Our little pumpkin turned 1 month old this weekend. We celebrated with her Grandma and Grandpa Wollersheim because it was also their 35th wedding anniversary on the same day! We went to a rotating restaurant in downtown Phoenix and watched the sunset. Mia on the other hand slept through the sunset. We are so completely in love with little girl.

Mia Rose Wollersheim arrived on Thursday, April 21. She was two weeks and three days late. She is beautiful and healthy. I learned that my wife is an incredibly strong woman - she gave birth naturally completely un-medicated. She weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces and is 19 inches long. We are so blessed!!! And totally in love.

So I have not taken many pictures of my pregnancy, I have been really bad about it. Poor Baby. So last weekend, Joe took some pictures of me in our back yard, thought I would share them with you all.

So I have yet to post pictures of my pregnancy, so I decided to post tonight. Here are a few:

28 Weeks...and...

31 Weeks. It is amazing how much bigger I feel I look in this photo than I do when I look in the mirror in the morning. Maybe I am trying to fool myself. :0)

We are almost there and can't wait for Baby Wally to be here!!!!!

I didn't realize that I was a big OU (Oklahoma University) fan until Ashley and I got a chance to go to the Fiesta Bowl in which Oklahoma Univeristy played University of Connecticut. The game was played in Glendale, AZ at the same stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play. We went to the game with Amy, Debbie, Itchie, Pam and Karly. Tons of fun!

We are in the middle of our Christmas week with Debbie and family in Sedona. It was about 70 degrees the day we arrived, we have spent our time hiking, eating and the Martin women have done their fair share of shopping. Over the last two days it has snowed 8-10 inches, which makes for beautiful pictures against the red rock of Sedona.

Baby Trace!Picture from the top of Doe MountainSnow in the desert!Picture from Bear MountainA frozen little cactusAdam's model poseHiking Bear MountainAdam, Ashley & Clint relaxingAshley, Debbie & Aaron on a hike of Doe MountainJoe, Adam & Clint in the hot tub enjoying the snowy scenery

I am not even sure where to start, it has been so long since we posted last. We moved to Phoenix and time has gotten away from us. We have been so blessed since being back in the states, we settled into Phoenix nicely. We feel that this transition has been one of the easier ones out of all the places we have moved. We are feeling plugged in and it has only been about 5 months. I have to keep Joe's ideas at bay for our next great adventure, and reassure him that I am not going anywhere anytime soon. :) Here are ten highlights.

1. WE ARE HAVING A BABY! She is due April 4th and we are super excited. I am just over 6 months and feeling great.

2. We bought a house, it is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and it has a pool!!!! Joe is excited about hosting a Polar Plunge Party every year. (Yes we do realize it won't be as cold as in the mid-west, but that is the best part)

3. Joe got into school at ASU. He will be starting in January, getting his MBA.

4. I got to meet my best friend's baby, Thijs, for the first time about a month ago. It couldn't have been sweeter!

5. We have gotten to see a lot of friends and family members since being in Arizona. This is Amy with her old roommate Lou who came to visit in Phoenix, she was also in Mali the same time we were, she was pivotal in our survival overseas.

6. We went home to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, Joe's sisters are both pregnant too, so we got to all be pregnant together, sooooo fun. Minus the Wisconsin cold.

7. We hosted our first annual cookie exchange with another couple. It was a success.

8. We do not miss a White Christmas, we are loving the weather here in AZ in December and do not regret our move here at all.

9. We have talked to our friends back in Mali, we can still converse in the local language, although it feels weird speaking an African dialect in your living room. We miss them.

10. We are gearing up for a Christmas in Sedona. My mom and all of the Martin siblings are flying out in just a few days. It is going to be a holiday full of memories! 7 days, 11 family members, one house...

It has been way too long since our last posting, sorry for the delay. Here are some highlights of the last few months:Move to Arizona - We are in our tiny apartment and loving it.New Job - I am teaching 6th grade, literacy and social studies.Road Trip - My cousin got married in Colorado and we took a road trip with Aaron and Becky (our new sister-in-law).Dad's Visit and Amy's Move - Dad drove Amy out to Phoenix for her big move, she started grad school and I ABSOLUTELY love having her near!!!Aaron's Wedding - Aaron and Becky had a beautiful wedding, we enjoyed family, friends, great food, laughing and of course at a Martin wedding DANCING!!!Labor Day Camping: We drove about 2 hours out of town and enjoyed a beautiful scene on the edge of a canyon. I love America!

Amy and I setting up camp.

Taking in the great view.

Amy and I at the wedding after the ceremony.

Joe and I, trying to capture the sunset.

Mom and I enjoying the botanical gardens together, it was only 115 degrees, no big deal.

Trace and I before the ceremony, gotta love him.

And the NEWLY WEDS!!!!

So, we live in Phoenix! Ashley started a new job yesterday! And the temperature was above 100 for the last week! But our condo complex has a pool. Our house has air conditioning. And I just ate a bowl of ice cream.

Also yesterday Ashley and I celebrated seven years of marriage. Lets just say she is a keeper!!

These are a few pics I have taken in the last few weeks.

Ashley with our friends Andy and Lexi's little baby.

Breakfast with my mom and dad on fathers day.

My dad and I grilling out.

Ashley and her dad hangin out on the boat listening to Margaritaville.

Ashley and I at Indies wedding in Colorado Springs.

So...We really haven't had time to stop, think, or process. Is that good? I am not really sure.

After our time in Wisconsin, we headed to Iowa. I was so blessed that 3 out of 4 of my siblings were there to meet us (Aaron couldn't come but we saw him when we got to Arizona, and everyday after!!!!!) It was an awesome time, we got to swim, hold our new nephew for the first time, get to know little Trinity as a toddler, I got some sister time (which I missed a ton), had some shopping time with Mom (which also I missed a ton), and lots of yummy food.

We keep telling everyone who asks that being away from our family for two years was the hardest part about Peace Corps. We can live without running water, electricity, and good food but it is not easy living without our close family and friends. We love them soooo much.

Here are a few highlights of our time in Iowa. (Sorry the pics are so small, I don't know what happened)

Trace and I, I swear I didn't ever put him down!!!

Joe and Amy, always ready to make each other laugh.

Amy, Trinity, and I walking to go meet Grandma and Grandpa for dinner.

On our way to go swimming....believe me Trinity is FEARLESS! (She for sure takes after her dad on that one.)

My cousin Stacia with her gift from Mali, a Obama pillow case. She loved it!

Me, Tio Itchy, Aunt Pam and Joe, we are doing cheers with Jerry's Pizza, because Tio and Aunt Pam held out eating Jerry's Pizza till we got home! Troopers. (Well, not the whole two years, but for long enough, still troopers)

Mom and Trace, this must have been the one time I set him down.

Trinity and I in Tio's pool, it is not a complete trip to Iowa without a day in Tio's pool.

Me and Aubrey, headed to swim, with sunglasses and diet cokes in hand. Always.

Ok, so we have been in the USA for about a week. It has been wonderful hanging out with the Wollersheim family in Wisconsin. Ashley has had a complete makeover since arriving home. She has had a haircut, eyebrows waxed, facial, french manicure, she has bought new cloths, make-up...etc...etc. To prove it we did a before and after. The first photo is our first day back and the second photo was after a few days of shopping and spa treatments. Ashley said she feels like a whole new person.

This is one of the last photos I was able to take in Mali. It is a giant storm rolling in along the Niger river near the center of Bamako.

When I arrived home I had got to meet my niece for the first time as she was born a month after I left. She is awesome!

My mom got me an ice cream cake to welcome us home.

We can't believe it. The time has come to go home. We will be leaving in about 7 hours. We will take our last cab ride to the airport, saran-wrap our baggage, check-in, and wait....

We land in New York, spend the night and then arrive in Appleton on the 14th.

We are excited, nervous, sad, grateful, humbled, pensive, and shocked. Our two years are up, we never thought this time would come and now that it has we don't know what to think.

We attended a "Close of Service" conference last week, so we were able to hang out with all of our friends one last time. Again, saying good-bye was heart breaking. We have become like family and have experienced something together that no one else will quite understand. We are a family of friends that has been change and a family of friends that will go home different. We will always have the bond of Mali in our hearts. I love the friends I have made, the support they have given me and the laughs with them that have brought me through. Thanks guys.

Here are a few pics of our Malian/American family:

Mopti Girls: We are different as can be but love each other all the same. From left to right- Iowa teacher, Miami dance girl, Boston Proper, Colorado rock climbing genius, and LA party girl Oh and I must not forget the Pakistani Princess (pictured below-when we took this picture she was busy straightened her hair and perfecting her make-up). Couldn't have done it without them!

Pakistani Princess and I, her fashion sense alone gave me the will to go on.

Joelle was always ready for a game to pass the time!

And my beautiful ladies, Cassie and Jennifer

Ashley's perspective:

Yesterday (May 28th) may have been the hardest day in Mali thus far, possibly the hardest day of my life. We said good-bye to Kalibombo.

It wasn't the good-bye that you say to your parents when you are going off to college, or the good-bye you say to friends when you are moving to a different city, cause you know all along it isn't really good-bye but see you soon. But yesterday was truly a good-bye. We don't know when or if we will ever see the people of Kalibombo again. People we have grown to love as family, the culture we have lived as our own, a community that excepted strangers as one of them, an experience you can never put into words. It was a heart-wrenching day.

