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Wednesday,
August 31, 2011
Malian
Skirt :)
Two
days ago Fanta took Mom and I to a clothes maker with a pagne
(length of material) that I'd bought in the market. One pagne
is enough to make me a full length, wrap around skirt, but not
enough for a top too. That was fine though, because I really just
wanted a skirt this time. When we got there, Fanta greeted him
and had a little bit of conversation while Mimi got some pictures
of the machines and materials. Then the owner brought out a dress
that Fanta had ordered a few days before and was now finished.
It was a gorgeous gold material, with stitched gold flowers, and
they'd put an amazing fancy lime green stitching down both sides
as well as around the collar. Then she gave him the material I'd
brought along and told him what I wanted. He didn't take any measurements
right away, but when I asked if he needed to he only took two.
I guess the simple skirt I got didn't need more than that. Fanta
wanted to take her dress and get the stitching stretched out by
someone down the street, but Mom and I were still curious about
the way that they made their fancy stitching with a special machine.
So she took Jonathan and went to the other place while Mom and
I watched the guy thread his machine. It's different from a regular
sewing machine, but other than that I can't really describe it.
It was really cool though, he made flowers and swirls and loops,
and even spelled Mimi's name lol. I get a few pictures of him
doing it on a scrap piece of material, and then the material when
he was done. Then we left soon after, because Mimi's camera battery
was dead lol.
Then
today, Fanta took us back and we picked up my skirt. We had to
wait for a short time for him to get it, but it was exciting stuff
when I finally saw it (: I told him over and over again, 'a ka
ni' (it's good) because it really was. Now I can't wait to wear
it on Saturday and show off my authentic Malian skirt (:
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Monday,
August 29, 2011
Sprinkler
Weather
Yesterday,
it was hot sunny morning and the Littles were feeling the heat.
Mimi, Yakou, and the older boys had gone to the kulu for a hike
so it was just me and the Littles pretty much. I went upstairs
for a few minutes, and when I came back down they weren't in the
living room or dining room... or anywhere I thought they'd be.
Then I heard some squeals coming from around the corner of the
living room and yup, there they were... playing in the water hose
(: Sarata, Jonathan, and Bakary were taking turns splashing and
spraying each other with the hose on the flat concrete area, in
the sun. I ran back upstairs to grab my camera and got a ton of
pics. This may be Africa, but little kids who are hot will still
run in a 'sprinkler'. They had soooo much fun and were probably
out there for at least an hour. I only got them to put their clothes
on and come in by telling them it was time to eat lol.
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Tuesday,
August 23, 2011
Origami
On
Sunday, Dad & Paul had gone to get our new motorcycle (which
was exciting:), and Claudia & Matthias had gone to town to
do some grocery shopping. So Mom and I were left to entertain
the kids for the morning. Sometime after breakfast, Mom had found
an Origami book she got from someone here. So... we decided to
take it down with some square papers and see who we could find
to do some origami with us! At first it was just Mom and I, making
sure we could do some of the simple folds :) then Flo came into
the family room and Mom asked him if he wanted to join. He said
yeah, but motioned he'd be right back, and walked back out. Pretty
soon he came back, with Bouboucar and Jeremy with him. Amadou
joined in when everyone else sat down and we started with making
a duck. The Littles couldn't do it themselves, but they all asked
me to make them one. So I'm pretty sure I can make a duck now
without having to look up the directions. :) That was a pretty
easy one, and then the guys wanted to look through the book to
find another one. It was excited to see them really enjoying it
and flipping through the pages looking for one they really wanted
to do. The one they found, no surprise, was a hat (Mom called
that one). First we made ones with smallish pieces of paper, but
when the hats were all finished, they were to small. So we got
more paper and cut bigger pieces for them. The paper wasn't really
origami paper and kinda flimsy so I doubt they've held up to today
(two days later), but they had fun with them for a while. Flo
finished his pretty quickly, and was soon making other things.
All he needed really was the idea and the basic concept of folding
paper before he produced an airplane! It was pretty good too,
I didn't get a good picture of it, but I did get a picture of
his welding/knight helmet :) I think the guys had fun (I did)
, and it was something really good to occupy them for the morning.
