A New Year, A New Adventure

Happy 2018 and, as is becoming a distressing recurring phrase, sorry for not writing for so long!

Last I wrote was September 2017. I was in Mali making new friends, raising my pup Jacques, and looking at my last six months at post. To kick off restarting blog posts, here are some highlights from September '17 until today. Enjoy!

September: Trip to Ghana for work and a little play!

October: Trip to Morocco with good friends!

November: Time well spent in Bamako, celebrating Thanksgiving and lots of walking and hiking with Jacques.

December: Work trip to Conakry, Guinea, plus taking pictures in my Bamako neighborhood.

January 2018: Enjoying the dry "cool" weather on some hiking trips in/around Bamako.

February: Several Bamako photo safaris and a road trip to Dakar!

March: Saying Goodbye (last photo safari and some random pictures)

April: Home leave, relaxing in Durham, NC, watching spring spring.

Changing Temps

The year is flying by as we hit the middle of September. Many of my closest friends here in Bamako have moved on to their next posts or trainings, and I've started making new friends with the newer arrivals. When in meetings, I sometimes look around realize I'm amongst those who have been at post the longest, which is a strange feeling.

The coming months promise to bring lots of excitement: a work trip to Accra, Ghana; a personal vacation trip to Morocco with good friends; a visit in Bamako by my parents; and possibly another work trip to Conakry. Soon after it will be the end of the year, which will bring my last few months at post.

My puppy, Jacques, is almost six months old, and having him has opened up several new friendships and avenues for activities with other dog owners or folks who like dogs. He's gotten so much bigger and his personality continues to develop and change. He's *mostly* potty trained now, though at friends' houses he still manages to leave surprises. As they say here: petit-a-petit, or dony-dony (slowly, slowly; little by little; step-by-step).

The temperatures are starting to cool as we near the end of rainy season. It's lovely to walk in the evenings and feel a cool breeze now and then. The days still bring 90+ degree weather and wind/rain storms are still sweeping through, but I can feel it: the seasons are changing.

--Z

Kicking off Year 2 in Bamako

It's official, I'm on the downswing of my time in Bamako! My tour here is two years and March was my halfway point. Although my exact departure date won't be solidified until much closer to March 2018, it feels good to be on the downward slope.

Things in Bamako haven't been so great. Perhaps you've seen the news, or maybe not: there was an attack on a "resort" area called Le Campement, or Kangaba, where several westerners and Malians were killed. Just another senseless attack, for terror's sake alone. I've been to Le Campement a couple of times and was looking forward to going again sometime soon.

It's funny, it's so easy to say (and think, and feel), "One can't live in fear, you just have to keep on doing what you're doing." It's not true. It is possible to live in fear. You just start to decide what you're willing to risk: go to the very popular-with-westerners restaurant? Hmm. The other resort-y place in town? Uhm. Grocery shopping at the market primarily frequented by westerners? Er. It's a terrible way to think, in trade-offs and hesitancy, but it's a real way to live.

The past month has been a tough one: we lost a member of our community, the attack at Le Campement, continuing security threats, plus all the usual work stressors and projects, and let's just toss on the State Departement hiring freeze and budget cuts, which are starting to have their effects. It's not an easy environment to live in, all around.

So how do we cope, here in Bamako? Primarily, by taking care of each other. The people here are incredible and I find myself depending on the goodness of my friends and colleagues more and more. I usually feel like I'm the one trying to provide lots of support, but here it's the reverse: I'm receiving it, all the time. From "I'm thinking of you, how's it going?" text messages to office walk-ins just to shoot the breeze, from get-togethers at friends' houses to sporadic phone calls to check in and say hi... the community here is real and it is strong.

Another way of coping is making flash decisions, and one month ago I did just that: after years of hemming and hawing, wishing it were the right time and place, I finally followed in my Grandma Nancy's footsteps and said "The time is now!" And I adopted a puppy the next day.

