oh hellooo there

Bonne année from Sikoro, everybody. In celebration of the New Year and of my second day here, I:

- took my first bucket bath in a year and a half – so much easier, more refreshing, and more exciting than anticipated.

- saw a few chickens’ throats be slit – apparently the norm on New Year’s Eve in Mali. I gather that it’s a tradition here to feast after midnight.

- made a couple house calls to 1) my family from before, the Coulibalys, and 2) a member of MHOP’s community committee, Ami Keita. The Coulibalys had no idea I was coming and I loved watching their surprise when I walked in the door. We talked a little, danced a little, and I helped Fatoum put up new curtains in her living room. Oh, right, so she and her husband Siriki now live in the rooms where Cari and I lived two summers ago. The space is SO pimped out now, and I can’t believe we let ourselves keep it so messy before. (Then again, it probably wouldn’t have been worth it for us to find 3 sofas, a TV, and decorative fake flowers to hang everywhere. Cari I’ll take pictures for you.) Later in the day I visited Ami and her family. She seemed happy to see me, too. She was in the middle of cooking dinner, so we ended up chatting and washing lettuce together.

- arranged my first interview with a friend named Sita! Even though the past couple days have mainly entailed readjusting to the Siks, I feel like I’m still focused on the research that I came here to do. I’ve revised my interview questions and am reading through the “development research” texts from thesis-writing class. No interpreter yet, but I don’t need one for interviewing Sita or Ami who both speak French.

In other news, my Bambara skills are coming back wayyy faster than expected. The pesky kids who yell “tubabu” (white person) at me, similarly, are wayyy more bearable than expected. I felt hardcore yesterday when I used odds, ends, and a Sigg-turned-hammer to set up the mosquito net around my bedposts. The bucket bath was GREAT, even though the bathing area is in the same room as a poo-filled hole. Yum. In summary, I sense that my Mali groove is quickly returning. Stay tuned for more updates.