As we walked around village to give our Dogon blessings (this is very cultural, you never leave without giving multiple blessings, such as, let God have us meet again, let God have us remember each other, may God bless you and me both, may God bless your travels...), we were greeted with many left-handed hand shakes. Which may not mean a lot to westerners but here you would NEVER shake with your left hand but in ONE case... If you want the person who you are shaking hands with to return. You see in Mali the left-hand is considered "unclean", so you never use it for anything. But if you shake hands with someone with your left-hand, then it means they NEED to return one day in order to correct the wrong of the left-hand shake. And when they return you then greet them with your right-hand so that the wrong of the left hand shake has been erased. It was truly a blessing to shake with our left hand yesterday.

As we biked out of village, it was a lonely road to Bandiagara. A road that always seemed to be so full of life suddenly seemed so dead. We biked in not saying much to each other, Joe a few bike lengths ahead of me, both trying to contain our tears and reflect on our departure.

When biking into town we would sometimes use that time to pray together. A few days back Joe had prayed that God always keep us connected with Mali, in some capacity or another. At the time I was thinking, no, I can't do Mali anymore, the heat, the food, the transport....but God knows better than I, and as we departed village yesterday, I knew God wasn't asking me live in Mali for a lifetime, or work in Mali again, but to always be in prayer for the people of Kalibombo, to pray for the rains, a plentiful harvest, health, and for opportunity to come their way.

The hardest part about our departure, was not being able to show our complete gratitude and thankfulness to our friends and family in village, you just couldn't put it into words. We were humbled by their generosity, acceptance and love that they so graciously showed us EVERYDAY of our two years.We were truly blessed to be apart of such an amazing culture and community, we will never forget our friends in Kalibombo.

Joe's perspective:

Leaving our village and Malian friends in Bandiagara was an experience that brought a heavy feeling of humility. How do you express your gratitude to a people that have so little (at least from an American perspective) and yet have given us so much. Generosity has a very different definition in American culture and Malian culture.

My friend Moriba is a great example of Malian generosity. I showed up almost two years ago at the Traditional Medicine Center (where I worked at during my service). Moriba invited me to eat lunch with his family the first day I arrived. I ate lunch with his family for the next two years. No questions asked and nothing asked for in return. If that situation had been reversed and Moriba showed up at my work place in the United States, would I have showed him the same generosity?

When we left village my friend Oumar and his family gave us a traditional sword (that will be intersting explaining to the TSA officers at the New York airport), two statues, two bogolan (mud cloth) blankets, and four traditional bowls. I am not sure how much they paid or where they got all these gifts but to put it in perspective all the gifts would roughly cost around $40 usd, which would take 20 days of hard labor to pay for. Would I have been willing to spend a months salary on them if the situation was reversed?

As we said our good-byes I wondered if I would ever see these friends again. I wondered if I would ever have a chance to show them the generosity that I was shown.

Pictures of our last days:

Joe and Seydou (our neighbor), saying good-bye.

Had to get some last minute loving with all the babies!

Popcorn party at our house, with our host sisters, only appropriate for the Wollersheims to say good-bye with popcorn.

The village had a dance for us to say good-bye, we fixed 25 kilos of rice (approx. 60 pounds) with onion sauce to help us all celebrate a bit more.

Where's Waldo? or better yet Where's the Toubab (name for white person)? After the dance we marched around village singing and dancing to then end up at our house to eat rice, pass out loads of candy, and have a good-bye meeting with the village elders.

The Elders enjoying the dance from a distance.

The day we said good-bye to village we biked into town and had a last meal with Joe's co-workers. We made Chegge, a traditional dish that is ground up sweet root paired with onions and fish. This is a picture of Joe and the guys eating traditionally with their hands out of a communal bowl.

Mangoes for dessert! We will be sad to leave mango-land.

Joe and co-workers at the Traditional Medicine Center. They absolutely loved Ambobou (Joe).

Joe and his counterpart at the Traditional Medicine Center, Moriba, and his son Musa. This is the family that took Joe in for lunch everyday.

So I realize that we have been a bit lax lately on updating our blog. Our internet connections have been a bit in and out and we have stayed in village a lot lately, because we took our trip to South Africa and were away for a month or so. So we apologize.

A lot has gone on since we have been back to Mali; I was accepted at the University of Arizona for a master’s in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Education. I am still on the fence as to if I am going to go or not. It is a hard decision to make, spending all the money, do I go part-time or full-time, should I wait a year gain residency and get in-state tuition….so much to think about.

Secondly, we now have two nieces and ONE nephew! My sister Aubrey and my wonderful brother-in-law Clint had a beautiful baby boy, Trace James Wright. Trace was born on April 22, 2010, weighing 8lbs.8oz and in true Wright fashion he came with chubby little cheeks! We are so excited to go home and meet Trace. Yeah for babies!

Baby Trace- 3 days old.

Trinity loving on her new baby brother.

Lastly, WE ARE COMING HOME! We got our official word from Peace Corps a few weeks ago;we will be leaving Mali on June 13th. We are so excited about going home and seeing friends and family, but have mixed emotions about leaving the people we have grown so close to and love dearly. We keep saying our two years went way to fast, but at times way to slow. We have about two more weeks in village before we depart for Bamako to do all of our Close of Service duties; language tests, physicals, exits interviews, paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork. The village is planning a big dance for us the day before we leave and we have also been told that they will send us off on May 28th with singing and gun shots (we would rather them not have the guns, but we wouldn’t want to disappoint the Chief of the Village). We miss Mali!

Our rip-off countdown calendar, I can't believe we are this close!

And what comes with leaving but buying souvenirs, here I am buying grass plates from a nomadic ethnic group called the Bella. These women live in our millet fields during hot season in a make shift house and sit under the trees all day and make grass plates to bring into market to sell. It is fascinating.

Today I am in Capetown, South Africa, which lies at the southern most tip of the African continent. It is a beautiful city and has allowed Ashley and I to feel almost like we are in America, which we have not felt in almost two years. I think that Capetown is like San Francisco with an African twist, it has coffee shops, wine bars, beautiful ocean views, delicious food, street artists, live music and so much more. Tomorrow we have a flight that leaves for Accra, Ghana from which we will embark on an overland voyage back to our village (this could take anywhere from three days to a week). We are sad that our trip is over.For the last ten days we have been traveling South Africa and having an amazing time with our friends Kristen and Shelli who came from the states to safari with us. We rented a car and drove from the northern end of South Africa to Capetown at the southern tip. We saw elephants, giraffes, ate sushi, I drove on the left side of the road but on the right side of the car, we laughed a ton, took one million pictures, laughed more, ate ice cream bars everyday (Magnum bars), drank fountain soda, and ate at McDonald's more than once (please don't judge us).

The Cape penguins near Simons Town.

Ashley and I on a scenic drive near Capetown.

Capetown harbor at sunset.

Ashley staring down an eel at the aquarium in Capetown.

Getting ready to leave in the morning from Jeffreys Bay, a little town on the Indian Ocean that hosts the Billabong World Surfing championship each winter.

Kruger National Park was amazing. We saw herds of elephants, tons of giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, cape buffalo, a hyena and her babies, ostrich, tons of hippos, crazy looking birds, an alligator, tortoises, lions, monkeys and baboons...etc. I would say it was a successful safari. I would like to mention that there is nothing more exhausting than driving around for twelve hours a day looking at giant African mammals.

Some of the photos we took in Kruger:

That's beautiful.

We could not get this hippo out of the water.

We needed to stretch our legs from a long morning of safariing.

The first rule of driving through national parks that have man eating animals is don't get out of your car...Kristen and Shelli would not listen to reason. You can see a male elephant in the distance.

This is the appropriate place for an amy martin joke:

Why did the elephants cross the road? Eleph I know!

love the color.

A giraffe in the rain.

Baboon with baby, now that is cute.

Whart Hog.

Babies feeding.

Chameleon crossing the path.

King of the jungle.

In between our scuba diving coasrse at Nhkata Bay, Malawi and meeting up with Kristen and Shelli in Johannesburg, South Africa. Ashley and I spent 6 days traveling down through Mozambique where we had a chance to enjoy the beaches and even got in one dive in Tofu which has some wonderful warm water and beautiful ocean creatures to view.

The beach at Inhassoro, Mozambique. Our first time on the Indian Ocean.

Ashley beside our hut at Fatimas Nest in Tofu, Mozambique just after our first salt water dive.

Getting ready to scuba dive in Lake Malawi.

Buying chocolate ice milk on the boarder of Burkina Faso and Ghana.

Buying pineapples in Ouagadougou, Burkin Faso

I keep telling Ashley this is our last great adventure...before our next one. No but seriously, in some ways this trip will begin the end of our Peace Corps service as we hope to be coming home some time in mid-June. But it also brings to an end the last three years in which we have been living an unconventional nomadic lifestyle (at least for Ashley and I it has been, for some it is perfectly normal). And it may be our last big adventure before we have to start to bring along little ones on the adventures which will make them all the more exciting. (No, Ashley is not pregnant but we are hoping in the next year to start trying)

So, on Tuesday March 9th we departed Bandiagara, Mali and traveled east across a desolate and dusty road that took us into the country of Burkina Faso. We bought visas at the tiny boarder crossing ($20 usd - they are good for 7 days) then went onto spend three nights in Burkina. Burkina has a great feel and the people were wonderful but the weather was hot and we couldn't stop sweating. They sell frozen chocolate milk on the street for about 25 cents for a little serving in a bag so that brought a little relief from the heat (it basically tastes like chocolate ice cream). I bought about 5 a day. Guys walk around with little freezer boxes on the front of there bike or pushing them around on a cart. So you just walk around on the street until you find one of these guys and you flag them down...and buy three...because one is never enough.

