Christmas

Christmas was different this year. We did some of our old traditions and started some new ones. It was especially great to talk to family on skype - that helped us miss home a little less. For dinner we went over to another workers house for dinner - filled with traditional food. A package from the States arrived Christmas eve so that was a treat - (we believe from God - it should have never made it here that fast!) So the kids had some new DS games and some new movies to watch. Thanks Nana! Here are some pics from the day:

Ron won this leopard skin hat in our white elephant exchange, but lost it to someone else!

Here is our "tree" - more like a garland wall hanging. Ron was very creative - the kids loved it!

Faith got a king size Reese's cup which are pretty non-existent here - thanks Laverne!

Nana gave Zach a new digital camera - he was so excited!!!

Luke got Prince Caspian!

Here is a Wise Lizard following the star to Bethlehem - thankfully he left the others in the East!

I bet that wasn't among your Christmas decorations!

Merry Christmas

We want to wish our family and friends a very Merry Christmas. This is our first Christmas away from you and although we know this is where God has us for now, we want you to know that we are missing you terribly. We are trying to focus on the reason for the season and not focus on the things that we are missing. We want to leave you with a song that has meant a lot to us this holiday season. Some of the images on the video are a little cheesy - but just listen to the words - they share our heart with you. We hope you can feel our love across the miles - Merry Christmas.

The Other 5

1. Driving - This list wouldn't be complete without something on the driving. I know that I have mentioned this many times before, but it bears repeating. Each time I venture out (yes, I am driving now) I am reminded at how crazy it is. People tell us it is worse in Dakar, so we will see! The number of motos is completely out of control - they are everywhere. They go where ever, whenever, however they want! Evidently traffic laws do not apply to motos. When you pull up at a light they squeak by and use up every inch. This past Tuesday I was turning left at a light - on my left was about 15 motos - some of them going straight, some turning left. When we get back to the States, we should be masters of defensive driving skills.



2. Weather - this is probably the most dependable item on the list, but it still remains a major difference. We arrived at the end of rainy season and once it ended it has remained fairly steady - hot (we have had some milder hot though). In Faith's home school math book, she was asked to graph the weather. It says - go outside and observe the weather. The categories are hot, cold, raining, windy, cool - we have used all of the hot blocks and have given up this pointless exercise!



3. Shopping - this is probably the most stressful for me. There is no set price for anything, unless you go to some of the bigger stores. The prices for the vegetables and fruits are pretty static, but anything not consumable, etc. you bargain. It goes like this - they start at 10,000 - I am appalled and offer 2,000 - they act appalled - I say 3,000 - back and forth until we end up around half - it can be exhausting, but sometimes it can be fun, if the vendor doesn't act like we are taking food from his children's mouth! After all of that, we often find out we have paid too much at half of the original price.



4. Kids - this is a pretty broad category. Some of the differences in regards to kids are - most of the babies don't wear underwear or diapers. A funny story to illustrate this is - I was in a village and I took a Vera Bradley cloth back pack (not very smart). I had it sitting next to me in the chair - they offered me a different chair and I moved and didn't take my bag. A mother sat down and had her baby girl standing next to her - she went right there and I watch to see the pee running down a trail right for my bag. I didn't panic, and praise the Lord it stopped before touching it! The kids ride on motos. Sometimes in the drivers lap holding on to the handlebars, sometimes in between the driver and the passenger and many times strapped to the mothers back while she is driving. Needless to say there are no seat belt laws here - you will never see a "Click it or Ticket" sign! We often see many kids just playing on the street - walking on the busy roads - selling veggies on the side of the roads with their moms - carrying big loads on their heads. It is a much different life here for children!



5. Life lived outside - for the most part people don't live in their houses, or even in their own courtyard. They are often outside drinking tea, walking, shopping, selling, living. Our neighborhood is a little different, but the street is hopping until late in the evening.

Cultural Adventures

We have had a few, fun cultural experiences. First on Friday, we went to a outdoor market here with our language helper and we bought 2 chickens. They were alive and we then paid to have them become unalive! The children thought that it would be more dignified. They watched them drop them on the ground - the man then steps on the body and takes the head into his hand and he then slits its throat. The chicken flails around a little bit. They then drop into a barrel of boiling water for a few minutes. He then reaches into the water, pulls out the chicken and begins to rip the feathers out. He then cleans out the innards and cuts it into pieces. This whole process only costs about 50 cents. Not a glamorous job. I would love to say that this was the tastiest chicken we ever ate, but alas it was terribly tough! And unfortunately I did not bring my camera, which was probably a good thing, since we were the main attraction at this market - especially Faith. They love touching her hair.

