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.