my furry babies

Here are some new pictures of my dog, Teddy, and my cat, Charlie.  They are both almost 3 now, we've had them since they were tiny.  They are best buddies, you can see a video showing this HERE.  They don't just lay around all the time, but it's easier to take a picture when they are still.  In the middle picture, Teddy has finally dropped to the floor after running around fetching and tug-of-warring with his toy that you see, it is just a knotted together fabric strips.  Charlie decided that my basket makes a good cat bed.

ahh... just what I needed

I spent a beautiful Saturday at "Bamako Plage" swimming and eating and taking in some sunshine.  I had been here once or twice before, but that was about 3 years ago.  I seriously need to have days like this more often!  It is so good to have a break from regular life. This place has hotel cabin rooms, a restaurant, a pool, and it is right on the edge of the river.

about STRESS in this mission life

I think that my stress level hit a peak this week.  Not that it wasn't already high enough.  Apparently, being a foreign worker is one of the most stressful things you can do.

Here are links to 2 really interesting blog posts that you should check out:
"m stress and 95 degree living rooms"        "just how stressed are m"
The first one is a guy's personal story and it helps to get a little idea of what we sometimes face here, the second has shocking numbers from a stress study using the Holmes-Rahe stress scale.

I think most foreign workers would agree that the first year is the most stressful.  In addition to the stresses anyone would feel anywhere in just dealing with daily life and work, a first year foreign worker is trying to learn to live and work in a different culture using a foreign language.  There are so many things that come up that there are no way to prepare for.  And here in Mali, we must also learn to survive in a climate that takes some getting used to.
Minnesota folks, you know those couple of horrible summer days that might happen in August where it is swelteringly hot and so humid that you are dripping with sweat and uncomfortable all day?  Those couple of extreme days where all you want to do is get into an air-conditioned place or jump into a lake?  That is what it is like here every day for about 4 months of the year, but with no lake or air-conditioning.  You can get an idea of what the other 8 months feel like if you stick your head in the oven the next time you are baking.  I like heat, but having temps of 105-110 every day for weeks on end is a bit extreme.

During my first year, in addition to all the things other workers would deal with, I decided to get engaged and married.  Oh, and if that that wasn't enough, I decided to get engaged and married..... to someone from a different culture!  Talk about compounding the stress!!
Also in my first year I got very sick twice: once with malaria, once with typhoid.  Both times I was so sick and weak that I had to have help staying upright and walking to get in and out of the hospital to get blood tests.

Now that I've been here for nearly 5 years, things have leveled off.  But the past week has thrown some special bonus factors my way, and all added up, it has accumulated to be enough (no, too much!) to the point that I had a moment of thinking about pulling my suitcase down from the top of the armoire and hightailing it to the airport.  But then I remembered that my suitcase is surely coated with a thick layer of disgusting dust, and I don't want to deal with that.  The dust here really can not be understood unless you've experienced it.
I know running away from problems won't solve them. (And that was written to be funny, but with some grain of truth!)

So here are some of the special things/annoyances/concerns that I've been trying to deal with:

-I have a horrible head cold that left me exhausted for the first few days and now just stuffed up and dizzy.
-Jean-Patrick left on Sunday to be gone for 3 weeks in another town for an internship, leaving me home alone.
-While home alone in the next 3 weeks, I need to completely pack everything up so we will be ready to move at the end of the month.
-I needed to get my Malian visa renewed.  I had to go to the office across town 3 times because when I went to pick it up on the date and time that they told me to come, they said it wasn't ready yet.
-The garbage removal service that we pre-paid through the end of July stopped coming to collect our garbage in mid-June.  The trash has piled up and up and I've had to try to make new arrangements, which hasn't been as easy as it seems like it should be.
-A plumber finally came to fix our leaking pipe, so our water was cut for several hours for the repair, and he asked me to pay a price that I don't know whether it is a good price or not.
-I had some last minute out of town guests come to spend 2 nights here.
-My cat seems to have kitty pinkeye or some other eye problem and I can't just take him to the cat vet, because there isn't one.
-I've been to the grocery store 5 times to check if they have any chicken, but they still don't.
-We need to figure out a truck to hire for our move at the end of the month, but it is going to cost more money than we have available.
-We still have occasional power cuts, like at 4am when the power goes off and you wake up and can't sleep because it is too hot and sweaty to be able to sleep inside without a fan on.

