(no subject)
Friday morning here in Bamako, and I'm hanging out in ASDAP's Cyber Café because no one else is in the office. There are two guys here who have been teaching me Bambara recently and I've actually started studying it at night too (Lynn and Les had some books around the house.) Not too much new going on, except that I've seen some interesting animals recently. The other day while Trusty and I were running we found a camel on the trail behind a house. It was a bit surprising to see, because while they are very common north of here in the desert, Bamako tends to have only sheep and goats and chickens. Speaking of goats, yesterday when I was walking home I heard this crying sound, so I was looking on all the women's backs for a wailing child, only to see a man walking by me holding a small goat upside down by the legs. I guess there's no PETA counterpart here in Mali. Also, a couple days ago by on my walk home I saw a man doing some sort of animist presentation with a HUGE snake wrapped around his neck and hanging down his body. While Mali is alledgedly a predominantly Muslim country, often I think that the religion is about 95% Animist and 5% Muslim, because there are so many believers in the power of animal sacrifices, signs, and incantations. Walk through the wrong section of the market and your nose realizes before your eyes, because the whole area is covered in dried animals, skins, bones, etc. Quite a distinct scent I must say!
I'm finishing up my last few days here at ASDAP. Today I'm turning in my report (quite a ridiculous story - I'll spare you the details), Monday we're going to Baginada (I don't actually know how to spell it) to see their other facility, and Tuesday I'm just going to come to say goodbye. Next Thursday actually we leave for our trip, though poor Les doesn't get back from Monrovia until Wednesday night. I know he's going to be so tired!
(Brief break because some guy I don't know just came in with a note in English on the European Credit Transfer System and asked me to read it and explain it to him. I don't know who wrote it, but the handwriting and grammer were terrible so I myself had a bit of trouble understanding it. Random...anyways, I was glad to be of assistance.)
The other intern, Dieneva (pronounced Geneva) hasn't been here in a few days, and the doctor who is supposed to be overseeing my internship here just left on vacation Wednesday without saying goodbye, so it's going to be an awkward end, but oh well.
Oh yeah - Last night, like the good southern girl that I am, I made biscuits. Buttermilk biscuits in fact (though it was powdered buttermilk.) They were good, though not quite like Bojangles makes, or like Nana used to make. I'll have to get Samake to try them. He seems to be up for trying new things. There is no real way of translating what they are, because there is no equivalent anywhere else in the world, especially not here in Mali. And for those of you who don't know, biscuit in french refers to a cookie, so no help in just prouncing the word with a french accent, a trick I use sometimes when I don't know the actual translation :-)
I'm finishing up my last few days here at ASDAP. Today I'm turning in my report (quite a ridiculous story - I'll spare you the details), Monday we're going to Baginada (I don't actually know how to spell it) to see their other facility, and Tuesday I'm just going to come to say goodbye. Next Thursday actually we leave for our trip, though poor Les doesn't get back from Monrovia until Wednesday night. I know he's going to be so tired!
(Brief break because some guy I don't know just came in with a note in English on the European Credit Transfer System and asked me to read it and explain it to him. I don't know who wrote it, but the handwriting and grammer were terrible so I myself had a bit of trouble understanding it. Random...anyways, I was glad to be of assistance.)
The other intern, Dieneva (pronounced Geneva) hasn't been here in a few days, and the doctor who is supposed to be overseeing my internship here just left on vacation Wednesday without saying goodbye, so it's going to be an awkward end, but oh well.
Oh yeah - Last night, like the good southern girl that I am, I made biscuits. Buttermilk biscuits in fact (though it was powdered buttermilk.) They were good, though not quite like Bojangles makes, or like Nana used to make. I'll have to get Samake to try them. He seems to be up for trying new things. There is no real way of translating what they are, because there is no equivalent anywhere else in the world, especially not here in Mali. And for those of you who don't know, biscuit in french refers to a cookie, so no help in just prouncing the word with a french accent, a trick I use sometimes when I don't know the actual translation :-)