This Was Only A Test...

First I want to tell a funny language story. In Bambara to show possession over things you add ka to the front. So if I say "N ka Biki" I'm saying "its my pen." N ka wulu would mean that's my dog. Now when talking about body parts you don't need the ka you can just say n kungolo which means my head. So every morning for two weeks a certain volunteer would greet every male in village and go through the normal routine of "how are you, hows your family, did you sleep well, etc etc..., but just for fun she thought she would ask "how's your dog." Unfortunetly she forgot the ka SO instead of asking "how is your dog" she was asking every male in the village everyday for 2 weeks "how's your penis."

Site Visit...
I don't really know where to begin. Every PCV has what is called a homologue in their village so PC brought them down to Tubaniso so we could meet them here and then head to site with them. Mine seems pretty cool, but it was awkward because I don't have much language yet and so our conversations were pretty short.
So my homologue, me and maybe 4 or 5 other volunteers and their homologous all headed up to Severe last Tuesday. It was over 12 hours on a bus that had no air and it was packed and had to be over 90 degrees that day. So that was fun. We pulled into Severe and spent the night at a place called Mac's Refuge. Mac gives PCV's a discount so we can stay there when we are in town for pretty cheap. Pretty cool place. We got settled and went to a "restaurant." Again its a place PCV's go and have been going for a long time and so they know the lady very well and are treated well. It was some of the best food too. I had a steak and some fries and green beans! It was so good. That was Severe. I got in a fight with my mosquito net at Mac's and ended up getting my hand caught in a ceiling fan. Gashed it pretty good.
The next morning my homologue and I found a bush taxi to take us the rest of the way to site.
It took about 2 or maybe 3 more hours to get there. The road is dirt and can be tricky to navigate.

Side note: I think its funny how Americans all think they need SUV's when we have paved smooth roads, but Africans have some the worst roads with giant rock piles and mudslides and the whole nine and they navigate them using tiny Toyotas or French station wagons.

Arriving at my village was a weird experience. There was none of the pomp that surrounded our arrival in Banakoro with the singing and dancing and speeches by the dugutiki. It was almost like they didn't even expect me to come. There was a lot of staring and looks of who are on peoples faces. I sat down outside my homologue's house while I guess they were getting my house ready. I knew going in that Bambara wasn't spoken much in my area, but I very quickly realized how little it is spoken. So that made for an interesting site visit. I think there are 3 people in my village whom I am sure speak Bambara the rest speak a Dogon dialect. That was a very sobering realization and it really made me reevaluate my picture of how the next 2 years are going to go.
My house is nice. Brand new built for me. Its mud brick with 2 rooms, a nice brand new negen, and a big concessions. Right now there is okra planted in it, but in October they said the okra would be done and I can do whatever I want with it. I think I will set up a vegetable garden and maybe plant some fast growing trees so I can get some shade. Shade in Africa is priceless real estate. So now I have a garden to make and a house to furnish. If anyone feels like sending some seeds or some posters for my walls that would be SWEET!
My visit was pretty laid back. There is a slightly bigger town just down the road and I went to the Market and met the mayor and Commandant and people I might be working with or need help from.
The guys in my village like to hang out in my concession. It was pretty cool. I would eat and then we would drink tea and they would talk and every now and then someone would ask me something in Bambara and I would answer.

I did have a big adventure on Friday. PC told us that we had to get to Bandiagara in order to open a bank account. So Friday morning I got up and told my homologue that I had to go. He and about 7 others all walked down the road to flag down transport, but there was none. The only people who drove by were Toubob tourists and I couldn't get them to stop. I tried calling my Regional Coordinator, but cell phone service is sketchy in my village and then my battery died. So about 11:30 I decided to ride my bike into Bankass and try and get transport from there. Its about a 20 Km ride, but it is very nice country and very easy on the eyes. I was biking West and a Toubob car was coming East so I waved and was just saying hello and the bastards hit a puddle and sprayed me with mud. I hate tourists.
I got to Bankass and asked around for transport to Bandiagara. One guy said a car would come and offered me a spot under his hangar in the shade. I sat there for about 45 minutes and nothing came. So the guy hopped on his moto and drove down, came back about 10 minutes later and said he had found me something. I follow him down the road and there is a big dump truck waiting for me. They said they can get me half way and I'll have to bike the rest, but it isn't far. I said cool and hopped in. To get to Bandiagara you have to cross over a range of cliffs and it was very very beautiful landscape. I had no idea the cliffs were so close to my site. It was awesome. We got to the top and they let me out. I hopped on my bike and sailed down the other side into Bandiagara. Of course the bank was closed and PC was gone. I found a cheap hotel and a phone and called my RC again, told him I was in town and that I was staying the night. Fortunately he was in town too and came and picked me up. Chris, another PCT, and Heather, a PCV, were there too. Heather is a volunteer who extended for an extra 6 months and will COS when we swear in. COS means Close of Service which means the volunteers time is up and they are going home, if I haven't told you that before.
I ended up staying the night at Chris's sight and I have to say I have site envy. His site is up in the cliffs and looks a lot like Utah. There is a natural spring where the village gets it water and its hard to explain, but trust me its cool. I hope pictures will come. I know I say that a lot, but they will eventually I promise.
Also since Heather is leaving, Chris is getting set up with a fully furnished house.

So that site is cool and I will spend a lot of time there because Chris is the closest volunteer to me and also Heather has done a community vegetable garden which is my project and so I want to see how she set it up and talk with the people she worked with. It will be good experience for me. My mom wants me to mention that when I talk about a community vegetable garden I don't mean a small jag in someones back yard. These things are pretty big pieces of land and can get complex when you consider wells that need to be dug and storage to be built. So from finding the land to finding the funding from various sources can be a challenge. Especially when you've been learning the wrong language and can't talk to the people you'll be working with. Thanks Peace Corps! *WINK*
But it will all work out and Chris is in the same boat with the language and the Dialects of Dogon in his village and my village are similar so we can help each other with language.

So where was I...
I think Saturday morning? We woke up and Heather wanted to see my site. We walked to the road and hitched a ride in the back of a pickup. It was good to have Heather come to my site because she can communicate and we got a lot of details sorted out like who will get my water and wash my clothes and will I eat with a family or cook for myself and all the details that would take awhile to sort out on my own.

That was pretty much my visit. I think my village will work out really well. They seem really organized and hard working. The language is making me nervous and I know I have a lot of work in front of me, but I also have a lot of time.
Homesickness has been getting to me a little bit lately. I'm not sure why. The hot nights that make it hard to sleep or 12 hour bus rides to and from Mopti, or maybe I'm just on that part of an emotional curve and here soon I'll pick up again. Either way, home has been on my mind a lot lately. I miss it.

So that's my story. Only a few more weeks until we swear in. After that I'll head back to Mopti for installation. I think that the first few weeks at my site are going to have a real "What the F@%$ do I do now" feeling to them. But this probably too long so I'll wrap it up. I have been getting a lot of comments on this and I really appreciate it because it always brightens my day to come back to Tubaniso and see that people are keeping up with it. Feel free to e-mail too if you have specific questions, my e-mail is up here. People sometimes leave questions on my blog, but no return e-mail so I can't answer them and I feel bad. And if you do ask be patient because computers and internet are hard to come by and my days are pretty busy as is. Also I learned Bandiagara's internet is crap. Its expensive and slower than dial up so I'll probably do internet in Severe, I just don't know how often I'll make that trek. The good news is that the internet is Severe is cheaper and faster so there is good potential for a lot of photos when I get there.

Ok I'm gonna go eat lunch.
Peace