the last few days have been craaazy. time is disappearing!!! i went to this awesome free concert a few nights ago... it was a mix of slam poetry, traditional malian music, and griot! soooo cool! there were probably 10 or 15 people on stage (including a few white dudes) and everyone was soooo talented, from the griot who sang to this one slam poet/rapper dude who slammed in bambara, to a sweet beat boxer who could mimick a sax solo while it was being played (!) to the most amazing kora player. djembe player, balafon (tradish malian xylophone), calabash, everything. im really going to miss the music scene in mali.

tonight theres im going to a big outdoor concert that my friends and i have been excited about for a couple weeks now.

tomorrow our rasta friends' (from my hill) band is playing a bob marley tribute show because...

may 11 is bob marleys birthday! ahhhh! thats a really big deal here and everyone for the past like, 2 months has been asking 'so, what are you doing for may 11?' appently there are lots of festivities at the cultural spaces around bamako, so hopefully ill be doing some dancing...

anyway, i dont know what to do about this whole time disappearing thing. the worst part is how much worrrrk i have to do! i had my isp presentation today and it went just marvelously. now i have to finish the paper which is quite a feat. ive learned so much from my work at the cooperative, and plan on going next week even when the paper is done. thinking about leaving makes me sad.

oh guess, what? i was in a car accident yesterday. realllllly not a biggie, it was in the sotrama. we hit another sotrama that was next to us and it made a big ol crash and their mirror came off, but it didnt even shake me up at all. i just got up and left the sotrama and walked the rest of the way to my destination. it was so anticlimactic, i forgot to tell anyone about it (so you all are the first to hear!)

sporradic jump-rope games with street girls (m+d, bring some long jump ropes)
little Mamadou cuddling with his 7 foot uncle (my brother), Sa
really really dirty money
patchwork fabrics
first-call-to-prayer-hour bird songs hoot hoo hoo hoooot hoot
boys that help grandmothers in gardens and sing the whole time
barefeet covered in mud
photographs taken by people who have never held a camera

BT