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Tuesday,
August 23, 2011
Bakayoco
Yesterday,
Dad and I were coming back from a run up on the kulu at 12:00
and we met this guy we'd talked to once before. He lives right
across the street from one of our cooks, and we knew him as the
guy who speaks Spanish lol. Who would've thought that someone
in our village in Africa would speak Spanish? Well, we got talking
to him, for a while. In our whole conversation, he used some French
and Spanish and a little Bambara, and sometimes a few words of
English. I was trying really hard to follow along with what he
was saying, and at first Dad and I thought he was naming a bunch
of countries that he wants to travel to. He did tell us that he'd
been to Spain for a while, but then we finally realized (when
he said 'donde de') that he was trying to find out where we were
from. Of all the places he named (all 'white people' places btw)
he never once said America. Even when we told him we were from
the US, he was naming places in Latin America and stuff. lol,
it was an interesting conversation, mostly us trying to figure
out what in the world he was saying, but by the end he invited
us to have dinner with him sometime in his maison. I don't know
when we'll go, but it oughta be interesting too :) Oh, and we
also learned his name finally. He told us it, then spelled it
out in the sand. That was probably the only reason I remember
it because I forget things sooo easily when I just hear it. Dad
spelled his name out too, then I spelled mine. So we had a pretty
good visit, and it was good practice listening to someone speak
absolutely no English and figure out what they're saying, it was
actually pretty fun :)
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Friday,
August 19, 2011
Ping
Pong Pandemonium
Yesterday,
Bakary got out the Ping Pong paddles and asked me to play with
him. So we went over into the Multipurpose Dining Hall where the
table was set up. Playing with the Littles is really just trying
to keep the Ping Pong ball from going crazy, or them. :) But after
he got a little warmed up, he was hitting it on the table and
we got a few hits back and forth before he'd get excited and just
whack it again lol. After a little while Bouboucar came in from
outside and Bakary took a break while Bouboucar and I played an
actual game of Ping Pong. He's getting better every time we play,
and it's a ton of fun for both of us. Every time I play with one
of the kids I think about Gym Class with Sarah Johnson :) Every
time we had a choice of playing B-ball or soccer or Pickelball
or Ping Pong, it was always Ping Pong. One difference here though,
you're always in danger of getting squirted with a water gun :)
Sarata, Bakary, and Matthias got out the little water gun and
a few bottles and decided to sabotage our intense game. At first
they came around the outside and got Bouboucar from the back through
a window. I was laughing at first, but 10 minutes later I heard
pitter-patter feet behind me and turned around to their sneak
attack on me! They'd get me a little wet before I chased them,
then sneak back again when I turned around to serve the ball.
It was a new level of difficulty in the game of Ping Pong, playing
and dodging shots (of water). They eventually found someone else
to go torture, but I was nicely cooled off by that time :) Bouboucar
and I played for a whiiiiile, and eventually he wanted to go back
outside with the other guys. Then Jonathan asked me to play with
him. Haha, you can imagine a 3 year old with a Ping Pong paddle
and ball. We tried playing on the table, but it was alllll over
the place, so I came around and stood a few feet across from him
and we tried just hitting the ball back and forth to each other.
Ohhhh my goodness, that was funnier to watch than before. He tried
to hit it to me, but it usually went straight up in the air and
he'd close his eyes really tight and duck his head, just waiting
for the ball to come back down and bonk him on the head. And when
I'd hit it to him, he'd try to hit it, but usually just missed
and kept swinging as the ball bounced past him. I got a video
of it, but the camera was hanging around my neck so it's not the
best. I'm gonna try to load it, but it might take to long with
this internet connection, we'll see. But anyways, he usually ended
up chasing it around the entire Dining Hall, trying to hit it.
It was soooo cute to watch and more fun than actually playing
lol.
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Monday,
August 15, 2011
An
Idea of What It Takes to Prepare Lunch
Our
cook, Elizabeth, that usually comes during the week to cook lunch,
called Paul this morning because for some reason she wasn't able
to be here today. So today Fanta is the one cooking lunch, and
I went down to help early because it's a bit of an unexpected
responsibility for her. I pounded black pepper, dried chilli peppers,
green peppers, and onions, though not all at once.
Wait,
before I could actually pound it all up, the onions had to be
peeled and washed. So then I could pound that stuff and the spices.
