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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Hand gestures

There is a hand gesture here that I am having a hard time getting used to.
In the USA when we hold up a hand and open and close it, it means "bye-bye" or "hello". The same gesture means "come here" to the people here. I have had a couple of misunderstandings because of this.
A couple times people have been trying to get me to come over to them, and I have simply waved back thinking they were saying hello. They kept waving at me, now frusterated and probably thinking, "no, I want you to come here!"
At school the kids say goodbye to the teachers before leaving for the day. Sometimes the kids will wave goodbye at me (by waving their hand side to side) and without thinking I will wave back by opening and closing my hand. This is confusing to them because they are trying to leave to go home, and I seem to be calling them to come back to school!
I know in my head what this gesture means here, it is just hasn't become like a reflex yet.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Hooray for flip-flops


There are certainly some difficult things about living in Africa, but I try to count my many blessings. One thing I love is that I get to wear flip-flops here all the time, everyday. Even the doctors and nurses in the hospital wear them!
I went on a long walk the other day and got a couple of blisters, but I am hoping that soon my feet will be tougher and I can walk anywhere in my sandals.
I brought nice Brazilian flip-flops here with me, but cheap ones can be bought at the market for just over a dollar.

School


Here is a picture of me with some of the boys from the kindergarden that I help in. Every Friday we have a time outside under some mango trees at the school where we have singing, dancing, and lesson.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

MALARIA

I already got malaria! And it was awful!
I had a temperature up near 104 for 2 days. I barely got out of bed for almost 4 days. Thankfully the medicine I got at the hospital worked, and I am getting stronger now every day. I am starting to take a preventative medication now, too. (I wasn't taking it before because I don't like the side effects and I thought I didn't want to take it long-term, but the side effects are nothing compared to what I just went through!)

Friday, October 16, 2009

Eating together, really together.




Here are a couple photos from a gathering we had this week to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the school. The food was cooked outside over open fire by a group of women. At lunch time they brought us 2 buckets of water, one soapy and one clean to rinse hands, and then we got into groups of 5 around the food. It was important to wash hands because there were no forks or spoons for this meal! The food you can see in the photos is a yummy flavored rice on bottom with meat, potatoes, onions, eggplant, and cabbage on top. It was a nice lunch sitting together under the shade of mango trees.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Chicken anyone?


The first couple days of school have been, well... interesting. I guess it will take awhile to get used to things and figure out just what I am supposed to be doing. A big challenge is that I am not fluent in French, and even if I were it would be difficult because many of the kids in the kindergarden don't yet speak much French (and I don't know any Bambara.)
So today when I asked some of them to draw mangoes on their papers they just stared at me blankly. Some of them seem to still be trying to figure the white lady out, and some of them want so sit on my lap and hold my hand already.
This picture is of my friend Etienne holding the chickens that were given today as a welcome gift to me and Sophie, another Western girl who is here to help in the school this year.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

So blessed!

I arrived in Bamako, the capital of Mali, on Tuesday night after about 29 hours of travel. My 3 flights to get there couldn’t have gone better, and going through customs and immigration was a breeze. I was delighted to have my 3 big pieces of luggage show up on the carousel at the airport, and then it was so good to see the familiar faces of the people who picked me up. I feel so blessed and I know that God had his hand on all of my preparations and travels. I was really pretty tired, but I couldn’t sleep well at night for the first few days. I am used to the 5 hour time difference now, though, and I am sleeping ok but still getting used to the climate change I think! I heard that it has already snowed in Minnesota now, the temperature is hovering near freezing there, and here in Mali it is in the 80's for the most part. It is also humid here, which I didn't expect, but it will be dry season soon.
I left Bamako on Thursday with a lovely girl from New Zealand - I met her last Feburary during my time in Mali then. We took a bus for 5 hours or so to the town that I will call “home” for at least the next 9 months. It has been nice to see again some of the people I met when I was here before and I've had time to get settled in my room. I am so happy and excited to be here and most of all I feel so blessed!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A year like no other

This past year has been incredible, a year like no other. It has been a year of changes and adventure and dreams come true. The best part is that its not over - new exciting things are still happening everyday. Here is a little summary of whats been going on:
A year ago I was working as a nanny in northern California. Last November I packed up all of my things and my dog Rascal, and we made the long drive to Minnesota where I'm from. I stored my stuff away and left my dog in my mom's care. Then, after celebrating Thanksgiving, cashing in a free flight to do a trip to explore Atlanta and New Orleans, and celebrating Christmas, I left for my Grand Adventure on January 1st, 2009.
For the next 7 months I traveled in Africa and Europe visiting and volunteering at bases with the purpose of discovering the next step for my life.
Where was I? Here's the list:
Mali, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, France, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. I could add Morocco, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, Monaco, and the Vatican, but I don't know if those count because I was either just there in the airport, or they are tiny and kind of part of another place.
Anyway, after these amazing and life-changing 7 months, I arrived back in Minnesota at the end of July. Since then I have been preparing to go back to Mali, West Africa, where I will be living on a base and helping at their elementary school there. I will leave on October 5th to begin this new chapter of this very exciting time of my life.