the countdown begins...

im leaving in just 8 days. hollllly shit. at the moment my packing pile is lame-o. soap, deodorant, backpack, some skirts, and OH a water filter. i still have a lotalot to pull together. luckily, i have no friends (home) so all day every day i COULD be going to get stuff. at the moment im thinking the pack will be filled like so:
1/8 clothing
1/8 books and school supplies
1/8 miscellaneous - flashlight, small fan, host family gifts, yadda
1/8 sun protection
4/8 PILLS
ill be careful not to pull a heath ledger with those. too soon?
lately ive been trying to gather all the contacts i can get while im there. if anyone reading this blog can help me out that would great dude.

ps

one more thing... I just got skype!
so if you, my faithful readers, have skype... add me!

musique en afrique

http://mali-music.com/index.html

i just found this website with music updates in mali and i want to remember it so i can go to concerts and such while im there. one of the things im really excited about is the great art and music scene in bamako. some of the most internationally known african musicians like ali farke toure are from there. plus i really want to go to places where i can dance! in my west african dance class this semester a lot of the dances we learned were from mali...wooo.

my dream: my host brother plays djembe and my host sister dances...
...buuuut i dont even know if i'll have host siblings so i wont get my hopes up quite yet

That worked...

oh boy i have a blog! well...to be honest this was really just a test and i dont actually leave for mali for a month and a half. but knowing me and the 6 weeks i have off before i go, ill probably put it to some use. i had a study abroad meeting today and i learned that when in africa, 1) money should be stuffed in the bra and 2) counting marriage proposals can be fun and exciting! the study abroad prep classes we have to take are pretty redundant and i think theyre trying to prepare us for anything. im sure once we get there the adjustment process will be okay.

I looked into some Bambara phrases today and here are some important ones i found
- Mogo'in do bε yan, o bε angilekan men? - does anyone speak english here?
- N deme! - help!
- nyegan bε min wa? - where is the toilet?
-I kana magan n na! - dont touch me!
i will have to practice these