After our short stop in Burkina we traveled by bus (a bus with air conditioning, something Mali does not have) down into the much greener land of Ghana. We arrived in Accra at 5am and went to hostel called the Phoenix which sits on a cliff over looking the ocean. We needed a room to rest from the bus ride and take showers before we left for our flights to Malawi so we got a room for the day which cost us around $12. If you like rasta guys everywhere and the smell of marijuana constantly you will love this place but that is not our scene so we enjoyed the views of the ocean but will probably not be coming back for a long term stay anytime soon.

We then flew from Accra, Ghana to Lilongwe, Malawi (Malawi's capital city). After the flights we proceeded onto a nine hour bus from Lilongwe to Nkhata Bay on Lake Malawi which is where we are currently at taking a four day scuba diving certification class. (Did I mention Ashley's luggage did not arrive on the flight and so she has been without her bag for four days now. Luckily we had carried our swimsuits onto the plane just in case this might happen so she has been surviving in her swimsuit and a few pieces of cloths she bought at the local market. What a good sport!)

Today we did our first dive and it was incredible. Lake Malawi is the eighth largest lake in the world and has more species of fish than any other lake in the world. Its most famous attraction are is hundreds of species of Cichlid fish which are brightly colored and make you feel as you are swimming in an aquarium. A huge blessing to us is that Malawi has the cheapest Scuba certification coarse in the world and yet our instructor Kate from Oxford, England has been absolutly world class.

I don't have an underwater camera so I grab this photo of Lake Malawi off the Internet.

Cichlid fish in Lake Malawi.

I got up at five to watch the sun rise over Lake Malawi and Ashley slept.

It rained the first morning in Nkhata Bay.

The view out from our dive center.

A view of our dive center from the water (Aqua Africa).

Ashley cutting up avocado to make guacamole (avocados are 15 for $1 usd) so we are in heaven eating fresh avocados everyday.

Ashley sitting at our hostel waiting for a taxi to take us to the airport in Accra, Ghana.

Ashley and I with our friends Jenny and Cassie climbed the highest point in Mali over the last few days. Hombori Tondo is the name of the point and it was exhausting but a very epic journey. We climbed to the top, slept ontop and then descended the next day. We each took as much water as we could carry (more than 6 liters each) and yet we still had a very hot waterless hike from the base of the mountain back to the village of Hombori.

A view of Hombori Tondo as we hiked to the base where we would begin to climb.

Ashley told me before we began the climb she might want to take up climbing as a regular hobby but she changed her mind quickly

A view of the sourounding rock formations from the base of Hombori Tondo.

Ashley was a Rock star!

Our friend Cassie in a tough spot on the mountain.

Jenny staying positive even when the climb was more difficult than we had thought.

Ashley looking like a pro.

I was happy as we descended the mountain that Ashley still had a smile on her face.

This was a photo we took on top of the mountain as we prepared to descent. We were glad we have good friends like Jenny and Cassie to share such an epic adventure with.

General (ret.) Amadou Toumani Toure or ATT (born November 4. 1948 in Mopti, Mali) is the president of Mali. He over threw a military ruler in 1991, then handed power to civilian authorities the next year. He won the presidential elections in 2002, with a broad coalition of support and was easily re-elected in 2007.

ATT came to Bandiagara, a city of about 10,000 people, and about 5K from our village to speak to the people. Locals came from all of the surrounding villages in their best Dogon fabric, to sport their pride in their culture, came to see ATT speak. Joe and I were among them. Although, we didn't actually see ATT or hear him speak because the stadium where the event was held, was...let's say a bit chaotic, it was 105 outside, and the sun was slowly descending and we needed to get back to village before night fall. But it was still awesome to see a country come together with pride to support their president.

Killing two birds with one stone-girls walking from our village to see ATT, but also making the most of their walk into town, with wood in tow to sell.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!!! No matter what your thoughts are on our current president, he is a hero over here. These girls from our village had on their Obama shirts and Dogon cloth skirts, all geared up and ready for ATT.

The Dogons are the ethnic group in Mali, known for their culture. Here is a Dogon Mask Dancer. They preformed for the president and also helped to keep the crowd under control. (see the whip in his hand, yeah that's right, he would go after people with the whip) Third-world secret service ROCKS!

A shift in topics:As most of you know, we got a new camera for Christmas. So Joe has been trying to learn how to use it and it's different features. Here are a few of his latest shots. 1st picture-Reading by headlamp, 2nd picture-making dinner by headlampThis is part of our nightly routine, making dinner, reading, going over to visit the chief and then showering all by headlamp. I can't wait to toss that thing out when I get home. I want electricity back!

Our friend Katie was turning 30 and decided to hire a boat to take us on a trip from Mopti to Djenne. The traditional tourist boat we hired fit the eight of us comfortably. The trip took about 12 hours in which we hung out, ate good food, played card games and slept.

The party boat was relaxing.

Our boat guides pulled up to a fishing boat in mid-morning and bought these four fish they prepared for themselves for lunch.

VIEWS FROM OUR BOAT: Woman and children bathing in the river.

It was nice to see a little wildlife along the way.

Woman heading to market.

A Shepperd with his cattle.

WE ARRIVED IN DJENNE FOR MARKET DAY:

Rabayah and Ashley shopping for accessories.

This man was very content to watch Ashley and Rabayah buy accessories.

The great Mosque of Djenne in the background.

In market most things are sold in piles. This pile of oranges costs around 100 cfa (25 cents).

Guava saleswoman.

A giant pile of kola nuts. Kola nuts are bitter and contain caffeine. I buy one dollar worth of kola nuts about once a week to give as a gift to the chief of our village (who is also my host dad). When you enter a village in much of Muslim West Africa you present ten kola nuts to the Chief of the Village as a sign of respect. Chewing kola nuts eases hunger pains. I don't like chewing them but I love giving them as gifts.

Dried hot peppers for sale at market.

It's a bird, It's a plane, It's...

The signs are:

scorpion sightings have risen sky high in the last few weeksone shower a day is not enoughshort sleeve shirts are now feeling to restrictingno cloud in sightskirts are a no no, you end up with a thigh rashtemperatures in our house keep climbing to high 90'sthe winds are here-multiple "wind storms" lately that have kept us stuck in the housesleeping makes the day go by fasterANTS! They are desperate for water and are invading our housechildren have nothing to do, bc farming season is over so they sit at our house and bug usyou sweat profusely on public transporta face mask is a must when biking or on public transport, due to the amount of dust in the airSINUS INFECTIONS!- due to the above pointwe are starting to have to bike early in the morning or early evening bc of heat and wind factorsthere is no way we cannot sleep on the roof, we have to have a breezespritzing yourself with water at night is a mustshowering with clothes on before bed is a plus...Malian air-conditioningHOT SEASON, gotta love it!

New Moon, New Baby, and a New Day!

NEW MOON

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a NEW MOON! In the last week we have enjoyed a full moon in village.(It's amazing what you learn about the stars and moon, when you sleep on the roof every night and don't have electricity.) And I know this might not mean a lot to any of you with electricity, but without electricity it makes an evening absolutely delightful. We took advantage of the Moon and put our flashlights away. We were able to actually be productive after the sun went down. CRAZY! Usually I just get tired when it starts to get dark and head to bed about 8. But with the full moon out we decided to make the most of it, we played cards every night on the roof before getting in our tent for bed. And my favorite was our "date night." We biked back cokes from a neighboring village about 3 miles away, beings our village has nothing close to a coke, and decided to eat some Cheez-it's that had come in a package a few weeks back that we were saving for something special. So there we were on the roof, in the light of a full moon, drinking cokes, eating Cheez-it's and playing cards in Africa. Some things just don't get better than that.

NEW BABY

And we have a NEW BABY! Well not us, but my good friend from back home. Ingrid and I have been friends since elementary school, we did almost everything together, sports, playing the trumpet, going to the neighborhood pool, church activities, family vacations, eating pepperoni pizza, and even college. I have been so blessed to have Ingrid in my life, she is a faithful friend with an amazing heart. I am also blessed that our husbands get a long quite well...maybe a little to well with cloves and hooka involved. I miss the time we don't get to spend together, as we have lived in different places since after college, and being in Africa doesn't really help.

On Monday when I received the news from my mom, I was completely elated for the gift of life God had given Ingrid and Jon, but also saddened that this was one experience I would not be able to share with her. I can't wait to hold baby Thjis, and to one day tell him how wonderful his mom is and how I cherish her friendship. I love you Ingy. Congrats! Baby Thjis Oscar Van Anrooy

NEW DAY

So the last few weeks have been kind of hard for us, we are winding down in our months as Peace Corps volunteers which is super exciting, but it also makes life here a bit more difficult. You start day dreaming of family, friends, running water, Mexican food, speaking English, real date nights, our return, the plane ride home, etc... And with all the day dreaming, you forget where you are, and take living here in Mali with these remarkable people for granted. We went to a baptism yesterday in our village for some of our friends, which involved Muslim traditions of a naming ceremony, prayers and lots of eating rice(a special treat). We had a wonderful time and spent most of the day at the baptism. We met back at the house in the late afternoon (as men and women would never celebrate together) and decided it was a NEW DAY. God had blessed us with a new day of good food, laughter, tradition, and culture and we loved it. We know we need to take this time and revel in it while we are here, because it will soon be over and we won't be able to get it back.

I bought myself a new camera and have been trying to take more pictures as of late...

This is a girl in our village who has been hanging out with Ashley and I lately. Her name is SoyBye.

These are a couple sunrise photos I took recently.

