2011.09.10

We have arrived! After a prolonged series of flights and cheap airplane food, we are now in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. Two of Sarah's friends, Bishu and Robert, met us at the Bamako airport last night and brought us to the Hotel Wassalu, where we are staying for a few nights until we can get settled in an apartment.

Speaking of apartments, Sarah's host brother Papi took us to see one this morning. It is a cute one-bedroom, one-bath apartment overlooking the rooftops of a hip, young urban neighborhood. Located within walking distance from a number of bars and coffee shops and two blocks from a metro stop, this apartment is ideal for young professionals seeking an.... well, more or less. It actually is quite cute, and although there is no kitchen I think it will do quite nicely. The only unfortunate part is we'll have to evict a little lizard from the bathtub. Those creatures never pay their rent.

The majority of today was spent meeting Sarah's host family, who live about a mile or so down the road from our hotel. While I don't speak much french, I didn't feel completely lost in conversation (most of which only required me to say, "ça va? ça va!"), and Sarah claims to be surprised at how much Bambara she remembers. I hope to keep up this language momentum!

Tomorrow we are going to see Baya, Sarah's host grandmother and namesake, which should be interesting. I have thus far avoided any major cultural faux pas, despite eating a delicious mid-day lunch and another delicious mid-afternoon lunch at the Traore's (with my left hand of course... wouldn't want to get my right hand dirty and then have to shake someone's hand later on in the day!). Other than that, our plans mostly involve getting settled into this new city. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when we got here, but I have felt remarkably welcome and think it will be an incredible six months.

Pictures to come soon, as we now have a charged camera battery!