Life at site

Tioribougou is the wonderful little town which I now call home. Having lived there for almost two weeks now, it's nice to finally not be living out of a suitcase. I live in a little cement house with a tin roof with my tiny white kitten (Jakoman Coulibaly... jakoman is "cat" in Bambara and I'll explain Coulibaly later), a bat, a family of birds, the few spiders which neither jaki nor I can reach, and a ton of terminites who will hopefully move out when I get around to painting the walls inside. It's a pretty exciting little house, actually. I have a gas stove on which I make tea or coffee every morning, a big water filter, a bed complete with mosquito net, a bamboo chair, a reed mat, and a bamboo dresser. First thing in the morning I walk down the road to buy bread and maybe furufuru (fried millet-dough balls). I prepare breakfast and feed Jaki, then read awhile before going out to greet my supervisor (Abdullay the doctor) and counterpart (Sitan the matron). They usually take me around to meet different families in the town, or we just sit and chat (they chat...I try to figure out what is being said) outside the health center. Three days a week I have Bambara lessons in the afternoon with Sitan's husband who is a TROURE which brings me to my explanation of why Jaki's last name is Coulibably. Mali has this wonderful little thing we call "joking cousins." There are only a few last names here (mine is Diarra) and certain families joke with certain other families. We say things like, "you eat beans," "you're my slave," "you're a cat/dog/donkey/etc." It's hilarious and never gets old...well, doesn't get old to Malians, anyway. Diarra's mainly joke with Troure's, and everybody jokes with Coulibaly's (my host family is Coulibably) hence, Jakoman Coulibaly. It's a riot whenever I tell people that:) Alright, well I'll be back in for Christmas and hopefully have time to write some more then. But until then, Merry Christmas season! Enjoy the snow extra much for me cause there sure isn't any here!