Going to Kayes

Whew...what a month. Everything here is going great. I know I haven't written much yet, and I will attempt to rectify that now.

So...my homestay family is really nice. I live with a family of 4 boys, 3 girls, a sick mom, a dad, and many random cousins, uncles, etc...It's an interesting experience and they are in general super friendly. I have found a new love of Malian Tea. It is such a cool production. Heres how it goes.

1. Boil water in one teapot
2. Add the tea (lots of tea)
3. Let it cook for, depending on who you ask, 2-10 minutes
4. Then switch the tea to a seperate teapot with mint in it
5. Cook for an additional 30 seconds
6. Add a hillarious amount of sugar (seriously)
7. Repeatedly pour the tea back and forth from the teapot to a shotglass to create foam...a skill I have yet to master.
8. Taste the tea
9. Add a little more sugar
10. Taste it again
11. Clean the outside of the shotglass and the plate that everything is on
12. Make some more foam
13. Give everyone in the vicinity (ie...strangers, family, etc) a half a shotglass of it (in age order of course)
14. Repeat (all day)

It's so good and strong. Amazing stuff. I'm sure I'm coming home with many cavities. My brother Issa and my language instructor Daou are teaching me to make it. Also, my language instructor is freaking amazing. Even though I didn't do that great on my mid training test, I'm confident that I'll make it through the language (at least I'm not the worst :). Just kidding anyone in my class reading this :) ).

So every day we have language classes underneath a mango tree outside our language instructors temporary house. It's kind of a cool concept but is totally distracting. Random animals, children, people in general pop in on us all the time. It's totally the Malian way...for example, some guy pulls up on a Moto and is like what's up, what are you guys doing. The instructors like, well...practice your language with him. Then he was like, follow him to his house and meet his 4 wives, and countless children. It's really weird. Also, there are always herds of cows, dogs, goats, etc...walking right through the middle of our classes. There is this one little kid, probably 10, who just hangs out all day and watches us. He clearly has ringworm on his face, so no one really wants to touch him (beyond the occasional fist bump (which the Malians love)). The other day he killed a lizard in front of another girl in my class who was totally sick. She's like on her deathbed and the kid walks up and smashes a lizard. Then he rips out the guts. Later he told someone that he ate the lizard. Nasty...

So Malians and all West Africans I think, do these insanely long greetings. It's so different. When walking past random people (everyone), you must greet them and shake their hands, ask how everyone in their family is, give a few prayers...it's wild It goes like this:

• Me: Hello
• Them: Hello. How are you?
• Me: All is well
• Them: How is your family?
• Me: They are well.
• Them: How is your father?
• Me: He is well.
• Them: How is your mother?
• Me: She is well.
• .....and on and on...

Another interesting thing ( I think ) is that the idea of homosexuality is so taboo here that it is not generally even considered. Men frequently walk down the street holding hands. They'll sit on each others laps. I even saw my brother and a friend grab another guys privates once. It's so interesting. During the whole greeting, you start with a hand shake, except you hold hands throughout the whole thing. Sometimes you let go to touch your heart though or bump knuckles.

Hmm...I'm trying to think of other interesting stuff, but I think every moment of my stay here has been crazy, so I'll spare you the minute by minute details of my life. I'll try to add some pictures before I leave for Kayes on Saturday...I'm going to check out my site for a week and basically hang out. It should be pretty cool (hot?). I'll let you guys know how it goes. Love you all.