A New Chapter Begins...

Goodbye, Mali....

2006-09-03T02:54:00.000-04:00

The chapter has come to and end and is now closed.

I'm back in the states and a little frazzled to say the least!!! I'll update my blog at some point with some more of the crazy things I did and saw, but for now I'm just going to chill out and be glad I'm home.

Head, shoulders, Nyegen pose

2006-08-24T13:52:00.000-04:00

I'm still really happy....
A little less healthy (Thanks to giardia... it took a whopping 3 weeks to get my first official parasite!!! And, luckily it's not a harmful one... just an annoying one. The PC told me not to take the meds to get rid of it... I'll just get it again but to keep it for the 2 years. And hopefully after a few weeks it will be asymptomatic and I won't even worry about it. Whoo hoo!!! I've decided to name him Tirby. It's me... just inside out. It's me and tirby through thick and thin!!!)
I'm doing pretty fine.

I'm running out of time online so this one will have to be short.
A lot have been asking about packages so here are some things I would really love:

-protein (bars... luna are great, slim jims, tuna packets, spam.... anything!!!!)
-gatoraid packets (giardia helps with the dehydration so rehydrating would be nice)
-anything dried and tasty (Parmesan cheese that doesn't need to be refridgerated, sauce packets, taco seasoning, spices, mac-n-cheese)
-dollar store hair clips/ toys for the kids in my family (they are happy playing with rocks but they are thrilled whenever I have anything... my flashlight brings hours of fun for them)
-see blog below for mailing address (takes about 2 weeks)

I'll be uploading pics soon so check this website from time to time...
http://community.webshots.com/user/britbucklew

Random thoughts:
-I sleep in an oven. Michele said it best when she compared our sleeping situation to sleeping inside a mouth. Hot, sticky, and just overall unpleasant. Tin roof in the hot african sun, a good thermal mass from the mudbrick to store the heat all day... and for safety, I sleep with the door and window shut and locked... so the heat is trapped... it's a literal oven. Last Saturday it was 89 degrees in my room.... oh well
-I couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time sleeping the other night. Then I realized... I forgot to shut my eyes!!!! It's that dark in my room!!!! They don't call it the dark continent for nothing!!!
-I sounds silly, but I think the sky is bigger in Africa. It just seems so huge. It never felt that big at home and the stars are definitely the most amazing I've ever seen!!! I thought Kansas had great stars... oh no... My host family probably thinks I'm nuts because every night when I walk to my room to go to bed, I stop next to the nyegen and stare at the sky for a few minutes. I can't take my eyes off the stars (lala in Bambara)
-I think I'm starting to become in tune with nature... I've definitely noticed the link between critters and precipitation... If there are no cockroaches in the nyegen (bathroom) it's going to rain soon. Speaking of cockroaches, they are HUGE here! There are about 4-5 in my room every night. I get my kicks out of playing catch the cockroach. Actually, they don't bother me as much as those pesky crickets!!! African cockroaches may be gigantic, but they are dumb and slow... you shine your flashlight at them and they mosey on over to the beam.... then WHAM!! Chaco through the thorax! bye bye roachy! Although it has become a lost cause... I don't even bother to kill them anymore.

So I found out my official new home today!!!! Yay!!! I got exactly what I wanted. I'm moving to southern Mali in 4 weeks in the region of Sikasso!!! I'm about 3 hours south of Bamako and still about 3 hours away from the city of Sikasso. My village is a little bigger than I would have liked but I'm happy with the region so I'm not going to complain... yet. I got there on Sunday for a week. I had some sweet Malian threads made that I'm going to wear to introduce myself to my site. I'll post more pics next week when I'm back in Bamako! Until next time... Love you all.... miss you all.... and I'm sorry I don't have much time to thank everyone individually for the emails, letters, packages, etc.... but thank you so much!!! Training is a really busy time and as soon as I get to site I'll have time to thank you all properly! Until next week...

My dinner ran away...

2006-08-15T17:10:00.000-04:00

Wow! 2 days in a row.... I know.... but when the internet is available... you use it!! So let's see... here are a few random thoughts and journal entries that I've had while here....

-I loathe crickets.
-The slap game and thumb wrestling translate into any language (thank god)
-Hydrocorizone cream and Britne = peas and carrots
-I have a sweet ankle tan
-it took 2 days for me to ditch the makeup, get my hair braded into cornrows, rock a due-rag, and get henna drawn all over my arm (too bad I ended up having an allergic reaction to the henna and will probably have pretty big scar to remind me of Africa forever... eh, c'est la vie)
-I've had 9 (!) vaccinations..... so far. I'm like Pavlovs Dog. As soon as I see the Peace Corps doctor I start rolling up my sleeve.... it doesn't matter what she's actually there for.

