Hii!!
Im at an internet cafe in San and thought Id fill you in on the past week...
I got to Bamako last weekend without a problem. Except sitting on the runway for 5 hours in paris. Good thing they make you pay that fuel surcharge so you are able to idle on the tarmac for hours on end. So I got in at around 2am and the sisters were there to pick me up. Night owls!
I spent 2 days in Bamako one of which I slept almost the entire day. The other day I hung out with 2 Austrian volunteers who are spending a school year there. A person that works for the sisters had us over for Malian tea (an art form i dont yet understand but which takes hours) and we spent a few hours with him and his family... while listening to jams like My Heart Will Go On and some obscene lil wayne song that made me glad I was the only there who understood the words.
Next day we left for Touba. 7 hours on the road and then an hour and a half on a dirt road/path. The sisters call the bigger dirt road "The bush highway". So we got there in the evening. I sleep in the boarding school building; but have my own room and shower. It's way cooler here than cote divoire thank god. I have been cold multiple times already. Apparantly though that will change in a month. This is after all the "antechamber" of the desert, according to 1 sister.
In da house we have Sr Genevieve (france), sr adriana (argentina), sr jaquline (togo) and sr lucie (italy). Yes, Im actually here to do model UN.
So heres what I do- i spend half the morning at the literacy center where we practice reading and do a little math. Yes thats right Im teaching them how to read in french and do math. I know few people who are as bad at math as me, but luckily its just addition. I can handle that, but I draw the line there. I also only teach a group of 4 and we have a classroom so its pretty nice. One girl is 21 and shes really cool. Apparantly last summer when she was at home her dad tried to marry her off but she was having none of it and now lives with her grandparents. BOOYAH
Then I go to the dispensary/clinic and hang out with dr Jacques. His french will take some (a lot) getting used to, but he explains everything to me and at the same time hes learniing the words in english. He studied it in school, but wants to get better so its fun.
Three afternoons per week kids come for reading "renforcement" and then after we play for a bit. Next week we are breaking out the games like puzzles and stuff.
Then evening-ish we practice reading with the boarding school girls and at night when they study, Im like a study hall monitor. They are really good about being quiet and studying.
Sure its only been a week, but Im going to go ahead and say Mali kicks Cote divoires butt. And sure we only have 1 president instead of 2, but I like it a lot. The weather is nice (for now) and everyone has been super nice.
Touba is definitely in the middle of nowhere buts its very pretty. Theres not really cell reception there so when the sisters in Bamako wanted the provincial to call them, they had to call some radio stsation and then someone heard it and came to the house to tell her. Its a donkey-cart kind of place that makes me feel like I took a ride in a (hot tub) time machine.
The sisters place runs on solar pannels and has pigs and chickens its like a quasi farm. If you want to iron something (which i dont) you have to put hot coals in an iron.
Im going to go but hopefully Ill be able to update soon! Next weeks looks like more of the same and I think Im going with Sr genevieve to a meeting about giving a pig to a woman like a microloan thing she wants to get going so that will be interesting.
Oh also, I was all "dang Im getting here so late into the school year" but nay. It started in January. Some kids came in december, but thats the harvest season so most came after that. School goes from Dec/Jan to June-ish and they have so many holidays during that.
ok thats all for now
Oh- Bobo is the largest ethnic group here not, as i was shocked to learn, 'bohemian bourgeoise" like that book.
Im at an internet cafe in San and thought Id fill you in on the past week...
I got to Bamako last weekend without a problem. Except sitting on the runway for 5 hours in paris. Good thing they make you pay that fuel surcharge so you are able to idle on the tarmac for hours on end. So I got in at around 2am and the sisters were there to pick me up. Night owls!
I spent 2 days in Bamako one of which I slept almost the entire day. The other day I hung out with 2 Austrian volunteers who are spending a school year there. A person that works for the sisters had us over for Malian tea (an art form i dont yet understand but which takes hours) and we spent a few hours with him and his family... while listening to jams like My Heart Will Go On and some obscene lil wayne song that made me glad I was the only there who understood the words.
Next day we left for Touba. 7 hours on the road and then an hour and a half on a dirt road/path. The sisters call the bigger dirt road "The bush highway". So we got there in the evening. I sleep in the boarding school building; but have my own room and shower. It's way cooler here than cote divoire thank god. I have been cold multiple times already. Apparantly though that will change in a month. This is after all the "antechamber" of the desert, according to 1 sister.
In da house we have Sr Genevieve (france), sr adriana (argentina), sr jaquline (togo) and sr lucie (italy). Yes, Im actually here to do model UN.
So heres what I do- i spend half the morning at the literacy center where we practice reading and do a little math. Yes thats right Im teaching them how to read in french and do math. I know few people who are as bad at math as me, but luckily its just addition. I can handle that, but I draw the line there. I also only teach a group of 4 and we have a classroom so its pretty nice. One girl is 21 and shes really cool. Apparantly last summer when she was at home her dad tried to marry her off but she was having none of it and now lives with her grandparents. BOOYAH
Then I go to the dispensary/clinic and hang out with dr Jacques. His french will take some (a lot) getting used to, but he explains everything to me and at the same time hes learniing the words in english. He studied it in school, but wants to get better so its fun.
Three afternoons per week kids come for reading "renforcement" and then after we play for a bit. Next week we are breaking out the games like puzzles and stuff.
Then evening-ish we practice reading with the boarding school girls and at night when they study, Im like a study hall monitor. They are really good about being quiet and studying.
Sure its only been a week, but Im going to go ahead and say Mali kicks Cote divoires butt. And sure we only have 1 president instead of 2, but I like it a lot. The weather is nice (for now) and everyone has been super nice.
Touba is definitely in the middle of nowhere buts its very pretty. Theres not really cell reception there so when the sisters in Bamako wanted the provincial to call them, they had to call some radio stsation and then someone heard it and came to the house to tell her. Its a donkey-cart kind of place that makes me feel like I took a ride in a (hot tub) time machine.
The sisters place runs on solar pannels and has pigs and chickens its like a quasi farm. If you want to iron something (which i dont) you have to put hot coals in an iron.
Im going to go but hopefully Ill be able to update soon! Next weeks looks like more of the same and I think Im going with Sr genevieve to a meeting about giving a pig to a woman like a microloan thing she wants to get going so that will be interesting.
Oh also, I was all "dang Im getting here so late into the school year" but nay. It started in January. Some kids came in december, but thats the harvest season so most came after that. School goes from Dec/Jan to June-ish and they have so many holidays during that.
ok thats all for now
Oh- Bobo is the largest ethnic group here not, as i was shocked to learn, 'bohemian bourgeoise" like that book.
