journey to konsango

Back in Africa (WAY back in January!). We left Tereli after watching the students quickly take our (heavy) luggage down twisty, turny, rocky, alleys to our vehicles. Our first stop on the way was to this random cayman pond (gators). In the middle of nowhere, there's a pond full of gators. Go figure!

Back in the cars we headed up a STEEP, rocky road (as you may recall, we arrived in Tereli by climbing down an escarpment -- now we went back up). I was quite thankful for Bonine and the fact that I wasn't driving. And then there was the detour -- I think we actually missed the "real" detour because, even by Mali standards, the route we took was horrible -- at one point we drove down over at 18 inch "cliff" -- surprised we didn't bottom out (only the trailer hitch hit the bottom). FINALLY we got onto a "flat" road (picture a rough, stone/rock covered road in the country and you sort of get the idea) and arrived in Kani -- the "big" town near Konsango where we got to greet the officials before going the last kilometer into the village. We met the mayor and the sub-prefect of the town and the sub-prefect joined us the rest of the way, leading a caravan of vehicles. And then we were there......

HUNDREDS of people out to greet us and walk with us into the village. We were swarmed! On our way into the village I was "flirting" with a little baby tied onto her mom's back -- the ladies noticed me and the mom handed me her child. I carried her into the town, with the ladies giggling as I was carrying her in the front rather than strapped on my back. And she peed on me (pampers don't exist!)......Can you imagine handing off your child to a stranger? WOW!

We arrived into the village and were seating in a place of honor (e. g. the shade) to watch the welcoming. LOTS of speeches with multiple translations. Then we headed to our "compound" -- 2 mud huts. We arranged our stuff, had lunch, and went back for more welcoming -- a masked dance, lots of people dancing (and including us), more speeches. I found "my" baby and got to hold her again, until she got fussy and hungry (couldn't help there!).



The dancing continued long after we were tired -- I was an early "header-backer" to enjoy my first "bucket shower" -- nice to get the pee off! We slept outside on our cots as it was warm and perfectly lovely -- dancing continued into the wee hours, long after I was asleep.....

thoughtful gifts

Yes, I know I STILL haven't finished boring you with my Mali stories. Life keeps getting in the way!

Yesterday was my birthday. At this point in life, I don't receive too many gifts (cash is always welcome and accepted!), but I really appreciate the thought people put into gifts. And sometimes "thoughtful" gifts were actually impulse buys, no? In any event, several touched me this year. First, my sister found a really pretty necklace for me in colors I seem to wear all the time (when I'm not in black, hee hee!). Obviously, she knows me, she knows what I like, and she knows what I usually wear. Next, one of my college roommates found a GREAT item for me -- piano music to Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits. And why is that thoughtful? Imagine two students, sitting around with adult beverages, missing home ("Homeward Bound") and trying to figure out why on earth someone would "rather be a forest than a street" ("El Condor Paso")......she found it at a library book sale and recognized it as the perfect present. Finally, the most special: Tom bought tickets to a play for the 4 of us -- a mystery/comedy/spoof on Agatha Christie. Unfortunately, he was called to Holland at the last minute, but my aunt was able to attend. This in itself is a great gift -- it's something the 4 of us can do together and we all enjoy it. BUT, the really special part is that he'd purchased a cake mix and frosting and arranged with the girls to bake my cake after I was in bed the night before my birthday -- so when I woke up yesterday morning, I had a cake! THAT was truly a surprise.......AND a thoughtful gift........

me and wii

I volunteered to play wii with Abby the other day, and somehow it's become a nightly occurrence this week. Let me just say that I stink at sword fighting. Although I did beat her in one of the 3 rounds last night! I am a klutz. I do not have an athletic bone in my body. I was ALWAYS picked last for teams in school. The only reason I played intermural volleyball at OSU was because the co-ed league required at least 2 women on the team. As an adult, I attempt to do the following for exercise: jog/walk, elliptical, stationary bike, "weights" (up to 30lbs!!!!), weight machines, and yoga. I've done spinning, I've done step aerobics, and I even still have (and use) an original Jane Fonda workout. BUT, I am still a klutz.

So, a typical evening of wii with Abby includes me losing at swordfighting, falling off my bike on cycling, drowning from my canoe, and crashing my plane into the mountain. Oh, I also completely miss the target more often than not in archery. Sigh. I AM good at bowling (can you tell I'm from the mid-west?), and I have won twice at table tennis. And, best of all, THOROUGHLY enjoyed entertaining my daughter with my pathetic antics!

and now for the down-time day

If you read carefully, you'd have noticed that I referred to "2 of the past 3" days in my past post. Sundays are generally low-key or organized around family activities. This past was of the low-key variety. The girls and I headed to church, enjoyed the worship service and had a good appreciation for the sermon (a series from Numbers paralleling the journeys of Israel as the journey of a Christian life). We enjoyed a Popeye's luncheon to recognize the departure of one of our families who are leaving for Germany to ultimately serve as missionaries in that mainly secular nation.