The other thing was that Faith and I got our hands and feet inked. It is a long process, but it was fun to do. I like it, but as you can see the concept of "less is more" is not easily translated. Or I am guessing that since I immediately agreed to the first - and definitely exaggerated price, she would use the entire batch of ink! Once again, a new lesson learned!

Stay tuned for the last of the differences....

Top 10 things that are different here

We wanted to share some of the big differences for us while living in West Africa - we had to limit the list to 10. We will do 5 now and 5 later. We tried to pick the big ones. These are not complaints - just stating the differences. We love being here and have enjoyed getting beyond the survival stage.


1. Animals - they are everywhere. We see cows, goat, sheeps, donkeys, chickens, even dogs and cats just roaming around where ever. I walked out my door to get eggs and there was a group of cows eating out of the trash. I walked by them and I had to stop, because they were ready to cross the street. It was very interesting right before Tabaski - it was crazy how many sheep were around; it was quite humorous to see them strapped to the tops of vehicles.



2. Dirt - I am not a neat freak (be quiet Amie), but I had to get adjusted to living with a new level of dirt everyday. It is not like dust - it is dirt. A fine layer of red, clay colored dirt. It is everywhere. We are in the season of the Harmatan winds now and the dust is especially plentiful. It is in drawers, closets, on everything that is still. Our feet have a orangy tinge to the bottom.


3. Cooking/food - this is a big one! For example - buying eggs. In the states, you go and pick up a pretty container and you have eggs. Here you buy them fresh - covered with poo and dirt. We have to wash the eggs and test them to see if they float. If they float they are bad - you throw them away. Another big thing was bugs in the food - I have to sift the flour, wash the rice, pick through the sugar to get the critters out. We have to bleach everything. I am not a planner so feeding my family has been a little challenging at times!


4. Water or lack thereof - the city cuts off our water whenever they feel like it. So we have to be mindful when we are doing our dishes, preparing for baths. We have had many nights with us taking a bucket bath. It is important that we always are prepared - like boy scouts! - with making sure we have filtered water. We have to boil water to do dishes, we have no hot water in the kitchen. The soap doesn't rinse well with just cold.


5. Being laughed at - on a daily basis we are the brunt of many jokes. The Africans love to laugh and it has been fun when we speak and they fall out in hysterics at our attempt to communicate. When we came here, we were given a last name of Coulibaly - that is the biggest area that they crack up. Coulibaly here is the name of dogs, donkeys, thieves, and any other undesirable thing. Everyone loves making fun of our name - there are comebacks for it, but we can't say any - we don't know them yet!

We will post the other 5 shortly - we have a full week of French - we meet with the tutor everyday.

Tabaski pics

Yes that is a hoof in the fire.

He was proud of his 2 sheeps heads.

Notice the hoof on the left side of the picture!
These were the sights outside of our door yesterday - lots of things to see and smell! Everyone was in the party mood - they were many fireworks and festivities. Above is one the neighborhood children in her new dress. Everyone was dressed in their new outfits. It was fun to see all of the children dressed up - it is kind of like Easter morning. Throughout the day, children came to our door - we gave them candy. We were told that they would bestow blessings upon us and then we would give them a coin, but I think because we were white they were not quite sure what to do with us! We gave them candy anyway, but no coins.

One good thing about Tabaski - with the government workers not working - they didn't turn our water off yesterday!

Amazing Technology

Yesterday we had an awesome opportunity to worship with one of our home churches - Faith Baptist Church in North Carolina. The missions team (thank you Tim, Ben, Liz and the sound team) rigged up skype so that with our web cam, the whole congregation in all 3 services were able to see us. They also were able to leave skype running and we were able to hear the whole service. It was awesome. I also recorded the singing so that when we are needing a little taste of home worship - we will have it (thanks Michael, Emily and the choir). Whoever did the solos were amazing!

Although we have been blessed with a body of African believers here - it was great to hear the choir and a message in English! Our purpose for the call was to thank everyone for their giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering and to share what that money does for us and others overseas.

For more information on the Lottie Moon offering and how you can give: http://imbresources.org/index.cfm/fa/store.prod/ProdID/256.cfm

Some have told us that they missed it - download skype and you can call us for free! You can search for us with our email! Remember we are 5 hours ahead of the US.

