Beginning Bambara

We had our first Bambara lesson in Sikoro yesterday with DouDou (short for Mamadou) who is the Peace Corps language teacher. The first thing he taught us was that CFA time was not American time (CFA=Malian currency). Our lessons are going to be 3 times a week at 19h, but for him, that means at some time around 19h he'll begin thinking about trying to make it over to Sikoro. Even though we only learned a few phrases so far, it's already really entertaining for Ousmane's entire family. Ousmane, our host, lives in a compound with 17 kids, lots of grandmothers, and apparently only 1 man who works and supports everyone else. Ousmane isn't planning on working any time soon either- he plans on staying in school as long as possible and getting a PhD in la gestion (management). All the grandmothers especially find it hysterical when 2 tubabou (white) girls attempt to speak Bambara. The women all sit in the courtyard at night, braiding hair, or watching Malian TV while the men sit outside on the side of the road, talking and drinking ridiculously sweet green tea. Julie and I asked Ousmane's sister's to give us Malian dance lessons, so last night the grandmothers had a great time laughing at the tubabous trying a dance which in Bambara means big booty.


I spent the day with Mamadou Cisse's family. He's not on CFA time (he picked me up promptly at 9:30 this morning) and he had a strict schedule because we had A LOT of family to meet. He arrived in his auto-ecole car (he still runs a driving school) which had no seatbelts in it, but he was very strict about pulling over to the side of the road everytime he had a cellphone call. We first went to Mamadou's house (where I met one of his two wives), then we visited his cousin Assiata (Lady) and then spent the rest of the day with Fanta, his sister. At Fanta's I had the best food I've yet to have in Bamako- ris au gras/fried rice - with actual vegetables in it. Even though there was only a crumbled up side of spinach , it was the first green thing I've eaten here so far.

Fanta's children are adorable. We spent the afternoon watching Senegalese fashion shows on TV and then visiting every single one of their friends' houses. They introduced me everywhere as their cousin, and more people laughed at me when I greeted them in Bambara... We stopped by a balani where DJ Cool was playing traditional Malian music on huge loudspeakers. Apparently at night the balani turns into a street discotheque. Fanta's house was really fun, and her kids were really patient with my attempts at French and Bambara, so Mamadou said he would take me there every Sunday to spend time with Fanta and co.