Book List Up To Sisan Sisan(Now in Bambara)

Title, Author, Month Read, Pages.

1. State of Fear, Michael Crichton, July 2010, 623
2. The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran, July 2010, 133
3. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Ran, July 2010, 1069
4. Into the Wild, John Kreuker, July 2010, 207
5. Thank You For Smoking, Christopher Buckley, August 2010, 272
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith, August 2010, 528
7. Too Soon To Tell, Calvin Trillin, August 2010, 304
8. Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X & Alex Haley, August 2010, 460
9. Last Man Standing, David Baldacci, Sept. 2010, 638
10. Confessions of An Economic Hitman, John Perkins, Sept 2010, 277
11. Hannibal, Thomas Harris, Sept 2010, 484
12. Stone Cold, David Baldacci, Sept 2010, 511
13. Genesis Code, John Case, Sept 2010, 467
14. Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden, Sept 2010, 430
15. Hour Game, David Baldacci, Sept 2010, 590
16. 100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Sept 2010, 383
17. Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Sept 2010, 340
18. Desert Solitude, Edward Abbey, Oct 2010, 337
19. Island, Aldous Huxley, Oct 2010, 295
20. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, John Berendt, Oct 2010, 388
21. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, Oct 2010, 343
22. Paradiso, Dante, Oct 2010, 303
23. Empire -A Zombie Novel-, David Dunwoody, Oct 2010, 293
24. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, Oct 2010, 309
25. Inside Out, John Ramsey Miller, Oct 2010, 434
26. Man's Search For Meeting, Viktor Frankl, Nov 2010, 154
27. Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut, Nov 2010, 392
28. War of The Worlds, H.G. Wells, Nov 2010, 197
29. Demian, Hermann Hesse, Nov 2010, 149
30. The Reader, Bernhard Schlink, Nov 2010, 218
31. SteppenWolf, Hermann Hesse, Nov 2010, 218
32. The Princess Bride, William Goldman, Nov 2010, 255
33. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, Nov 2010, 122
34. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Nov 2010, 296
35. Mirrors of the Soul, Kahlil Gibran, Nov 2010, 101
36. Upside Down, John Ramsey Miller, Nov 2010, 337
37. Unsolved Mysteries of American History, Nov 2010, 216
38. All The Presidents Men, Bob Woodward & Carl Berstein, Nov 2010, 336
39. Side by Side, John Ramsey Miller, Nov 2010, 319
40. Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane, Nov 2010, 369
41. The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dec 2010, 398
42. The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dec 2010, 30

Thoughts

This blog will be a selection of some of my journal entries I have been making.

Sept 13th
Today was a perfect day for the stars to come out in force. We had a huge rain storm last night until early this morning and whenever that happens it stays clear for a couple days and tonight was no expection. The stars look amazing; like snowflakes stuck in time. The sky looked like Jackson Pollack took white paint to a giant piece of black felt. Truly a place where the streets have and need no name. The most astounding effect it had on me aside from not having to use my flashlight to get home was the sense of understanding. Understanding of my flawed thoughts on relationships and love. I thought love only could be found when you applied for AARP and relationships were antiquated and always ended. But sitting under these stars, absorbing each morsel of romance that dripped from the sky, I understood. These moments you live for, but live to share with someone. What good is life if everyday you live it you have no one to share it with. Each tear, smile. and shooting star. Love is when two friends know that their lives will be devoted to making one another smile. Love is when two people sacrifice themselves to create the singular entity of a couple. It took me 23 years of one night stands, relationship rules, and broken hearts, mine included, to see this. Love is not a fairy tale hidden sparsely in the wind swept never never land. Love is here and now, it is sharing moments of our lives with those who genuinely care. Marriage is legal, love is eternal. They say it grows with time and I agree. I see love like the stars something everyday, but one day you look and something new is looking back at you. Its cast complicated and on the surface the same across the board. But deep down love varies and with each person it burns different. I know now that love is not a prancing unicorn, love is the common animal, hidden within normalcy but each holding its own unique beauty.
Haddaway asked What Is Love
The Beatles proclaimed All you need is Love
Robert Palmer taught us how to be Addicted to Love
but I think sublime said it best when they said....love is all I got.

Thoughts

One Month

So I havent blogged for a month and I totally don't apologize haha. I don't apologize because it is nearly impossible to put into words the sights, sounds, smells and experiences that I have while I am here, but I'll try my best.

So since my last blog post I finished Home-Stay and I am a little sad because I really grew to like my family there, but hopefully in two years right before I come home I can go visit them once more. After we left Kabe for the last time we went back to T-So the training center and then we had one final week of hellish tasks and 8-5 training sessions. This all led up to the culminating moment of Swear In. I have already described to a lot of you my feelings during swear in in personalized e-mails but for those of you that I did not have a chance to contact, it was nothing short of amazing. The speech given by the US Ambassador to Mali was very moving and the whole process was so cool. But now that is all over and I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer.