All of those things add up.  But here is the BIG one that finished me off:
-After a lot of effort was put into filling out a tedious application and collecting supporting paperwork, JP went to his USA visa interview last week.  They told him the could come back and get his passport with visa on Tuesday.  JP was already out of town on Tuesday, so I took a taxi across town to pick it up for him.  I saw that the visa they issued will expire before we need to enter the states. The embassy's response is that he needs to re-apply,  start all over again and repay the $160 fee.  This happened because they did not provide the information that his visa will be issued with only a 90 day entry period, their website in fact urges people to "apply early" and says that processing could take "several weeks or months."
After all of the energy and hope I had put into applying for this visa, I took it personally.  It felt so unfair and disappointing.  So I was at the embassy on Tuesday to get his visa, I pointed out that the dates wouldn't work for us, and they said they'd hold on to his passport and discuss it in the embassy.  Wednesday they called JP and told him to come back to get his passport because there is nothing to do but reapply.  So Wednesday I had to go again, take a taxi across town to the embassy.  I arrived feeling cheated, discouraged, and frustrated.  I got there a little early, and they directed me to sit on a bench outside.  The bench was near some sprinklers, so I thought I'd move it a little.  As I bent to pick up the bench, a sprinkler suddenly shot water in my direction and thoroughly drenched my entire backside.  Not kidding.  That was it!!  The final straw!!  I can't take anymore!!  I actually started crying like a big baby.

I'm not sure how to end this post.  I won't lie and say that I feel magically all better today.  I still have this miserable stuffed up head and ears that are making me dizzy.  JP's visa application has to be filled out again. I have a lot of packing to do.  And I have an English class to teach this afternoon.
But I think I might do something special tomorrow because I think I need some kind of break.  I could go visit the family in the village out of town.  I could go shopping at the big store on the other side of town.  I could make a visit to a swimming pool at one of the fancy hotels in the city.  Any other ideas?

American Visa Information - application, interview, timing

Here is some basic and helpful information on American visas that you might need to know.  I am writing this because this information is not clearly explained on embassy websites.  You're welcome.

If you are required to have a visa to enter the United States, the first thing you should do is check to see what length of visa your country gives to Americans.  The American visa is issued based on reciprocity, so whatever your country does for Americans, America will do for you.  Sort of.  Here is where it is tricky, and confusing, and not at all clearly explained on embassy websites.  Say you are from Chad, Africa, for example (that is where my husband is from.)  Chad will issue visas for 3 months to Americans.  So America will issue a "visa" for 3 months to Chadians.  I've been referred to this website:  travel.state.gov  but really I don't find the information that is needed there.  So find out how long of a visa your country will give Americans.  Ok, now that length is the "visa" that America will give you.  The American "visa" is different from most other visas that I have encountered, and they don't explain this well on their websites.  The visa, say it is for 3 months, gives you permission within those 3 months to travel to the USA, to arrive there.  Once you arrive you go to the Homeland Security desk and its there that they give you a stamp that says how long you can stay in the states, often this will be 6 months for a regular visitor visa.  So say your American "visa" is given to you today, July 9.  It will say that it is good from July 9 through October 9 (for 3 months starting today.)  You can travel and enter the USA on October 9, and there they will give you a 6 month "period of authorized stay" so you can stay in the states until April 9.  So technically, your American "visa" is expired as of October 10, but you get to stay in the states for the next 6 months on that expired visa.  Stupid system, right?  So even though Chadians get a 3 month "visa" they get to stay for 6 months in America.
That is not how a visa works in any country I've ever had a visa in (and I do have a fair collection of them in my passports.)  For example, my visa for Mali, I sent in my application and said I wanted to enter Mali on October 6th.  They gave me a visa with a starting date of October 6th.  And it is good for 5 years.  So starting October 6th, I can come and go in and out of Mali as I please for the next 5 years.
You need to understand the difference between the American "visa" and the "period of authorized stay" stamp thing.  Its 2 different things in America, whereas in most places it is the same thing.
If you can only get a 3 month "visa" for America, make sure to wait until 3 months or less before you want to enter the states to schedule your visa interview appointment.  Otherwise they will issue it for 3 months starting that day, and if you want to travel 4 months from now you can't.  You have to enter the states before the 3 months is finished.  Why can't they just explain this on the embassy website?

Also, to apply for an American visa, the application is all done online now.  It takes an "estimated 75 minutes" to fill out, but I found that it was more like an hour and a half, and I type fast. (yes, I filled it out for JP but it's allowed to have help.)  Its a lot of basic information about you.  Your name, parents names, family, birth dates, places lived and traveled to, schools and job histories, why you want to go to the USA.  And then there are 5 screens worth of questions that I find ridiculous at best and offensive at worst.  Basically asking you over and over if you have any connection with terrorism, drugs, prostitution, espionage, etc.  I mean, who is going to say yes???  Really... its pretty over the top.
After you finish the application, which also requires you to upload a photo that follows very specific guidelines, (the photo is the one thing that is very well explained, they are quite detailed on this!) you have to pay the visa fee of $160 at a local bank and have the receipt from that to electronically schedule your interview at the embassy.