Tabaski

We are currently being overrun by sheep and goats! They are everywhere you look - they even wander around the streets. On Monday it is a national holiday - Tabaski. This holiday is for all - we are not sure exactly who will slaughter an animal. We know that Muslims do, but not sure of who else. This is to remember and celebrate Abraham's obedience by offering up his son - the Bible says it was Isaac, the Muslims believe it was Ishmael, though the Koran does not give a name. They remember and imitate the sacrifice of a sheep, since God provided a substitute for Abraham's son. We have been told that this is an all day affair - we are excited to meet some of our neighbors. There is certainly festivity in the air!

It is a huge deal here - please pray as we have an opportunity to meet our neighbors as they come greet and "bless" us. It is kind of like Halloween afterwards - all of the children of our neighborhood go door to door and give blessings and then we give them money (a very small token - around 10 or 15 cents for the kids in one family).

We have been able to share with our language helper - Abdoulaye. We shared with him what the Bible says about His sacrifice and the promise of the true "ultimate" sacrifice of Jesus. Please pray that he will seek out the truth this Christmas season.

Thanks Faith Baptist Sunday Schools

A big thank you to the Marriage Journey, Married with Children and Melting Pot Sunday school classes for your support, prayers and love for us! The neighborhood kids loved coloring with new books and crayons - they were a big hit!!! We have handed out some gum - they loved that too! We appreciate you guys so much!

Segou

This is market day - along the river.

Sun setting on the Niger River!

We just returned from a weekend trip to Segou, Mali. It is a little town right on the Niger River. We stayed at the Independence Hotel on the outskirts of town. It had a great restaurant and a beautiful pool. It was a fun 3 days spent with our fellow teammates. We played games, swam, shopped, and ate. On Saturday we went to a different hotel for lunch and then shopping around the hotel - that was stressful. They are very high pressured in their sales tactics - on top of the language barrier.

Saturday we also went on a tour of a Bogolon factory. This is a type of fabric they make from all natural things - it was first created by accident. Women used to smear mud on their husbands clothes so that he could be less visible when he went hunting - they realized that it stained. They started making the fabric. Now they have created many different colors and designs. The cloths had a message on it. We were able to make our own messages and mini cloths - that was a lot of fun!

Sunday night we ate dinner at a restaurant on the Niger River - it was gorgeous. We were able to watch the sunset, the boats, children getting bathed, and we were able to catch a glimpse of their ordinary life.

We went to Market Day on Monday - that is the day where all by the river the vendors come out in force to sell to all of the neighboring villages. They come over by boat and stock up and then had back. It was a myriad of sights and smells. We thought the fish section was particularly overwhelming, until we ventured over to the manure section. That almost pushed us over the edge! We decided among the 3 adults that went, our mantra was "we are in control". When you shop here - as I have posted before - it is very different. We left shopping on Saturday very stressed and drained! But we were determined to stay in control and determine what we are willing to spend beforehand - that helped a lot!

Here is a link to a slideshow I created: http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/Go.aspx?AID=187297&AT=3&VID=599989&ABID=585732

NOTE: We have had some trouble with that link. If it does not work for you, comment or email and we can send you an email link directly.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from West Africa. Here in Mali - it just Thursday. Today is the first of many holidays that will be different. First it is very hot today and secondly, nobody else knows there is a holiday. The same will be for Christmas!

We celebrated last night with the rest of our team mates and we had a traditional feast. It was complete with Turkey, Ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole (for which Luke was very happy). It was a great time of celebrating with our friends here. We miss being with our friends and family back home. We wanted to let you know how thankful we are for your blessings, prayers, and support for our family!

We pray that you have a blessed time of reflection and thanks for your many blessings. Tomorrow we will be travelling to a town called Segou - we will be there until Monday. Pray for safe travels and a good time of relaxation and rest.

The Artisans Market

Here is a sotrama - not our sotrama, but hopefully you can see the size and how they are jammed in there.