Then we came home to "nothing to do". I read a bit, Abby was on her computer, Maggie did homework. Later there was a Wii (or maybe PS/2?) tournament, followed by a rousing games of cards. And I enjoyed some personal time with my Bible. Quiet afternoon, rest after one busy day and rest before another busy day. I LOVE Sundays!

God Bless my Mom!!!!!

As the newly minted mother-of-a-teenager I have an even greater appreciation for my mom. I have spent 2 of the last 3 days driving my daughter all around town, dragging along the 10 year old (oh yeah, suppose I ought to thank her as well!). Saturday morning: wake up said daughter at 8:45. Leave house at 9:30 for ballet. Come home, get other daughter up and ready. Leave house at 10:30 to pick up older daughter. Run to Office Depot for a tri-fold poster board. Run to school uniform store to (yikes!) purchase/order high school uniforms. Stop by Popeye's for a highly nutritious lunch. Stop at home for a very short while. Leave house at 12:30 for second ballet run. Come home, FINALLY drink some coffee and eat lunch. Leave house at 2:20 to pick up older daughter. Stop at home to pick up younger daughter. Drive to piano lessons. SIT DOWN for 1 hour. Drive home, heat up a pizza (yeah right -- you expect me to COOK after all that driving???). SIT DOWN.

And then today. Drive children to school. Go to gym, lift weights, attend yoga class. Go to grocery store. Unpack groceries, take a bath. Drink coffee, have lunch. Go to school to pick up daughters early to take older one to orthodontist. Return to school for play rehearsal -- sit in car with younger one doing homework. Drive to Cane's for another nutritious dinner. Drop older one at ballet. Come home and SIT DOWN. Older one should be home soon (thank God for carpools as well!).

And she hasn't started high school -- what am I getting myself into?????? All said, I am so thankful that both girls are able to participate in the activities they want and make the grades they want as well. Life is good, I have no complaints!

surprise from mali!

So this morning I drop the girls off at carpool, ride the stationary bike at the gym for a bit, go to yoga, fill up my gas tank, and head to the grocery (not very exciting, but typical). Imagine my surprise at the grocery -- phone rings, I thought it was Tom as I'd sent him a couple texts. But the number was wrong.....usually I'll let an unfamiliar call go to voice mail, but this was a "+" number for overseas, so I answered it. 'Twas the English teacher from Tereli! We'd exchanged e-mails and contact info (as friends do), but while I perhaps anticipated some form of contact, a phone call on a sunny Friday morning at the grocery wasn't quite it. Made my day.

Here's our photo.....


In other news of home: Abby earned a "Superior" rating at her violin festival/competition, Maggie's going to dance with the little baby girls at the ballet recital (as well as with the girls in her class), and both girls earned GREAT grades last quarter -- 3 down, one more to go!

One day I'll finish telling you about my trip!

Until then.....

21 January was spent driving to Terrali. AMAZING scenery -- right next to the rivers, between them and the desert, were these lush fields of onions. Onions are a great crop to grow when you have poor soil, little water, and need SOMETHING to flavor your food.




To get to the village, we had the opportunity to either hike down the escarpment OR ride in the vehicles. We all were physically capable and chose to hike (with guides). And we saw young kids running up and down, women carrying water on their heads walking up and down, all in flip flops. So much for being impressed with our own physical fitness! To be honest, it wasn't that difficult of a hike (for me, or my dad), but there were some trickier footings amongst the rocks/boulders, and no marked trails at all. Within the cliffs are ancient cave homes of the Tellem people. There are several legends regarding the fact that these people no longer exist, but regardless, I can't figure out how they reached their homes! Obviously they lived there for safety (no one else could reach them!), but did they use ladders/ropes/strange trails to get home? And what about small children? How many fell to their deaths. Go figure! Hard to see from the photo, but maybe you can make out the homes.

After about 45 minutes, we arrived at our "hotel". This was our first rather "rustic" hotel. One toilet, and it didn't work (you had to pour water into the tank to get it to flush, and then it was mostly by gravity). One "shower" as well. Mmmmmm. Mud buildings, cots for beds. We freshened up a bit and headed up to the patio (above the rooms) for lunch which was great -- couscous, grapefruit soda, meat sauce). Then we headed down to the school for planting of trees. Though first we were treated to our first masked dance. WOW! The costumes were amazing, and seeing some of the dancers on stilts on the sand. I can barely walk on my own two feed on solid ground!

