Thoughts - On goals/anxieties/what seems meaningless...

Just some thoughts before I head off to site tomorrow - Goals, anxieties, and why PC is important

Goals for the first two to three months

-->Dance parties every Friday with my host family

--> Eat meals with as many families as possible

-->Study Bambara every day with my host family

--> Tutoring

--> Promote education in any way I can - reading, studying, etc

--> Be social with my family, especially if I feel like I want to hole myself up in my house

--> Learn at least one Malian dance very well

--> Learn to make tea

--> Go to as many ceremonies as I can

Challenges I am anticipating during the first two to three months

--> Exhaustion from greeting and chatting

--> Boredom

--> Loneliness 

--> Frustration because I am not working

--> Frustration with kids or adults who call me a Toubab

--> Frustration with not being able to understand the language fully 

--> What we like to call the emotional roller coaster of culture shock and homesickness

--> Missing touch and hugs 

Why it's all worth it

I heard a story the other day about one of the Peace Corps staffers, who, as a child, had a Peace Corps volunteer live in his house as the volunteer's host family. He was just a kid when the volunteer lived there, but the impact that volunteer had changed his life forever. 

The volunteer used to always push the importance of education and was always, always seen reading. All the time. What would seem as a pointless act of entertainment for the volunteer had an effect so strong that the host dad so strongly encouraged education to his son. As a result, he (The PC staffer) now has his master's degree and a full time, reliable job with the Peace Corps. He is probably in the top 0.5 percent of Malians. 

This is phenomenal and inspirational. And yet it defines the change Peace Corps makes every day. To us, stuff like washing our hands with soap, talking about gender equality in America, befriending Malians and thus showing them a gentle, peaceful side to Americans, learning the local language that other NGOs don't, participating in ceremonies, and discussing the importance of education at dinner...it's so hard to see the results of these seemingly unimportant daily activities. But it has an impact. 

Having a master's degree in Mali is phenomenal. Seventy five percent of this country cannot read or write. SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT. That's three out of every four people who can neither read nor write. And oftentimes, it's women. It's 50 year old Malians, 15 year old Malians, full grown adults who did not have adequate access to a quality education. We take our education so forgranted in the US. Mali has one of worst literacy rates in the world, no doubt that it highly affects the problem with poverty here. SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT. That blows my mind. 

The fact that a former PCV was seen reading, and informally discussed education with his host family, and it thus pushed a family to send its son to school, broke a generation of poverty in Mali. 

Anyway, that's why I am here. That story is the most inspirational story I've heard here. We may not be affecting millions of Malians every day, but little by little, dooni dooni, as we say in Bambara, little by little, we can make an impact. 

Here goes two months! 

Laura 

All about Swear in...At the Presidential Palace

All About Swear-In...At the President of Mali's palace!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 my stage, "The Kennedys," as our PCVTrainers named us, 61 Peace Corps trainees, swore in by taking an oath administered by the US Ambassador to Mali, Gillian Milovanovic, and became official, US federal government-recognized, Peace Corps volunteers. 

Me at swear in in front of the US, Mali and Peace Corps flags

Our oath, and about the oath: 

An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” This section does not affect other oaths required by law.

This is the opening speech by Bocar, our training coordinator

First Time to Swear In at the President's Palace

We dressed up in our finest, tailored Malian outfits and went to the President of Mali's palace. This was, for the first time ever, in Peace Corps' 40 long years of service to Mali, the first swear in hosted by a Malian President. In fact, President Amadou Toumani Troure, even spoke many kind words about Peace Corps and the work it does. The full Presidental cabinet attended our ceremony, as well as hundreds of employees of other NGOs, Returned Peace Corps volunteers, Peace Corps staff and US Embassy staff. 

Notable Speeches!

Our Peace Corps Country Director, Mike Simsik, also spoke, in addition to the US Ambassador to Mali. 

“During these last 40 years in Mali, Peace Corps volunteers have worked at the grassroots level to assist communities throughout the country. Volunteers bring their energy, interest in other cultures, and desire to help others to create sustainable solutions for communities that they serve,” said Peace Corps/Mali Country Director Michael J. Simsik. “I am grateful for the generosity of the President of the Republic of Mali for hosting the ceremony. It speaks to the strong friendship between the Peace Corps and Mali, which continues to strengthen with each passing year (Courtesy of Peace Corps, http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1762).” 

