Moving!!

Well, folks, tomorrow is the big day. I’m going to leave my old village and move into a new village, and therefore begin Good Golly Miss Mali, Version 2.0. I can’t say that I’m looking forward to telling my old village goodbye—after all, they did host me, feed me, and teach me how to be Malian over the past year. But I also know that taking this second opportunity to do what I came here to do will be amazing. It will breathe new life back into my seriously pathetic level of motivation, and I will be happier.

My new village, “D.,” (for safety reasons I can’t publish the actual name of my village) is still in the Sikasso region, which means my address is the same. I’m thankful that I don’t have to totally uproot in order to do this, though to be honest, I’d have gone to any village, anywhere in Mali, that spoke Bambara and wanted to work with me. I don’t know too much about my new home, except to say that they do, blessedly, speak Bambara (actually Julakan, which is just like a redneck dialect spoken in southern Mali and most of Côte D’Ivoire). I can understand them, which is fantastic. I’ve been to visit twice, and so far, it looks great. Once they heard they might get a volunteer if they finished the house, they completed it (roof, floors, latrines, compound walls, windows, doors) in less than three weeks. I’m impressed.

The village is much smaller than my last one, about 500 people. Combined with the neighboring village about a kilometer farther “en brusse” I will have a community of about 800 people. I’m very excited about this. I think the smaller size will help me make a deeper impact and also shorten the assimilation process. They requested an Environment Volunteer to help them with their small-scale gardening and ginger production—to which I add an emphatic “HELL YEA!” I don’t know much about ginger, but I will learn. Prepare for an onslaught of ginger facts, ginger jokes, and ginger recipes in the near future.

Since I go on vacation in a month or so, I am committing myself to spending the next month in D. so that I can integrate as much as possible before leaving for a month. I just used the word “month” way too many times in that last sentence. Month, month, month. It’s a funny-looking word, no? It is also a strange combination of sounds. I guess if you say any word enough it starts to sound funny. In Bambara, the word for “month” and the word for “moon” are the same: “kalo.” I like “kalo.” It rhymes with “malo,” which means uncooked rice, of which I just bought two kilos in market for a gift for my new host family. Mkay I’m done with that tangent.

Anywho, a change of subject. For those of you who sent me letters, I know I’m woefully behind in my replies. I just sent some out with a friend of a friend whom I believe just made it back to the States. Stamps just doubled in price here in Mali, which means, unfortunately, that my letters will be fewer and farther between. They used to be about a dollar, and now they’re well over two. “Just two dollars?” you say! Yea, I know, letters that y’all send are about the same price, but keep in mind I make about $200 a month. My mother literally laughed when she saw my W2. I have some Forever stamps that I brought with me, and I’ll get some more when I see my family. Regardless, I still have to wait until I hear of someone going back to America before I can send some. Sigh. I do suppose I could just put them in the “outgoing” box in the Bamako office and cross my fingers, but then again, I’d have to be in Bamako in the first place, and that’d probably count as an abuse of the diplomatic pouch.

So long for now! Positive vibes gratefully expected. I hope that you’re all enjoying spring time in America, and I look forward to updating in a month! Month, month, month.