September 11th

09/11/10
Today is September 11th and my family and I have been following the story about that pastor who announced that he wants to initiate a Koran burning day in protest of a mosque being built at the WTC Memorial. I must say that it has been pretty awkward listening to the story with them, especially since they understand French better than me. It’s awkward because I’m American and they know that I’m Christian. Yesterday, my site buddy came to visit and she filled in the gaps of the story for me and made me realize how much of a security risk we could have if people in Mali got angry. I hope that nothing crazy happens, but the French military are pouring into Bamako just in case there’s unrest and people start harassing the French. There has been a lot of ill feelings towards the French in Mali lately. Just a few weeks ago, a Frenchmen was killed by Al-Qaida in the northern part of the country. And with Malians grouping all lighter-skinned people as Toubabu, it is a potential hazard, but because Al-Qaida is in the north, Peace Corps does not place anyone north of Mopti. I’m not too worried. I feel pretty safe here in village and Peace Corps has a solid evacuation plan, if it comes to that, but let’s hope it doesn’t. What else has happened? Me and my sister, Adama, are becoming good friends. She helps me with French and Bambara and I help her cook and do laundry. Doing laundry here sucks! It already sucks doing it by machine, but when you have to draw your own water and then hand-wash in the hot sun. I washed a ton of clothes the other day, well, I tried, and my sisters saw me trying, so they took over for me and made me look like an idiot, but I didn’t mind at alllll. Now, I know I need to start taking my clothes into the shower to make my load easier. I also went to market yesterday and started buying stuff for my room and I wanted to buy ingredients to make lemonade for my family. I also bought my first live chickens! It was quite an exciting experience as I watched the farmer coax and grab three chickens for me. He then handed them to me by their feet and I had no idea what to do at that point. Luckily, my sister came by with her bike and she drove them home.