The Ambassador, who went out of her way a few weeks ago to visit us during training, also had some incredibly kind words to say about the work of Peace Corps in Mali. "They are the best that America has to offer the world,” said Ambassador Milovanovic. “I salute their courage, their enthusiasm, and generosity. I cannot imagine a better way to show the American people’s collective commitment to working hand-in-hand with the people of Mali.” 

US Ambassador to Mali giving her speech

Volunteers Speaking in the Local Language

The ceremony was beautiful. Right before the President spoke, selected Peace Corps volunteers who were swearing in, gave speeches in their local languages. Our stage (the group of trainees I came in with in January), had individuals learn a total of four languages during PSt: Fulfulde, Malike, Dunnoso and Bambara. My language is Bambara, the language that 80% of Malians speak. The volunteers learn these local languages and are placed in specific sites in which the vol's community speaks the language learned. These languages represent the people in the regions of Mopti, Kaye, Mopti and Sikasso/Koulikoro/Kaye/Mopti.

Swearing in volunteers, Giving the speech in Dunnoso

Giving a speech in Bambara

Meeting the President after joking with him that he was a bean eater.

The President Spoke at our Swear In Too!

The President of Mali spoke for about five to 10 minutes about his appreciation for the work PC does in Mali, and the importance of our work there. After the President's speech, we went outside for a small ceremony and food. The food was so delicious! There are kabobs, appetizers, and cakes and cookies. There was a Peace Corps Mali 50th Anniversary cake awarded to Peace Corps by the President as well.

The President, Amadou Toumani Toure, or ATT. He said he would be in the PC if he were American!

Our Stage Name: The Kennedys

The night before our swear in, all the Peace Corps trainees, and almost all the other 200-ish volunteers in Mali, got together for our swear in celebration. We stayed in Bamako, in the nicest hotel I've seen thus far, with functioning toilets and showers, and AIR CONDITIONING! (That made us all sick because we're not used to it). The PCVs planned the entire excursion, and we went to two separate clubs that played Ameriki music all night. Dancing in Mali is a big workout, because you sweat so much, but it was a blast! Anyway, at the first bar, our fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Trainers, who have been with us from the start, answering our questions and concerns during PST, finally gave us our stage name. 

The tradition of the stage name has existed in Mali for decades now. The trainers name the new stage, based on the personality and events that took place, during that stage's PST. Our name is The Kennedys! They said this was because of the 

1) 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps, initiated by President John F. Kennedy, (and extremely notable 40 years of Peace Corps service in Mali, 2) Haha, special treatment our stage received, having rique talent show, getting Peace Corps rides, having our swear in at the President's palace

Unofficial Stage Name: The Moustage

Although our official Stage name will always be The Kennedys, our unofficial stage name is the Moustage. The reason why, is because most of the guys in our stage grew out mustaches to meet the president. There were handlebars, and a bunch of other mustaches that apparently have names. It was pretty ridiculous, and we all bought T-shirts with a huge mustache on the front and "Moustage 2011" on the back. Our stage has personality, guts and a sense of humor too!

This is my friend John, one of the many dudes who wore ridiculous mustaches for swear in

Some of us from Djialakorobugu, Marlow, Josh and me. Note Josh's ridiculous mustache. 

The Moustage!

Big Thank Yous

It was a beautiful ceremony, and I am grateful to be where I am today. Mali is an amazing place, but its people are what makes it so special here. Gotta give a shout out and Thank you to the US taxpayers, for supporting such a wonderful program, that changes thousands of Americans' lives for the better each year, and thus, makes America a better, more enriched place. 

The outside of ATT's palace

If I were to go straight from this point, you'd be able to see all of Bamako on his overlook

A big thank you should go to our LCFs, who are the backbone of our cultural and language learning, and thus the backbone of our success here in Mali. Thank you to family and friends back home who have offered up so much support, there is not enough I could say to thank you. It means A LOT. 

And a big thank you to the Peace Corps staff, in Washington and Mali, who worked tirelessly to place us in our sites, make this experience special for us, and train us to be successful volunteers. 

