The saying, “hotter than hell” was coined in Gao, in case you weren’t aware. Its day four here of waiting to be installed and we’ve all established a routine. Wake up at 6-6:30 ish, when the sun rises just high enough and the bright light and white heat start to hit where we’re sleeping. We all sleep outside at night on the roof under the stars because its too hot inside the house, --ironically enough this is where we will spend most of the day seeking refuge from the heat. After I’ve tried to fall back asleep a couple times, all vain attempts because the heat is so permeating already, we head into town to the market to do our shopping for the items we’ll need for the next two years. By 10 am its gotten so hot that the sweat starts dripping down my face and I can see it pooling on the faces of the other volunteers shopping with me—disgusting, I know, but I don’t know how else to convey this massive all encompassing behemoth that controls our lives. We come back to the house and then wait around, reading, finishing season 1 of Buffy the vampire slayer or passed out on the floor or mat until it finally cools down a little in the afternoon. Then, we venture out again to barter and do more shopping. I’ve bartered in Tammasheq and have talked people down a couple times. We all have this immense source of pride when we think we’ve gotten a good price, when in reality there’s definitely a foreign and a native price- I’m happy to pay it as long as I feel that I’m not being 100 percent ripped off. So far I’ve bought a big bucket for doing dishes and laundry in, a big cooking pot, frying pan and a charcoal stove, sort of like a miniature weber grill, except you can put pots and pans on it. I’ve also bought bowls, cups, forks, spoons and a big cutting knife in the cooking department as well as a mirror and two beautiful fabrics in the “don’t let yourself go” department.

There was some extra furniture lying around the Gao stage house, which is where all the volunteers in this region stay at when they come to town for banking and mail, so the volunteers who’ve been here a year decided to have a competition to give them away. I happened to win the big ticket item, a large red table about four and a half feet tall, in an intense rock paper scissors tournament… I know, I know I make you all so proud. Im going to get some stools made in Gossi to go with it so I’ll actually have a work/cooking/dining/writing letters table in my house and wont have to do everything from the floor.

So far in Gao other than shopping, we've met the deputy governor and the police chief as well as the immigration people when there was a little cofusion about whether we were all set with our paperwork. The driver for the police cheif is this really fun dude who likes to wear a cowboy hat and randomly shows up around town to chat with us. We've also made friends with some of the market people and the fabric sellers. Its nice to have people who recognize you and smile rather than staring at you or shouting at you. Alot of the people here are so incredible too, most of them speaking at least 2 or 3 languages and sometimes 4, 5 or 6. Walking down the street ive had more whoa i'm in africa moments, with everyone in turbans or flowing ekarshes (the traditional dress of the tammasheq women) and this amazing multicultural, multiethnic mix all living together, tammasheq, songhai, bambara, arab...

I’m really excited to get to Gossi and start using my tammasheq more and really getting to know the town and its people. I have a lot of research and interviewing to do, although I’m pretty sure the first few weeks I’m there I’ll have no idea what anyone is saying to me. I’m fortunate to have my French to fall back on but I’m going to try to resist. I plan on conducting a biodiversity survey in the first three months, along with doing my NatCat, which is the Peace Corps Natural Resources Management sector’s assessment tool that helps the volunteer to figure out what has been done, what needs to be done and what can be done over the next two years in terms of projects. Bess Jared and I feel very fortunate in that there are three of us in one town with the potential to be a peace corps dream team and accomplish so much in so many different areas. We’re already thinking about starting a public trash cans program and maybe teaching basketball along with the eco-tourism and organizational development stuff I’ll also be doing.