Ashley and her little friend Fahtamata.

Sali told me she was going to go get water for me at the pump.

Our world map mural at the school coming along...little by little.

Just a short update on new happenings: (in no particular order)

We successfully had our parents here for the holidays, and we are proud to say none of them got sick!We are starting a new year in Mali with a positive outlook, and researching what the heck we are going to do when we come back home. This is a scary thought.We have given up on our cat, he is undomesticated and we keep trying to domestic him, he is a lost cause as a house cat. We might try for cat #3, who knows.I just finished reading The Poisonwood Bible, a book about a missionary family in the Congo. This is by far the best book I have read in Mali. It is Historical Fiction, which I love. The author writes very descriptively and better than I could ever describe our time in Africa. I recommend it to everyone who wants to see or understand a little more of what we experience here or just cause.

We found out my sister Aubrey and her husband Clint, will be having a little boy in May. We are excited for baby Wright #2, our first nephew.We are now planning a trip to South Africa, the next thing to look forward to. We will be meeting up with some friends from back home and are very excited. Joe informed me the other day that South Africa has over 100 McDonalds! That alone is worth the trip, who needs to see elephants and lions!

I am applying to grad school and scholarships for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education, I forgot how tedious this is.Joe is looking at jobs for when we get home, he has a different idea everyday of what he wants to do. That's why I love that boy!We started a map mural in our village school. We are in the process of painting it. I hope this will show the teachers at the school how beneficial visual aids in a classroom can be.

We are caught up on all the new Office episodes. We are very proud of this.We are now on our 19th month in Mali. We still marvel at where we live and the experience we are having.Happy New Year to All!!!!!!!

On New Year's Eve we celebrated Joe's 30th birthday and said goodbye to our parents. Joe and I both feel so blessed to have had family come and visit us this year. My brother, Bubba came last Christmas, my sister Amy came in the fall, we got to meet my Dad in Senegal, and now my Mom and Joe's parents. What an amazing year. Everyday as the sun sets God continues to be faithful in our lives, and we pray for His direction in the year to come.

Jerry, Sue and Mom-Kalibombo is just not the same without you! We love you. Thanks for an amazing time and for your endless love. We are counting down the days until we get to see you again! Our first dinner out together at Savanna.

Our first day out on the town in Bamako.

The last night, waiting for the hotel shuttle.

And to my wonderful husband, I love spending each and every waking moment with you(literally, as we have no where else to go except a hut). I look forward to the many other journeys ahead of us and loving you for the rest of my life. I love you!

It doesn't look like this guy, will be settling down anytime soon, bring on the next 30.

December 31, 2009, Joe's 30th birthday, in Mali, West Africa with family. Who would have thought?

Meeting the guys that I work with at the traditional medicine center in Bandiagara.

The traditional medicine that is made from the traditional medicine center that I work at.

A wing of the production facility at the traditional medicine center...the bags are filled with leafs, roots, and barks used to produce the medicine.

The streets of Bandiagara...Muslims don't eat pork but Christian tourists do...yummy.

Ashley checkin her email at the hotel Kanaga in Mopti.

Debbie, Jerry & Sue coolin off in the pool at the Hotel Kanaga.

Jerry & Joe hiking in Dogon country.

Doobers climbing up to the ruins.

The Dogons are famous for the doors they make and this is one of them at our hotel/campamant.

The sinks at our hotel/campamant.

Our beds set up on the roof of our hotel...best spot for watching stars and staying cool.

Ashley is always happy when family is around.

Dance party at our house...yes we danced all three nights in village...line dancing, traditional dancing and a hip hop dance.

Keep on dancin...

Keepin the beat for the dance partay.

Ambaybem & Fatamatah

Debbie and Ashley in front of the Mosque in the village of Ende.

Always a good view in Dogon Country.

Visiting the ruins of the Tellum near the village of Ende.

Hiking up to the cliffs of Bandiagara.

Our friends in the courtyard of Chez Ali

This guy tried to attack Debbie but she got away.

Puzzle time...Ashley didn't finish.

Snack time...Sue brought seven pounds of cheese...

Our village threw a big dance for Debbie, Sue and Jerry.

Debbie teaching line dancing to the kids in village (Ashley and Sue are helping)

Kaja gave Sue and Debbie a bowl of peanuts as a gift.

Kalibombo at sunset.

Painting a world map on the wall of the school in our village so the children can learn geography with a nice visual aid.

Gotta love that smile.

We visited the guys in our village who are making dogon cloth.

Fascinating to watch these guys work with these hand made looms.

Umar pumping some water to help with the cloths washing process.

The Malian clothes dryer.

Sue learning how much she likes a washing machine.

A few more pictures of washing clothes in village.

Celebrating Jerry's birthday at the "Cheyennes" of Bamako (The Relax)

I forgot to put pictures of Jerry's 62nd Birthday party, his first in Africa.

We got off the bus for a few minutes for a bathroom break.

The vent in our bus was a little broken but I fixed it with a coke can.

The empty bus during a short break.

We finally got to the Hotel Falais in Bandiagara after traveling for 12 hours.

Waiting to be picked up by a SUV we hired to take us to village.

We made it to village and we needed to go do laundry so we headed to the pump.

A brother and sister washing near the pump while we washed clothes.

So Debbie, Sue, and Jerry have arrived on the continent of Africa. Ashley and I had not seen them for 18 months...which is far too long. Today we have just relaxed...ate one pound of the seven pounds of cheese that my mom (Sue) brought and are headed off to try and find a restaurant with some live Malian music.

We will spend one more day in Bamako (the capital city) and then head deep into the interior of Mali for a real adventure.

We wish everyone back home a Merry Christmas...we feel so blessed to be spending ours with family.

Sending our love.Enjoying cheese and crackers in the court yard of our hotel.

Relaxing the night Debbie, Sue and Jerry arrived.

Relaxing at 3 a.m. after a long flight for our parents.

Debbie and Sue holding up the African outfits that Ashley had made for them.

Aaron, or most of you know him as Bubba, just got engaged. I am so excited for him and his new adventure with Becky. Unfortunately, we have never been able to meet Becky, because we have been in Mali, but Aaron speaks very highly of her, as does the rest of my family. Welcome to the Martin family, Becky, hold on tight, it may be a crazy ride! We love you both. Joe and Ashley

Right after the proposal.

Love it!

These are a few photos and a video from the Muslim festival of Tabaski which took place on November 28th in our village. This is the most important celebration of the year for our friends in village so Ashley and I made sure that we put on our nicest outfits and joined in the celebration.

Me sitting with Baba Gouno who is one of my host dads in Mali...he is one of the nicest men and continually supplies us with fresh guavas, limes, and other delicious local fruits from his garden.

Elders in our village gathered for a prayer on the morning of Tabaski.

The Chief of our village (the man to the right of the gentleman in the green), we eat with him every evening...he might be the coolest man in Mali.

Ashley lookin Malian as we walk around village and greet everyone for the Tabaski festival.Ashley is wearing a traditional Dogon outfit (in our village the woman hand spin the cotton and the men weave the cotton into strips of cloth, then the strips are dyed indigo with a pattern and you get a beautiful fabric to make outfits).

WARNING: video is a bit grossThe killing of a sheep for the Tabaski meal.

Ashley and I ran out of gas for our stove top so we had to heat water over some hot coals.

Ami sitting in our door after fetching us some water from the pump also a little baby sheep that wondered up to our door.

Ashley and I biking to village had to make sure we stayed out of the way of the cows.

Fatimata and Ambaybem over at our house goofing around.

Joe and I just finished up celebrating Tabaski(a muslim holiday) and Thanksgiving all in the same week. This was an article the director of Peace Corps Mali sent out, I thought it was rather interesting.

Happy Tabaski and Happy Thanksgiving. (What we wouldn't give for turkey, mashed potatoes and family!!!)