More about the Swear in ceremony: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1762

Official Peace Corps Volunteer, 

Laura 

Saying goodbye to my host fam, swearing in

So much has happened in the last month! Here are some highlights: 

--Successfully completed homestay in Djialakorobugu. I cried so hard as I was leaving my family and saying good bye, that my host mother was giving me all these blessings, and I couldn't even say "Amina" because I was crying so hard! I could never say enough good things about my host family, they gave me everything they had and took me in as a member of their own family. 

This is my host family at Djialakorobugu. I was named after my host mom (in the blue), Ramata Samake. These are the kindest people I have ever met. 

This is during a dance party at my concession, that Marlow and I had. The kids love it when you dance! No matter what kind of dance you do, they love it! 

LOOK AT HOW HAPPY THEY ARE! For our dance party, we got the kids to join in, and they laughed so much, learned new dances and had a blast with us. 

Awe, good bye to my old house in Djbo!

Packing to leave the next day from homestay. 

Love this picture: This is the morning of our thank you party for our LCFs and host families, the day before we left homestay. We had a dance party with our LCF. Haha this was about 8:30 in the morning. There is no inappropriate time to dance in Mali! Here is Josh making a fool of himself, while Marlow and our LCF, Marie Telley laughed. :) Love you Josh!

Josh, Marlow, Marie Telley and me, after a quick dance party for our thank you party to Djbo

After our thank you lunch, all of Djbo, with some of our host families, LCFs and the town dugutigi and mayor

Peace Corps folks - the (then) trainees, with our LCFs

The night before we left, at another town dance party. These are a bunch of cute kids who wanted to take some pictures with the Toubaba. This little girl stayed by my side and stared at me, but was a sweetie. This dance party lasted all day and night. When we returned at night, around 10 or 10:30 PM, it was a crazy dance party. Something that I would be shocked to see in the States! There was choreography and what looked like young, single Malians trying to meet their mate. haha I dont know how to explain it, but there is some major talent in Mali, especially regarding dance moves!

--Completed Pre-Service Training, two and a half grueling months of redundant Peace Corps training, but also two and a half months of enriching cultural training and Bambara language sessions. We had the best LCFs (Ianguage and culture facilitator, or culture and language teacher), who would do extra tutoring after class. We joked with her that she loved to "donke donke", which means "dance" in Bambara. Many of the volunteers say that PST is the hardest part of Peace Corps service because you are literally treated like a child - your days are scheduled for you, without free time at all, you sleep a lot because you're exhausted constantly, you can't communicate, you don't know how to eat yet, etc. Haha I am now a kindegardener by Peace Corps standards! 

These pictures seem so long ago! This was our first Seddie field trip, way back during our first visit back to Tubaniso after the first two weeks at homestay! My trip was to see how Bazan fabric is made. 

This was the FIRST week of class! This was when we were still learning under the (barely there) shade of a tree in a barren field by the soccer field. We used to have herds of bull, donkeys mating, chickens eat our crumbs and little kids hang out in our "classroom." This seems like such a long time ago!

This is our second classroom - at our LCFs house, in a boiling hot hangar that got hotter and hotter during the day. This was our second stay during homestay. So long ago!

Djialakorobugu, our first couple of weeks at homestay. 

--Passed my language exam with flying colors. My Bambara skills are now at Intermediate Mid, which is equivalent to the three years of French I took in college, all in two short months! I studied my butt off during PST and spoke as much Bambara as possible, so that my language skills would be good. Knowing the local language is one of the most important aspects of being a successful volunteer. 

--Swore in as an official Peace Corps volunteer at the President of Mali's mansion!! In PC, they treat Swear in as a very big deal, a very big accomplishment, and no other vols in the 40 years of Peace Corps Mali, ever had the pleasure of the President of Mali not only hosting their swear in, but speaking kind awards about us and the PC. It was all over the Malian news, and we even got a pic with the President! The US Ambassador to Mali officiated our oath we took when we became official PC vols. 

Our stage, waiting for the President ATT to come out

Trying to see what my swear in outfit looked like. Here it is!

Getting ready before Swear in - I wore a Malian outfit with black shiny fabric and purple, blue and orange swirls on it. I have more pics Ill post. 

The chandeliers in the Presidential palace

Here's a link to pics and a story about our swear in: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1762

So, tomorrow, I am headed to site for the next part of my training.I am extremely nervous, but excited. I really love my site's community, my homologue, my neighbors, and my jatigi (host family).  I am going to make a lot of goals, have dance parties with my jatigi on Fridays, go to as many ceremonies and events as I can, and see how education and women's empowerment play a role into the needs of my community. 