We had a successful day on Saturday. We think of these days as successful, not necessarily fun, because we completed what we set out to do. If we had to be completely honest, it was a completely overwhelming experience. We asked the kids if they wanted to go - only Zach said yes. Our friends Billy and Heather said they would watch Faith and Luke. We dropped them off at their house and then walked to the main street to catch the sotrama. A few came by, but were full, so we waited. When another came by, I thought it was full - silly me! Ron and Zach got on and when I climbed into it (think old school gutted volkswagon bus) I did not see any spots. The inside of the 4 walls have wooden benches. I told Zach to get up and I sat down on my few inches of bench and had him sit on my lap. They told me that he couldn't sit on my lap, at this point I didn't see any more wood available. Once again silly me! The people scooted over and made a couple of inches for Zach. Ron was half sitting on 2 women, Zach and I were half sitting on each other. There were 18 people and 2 infants jammed into this vehicle! Driving a little ways down the road, Zach got his first intimate lesson on breastfeeding! Both women next to me, determined it was time for their babies to eat. Let's just say they are not discreet like in America - it is fully exposed and sometimes if the babies take a break - they will just leave it out until they are ready to continue. The one women fed her baby probably 4 or 5 times because he was cranky! After we figured out where we needed to get off (with the help of those on the van), we headed into the market. Everyone suddenly was our friend, cousin, brother, and we even got - great to see you again (we all look alike to them!). Once you made eye contact - you were officially escorted into their shop. They promised to give us the best price! The vendors spoke pretty good English too, so we couldn't talk to each other! Here is how the game is played: I ask how much something is, they respond with a ridiculous price, I appear shocked and respond with a ridiculous offer, to which they appear appalled. Then we haggle back and forth until we come to a price we both agree to. It is exhausting! I had to be reminded by them many times of the rules! We kept saying to them - we just are looking. To which they responded, well come on in looking is free and if you were curious as to what something costs and asked the game began. I had to tell them many times - after they explained the rules once again - I don't want to play the game with that particular item - I was just curious! We bought a few things and then we both looked at each other and said - I am done! It was a neat experience to see them making their wares right there, seeing animal skins drying, shaping their wood, etc.

We left there and had to catch the bus back to Billy and Heather's neighborhood. Problem was - it is a one-way street into downtown and we couldn't find the street that led out of town. We walked a little way - we ended up getting lost in a covered market. We finally found our way to a street and saw the buses heading out of the city. We hopped on the sotrama and praise the Lord, this one wasn't crowded. We made conversation with a lady and she helped us stop the bus when it was time. We practiced our Bambara - her reply laugh, laugh, laugh.

Here are some random pictures of things people carry while they are driving motos:

Yes, they are carrying live goats! The one right above, was none to happy about it!! You can also see how orderly the motos are at lights!

Sunday

Here are some pics of us in our Sunday best - it is amazing at what some of these tailors can do - they are very talented. We are having the boys some clothes made - Zach wants a whole outfit like Ron's - Luke only wants a shirt!

Things are going well - tomorrow we are going downtown to the Artisans Market - we are taking the famous green buses, called sotramas. It should be interesting to have a bunch of white people crammed in! It should be a sight. They have tried to prepare us for the market - they say it is a little crazy. The vendors are very aggressive - you have to be prepared to bargain hard!

With Ron going to the village, we finally bought into learning some Bambara. We now have enough of the greeting to be friendly. It is amazing to see their eyes light up when we go through the greeting. We can see why it is called their heart language - it excites us to learn Wolof (which is the heart language of Senegal). French is the trade language, but if we truly want to share the love of Christ and build a relationship we have to speak Wolof. That terrifies me - not quite sure how much this old brain can hold, but we are going to try our hardest. Ron still will post on his trip to the village - I could try, but he will do it better justice! We love and miss you guys and are so thankful for your prayers!

Successful day

Well, we both survived our experiences - Ron in the bush for the first time and me alone with 3 children in Africa. Ron will post about his experiences - without photos (sorry Amie).

To sum up my time, I successfully took 3 taxis, ate at a restaurant, went fabric shopping, had a skirt made, and bought groceries. And, I need to add only 1 out of the 3 taxi drivers spoke French! We went to a restaurant that serves American food and enjoyed some pizza. On the way out the parking person asked me where I wanted to go and I pointed up the road - he then hailed me a taxi. He was the 1 that did speak French - at the end of our trip I got in a quarrel with him! He said a price to go literally up the road (but across the main road, with 3 children), so I said yes - I thought he said 50, he said he said 500. It cost me 1,000 cfa to go from my house, so 500 cfa for a short distance was absurd. But I did not want to cause a scene for a dollar (exchange rate is around 510 cfa = 1 dollar), so I paid the man and got out of the cab. My children were only slightly frightened at this point! Bad Mom for scaring the children over a $1. But hey a buck is a buck right? Anyway, by the time we finished grocery shopping it was dark and I had to manage a taxi home. Once again standing my ground, the first 2 taxi drivers were going to charge me 1,500 cfa, but I only paid 1,000 to get there - we both refused to budge. So here I am standing in the dark street - my children up safely by the grocery store - waiting for another taxi to come by. Praise the Lord I didn't have to wait long and the parking lot security guy arranged it for me since he spoke Bambara and I didn't.

