making new friends in the village

My host man with his youngest child (girl at left) a granddaughter on his lap, and grandson behind right.

My third trip to the village...  I was on my own.  I left home at 7am and arrived a bit after 8.  I hadn't met the wife the first time because she was at the market.  I heard this and thought she went to get some food and would be home soon, but then she never showed up.  I asked again before I left where she was and they explained to me that she sells vegetables from their garden/fields at the market so she stays there all day.  So we made plans that the next time I would come early and go with her to the market and spend a few hours there with her.  I thought that would give good opportunity for chatting and maybe I'd make friends with some of the other seller ladies there as well.  But when I arrived and met her, the wife didn't seem in any hurry to get going.  After a while I asked if we were going to go.  She said no, there weren't vegetables ready to be sold today.  Um, yeah, another example of being flexible and just going with whatever happens.  I sat and chatted a bit with the family members who were there, and I walked around the courtyard to check up on the animals: chickens, a dog, 2 donkeys, and about 10 pigs. (they definitely aren't Muslims!)
I was excited to learn that "my" family in the village is a Christian family!  So there is only 1 wife, but they have 9 children 3 grandchildren (so far.)
The wife asked if I wanted to go to the garden/field.  She warned me that it was a long walk.  I thought it would be good to see the family business, and the husband was there working so I'd be able to see him again, too.  I'm not exactly sure how far it is, but I'd guess about 2 miles.  Maybe you think that doesn't seem too far, but imagine walking that on rough sandy dusty roads in flip-flops in 105 degree heat and sun beating down on you.  And then doing it again to come back after.

Here is my host woman at the family's garden/fields.  They have a lot of mango trees there and we picked the ripe ones and she hauled them back to town in a big bucket carried on her head.

When we were trekking out to the garden/field we passed some huge chicken barns.  Some of them are for eggs and some raise chickens for meat.  This is the scene we came upon around one corner.  That is a big pile of plucked dead chickens, see them there?  The guys were getting them ready for someone who going to have a big party or event.

adult education - reading and writing

For my 2nd time in the village, I traveled with my friend again, but I was supposed to be going to meet a new family that will be "my" family in the village.  When we arrived I called the man because he was supposed to come find me and show me how to get to his house.  He was out working in his garden/field however, and he said he would come to get me in about an hour.  You have to just go with it, whatever "it" is today.  I went into the courtyard of my friend's family, and sat for a few minutes.  Then it was off for another adventure - to the ladies learning to read and write school.  I found this to be really interesting.  A teacher had written on 2 chalkboards in front of the class and the women were supposed to copy what was written.  My friend and I were given some paper and expected to do the work, too.  I didn't get too far in copying, mostly because I decided it would be more interesting to take pictures, as you can see.  My host man showed up and I got to meet him and I left to walk with him to his house.  After a few hours I met back up with my friend and we traveled back into the city together.

visiting a nearby village

I have started visiting a nearby village for Bambara language practice.  A friend has been going there for awhile, so the first 2 times I went with her.  

Here is what I do to get there:  Leave my house and walk 5 minutes to get to the paved road where I can flag a taxi when one comes by.  I take the taxi across town, about 20 minutes to the big tower, this costs $3 one way.  At the tower I take a Sotrama, a green mini-bus, for about a 1/2 hour ride past the airport south of the city to the village, this costs .50 cents one way.  When we get close, I have to keep a look out for the store pictured below.  You just let them know when you want to get out.  The money taker guy taps on the metal of the mini-bus, and the driver stops.

A beautiful little girl at the wedding celebration.

This village has several families that used to host Peace Corps Volunteers when they were in training.  The PCVs would spend a month living with the family taking in the culture and working on language skills. 

The first time I went with my friend to visit her family.  The family is huge, the man has 4 wives and all sorts of children and grandchildren.  My friend said that usually she sits and chats while she is there, but as everything here, you need to be flexible because things don't typically go as you think.  When I was there we sat with the kids for a little bit, but then we were taken to accompany the first wife to a wedding celebration.  The wedding ceremony had been the day before, and we were at a party of all women with dancing and music.  It was a Muslim wedding.  We never saw the bride because she has to stay in a house, in a mosquito net, for three days after the wedding (or something like that, its strange to me and I don't quite understand.)  We sat on a bench, were given a stranger's tiny baby to hold, and stared at by curious small children.  I went to take pictures of the dancing and the griot asked my name and then sang a song about me, so I had to go dance in the middle and then they of course wanted me to give them some money.  I try to be a good sport in these situations.