Also, here are some pictures you can see, if we're friends on FB. If we're not, add me!! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.932500414699.2555300.16821927

Thank you for your support!

Laura aka Ramata Coulibali 

Two months of "work" - Going to site tomorrow

SITE TOMORROW!
Tomorrow I go to site for two months. During this "integration" period as Peace Corps calls it, we are banned from working and starting projects and leaving site. The point is to focus on language and assimilating into your site community, getting to know your community and its people, and to learn the needs of your community. 


It's a brilliant approach, and I wish all development organizations functioned in the manner that the PC does. Even knowing the greetings in Bambara builds so much trust and respect from Malians, because we are one of the only organizations here to get to know the culture and LOCAL language (not just relying on French). 

This is me at the American Club, pool side, the day we were celebrating officially swearing in as Peace Corps vols! I am wearing the hat I bargained in the Bamako market place for, for literally three hours. I brought him down 10,000 CFAs! This is a traditional Fulani hat, for the people who live in northern Mali, in the Mopti region. This hat is awesome and I hope to bring it back to Ameriki with me!

Many vols say that this integration period was one of the most challenging times of their service. It's such a perspective changer, as Americans are extremely focused on work, work, work and achieving quantifiable results from that work. 


In the next two months, work will be considered:
--> Drinking tea multiple times a day
--> Baroke, or chatting with Malians (Baroke is a major, constantly used verb in Bambara because Malians love chatting and spending time with each other)
--> Eating with multiple families every day
--> Greeting - in my last post I talked about the extreme importance of greeting here in Mali, in the local language. I will probably greet 100 times a day or more.
--> Yaala yaala'ing, or walking around - Being present is going to be a big part of my work during this time. It builds trust and shows Malians that you care about getting to know their community, which goes a long way. 
--> Focusing on my Bambara
--> Performing community needs assessments 

The Bambara language during language class. This lesson was about the imperfect tense and talking about our role as Peace Corps volunteers. It's not to give money, but get to know our community, its needs, and working with our service (first priority project) to bring ideas to the table. 

I totally love that this is considered work, because the workhorse that I am in America, had I never been here, would probably not value these actions as important to work. Mali has really turned my vision of work upside down, and many other things, and it's such a good thing. I wish every American would do the Peace Corps. This is definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made!! 


With all of this said, the part that will be so challenging about these two months is filling my day with things to do, without having projects to focus on. I've heard vols say that the boredom and loneliness are most challenging. 


I know that a good attitude and taking integration seriously will be the best keys to success during this time, but also, doing things that make me feel sane. During homestay, I did a lot of journaling, random calling home, some reading (Chelsea Handler and Harry Potter, amazing), jogging with other trainees in the morning, and forcing myself to go outside and spend time in my homestay family and community when I just wanted to be alone, but also, spending some time alone when I felt I needed it. 


It also helped when my mom sent me two full boxes of snacks and clothes, because the Ameriki clothes helped me feel like myself again. 

Some of my host brothers/sisters and I - Attitude is everything! It's impossible to be sad or bored when you have so many sweet kids who want to be your friend! My host family at homestay is the sweetest, most generous family. 

To any vols applying for the PC, thinking about it, or about ready to go into your country, bring stuff that helps you feel like yourself. You'd never believe how much it elevated my mood to be able to wear clothes that I would actually wear in Ameriki (Ameriki is the Bambara word for America). Wearing Malian clothes is great, the tailors are awesome, and the fabrics are so interesting and beautiful, but doing that every day, or wearing hiking clothes every day made me feel like I was losing part of myself. These things are very important - we must assimilate and integrate while still retaining who we are. 


Tomorrow is very nerve-racking for me, but I know that I will be welcomed graciously and fully, that my family will be so happy to see me, that they will probably prepare their best meal to welcome me, that my neighbors, the school kids, the butiki owners, my jatigi (host family), and the women's association will probably say "I ni fama! I bisimila!" which means "It's been a long time, welcome back!!"