All in all - I would say it was successful. Now I am off to bed, I am exhausted! I will post pictures of some of our new african outfits tomorrow.

Prayer Request

Ron is going on his first trip to a village! He will leave Monday morning and return sometime Tuesday afternoon/evening. Pray that he will have an amazing time, as well for safety. He may have a time to do some storying and prayer for the village believers. Pray for him emotionally - all that have been to a village say it is very hard to see children near death. Pray for the kids and I while we are alone. Look forward to some pictures.

Overall - things have been relatively quiet. We have been busy learning language and just living here in West Africa. We have seen so many crazy, interesting things - unfortunately since we don't have our camera with us 24/7 - many things don't get recorded. We have seen about 20 or so goats strapped to the top of a bus - a goat being carried on a motorcycle -people carrying TV's on motos. Goats are pretty much like dogs around here. While driving through the neighborhoods, you have to dodge goats, small children, dogs, carts, bikes, motos, naked children, and people.

It is fun to see kids get bathed here - the moms take them into the street and scrub them down, head to toe - these dark black children are completely white! It is a sight to see!

Happy Belated Halloween to Us!

We received our first care package from the States. It was from my Mom and my sister Diana and her family. They obviously knew we needed candy! It was a great treat. The kids (knowing their Aunt Diana) knew that it would be a special package and were waiting with baited breath. We only go and check our mail once a week and so we hoped that it would be here this week. When Ron went and checked the mail, he came back empty handed. The kids were so disappointed. However, when Ron came back our language helper was here and he wanted to wait so that the kids would be fully concentrating on learning. Shortly after he left, Ron went to the car and retrieved the packages - way exciting!!! There were many practical things as well as fun things - included were some of the things we took for granted: baggies, index cards, candy, hair spray, drink mixes (in English), English movies! Here are some pics.

Thanks Nana, Aunt Diana, Uncle Mike, Austin and Chase!!!! Love and miss you guys!

Kill the Insects

Our apologies to all you PETI (People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects) people out there – those are not our words! I took them from our recent purchase of Casa Jardin bug spray, and quite a can it is! Several pictures are included for your viewing pleasure. We have had quite a time over the past week with the mosquitoes. They have especially had their way with Faith and Zach. Since our purchase of Casa Jardin and a few other repellant-type items, things are going better. Of course, the timing coincides with the beginning of the harmattan winds blowing down across the Sahara, carrying much dust with it. We have been told this is just the beginning, as it is currently only a light dusting each day. The good news is that we have already noticed it being a little cooler. From what I have read on line, there is so much dust in the air that it blocks some of the sun and thus its heat – good times! By late December, many Malians will be wearing parkas and caps and will hover around small fires to make it through the chilly nights!!! It gets down into the low 60's. ALERT: we did not pack for this chilly weather, so we might need you to send some gloves and scarves, sizes forthcoming J

In other news, we had fun on Wednesday morning. We took a taxi downtown to the National Museum of Mali. We tried to make small talk to the driver - that lasted about 15 seconds. We were driving a long and he pops in a cassette and through his speaker croons Tracy Chapman! We had a good day – not brave enough to eat from the roadside restaurants yet, but hopefully one day soon. We were able to hail a taxi home – that was an interesting ride – the taxi drivers are much braver than we are and I found myself pushing my imaginary brakes and bracing myself – especially with Faith riding in the front on Ron's lap. So much for safety standards. No safety lectures, please! Here are some pictures from the day.

Here is a model of the "sotramas" – the famous green buses that cram as many as 10-15 people into them, with no doors. And, yes they have that much on top of them -minus the tarp! We will have the opportunity to "enjoy" this experience while we are here!

We met a fun guard in the Prehistoric section of the museum – he wanted us to take his picture with every attraction. He was a great guy and we participated in some interesting charades as we talked with him.

Week 4

Zach caught our little friend - we have several more - we try to leave them alone. We hear they eat a lot of bugs!

Here is a flower from our courtyard!

Faith carrying her "baby" on her back like the African women!

Here is a real African carrying her baby on her back!