After the dancing and various speeches, we headed to the school garden to plant trees. I took pictures, and once I started EVERYONE wanted their picture taken! I counted and have about 50 photos of the boys planting trees! They can use the fruit that will grow (a couple years) for food and/or to sell to purchase supplies for the school.
Trees planted, we headed back to the hotel verandah for dinner -- spaghetti noodles with a veggie sauce and an apple soda. Due to the warm temperature, we all decided that we'd set up "mattresses" on the verandah and sleep there, so we got those set up. Then we headed back to the school where the children (teenaged) performed a play for us about idols being stolen and how the thieves were punished. It was fun. Then we had to get back to the hotel in the dark (no electricity!). For me, that was more of a challenge than climbing down the escarpment! So we all camped out on the verandah and I, for one, slept quite well.
I did receive a compliment from the man who teaches English at the school -- he (bless his heart!) thought I was about 20 years old (despite the white highlights in my hair). He's my new best friend.....

coffee

I love coffee. I drink a LOT of coffee when I'm at home, but when I'm at other people's houses, I generally drink herbal tea. Why? Because I like the way I make coffee! VERY strong. My mom puts half a cup of coffee and adds water. And don't be too worried about my caffeine level -- I drink decaf. And yes, I know there is some caffeine in decaf, but definitely not as much as in regular, no?

So about my coffee. I really like decaf flavored coffee. Which isn't easy to find. Especially when the Gloria Jeans coffee shop near your house closes (sigh). The grocery only carries french vanilla and hazelnut (YUCK!) in decaf, and World Market only has a texas pecan flavor. While I like both of these, I need more variety!

So, what does one do? I search the internet. And I find a local coffee roaster that makes a ton of decaf flavors and ships them all over the country. Of course, shipping costs are pretty high (or I'm just cheap!). But there is a "contact us" button on the site, so I send an e-mail asking if you can drive there to pick up your coffee. YES!!!!! You can either call or e-mail an order, then pick it up the next day. So that's what I did -- yesterday I placed my order, today I drove to pick it up. Not the most convenient location (west of the airport, off Airline Blvd.), BUT not only was my coffee ready for me, IT WAS ONLY $7 A POUND AFTER TAXES!!!!! (did I say I'm cheap?). Considering the grocery is $12.99 a pound, and Gloria Jean is at least that, I'm thrilled. And I have a ton of coffee ready to be brewed and drink.....life is good!

So, if you're interested, check out http://www.orleanscoffee.com/. Besides the decaf flavors, there a slew of regular flavors, varietals, etc. I'm basking in the joy of all my coffee (to go with my girl scout cookies).......

another quick update on reality

My birthday present is being installed -- Tom got me a dishwasher! Actually, my b-day (and Christmas and next year Christmas and b-day) present was my trip to Africa with my dad, but I do have a brand new dishwasher -- the old one wasn't cleaning the dishes too well AND the "adjustable" doohickeys lost their ability to stay in one place which resulted in dishes sliding all over the place. SO, the new one is going in.

In other news, we are the proud parents of two perfectly healthy children. Girls went for their annual physicals yesterday. Their doctor actually went to med-school at what was then the Medical College of Ohio and has been merged into U. Toledo. She grew up in Shaker Heights. Small world, no? The girls and I like her. In any event, we do need to take Abby to the eye doctor this year. Maggie's almost due back, so we'll be making that appointment soon.

Abby's getting ready for her first violin festival -- she'll be "rated" on how well she plays her piece next week. Not sure all the details, but will keep ya'll posted. She's not nervous, even though she doesn't know what it is. Maggie's starting practices for her ballet recital. And they are both gearing up for quarter exams which are this week. Lots of studying going on.......

I think I'm finally getting better. Tom said I didn't cough last night. Nothing like cough syrup with codeine, no?

Back to Africa soon...........

Present Life

Yes, life does go on between my Mali-adventure blogs. I came home from Africa with a bad cough. It's lingered since then (6 weeks now) and I FINALLY went to the doctor. Remnants of bronchitis is the diagnosis, antibiotic and cough syrup with codeine plus mega-doses of C and D3 vitamins for a while. Sigh. The frustrating part for me was that the doctor called it in the Walgreen's and they didn't fill it right away -- I haven't had a prescription since 2005, and I've been purged from their system. Doesn't pay to be healthy!

Maggie's b-day is the 17th and she got her present early -- her cell phone. I've had a hard time rationalizing cell phones for kids, especially as mine aren't that often away from me or another adult who has a cell phone. So, Maggie is one of only 3 in her grade that didn't have one. With high school next year, I came up with a justification that made some sort of sense to me and set her up on a plan with me. She's quite taken with it and so far (2 days!) hasn't broken any of the "rules".......

