Merry Christmas

The Peace Corps is aging me... I look older than my 23 years. I don't really have a mustache, though... that's just from lack of shaving regularly.

Christmas rocked in Mali. I rode a camel (which is seriously uncomfortable), slept on the fringe of the Sahara Desert (which is seriously cold), and rode fast in an offroad vehicle (which is seriously bumpy). All in all, it rocked.

I celebrated the Tabaski/Li-ah/Eid/Muslim New Year in my village and I ate more meat than I have in one day than in all 5 months here combined. My village slaughtered around 40 animals (which is seriously bloody!) and roasted them all throughout the day. That's a lot of meat for around 200 people. Between all the meat and around 15 rounds of Malian tea, my body was wracked and I didn't sleep that night. The villagers doned their finest white robes and went out into the fields to pray during the morning. Following the prayers, we all went to the local imam's house where he slaughtered lambs and goats, then to the local chief's house where he slaughtered more animals and people tooled around on motorcycles. Then, the slaughtering culminated in the slaughtering of a cow and lots more sheep and goats at my jah tigi's (host family) house.

I am going back to village this afternoon for a few days and will return to Douentza for New Years. After that, it's on to Bamako for In Service Training and hopefully some Americanized Food.

I read a quote from a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia in the 1960s. It was something along the lines of "I respected the Ethiopian customs and culture, but I could never fully adapt. I am just an incurable American!" That's me. As much as I enjoy village life, I can't stay away from Douentza where there are some modern amenities (although I still lack electricity and running water), I'll never wear the Malian clothing again, I cook semi-American food almost daily, I value American contacts (as I don't have to explain myself because the cultural values are innate), etc.

In other news, I have adopted the Peace Corps Stare. Upon first arriving in Mali, I noticed something odd and spacy about the current volunteers. I couldn't quite place it, but something was definitely different with these people who had lived in Mali for an extended amount of time. Speaking with the current PCVs, it was difficult to get their attention at times, as they would be staring off into space lost in some unseen fog. This is the Peace Corps Stare and it comes from spending hours, days, weeks, and months as the solitary American in a village where you are constantly lost in thought. You are able to tune the world out and find some comfort within the deepest recesses of your mind when you can't figure out what is going on around you... this happens way more often than you can imagine. The Peace Corps Stare is pretty serious and it can be difficult to get the attention of someone caught deep in it. It's almost like a zen/trancendental activity where you become completely immersed in your thoughts and leave the physical place you're actually in. I've been caught in this Peace Corps stare and my villagers have to scream "Amadu! Amadu! Ada milla faa hewi!" (Amadu you think too much!) in order to get my attention. It can definitely take some work to get me back into reality from the Peace Corps stare! This is definitely a useful tool I have adopted in order to pass the time at site and on those terribly uncomfortble bus rides.

Have a great New Year! This post is sporadic and doesn't make much sense or explain too much, but that's where I think I'm at right now. Hopefully I can find a faster computer to post more pics, as I have tons of awesome new ones.

Quick Post

I climbed the mountain, and it was awesome. I didn't think I would be in Douentza right now, so I didn't bring my camera. I will get pictures up at some point because there are some wicked good ones. I climbed with Eric from Nebraska and Fikru from Colorado. He camped in a cave, had a bon fire, drank some cheap whiskey out of plastic bags, and listened to country music while warding off imaginary hyenas with hollers, whoops and my big machette! There could have been hyenas... I think our fire, noise and big knife just scared them off. We WERE camping in a cave in the middle of Africa!

I wrote an e-mail to Dylan today and I am gonna post it here because it gets some points across about prospective Peace Corps service and may give some people a better idea of my life here. Hope he doesn't mind me posting it.