For a good laugh I have to fill you in on the trip up here--You all will probably become used to these stories but each time I think I’ve seen (or heard) everything, it turns out I’m wrong. We left the training center at about 6:30 am and as the bus pulls away with all the volunteers headed north of Segou, the driver of our chartered bus puts a tape in and out comes, blasting from the old bus sound system, the most fitting soundtrack for our departure- Tracey Chapman. It was one of the best laughs I’ve had so far in Africa. I was almost crying . And then after we’ve listened to side a and b and then the first two songs of side a again, the bus driver decided to switch it up and what luck—it was Phil Collins. We were only ten minutes into this album, I believe it was song two, “another day in paradise”, when the horn blaring from our driver went on a little bit longer than usual and we had to slam on the brakes and veer off the road to avoid another vehicle and a moto carrying bags of onions. No one was hurt although we were a little shooken up but we did have to switch buses and in the process, lost our driver and his great taste in music, who had to stay behind with his bus and the gendarmes who had showed up to assess the situation. This essentially consisted of them taking out a measuring tape and measuring everything—from the bus to the car, from the onions to the bus, from the front of the bus to the back of the bus and from their head to their toes. It reminded me of those activities in elementary school when we were all learning the metric system and had to go around measuring everything in the school yard and classroom. To their credit they arrived pretty swiftly and all the Malians handled themselves with much more composure than any Americans I’ve seen in the same situation. They realize yelling at each other won’t accomplish anything—that and its just too hot. The rest of the trip was a breeze in comparison but I’m taking public transport to Gossi tomorrow so I’m sure in two weeks I’ll have something more to share. Until then….

Me and my homestay family courtesy of Jared!

Swear-in

braxton, jared and dave
Sorry to keep you in suspense but I'm still alive. I keep saying to myself that I dont have anything new or exciting to share when in reality almost every day is another adventure. But these daily surprises and adventures are just that--daily--and so I've begun to normalize them.



So a quick update on the last several weeks in a fun backwards format, im hoping that this will jog my memory. We swore in as official volunteers on Friday at a very nice cermony at the American embassy in Bamako. Most of the volunteers wore Malian outfits and there were speeches by the Ambassador etc and volunteers who gave short speeches in each of the languages we've all been learning, bambara, french, fulfide, songrai, dosono (one of the dialects that the dogon people speak). Jared in full ceremonial attire tore down the house with the speech that we had all written for the Tamasheq group and our homestay families were very happy and proud, although Bess, Susmita and I all got questions about why we weren't wearing our ekarshe's. After that we went to a reception at the Ambassador's house and from what I've heard the food was excellent. Of all the times to get sick, my body decided to pick the worst and so for the festivities of the last several days, I've been running a fever and unable to really eat. I did my best to try and get through it and actually felt ok at the picnic later on in the afternoon.


the new volunteers



The volunteers arranged a party for us in Bamako last night and we had a hotel to stay at with a POOL! I think everyone had a really great time, perhaps maybe even a little too much. I managed to dance for a couple songs but when i woke up the next morning I went straight to the medical office down the street and now I'm waiting to hear back as to whether or not I have amoebas. It should be an interesting trip up to Gao tomorrow but hopefully the medicine I'm taking will make it bearable.



The week before swear-in was more training at Tubaniso including natural resources stuff, health , safety and even a session with snakes, which i did not attend. I passed my test in Tamasheq too, although now without having spoken it for the last week I feel like I'm losing it all. Its weird to think that the routine that has been my life for the last two months is finished. To be honest though hardly anything surprises me or throws me anymore and I almost expect constant change and adventure. A regular day now involves ensuring I have safe water, having an upset stomach, seeing a 6 inch long millipede, being enveloped in the smell of the trashpile I'm walking next to, the constant mental struggle over how to possibly help EVERYONE around me and then the frustration in the moments that pass where I've missed my chance or where there's been nothing I can do.

Before we came back to Tubaniso, we all said our goodbyes to our homestay families at which I of course cried and which they of course had no idea what to make of. In just that short period of time that I was living with them and in the very little that we could communicate to each other, I really felt as if I was a member of the family, even if at times I served as entertainment or as a distraction for the kids. My mother, Xedijetu, gave me a beautiful little bag and a key chain as goodbye gifts, both of which she made and both of which I've fallen in love with. The touregs use such beautiful colors and paints in their crafts , deep purple, light blue, pink gold etc .

i officially leave for my site tomorrow to spend the next three months interviewing community members and conducting other research, assessing the work they've already done and the work they want me to help with and working on language. I also hope to maybe start from small projects to get a scope of how the people and associations work together. This week I'll be in Gao to buy new things for my house which Im very excited about- market shopping is my new favorite thing.

I hope everyone is doing well back in the states, sorry again for the long delay in my post. If you're in New England, drink some apple cider for me. I'm very nostalgic for the fall! Also my address has changed it is now,

Natalie Grillon Corps de La Paix, BP119, Gao Mali, West Africa

Also i dont know if ive said this before but for even more pictures and stories you should check out jared and bess's blog, the link is on the side bar. He's a great photographer and is a more dedicated blogger than I.