Tabaski, Thanksgiving: Back to Back Wednesday 25 November 2009 by Joseph Hellweg, for the other afrik On-line source: http://en.afrik.com/article16535.html The moon and sun align this year to bring two holidays together: the Muslim feast of Tabaski (also called Eid al-Adha and Aïd el-Kebir) and the United States holiday of Thanksgiving. They occur on November 26 and 28, respectively. Although Tabaski is explicitly religious, and Thanksgiving ostensibly secular, both re-enforce ties to one’s family and larger communities. Both focus on animals. Those buying sheep right now may have to pay a hundred U.S. dollars [50.000 francs CFA] or more for one in the final days before the feast on Saturday. If one lacks the means, a goat will do. Wealthy benefactors even sacrifice cattle. In the U.S., a frozen turkey from the grocery store is the main Thanksgiving course and less expensive than a ram. But Americans still make a fuss about buying it. They follow sales and compare prices and the quality of different brands. They may order it weeks or months in advance for fear of waiting too long and going without. Type just two words into any online search engine—Thanksgiving turkey—and you can gauge the extent of the obsession. You will find endless advice about how to choose, thaw, clean, bake, spice, serve, and eat a turkey. You can even order it online with overnight shipping. Frozen turkeys can’t walk, but they appear to be able to fly. And they are easier to take home than sheep. You may have to make extra space in your freezer, but a turkey will fit. You don’t have to feed it. It doesn’t make a mess. It’s already cleaned. And unless you plan to deep-fry it outside—a specialty of the U.S. south—the trick is to keep the meat moist while it cooks in the oven. Despite all this attention lavished on an edible carcass, a family has little personal relationship with its turkey. It is meat from start to finish. In Africa, things are different. A family lives with its meal before eating it. Last year in Kankan, Guinea, I saw rams tethered outside of every compound I visited in the days before Tabaski. Children and adults may name the sheep and play with it. They feed it and may grow fond of it, especially when purchased well in advance. Then the pet for a day becomes the plat du jour. Processing the sheep is as much a family affair as taking care of it. When I was with Malian friends in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, in the 1990s, men killed the sheep, children cleaned the entrails, and women cooked the meat. In a way, the sheep is like family and, as such, the whole family prepares it. But the goal of each feast is still the same: to share meat with relatives and friends, some of whom travel far to eat it. Last year in Kankan, I met Guineans who had returned home from Conakry, Europe, and the U.S. for the meal. Imagine my surprise when a man in sunglasses walked up to me and told me in fluent English that he had just arrived from Washington, D.C. Thanksgiving in the U.S. is no different. It is the busiest travel day of the year. Airports are jammed, and flights run late, making national news every year. The feasts are variations of each other. On Tabaski, families distribute meat to their neighbors. This happens at Thanksgiving, too. Families invite neighbors to dinner or send turkey, sweet potatoes, and gravy to those they know who will be spending Thanksgiving alone or in nursing homes. And soup kitchens offer free turkey and mashed potatoes to the poor and homeless. In other ways, Tabaski is incomparable. It has no equivalent in Judaism or Christianity. Like Christmas and Hanukkah, Tabaski evokes a spirit of giving. It commemorates Abraham’s sacrifice of a ram instead of his son, Ishmael. But like Easter and Yom Kippur, it is the holiest of holy days. It is also like New Year’s Day and Rosh Hashanah, even though it is not the Muslim New Year. In Bambara, the blessings one uses as greetings on Tabaski make the case: “Ala ka san kura d’i ma,” ‘May God grant you a new year’, or “Ala k’i san hèrè chaya,” ‘May God give you peace in the year to come’. West Africans offer similar blessings in French, sometimes cutting to the chase with the expression, “Tous les tés,” which sounds to an English-speaker like, “two lay TAY,” an abbreviation for a range of blessings, all of which end in the French sound “tay”: bonté (plenty), prospérité (prosperity), santé (health). Tabaski resets the ritual clock, whether in Bambara or French. Both Tabaski and Thanksgiving recreate the world. Each marks a turn in the year—the start of the dry season and the beginning of Christmas shopping, respectively—and the hope that those who celebrate will endure these trials. The day after Thanksgiving—always a Friday—is one of the year’s busiest shopping days in the U.S. How well sales do on that day is seen as an augur for the country’s economic welfare, a sign of how well Christmas sales and, as a result, the national economy will do in the coming year. Thanksgiving is the ritual sacrifice that precedes the divination of the kingdom’s future. I mean, post-Thanksgiving sales are key indicators in the nation’s economic forecast. When sales looks bleak, priests blame the failing ritual power of the sacred king. In other words, leading economic experts criticize the president’s fiscal policy . . . Ironically, it is this commercial side of secular Thanksgiving that most closely resembles the religious side of Tabaski. Thanksgiving marks the opening of a month-long ritual of buying and spending that culminates in Christmas, the most elaborate American sacrifice in which gifts are given shortly before the New Year to assure that it will be safe and prosperous, Christian beliefs aside. Similarly, Tabaski brings to a close a period of two lunar months in Islam that include Ramadan and the most intense season of pilgrimages to Mecca. Just as Tabaski takes Muslims back to the first ritual expression of obedience to Allah, Thanksgiving takes Americans back to the first prayerful consecration of a sustained Anglo-Saxon presence in North America. Taking part in the harvest meal that contributed in some way to the eventual establishment of the United States is like taking part in the meal that spared Ishmael’s life. Both feasts renew their respective worlds through ritual participation: the Muslim community through Tabaski, and the United States via Thanksgiving. Here we see the richness of these holidays as well as their limits. In the United States, the Christian, Anglo-Saxon origin story of Thanksgiving now bolsters a suspicion among some Americans of both Muslims and immigrants of color, just as claims of religious absolutism grounded in God’s revelation to Abraham justify hostility among some Muslims against secularism. Religious or not, holidays are rituals. They operate beyond strict divisions between sacred and profane; they bridge the two. This year, occurring in such close proximity, they might raise a common prayer for a better welcome to Islam and immigrants in the U.S. and for increased dialogue between secularists and Islamists across the world. But in the end, holidays are mostly about the small ways in which people connect through sharing. This Thursday, a Muslim friend of mine from Mali, Diadié Bathily, plans to attend my family’s Thanksgiving dinner in St. Louis, Missouri. My Catholic mother will help him celebrate Tabaski far from home (two days early) by making him mutton in addition to turkey. Knowing Diadié, he will eat both. Shouldn’t we all? Joseph Hellweg is Asst. Prof. of Religion at Florida State Univeristy. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale. He has done research with initiated hunters (dozos) and on HIV and AIDS in Côte d’Ivoire from 1993-1997 and in 2002. In 2008-2009, he was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Kankan, Guinea, where he taught social science research methods. He will complete his fellowship at the University of Bamako. He speaks French and Mandenkan and eats fonio with okra sauce whenever possible. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Afrik.com.

The last couple weeks we have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our Christmas guests. Debbie, Jerry and Sue arrive in less than a month and we are very excited to greet them at the airport and show them around Mali.

Other than that nothing too crazy has been going on. A french organization is building a small dam near our village that will help with water storage issues and allow more irrigation of the surrounding fields. The construction of the dam will begin after harvest (sometime in January). Men from our village will do most of the manual labor involved with the project. The following clip and couple of pictures are from the welcoming celebration that our village put on, when the french organization came to our village to officially announce the financing of the project.

Of course our village welcomed the french organization in true Dogon style - dancing and singing.

Ashley holding Kaja, one of our favorite little girls, as the celebration takes place behind her

The women of our village all dressed up and ready to do a little dancing

This is a picture I took of Ashley as we sat looking over the fields near our house and watched as the sun setting behind us left the whole area looking beautiful.

This blog post is a small tribute to our friend Lou who came to Mali for 10 weeks and is headed home tomorrow. Lou it has been great getting to know you, we thank you for all the laughs and allowing Ashley and I to sleep on the floor of your apartment many times. Mali will miss you and so will we.

The next few photos are of our time with Lou...Sunset boat trip on the Niger...

Bus trip from hell...

Lou protecting her face from the dust coming into the bus...and everything else that was flying into the windows...

This past weekend we had a chance to have our friends Lou and Sonya out to our village and afterwards we went to Bandiagara for an evening. This is us enjoying a drink at the Hotel Falaise.

We got a sweet room at the Hotel Cheval Blanc for the evening...

Lou marking her territory...

Cooking diner in our house in our village...the girls are preparing spanish rice...

Sonya, Susan, and Lori having a glass of wine with their pizza at the Hotel Cheval Blanc...

The next few photos are what has been going on in our life and in our village, which is harvest. It has been peanut harvest...and so we have been eating a lot of peanuts!!...

Ashley sitting amongst piles of peanut plants pulling the peanuts off...

Me and the Chief of the village pulling peanuts off the plant and getting ready to store them in the granary's...

Random cart of empty containers being wheeled by Ashley and I as we walk down the street in Bamako...

Guava are back in season...my friend Umar gave us this batch from his garden...

So, as many of you know I (joe) have spent the last two months studying for the GMAT, the graduate business school entrance exam. I was scheduled to take the exam at the nearest testing facility which is in Dakar, Senegal (about 1000 miles from where I live in Mali) on October 7th, but when I arrived at the testing center I was told that the computer system had crashed and I could not take the test. Well luckily I was going to be in Dakar for eight days so I rescheduled the exam for the following Wednesday (at the Dakar testing facility this exam is only offered on Wednesdays). The day before my rescheduled appointment I called the testing center to confirm my appointment and was saddened to hear that due to a continuing computer problem they would not be offering me my rescheduled test.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR ME…

Is that I will not be able to apply for business school for the fall of 2010 due to the fact that I will not have another opportunity to take the GMAT in time for the application deadlines. I will “GOD willing” take the GMAT when I come back to the US this summer and apply for business school for the fall of 2011.

---------------

In between the two failed attempts at taking the GMAT Ashley and I had a chance to spend the week in Dakar (actually La Samone, a small village about two hours south of Dakar) with Randy and Judy. If you know anything about Ashley you know she loves her family and to have her father fly to Africa to spend time with her puts a big smile on her face. After spending 15 months in the dusty regions of central Mali without running water or electricity, you can imagine that an ocean side resort was like stepping into heaven. Let me count the ways I feel blessed;

- Rooms equipped with air-conditioning that would give an Eskimo the chills,

- Upgraded to an ocean view room,

- “All inclusive” means I get to eat as much ice cream as I want,

- Even though the pool rules say “no swimming after 7pm” no one yells at me when I swim at 9pm,

- Pizza available at every lunch and dinner (that one is an Ashley favorite),

- My father-in-law likes me well enough to have come to Africa with a bag full of Laffy Taffy for me to eat,

- Judy helped me to understand that I am a “Blu” man for eternity (or infinity)....,- that I got to put on spf 70 sunblock because the African sun is as hot as it sounds,- and did I mention the all-you-can eat buffet.

I feel very blessed to have gotten to share such a wonderful time with such wonderful people.