"what up?
Good to hear from you. You're seriously applying for the Peace Corps? That's awesome. We're gonna have to have a long talk on the phone sometime so I can explain many things to you. What I can tell you right now though is that the Peace Corps is the most contradictory life experience you'll ever have that combines the lowest of lows with the highest of highs that equal up to one wild emotional rollercoaster. I've only been here 5 months, and I have 21 to go, but I feel like I've lived an entire other life since I arrived. My thoughts, rationals, opinions, values, and everything else have all changed. I hope for the better. I have really learned to slow things down and take life as it comes, as I have FAR too much time to sit, think and refelct upon the past events of my life. It is one hell of an adventure and I am enjoying it thoroughly... minus becoming violently ill and having delirius fevers from time to time (they can be scary sometimes... combo of crazy malaria meds and high fever delirium equal really bad drug trip from a movie!) Combine the lows of the sickness, lonliness, feelings of isolation, etc with the highs of climbing mountains, speaking multiple languages, experiencing new cultures, and generally rocking and rolling and you can almost begin to understand the contradictory emotinoal rollercoaster that is Peace Corps life.
Apply sooner than later so that you can hone in more on what you want. I was too eager to just begin my service and took the first prospect that came. Had I waited, I may have got South America. I have actually forgotten almost all of my spanish now! My head is full of Fulfulde, Bambara, Dogon and French... I hope I don't forget English next! I spoke a little spanish today. but it was harder than pulling teeth. Anyway, as to getting what you want out of the Peace Corps app process, it is wierd how things work out. I am very happy in Africa. I love my village (we grow some tasty mangoes and guavas), have made awesome friends, have seen some terribly amazing sites, and opened up possibilities that I never knew were possible. Africa is poor, but the hope, happiness and resilience that the people harbor here is beyond words. It's just incredible. Strive for what you want, but if you don't get it, just go with what you get. It should work out. The Peace Corps is an amazing way to discover not only the world, but yourself as well. I read yesterday in a Hemingway book that traveling to different, exotic lands will not change you nor erase your problems because you are who you are. This is true to an extent. What you can attain from travel is a broader base to build upon. You can take everything in that you see, hear, touch, and smell and use it create your life the way you want. The Peace Corps is a great way to site back from 2 years, build up your resume, learn an incredible amount, hone in on what you want out of life, mature, and focus yourself.
I wish you luck and please feel free to send me questions any time. I hope this e-mail helps you out. Good luck with finals coming up and tell everyone i said hey when you see them over winter break. Hit up some mountains for me, as I won't see snow for another 2 years! If you need a friend to write a recommendation for you I will gladly write it up over the internet. who knows, maybe having an official PCV speaking on your behalf will give you some weight!
-Dave"

Take care everyone!

Here is the mountain we're climbing next weekend!

This is my buddy Salif playing with Rufus. I think he's like 12 years old. The kid studies the Koran and speaks about 4 different languages... he is very bright and helps out when we us PCVs are in Douentza.

This is me and Rufus hanging out in Douentza... as you can see he really likes to gnaw on my hand.

I start teaching English tomrorrow... I have never taught before, so this should be a trip. Ha teaching English through Fulfulde!

I traveled north into Gao on an overnight bus to celebrate Haloween a few weeks back and it rocked. On Novenber 1st my friends and I hopped in a small pirogue that barely floated (it's many leakes were patched before my eyes) and rode 2 hours down/across the niger against the current through rice paddies until we came to the Rose Dune. The Rose Dune is immense and rises from the banks of the Niger; it is a mini desert in the middle of the Sahelian region. As the sun was setting, we hiked up the dune, and, as temptation proved too strong, we rolled down losing everything in our pockets. It was just like going to Sandy Neck with Grandpa when I was little... only 10 times bigger and in Africa! The first picture is a view from my seat in the Pirogue and you can see a thin pathway leading through a rice field in the middle of the Niger.

This following picture is of the dune from the river. Sadly a picture just does not do justice to the immensity and beauty that the dune projects when you are seeing it for real. To the top, it's about a 20 minute walk from the banks of the river, which by no means is anything extensive, but the view is awesome from there. On one side is the Niger with the shores of Gao lighting upon the opposite bank. The other side stretches endlessly in a mix of Sahelian/Saharan landscape; the sandy ground cover is pocked with low, tough shrubs and small rising dunes.

Here I am looking uber-Peace Corps with my jeans rolled up, scruffy face, shoeless and the ever present Nalgene dangling from my pants.

I finally got a dog and his name is Rufus! Here he is playing with his favorite toy. It's really just a bunch of rags that I tied together, but he loves to rip it apart. Now I just need to teach him how to play fetch. Any advice on how to effectively train a dog? I am desperately trying to westernize him and it is working to an extent, but it's a lot of work. Believe me, I have plenty of time, though! He pretty much eats anything I give him... even beans! I didn't think that one would go over well, but he really enjoys them. He jumped out of the basket I tied to my bike the other day and scraped himself up badly, but he is healing and there doesn't seem to be any lasting damage; he's a dumb dog, but at least he's tough. Jumping from a moving bike at about 25km/h!

Thanksgiving was good and thanks to everyone I was able to speak to on the phone last night. That was truely awesome and it really made my night. I just wish I could have been there with all of you! Everyone sounds like they are doing really well staying healthy and that is all I can really hope for. I actually had an America-ish meal of duck, pork, cranberry sauce, pasta salad and sangria and it rocked so much. I am still full almost 24 hours later. My body was definitely not used to the richness of the food, but it was so worth it!

I'll hopefully be able to update this blog around Christmas if not sooner. I am going on a hiking trip next to Douentza in about 2 weeks and will get some really good photos. I have plans to go rock climbing in Hombori at some point in the near future. Christmas will most likely be spent in Dogon country, which definitely entails hiking. The next month should be filled with these types of fun activities. And, this week I am going to see about teaching english in the village next to mine. Finally.... real work to do woohoo!

So you wanna know about my work...