I feel like I'm in a fairytale.... gone slightly awry. In fairytales, the princess (I'll be the princess in this story) is always gently woken up by all the lovely creatures of the forrest. Not me.... I get woken up by creatures... but they aren't cute and it's not gentle. The first thing that wakes me up every morning is the Mosque next door. The call to prayer sounds at 5am and lasts quite a while. Then by 5:30 the rooster starts going. By 6:00am it's the baby goat. And when the donkey chimes in at 6:15.... THAT'S IT.... I'm up!!!! Lucky for me, all the animals in my concession are kept right next to my room. And the first few nights, I was sleeping with only my screen door locked.... so when I say the baby goat came to wake me up.... I'm serious. That little guys stands at my door and screams at me until I get up.... it's cute that he follows me around and likes me.... but give me a break! I have to admit, it's kind of surreal to open your eyes in the morning and see a goat and a rooster staring at you!!! Ha ha! I'm determined to find a way to install a snooze button on that damn rooster!!!!

I ran into a bull the other day. Not in a car. Not on my bike.... just walking... then boom! Broadsided a bull. Who the hell put a bull there anyway?!?!?! I was on my way to school (30 min walk) and was saying hello to people sitting at some little stand or something, practicing my greetings since there are like 400 things you have to say to just say hello.... and I had my head turned to keep shouting things like "somogow be di... I ka kene?" "how's the famiy... how are you" and I just didn't see the kid pulling a bull that crossed in front of me. Then I ran into it. Kinda embarassing.... but I didn't even care.

We killed 3 chickens for dinner the other night. The 9 of us in my homestay village wanted to make dinner together and cook for our language teachers. We bought 3 (live) chickens at the market and had them tied up next to us during our last class of the day, right before we started our dinner. One of the chickens was quite a bit more expensive than the other two b/c it was much bigger. One of the girls in my training group was very displeased with the hole chicken slaughtering deal since she's a vegitarian, and as she's trying to convince us not to kill them, one of the guys jumps up and yells "oh my god, the good one's getting away" Hoodini the chicken had untied himself and was making a break for it!!!! Not to worry.... we caught him. He was especially delicious!

Poor little Jessie...

2006-08-14T11:36:00.000-04:00

Im happy... Im healthy... Im fine!

So far its been fun! Somehow the culture shock still hasnt hit me... maybe it will soon though.
Besides the obvious (family, friends) Im really starting to miss american food! My language teacher teases me b/c I manage to slip the phrase "Awa likes Taco Bell" into every session. "Awa be Tacobell fe"

I am Awa, by the way. Awa samakè. Translates literally to "Eve Elephant man" awesome. The language Im learning is Bambara. However, in Bambara, the word Bambara is Bamanakana. It literally took me 4 days to learn how to say that!!! Some of my favorite words in bamanakana:

14... taninanni
44... binannininanni (okay anything with a 4 is fun)
shop keeper.... butikitiki
to get fat.... kumbaya

kumbaya I am not, though!! I dont eat much. The food at my concession "house" is good but just not all that exciting. A lot of the other girls have been gaining weight due to our exclusively carb diet... for breakfast bread... lunch rice.... dinner more rice! Yum!!! Thank god for peanuts, bananas, and mangos.

I have to say though... this whole Peace Corps thing would be a lot easier if I didnt have family and friends back home that I miss so much!!!!! 2 years is a long time... espeically when you are just living it one day at a time!!!! .... Poor little Jessie!!!!!

About that time!!!

2006-07-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

In just a few hours I leave for the airport. I'm starting to freak out a little due to the fact that I haven't started freaking out yet. It will hit me soon enough. I don't have a whole lot to say right now.... there is so much swimming around in my head right now that I don't know where to start!! I will try to post new blogs with all my (what is sure to be...) bizarre Africa stories so check back from time to time... and keep in touch!!! You can email me at bbucklew@gmail.com OR see the blog from 06.21.06 for my address and tips on sending mail!!!

New Gadgets

2006-06-26T22:46:00.000-04:00

So I've started to rethink the solar backpack thing. It's a great idea, but it's expensive and (let's face it) it's going to be hard to keep from getting damaged. Especially when public transportation is going to be something like this...

There is no way I'm going to be able to make sure those solar panels don't get damaged when I could be on one of these several times a week. So I found a less expensive, smaller, and more versitile alternative.

It's called Solio. It's about the size of a cell phone (okay, it's a little thicker than a cell phone today, so think cell phones circa 2000) It charges the same things that the solar pack can (ipods, cell phones, etc) and works about as quickly as just charging something from an electrical outlet.

I also just purchased a travel skeeter net! The Peace Corps will provide me with more substancial mosquito netting but this will come in handy when visiting friends, camping, or just travelling to a job site far from my village. I've been emailing former volunteers and they said trying to wrap yourself in your mosquito net or propping it up with a stick can be quite a pain so hopefully this will solve the problem.

