$4 same day delivery

It is pretty common for things here to not get done in the time frame that I would like.
You ask the plumber if he can come this morning, and he says yes but never shows up.  You call back and he says he will come tomorrow at noon.  He shows up at 4pm just as you are leaving your house to go to a meeting. (true story, happened last week)  He says he got busy but will come tomorrow at 10am... you get the idea.
But, I was really impressed when we had a bit of an emergency and things worked out perfectly!
I am home and Jean-Patrick suddenly needed some important papers sent to him in Bamako. (this is due to an embassy/visa situation that I'll write about/vent about later)  He called me at around 10:30am and needed the papers to be in Bamako that night because he had to bring them for an appointment early the next morning.  Some of the papers had to be originals, so there wasn't a possibility of scanning and emailing or faxing them.   Bamako is 6-8 hours away (depending on mode of transportation) so the only hope I had was to get the papers together and to the bus station by 1pm so that they could hopefully make the trip on an afternoon bus.  I scrambled to find the original documents that JP needed and to print and copy off the other papers.  As long as I'd be sending something, JP asked me to include a school book and a notebook that he had left behind.  I wrapped it  all up in brown paper and taped it securely.  I wrote JP's name and number on the package.  I hurried to the bus station across town and talked with a man at a bus company ticket window.  He said the price would be 2,000 francs to send my package.  That's about $4.  He gave me a receipt and I took down the number of the bus apprentice (the young guy who works on the bus but doesn't drive, he helps with baggage and crossing checkpoints and dealing with passengers.)
JP went to the bus station in Bamako and as soon as the bus arrived he got his package.  I was relieved and thankful for this system.  How much would it cost to send a same day package in the states?

the conference

We had our group's West Africa Regional Conference from September 10-15

 in Segou, Mali.  People from Ebola-stricken countries were not able to attend, but those of us who could come had a great time.  There were something like 70 adults and 25 kids.

I helped with music.  Our region of West Africa uses 3 major languages: French, English, and Portuguese.  Our conference was tri-lingual!  It is neat to come together with others to hear about their projects and encourage one another.

Here is our conference room getting set up for the last night's "Love Feast" or "Agape."  It was the highlight of the whole conference for me.  When it started, we were all sitting at the tables eating some appetizers (popcorn and those styrofoam-like prawn crackers) and the power cut.  Dozens of people immediately illuminated their cell phones, so we had a bit of light to see by.  Not quite a candlelit dinner; we are much more modern with a cellphonelit dinner!  After a while the power came back on.

It was a great party!  The whole conference focused on the value of family.  The Family is value #15 of our group's 18 foundational values.  It was a fun evening to spend together as one big family, united together even though those of us there came from about 12 different countries and some could not speak the same language.

 Here are a few of our fearless leaders speaking and translating a teaching.

the varan

When I searched online, I learned that "Varan" is the name of both a fictional Godzilla-like monster and a village in Iran.  But I was looking for a lizard similar to what you see in these pictures. I learned that this "varan" is a kind of monitor lizard.  As there are 73 species of monitor lizards, I couldn't find an image of the exact one I was looking for, but you get the idea from these pictures.

My dog's great passion is lizard hunting.  And we have plenty of lizards in Mali!  In the house there are geckos, and outside there are the regular "dry" lizards that like to do push-ups while sunning on brick walls.  Though Teddy chases lizards incessantly, it is rare for him to catch one.

