Photos from today's 1st Annual Ramadan All You Can Eat Spaghetti and Beer Party

I cooked over 5 big packages of spaghetti and made 4 batches of various sauces. Plus we had banana splits for dessert. I can always count on Peace Corps to chow down

Kunaba mails a Letter-Part Three

Well whoever voted that Kunaba would actually mail the letter, won. I got home to Tamba and called (because I was curious) the guy in Kayes who was supposed to have received the letter mailed from Kunaba. Lo and behold, the guy said he had received the letter (my double whammy approach of talking to the head of the household must have worked!) and sent it on to Tamba.

Of course I still don't have the letter. I'm trying to track down its location somewhere in Tamba. Supposedly it was given to my Malian friend (who is out of the country again) and I've made three phone calls to various people trying to track it down. I'm sure my Malian friend is not carrying around a letter that does not belong to her around... so I know it's somewhere. I've got one person who is house-watching her house looking around to see if he can lay his hands on it. No luck in the past 2 days, but it is still young. There is a slight chance they won't find the letter but it's gotta be around. I stand corrected. I really thought there were too many variables to fall into place to actually get the letter---although in some way I am counting my chickens before they hatch because I still don't have the letter in hand. Still, this post is for those of you out there who believe miracles are indeed possible.

No good, Poe-tay-TOE??

it's not even that funny. Mother and I were walking out of the main grocery store the other day in Dakar and some guy was following us with a bag of potatoes trying to sell them to us. Mother was like, 'What's he doing?" and I said that he was trying to sell us some potatoes. So hearing that we were speaking English he continuing following us saying, "Po-tay-TOE", which for some reason just cracked me up. I think it was how he pronounced it... because outside of the strong emphasis on the "TO" part, he said each syllable distinctly as almost separate words. So, still walking I asked him, "Po-tay-TOE?" in the same way, and he gets enthusiastic now that he's gotten my attention. "Po-tay TOE!" he says again holding up his bag so I can look deeply into the bag of potatoes. I'm really amused now. "Po-tay-TOE!" I repeat to him, confirming that I see now that he has these potatoes. But he's waiting for me to buy some now... I say in english, "Sorry, no". Oh no! He's crushed, but he hasn't given up. "No good Po-tay TOE??" I can't help myself now, I'm laughing outloud.... but I managed to say, "No, no Good Po-tay-TOE!" Then of course I was repeating, "No good potatoe??" to mother and then burst out laughing. I told her that I was sorry because I knew it wasn't that funny but for some reason it just really cracked me up. She said, Obviously. she wanted to know what he meant by saying "No good potato?" and I said, Well it's not really clear which is another reason why it's funny." He could have meant, "Are the potatoes off?-- no good potato?" or just generally, "Potatoes are not good for me today--no good potato?" Anyway aren't you pleased to hear about the Po-tay-TOE--No good potato??"

The shoe drops: The second part to the Malian post office post

I guess I was procrastinating because I already know the end of the story. So I told you about Kunaba and how she was in Bamako and called me telling me that she has some 'items' for me that she needs to get to me, including a couple of letters from my friends. She wants to know how to get them to me (dot dot dot... open question) So I tell her that I'm supposed to go to Dakar on assignment (true) and won't be able to go and pick anything up personally in Bamako. I also don't mention anything about her visit here and she actually doesn't ask to come either. I tell her that I will do research on my end on how to get the things to Tamba. (not an easy feat).

So the next several days I try and track down my contact who is a Malian but living in Tamba, but she is traveling in France. I talk to one of her employees at the hotel/restaurant she owns and try and get a hold of her that way. At first he was holding information very close to his chest, but then I finally just told him the whole Kunaba story (not THE whole Kunaba story, but just the part that she is trying to get some stuff over to me) and I tell the guy that I thought that my friend could give an address and name in Bamako where Kunaba could drop off the stuff and then someone could send it over to Tamba. Well since my contact is traveling for a month in France, that option is a no go. But by the time I tell this guy over the phone the whole story, he comes up with someone he knows who lives in a regional town between Bamako and Tamba (in Mali). So he gives me his contact information. I call this guy, give him the whole story and we are thinking that Kunaba can try and put the goods on a public transport vehicle out to Kayes where this guy can pick them up. Then he says that he or someone he knows comes to Tamba all the time. Okay... although it makes me nervous because there are a lot of steps and the more difficult the solution, the more unsure for a successful execution...

So finally after the 4-5 days it takes me to get this far (includes more than one phone call of course which I will spare you the step by step details) I call Kunaba back at the place she's staying in Bamako. Evidently she has moved over to the compound where all our village stays when they come to Bamako. They don't have a phone there. So a kid is sent to go over to where Kunaba is staying to bring her back to receive my phone call. So I call and Kunaba answers and I tell her that I think I have a solution for the gifts. Then she tells me that the food she had for me has spoiled (she seemed slightly sulky about this but I could be wrong)... and although I am unsure how peanuts can spoil so quickly, I chalk that up to a blessing since I didn't want the peanuts in the first place. I tell her to take down the phone number of the guy I talked to in Kayes to coordinate with him how to send the stuff to me via public transport. She says she understands and I give the phone number but it's unclear if she really understands.

One week later I call the guy in Kayes to see if Kunaba called. She hadn't (of course). So I call back to the house in Bamako so that a kid can go over to where Kunaba is staying and call her to the phone. But before I hang up, I luckily talk to the head of the household, a nice and educated guy who speaks French, not just Bambara. I give him the PO Box where Kunaba only has to go to the post office and mail the letter to this guy in Kayes, in Mali and he will get the letter to me. This solution is seemingly simple. All she has to do is to put the letter in another envelope and have someone address it and put a stamp on it for her. So I explain to the head of the household so he knows and can hopefully explain it to Kunaba. I tell him that someone need only accompany Kunaba to the post so she can mail the letter. He says okay. I then talk to Kunaba and talk to her about it... I don't know if she understood or not... But at the end of the conversation (by default since she just put down the phone, but did not hang up) she started talking to someone else in the household about what i was saying and I thought she was talking to me, but she wasn't and someone else hung up the phone.

So. There we go. Supposedly there is the information about mailing the letter.. but I do not have a good feelign about actually getting my letters. I told Brook I gave it about a 15% chance that the letter would arrive. He said he gave 30%, which was still 3 in 10 and not looking so positive. So there you go. The question to you was what do you think. Do you think I will get the letters? It has lost its suspense since it's already been a month since she was supposed to have mailed the letter and I still haven't received jack. When i do get back to Tamba, I will call the guy in Kayes just to see if he got anything. I think I know the answer to that. I suppose I should just forget about getting any letters. Ah well. You can't say I didn't give it the college try.