Great news! I finally know what I am supposed to be doing here, and it only took three months! This week I had a tutor from Bamako come up to my site and stay with me. I had around 30 intensive hours of Fulfulde training and I am now able to speak about my work, conjugate the differenet verb forms with a lot more fluidity (I still speak Fulfulde like a Dogon because of my village), and have really increased my vocab knowledge. My tutor, Dauo, acted as a translator one night in a conversation between me and my homologue. Basically, my village has three main goals that they would like to accomplish. First off, the village received funding a few years ago for a seed and cereal bank. A small stoarage house has built and some seeds and cereals were bought. The village was able to increase profit by loaning seeds at first. People were able to pay back the seed loans with interest and the bank was running successfully. One day, the accountant running the books just up and left with all of the moneym leaving the villagers back at square one. My first job will be to find more funding to build a new and improved storage house and large stock. In January I will return to Bamako for inservice training and learn all about the Peace Corps Partnership Program and how to write grants/proposals and receive funding. This goal seems easily attainable and I am really excited to get it going in the coming months.
The second goal or the village is to improve the productivity of the community garden. Right now (mini hot season) the village is harvesting the millet that was grown in the rainy season, which is their main food staple. This will be accomplished within the next month. The next step is to begin working in the garden during the cold season. The villagers grow tomatoes, onions, garlic, bananas, mangos, papayas, lettuce, lemons, and other various fruits/veggies. Basically, they want me to introduce ways to increase crop yield so that they can eat more food that contains the necessary vitamins to maintain good health and to increase profit when they sell the goods in market. For the next three months I will be doing "farmers field school" experiments in order to see what works best. This means that I will take a plot of land in the garden, divide it into sections and change one variable (while the rest remain constant) in order to see what works best to increase crop yield/health. I will be experiementing with different natural fungicides, insecticides, and fertilizers. This should be some really exciting work that produces results that I can see and share with the villagers.
The third goal is more complicated, but it includes water conservation techniques during and after the rainy season because they receive so little rain this far north and it always comes and goes at different times. I am not too sure as to what I can do for this, but I will be able to look into digging wells, building irrigation canals, slowing soil erosion, and working on compost. This job should be a trip, but I will go into it head first.
All in all, I'm pumped to finally know what my village wants to do and it is really driving me to learn Fulfulde faster so I can work more effectively.

I might get a dog today! I am just waiting for these little kids to bring it over to the house I am staying in. I told them I want a black male puppy. The black dogs here always look so much healthier and cleaner, and I don't want a femals dog because I don't want to deal with 10 puppies in the future. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Anyway, it's about that time for my 25km bike ride home woohoo! Caggal Jooni.

Updates from the north!

I'n here!

PETA members look out, I'm now a proffesional turtle surfer! This tortoise lives at the training center and only has one eye. He spends his day running into people sitting on chairs to knowck them over, busting through screen doors to scare the girls and chasing everyone around... he can really move! And, he loves to mess with people.

So, on the way up to site 2 weeks ago we got into a pretty bad bus accident. After leaving Bamako early in the morning, the bus was heading north at the usual breakneck, horn blasting speed. About 30 minutes into the trip I was dozing in my seat dreading the 15 hour sweat box ride when the driving started honking incessentaly. Normally the bus driver hnoks to move cattle, goats, birds, pedestrians, other cars, small children, etc. This time he was really laying it on. The driver then slammed on his brakesm careened left and I was shaken from my nap rather violently. I pulled the curtain from the window in time to see a small white truck bounce off the front of our bus, skid off the road, and come to a grinding halt. There were a few men in the back of the truck and one was flung out onto the ground... luckily he was ok except for some pretty nasty cuts on his back and elbows. The front of the truck was crumpled in like tinfoil bu the driver was able to walk away from the accident. On the other side of the bus a man was pushing his moto, which you can see in the pic above. When he was the bus coming straight at him, he ditched the moto, which was dragged under the bus like a vacuum, and ran off the road as we barely missed him! The bus went off the road, blasted through a stand full of gasolinem broke through an open sewer covered by increments of concrete and missed plunging into a drainage ditch by a mere 8 inches. Looking at the scene of the accident, I couldn't believe that we hadn't flipped. Being on the bus, it felt like it was going over, but the driver handled the situation very well.

This is my house at site and the guys hanging out are some local villagers. As you can seem it's not much more than a pile of rocks glued together with mud, but nonthe less, it is the nicest house in the village because it is brand new and has a door and windows that close AND lock! Imagine that!

Hey Dad I got some of your Munsell Appraisal Service hats out to my Malian counterparts. The man on the rightm Ousman Kassambaram is my homologue and I will be working with him for the next two years. The guy on the left is Tijani Ongoiba and is kinda like the village go-to guy. He can fix everything.

This is me and my friend Ben right before going to swear-in dressed in our finest Malian outfits... kinda like a pajama party!

I'm in the club!

Alright, i'm now an official Peace Corps Volunteer! after 2 months of intensive training at homesite and Tubani So, we all (76 people, I think) swore in at the American Embassy in Bamako. The cermeony was long and conducted in French, Bambara, Sonrai, Fulfulde, Tamasheq, and Donnaso.... so basically I didn't understand a word of it! There were brief explanations in Englsih, but they were few and far between... even people that I didn't think spoke French went up to the podium and addressed the crowd in French.

