I've spent the past two weeks in the village of Tieguena, about an hour out of Bamako, where I have been living with a Malian family and studying everyday to learn Bambara.
A typical day:
I wake up and wash my face, then greet my family. It is very important in Mali to wash your face before greeting anyone. Then I eat breakfast, usually bread and tea with powdered milk. Then I go to class for four hours. We sit in an orchard of Mango trees, which I climb when we get breaks in class. Then I go home for a about three hours during the hottest part of the day. My sister, Omo, will make me fish and peanut sauce with rice. I'll usually relax in the shade of our family's shea tree, reading a book or trying to chat with my brother, Sidi. Back to class for the afternoon, and then home for dinner. My family has a constant stream of guests coming over for dinner and then tea afterwards.
Now I'm in Tubaniso, getting a weekend of technical training, before going back to my homestay for another two weeks.
Now its lunchtime and I gotta go...
K'an Ben
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Je Suis Ici
Aw Ni Che!
I finally made it to Mali. The past two days have been a lot of getting to know my fellow volunteers and getting used to Malian food and culture. I had a lot of fun last night playing TRiP style games (Who has the hat, Green Glass Door, etc) with the other volunteers, and even solved a french riddle (touche touche pas, mais touche pas touche). We've been working a bit on language and will be diving in to that more in-depth in the days to come. We still don't know yet which languages we'll be focusing on (either Bambara, French, or a minority african language), but I tested as intermediate-mid in French so there's a good chance they'll be giving me an African language.
The internet is really slow here but hopefully I'll have some pictures up next time...
Also, I now have an address:
Matt Cooper, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 85
Bamako, Mali
That will be for the next few months while I'm near the capitol in training. I'll have a different address when I'm out at my village for two years. On Monday we'll be going to live temporarily in nearby communities to really get immersed in the language and culture!
Love and miss you all!
I finally made it to Mali. The past two days have been a lot of getting to know my fellow volunteers and getting used to Malian food and culture. I had a lot of fun last night playing TRiP style games (Who has the hat, Green Glass Door, etc) with the other volunteers, and even solved a french riddle (touche touche pas, mais touche pas touche). We've been working a bit on language and will be diving in to that more in-depth in the days to come. We still don't know yet which languages we'll be focusing on (either Bambara, French, or a minority african language), but I tested as intermediate-mid in French so there's a good chance they'll be giving me an African language.
The internet is really slow here but hopefully I'll have some pictures up next time...
Also, I now have an address:
Matt Cooper, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 85
Bamako, Mali
That will be for the next few months while I'm near the capitol in training. I'll have a different address when I'm out at my village for two years. On Monday we'll be going to live temporarily in nearby communities to really get immersed in the language and culture!
Love and miss you all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)