One week gone, A whole lot more to go!

Last Sunday (a.k.a 2 days ago) marked the first week I've been living with my family. In that time, I have gotten close to my mom and brother. Although my dad is in Paris, I've talked to him over the phone everyday. I have also figured out (somewhat) Malian fashion. Women tend to wear their traditional clothing in the house and out (in Kenya, people wore more American business clothing) while the younger generation (under 30ish) wear more American clothing, especially males. (I do see little girls, and teenage girls wearing African clothes). I have noticed that men can go both ways, wearing American clothes, or Malian. (My dad wears traditional, but on the street, you see both). On the 15th, my Nene and I, we did some family visiting, and we saw one of the cousins that got married. She was hidden by white fabric strung between 3 walls (so that it looked like a box). My Nene told me that the wife stays hidden for a week, then you have the marriage day. She was still wearing all white (at the party, she wore all white, with a white hijab instead of a viel, and the only parts of her body that showed were her fingers and lower elbows, not counting the lace sleeves. Today, she told me that this same cousin is moving to Morroco (lucky her!) The next night (the 16th) we had a blackout, but I did learn a lot of bambara words. My favorite so far is Firifiri, it means butterfly :D I'm starting to get closer to Asetu and Isuf, the cook and househelper. They teach me a lot of bambara, and its cool to follow them around, especially Asetu. I have noticed that most food is fried in A LOT of oil, and they will fry 3 different "things" in the same pot of oil. Talk about not wasting food :P Yesterday, Nene woke me up early, because it was the day to wash our clothes. Asetu does the washing, but we wash our own delicate items. You know, the underwear and bras (if you're a girl). While Asetu was doing the laundry, Nene had me help her cook, and gave me a large shell of rice and told me to go through it and pick out all the black and grey rocks. I think I did a good job, becuase she looked very pleased when I was done. Today, we went to visit my Nene's friend, and then we took a walk in her neighborhood. We visited her aunt, and saw her grandma (My great-grandma!). Tomorrow, we are going to talk to my school (I will be studying at Le Sacre Coeur it means Sacred Heart) about my uniform (I'm actually really excited about this, cuz it will make getting dressed a whole lot easier, and I won't wear my clothes out so much yay!). School doesn't start until the 3rd of October, and to tell the truth, I'm really nervous, because I won't know anybody, and everybody will be speaking in Bambara or French (which are not my dominant languages haha) but I'm also really excited, because I can't wait to make lots of friends, as well as finally have something to DO even if its homework. (I'm also looking forward to the hanging out, lets not forget that!) Until next week,
Andrea Pamela <3