After the cermemony we were invited back to the American residence where the Ambassador and his family live. There was a ton of amazing food which included kabobs, rice, beans, salad and bread. After that we went back to Tubani So and had a cookout (sort of...) with hanburgers, Ruffles, Doritos and French Fries... I ate more yesterday than I have in the whole 2 months I have been here so far. Hopefully I put on some of the 12 pounds I've llost already.

Last night there was a party for us at a club called The Pirates Club... cheesy pirate jokes were told all night... it was awesome. Later we stayed at a hotel and went swimming almost until the sun came up. I was able to sleep in a room with air conditioning, but now my lungs are kinda messed up... go figure. A lot of people got a cold from just sleeping in such nice conditions.

Today I had some pizza and am just hanging out at the Buearu Office and may go to a party for Malian Independence Day (which is today) hosted at the American Club by the local marines.

I leave for the Mopti region on Sunday and will be installed at my site on the 26th. Basically, my birthday is going to be a very different sort of birthday this year (for thos of you that don't know, I'll be 23 on Sept. 27). Malians don't generally celebrate birthdays, rather they only know the year they were born on, but not the day... and thos are the more educated Malians that tend to life in more urban settings.

Birthday wishes aside, I'm really pumped to get up to site and start doing my community based assessement to determine which projects are actually feasible. It is oging to be ridiculous only communicating in Fulfulde because my level is barely communicable. I did pass the test easily and am able to communicate basic ideas, but living in a community of Peuhls and Dogons is gonna be a trip for sure! I will be able to see some Americans at least once a week or every other week when I have to go into a large market area to buy food supplies.. I definitely can't live in "to" alone. I bought a gas tank and 3-burner stove, and the Peace Corps gave me a cookbook, so we'll see what I can cook up!

That's about all for now. Next time I update this I'll have a pretty good idea of what life in my village of roughly 100 people is like and I'm sure I'll have many new culture shock stories.

Oh yea, I got walked in on again by the little 2 year old girl when I was taking my bucket bath. She stood there staring at me until I finally doused her with a cup of hot water (malian feedback???) Hahaha that got her out of the nyeggan real fast . Don't worry, that water wasn't that hot.... it's just i was naked and she wouldn't stop staring at me. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

A Few Pictures

My host father, Amadu, on the left and his uncle listening to the radio and making tea at their home.

Here I am alive and well at Tubani So. This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago.

These are my host brothers and sisters posing by one of the many cows that my family here owns.

Here is the house that I stay in at my homestay village. The room with the blue around the door and window is mine. You can see one of my host brothers and host sisters.

A quick note

Chuck Norris once shat from a two story nyeggan... and got splashed!


haha i hope you all appreciate that one as much as I do!

Bus rides, fish, beer, and animal sacrifice... just another day in Mali.

