effortless first month

my aunt gave me a kitten. it was a girl but I named it after my brother who left village to be a mobilitigi. I say was because it already died, it threw up all the processed cheese and tuna I fed it. the last tuna and cheese I had too. the ladies around village said it was doomed from the bad luck that was bestowed upon it when I didn't flip my aunt a 20 cent piece after she gave it to me. I found out that my jatiki or dad is a marabou, which is a widely respected fortune teller and medecine man who travels and gets paid to help solve problems. he's in bamako for a month as requested by someone with money. he's a mali OG. he gave me the wife he picked up when her husband went west to look for gold. and a few of my cousins have died trying to cross the strait of gibralter in a canoe.

I learned most of this from the PC language and cultural facilitator whom was sent to my site. he just crashed on my floor for a week and gave me all the heads up that administration doesn't. with him I held my first meeting with the community elders. I heard everything they want me to get done (they're very ambitious), and I told them I'll be doing my own need assessment and that their financial contributions to projects are critical for each's implementation. consequently I'm working on income generating activities like fixing their broken shea machine and constructing a legitimate garden; they reported having several associations that will be able to do all the grunt work, though I'm sure they'll need reorganizing.

still most of the time I'm learning language... I'll sit for hours with the corn husking circle or shell peanuts with my moms or chat over tea with the school's headmaster. and I make dinner sometimes so we'll talk while cooking. my mom gave me a chicken with just charred skin because that's how they pluck it. it added smokiness to the soup I made with it and onions, garlic, corn and rice, salt, and their version of boullion and powdered chili pepper. it was so good and hot and spicy. I can't wait for my ramen being sent from the states. and I roasted fresh peanuts and poured honey all over them, since the peanuts were hot the honey barely carmalized. it tasted exactly like everything that's good about honey nut cheerios. and there's fresh milk thrice a week. oh and banana season just started, I can get a whole bunch for 50 cents. a fine substitute to all the grilled corn I've become addicted to...

and I sit outside at night or at the front of an approaching storm after playing soccer and think this is my fucking kingdom and it's always been like that and I seem to forget sometimes. it's been like that since the first time I was smitten with love and the ocean and the electric eels the moonlight makes under its surface. like everytime I work up a real good sweat or get scared. we're going to lake manantali for halloween, where they have hippos and monkeys and espn. adventure and indulgence escort me through this lonely place. this makes me happy.