house building

some great progress has been happening with our house building project.  we have walls!
here are a couple recent photos:

village wedding

There was a big wedding that I attended in a village on April 29.  One of my colleagues got married with a woman who works at the hospital in town.

I was able to ride with some of the staff of the hospital.  I left the house at 6am and got home around 6pm - that's a long day!  It was a 3 hour drive each way; one hour of paved road and then 2 of bumpy, curvy, dusty dirt.
The wedding took place outside in the village under big tents.  First the legal mayor's office stuff was taken care of, and then the long musical ceremony began.  Several different choir groups sang and danced.  The speaking was mostly in Bomu and translated to Bambara, but the message was in French and translated.  It was pretty hot and sweaty.  After the ceremony there was food; the normal wedding meal is riz au gras, which is like greasy rice.  We gathered into small groups to sit around communal bowls and eat with hands.  Confession:  I brought my own spoon from home because I hate eating with my hand. 

 Our house-helper is the sister/cousin of the groom.  (she says he is her brother, but they don't have the same biological mother and father, so I'm not actually sure... anyway, he is her close relation)  It was really important to her that I go to the wedding which was held in the village she comes from.  She even talked me into getting the fabric that many wedding attendees would be wearing.

So here are a couple pictures:

another kids' lesson

I usually plan for 40 kids.  But in the last few weeks we've had up to 70!  Wow!
Most weeks I prepare a lesson and a coloring sheet to go along with it.  The coloring sheet has a verse (usually in French and Bambara) and a scene from the story.  We have been learning some songs and practicing them each week, too.  I try to make up some kind of actions to go with the words of the songs because that makes it easier to remember the words and most of the really little kids don't sing much but they have fun doing the actions.

 Sometimes you just need a nap!

Who knows why I received a bag of salt at the end of the church service last Sunday? 
It was given out because an engagement was announced.  I've been in Mali almost 8 years and I still haven't figured out if there is a great significance to this or if that's just the way it is because it's always been that way.  Well, now I don't need to buy cooking salt for a while!  This salt is big pieces, it looks like what you'd sprinkle on ice in the winter.  We use this in preparing food if it will dissolve.  Otherwise I buy regular, more expensive salt to sprinkle on food or for baking.

power company tour

One of the students of our adult English classes is the big boss in our town for the electric company.  He once said that he'd be glad to give me a tour of the place.  So I got that lined up and it happened last week.
This guy knows all about how everything works, and although he did a great job of explaining it I don't really understand much of what we saw.  I could try to blame that on the fact that he gave the tour in French, but I feel like I understood pretty much all of his words and even if it had been in English I still wouldn't understand that much.  He asked if I had taken physics.  Yes, I did take physics.  The name of my physics class was "Physics for non-science majors."  Everybody has different strengths and I am not strong in the area of understanding how a power place works.  I don't even know what to call the place!  The power isn't made there, it comes up from Cote d'Ivoire and goes out from this place into town and on to other towns.
So I can't really explain what the pictures are of, but they are some neat pictures and I'm glad I had the chance to go on this tour!

It was me and JP along with another English teacher and two of her kids on the tour.  The student who is the boss did the talking, but he had two of his workers there as well.  My husband said he found it really interesting, he understood a lot more than I did, and that if he hadn't gone into medicine maybe he would have enjoyed studying this kind of stuff in school.

 

I don't know what this thing is but it would be the perfect prop for some sci-fi movie.

 

When we went in the building I was amused to see this sign.  Of course everyone should be wearing proper gear at a place like this - boots, gloves, goggles, helmets... but everyone, including the workers, was just wearing normal clothes and that's all.  This sign is ridiculous in Mali.

Those are a lot of fancy buttons and lights.  Just a flip of a switch and you can cut power all over town!

dog and kitty playing

Our 5 year old dog Teddy and our new kitten are getting along great now and I enjoy watching them play together.

 The kitty, Scout, will help Teddy play with his toys by attacking them from the other side....

Ha, ha! In this picture the cat decided to attack and play with Teddy's face! 
It's all in fun, the only time Teddy ever gets upset and growls at the kitten is if food is involved.

our house project - the foundation

We own a piece of land and we're getting it built on little by little as funds become available.  So far we've had a wall built around it and a garage and outside toilet built.  There is a well dug, too.

Today we went to take a look at the progress on the foundation.  I am told that it will look better in another week!  For now it seems like a big mess!  But progress is good.  :)

African fabric

One of the joys of living in Africa is African fabric.  I have friends with bins full of fabric waiting to be sewn into something.  When you see a print you love it's hard to leave the shop without buying it.  Some prints are easy to find everywhere, but other seem to be one of a kind.  I've seen fabric I really liked and thought about buying but decided not to only to regret it later because I never found that print again.  Going into a fabric shop is a feast for the eyes and an exercise for the imagination.  What would these colors and this design look like on me as a shirt and skirt?  Or maybe it would make the cutest curtains or table cloth?

 The colors and patterns are interesting and often beautiful to look at, but I must admit that occasionally I'll see a fabric and think, "What in the world?!"  Here is a case in point:

It's like roller skates meets pizza cutters.  Very strange.  I don't think I want to wear this fabric!

But here is my latest outfit.  I found the cloth in a shop and I hadn't see the print before.  For whatever reason I just had to have the lantern fabric!  I took it to my tailor with a drawn picture of what sort of skirt and top I wanted.  He sent me next door to choose a matching piece of velvet to use for the trim. I was measured and I gave a down payment for the work.  About a week later I went back to the tailor shop and ta-da! here is what I got.  It fits well and I'm happy to wear my new lantern clothes.