Let's try that again!

Since the one sentence stream of consciousnesses-esque blog was such a success I'm gonna go ahead and try it again:

While on a mission to find pork in Sikasso, Helen and I instead made friends with 2 Malian Christians, Theodore and Matthew, who gave us free beers and promised to have pig meat for purchase the next time we come.

I've been wearing my hair straightened with a flat iron and out of braids for the past two weeks because I wanted to see how long my hair has gotten; It's about two inches past my collar bone!

There is a very good chance I will get three more piercings done in village(3rd holes on both ears and then a cartiledge piercing)... okay more like a definite chance.

Every time I see a white person, or someone who is obviously a foreigner, I can't help but stare and think 'What the hell are you doing here???'

I finally turned in my Small Project Assistance Grant request for my Library (a request for $4000)!

I appreciate the fact that Sikasso has avocados year round, but I have to say they taste gross and are nothing like black Hass avocados in America.

The thought of city skylines in the US, skyscrapers in particular, surprisingly scares me...How can buildings be so tall!?! (Mali doesn't have a single skyscraper)

My mom's birthday is this month, on the 9th, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

I am currently researching transatlantic cruises to take back to America as an alternative to flying and a way to see more of the world!

I'm super into marathoning TV shows right now; I just finished How to make it in America and I am currently watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (I'm on season 5).

Volunteers in my stage, Team America, are starting to pick their Close of Service dates which means I should know exactly when I'll be leaving Mali very soon!

Since living in Mali I have developed a love of cooking with green bell peppers and fresh cloves of garlic.

Malians, and unfortunately a lot of PCVs who have grown accustom to it, think it's totally cool to pick their noses in public and I'm talking the digging for gold type of nose picking... um GROSS!

My village and the villages around us are starting to prepare for their annual (for my village it's every 2 years) traditional all-village festival where everyone dresses up and dances to balofone music for hours!

The Diva Cup is one of the greatest inventions known to women and I recommend that every girl I know go out and buy one!

My host family made fun of me for paying $4 for a sweatshirt because they say it should have cost $2... seriously I heard them speaking in Senufo and constantly saying my name and "sweatshirt" and "$4!?" for like an hour.

For the past 2 weeks I have listened to 4 songs on repeat, and these 4 songs only: Sexy and I Know it by LMFAO, Rack City by Tyga, Dance (A$$) by Big Sean, and Rain Over Me by Pitbull... seriously, this is no joke.

The African Cup of Nations Soccer Tournament is currently going on in Gabon and Equitorial Guinea and Mali actually isn't doing all that bad.

There is quite a bit of terrorist activity going on in the North of Mali right now (near Timbuktu and in the Gao region) but to be honest I feel safer in my village than I ever did in suburban America.

As my Peace Corps service is coming to a close I have started a journal to document all the things I will miss about Mali as well as all the things I definitely won't miss.

I am trying to read as many "Classic" books as I can while in Mali... I'm currently reading 1984.

I leave for Segou in 10 days to spend 2 days at Melissa's site and then go to Festival sur le Niger which will most likely turn into a 5-day crazy Peace Corps party.