How Far Will You Go?

Being that "How Far Will You Go?" is the motto of Peace Corps, I've decided to upload some photos to show how far I'm going (or me and my friends), in terms of living in Mali and having a great time.

More will be added later, perhaps in a How Far Will You Go - Part 2 section. But for now, enjoy.

Me and Ben, my old teammate, being "Peulh" in his Peulh boubou.

Me and MaryVirginia in Dogon Country - Going the Distance.

Me and MaryVirginia in Dogon Country - Clearly we took lots of photos there!

Me and MaryVirginia watching the sunrise - how romantic!

MaryVirginia in Indelou - I think we'll submit this for the Peace Corps catalog!

This is me traversing the cliffs in Dogon Country. These are "dogon ladders" to help, but I was the last one to cross/scared out of my mind. I won't even mention how high up we were.

Me on a canopy walkway in a national park in Ghana. Despite having malaria look how happy I am!

Me and Dan, my regionmate, and our two friends, "Mohammed and Ali."

Party at Chez Sara - Heather, Me, Beth and Cathleen. Rooftop parties in Mali are a definite saving grace.

Me and Beth, my current teammate. It's great to have good friends close by.

So, this is us, parts of Team Mali, seeing "How Far We'll Go," and it's going well, despite the constant ups and downs. Next time, maybe I'll actually post pictures of me working! I'll do that at the same time I unveil my top-secret project.

A toute a l'heure!

Il Faut

Il faut. Pretty simple phrase/command, but it has such a story behind it. For those of you who don’t know any French, it basically means “do it,” but is followed by a verb in the infinitive like, il faut aller (which means, “Go!”) or il faut manger (“Eat!”). It’s not the most pleasant way to talk to someone and you should never il faut an elder. Making the command form is easy if you conjugate the verb. For example, allez (“Go!) and mangez (“Eat!”). Well, in Mali all of that changes. Il faut is as everyday as bonjour or any other greeting. Bizarre, right? A culture where you’re supposed to be respectful of each other, but we il faut at every chance we get. Whenever there are French NGO workers/tourists around and we’re talking, I try my best not to il faut them, but it happens. I’m Malian, not French – of course I il faut. But the look upon a Frenchmen’s face when you il faut them is priceless. It’s kind of like, “Excuse me? Did you really just ask me to stop smoking.”

So why is it so bad and where did it come from? Answer is pretty simple and straightforward, but pretty disgusting, in my opinion. During colonization Mali was a French colony. In the government, the civil service, schools, the bank, the market – pretty much anywhere - Frenchmen would constantly order Malian’s around using the rudest form of a command – il faut! As the French were here “doing good” and teaching them, they left il faut as obvious a colonial memory as the French language itself.

Talking to some of my fellow American volunteers or other expats and even Malians, some claim we il faut because we’re too lazy to conjugate said verb into the command form. It seems to me that there are far more syllables in “Il faut aller” as opposed to “Allez!” Just a thought, but I think that’s a silly excuse. I think that Malians il faut because that’s what has been passed down throughout time. It’s the same way that any habit is picked up and passed on. Malians are used to commanding things because historically they were commanded to do things.

I’m not going to lie, I’m an il faut-er at heart and I like it. It’s not that I’m too lazy to conjugate, but normally if I il faut its because I really want the person to do it. And in this society where so few things take precedence and are actually important, il fauting might be the only way to get things done. Now, we might have a problem when I move back to America and I stop saying “Please” and “Thank You” and continue to demand things of people. But, I don’t forsee the reintegration being that difficult.

Il faut stay tuned to my next posting from Mali.

One Year Down, One Year To Go...

Well, here it is – the lamest excuse for not updating. Ready? “I’ve been busy.” Unfortunately, it’s so true. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think of things to write and that my mind isn’t constantly scanning my surroundings in search of the newest story for my blog.

But right now, the biggest thing going on is that I’ve made it for one year! Bravo to me, I guess. As much of an accomplishment as it is, it’s nothing in the long run. That statement alone should clue you into my mood – indecisive at best. Before we even left the USA to come to Mali we were told that the two year service would be a continual rollercoaster, with life always fluctuating. This would include things like homesickness, loving Mali, hating Mali, loving rice and sauce everyday, wanting ice water and anything and everything else you could possibly think of. As much as we believed this rollercoaster theory I was like, “Whatever, I’m going to love every single day of being in Mali.” I lied to myself then, but I tell myself the truth now – this is no easy task and getting frustrated with life is part of it all. That said, the one year mark is one of the lowest. You’ve been here for a year, so your language should be awesome and you should have integrated enough to love Mali and Malians and to have either gotten over or accepted their idiosyncrasies. Well, I’ve been here a year and I manage with the four languages (English, French, Bambara and Peulh) that I fluctuate between each day so that’s not too bad. But my big problem is that Malian’s are really started to get under my skin and it’s almost making me bitter. I just can’t accept certain things – being lied to about the time a bus will leave or being told “If God Will’s It” as an answer to any question from, “Are we eating today?” to “Will we send our shipment to the States tomorrow?” – and I let each of these things get to me. It’s ridiculous, right? I should just laugh it off and move on. But the other annoying thing is that when someone gets under your skin and you react to it, they know and they keep going. They’ll laugh at you or push you until you explode. It’s been a stressful past few months and I’ve exploded more than I ever thought I would. I always considered myself to be so tolerable of other cultures and customs and as this first year winds down, things bother me way more than I ever wanted them to.

All of that said, stress is the number one thing causes these explosions and they in turn, up the stress levels. It seems that right now, things are in a vicious cycle that I need to find a way of breaking. Everyone tells me to just take a break and do whatever I can to reduce the stress. Well, I guess the ultimate solution would be to hole myself up in my house and stay away from Malian’s/people for a few days. Clearly, that does not seem like a healthy answer. So, we’re currently exploring new ways to de-stress. Should you have any thoughts and/or ideas, I would gladly accept them.

Despite the heightened stress levels, I have to say that after a year, it feels nice to say, “Wow, I’ve been here a year!” A really great way to measure personal success is the incoming of the new volunteers – which is currently happening. It’s nice to go around with them, and watch as they have no idea what is going on and you’re the expert. As much as it sucks for the new person, it’s such an awesome feeling. I’m hoping that by feeling like the expert that I can jumpstart myself out of this current funk that I’m in. Wish me luck!