wary as one woman who supposedly knows Tex-Mex food opened a restaurant here called the Appoloosa that, to give it credit, looks like Chili's on the inside, but they call chicken wrapped in pita with tomato chutney on top enchiladas. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised. We could've been in a coffee shop in Portland. The food was good and real American fare. Ian had a great cheeseburger(the ones at the other places seem made of horse on stale buns with overly sweet coleslaw on top. ick.), I had a chicken sandwich. It was a great getaway and a pleasant suprise.
Whatelse. A few days ago it was Mohammed’s birthday, a national holiday. HUGE wedding down the street from us on that day. The bride was waiting in front of the garden across from our house. She was talking excitedly and a bit annoyed on her cell phone. People around her were trying to be comforting, but seemed annoyed with her. Guess bridezillas exist everywhere.
This morning went for a walk to the top of the big market on the hill and looked down on Bamako from above, amazed at how big this place that seems so small to me really is. Still, when you take out all the big box stores and parking lots, stuff five times as many people in 2 bedroom apartments our American cities might seem smaller too.
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