Malians are generous, giving and love you like you're their family
Malians touch my heart every day by their deep generosity, love of family, willingness to go to any length to make a guest feel welcome, that they take you into their home like you are their family, and their love for other Malians. It is one big community here. One big family. Malians have such great senses of humor, and they always make fun of each other! 


How can you ever be unhappy when the person around the corner is waiting to tell you that you are bad, you eat beans, you are a donkey, you drink nyegen water, you eat donkey meat, dog meat, or you're crazy?? That is so funny! Joking cousins are the best ice breaker, and as my LCF said, the way that all Malians keep each other equal. 


When we were swearing in at the President's mansion, when one of the swearing in volunteers gave a speech in the local language, Bambara, he made fun of the President of Mali by telling him he's a bean eater! But things are "equal" here in Mali, and their culture is beautiful for it. 

This is George, PCV, meeting the President after he just called him a bean eater!

Anyway, if there is ever a time to send me letters or packages, these first two months would be very important. It's challenging, but doable, and going to be a big eye-opener. A big tester to what I can accomplish - all - by - myself. 


My permanent address, from now on is: 

Laura Vest, PCV

Corps De La Paix

BP 71

Koutiala, Mali

Here are some things that would be AWESOME to get in a care package:

--Ameriki snacks!! Such as:

--beef jerky, drink mixes for water, kool aid, Ameriki tea, real, yet instant coffee, fruit gushers, fruit roll ups, granola bars (peanut butter, chocolate chip, etc), pop tarts, cheez whiz (there is NO cheese here), dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries, bananas, apples, etc, cookies, oatmeal cream pies, anything little debbie, cosmic brownies (my favorite), gum, CHOCOLATE (maybe put it in plastic bags just in case it melts everywhere), candy such as red licorice, pixie sticks, blow pops, jolly ranchers, those strawberry candies with the goo inside, etc, mixes for pasta, and anything else that doesnt go bad during the shipping process

--Letter from YOU! I want to know all the details of your life,  what's going on in the world, in your state, etc

--Magazines! Such as Rolling Stone, Vogue, Marie Claire, US, People, etc

--Pictures

--Any new thing that I probably didnt hear about yet, that is still useful here, but is popular

--Any small, kids toys (For example, someone got those rubber band bracelets that are shaped like animals in a care package), this is good to give to little kids in my family

--Small bottle of hand sanitizer, lotion, shampoo and conditioner, etc - I love lavendar, vanilla, but nothing too floral (bath and body works is good for the small bottles of stuff like this, and it all smells wonderful)

--Anything else you think I'd like. 

Thank you so much!! Everyone's support is crucial, and it means more than I could say in words, so thank you. 

Talk to you all in two months! 

Laura AKA Ramata Coulibali 

What's going on in the next week and ACCOMPLISHMENTS in Mali so far

Hey everyone! So I have so much to post, but I am trying to balance Internet time with being social with my stage before we all depart for our sites for the next two years, so I will do several blog posts (Ni Ala sonna - If God is willing) during the next week.

Here's the breakdown of the next week: 
(TENTATIVE - if there's anything I've learned in the PC so far, these schedules are unreliable and change drastically)

--This week, until Tuesday, we are still in Pre-service training, which means that we are at Tubaniso with about 7 hours of training every day.
--On Saturday night, one person from all of our host families comes to Tubaniso for our thank you dinner for our host families. I am taking my host sister, Oumou.
--Monday night is our stage swear-in party. This is expected to be Crazy!!! Woo hoo!!
--Tuesday is the BIG DAY! Tuesday is SWEAR IN! This means that this is the day when I become an official Peace Corps volunteer. I will no longer be a trainee, but a Peace Corps volunteer, a promoter of peace and friendship on behalf of the federal government of the United States of America. (America, how I miss you and appreciate you)
-->Swear in isn't just at any place. Swear in is at the President of Mali's MANSION!!! Yeah, the president of the country is hosting our swear in ceremony. This is a big deal!!!
--Wednesday is...SITE. We leave for site at the butt crack of dawn on Wednesday morning. We head to our regional capitals, where all of our luggage will be, and we can complete any shopping essentials we need for our new homes for the next two years. After navigating our regional capitals and the market, we spend the night and head off to site..FOR TWO YEARS!!!
--Thursday is SITE. This is where Ill be for the next two years! My site is in the region of Sikasso, and my city is called M'Pessoba. Pessoba is named after a giant snake that protects the village, M'Pewa.
--For the first three months at site, we are not supposed to start projects. The reason PC does this is to really integrate into our communities. We get to know our communities through various tasks, feasibility studies, SWOT analyses, and other forms of analyses. Im keeping very minimal expectations, because I have learned that in the PC, your expectations are constantly challenged and shattered, and to set yourself up for happiness, it's best to keep expectations to a minimum. There's a saying here that the best volunteers have no expectations. Sounds good to me.