Ashley and I noticed right away that Dakar has more the feel of a city than does Bamako. This shot is taken from the balcony of our room at the Hotel Farid where Ashley and I stayed the two days before Randy and Judy arrived (fyi - I did not think it was a very nice room for $75 USD). As you drive into Dakar from the airport you get to see a spectacular view of the Mosque de la Devinite

N’ice cream is a must if you are ever in DakarLooking down the coast at our resort

Randy and Ashley looking pretty happy after a nice big breakfastAshley had one of the local artists put henna on both of her feet (it last for about two weeks)Ashley getting ready for a little snoozer, she is exhausted from laying by the pool all daylet's just say that i am chill'axinRandy got scared of the giraffes and so Ashley had to go stand by himGiraffes are always cool

General rule: don't mess with birds taller than you areAsh looking cool pool side

Can't beat the infinity poolJudy, Randy, Ashley and I poolside for hor d'oeuvresLove an African sunset

Where do I even start?

Amy (or Spamy as some call her), came to visit Joe and I for two weeks. We had a memorable time. It was exhausting, painful at times, uplifting, full of laughs and smiles and love. I am so blessed to have a family that cares for me and supports me in all I do. Ames, I love you! Thanks for coming. Not only do I miss you, but Mali misses you too!

Here is a glimpse into some of our adventures:

BIKE TRIP INTO DOGON COUNTRY:Looking back on all of these pictures, I think I forgot how tiring Mali can be, Amy was a trooper and hung in there, it was about 100+ degrees out and we biked 25Kilometers to a "hotel" in the dogon cliffs.

Don't we look cool! Break #1 of the bike trip, we are descending from the cliff top.

We biked by 3 or 4 waterfalls that day, it is rainy season right now, so the falls were pouring down.

The road less traveled.

Once we got to our destination and were rested up, of course Amy and I did some shopping, and guess what she bought? A purse. Duh...she is a Martin.

Chill-axin at our "hotel" and admiring the beautiful scenery.

A part of being in Africa, is getting sick, unfortunately Amy encountered this, she was down and out for about 2 days. Poor Ames.

Back at'em, Amy was feeling better, but not good enough to bike the 25K out, so we rented her a Cow Cart. (This picture is for you Gpa Jack)

HOME SWEET HOME-VILLAGE LIFE:After our bike trip, we spent 4 days in our village. Amy got to experience what we have been living for the last 15 months. She was there over the Muslim holiday Ramadan, so we got to cook with the ladies, dress up, hang out with the kids and just talk.

Playing Skip-bo, the sun had gone down and there is little to do with no electricity. So we played a lot of cards.

We had a few miserable hot nights, but Amy and I were able to laugh it off in our tent. Well, we tried to laugh it off.

All dressed up and literally no where to go, okay well the neighbors house. Yahoo!!!

Smalls, grew on Amy. (Check out her fab dress, girl looks good in everything.)

MOPTI-THE VENICE OF MALI: ...Or so they claim. After village life, we needed a refresher, a shopping trip and some pizza, so we headed to Mopti. It is a city that rests on the banks of the Niger river. It is a main tourist attraction and a must see.

Only the best for Amy, riding in style. (Our taxi into Mopti)

Lou, Amy's roommate in Austin, is in Mali for a few months, exploring the country and seeing if she wants to come back and work. So she was able to meet us in Mopti and add even more laughter to our trip.

Pre-shopping picture, Amy, I and Lou.

We took a sunset boat ride, we got to see a few small fishing villages on the river. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

ON A BUS:Just when we thought our adventures were done, we hopped on Malian transport. It took us 8 hours to go, what should have taken us 3 hours. Never mind the fact that before the 8 hour bus ride we were waiting on the side of the road for 3 hours just to get on the thing. I don't even know if you can call it an adventure, maybe more like a "hot mess." I will let the pictures do the talking.

Good Ole' Diarra Transport. This picture was about 30 minutes into the bus ride when we decided to stop and load about 50 goats on the top of the bus and 5 crates of chickens. An hour and a half later, we were ready to continue the trip...

So nasty, the bus was so nasty! So after our hour and a half stop we take off with goats and chickens in tow and with just our luck it starts to rain....

usually rain is good, cause it cools the temperature down, but that day, it was hell....

lets just say the bus was missing a few windows and screws, so rain, "goat juice", and chicken filth started coming in through the non-existent windows and ceiling....

did I mention, that there was a hole in the bottom of the bus, so the engine fumes were coming in also...

oh, and this was the slowest moving bus I had ever been on, and we would stop every 10 minutes....

oh yeah, and we had to stop once because one of the goats fell off the side of the bus and was dangling by its horns, as we were moving...

once we finally reached our destination, we all had to wash our pee infested clothes, backpacks and selves, we were a "hot mess!"...

good thing Amy and Lou were there to laugh off the situation, it will be their material for jokes for years to come...Here are the men loading up the goats, they first put them in rice bags and then hauled them to the top of the bus by their horns.

Goats on top of the bus

Shopping always pays off, Amy and Lou are sporting their new Turban Cloth, to help protect them from the "goat juice" coming in the window.

All good things must come to an end. I just wish it could have lasted a little longer. (not the bus ride, but Amy's visit)THE END!!!!

Our village just celebrated the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting in which Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn until dusk. In our village the men go to the cliffs right outside our village and pray facing the east looking out over an expansive valley. Everyone in village dresses in their nicest outfits and spends the day walking around and greeting each others families. These are just a few pictures I was able to take throughout the day.

The men walking back to village after prayer.One of the elders from village.

A man from our village with his two daughters.

On the right is one of the religious leaders in village. They have laid before them the Koran and a ceremonial sword.

Me, and the chief of the village (small man on the right) and another guy who just wanted to be in the picture.

A few days ago I had the opportunity to take a 80 km (about 50 miles) bike trip with my friend. It was nice to be out on a little adventure after spending almost 10 days in village by my lonesome. Ashley has been down in Bamako helping to train the new volunteers and so I have been spending time in village on my own. I would have to say that village on my own is not as fun as village life with Ashley. I did get a lot of reading/studying done and my language skills did seem to improve more than they would have if Ashley had been there since I was not able to speak English at all. The improvement of my language skills were noticeable because several villagers mentioned that "I could hear a lot of Donoso" which means I was getting better.

Looking over the village of Songo which is a Dogon village of about 3,000 people west of Bandiagara about 4 km off the road to Sevare.

The pelt of a monkey hanging from a granary.

The rattles

Songo is famous for a male circumcision ceremony that takes place every three years. It is one of the largest circumcision ceremony in the region and boys age 11-13 come from many villages nearby to take part. The paintings seen in the picture above represent different clans of the region and drawn every three years up in the cliffs above the village where the circumcision ceremony takes place.

Rattles that are made by the boys after the circumcision ceremony. ** My village has a circumcision ceremony for boys every two years and I was able to take part in some of the ceremony this year, and the boys in my village made rattles that where similar and for days after their circumcision they would sit near the road and sing songs to everyone who came by. Passerby where expected to then give money or food.

The view from the cliffs above Songo.

About two weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel with two new volunteers to there villages/sites. This is an important step in the life of a volunteer because this is the first time a volunteer will get to see the village he or she will be living in for the next two years. For a new volunteer this is awkward, thrilling and terrifying. You don't speak the language yet, it is your first time you are on your own in the country and it is the first real feeling of what your life will hold as a volunteer. So, I travel to two village with the new volunteers and just hung out with them and made sure that everything was going well.

A waterfall that has formed on the road between Djiguibambo and Kani Kombole.

After a heavy rain this waterfall formed...the view is from Kani Kombole.

On the road between Bankass and Bandiagara

I was also thinking the other day that I have placed no pictures up of the place I work. So I took a few photos the other day so you can see what the Center for Traditional Medicine in Bandiagara looks like. Ashley and I live about 5 km away from Bandiagara, so I bike into the Center about three or four times a week. This center was built with funding from the Italian government about 20 years ago. The Center produces seven traditional medicines that are certified by the Malian government and are sold at pharmacies through the country . It has very distinct architecture that is unique in that almost no timber was used in the construction, which is important in this region of West Africa where desertification (deforestation) is a problem due to environmental changes both man made and natural.

The main court yard of the Center for Traditional Medicine.

A view of the front.

Entrance to the Center...

Also, I have added this picture which was taken from the roof of our house a few day ago of a storm forming in the distance.

Also, a video I took of a storm rolling in from our front door...yes we are happy that the rain has come to water the earth. Rainy season has start slow and our village start

One School, One Volunteer, One Mural...one by one Education Volunteers will take Mali by storm.

This was the joke that myself, my fellow trainers, and the education trainees have been saying the last few days as we worked on a map mural in a local school near Bamako. We had a ton of fun, got a bit wheezy from all the fumes, had to wash our hands with kerosene, and listened to alot of Akon. It was a blast. Here is our mural from start to finish.

Jared studying the world map intently before diggin' in.

We made a huge grid on the wall, each square was 70 in by 70 inches.

Then we transfered the countries from the grid on the paper map onto the grid on the wall.

Labeling countries for names and color coding. (Dao, Veronique, and Amanda)

Getting ready to mix the paints. These are paints used for vehicles, it is all they sell here. (Veronique, Hunter, Me and Ali)

Us trainers are quite pleased with the progress.

(Katie, Hunter, and ME)

Coming along...

Slowly but surely...

Almost there...

Action pic of Jeremy and I, throughly enjoying ourselves.

Can't forget to label the countries, all in French...hmmm....where's is google when you need it.

The trainees

The Trainers

Joe and I have had a lot going on lately or so it seems like we have had a a lot going on....

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on July 26th, it was celebrated with a wonderful dinner of Velvetta Shells and Cheese (homemade right out of the box), paired with Crystal Light Lemonade....what a night!!!!