Matthias unwrapped the chicken and beef boulion cubes that go
in the sauce while I was doing that. Oh, somewhere in between
peeling onions and pounding spices, Fanta had me help her cut
up the hunk of meat she bought. I held half of it while she cut
off thick pieces for each person. They don't use cutting boards,
so you really need two people to do it. Then it was on to peeling
cucumbers. They always use a knife, but after a little while I
ran up and got our vegetable peeler. That went soooooo much faster
and it saved a ton of cucumber too. When you use a knife to peel
anything, you're gonna get more than just the peel if you don't
take the whole day to do it.
Next
thing. After having been ground into flour this morning by the
man next door, the millet had to be sifted for the patties they're
making instead of rice today. I can't believe I'm saying this,
but I wish we were having rice lol. The millet patties aren't
bad, but I like the rice a lot better. But that being said, sifting
millet flour is a LOT easier than picking through rice! So, I
think I got everything, but if it was just one person doing all
of that it would take allll morning long for sure!
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Monday,
August 13, 2011
Surprise
Rain
This
morning, we set out with 7 kids to go to the Banankabougou Market
to shop for clothes (: It was little bit cloudy, but mostly sunny
when we left, but by the time we'd gotten into the market (just
10 or 15 minutes) it was raining, and getting harder. Paul knew
no one would be selling things at the market now, so we went to
Elizabeth's (Paul's step-mother) house to wait it out. She lives
only 2 or 3 minutes from the market, and we reached her house
soon enough for the boys on the back of the truck to run in before
getting soaked. Those of us in the cab thought we'd just stay
inside where it was dry still lol. A little later though, Adama
came out because they were asking for Paul inside. When he went
for it, I ran close behind and only got my hair messed up a little
(: I followed him in, through a door, a small room, and then through
a curtain into another room. It had two curtains up, dividing
it into a smaller quarter and 3/4 larger room. The boys were eating
some rice Elizabeth had given them and just waiting in the dry.
There was only one small light, right above the door, but enough
for us to see. When I came in, after taking my shoes off at the
2nd entrance, Elizabeth gave me a stool to sit up off the ground,
and soon later she brought out a drink for all of us. I'm pretty
sure it was the same millet dough balls that's in our cereal sometimes,
mixed with nono (milk) and sucre (sugar). It tasted pretty good
to me, but I probably wouldn't have thought so 3 months ago. To
say the least, my taste has adapted to African cuisine. :) We
left when the rain was just a drizzle, and headed home. The market
wouldn't be busy for a little while yet, so we decided not to
wait for people to open up shop again. I got a few pictures, but
the darkness inside the house wasn't very good for picture taking.
Oh well, I have the mental photos (:
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Monday,
August 4, 2011
African
Bushman
Wednesday,
we had the Baker's (another missionary family we've met at church
here in Bamako) over for lunch, games, and a hike in the hills.
Mom and I made two regular, round pizzas and then everyone got
their own section of baquette to create their own unique pizza.
We had our own little Pizzaria going on lol. After that delicious
lunch, we headed out for the hike, and exercise some of that pizza
off. We climbed up the initial rocky slope, to the big magnificant
waterfall, and took a break enjoying its beauty. Then we hiked
the rest of the rocky terrain until we were standing in the big
basin plateau at the top. This is were I start my runs, and there
are several other green hills to climb, that give you an awesome
view of Bamako city. We started up the dirt road that eventually
gets to one of these hills, but after a while Lois, Ruth, and
Micah needed to head back and get out of the sun. Dad, Rob, Mads,
and I continued till we got to the base of it, then hiked off
the road to get up to the very top. Getting up to the tippy-top
we sat for a while, trying to find different places in Bamako
from our vantage point. After a while we headed back down, but
not exactly the way we'd come up. As we were approaching a huge
bush (and I mean huge, it was taller than dad and as big around
as it was tall) dad was the first to notice a puff of smoke come
up onto our path. When the second one appeared, we realized it
was coming from inside the huge bush. The next thing we saw made
us all laugh. Out of a little hole at the bottom of the bush,
there was a foot sticking out! Hahaha, we found our own first
African Bushman in Bamako, Mali, West Africa. :D
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