New Energy

Joe and I in our matching Fourth of July outfits, ready to hit the town!

After our 4th of July shindig with some fellow volunteers, Joe and I headed to Bamako, the capital city, for our mid-service medical exam and also to welcome the new volunteers to Mali. The new volunteers arrived on July 10th at around 8pm. I was able to go to the airport and meet them all, with my clipboard in hand to make sure everyone was accounted for and all their baggage had made it to Mali safely. Waiting back at the training site Joe and some of the old volunteers waited to give them their first lessons in bathroom etiquette, how to use their mosquito nets and repellent, and reminded them to only drink filtered water. It was an enjoyable few days at the training center, good sessions, and great new energy. The new volunteers bring a refreshing breath of fresh air to those of us who are at our stale-one year marker.

Speaking of a stale-one year marker, Joe and I were recently were having a bit of a bad day, Joe was sick of traveling back and forth to work and I was down and out for the day with some type of intestinal sickness. Here are two instances that perked us right up and reminded us how grateful we are to be here and how we can't let the little things get us down.

1) Joe had just come home from work and we heard some motorcycles coming towards our house. Joe quickly headed outside and 4 men from the Traditional Medicine Center (Joe's work) had come out to wish me good health. One of the men proceeded to tell me that "when I am sick, it means Joe is sick, which in turn means the staff at the Traditional Medicine Center is sick because we are all family." What a great feeling to know that we are considered to be family here.

The guys from work were sporting their Obama T-shirts when they came to visit; this is quite the joke at work, because they all know Joe is a Republican.

2) On the same night, the sun had gone down and Joe had just gotten done with his bucket bath and I was lying on the bed. Joe's counterpart came knocking on our door, Joe answered it and Oumar had a bucket in his hand. He handed it over to Joe and said it was for me because I was sick. Joe opened the lid and there was a whole chicken, plucked and cleaned for me! (Eating meat here, is suppose to make you healthy). I know you are all thinking gross, but it is such and honor here to be given a chicken. Chickens are VERY expensive and are a rare treat. The chicken that was given to me was probably worth about a month's salary.

My very first chicken...isn't he cute!

So the moral of the stories are, that Malians are very community orientated people. The fact that they would sacrifice time to come visit me and sacrifice money for my health is a humbling experience. We are learning alot about community and were reminded that we are blessed to be living with these lovely, caring people!

The Year Marker: the pie chart is half full

This time last year we were sitting in my Mom's backyard enjoying friends, family, onion rings(oh, those sound so good right now) and laughter. It was the night before we started our Peace Corps adventure.

As we went to the airport the next morning holding back tears and with unsettled stomachs, we both were wondering what our Peace Corps experience would bring. Well, needless to say it has brought a lot. Here are a few highlights of the past year.

We have learned:

• TIME- Who needs it? (we have learned patience with what west Africans call WAIT - West African International Time - basically slow down and hang out because most things are not worth rushing around for)
• two languages- okay they are both not perfected yet, but we still have a year left
• how to eat out of a communal bowl and with our hands
• TV is not a necessity
• how much we appreciate being from a prosperous and blessed country
• cooking with a VERY limited number of ingredients and still edible food

We have been humbled by:

• our villages hospitality
• Malian smiles
• simplistic, meager living
• support from friends and family back home

We have survived:

• without running water or electricity
• 115F temperatures
• amoebas and giardia (and feel blessed to have escaped the wrath of schistosomiasis, malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, and the list goes on....)
• eating millet toh and leftover millet toh
• non-refrigerated meat---its safe, right?
• public transport - in our opinion the most dangerous part of living in a third world nation

Things that have become normal:

• sweating constantly
• bucket baths
• carrying things on our heads
• not showing our knees
• sleeping outside every night
• hand washing ALL our clothes
• going to the bathroom in a hole
• being woken in the morning by donkeys, roosters, and woman pounding millet
• the Muslim call to prayer over a loud speaker (five times a day)

Amazing experiences:

• visiting Timbuktu
• four day river trip on the Niger
• traveling overland to Guinea and Sierra Leone
• having Bubba visit us for 6 weeks
• watching crazy African storms roll in from the distance
• watching beautiful African sunsets
• living a radically different lifestyle than the way we grew up, yet more similar to the way the majority of the world lives

Things we miss:

• CHEESE!!!!!!!!
• family and friends
• a hot shower
• being able to wear shorts
• air conditioner
• Mexican food with a margarita
• lattes/coffee shops- somewhere to relax and get away
• baking(Ashley)
• church worship and fellowship
• TJ Maxx(Ashley)
• Dairy Queen blizzard(Joe)
• major life events of our friends and family - holidays, marriages, babies...
• seeing familiar faces
• set jobs
• date nights
• Target "dollar spot" and popcorn combo

With one year down and one to go, we are still enjoying out time here. Although not everyday is fun or easy, it is a challenge we feel blessed to have as individuals and as a couple. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as another year is upon us.