The little fruit stand at the end of our street where I buy my apples, potatoes and bananas.
Zach and his friend Mamah. This kids is an amazing soccer player - he has been helping Zach with his footwork. His french is also amazing.
This is our truck.
This is our backyard - courtyard area. At the very end are the clotheslines and water faucet.
We have had a busy week of french, french, french and about 15-20 kids a day playing in our courtyard. We are definitely the neighborhood attraction. Haven't met most of the parents yet, but continue to practice our french with the kids. We are really trying to have the kids speak french and they are doing better, but it is still second nature for them to speak Bambara. But they are patient and willing to help the kids. Our family language helper taught us how to play "Old Maid" in french. We brought the cards with us and then the next day taught them how to play Old Maid - it was fun to watch. Life was a little easier this week. I found a store close by that sells a lot of the staple items. They also speak French - huge bonus.
Another praise - the rest of the apprentices get here tonight. We are really looking forward to being with them. It hardly seems like we have been here 2 weeks. Time has really flown by. We are hopefully going to some tourist areas this week. We are really looking forward to that - they have a museum, zoo, markets, and other things in downtown Bamako.
Many people have asked how to pronounce our African names - here goes: Yacouba (Ron) is yah cu ba, Djeneba (Chris) is Jen eh ba, Diakaridia (Zach) is Jack a ree jah. Luca (Luke) is easy, Djiguiya (Faith) is Jiggy ya. We have since found out our last name - Coulibaly (cool i ball ee) means bean eater - (tooters). Also the name for a pesty dog. All of the last names have jokes about them - but when we tell people our last name they wave their hand in front of their nose - unless their name is Coulibaly too - There aren't many last names here - many people have the same ones and they all joke on each other!
More to come.....
1 comment:
So good to see some pics of you there! You look to be doing well. The French will come along, it's just a litte trying on the adults at first. Pretty soon you will be able to ask your kids for help. :) And don't feel guilty about having a house helper. It's good money for her family and will really help you get adjusted and learn how to do things differently there. Best wishes and prayers.
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