Still more... Bamako!

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Well, it’s been far too long since my last entry, and I’m afraid that this one will inadequately capture the past couple of weeks, but here goes…

Considering that the days run together so much for me here, of course the big event of the past couple of weeks was the election. We went with a couple of friends to a bar near the Peace Corps (PC) office in a part of town heavily frequented by toubabs (European and American foreigners). We got there around 8 o’clock our time (3pm EST) and settled in for the long night. The bar was packed full of PC volunteers, and we actually met a few from NC. However, we mostly stuck with the couple of friends that we came with (the PC volunteers were unexpectedly rowdy). I won’t go through the blow-by-blow, as I expect we weren’t the only ones to follow the returns, but in our own way, we were able to participate in the glory of the final results. There was a lot of cheering and clapping. As with most people with whom I’ve talked, the gravity of the Obama’s speech was inescapable, and even in the dusty Malian bar, the meaning of the moment was all but palpable.

By the time that we gained the street at 6am on Wednesday, extreme sleepiness and fatigue had set in. Nevertheless, I felt a little disappointed that there was not a single person outside of our party to celebrate the event with. It was strange to see people going about their routines as if it was just any other day. Oh well, better to go to bed anyway.

The rest of the day and even the remainder of the week were a blur. I’ve ceased working on my translations of my materials and am now going over them with Malians that I know. The past few days I’ve spent hours going over the questions with people trying to figure out if they make sense and which ones I should drop (I have 250 questions right now!).

We’re still waiting to leave for Niono, which is to the north of here, not far from the border with Mauritania. Nora’s supervisor, Amy, put off the trip day after day last week, much to Nora’s ire. However, she booked a vehicle to go up on Monday, so that’s what we’re planning on now. As a result of the delay, Nora’s cutting back on the data collection. We’ll still be in Niono for three weeks, after which we’ll return to Bamako for five days (unfortunately just missing Thanksgiving). We’ll then head east, but only for two weeks instead of three weeks. During that time, I’m going to make an effort to interview more people, although it won’t be easy as I will not have even my rudimentary French to rely on, as just about no one speaks it where we’ll be headed.

In general, things are going quite well here. As I’ve mentioned before, one day runs into the next, given my relaxed schedule and the little variation between days. Even the weather changes very little. We’ve been out of the rainy season for a few weeks now, and the nights are a little bit cooler than when we arrived, but otherwise, the invariable weather offers no distinguishing events to mark the passage of time. One noticeable weather-linked change, though, is the incessant sinus and throat irritation that Nora and I have had since the end of the rainy season. Because there is no rain to clear the air, early morning is the only time that there isn’t a heavy cloud of dust and exhaust enveloping the city, and this is hell on the respiratory system. I wonder if we’ll ever get used to it.

In other news, we finally caught a concert. (How it took us so long to go see live music, I don’t know!) Anyway, we saw Baba Sissoko, who is a percussionist, along with his band of about seven other musicians. The concert was held at Le Patio at the French Cultural Center, which hosts a lot of interesting events but is definitely a big toubab destination. Nevertheless, the tickets were cheap ($3), and the music was good. I managed to record half of the concert and am posting some tracks here. Hope you enjoy them. I promise not to take so long to write next time! Also, I should have some photos from Niono to post, too.

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