La Nostalgie

Since I’ve spent the past week or so feeling really nostalgic, I’ve thought a lot about what I’m going to miss about this country. Of course there is the obvious: I will miss my family, the girls on the program, and all of the other friends I’ve made here. But there are definitely other, more discreet aspects of life here that I am going miss. The pace of life here, though it did take some getting used to, is so much more laid back than life in the US. There’s a lot of sitting around and waiting… which still bothers me at times, but it’s a more relaxed lifestyle than anything back home. Then of course there is all of the importance of greetings, and how no one simply walks by each other in the street. Also, although it will be nice to eat the food back home, I’m going to miss the dablennin (hibiscus drink), degue (yoghurt-millet porridge), tigadegena (peanut sauce), pain au chocolat from pastry shops, zere (watermelon), and all of the other delicious fruit. I’m going to miss spending the last 4 months Lady Gaga-free. I’m going to miss the bright colors that everyone wears. I’m going to miss never having to worry about layering, and being able to just throw on a tank top and go outside. I’m going to miss seeing Malian men riding their motos with their boubous blown up by the wind, making them look like marshmallows. I’m going to miss the French television my family watches, notably the international new on France 24.  I’m going to miss stepping out of my house and watching soccer games on the field right outside. I’m going to miss waking up to the quiet sound of sweeping outside of my window. I’m also going to miss not having constant internet access; it’s been a nice break. And I’m really going to miss hearing my name, Raki.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t some things I won’t miss. Having privacy is currently the number one thing I’m looking forward to, especially now that my sister has taken to locking me out of my room basically every day. It’ll be nice to finally sleep through the night without being woken up with lights, my sister’s phone calls, and loud music. My family has also been fighting a lot lately, and it’s uncomfortable for me to sit through. I’m really looking forward to controlling what I eat and when I eat it. I won’t miss inhaling diesel fuels every day when I cross the paved road near my house. And it’ll be nice to be able to walk down the road without hearing “toubabou!” nine hundred times.

As my days remaining in this country are down to the single digits, the negative things about my time here are harder to think of, since the positive aspects are so much more important and are the things I want to remember. I’m sure that when I get back home, the bad things will be a distant memory, and I’ll just want to come back.

Crunch Time

Phew. The last week was crazy, but I’ve finally turned in my ISP and feel like I can relax again. After going back to Kalaban Coura for a couple of nights last weekend, I headed back to Sikoro to finish up my project. On Monday, I interviewed two more government officials: a worker for the Service of Sanitation, Pollution, and Environment, and the representative of Sikoro to the “town hall” of Commune I, the district of Bamako that Sikoro is in. The interviews were interesting; they echoed a lot of the grievances that the mayor of Sikoro has told to me the week before. The government’s resources are just too limited to provide adequate sanitary infrastructure to Bamako’s booming population.

I spent the day on Tuesday writing up my report in French for the coordinator of PACAPSI, the NGO I’ve been working with over these weeks. I promised him I’d give him a summary of my findings at the end of my time with him… but it really was a lot of extra work on top of my ISP. After turning over to him my 25-page report, he read it and said, “But you didn’t include anything about liquid waste, only solid waste.” Needless to say, I was a bit annoyed. I told him I could give it to him next week, after I finished up my paper for SIT.

I moved back to Kalaban Coura on Tuesday night and dedicated the next two days to writing my paper. It was exhausting, and I don’t really want to have to think about it again, at least for a couple of days. It felt good to turn it in… but I do have to present my research for 30 minutes on Wednesday, so I can’t totally put the subject out of my head quite yet.

After turning in my paper, my rapidly diminishing amount of time in this country became a reality. I’m starting to really dread going back. Although it will be nice to take a shower, not be hot all the time, and download Taylor Swift’s newest album (and of course to see my family), I cannot imagine leaving what I have made my home here in Bamako. My family is truly wonderful, and I hate that I’ll have to leave here without them really knowing how much they mean to me, since there’s no way to put it. They gave me a beautiful gift yesterday: a dress of beautiful green and purple tie-dye, several bracelets, and a pair of leather sandals. My father keeps threatening to hide my suitcase so I won’t be able to leave. I’m mostly worried since keeping in touch with them really won’t be too easy, but I’ll have to find some way to make it work.

Today we had our final party at school. All of our homestay families were invited, and we were asked to prepare the food. Our options were fairly limited, since we don’t have access to an oven and instead cook everything over coals, but we ended up making a pretty delicious (if I do say so myself) stir fry with a wide variety of veggies along with homemade hummus served with pita bread. Modibo’s wife provided some Malian food… which was probably for the best since I don’t think my family was crazy about the vegetable-filled meal and were happier to eat something they were familiar with. I, however, ate a lot of the stir fry and hummus, and was extremely content.

I feel really weird right now; I’m essentially done academically and now have all this free time that I don’t know what to do with, but I definitely don’t want to spend the next week and a half twiddling my thumbs waiting to leave. I guess I’ll just have to enjoy my time with my family as much as possible.