So that's that. Things are going really well here, and as you saw, last time I was at TSO (Tubaniso), I was feeling a little homesick. Well, I got over that, and am just soaking up this week with other Americans, free time with Internet, and the fact that we have ceiling fans and running water and clean nyegens without cockroaches at night.

Speaking of cockroaches in the nyegen, for this post, I wanted to post about some accomplishments since arriving in Mali. Here it goes.

(in no particular order)

Mastering the Nyegen
--I finally bathed and used the nyegen at night. This is huge because I saw a cockroach in there, and I powered through it anyway, without freaking out. FINALLY, on my last night at homestay, I was able to work through my fear of the mutant monster cockroaches and get it together long enough to get through a buck bath after dark. Go me! :)


Pre Service Training
--Ummm. PST (preservice training). Two months in Mali!! This is a huge accomplishment because this is hard. As my bestie, who is serving her country in Ukraine with the PC put it, this is the hardest thing she's ever done in her life, but she loves it. I completely agree. Peace Corps is the loneliest I have ever been in my life, and the longest I've gone without a hug from another person, but so far so good. I've made it two months. It's going to get harder at times, but whatever "hardship" I'm facing is really nothing compared to the purpose for being here. It's also a big deal to complete PST because this is the micromanaged and dependent on others I have ever been. I mean, you can't eat yet (don't know how, here in Mali), you can't communicate, you can't use the nyegen and you're resorting to grunting and point most of the time, that sucks!! If you know me, you know I don't like being dependent on anyone, but it wasn't half as bad as you'd think. Going with the flow is big here, and I think I have really learned to do just that. It has served me well.

Greetings!
--Greetings are vital to assimilating into Malian culture. You must greet every person you see on the street, even if they're kind of far away, and it does take a lot of time to greet every person in the village every time you see them. Greetings are a way of showing respect here. And because Malians are indirect communicators and normally don't say exactly what's on their minds, we learned in a cultural session that if you don't greet Malians, they will say that they didn't see you. Malians saying they didn't see you when you were right there, is their way of saying you either didn't greet them or you have disrespected them in some way. We always joke around that if we don't greet each other (other PCTs) that we didn't see that person. Ahh, I love Malians and their indirect communication.

Proof that I have accomplished a feat regarding greetings, is that for our superlatives for PST, my town voted me as "Most Intense Greeter." If you've ever worked with me, you know that the word intense accurately describes my work ethic and usually the jobs I take, and Mali is no exception. The reason I was voted "Most Intense Greeter" is because I insist on greeting everyone, and going through all the full greetings when I do. I even stop to greet people, which most of the other trainees don't in my homestay site. AND I know a bunch of slang greetings that you only say with younger people, or those younger than you.

The greetings usually go like this:

(Depending on the time of day - Ill go with morning)

A. I ni sogoma! (Literally means you and the morning, but is how they say Good morning here)
B. Nse (or Nba if you're a man), I ni sogoma! (The polite way of responding, and is gender specific)
A. I ka kene? (How are you?)
B. Toro te! (No problems, or I am fine)
A. Somogo ka kene? (How is your family?)
B. Toro t'ula! (They are fine)
A. Here sira? (Peaceful night, aka Did you sleep well/in peace?)
B. Here doron! (Peace only!)
A. Nse!
B. Nse! (The end of greeting)

And then B will greet A with the same questions and A will answer the same way, whether or not their family is great or whether or not they slept in peace only. Our LCFs told us that even if you are dying, you always answer that things are fine, your family is fine, etc. You always answer initially like this, until you have gotten deeper into the conversation, and then you can go into more details.