For the interview, you need to bring your confirmation page, passport, a paper copy of the photo you uploaded, and supporting paperwork.  You have to show them that you have either the money to pay for your trip or a financial sponsor, and that you have good reason to return to your own country after the trip.  If you are a young unmarried person from a 3rd world country who doesn't own a house or a business and who doesn't have a really solid career, you shouldn't even waste your time applying.  They think that you'll just stay in America.  I know this because JP's first visa try from before we were married was denied.  Even being married to an American doesn't make it easy.  To get a visa (in 2011) he had to show all kinds of supporting paperwork and then they left him hanging for 6 weeks not knowing if he'd get it or not while they did "administrative processing."  This time was quicker because he has already been to the states once and returned to Africa, so they aren't so suspicious now I guess.  They gave him an immediate "yes" answer at the interview.  He had to go back a couple days later to collect the passport with visa. Actually it was me who went to collect the passport, anyone who has the receipt they give you can pick it up.  That's how I know what it looks like in the room.

On the day of the interview, you go in a waiting room with all the other people getting interviewed that day. Here in Bamako they have appointments available for something like 42 people per day.  Eventually someone calls you to a window, and you talk with the person through a pane of bullet proof glass.  You hear them through a speaker system that reminds me of ordering at a drive through restaurant.  We already saw that they are very suspicious and worried about security because of those 5 pages of ridiculous questions, and this just goes to prove it.  I guess maybe they need to take drastic security measures because I know sometimes there are attacks on US embassies, but this seems kind of dehumanizing to me.  Like visiting someone in prison - you stay on your side and we'll stay on ours.  And the waiting room is after you have already passed through airport-like security.  You aren't allowed to bring a cellphone or even a USB key or mp3 player with you.

I feel like the whole system is set up to make the applicant feel like "nah, forget this, I think I'll just stay home."  It is a lot of hoops to jump through.  Compare this to my Mali visa application where I simply mailed off my passport to Washington DC with a one page simple application form with a picture and the fee.

So that's some information that I would have found good to know before we went through the process.  Any questions?  I'll answer if you write a comment.

test correcting funnies

This week I gave a little test to my level 1 English class.  It was 2 pages long, mostly writing short sentences, and they had 30 minutes to complete it.  I've found that it is very helpful for me to get an idea of what they've learned and what they haven't learned, and it helps them see what they need to study more.  I make corrections with a red pen (I love using the red pen, it makes me feel so teacher-y) and they get the tests back so they can use them to review and study.  There are always a few things I find in correcting that make me laugh!
So here are the latest finds:
In response to the question "Why is Eliza happy?" where I was looking for a reason using the word because, (Eliza is me, my middle name is Elizabeth and Erin is foreign sounding and difficult for most Malians to say) one student answered, "Eliza is happy because she is not hungry."  We are in the middle of the month of fasting of Ramadan, so I am guessing that this student was NOT happy because he WAS hungry!  Another student said that Eliza is happy "because the students are not boring."

We start the test with 5 dictation sentences.  I read each sentence 3 times and the students have to try to write what I've said.  I tell the students to try to write something, even if they don't understand the sentence they should try to write the sounds of the words I am saying.  I get some really creative spelling out of this. The best 2 from this round were:  "Diazman" for Jasmin. (one of the characters in our book is named Jasmin, so I used this name in one of the sentences, the letters "dia" make a "j" sound here!)  and "wacte" for walked, which I thought could have earned credit if only we were using a phonics program.

We are working on past tense verbs, and I gave the base form of the verb "think" and one student put it into the past tense as "thrink" and I find that somehow funny, maybe I'm just amused by creativity.  Another student put "thinked" which isn't really funny, just plain wrong.

I also got another misspelling of "chicken" this time it was "ticken." I use chicken as an example a lot when we are doing oral sentences (ie. "my favorite food is chicken") but I guess they don't see it spelled out enough.

Ahh, just a few weeks left of me teaching English before we move!  I am going to miss it so much, but I think I will teach again somewhere in the future.

plumbing woes

If you can't tell what this is, it's a patch of our bricked courtyard that has been torn apart to get to the problem pipes below.  Just 3 1/2 weeks before we move out of our apartment, we've had to pay a plumber to fix this problem!  I think in the states this is the kind of thing the landlord would take care of, but here the renter is stuck with the bill.  In the states this kind of problem might not even occur.  The plumbing parts available in Mali seem like they all come from some cheap dollar store or something.  I would gladly pay more for quality parts that would last a reasonable amount of time, but they just aren't to be found.  So in my almost 5 years in Mali, it seems like I've had way too many visits from a plumber.  Our water was only cut for a few hours, and then the problem was fixed and the water was back.  Our water bill for this last month living in the apartment should be less I think; we'd noticed that the bill kept going up and up each month and the problem was this slow leak that needed fixing.