Wild dancing, a griot singing,  and ladies playing on gourd drums at the wedding celebration.

CUTIES.

English school party picture

Yay!  Another trimester of English classes completed!
Now I have 3 weeks before the next trimester begins, but I am not exactly doing nothing.  In addition to my regular Bambara lessons, I've started visiting a nearby village once a week for practice.  Next week I'll spend the whole week in a village with a small team from my group.  Then we have registration nights at English school.  For now I am working to finish up a translation project.  Our curriculum at English school is made of 5 books/levels.  I teach level 1, and we say it is the beginner level, but real beginners have a hard time as it is all in English and assumes the learners have a bit of English already.  The publisher has made a level 0 book.  I am helping to put the French words for things to prepare it for printing.
It is nice to have a little break from classes, but I am looking forward to the new classes starting.  It will be fun but kind of sad for me because it will be my last trimester of teaching here.  In only 3 1/2 months we are planning to move.

tastes like chicken?

Have you ever come home to find some of these in your fridge?  They were given to JP as a gift, and I let him have them all to himself.

what did I say now?

I have a funny story to share: 

 Last week I traveled by bus to attend our group’s yearly business meetings.  The first bus went 5 ½ hours and that was the end of that route.  I had to hike a few blocks over to the big bus station and find a bus to take me to on, another 3 ½ hours away (by bus.  In a private car it only takes 2 hours!)  The bus I got on there was traveling to my destination, but it was not its last stop.  So when we arrived most people were staying on the bus.  I had to get up and climb over the big plastic jugs in the aisle and make my way to the door which was blocked with young girls trying to sell drinks and trays of snacks to all the people staying on the bus.  I was happy to use my Bambara language, so I announced in Bambara “I want to go out” hoping that the girls would move and let me go out.  A man next to the door looked at me and asked “huh?”  so I repeated  “I want to go out” as I pointed at the door.  He seemed to understand then and he had the girls move so I could climb down the steps.
The next day I was sitting and chatting with some of the ladies at our mission base who were preparing food for that evening’s meal.  One of them noticed something peculiar on the ground under a nearby chair.  In Bambara, she asked another woman “is that poop?”  It looked like poop, and because there are plenty of animals roaming around as well as small children that may or may not wear some kind of diaper, it wouldn’t be that surprising if it was in fact poop.  One of the women investigated and it was only the inside seed part of a cucumber that someone had scooped out and it was now covered in brown dirt.  Hearing the word “poop” in Bambara several times suddenly brought the incident in the bus to mind.  I had a sinking feeling that I might not have said what I wanted to say. 
In Bambara I am sometimes confused or frustrated because a single word can have A LOT meanings.  Sometimes words are actually a little different  but I have a hard time keeping it straight if it’s a high tone word or a low tone word, and there are 2 kinds of O’s, there is regular O and there is an open O which is written like a backwards C.  They sound a little different, but I admit I don’t pay much attention to that and I just hope people will figure out what I mean by the context. 
So here is the tricky part and why I was suddenly worried that I had made an embarrassing mistake:  The way to say “go out” (as in “I want to go out”) is “bo”, and the way to say “poop” is also “bo” but with a closed O.  Did I announce in the bus that “I want to poop” as I gestured toward the door?  Obviously I would want to get out of the bus if I wanted to go poop, so I don’t think context would help me too much there. 
I went and found a friend who does a lot of translation work, and asked him what I really said.  He said that a better word choice might have been “jigin” which is “to come down/descend” and is understood as meaning getting off a bus.  But I was relieved when he explained that what I said was understandable and that to say  “I want to poop” I would have needed to add a “ke” at the end, which is like “to do poop.”  So it wasn’t so bad after all, but I was pretty worried there for a minute!

a shot from inside the bus