Yesterday I was outside and I noticed Teddy enthusiastically chasing something back and forth in this alley of dirt that is between the wall that encloses the yard and the wall of the house.  I went over to see and was disturbed to see a SNAKE!  It looked just like a snake!  It even had a long snake tongue that it was sticking in and out out at my dog!  Instead of running away or up the wall like a normal lizard, this snake was sticking it's tongue out at Teddy and staring at him like it was ready to attack.  Oh no, Teddy's going to get bit by a snake!  But then I remembered that snakes don't have legs and feet, and this thing did, so it must not be a snake after all.
Back when I first came to live in Mali, just about 5 years ago now, I lived on the base in community with other single folks.  One day I was horrified to look outside upon hearing shouting and see my now-husband and some friends stoning something to death (it was either a bush rat or a snake but I can't remember which.)  They killed it, and then if I remember right, they were laughing and giving high-fives.  I found this to be so brutal and it left me with a bad feeling.
Fast-forward 5 years and I was shooing my dog away from the snake-like-lizard so that I could hurl rocks and chunks of cement block that I had found nearby.  My rocks weren't that big and my aim wasn't that good, and after a few throws Teddy pounced in and grabbed the thing in his mouth and shook it to death.  "Yay, Teddy!  Good dog! You saved us from the scary snake-lizard!"
Teddy started chewing on the beast, but I didn't think it was a good idea to let him eat it.  I took the tree pruning tool I had been using and scooped up the limp creature with the blade end.  I carried it like that out of our front gate to where there are always a group of men either working (there is a metalsmith shop and a boutique next door) or sitting and drinking tea.  The fellows were there sitting, and they identified the dead snake-lizard as a "varan."  I carried it across the paved road across from the house and chucked it in the ditch.
Later I sent Jean-Patrick a text message saying that Teddy had killed a varan but I didn't let him eat it.  JP's response was "varans are good to eat."  I'm not sure if he meant that they are good for people to eat or for dogs to eat, maybe both. :)

the big move

I can't believe it was a month ago that we were packing up the moving truck!  The actual move went really smoothly this time, much better than when we moved to Bamako 2 years ago. (See this POST to read about the nightmare that was.)  It was a lot more expensive to hire a real moving company instead of adding our things to a truckload of millet bags, but they came the day they said they'd come and our things arrived and were unloaded that same day and weren't too scratched or banged up.  So definitely worth the extra money for me.  The moving company had 4 guys there to help load the truck, and 4 of our fantastic friends showed up to lend a hand, so it went pretty fast and I didn't have to do any heavy lifting myself thankfully!  Jean-Patrick took a bus just after the moving truck left but the moving truck got there way before JP's bus did, so the things were already unloaded by the time he got there.  I stayed in Bamako for a few extra days in our nearly empty apartment.  I needed to finish up my work with English school and then ride with a friend in a car to move myself and our pets.
In those days I was alone in the apartment, I got really sick.  I am usually pretty healthy.  But when I've gotten sick here in Mali it is a kind of sick unlike anything I can remember ever experiencing in the states.  Africa sick.  I was in bed for 2 days (or rather on a camping mattress on the floor) hardly able to get up and get myself to the bathroom.  I forced myself to eat a tiny bit of bread and drink some water.  I slept a lot.  After 2 days I could get out of bed but was still not well.  After almost 2 weeks of serious stomach issues I went to the hospital.  I waited almost 4 hours to see the doctor.  Because it was a bit late in the day already and because I encouraged the doctor to just give me an antibiotic, I didn't have to provide a sample for them to test what the problem was.  The doctor said he thought I had either typhoid, amoebas, or giardia, and he prescribed 3 different antibiotics.  As soon as I started taking them I started feeling so much better, and I am now feeling good!
Jean-Patrick was in the new house with me for 4 or 5 days and then he left for Bamako to be at school.  I went to Bamako this week to buy some things that can only be bought there and to see JP and we came back home together yesterday.  At this point all of our boxes are unpacked and things are basically where they should be, except that the living room furniture is all pushed to the middle of the room and covered because there is painting happening!  I'll post some pictures when it's all finished.
JP will be home now for about 10 days, he'll be doing schoolwork here, and then he'll have to go to Bamako again!  I'm pretty tired of all the time we've been spending apart.  We've only spent a total of 2 weeks together out of the past 8 weeks.
Below is a picture I took during my trip of moving.  We were trying to cross a bridge, but had to wait for some cows.  The weather was very nice, I love the blue and cloudy skies that we have here during the rainy season (during non-rainy moments.)

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?