Merry Christmas!

Back in Bamako for Christmas with you'll-never-guess-who. The one and only FR. BRUNO SEGATTA! No kidding. He travelled overland from Morocco through Mauritania to Mali with the final destination of Madagascar because...well...because he's Bruno and he does things like that. So we've been hanging out at the stage house together with Kevin (another Gonzaga-in-Florence alumn from a few years back), and a few other PCVs. It doesn't espcially feel like the Christmas season here, being an Islamic country and all, but we did what we could. The tubab stores have little plastic Christmas trees and we played some Christmas music brought from home. Not quite the same, though. Christmas Eve we all cooked a wonderful dinner together complete with fresh chicken (we had the vendors kill and feather them for us...we're not quite THAT integrated yet), mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, and sugar cookies:) followed by a wonderful Fr. Bruno-style mass. Christmas Day started with brunch at the Plaza Hotel, then some cake baking, which we took to Cheryl's house for dinner. Cheryl is an APCD aka my boss. There were about 15 people there...PCVs and NGO workers alike, all far away from our families but putting on smiles in the spirit of Christmas cheer. It was actually a pretty good way to spend the day, though I really miss you all...especially Dad, Mom, and Becca.
I'm headed back to site later today, which is still going really well. Bambara is coming along nicely, if slowly. I'm meeting lots of welcoming people and starting to feel very much at home there. Thanks for all your posts and emails. I love hearing from you all! Kan b'u fo!