I also turned 28 on August 10th. I was in Bamako helping out with training and Joe came down to suprise me and we stayed in a hotel for 2 nights. It was so nice, we were out of touch with Mali for a few days enjoying air-conditioning, a swimming pool, a hot shower, a flat screen TV, and wine paired with pizza. What a luxury.

Rainy season has recently started so all of our villagers go out into their fields from sun-up to sun-down everyday, we have been helping out too. We usually tag along with Oumar's family, to their fields, which are 5K away from our village. It is so interesting to see farming done without the convenience of machines. Here in Mali it is all done by hand, from plowing, to planting to harvesting. These people are amazing, working the fields by hand in the heat. Although, it is tough work we have been enjoying it.

Joe dropping millet into the hole and then covering it up with his bare feet. Yep, that's how it is done here.

Look at the rows of planted millet behind me, all nice and straight and done by hand, AMAZING!

Ramatu, taking a break from work, what a beautiful woman!

All of us planting millet, a family affair!

Joe has recently been studying for the GMAT, which takes up alot of his time here, he will take the test in October in Dakar, Sengal. They do not offer the test here in Mali. So we are bummed that we have to travel to the coast and hang out on the beach, inorder for him to take his test. :)

Joe's "study buddy", Smalls, our new cat!!!

I have been plugging away in Bamako helping out with the new group of volunteers. They have been here for about a month now. It has been fun to teach some classes, but also to see and meet new faces.

And as always, we are constantly hanging out with children in our village.

Saly, she will just stand in our doorway and wait for us to come and hang out.

And this cutie is Gellie, she comes over and just repeats everything Joe says, it is absolutely adorable.

Ashley and I celebrated our sixth year wedding anniversary last week. It has been a WONDERFUL adventure and I am more in love today than I was six years ago.

Joe and I in our matching Fourth of July outfits, ready to hit the town!After our 4th of July shindig with some fellow volunteers, Joe and I headed to Bamako, the capital city, for our mid-service medical exam and also to welcome the new volunteers to Mali. The new volunteers arrived on July 10th at around 8pm. I was able to go to the airport and meet them all, with my clipboard in hand to make sure everyone was accounted for and all their baggage had made it to Mali safely. Waiting back at the training site Joe and some of the old volunteers waited to give them their first lessons in bathroom etiquette, how to use their mosquito nets and repellent, and reminded them to only drink filtered water. It was an enjoyable few days at the training center, good sessions, and great new energy. The new volunteers bring a refreshing breath of fresh air to those of us who are at our stale-one year marker.Speaking of a stale-one year marker, Joe and I were recently were having a bit of a bad day, Joe was sick of traveling back and forth to work and I was down and out for the day with some type of intestinal sickness. Here are two instances that perked us right up and reminded us how grateful we are to be here and how we can't let the little things get us down.1) Joe had just come home from work and we heard some motorcycles coming towards our house. Joe quickly headed outside and 4 men from the Traditional Medicine Center (Joe's work) had come out to wish me good health. One of the men proceeded to tell me that "when I am sick, it means Joe is sick, which in turn means the staff at the Traditional Medicine Center is sick because we are all family." What a great feeling to know that we are considered to be family here.

The guys from work were sporting their Obama T-shirts when they came to visit; this is quite the joke at work, because they all know Joe is a Republican.

2) On the same night, the sun had gone down and Joe had just gotten done with his bucket bath and I was lying on the bed. Joe's counterpart came knocking on our door, Joe answered it and Oumar had a bucket in his hand. He handed it over to Joe and said it was for me because I was sick. Joe opened the lid and there was a whole chicken, plucked and cleaned for me! (Eating meat here, is suppose to make you healthy). I know you are all thinking gross, but it is such and honor here to be given a chicken. Chickens are VERY expensive and are a rare treat. The chicken that was given to me was probably worth about a month's salary.

My very first chicken...isn't he cute!

So the moral of the stories are, that Malians are very community orientated people. The fact that they would sacrifice time to come visit me and sacrifice money for my health is a humbling experience. We are learning alot about community and were reminded that we are blessed to be living with these lovely, caring people!

This time last year we were sitting in my Mom's backyard enjoying friends, family, onion rings(oh, those sound so good right now) and laughter. It was the night before we started our Peace Corps adventure. As we went to the airport the next morning holding back tears and with unsettled stomachs, we both were wondering what our Peace Corps experience would bring. Well, needless to say it has brought a lot. Here are a few highlights of the past year.

We have learned:TIME- Who needs it? (we have learned patience with what west Africans call WAIT - West African International Time - basically slow down and hang out because most things are not worth rushing around for)two languages- okay they are both not perfected yet, but we still have a year lefthow to eat out of a communal bowl and with our handsTV is not a necessityhow much we appreciate being from a prosperous and blessed countrycooking with a VERY limited number of ingredients and still edible food

We have been humbled by:our villages hospitalityMalian smilessimplistic, meager livingsupport from friends and family back home

We have survived:without running water or electricity115F temperaturesamoebas and giardia (and feel blessed to have escaped the wrath of schistosomiasis, malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, and the list goes on....)eating millet toh and leftover millet tohnon-refrigerated meat---its safe, right?public transport - in our opinion the most dangerous part of living in a third world nation

Things that have become normal:sweating constantlybucket bathscarrying things on our headsnot showing our kneessleeping outside every nighthand washing ALL our clothesgoing to the bathroom in a holebeing woken in the morning by donkeys, roosters, and woman pounding milletthe Muslim call to prayer over a loud speaker (five times a day)Amazing experiences:visiting Timbuktufour day river trip on the Nigertraveling overland to Guinea and Sierra Leonehaving Bubba visit us for 6 weekswatching crazy African storms roll in from the distancewatching beautiful African sunsetsliving a radically different lifestyle than the way we grew up, yet more similar to the way the majority of the world livesThings we miss:CHEESE!!!!!!!!family and friendsa hot showerbeing able to wear shortsair conditionerMexican food with a margaritalattes/coffee shops- somewhere to relax and get awaybaking(Ashley)church worship and fellowshipTJ Maxx(Ashley)Dairy Queen blizzard(Joe)major life events of our friends and family - holidays, marriages, babies...seeing familiar facesset jobsdate nightsTarget "dollar spot" and popcorn comboWith one year down and one to go, we are still enjoying out time here. Although not everyday is fun or easy, it is a challenge we feel blessed to have as individuals and as a couple. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as another year is upon us.

The rains are coming and everyone in our village is getting excited.  They have all been spending a lot of time out in the fields tilling the soil and planting seeds.  Ashley and I are excited because the rains help to cool the air and settle the dust.  This last week we went out to the fields a few times.  I got sunburned, which Malians don't understand, so we just tell them that white peoples skin gets sick if its in the sun to long.  Ashley made some popcorn which we took out to the field with us to share with a few of the men from village who's field we visited.  This was there first popcorn break of their life (most people in our village had never had popcorn before we arrived).  We also planted a small garden of our own.    

Umar and I preparing the soil to drop millet and bean seeds.  Umar usually allows me to work about ten minutes and then tells me I have to sit under a tree so that I don't die in the African sun.

Me preparing a garden.  We planted beans and squash.

A hedge hog that a little boy in village found in the field.  I wanted to keep it as a pet but Ashley said "no".   The little boy that found it ate it that same night.  It doesn't look like it has to much meat on it.

Our new kitten...he is so small.  He is about as big as a mouse.

Just wanted to highlight one of my favorite trees in Mali with a few photos.  The Baobab tree's leaf is harvested and used in a variety of sauces and the fruit has a good amount of vitamin C and calcium.  So this is a very important tree to the people of my village.  

So, I (Ashley got sick and couldn't go) got to go to the Mudding of the Djenne Mosque in the city of Djenne (the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa).  The mosque is the largest mud brick building in the world.  Each spring before the rains come the community of Djenne replasters (with mud) the mosque, which is a giant festival of fun and mud throwing.  The young men gather dirt, animal excrement, and raisins.  The woman haul buckets of water.  It is all mixed together by the feet of young boys. 

The woman in the background are carrying buckets of water up to the mud pits near the mosque

Mud is being passed up to these men

These are the baskets that they carry the mud in

A few videos I took during the mudding...

May 23, 9:00pm-Last sighting of Gami, he was chasing another cat through our "yard"

May 24- No Gami sightings

May 25, 8:00am- Joe and I discuss the possibility that Gami might be lost...gone...

May 26- Silence. Nothing. Just the sound of mice crawling in our ceiling...where's Gami when you need him.

May 27- More mice

May 28- we begin our search for another cat, since I am avoiding the mouse-infested house at all costs.

May 29, 10:00am-We alert Joe's homologue, the Chief of the Village and any child that cares that Gami has now been missing for 6 days.  We put out a $1 reward, 500CFA. 

May 30, 3:00pm- Baba, the 82yr old Chief of the village, goes out around village looking for Gami and asking about Gami's whereabouts.

May 31, 8:00pm- over dinner, there is discussion about Gami, we pick out the words "fat cat" and "eat", could someone really have eaten him?

June 2, 10:00am- A neighbor boy seems suspicious when asked about Gami, maybe the kids shot him with  a slingshot?

June 3, 1:00pm- A new kitten arrives, we got him from a neighboring village, he is the smallest thing I have ever seen.  He is about as big as my hand and an inch wide.  I am not exaggerating either. He won't be killing mice for awhile, but we will train him up to be fierce!!!!!!

Pictures to come...

...Sierra Leone is rich in diamonds. The trade in illicit gems, known as "blood diamonds" for their role in funding conflicts, perpetuated the civil war.