Jacques is just about three months old now and he's a handful: of cuteness, frustration, love and energy. He's a Malian mutt, a mix of Malian dog (technically called Azawakh) and an unknown father. There's no telling how big he'll get, but for now he's little and adorable. We're working on potty training, and crate training, and sit-lay down-come-hush training. Also on training ME, because it's a lot of work being a dog owner!

Without the support of friends here, I probably couldn't handle having Jacques on top of everything else. Luckily, the dog-loving community here is strong and very supportive, so I think we'll make it! Pictures to follow...

--Z

Coming up on R&R

It's been awhile since I've written. It's been a busy month since my last post. Work, as usual, continues at a somewhat frantic pace. I'm settling in with my new boss, hosting all sorts of work-related visitors, and preparing to go on my first R&R trip home. I took a weekend trip to Dakar, Senegal; volunteered a couple times at a Malian orphanage; took a group of ten people on a hike; and so lots of other fun stuff. 

Below are a few photo clips of my last hike... I'll try to get some orphanage and Dakar pics up soon!

Another Siby Arch Hike

WAWA

It's a week before my six-month mark here at post. I don't know why but that seems important to note. 

Two weeks ago, little bugs started showing up in my master bathroom shower. I asked the Facilities Maintenance section of the embassy to come fix it. After one failed attempt, in which the facilities team came to my apartment and looked everywhere for bugs except in the master bathroom shower, they caulked and sprayed. The next morning there were bugs – termites, I then learned – streaming out of the holes in between bubbles of caulking.

I put in another work request and decided to use the guestroom shower. Turns out, there’s no hot water hooked up to that bathroom.

Work during the week was busy with last-minute emergencies, the arrival of a new boss and the process of getting him all settled in, and the discovery of really upsetting mistakes in long-term, highly visible projects. I stayed too late every night and didn’t get much done overall.

The facilities team then gave a repeat performance, in which they went to my apartment and checked everywhere for termites… except for the master bathroom shower. I held it together enough to ask the team, politely, to go back immediately. When I came home from work, the sight that greeted my eyes was one of a carpet of dead termites covering the floor of my shower. Also, several little dead bodies were caulked into the shower corners.

After washing the little buggers down the drain, so I could take a hot shower, I decided to check my e-mail. Turns out, the internet company turned off my internet. Though I paid for a full year of service (it’s usually monthly here), the company turns it off each month and it takes between a week and a month to get them to turn it back on.

On my way back from a friend’s house, a friend who had internet, I decided to go grocery shopping. I got lost, naturally, because there are many destinations that require knowing exactly where to drive between gaps in the road-side barriers in order to access them, and I missed the gap. Twice.

I gave up and ordered out. Put on a movie, settled back… and the power went out.

I realize that I’m privileged, in an amazing job, and that things are not at all bad. Compared to the majority of Mali’s population, I live in a palace, eat like a queen, and live a life of ease.

But this time, West Africa Wins Again.

Hiking Pics

Just outside of Bamako, a group of about ten people went for a hike today. Normally there would be a runner's group and a walker's group, but since we got rained out and some of the trails were deemed treacherous, we all hiked together instead.

Beginning of the hike. Interesting wall that stretched quite a ways, maybe marking a township? No idea, really. Just that there was a lot of trash on the side opposite the town. 

The hike begins along a dirt road.

Roadside view. 

Leaping over obstacles (puddles)!

There are a lot of partial buildings, the beginnings of construction, in Bamako. 

Workers in the field under the trees.  

Pristine silver tray and teapots amid the dirt and mud and concrete blocks. 

Intrepid explorers. 

First valley view of the hike. 

Man on phone under tree. 

Another great valley view.

Small home on the hill.

Trail-side view. 

The three most persistent followers, who asked if I had a ball to give them, or a PSP, or an iPhone or tablet. They also enjoyed having their picture taken.  

Fascinating and very large statue. No signs or descriptions anywhere. Just a guy on a horse overlooking the valley.

The climb down. 

Malian women are always so colorfully dressed and graceful, somehow.

A rainbow for our troubles!