Blessings
Blessings, like greetings, are very important here. Malians do blessings for everything - when someone is feeling sick, when someone dies, when you travel, when you leave a village, when someone helps you, when giving directions, when leaving a butiki (store), when begging for money, with all ceremonies, such as baptisims, naming ceremonies, weddings, funerals, when arriving in a village, when doing work, when waking up, when going to bed, when leaving, when meeting people...many, many blessings.

I can't say I've mastered blessings, but I feel confident in my blessings ability and my somewhat diverse knowledge of blessings at this point. I know four blessings for going to bed, one to get kids to stop begging for money, the blessings for every time of day, three blessings for a person sick and one for when someone passes away. These are a lot of blessings to know! And Malians are very impressed with even one blessing that you know. It's a great way to build respect in my community. Here are the blessings I know so far:

Blessings for each time of day:
Ala ka tile here caya! = May God increase the peace of your day.
Ala ka wula here caya! = May God increase the peace of your afternoon.
Ala ka su here caya! = Good night/May God increase the peace of your night.

Blessings for people who are sick
Ala k'i segin i yere ma = May God return you to yourself.
Ala ka nogoyake = May the pain lesson (I think...)
Ala ka toro dogoye = May God lessen your bothers (something like that)

Blessing for someone begging money
Ala ka san = May god give you money (something like this)

Blessing for butikitigi (store owner)
Ala ka sugu diya! = May God/May you sell everything in your store

Blessings for going to bed
Ala ka su here caya! = May God increase the peace of your night.
Ala k'an kelen kelen wuli = May we wake up one by one (because if everyone in the village woke up at the same time, it would be a logistical disaster, so it's believed that waking up one by one makes the day go more peacefully)
Ala ka si here la = May your night have peace.
Ala ka dugu numan je = May the village/morning be good.

Bargaining in the market
I have successfully bargained in the market a handful of times now. I can go to the market by myself and bargain in Bambara. I am still learning the relative prices of everything, but once I know that, things will be smooth sailing. You must first greet the butikitigi (store owner), and the important thing to note here is that because I am white, most often the first price they give is skyrocketed, because some Malians think all white people have a lot of money. Here's a quick breakdown of bargaining in Bambara:

A. I ni sogoma butikitigi!! (Good morning store owner!)
B. Nba!
A. I ka kene?
B. Toro te!
A. Somogo be di? (How's your family?)
B. Toro t'ula!
A. Buru b'i fe wa? (Do you have bread?)
B. Owo. I b'a fe ka jolie don? (You want how much?)
A. Buru kala. Nin ye jolie ye? (One loaf of break. How much is it?)
B. Keme. (500 CFAs)
A. O ka ca!! A barika! (That's expensive! Reduce it!)
B. Ayiwa, bikonontan. (ok, 400 CFAs).
A. Buru di yan. Wari yan. (Give the bread here. Here's the money).
Ala ka sugu diya!
B. K'an ben! (Good bye)
A. K'an ben!

I actually have no idea how much a loaf of bread is, but this is a typical situation in Bambara of purchasing something small and bargaining. I remember thinking of money here, which is extremely complicated, and bargaining combined with that, and thinking that I'd never be able to do that. It just takes doing it and practicing it to get over that fear.

These aren't your typical, American-style accomplishments
What I love about this, is that none of these accomplishments would be considered American-style accomplishments because they're not results, numerically-based, quantifiable accomplishments. But I love that. I've learned that in order to be happy and successful (success being very relative), it takes a good attitude, low expectations and extremely small victories. Extremely, Small, victories. They say learning the language and establishing relationships are the keys to success as a SEDDIE, so I have taken both of these things very seriously, and am adjusting well while picking up on the language well.

I really love Mali, the culture, the way they see family, but especially the people here. They would give me the clothes on their back and the last food on their plate to make a guest or another family member happy. Here they take you in as if you were literally family, give you their best chair, do everything in their power to make you comfortable and happy. The family unit is the most important thing here, community is everything. Shame is the biggest demotivator here.

I also feel accomplished in that I have kept a good attitude most of the time. I believe that attitude is everything. It colors or discolors our perceptions of the world, depending on how we see things, and thus, makes or breaks our experience and how others view us.

Anyway, Im delusional at this point, as it's almost 11 PM and I have yet to accomplish staying up after 10 PM without being extremely tired.

Ala ka su here caya!!
Ala k'an kelen kelen wuli!!
Ala ka dugu numan je!!
Bonne nuit! Good night!