Top ten

Bess and Jared just got back from America last week and had a great time. They gave alot of presentations back in the states (one at my worldwise school, Abington Friends). One of the things they noticed being there was how little we had told people about our every day lives, mostly because we've become so accustomed to it. So i made a list of interesting/strange things that I don't think I've shared with you but that now are a normal part of my life!

Top ten things "you think you know but you have no idea" (in no particular order):

1) Malians don't celebrate birthdays.
Most Malians don't even know their ages. In the past births haven't been registered, most people don't have birth certificates. When a kid gives you his age, he could be off by several years. We had an interesting conversation several weeks ago about whether Oumar was 4 or 5.

2)There are alot of big scary bugs.
The other day there was a spider on my screen door that was 3/4 the size of my hand and looked mad. I've also seen scorpions in my house, although not as big thankfully. I also have a couple lizards that show themselves once in a while and scurry fast enough to scare me.

3) I sleep outside with cows and goats.
My family has alot of sheep, goats, and cows some of which just hang out at night around the concession. Sometimes at night I'll wake up to a cow munching away on smoething only a couple feet away from me.

4)A sea of mangos!
Its mango season right now in Mali and everywhere you go, all you see are mangos, even up north. I mean everywhere--You're hardpressed to walk a blcok without someone walking by with a bunch on their head or comnig across someone selling them in front of their house. On the way down here to Bamako, I saw thousands of mangos waiting to be purchased in a 500 meter stretch along the road. I've never been a huge mango fan, maybe i'd eaten one before i came here but now that I've been here I'm obsessed. There's all sorts of different varities, big, small, grafted, non-grafted, American (? no idea why its called this). You can buy a huge delicious one for 100 cfa, about the same as a Us quarter. The best way to eat them is like an apple, skin and all. i suggest you all come over and eat some.....

5)At lunch and dinner we all eat with our hands
Speaking of eating, when i eat with my family we use our hands to scoop up rice or to, form it into a ball by squeezing it and then take a bite. WE wash our hands before and after, although soap was only just introduced by me when I arrived and I think when I'm not there, soap is mysteriously absent. Some Malian ethnicites beleive soap is bad luck

6)Mali is polygamous.
My host father has two wives, which I only recently found out. One lives out en brousse and he goes to visit her occasionally. Bess and Jared's host dad has three wives, all who live within a three block radius of each other. Usually in my village they don't all live in the same concession, like is the case in other polygamous societies in Africa. I've heard of both cases in Mali but at site the women each have their own house. I'm not going to speak about this more now because my opinions/feelings are a bit too strong.

7)There is no trash collection in this country.
ok to be fair there is some trash collection in Bamako and other cities as well, but nothing city wide or really organized. Trash is everywhere in the streets and people litter everywhere (even in my house, although we're working on this). Bess is getting a trash collection service started in Gossi though! Her plan is really great. You can donate to help the project get started at www.peacecorps.gov, then click on the donate now link.

8)Everyone has the same names.
There are some people with uncommon names (Jared's tammasheq name, Iknet, is fairly uncommon, he's the only iknet we've met) but alot of people share the same name. I've met countless girls named Aisha and Assahara in Gossi (my name and bess' name in Mali) and there are alot of men who are named mohammed, mohamet, mohammad etc. but who have nicknames so that people can tell them apart. The most common names: Mohammed, Abdoulaye, Souleymane, Fadimatah, Zeinaba, Sidi, Bobacar

9)12-3 Siesta
The middle of the day is too hot to do anything other than lie around and rest. At this point of the year its too hot to try to really sleep but you can certainly get a little bit of a cat nap in. So the middle of the day is just a nice relaxing time, except really really hot!

10) I live with an extended extended family.
Most family units include some combination of moms, dads, brothers, sisters, wives, cousins, grandparents, nieces, nephews. We've got five cousins living with us now, one grandson and a second cousin. In addition every market day, there are any number of people, family and friends, who come to stay for the night in the concession unannounced. Sometimes my host mom has to make extra food at the last minute, no easy task in mali