Mon Première Mois et mon Première paquet!

I was having a rough day, overwhelmed with French, the thought of teaching in front of 60 + students in one class, annoyed at being yelled to as the “Foté” (white person), and just plain one of those self pity days, until I walked back to the center and saw mail had come!  And there was the package with my name on it and a letter.  Dillard thank you so much, I ate the dried ice cream sandwich as soon as I got home, and cherished the taste of chocolate!  Right after that I opened the first package of peanut butter I saw!  I think you know me too well.  Also Patty thank you for the picture of New Hampshire, it made my day, and I showed my host family as soon as I returned home, which they loved and thought was a “beautiful place”!  Thank you!  Its official, West Africa does receive mail and surprisingly everything was in tact!   I do have to apologize because there is no such thing as mail to the US from here.  The only way mail can make it to the US, is if a volunteer is returning to the States, and then drops the letters at the Post Office; which just happened to be the case this week, so get ready for some letters!

I received my new African clothes from the tailor, two complete outfits, one, which I wore on Friday for my Peer Teach.  Check the picture out below for some of us volunteers integrating! I’m telling you, the community loves when we wear their clothes, so I am going to have to head to the market and get more fabric! 

This weekend I tried to spend more time with my family instead of with the other volunteers, and I had such a good time, hopefully my family felt the same way.  I am in love with my grandmother here, we don’t speak the same language, I speak English and some French, she speaks Pular and Susu, but boy do we get along well together.  We can sit next to each other all day, me repeating things she says while pointing to different parts on my body or waving in the air.  I have to laugh, but she is just the sweetest thing I have ever seen, never angry, and she loves to touch my hair, hold my hand.  I’m hoping your getting a nice image of the two of us on the front porch, in two chairs as close next to each other as possible, holding hands and repeating jibberish.  Haha

But Saturday I woke up early to do the dishes, my job in the morning, then washed my laundry, without a crowd to please, much nicer not to have the corrections and pressure on me.  Then once I hung my laundry up, I came inside, swept the house, (about a little bigger than my apartment in Boston) then the porch.  My grandmother made sure to let all the boys know, I had done more than them.  (They translated that for me) Then my mom asked if I wanted to prepare the rice, which I am quite good at, picking out all the rocks and washing it, then letting it sit.  After, she got out this large wooden bowl, and two large wooden poles.  This I found out is how you grind rice and corn.  So my brothers and I shared this task, two people at a time, alternate hitting the rice.  It pretty much turns to flour, which then gets made into a wonderful rice ball pudding.  That description might not give it justice, but its different than dead fish, so one of my favorites.  The only downfall of my willingness to help, was I split my hand open and it started bleeding which meant I was officially band from the afternoon activities and was summoned to sit in a chair and only watch! 

My host mom’s sister arrived, with meat, not sure how she brought this but when I saw it, it was setting in a pot, somewhat in the shade.  It was meat so I didn’t question it.  The lunch and dinner was amazing, and I ate as much as possible!  My host mom made sure to serve me seconds.  In this culture, when a person gets fat basically it means the family is wealthy.  So whenever I am told to go eat, “Il faut manger bien”, “Tu dois manger encore” (You need to eat well, eat more) I politely say I am full.  But my mother let me know the tailor I go to told her I am loosing weight, so now often times when I’m sitting serving myself she watches me, then throws about a pound more food on my plate. Haha The first time I have ever been told to fatten up!  Anyways the day was great except my host mother has 5 other sisters and at least four of them came over, laughing, dinning together, which made me miss my sisters and brother!  Love you guys!

Let’s see the next day, I got up and was banded from washing the dishes based on my accident yesterday, so I was sent back to my room to sleep.  If you thought I woke up early in the United States, I wake up even earlier here, seeing the Mosque sounds at 5:00am in the morning, also my host brothers are up shortly after that to eat breakfast before the sun rises and pray.  The rosters outside can’t figure out when they should be calling out, half the time, the sun has not even risen, on top of that there’s dogs fighting, needless to say, lots of activity.   Even though I’m awake I lay in bed until the sun comes up otherwise I would be hanging out in the dark because there’s no electricity! 

I am heading for my site visit on Wednesday for 11 days, therefore will not have internet access, but will update you on this new region of the country, supposedly cooler, with an abundance of vegetables, fruits, cows, and meat!  I will also be able to see what my new home for the next two years with look like.  Please pray for a house and not a hut!  I did find out there are about 20 houses in the village, aka a tiny village, so I will let you know if this is true or not! 

Happy early Birthday Mom, I love you and miss you a ton!  Give me a call on your birthday in the morning if possible!