I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. I only have about 3 weeks left until I finally finish training and swear in as an official PCV and I can’t wait. Over the last week I have traveled north to the Mopti region, met many current PCVs already in the area, checked out my site near, and have become so optimistic for my future. The adventure began when my Malian counterpart, Ousman Kassambara, came to Tubani So for training and to take me north to the village. We struggled through communication in my limited Fulfulde abilities, but managed to get on a bus due north. I traveled with my counterpart and about 8 other PCTs and their counterparts. The bus was hot, crowded, smelly, and packed to the brim with people, animals, baggage, bikes, and car parts. Air conditioning on the bus consisted of periodically opening and door and quickly shutting it. I probably sweat out more water than I could drink, which helped because I didn’t really have to pee that often during the 12 hour ride to Sevare. At Sevare we were told to all get off the bus and stay at a hotel called Mac’s Refuge, which ended up being the biggest mistake in my favor! Once off the bus, Peace Corps vehicles showed up to take us to the hotel and realized the mistake when they counted us. Ted and I were supposed to keep traveling the 3 hours further to Douentza! Instead, we got to have an amazing dinner of steak, green beans, and French fries. After, we had a few beers at a bar and then ended up at the hotel where Braxton sliced his hand open on the ceiling fan while trying to set up his mosquito net. What a mess!
The next day I woke up first around 5, took a long shower, used a toilet (a first in Mali in over a month of being here!), and ate a huge breakfast of brewed coffee, pancakes, and fruit (more firsts!). Peace Corps vehicles dropped Ted, my self, and our counterparts off at the bus station where we got on another bus for the 3 hour ride to Douentza. After about an hour, we were stopped by the Gendarme (bush police), who came on the bus and checked everyone’s IDs. Continuing on our journey, we made it to my site in roughly 3 hours. Ousman and I were met along the road by some of the local villagers and they helped my bring my bike, bag and mosquito net tent the ½ kilometer into the village.
I was brought past the mosque to my new home, which is brand new and awesome. It is made of rocks and held together with some mud and sticks. There is a rock wall around the house, which serves as a fence creating my own little compound. I have a double bathroom outside… one side for bucket baths and the other for, well, other. The only problem is that some villagers have peed in my bucket bath area… my sanctuary of clean! They completely defiled it and I have vowed never to take my sandals off in there. I will address that concern once I can figure out the correct Fulfulde words.
The villagers built me a huge overhang out of rocks, lumber and palm fronds that keep my pasty skin sun free during most hours of the day, so I am very fortunate for that. And what a task building the overhang was. They didn’t let me help, but I understand why now. I am amazed anything gets done the way they work. For 4 hours the men yelled, argued, threw mud at each other and made obscene gestures. When the dust finally settled and the mud slinging stopped, I somehow had a beautiful new overhang in my yard. It rocks.
Upon arriving in village, my new neighbor asked me if I liked to eat chicken. Of course I eat chicken! He left and came back about 10 minutes later with a squawking chicken, a big knife and a mission. Before I knew it, the chicken was dead and there was a pool of blood in my compound. Nice. Next thing I knew, he left with the chicken and came back with a goat. The goat was kicking, screaming, etc and he told me to come with him. I followed the guy to his house and he put a chair out for me and motioned for me to sit. Before I could even get my butt on the chair, the goat was on the ground, neck slit, head reeled back, and blood was spouting out into the air! For a solid 15 minutes the goat-turned-Pez-Dispenser was breathing, kicking, sputtering, and writhing on the ground as I watched in disbelief. My neighbor then picked him up, sliced off the skin, which was more like violently ripping the clothes off an unwilling person/goat (?) until it was “naked.” He then sliced open the belly, pulled out the insides and went to town hacking away at the body. What do you know? Another first for me. Butcher shop 101.
I had four meals that afternoon/night and stayed up late drinking tea in my compound the village men. Around 11pm I went to sleep for the first time in my new home and couldn’t have been happier to get the rest.
The next day I was introduced to all the members of the community (I think there are about 100… it’s a wicked small village) and given a full tour. Beyond the village is an amazing mountain backdrop, which I cannot wait to climb and check out the view. Coming down from the mountain is a stream that apparently runs all year and is my main water source. There are fields that climb the mountain and an oasis of banana, mango, and papaya trees that line the banks of the stream and spread out beyond it. My counterpart said that in mango season we goes to the stream, plucks mangoes from the trees, and eats until he is full. I can’t wait! There is a community garden that is rather large and disorganized by the stream where I will be doing a lot of work and experimentation with differing crops, fertilizers and composting methods. I will also be updating an existing seed bank and creating a cereal bank for the village (I had initially planned on captain crunch, frosted mini wheats, and cinnamon toast crunch, but I will have to settle for rice, millet, and sorghum…bummer).
The rest of the visit to my village consisted of eating massive loads of “to,”a bland, disgusting dish made of millet and a baobob leaf sauce… and apparently a lot of sand, drinking lots of tea with the locals, bumbling through Fulfulde, running (seriously, running) to the bathroom, and sweating like a maniac in the heat. Oh right, I was able to convey the fact that I don’t like fish. I said, “Mi namata liddi.” –I don’t eat fish. My counterpart said, “You don’t eat any fish?”
-nope, no fish.
-what about big fish?
-no fish.
-what about small fish?
-nope, no fish.
-fresh fish?
-no.
-how about dry fish?
-really I don’t eat any fish!
The next day I had four meals, all before 11am! The first was a giant bowl of “to” smothered in a fish sauce. My counterpart says, oh you don’t eat fish! He then pulled out all of the fish, smiled and said everything was ok! It was not ok… I nearly threw up gagging and forcing that damn fish paste down my throat!
I also went to a baptism on my last day, which was really unique to see. All the men sat in one area while a prayer was read. A goat was then slaughtered (of course!) and then we hung out and ate dates… which are really tasty. I was then given a kola nut, which the old men like to chew on. It is a stimulant of some sort and has the most bitter taste I can imagine. Popping the kola nut into my mouth and beginning to chew, every last drop of moisture in my head has automatically siphoned to the kola nut in a mad rush! I started laughing and spit everywhere as all the men laughed at the strange white guy who had no idea what he was doing! I eventually got the hang of it and actually enjoyed the kola nut experience. Go figure.
I met PCVs that live in and around Douentza, who will be my main means of keeping my sanity and making sure that I don’t forget English over the next two years. I spent a night in Douentza where we went out to a local bar that was full of all guys just dancing with each other (no, it wasn’t a gay bar. Malian omen are deemed prostitutes if they go into the bars…. And yes, there were prostitutes there. One guy was offered one for about $4. Thank god he said no.) We had a few beers, laughed at the guys dancing and ate goat kabobs until our stomachs bulged. The following day we woke up at around 6, caught a bus back to Sevare and met up with the rest of the PCTs and PCVs in the Mopti region in order to travel back to Bamako the day after. Traveling here sucks, but it is a necessary evil. On the way back this woman was staring at me while chewing some root like Mr. Ed that was getting all over her face. It was probably the least attractive thing I have ever seen. Because she was sitting in the bus aisle, she kept elbowing me, then, she decided to go to sleep under my armpit. Later, she sat on my arm rest and kept scooting backwards until she was practically on top of me! I wanted to throw the woman off the bus, but instead I just fumed. She was just so imposing and I wanted my personal space. Another 12 hours later, we made it into Bamako, stopped at the Peace Corps office, got some food down the street, caught a ride to Tubani So and now I am here and ready to become a full fledged volunteer.