A lady carrying a bunch of stuff on her head - took this from the car. She is cheating a little bit and holding it with her hand - usually they have stuff even higher than this without holding on!

Chris and Faith dressed for church - aren't we cute in our matching outfits!

Here are the kids at the American Club - we went swimming there with some friends.

Here is the church we go to - Bethel Baptist.

We had a fun day on Friday going to the American Club. It used to be the old American Embassy. When they moved to a new building, it was given to the Marines and now it is a club for American government employees. In order to be a member without working for the government you have to have an embassy worker sponsor you. Our friends brought us in as their guests. It was a great break - a little slice of America. It had a huge playground for the kids, with sand and swings and slides. They had a great time playing in the water!

We had our first opportunity to go shopping and do some bargaining. We bought some fabric and then went to a tailor. I had an African outfit made and Ron is going to have an outfit made as well - we will post pictures when all is sewn!

This week is going to be full. We are going on Wednesday to the Museum downtown Bamako. On the first Wednesday of every month it is free. We are going to try to take a taxi - that should be interesting!

Our language learning is going well - Zach will start with a formal tutor - 2 hours a week. We think that he will really fly with some formal instruction.

Thanks for checking in on us - we love hearing from you guys!

A funny video on language learning....



Many have asked how language is going - it is going well. It is constant, but we continue to progress and practice. Our house helper speaks French so I get to practice on her and she is good with correcting when I say things wrong. We are sticking with the saying - practice makes perfect, so we keep trying!

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do...

Richmond Pictures

Here is a link to some random pictures from a little before Richmond and during Richmond.

Yesterday we had our first run in with the law - the popo for all you Madea fans. Here is what happened....Ron was dropping Zach and me off at the office so that I could do laundry. We pulled into the chaotic roundabout and I hear a whistle. Stupidly, I turned around and saw the police officer blowing his whistle and pointing in our direction. I regrettably made eye contact. Well, we kept going not quite sure what to do (was it us, or one of the other 400 cars there with us? we weren't aware of anything Ron had done wrong). He then followed us on his moto and pulled us over. He spoke in French, but every word of French evaporated from our minds. I start a nervous giggle, when Ron asked me to tell him we want to use a lifeline - our phone a friend! He said that we could call, but he took our vehicle papers and told us to meet him back at the roundabout. That was the last place we wanted to go. Our supervisor said I will meet you there - we drove back to the police officer and sat in the car. The officer never came over - we just sat and waited. Our supervisor showed up and he and Ron went to talk with the officer. Zach and I were in the car - keep in mind it has been over a 100 degrees here for the last few days. We have been in the car a while and while I was swatting flies, sweating, getting sunburned I looked back and they were having tea! Finally they walked back to the car and it was explained that Ron didn't really do anything wrong - the police officer was just going to tell him that he cut someone off, but then the officer said you disrespected me by not pulling over. Ron told him he didn't see or hear him, but he said that I know your wife heard me - the dreaded eye contact! The police offer was going to give Ron a ticket, but didn't have any there. He was bluffing by saying that we would have to go across town to get one and our supervisor called his bluff and said - "okay let's go!" The officer didn't want to go, he only really wanted to be persuaded not to go, through a personal arrangement. We don't persuade police officers if you get what I am saying. So seeing that he wasn't going to get anything - he said that he will let him off this time but wanted to instruct him on the ways of the law. Everyone parted friends and I vow to keep my eyes closed in the roundabout! That happened on the day that I had *planned* on starting to drive!

As for the lifelines, we think they start fresh every day. (Marvin and LaNette, that means your phone could ring at any time). For the rest of you, keep your eyes on the blog, though, we might poll the audience soon. We need you!

Downtown Bamako

We had a fun day shopping and eating downtown today. The Thompsons took us to the big grocery and department store. There were many vendors outside - they were quite aggressive and since I don't speak the language I just stood there saying No. I can imagine what they were thinking. Ron almost bought a pair of "Ray Ban" glasses - he took them from the guy and he didn't want to take them back! Very different than a day of shopping at home. We then went to The Broadway Cafe. It is a restuarant that serves a wide variety of American dishes. We had Philadelphia Cheese Steaks, cheeseburgers, eggs and bacon - served with french fries!! It was a nice treat! We travelled back through the streets and it was crazy - especially in the some of the market areas. I haven't gotten a picture of any animals crossing the street yet - but it is a sight to see!
Faith has a piece of bacon in her teeth - she is a bacon loving girl!!!