Sinsina

So I'm finally back within reach of internet! It feels good to have some time to catch up with things. We just returned from our homestay villages today. I've spent the last few weeks in Sinsina, a village of about 2000 people to the south of Bamako. The past week and a half has been quite an experience.

We got to Sinsina two Wenesdays ago. We were welcomed as we came into town by a line of men who shot off guns (with blanks) in our honor and a crowd of people who led us to the center of town, outside of the mosque. A group of musicians played Malian music on the balophones (a kind of African xylophone) and we were called to dance with the women of the village. Then we met with the dugutiki, the chief of the village, to offer him kola nuts. He and a number of the village elders made small speeches to welcome us and then we went outside for more dancing and to meet our hosts and be taken to our houses.

My host in Sinsina is Sine Doumbia, a technician at a television station in Bamako. My room is part of a compound where Sine lives with his wife, Kajatu, and seven children and one of his cousins and his wife. It took me quite a while to get everyone's names and associations down, as it's hard to remember unfamiliar names and people tend to come and go a lot. So far, I've hung out the most with Madan, my host brother who is a surly 19, and Jeneba, the wife of Sine's cousin, who is a very sweet and caring woman. Jeneba has five children, Cenigba, Ajara, Batama, Konimba, and Awo, ranging from 2 to 16 in age. Madan has six younger siblings, Ousmane, Drisa, Fatima, Bengay, Nanimba, and Seydou (who is a very cute 6 month old). The day that I arrived they gave me the honorary name of Alamako Doumbia, after Sine's mother who also lives in the compoud. I like my name; somehow it feels like it fits me pretty well, and I assume it will follow me throughout Mali for the next two years.

The training so far has been intense, although part of that was adjusting. Each day we have language training from 8 in the morning to 12:30, and then from 2:30 to 6 or so. I feel as if I've learned an enourmous amount of Bambara in that time, although I really have retained only a small amount so far. In the evenings, I go home and collapse. I eat lunch and dinner with Madan in my room, and for entertainment I'll play cards with the kids or go over and hang out with Jeneba. Everyone gets a ball out of hearing me speak Bambara (or try to speak Bambara) and trying to teach me to say things. The kids especially like playing the game of pointing at things and telling me the word (and watching me forget five seconds later). I learned a number of the body parts the first day through this method.

The first few days in town were pretty rough; I had a terrible bout of homesickness and really wanted to go home. It didn't help that I came down with a touch of something two days in and had some nausea and Mr. D for a day or two. I didn't feel like eating anything and they kept giving me meat (which I haven't eaten for the past year and a half). But I felt a bit better little by little and have been feeling pretty positive the past day or two, though I'm still feeling a bit bowled over by the idea of staying in Mali for the next two years.

It's good to be back in Tubaniso for a couple of days and not feel like everyone is constantly watching me and as if things I'm doing may be culturally incorrect and just to be able to understand everyone. I'm looking forward to collecting myself a bit and thinking about how to be positive and make the most out of my experience when I go back.