Not much in the way of big news to report these days. The highlight of the past week was that we have successfully received a package through the mail here in Bamako. My family sent us a small flat-rate box that arrived here after being in transit for about two weeks. It included such necessities as an oven thermometer, Ziploc bags, cleaner for my electric razor, and some packages of Kraft macaroni and cheese sauce. Exciting stuff, I know. If anyone would like our mailing address here, send me an email (charliemooreiv AT gmail.com) and I'll pass it along. After not being able to get any packages while we were in Kinshasa, this is pretty exciting for us.
It's hard to believe that we'll be going on vacation in just over a month. We're spending a week in Europe before we go home, and are strongly leaning towards spending several days in Munich. Anyone have recommendations of places to visit in or around Munich? After our time in Europe, we'll be in the states for a few weeks.
Finally, in lieu of taking a million pictures of our house we shot a few quickie videos instead and put them up on YouTube. Send me an email and I can pass along the link if you'd like to see them.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A trip to the suburbs
Last Sunday, my wife and I made the hour-long drive out of town to her manager's village outside Bamako. There was a memorial service that day for his aunt which was being held in his village and he graciously invited us to attend. In Muslim countries, there's a tradition where forty days after someone is buried there's a sacrifice and prayer, and then everyone stays to eat the sacrifice. In this case, there were two cows and some goats which were sacrificed, which was kind of a big deal. My wife said that in two years in a village in Senegal, she never saw anything more than a goat being sacrificed for this kind of thing.
We got on the road early Sunday morning before it started to get too hot and made it to the village without incident. The roads here in Mali have been fantastic, by the way - so much better than what we saw in Kinshasa. We averaged around 60 mph most of the way. I don't think I was ever able to go that fast in DRC thanks to all the potholes and traffic snarls.
Once arriving at the village, we were welcomed warmly by my wife's manager and his extended family. His father had four wives, and this service was for one of his wives, though the deceased was not the birth mother of my wife's manager. More like a stepmother, I guess, though he referred to her as his aunt. I hope that all makes sense. The mood was far from somber. It felt more like an Irish wake, though without all the booze (these people are Muslim, after all). There were groups of people sitting everywhere, and I can't count how many hands I shook and greetings I exchanged with them. Everyone was incredibly kind and welcoming, and I didn't feel out of place or like an outsider at all.
We spent most of the day sitting around in the shade. The primary focus of our energy was moving our chairs from shady spot to shady spot as the sun made its way across the sky. While the men sat and talked, the children looked after each other and played, and the women prepared the food which was rice and meat from the animals killed earlier that day. People were also eating rice and beans, and there was lots of strong tea being served througout the day. I was up late the night before and must have had five cups of tea. Despite the heat, my wife and I both had a great time. The food and the company were both top-notch, and it was refreshing to get out of the city and be a part of what most of the country of Mali is really like.
We had to be careful when we took out our camera because all the kids would come running over and want to have their picture taken. This never got old to them. We did get a few shots of the rest of the goings-on that day.
Here's some of the women cutting up onions for the meal...
and cooking up giant pots of rice...
and here's some of the meat, cooking in a pot (note the spare parts at the top of the picture).
Most people sat under a large tarp that offered protection from the sun...
while a few fortunate souls were able to cool off in a bucket.
We took a short walk around the village where I helped a girl pull water from the well...
and showed off my rippling muscles.
And finally, here's a shot of my wife with her many adoring fans.
We got on the road early Sunday morning before it started to get too hot and made it to the village without incident. The roads here in Mali have been fantastic, by the way - so much better than what we saw in Kinshasa. We averaged around 60 mph most of the way. I don't think I was ever able to go that fast in DRC thanks to all the potholes and traffic snarls.
Once arriving at the village, we were welcomed warmly by my wife's manager and his extended family. His father had four wives, and this service was for one of his wives, though the deceased was not the birth mother of my wife's manager. More like a stepmother, I guess, though he referred to her as his aunt. I hope that all makes sense. The mood was far from somber. It felt more like an Irish wake, though without all the booze (these people are Muslim, after all). There were groups of people sitting everywhere, and I can't count how many hands I shook and greetings I exchanged with them. Everyone was incredibly kind and welcoming, and I didn't feel out of place or like an outsider at all.
We spent most of the day sitting around in the shade. The primary focus of our energy was moving our chairs from shady spot to shady spot as the sun made its way across the sky. While the men sat and talked, the children looked after each other and played, and the women prepared the food which was rice and meat from the animals killed earlier that day. People were also eating rice and beans, and there was lots of strong tea being served througout the day. I was up late the night before and must have had five cups of tea. Despite the heat, my wife and I both had a great time. The food and the company were both top-notch, and it was refreshing to get out of the city and be a part of what most of the country of Mali is really like.
We had to be careful when we took out our camera because all the kids would come running over and want to have their picture taken. This never got old to them. We did get a few shots of the rest of the goings-on that day.
Here's some of the women cutting up onions for the meal...
and cooking up giant pots of rice...
and here's some of the meat, cooking in a pot (note the spare parts at the top of the picture).
Most people sat under a large tarp that offered protection from the sun...
while a few fortunate souls were able to cool off in a bucket.
We took a short walk around the village where I helped a girl pull water from the well...
and showed off my rippling muscles.
And finally, here's a shot of my wife with her many adoring fans.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Furnishing
I think we're just about done getting the things we need for the house. We still need some curtains, but I bought a rolling computer chair while walking around downtown this morning, and on Sunday we picked up a living room set. We opted to buy it from a roadside stand rather than a regular furniture store. These are all over Bamako - someone sets up a little stand on the side of the road and starts building and selling furniture.
Here's one selling wicker furniture...
And another with tables and wardrobes...
Most of the furniture that these places sell isn't anything that stunning, but we did our best to find something that was reasonably comfortable and not covered in animal-print upholstery. We settled on a four-piece black pleather set (two chairs, a loveseat, and a couch) for the princely sum of 230,000 CFA (about $475). The salesman encouraged us to go for the white pleather over the black, noting that the white would match the beautiful white of our own skin (his words). A good point, but we ended up going with black since the white would have lent our living room a Miami Vice sort of look. The price even included delivery, which was the most exciting part of the transaction.
As you might suspect, a low-fi roadside operation such as this didn't have their own fancy delivery truck. Instead, all four pieces were piled on top of a beat-up taxi that resembled a 1988 Ford Escort. All four pieces of the furniture set were roped into place, and we guided the driver and the furniture salesmen to our house which was about a mile and a half away.
Here they are, posing in front of our house. The salesman is on the left, and the taxi driver is on the right. The taxi driver was a pretty tall dude.
The furniture isn't too bad - I've already logged a couple naps on the couch. If we get two years out of it, I'll be happy.
No luck in finding any furniture at the embassy garage sale a few weeks back, although we had some major scores such as an ironing board, a few sets of bedsheets, a toaster, and a brand new pair of Levi's 501 jeans in 31/32, which is a size I can never find in America, let alone at a garage sale in Africa. That toaster was key - there are no toasters to be found around Bamako. Don't people want toast with their eggs in the morning? Or a tuna salad sandwich on toast?
Once we get some curtains up in the next week or so, we'll have pictures of the house.
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