My Address

2006-06-22T01:56:00.000-04:00

Several people have been asking me about mail. Do I know my address? Can I send you letters? Care packages? The answer to all of those questions is YES! My address in Mali (through September at least) is:

Britne Bucklew, PCT
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 85
Bamako, Mali

(Africa)

Tips the Peace Corps has given me on Mail:

Number all letters you send. That way, if one gets lost I'll know. (I'll do the same)
Correspondence is SLOW. Mail can take anywhere from 1-3 months round trip.
At the Post Office, specify "Air Mail" otherwise it can be even slower and may take between 6-12 months.
Don't send anything expensive. Things will get stolen.
Don't send anything too heavy. It will be expensive for you and also for me since customs in Mali sometimes applies tax to packages which can get pricey.
Use padded envelopes instead of boxes for packages. They tend to arrive quicker and are less likely to be taxed in Mali.
Snacks and candies will be greatly appreciated but will be subjected to lots of heat, bumpy roads and critters!!! Expect them to melt, get smashed and covered in ants! To try to avoid the critters, place edibles in a ziplock bag and seal. Place that bag inside another ziplock bag and seal, repeat several more times. (I'll always be able to put the ziplocks to good use anyway)
If sending post cards, place them inside an envelope. Otherwise, they will never make it.

That's all the tips I have for now. Snail mail will probably be my most common method of communication and I will write as much as I possilby can. Getting letters will probably be one of the thing I look forward to most and will help me stay sane when I'm homesick, so I look forward to hearing from everyone!! Oh, and don't forget to include your return address on the inside of the letter as well as the outside of the envelope... incase I've lost your address and the outside of the letter is messed up, I'll still know where I can reach you!

2 year camping trip???

2006-06-06T02:18:00.000-04:00

How exactly are you supposed to pack for an environment with 115+ degree temperatures, sand storms, no electricity and no running water? Where do you even start? Oh, not to mention that everything you pack has to weigh less than 80 lbs! So basically, approach it like a two year camping trip....

As much as I want to get the full experience of the Peace Corps, which embraces and enforces a system of living within your community (living like the people you are helping to gain understanding and compassion for their particular situation) I'm still an American and have become almost totally dependent on my gadgets. Now, I'm more than willing to give up silly things that I use on a daily basis now; hair-dryer, make-up, hair brush, razor.... Hell, maybe even deodorant if I feel so inclined.... but my ipod? I.. I.. I can't! I'll never survive. Okay, well I'll survive but it will be agony (for at least the first year or so). So, how do I get around the lack of electricity issue to deal with things like charging my ipod and the like? Go Green. If there is one thing there is an abundance of in Africa, it's sunlight, and that I can use. Can you imagine how excited I was to find this little puppy online? A solar backpack!! Ah, the gods are smiling down on me... thank you jesus, buddha, allah, ganesh, etc...

It was fully designed for this kind of use, it isn't a few votaic panels hot-glued to a backpack. The battery has its own compartment and all the wiring is hidden inside. It also comes with 11 adaptors. One specifically for ipods... Hallelujah!!!

Other odds and ends that I've either purchased already or am planning on buying:

-light weight speakers that plug into my ipod. These two together will probably be my only source of sanity at times.

-A battery charger, I'll be living on a tight budget so recharging my batteries will probably be the way to go, and thankfully, the backpack will take care of that too.

-My LED/ shake flashlight. A gift from a friend at work. No batteries/ no extra bulbs needed. Just shake and use. Not only practical but entertaining as well. For some reason these things are the life of the party. People just feel compelled to grab them and shake them, so instead of watching tv at nights, I can just keep myself entertained by charging my flashlight!

But, who am I kidding? As much fun as all these gadget are going to be, there are 2 things that are going to have the biggest impact on my new life in Mali...

My Big News

2006-06-05T19:13:00.000-04:00

I'M MOVING TO.....
MALI

... what?

Yeah, you read right. Im moving to western AFRICA!! In 6 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im thrilled to say that I have joined the Peace Corps and will be spending the next 27 months living and working in Mali.

Where is Mali? Im not going to lie; at first I didnt know where it was either. Mali is a landlocked country located in northwestern Francophone Africa. Its bordered by Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and Mauritania. Its twice the size of Texas and 2/3 of the country is located in the Sahara desert. (Ive got to start working on my base tan!!!)

I do think its pretty funny that during my 13-month application process for the Peace Corps, Ive been teased by some friends and family saying "leave it to Britne to want to run off to Timbuktu."
Well, now it looks like I may LITERALLY end up in Timbuktu, which subsequently is located in Mali!!!

I have to say, Im a little freaked out. I have a ton of things to do between now and the end of July; quit my job, move out of my apartment, sell everything I own, figure out how to pack for essentially a 2 year camping trip in under 80lbs. (no water or electricity). The list goes on. Despite all these things, Im still extremely excited and cant wait to start my African adventure!!! So, dust off your passports and visas, and if you feel the urge to trek through the Sahara.... you've got a place to stay!!!