Sierra Leone has a special significance in the history of the transatlantic slave trade. It was the departure point for thousands of west African captives. The capital, Freetown, was founded as a home for repatriated former slaves in 1787...

   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sierra Leone was everything I expected and more....

- Beautiful beaches

- Bribes

- Dinner with Russian Diamond Dealers on their private beach on a small island off the coast of Sierra Leone

- Fresh Seafood brought in by the local fisherman from that days catch

- Rolling mountains meeting the palm tree lined beaches and tepid blue ocean

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ashley and I and our two good friends Jenny and Cassady headed out on a two week vacation/adventure with the end goal of getting to the beaches of Sierra Leone.

We exchanged about $50 USD for a giant wad of Guinean Francs as we crossed the border from Mali into Guinea on our way to Sierra Leone

Ashley getting into a Taxi

Most public transport in Guinea and Sierra Leone is by bush taxi because their bus system is slow and small.  There are two kinds of taxi's a six place and a nine place.  A six place is a tradition four door sedan, in which they put four in the back seat and two in the front passenger seat and then the driver.  A nine place (shown in the picture above) is a station wagon that "fits" three in the far back seat, four in the center seat and two in the front passenger seat plus the driver (also as much luggage and two or three people on the roof).  So you can only imagine that a 24 hour trip from Bamako, Mali to Conakry, Guinea could be uncomfortable sharing the front seat of the car with a stranger, a third of your body hanging out the window, a third resting on your neighbors lap, and a third stuck in that crack between the door and the seat.  Not fun.  So, fortunately most of the time we where able to find six place cars and the four of us bought out all six places so we could ride in comfort. 

It took us a half day to get from Bamako across the Guinean border to Kan Kan, where we spent the night at a Peace Corps house.  From Kan Kan to Conakry it took a full day of driving but it was wonderful watching the green rolling hills of Guinea as we passed through.  In Conakry, the capital of Guinea, we were blessed to find the Peace Corps compound was on the beach so again we had a free place to stay with a nice location.

* a Guinea multi-entrance visa is $160 USD, which you can get at the Guinea Embassy in Mali in a few hours

The next morning we headed from Conakry across the Sierra Leone border to Freetown.

Between Conakry and Freetown we went through approximately 10-15 military/police checkpoints.  At each one our taxi driver had to pay a bribe so we could keep going.  Talk about an oppressive government, no one can afford to move around the country.  

This was the road between Conakry and Freetown.  Small parts were paved but we spent hours driving on dirt roads.

We did not buy our Sierra Leone Visas in advance because Sierra Leone does not have a embassy or consulate in Mali and our Lonely Planet Guide said you could buy it at the border.  I read on the Internet that the SL visa is $100 USD.  When we arrived at the border the shady border agents pointed to a sign on the wall that said a visa for Americans was $200 USD.  Well we didn't come prepared to spend that much on a visa and the shady border agents conveniently lost their receipt book so we agreed on two brand new crisp American hundred dollar bills for visas for all four of us.  Shady?  Yes!    

Freetown was much different than I expected.  It had a colonial feel, like a very run down European city.  Freetown is built between the ocean and the mountains and the city stretches up into the nearby mountain sides.  We stayed at The Place Guest House right in the center of the city (this picture is taken from the balcony of the guest house). 

We paid 41,000 Leones (about $13 USD) per double room.  Since it is law in Freetown that same sex people can not share a room, Cassady and Jenny had to each pay for a separate room.   I guess at $13 a room you can't complain to much.  Thirteen dollars does not buy you running water as the guest house did not have running water so we had to take buck baths.  I will have to say a bucket bath after 15 hours in a car without air-conditioning feels equally as nice as a shower.  

That evening we went out to explore the city a bit and found that the city center turns into a bizarre of street food vendors and people selling everything you can imagine from expired Target brand foods to used clothing.  We had delicious fried chicken and ice cream.   

The next morning we hired out a taxi to drive us down the coast and drop us off at a secluded beach.We arrived at Tokeh beach were we ended up spending five nights.  You can't beat the sun sets with the mountains, ocean and palm trees.

We paid Scott the man who owns this fishing camp about $3 USD a person to set up our tents under this veranda

Ashley, Jenny and Cassady enjoying the water late in the afternoon

A picture of our camp from the water

Ashley and I on the fishing boat we hired to take us up along the coast and out to Banana Island to spend a night.

Trying to take in all the beauty because who knows when I will get back to this part of the world.

A beautiful pineapple plant on Banana Island - We ate a lot of pineapple on our trip.  You could buy a pineapple with the skin cut off and just the top to grip and you then eat it similar to corn on the cob.  A pineapple was about 500 Guinean Francs or 10 cents US.  

The beach we slept on at Banana Island.

Banana Island

Loading back into our boat the following morning for our trip back to Tokeh Beach

Mainland from the boat.

Our last Sunset on Tokeh Beach.

After five nights on the beach we headed back to Guinea to do some hiking in the Fouta Djalon.

Ashley at our hut in Doucki, Guinea, where we stayed with Hassan Bah who run a sort of guest house and leads people on hikes in the region.

Ashley, Jenny, Cassady and myself met two other Peace Corps Volunteers from Burkina Foso who we teamed up with for a hike that our guide called "Chutes and Ladders". 

I think this is where the "Ladder" part of the name comes in for this hike.

Ashley and Jenny trying to pick bananas...

The last two nights of our vacation we stayed at the nicest hotel (SIB Hotel du Fouta) in a town called Dalaba.  We paid about 10,000 Guinea Franc per double room or about $20 USD.

The hotel had a beautiful terrace were we watch the sun set and had a few drinks.

The sun setting over the rolling mountains of Guinea.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------I wanted to add a few tidbits to our vacation too, so here are my top ten moments of the trip:

10.  my appreciation for Mali's infrastructure--never thought I would say that---electricity, running water, and good roads are hard to come buy in Sierra Leone and Guinea (even in major cities)

9. cool weather-in Guinea the weather was wonderful, at night we would wear jeans and long sleeved shirts, a slight change from 115 degrees in Mali

8. buying souvenirs- you all know about my shopping addiction, and on vacation I can justify all my purchases, plus I had two great girls to shop with

7. crossing the boarders safe and sound---ripples of soldiers

6.  Hassan, our hiking guide in Guinea, he was a hoot!  And he spoke in acronyms, this was my personal favorite:  ML-monkey language, and yes Hassan spoke ML. I think that speaks volumes!!!!!!

5.  Being able to speak English with the locals-English is Sierra Leone's official language, it makes everything so much easier

4. eating fresh seafood and having my first taste of crab---and guess what, I liked it....crazy!(this is a shout out to all my fellow picky eaters out there)

3. I enjoyed my daily viewing of Jennifer jumping like a dead fish in the ocean--this coincides with my #1 moment

2. Having water near by to cool off in, what a luxury

AND...

1. hanging out with great friends and enjoying many laughs--the kind of laughs that make your stomach hurt :)

Ashley and I got a chance to enjoy a pool at a hotel in our regional capital a few weeks ago - a pool on the edge of the Sahara Desert is Priceless (we paid $4 USD to swim)

Guys in our village with a homemade loom are weaving traditional fabric to sell at market

It is amazing that this is all hand produced

Hand Made in Mali

Some little kids from our village who wanted their picture taken...who could resist

These ladies also wanted their photo taken...I could only get the one on the right to smile, the other woman would not do it

These are the granary in our village - each family has there own granary which holds enough food from harvest to last them the whole year.

Traditional Dogon ladder - this is how they get on their roofs to dry grains or to do repairs before rainy season starts

Our neighbor boy bringing the family cattle back into village for the evening

My friend Umar (on the right) with his brother and his daughter - Umar is in the process of building this new house for one of his two wives. 

Ashley and Ambaybem - Ambaybem follows Ashley around village most days

A great sunset

Our good friend Ryan (a third year PC volunteer - yes that means he liked it so much he decided to stay longer than the required two years) giving a presentation outside our house on Urine Fertilization, a process of taking and peeing into a large yellow jug, letting it sit for a few days, diluting it with water and then using as a organic fertilizer (Urine is rich in nitrogen and other nutrients).  This is great because many people in our village can't afford fertilizer 

If you listen close you can hear that Ryan speaks fluent Bambara, which is a language spoken throughout Mali (the people in our village speak Donoso, but many also know Bambara and Fulani)

Ashley and I along with six of our friends recently embarked on a "life goal list check off" adventure to the fabled city of Timbuktu.

"The rich king of Tombuto hath many plates and sceptres of gold, some whereof weigh 1300 pounds. ... He hath always 3000 horsemen ... (and) a great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are bountifully maintained at the king's expense."   

                                                                                                      - Leo Africanus (1512)

We rented an SUV and headed off for seven hour drive north right to the edge of the Sahara - this is our SUV on the ferry crossing the Niger River

Sankore Madrasah - built in 1581 AD 

Sankore Mosque

We stopped by to take a look at the ancient manuscripts of Timbuktu - some of them date from pre-Islamic times 

We took camels out of the city to go sleep in the dunes

The group of us on our camels...the weather was nice and it was beautiful riding our camels into the desert as the sun was setting

The five girls looking pretty cool and keeping the sand and sun out of their faces

Ashley is a natural on a camel

We arrived for the night at our Tuareg encampment where we were served a traditional meal and drank tea

The light of a new morning

I have fallen in love with the lyrics to this song and wanted to share.  They are perfect for Joe and I right now.

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me your heart for the ones forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see

Give me your eyes

Brandon Heath-Give Me Your Eyes