Anyway, I’ll be going back up to Mopti at the end of September and my new mailing address will simply be:

Corps de la Paix
Dave Munsell, PCV
Douentza
Mali, Africa

Overall, life is good here in Mali and I can’t wait for the next chapter in my Peace Corps adventure. I have seen what my future here looks like and I am really pumped for it. The next few weeks will focus more on the technical side of training and I will hone in on my Fulfulde skills as well. Look for more updates to come.

I'm connected!

Hey I got a phone from the Peace Corps yesterday and picked up a brand spankin new sim card in Bamako today. Try calling me at +223 506 5799. Depending on how you call, you might have to add a 001 and maybe another 0 or two before the +223. I think that's what you dial to get out of the US, into Mali and to my phone in particular. Use Skype.... it's cheap and easy.

TIA man, TIA

Where to even begin? I'm back at the training site for a few days until I take the public transportation (or the "green box of death" according to Gumbo) up to the Mopti region to check out my new digs for the next 2 years once I become an official PCV. I don't know much yet, but I will post plenty of information later when I return from Mougui (my new home!). Apparently I will be living in a "rock house"... I envision a castle surrounded bya a moat filled with nile nile crocodiles, spanned by a draw bridge hoisting giant waving flags... we'll see.

The last week in Sala was a trip. I had my first language test in Fulfulde and scored novice-high, which is apparently pretty good. I can communicate basic ideas, almost joke around, and get things that I need. I spend much of my time pointing at things and learning the names with the ids... they are definitely the most patient. I really can not wait until I have some sort of a basic understanding of the language.

Another tale from the nyeggan. I was taking my nightly bucket bath, which I have grown to love. It's really very calming when you're cleaning and methodically pouring warm water over yourself. Anyway, when you're in the nyeggan you are supposed to put something over the wall, that way other people will know that you are inside. Per usual, I put my shirt, my lacrosse shorts and my towel over the wall. Three red flags announcing that I am in there... and probably in my birthday suit. So I'm taking my bucket bath, splashing water around, soaping up, making some noise and I think I hear someone shuffling. I figure it was one of the 30 cows that live in my front yard and continue with my bath. I stand up, pour the water over my head, open my eyes and my host father's 65 year old uncle pops in and screams for his life! I thought I gave the poor man a heart attack from the pure white sheening off my birthdays suit. I gave him the full monty, and he was definitely more embarrased than I was! HAHAHA oh well... that's Africa! He should have seen my clothes hanging over the wall!

Moving on, it is very common for men to hold hands for extended amounts of time in Mali. Really extended amounts of time. The other day we all went to a ceremony for a man's father who had died 6 years ago. The man is always stopping by our language classes and saying hello in about 8 different languages. He calls me George Bush Jr for some reason, so I call him ATT (the President of Mali). It seems to work. He decided to give us a tour of his farm after the ceremony, took a bunch of pictures of us in front of different trees, and showed us all his land. After a while, he took me by the hand and lead me around for a good 30 minutes. The whole time he was laughing, smiling, saying things in French and Bambara that I had to repeat. It was akward. Anyway, I had a lollipop and was enjoying it, not realizng how goofy and socially akward this looked. Me being led by a Malian yb the hand while enjoying my lollipop. Finally, it all clicked and I broke down laughing in the middle of the field. He only held my hand tighter and laughed along! Everyone else started cracking up, Derick took a picture which I have yet to see, and we walked hand in hand all the way back to the language hut! This guy must have thought I was having a great time, but all I wanted was my hand back!

That's all for now... I'll write some more later.

By the way, I'm healthy woohoo!

One request

Please send mail! Anything... letters, postcards, pictures... whatever!

Dave Munsell
Corps de La Paix
BP:85
Bamako
Mali, Africa

Oh yea, I found out that I am moving to the Mopti region in 6 weeks (after training) to a village near Douentza... check it out!

Wow...

I'm back at the training center for 2 1/2 days of, well, training! I got back from 2 weeks at my homestay site and it was a trip! I live in a little tiny mudbrick house in a village down a long bumpy, watery road. There are about 30 cows and chickens that live in my front yard as my family are Puehl herders from the Mopti region. They moved to Sala in 1986. I have taken on the name of the father so everyone calls me Amadou Bary. It's pretty cool and I get to feel really accepted. He has two wives, Fatumata and Diko, six kids, tons of relatives and two houses. My family here does pretty well for themselves. I can tell because they feed me sheep almost every day, which is expensive. All I want is some chicken oh well. There is no running water in the village, no electricity, no plumbing, etc... I have to go to the bathroom in a little hole in the ground called the nyeggen. It's not fun. I got really sick from eating too much goat and sheep intestines all the time in oil... it's what they feed me. I don't eat it by choice! I have to eat it out of a big bowl with my hand and it's wicked messy, but I am starting to get better at it. The sickness was a real bummer because I was running to the nyeggen every 15 minutes for 3 days and I was dumping out of both ends... simultaneously, which i didn't even know was possible! I definitely avoid laying on the nyeggen floor after throwing up to avoid all the flies and cochroaches. My little room is always covered ni crickets, really loud big bugs and a yellow and purple gecko that shows up a few times a day. The room is painted light blue from the peace corps... all the trainees rooms are blue, with blue around the door and window outside. We call it "toubab blue" so everyone can find us. I have a tin roof that collects massive amounts of heat and amplifies the sound of rain to something resembling a jet engine. It's actually cooler than I make it sound.