Exams are next week, so we'll be doing some studying this weekend. Today the girls have their annual physicals, plus Maggie needs a form completed for high school. Yikes!

Dinner at Timothy's

Timothy is Anna's main contact in Mali with regards to Tandana. He lives in Bandiagara and hosted our group for dinner at his house. First they gifted each of us with a mudcloth scarf with our name and a design on it. Pretty special! And then we FEASTED -- french fries, chicken, tomato and onion salad, bread, mini bananas (guess what I skipped?), plantains, bissop, guava juice, tamarind juice, salad. WOW! Quite the yummy feast.

On our way back to the hotel we heard some live music -- several people went to hear it (apparently they only stayed a few minutes).

On the 21st (next day) we'll have a 2 hour drive to the escarpment which we will hike down (30-45 minutes). We'll arrive in Toreli at our hotel and have lunch there. Then we'll head to the school run by Isaak (his family is from the village of Konsango where we'll be staying). We'll help them plant some trees as well.

One interesting fact (at least to me as a "younger" person!): In Mali, "older" people don't usually travel -- the younger ones go to see them. So, for the members of our group who are 60+, it is seen as quite an honor that they have come to visit the country. Additionally, it is also special to the Malians that so many family groups are present. Who knew?

20 January -- Kori Mounde and Bandiagara

On the 20th we left Djenne for Kori Mounde. Tandana funded a school garden, where they children grow and sell vegetables to help purchase school supplies. The village is located on a hill overlooking the school -- seems that all the schools in Mali have a similar form!

The children all gathered at the garden to sing for us before a small ceremony was held, honoring Anna.

Typical of Malians, there were lots of impromptu "speeches" made -- everyone seems to like to speak!
We ate lunch in one of the schools' classrooms. Daniel, who runs the school, was our host. His brother is Timothy, who is Anna's main sponsor in Mali and where we'll be eating dinner this evening. We picked up their mother, Yamadjelema along the way. She's about 90 and she and her husband founded the church in the village of Konsango, where we'll be staying for 5 days later in the trip. Lunch was couscous with gravy with meat for a sauce. It was really good. Bissop juice was included with a tint of ginger flavoring.
After lunch we climbed up to see the village. We had a long line of children following us, who were shooed away by our guides, the elders of the village. We saw the elder's ancestral home. We also saw a couple locations where men settle differences -- open areas with low roofs. The idea is that everyone sits down to talk about problems and resolve them. Because of the low roofs, it's difficult to quickly stand up and leave if things get too heated! Only men are allowed....We ended up at Daniel's home where we met his family. Surprisingly, they keep bunnies there! On the way back to our vehicles, Yamadjelema was leading the way. She was walking slowly and joking that she was so busy talking that she was unable to walk faster -- this from a 90 year old woman in flip flops who is blind! At one point, she broke into song -- "Amazing Grace". Truly a lovely woman!

We drove onto Bandiagara where we'd spend the night. We'd be enjoying dinner at Timothy's house, which was certain to be a wonderful experience -- stay tuned!

Observations on a Day in Djenne (and other stuff)

After our day in Djenne we talked about plans for the next day (Jan 20 -- will drive to Sevare for money, pick up a couple passengers, go to Kori Monde to visit a garden and have lunch, then head to Bandiagara for supper with Timothy, our contact there), ate dinner (black-eye pea soup, fish and potatoes, banana fritters, and a yummy ginger drink), then talked about our personal observations on the day. Here's a summary:

Exciting
Expected more hassling
People are friendly
Nice to have contact with the family at the mud cloth place
City is cleaner than we thought it would be
Interaction with the artisans (especially working the cotton) was nice
Enjoyed wandering through the town to see things most tourists wouldn't see
Great experience to do mud cloths
Can't imagine carrying heavy buckets on our heads regularly
Didn't anticipate ancient books
Odd to see people sweeping dirt streets
Enjoyed seeing the boys writing on the wooden tablets at the Koranic schools
Strange to see animals walking around cities, loose
Children coming to you and asking for (particularly) water bottles is odd (apparently, a lot of the tourists will give them water bottles when they are done with them. Ours are all re-usable ones, but they don't really distinguish between them and the clear plastic .5 liter ones others carry around)
Tourists are usually in Djenne on Monday when the big market day is (we didn't see this)
Enjoyment from those who'd been here before seeing those of us who were new reacting to the experience
The chicken served at lunch was "normal" sized, rather than the overly plump-breasted ones we see at our groceries
Oranges aren't that artificial bright orange color that ours are (except for satsuma season in Louisiana!) -- they are more green -- "natural" colored

My observations on our hotel:
Beautiful gardens -- the woman that runs it is Dutch and the Dutch are know for their gardening
The fabric on the chairs in the restaurant are prints from past celebrations (like the Obama print)