i dont know how to title this entry

hey all... i have finally made it back to the cyber cafe! this place is not fun so i probably will not be here too often,,, its mega hot and the internet connection is suuuuper slow and this keyboard is mocking me. anyway, let me give you some updates...

my fam is wonderful. i have 3 brothers and 2 sisters that are older than me, plus 2 neices and a nephew (matou, lala, and mohamadou) and we have a servant who is like anohter member of the family (aminata). you might be thinking "wow a servant" and its true that my fam is not poor, but to give you some perspective, most of my friends fams have 5 or 6 servants and they are not treated well so i am glad that aminata is so loved and repected in our household.

i have found more than ever here that you cant make ANY assumptions about other cultures. not in the least. everything is different. here are some cool aspects about malian culture:

1. last names are very important and people will judge you by them. since there are only like, 12 malian last names, each one is paired off with another (or several) and these groups are called "joking cousins". as a traoré, my joking cousins are the diarras. and when you meat a joking cousin, you are compelled to make fun of them BUT there is only one insult you should make... you have to say "ahh! cousin! you eat beans!!! haahaha" and in response they will say "no no no, it is YOUR family that eats beans!!" effectively, everyone eats beans in mali and it is one big fart party but noone will admit this. i personally love this tradition and have had a wonderful time accusing people of eating a staple food in malian culture.

2. bambara is a tonal language and we have had some good fun messing up in class. but it is effing scary if you mess up for real. for example, you might try to say "how is your family?" (an important greeting with everyone you see)... but DONT MESS UP! you might accidently say "how is your meat man?". this is considered a grave insult and you better not say it. there are lots of things like this but im currently forgeting them because this cyber cafe is horrible.

anyway, let me think of some stories.

so the other day i got home from school and i looked at our big beautiful mango tree and decided to climb on up. this is like THE perfect climbing tree, im telling you. so i climb up and matou (my 16 year old neice) starts CRACKING UP. im convinced she will soon pee her pants. she calls out the fam and everyone has a huuuge laugh party. (weve learned very quickly here that malians love to laugh and its not an offensive thing). im up in the tree laughing at the fact that everyone is having laugh seizures and my bro mohamed is going "WHERES YOUR CAMERA?! WHERES YOUR CAMERA?!" it was a wonderful family moment. afterwards we took lots of pictures of each ohter and perhaps i will sometime be able to put them up. we shall see.

oh, i know im jumping around, but last weekend we went to this city called sikasso that was about 6000 hours away and we climbed really high on these huge cliffs and it was awesome. you could see so far and it was sooo beautiful. we also saw lots of dead animal skulls because that is one place where they are sacrificed. mmm.

so, my little nephew mohamadou is basically the cutest child ever. he is only 17 months and at first he was scared of me but now hes my little buddy. when i get home he runs over to me and jumps into my arms. its always really great when he runs because his arms flap around like the marionnettes in team america when they run. his head is still really huge and hes usually wearing a little tshirt and no bottoms and he only has a few teeth but is smile is contagious. today as i walked to my bus stop on the way to school he followed me out and didnt want to leave my side. it was so cute. oh man.

lala, my little neice, is wonderful too. shes 4 and she is suuuuper musical and wants to sing and dance with me all the time. you should see how she dances. any time you start singing shakira she breaks it DOWN. she like, gyrates her hips and lifts up her shirt and stuff. in the US everyone would think this was far too sexual for a 4 year old but here everyone just claps to the beat and sings for her and laughs and comments "oh yes, lala is a very good dancer, oh yes i taught her" weve also been playing handclap games up the wazoo and the other day i taught her and some neighborkids ring around the rosy and we had to play it like 30 times before they would let me stop.

my brother mohamed is 29 and hes the leader of the family. hes super cool and takes me everywhere with him so ive gotten to meet a lot of his friends. we drive around on his moto all over the city and each take an earphone of my ipod and jam out. its great because on these bloody hot days a little wind and a little music is all you need.

so yesterday i was very sick but today im better. the doc gave me 4 medicines and a little sleep did a lot of good.

this weekend i have some exciting plans. my bambara teacher manages a malian hiphop group and this friday they are having a concert in kati so we are all going. its going to be so fun!! this teacher is the shiiiz. on saturday were having a party at amadou and mariams house because its one of the students birthdays. hopefully we can chill with them some more. did i mention i played guitar with their fam?! also this weekend im going running with mohamed up a hill in bamako. hopefully the heat doesnt kill me!

well, thats all for now, my time is about to run out. ill try to give some updates in another week or so.

love to all.
hErE.
Bintou

so right now im in amadou and miriam's house. THE amadou and meriam. yep. they're my friends host parents. i just hung out with amadou. now were chilling in their megahouse and they have internet thus the update. anyway, things are going quite well for me n my modest home in hamdallaye (old city). we dont have 8 bathrooms like this house but im happy to be getting a realistic home experience. sometime i will have to explain the bathroom situation here but right now, were off to play some guitar with the fam.
k'an bEn

call me bintou

a ni sogomo friends and fam, Im here in mali safe and sound and I love this place! so far everyone has been so nice, the weather is perfect (really not that hot) and it is so beautiful!
the first 2 days we spent near bamako, going to class in our wonderful, open air class building and meeting lots of people from the area. day one they set us loose in the crazy marketplace in center city and we were paired off and had to find certain things and buy certain things and then find our way back to the hotel. it was completely overwhelming without knozing bambara but we all made it!
weve met so many warm people who are very welcoming and invite us to join them in food or dance or the likes. (this computer is so hard to type on so excuse my mistakes).
ive spent the last 2 days in siby, a small village about 1.5 hours outside the city. it was very remote with no electricity or running water and we had a great time... meetng the locals, playing soccer, etc. the first night there after dinner we heard very loud music coming from another part of the village so some of us followed it and found a huge dance festival with hundreds of villagers. they invited us to dance so we ended up being there for hours, playing zith the kids and dancing a TON. it was so great... i even busted out some of the dance moves i learned in african dance class and they were cheering and joining. everyone just has this great love of life and its contagious.
today we returned from siby and ive just met my host family and seen my home for the next 3 mnths. i love it! its very simple but i have a small room to myself. most of the house is an outdoor area zith a beautiful mosaic floor. there are lots of people that im not sure my "relation" to yet including some adorable little kids; a little baby named mohamadou and a little sis named lala who is 4. there are some girls who are about 12 or so and more people that i will meet tonight zhen they return from work and such. i should tell you now that im not claire anymore... here i am BINTOU TRAORE. i love the name bintou so im having everyone call me that... even the other students. hehe.
so, there is so mcuh more to tell but my internet clock is running low and i need to leave so,e time for this thing to send. from now on, ill post updates when i can on my blog: dumali.blogspot.com. check it out and feel free to subscribe. im not sure that i will be able to use internet so mcuh here but i will try when i can!
feel free to write back and i will try to respond!
miss you and love you all.
hErE (peace),BINTOU
PS annemarie and lucy... there are mango trees everywhere!!! its all we eat!!!