I was bit a few times by a bug called a "blister beetle." Yea, it injects acid under your skin, blisters up, pops, and deteriorates all the skin around it. Real fun. So that happened on my arms and chin the first week. Those healed up, but I have a nasty burn scar on my arm. It's a sick battle wound. The clincher was waking up last week with a new blister beetle bite between my eye and nose. That was the worst pain and it was all gunked up and bleeding... I thought I was going to lose my eye. No worriers, I just washed it all the time, applied bacitracin and a week later I'm all better. Woohoo!

On a better note, I sit around outside on a mat every night, read, write stuff down, try to speak Fulfulde with my host family and watch the sky. It is HUGE in Africa. I wrote a ton of haikus one night out of pure boredem and recited them to my fellow PCTs... they loved the creativity. I'll post some up when I get a chance. Night time is amazing here becasue it is just so serene and calming in a tiny village. Everyone just hunkers down at night when the sun goes down and relaxes. I have my kerosene lamp to read by and it's pretty much all I need at this point. I have barely even used my iPod so far. I am really saving it for when I desperately need some American culture and technology. Books definitely work for now.

The language I am learning, Fulfulde, is wicked hard to learn because there are so many arbitrary rules on when to change letters, conjugate verbs, make words plural, deal with money, greet everyone a thousand times, etc etc etc it's just insane! I'll get it if I keep pushing on, though.

Mi yahan janngoyde. Jam wallen-en! (I'm going to study. Spend the night in peace)... typical goodbye in Fulfulde!

Moving Right Along!

It's my last night in TubaniSo before going to my host village. We leave here at 8am tomorrow... got med kits, a bike, a helmet, and a mosquito net. Apparently there is a trunk waiting at my homestay site filled with all sorts of goodies. Oh yea, the bike is wicked nice cause it's a trek. I am charging my ipod now so i can bring some tunes with me to help fall asleep at night. My days are going to be real busy... about 6 hours of language training 7 days a week. The village that I am going to is a fishing village, so I figure I am going to lose a lot of weight real fast! I can't stand fish, but I have cliff bars and beef jerkey to eat! I should have brought more M&Ms.

I am really excited to get to my homestay village just north of Bamako and start learning Fulfulde. Fulfulde, also known as Fulani, will be very beneficial to learn because it is spoken throughout Western Africa in different dialects. Because I am an Agroculture volunteer, I will be living in a very small rural village (basically, out in the sticks!) so I will not really have the opportunity to learn French until later... and that's if someone in my village speaks any French. I'm bummed out about that, but excited for the Fulfulde and over experience, nevertheless. I met a representative from my homestay village today and we were trying to communicate with each other, but it was so hard! She has laughing and repeating things while I was drawing pictures and pointing. I drew all sorts of musical instruments hoping they would have them. She gave me the names for them and put her thumb up... we'll see if anyone plays them! After the 9 weeks of homestay are up I will most likely be moving north to the Mopti region.. I have sand in my future! I can't wait for it though. It is the Sahel region that comes up towards Timbukto and Gao... not quite desert, but close. I really hope there aren't as many flies and mosquitoes there because they are insane here! Sleeping in my mosquito net tent is just like camping. We've been calling this place summer camp or africa-light haha. I can't wait to get out into the real world by moving to my village! Look for more posts in a few weeks, as I will be without internet for 2 1/2 weeks.


Dave

I made it!

After about 30 hours of travel, I have finally made it to the training center in Mali known as TubaniSo (too-bawn-ee-so) and it is awesome. I am staying in a little hut with two other guys. There are actually 81 of us here... we're the biggest volunteer class ever! I am having a great time and learning tons and I will move into a village with a host family on the 25th. I'll live with them for 9 weeks until I am ready to go out on my own! Woohoo!

Hey I'm famous!

Cool... someone found my blog and put it up on www.peacecorpsjournals.com. That's pretty awesome. People can find me now.

I guess that means I should put up some info so people that don't know me can have a little bit of an idea of who I am.

My name is Dave, I'm 22 years old, and I graduated from Syracuse University in May 2007. In just under two weeks I will be heading to Mali to volunteer with the Peace Corps as an Agriculture/Gardening Extension Agent (the "Agent" part is definitely the coolest aspect of the title) for the next 27 months. I was originally set to volunteer in Tanzania, but something happened with the Peace Corps (not exactly sure what...) and half the program was cut, so I was moved to Mali and have had an extra month at home to see family, friends and make some money before I go. It has been great to be home for this extra time, but I am real antzy to get going and start the next big chapter in my life. Look for more updates once I get to Mali after July 20.

