First Impressions

In this post I'll put some random first impressions in no order of importance. I want to get caught up on what happened in the past few days and then try to just update a little bit each day. Otherwise this will be too daunting.

The drive to our duplex from the airport is mostly along a new 4-lane highway. This is just like America! But get off the main roads and everything is dirt -- a sort of reddish dirt that turns a little bit muddy in the rain, has lots of undulations and potholes, but is driveable easily in a 4x4 and with some care in a regular auto. The important thing to watch for is the open sewers. For example, there is alleyway near our house that appears driveable -- but at one end where you turn onto the street there is an open sewer about 4 feet wide and 4 feet deep. I don't think this is common -- but it's a lesson in the care necessary when driving -- or walking.

We went to dinner Thursday night to a Cameroonian restaurant. On the walk there it became clear that people live most of their lives in the street, even at night. Some of the children (often aged 8 or 9) enjoy interacting with the white people walking by. "Toubab!", they often call, which means white person in Bambara, the native language. French is spoken by most people as well. The food was good. Rebecca had an excellent whole grilled fish (carp, perhaps) that I'm sure was caught in the huge Niger River which bisects the city. Otherwise sauce dishes with chunks of meat served with a starch like millet or casava seems to be the norm.

It has rained almost every day for a at least while. But overall the weather is pleasant. 90 degrees or so during the day and 80 or so at night. It will get just a bit cooler in winter, and with spring will come the hot/dry season where temps can reach 120 I'm told. Fortunately we have excellent A/C and have been using it every night. The electricity is quite reliable. The Internet is not as reliable and I'll be searching for a new Internet provider on Monday.

I really need to work on my French. Everyone is very friendly so far and I'm anxious to communicate with them.

Last night we went to a celebration of Mali's 50th anniversary of independence. There was between 50,000 and 100,000 people on a large street and a nice stage positioned at one end. It was scheduled to begin at 6pm and to feature many world-famous Malian musicians. By 12:30 a.m., when we left, about 3 "warm-up" musicians had appeared. There were far more speeches than music -- we heard fewer than 6 songs by 12:30 a.m. I'm told this is typical. Unfortunately as we were leaving it started to rain, and it rained all night. Bummer for the celebration.

We also went to see music Friday night, but it was a bit of a bust. The clubs were empty because everyone was saving there energy for Saturday night. We finally ended up at a dive bar called La Fida. There was a drummer, bassist, and lead guitar player who played the same chord progression for at least 90 minutes (the whole time we were there) while various people took the microphone and made fun of other people in the club including us. I'm told that joking around is an important part of Malian culture.