Market day

written October 28, 2010
So market day yesterday was alright. I didn't buy any boiled peanuts or doughnuts, but I did get rice which was great! So anyway here are a bunch of random small stories from yesterday:
1- One of my homologue's favorite things to do is point out how he is "fais Americaine"ing which means that he is doing something that he considers American. For example he will be eating lunch, and instead of eating with his hand out of a bowl on the ground, he will set the bowl on a small table and still use his hand and then call my name and say "Gnire (my name)! Je fais Americaine maintenant!" or he will eat with a spoon and say the same. It's really quite funny, but also kind of annoying because he is constantly pointing it out.
2- I was sitting in the Premiere Adjoint's office with the Mayor and my homologue, and we were talking about Obama and Blacks and Whites in the US. The Mayor asked me if I was on the side of the Blacks or if I was on the side of the Whites (whatever that means?). I told him I was in the middle because I'm mixed and my mom is white and my dad is black so I don't want to pick a side. The Mayor was like "No, no, you should be on the side of the Blacks. You should side with your dad!" and I was like "no, what about my mom?" He then said "Don't worry your dad will be there, and if you go your mom will follow you to the side of the Blacks because your dad is there." It was a weird conversation.
3- I saw my first University of Florida shirt yesterday! Random used clothes get shipped to Mali from all over, so I expected to see a UF shirt sooner or later. Surprisingly enough I finally saw one at my Host Dad's house! A girl who is living there to attend school in my village was wearing it. I tried to explain to everyone that her shirt was from my University and how exciting that was, but they didn't get it. T-shirts and what are on them don't matter to Malians.
4- I saw a pair of shorts at the market today with a "Abfrorombe and Fitch" label on it.
5- The Mayor thought that the capitol of Jamaica was Miami.
6- Another thing that my homologue tries to do to "fais Americaine" is have people pay 50 francs for dropping trash on the ground at his house instead of taking it to the trash pile. He wants to buy a trash can for his house, but until he gets one people will just have to walk to the trash pile.
7- The priest I mention a few blog posts ago, the only Malian I've ever considered (from now on I will refer to him as Hot Priest), came by for a visit yesterday. I had just gotten home after spending the entire day with my homologue and I really just wanted to relax by myself. I already found Hot Priest kind of annoying because every time he has come over in the past he has insisted on a full tea session that takes about 2 hours and has asked me a lot of questions about how I worship and religion which I don't like to talk about. So anyway I heard a motorcycle pull up so I looked out my window and immediately recognized Hot Priest's bike jacket. I immediately ducked down and attempted to hide, I was in no mood to entertain anyone, let alone annoying Hot Priest. Unfortunately for me my door was open (this is a sign for everyone that says 'hey! Gnire's home!'), so he knew I was in there. He came to chat with my homologue so he spent about 20 minutes looking for him which led me to believe that I was in the clear... That was until he had one of the boys who lives with us call out my name at my door about 6 times. After the 6th time I felt kind of bad for making him yell out my name so many times so I finally just went to the door and pretended that I had been sleeping. Hot Priest believed me, but then kept asking me how it was possible that I was able to sleep through the noise of his motorcycle. I told him I guessed I was a really deep sleeper. (Am I going to go to Hell for lying to a Priest??) Anyway just like all the other visits before, Hot Priest insisted that we have tea. He also asked me to bring out my computer because he had brought his USB and wanted to get some music from me. I found this to be very annoying because I don't like flaunting my wealth in village thus I like to keep things like my computer and ipod hidden. I brought it out anyway and transfered 23 songs to his USB, but not before being lectured by Hot Priest about how I need to clean my computer because dust is very bad for it. He also knows very little about computers and doesn't know English, but yet still tried to tell me how to put music on his USB and how to use iTunes, a program I'm sure he's never used before in his life. Hot Priest is sooooo annoying! Hopefully next time I am more successful in my attempt at hiding.
written October 29, 2010
8- A few days ago I ruined my favorite pair of gold head phones by getting them caught in the wheel of my bicycle. Good came out of this though because I discovered that the other pair of headphones I brought with me has what is almost like surround sound! So for the past few nights I have been turning my music up, closing my eyes and pretending I'm at a club. I have my own private dance party. It's great. And what makes it even more great is the fact that I wear a head lamp and a tafe (pronounced taff-ay, basically and ankle length wrap skirt). I'm very hip.
9- There was a GIANT moth on my screen door last night and it was impeding my ability to close my metal door so that i could go to bed. I spent about 20 minutes trying to get it off by poking it with a stick, throwing water on it, and even trying to squirt it with bleach. I eventually gave up and called out to my homologue to get him to help me. He came over and couldn't stop laughing and even called over his wife and friend to see that I was scared of a moth. He told me through laughs "You know it won't bite you," and also pointed out all the water on the ground to everyone. it was pretty embarrassing, but also scary as hell!