Alright Then

Well, quite a bit has changed since my last posting. It would seem like I should be in Tanzania by now, but due to changes I was switched to Peace Corps Mali and will be heading out July 20 (I start staging in Philly on July17). I am wicked excited for this and can't wait to go but definitely enjoying my time at home while I have it.

Look for more posts once I actually get to Mali!

Whoaaaaaaa..........

Ok, so I just finished college... or at least the work aspect. I finished up my catering job two nights ago, turned in my last paper, and finished my final exam a few hours ago. All I have to do now is show up and look good for graduation on Sunday. I guess it is time to rock out for the next few days until the family arrives in 'cuse.

Graduation = 5 days
Red Sox at Fenway = 7 days
Peru= 9 days
Staging/Tanzania = 34/36 days

Counting down.

Yeaaaaaa it's coming down

Where to even begin? College graduation is in a mere 18 days away and my life is about to undergo the most tremendous change I could ever imagine. Since beginning kindergarten some 17 years ago (1990), I've always looked forward to the end of the school year and the beginning of summer break. Life was simple; I always had the fall to look forward to when I would return to school. Yes, there were changes in schools, and some as big as entering high school or even going off to live the college life. I always knew I would be attending classes come fall, but now that is no longer inevitable. For the last four years I have lived and breathed college. Friends have come and gone, classes have filled my head with incomprehensible amounts of knowledge, I traveled Europe and studied in Madrid for 5 months, and I've rocked out the fraternity life back in Syracuse. My time at 'Cuse has been amazing and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've realized that, although it is cliche, nothing lasts forever. It has taken a lot of soul searching, but I think I am finally ready to move on. College has been one hell of a milestone in my life, but the next holds so much more for me.
In 22 days I will be heading off to Peru with my father for 10 days in search of a South American adventure. We've booked hostels in Lima and Cuzco, as well as a 4-day hike where we'll be camping along the Quarry Trail en route to Machu Picchu to explore the ancient ruins. I am so pumped for this and cannot wait to share the experience with him.
But the real big news is that in 49 days I will begin my "staging" for the Peace Corps and in 51 days I will fly to Tanzania where I start my training and work as a Village-Based Extension Facilitator for the next 27 months of my life. Tentatively, I will be returning in August 2009! Seeing it in text, it seems so far away! On the other hand, I remember looking at my year book in 5th grade and seeing class of 2003 written on the front. 2003 seemed like it would never come back in 1995. Now, that time period appears just to be another drop in the bucket. 2009... Bring it! I ask myself daily, "Am I seriously doing this???" The answer is always, "Hell yea!" I am going on an adventure... no one gets to go on adventures anymore. For the most part, my friends from college will all be making good salaries out of college, but they will be confined to teaching, accounting and business jobs or going onto further education. I am not ready for that. What would my answer be if I was taking a job working behind a desk in an 8'X8' cubicle and asked myself daily, "Am I seriously doing this???" If you guessed "Hell yea!" then you'd be completely wrong. I can't settle down at this point in my life. Put me in a mud hut! Tell me to grow my own food! Give me a task to help out a village in a developing country! I want to learn through this experience!
I couldn't be luckier having received an invitation to volunteer in Tanzania. When I found out that I would be serving in Africa, I was nervous that the Peace Corps would send me to a country located somewhere in the Sahara Desert. I did not want to live in a desert where water, the essence of life, is extremely scarce. Apparently, someone must like me! I'm being sent to real-life "Lion King" country! Tanzania is surrounded by Africa's largest animal reserve and is home to the Serengeti Plains, Mt. Kilimanjaro, borders Lake Victoria, and is situated on the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean. Almost any animal you can associate with an African safari lives in Tanzania... Elephants, lions, flamingos, crocodile, wildebeests, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, etc.... the list just goes on! I really just have to worry about the tennis ball size tarantulas and poisonous snakes. I'm definitely going to keep my mosquito net pulled tight around my bed at all times!
There is this excitement for my future growing in my eahc and every day. Although I love college and everything it stands for, I am ready to move on to the next stage of my life. I want to see what else is out there. What Africa has in store for me is a big mystery. At this point, I know that I will live and work in a rural village in Tanzania. My work will be focused on agriculture and forestry, including sustainable development farming, environmental protection, and HIV/AIDS awareness. I will learn Swahili (Kiswahili), live at the same level (economically and socially) as the villagers, and learn things about the world and myself along the way. I am nervous to leave my family, friends, and everything I know behind for such an extended amount of time, but I know these are natural feelings. I'd be afraid if I wasn't nervous to leave everything. For the time being, I mind as well get my fill of American culture and do the things I enjoy with my family and friends because my future is taking me along a route that is unimaginable to most. I can barely even believe I am doing it! Still, I can't wait to see what is in store for me over the next 27+ months. Rock and roll.