Hey everyone.

Finally the moment you've been waiting for... PICTURES!!!! Ive been waiting until I have a fast enough speed to upload pictures and now that I'm back at the training center I have a good connection and plenty of time to write. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind and aside from a pretty rough day of stomach and fever, I've been having an amazing time. Receiving the news about Mike's death, with whom I spent a semester in Lyon, was really shocking and I've been trying to comprehend how awful it is. Mike was one of the most genuine, kind, intelligent and caring people I know and all the experiences the whole Lyon group had together and the time we had will always be one of my most favorite times in my life. I think the most frsutrating part is not being able to do anything and to be with others that knew and loved him. I dont know if anyone else is having a similar experience coping but I'd love to talk to anyone who's going through what I'm feeling.

Another hard part of grappling with his loss is that I haven't had a moment to think. Everyday so far has been filled with language and cultural lessons. Learning the language has been going a little better but we're still working with basic phrases and only know a couple verbs. There isn't really such a thing as a regular verb in Tammashek, nor a regular way to make a word plural. My "k" sound has been improving but the hawking spit sound int he back of the throat is still tough. Here are some pictures of our "classroom" and learning the language. Apart from myself there are three other volunteers learning tammashek all of whom have new Tammashek names, Susmita (Sadi), 25 from Missouri who is an Agriculture volunteer and then the married couple, Bess, 24 (Nezzar) water sanitation and Jared, 25 (Ikned) agriculture from Philadephia.

Our classroom and nalgenes.

Our LCF's (language cultural facilitators) apt.

Our Lcf's are really great, El-Mehdi is in stripes, Abdullah is in red. Both speak french, english, bambara and i think songhrai too. They are so caring and patient with us and also really fun to hang out with. We all laugh at each other and we've taught them so good english phrases, like keeping it on the DL. Abdullah's favorite movie is "the quiet man" an old John wayne film that takes place in Ireland. He enjoys singing along to the songs in it while watching. El-Mehdi helps orgranize the desert festival every year, the big music festival held out int he sahara featuring Toureg and other international artists. They also have a roommate, Iponi, who does all the cooking who has become our good friend too. Basically our class everyday consists of us laughing hysterically every five minutes about pronounciation or a funny miscommunication while we work to learn irregular verbs and the word for camel.

We've also been fortunate enough to have some cultural experiences in the small Tammashek/Toureg community that lives in Bamako. My family is in the "inhaden" class, which means they are craftsmen and artisans. I have a really big family with three older brothers, Oumar, Attaher and Mohammed and three older sisters, Aisha, Fadi and Roqqi, all six of whom have children. I ahve been named, Aisha wallette Ibebe, which means Aisha daughter of Ibebe. Attaher, Mohammed, Aisha and Roqqi all still live at our house and four grandchildren of varous bros and sis live with us too. There names are Tina, 4, Fattimatah, 2, Ali Kader, 3 and Mohammed (?) i think who is about a year old. My mom is named Xedijetu and her husband Muhammed or Ibebe (nickname) has passed away. Here are some pictures of the kids!

Watching TV

Ali Kader is dancing with his eyes closed and little Fatimata, infront, is using the cup as a musical instrument.

Ali kader dancing to our clapping and singing.

Bess and Jared's family is smaller than mine but the dad, Amanou, is one of ten members of the band, Tartit, a famous Toureg group that plays traditional music. Google them, they're really GOOD!!! They are headed to the US in September, NYC and DC and Boston, so go check them out and tell Amanou or Muso that you know "Aisha wallette Mohammed/Ibebe". Susmita's family are of the noble class. HEr dad works at a travel agency and her grandfather was the first Toureg general in the Malian Air Force. They have satellite TV. Which brings me tot he wedding we went to yesterday. It was a tammashek woman from the noble class marrying a man from Guinea. The house of her grandparents where the celebration took place, was very nice, as was the food and music. As i said before there is no ceremony that everyone attends like in the US. - the birde and groom weren't even there.


a side note on tammashek culture--Our Language and Cultural Teachers, who go everywhere with us basically, told us that in Tammashek culture, the bride and groom don't attend because they are "shy" and that they don't want to be present to their father/mothers in law. In tammashek culture, when a woman or a man is visiting their inlaws, they must be fully covered and they don't speak to their inlaws unless spoken to. This is a part of being respectful and just one aspect of the conservative and reserved culture. When a man decides he wants to marry a woman, he has a cousin, uncle or friend tell HIS parents that he wants to marry this girl and then they go to the parents of the woman. Its all very complex and formal, although these barriers are starting to be broken down. Before men and women didn't date or even spend time alone together, but these restrictions are starting to relax in some families and some Tammashek men and women are dating each other and people of other ethnicities.


Our families were all present at the wedding, not only as friends but also as performers. After everyone ate lots of lamb and rice and veggies inside the house (hot stuffy room with 30 plus big tammashek women), our families started playing music and dancing outside in a big tent and the other guests, some of who danced as well, threw money at those playing the instruments. Not only do they get paid to perform but part of the performance is guests coming up and throwing or holding money over them. We were expected to join our families in the dancing and clapping, and at one point we were the center of attention of everyone under the tent when we danced in the middle. Women dance very slowly and reserved with small hand movements while the men do bigger hand movements and sometimes even do that russian jumping dance. We had a really great time although its frustrating not being able to communicate and hold a decent converstaion. Here are some pictures of all the people at the wedding. there had to be at least 200 people under the tent.

Our families performing!

Jared dancing in tradtional garb

The man throwing the money



Under the tent


I guess the strangest part of Homestay is that the conditions we're living in are really nice and most likely are nothing like what we'll be experiencing when we head up North. We pratically live in Bamako, have electricity, TV and an internet cafe and super marche not far away. Its nice because learning the language is stressful but Im looking forward to seeing what "real" Mali, out in villages, is really like. We do have trash in the street, a donkey outside our house and different food but we also get to use a real toilet sometimes and eat salad occasionally. pretty cushy. I hope its not too much of a shock when we get up north, but I guess thats what I had prepared myslef for, its just taking a little bit longer to get there. I go to my site up north in two weeks and I can't wait to see it! Im goign to be wayyyyyy up there but not farther norht than timbuktu. I will probably have to wear robes alot, ill post a picture of me in one soon. i look ridiculous.

anyways love and miss you all! write me emails!