My new home is almost surreal. Each day I awake take a 5 block walk to the store buy a loaf of bread, come home fry up three eggs, make myself a strong cup of El Pico Coffee, and then read for two hours. At around 12/1230 I go to my host families house and hang out drink tea, eat lunch, read more, try to speak Bambara, then eat freshly barbecued corn. I go back to my house around 5 or 6 to either work out or get ready to go play soccer with my host brothers. I go back take a bucket bath and then eat dinner and read more. Journal and then finally bed. This is my routing pretty much 7 days a week. I am slowly trying to adjust the idea of inactivity for two years, but the idea of traveling all across West Africa is interesting and definitely something I want to look into.

So now the deeper part of the blog post.
...My three months in Mali have taught me some absolutely incredible things. Things about the value of success and happiness, love and friendship, and how to truly appreciate all that I left behind. Many of these things I have gone into much more detail about in my journal which one day I will happily pass to anyone who wants to read. What it boils down to overall though is that this is an "experience" and its an amazing one and something I will never forget and something I will always have. No one can take it from me and even if no one ever wants to hear about it after I leave this will forever be burned to my soul. You think differently here, you see things in a different light, life is just flat out not the same, but in every way possible its the same thing I did back home.

Now for random rants and thoughts
...I want to travel all over yet call one place home. I want to get my Psy D and become a clinical psychologist, have a private practice, be an expert witness for the DA, and write books. I want to have an apt in Boston, a house in New Zealand, and a villa in Spain or the Canaray Islands. I want to own a vineyard, I want to get married and have kids. I want a female black lab and name her Ewing. I want to go hiking across the mountains. I want to read every book I can possibly find. I want to be a public speaker, I want to give speechs to my fraternity about the joy of serving others. I want to be me...If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me.


Conjugati Amicitia
Vindicat Honore
Et Ducti Vero
Vivimus et Vigemus


United by friendship,sustained by honor,
and led by truth,
We live and flourish.

One Month

Alive and Well

I am alive!!!

It is hard to quantify my life here in Mali into words so from now on my blogs may be less often and slightly more sporadic. It is just difficult to recite every action that impacts my life.

So I just returned from visiting my site and I had a great time. My host family once again is excellent and the town is eager to start working. I did get a little sick while I was there but this is Africa and sometimes you just gotta go with it. Bright side is I am feeling a lot better and now my body has some new antibodies to kick the shit out of anything that comes in my body. My site is great and my area around it is excellent. I am very excited for the next two years. The weather is muggy but soon it will start cooling down and the humidity will leave around Oct. I swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 17 days! Then begins to two years of making a difference. I hate to make this short but trust me I will write plenty more after this. I love everyone see you all in a while

Another daydream during language class

When faith becomes a fleeting glimpse, a sailing ship
look to the night sky, for like the stars you are bright
Life may weigh you down, you may lose your step
but there can be no rainbow without the rain
smile for life will try to smile back, don't cry
Keep your tears for a day of bridled joy
life is the test of your faith, not in God, but in you
Believe you are capable and you shall accomplish all
with faith in yourself you can move mountains
or simply awake with a smile and sleep with the same one.

Untitled Poem

So I'm retyping this jamming out to some Dear Prudence by The Beatles which has become my favorite song to listen to as I walk through Kabe watching the sunset. I wrote this poem during one of our sessions today; the first line just came to me and I jotted it down as I strolled to the negen. It more or less sums up how I feel sometime here in Mali. Take it tongue and cheek, its not like 100% serious...

Free flowing thoughts devoid of structure
buoyant, lying stagnant in my mind
A self imposed muzzle, I struggle to speak
How do I formulate words without language
I am the fly on the wall, the fish in the bowl
I believe in ghosts, because this is who I am
Stumbling, my tongue trips, fails to stand
Speak to me, breathe, give me a voice past silence
A whisper would suffice, but let my soul scream
You stare at me, but you look straight through me
How can you understand what you can not read
Give me a voice like the east wind in the fields
We understand the rain as we hear it shower the trees
give me a voice like the sunrise and sunset
an unforgettable voice that echoes across the world
not just a voice; nay give me a chance to be heard
Let me be the moon; guiding all who look for guidance
Brand me Al-Mustafa the prophet let me speak of life
Give me the cement to hold my thoughts, a mold to form
give me rope to rescue my falling spirit, pull me out
I look to you for a hand, and in return I will give you mine
My hand, my voice, my love, my tears, my inner spirit
Give me the chance and I will help you flourish
Let me be the moon and I sir will make you the sun.

T.I.A This is Africa.....previously an e-mail to my family

Hey Everyone,

So I am Back!!!! I've been in a small village in Mali since last thursday and it
was really an experience that I don't even think someone on heavy
drugs could have shared. This country is truly a place like no other
and it is pretty incredible. I go through whats called the W of
cultural adjustment everyday. Its up and down but the ups are great
and the downs are not so unbearable that a little bike ride, some
tunes or some laughing/smiling and telling my family I want to punch
them in english doesn't fix.
I live with my host dad ,his wife and their two children On our compound we also live with my dad's parents, his
oldest brother and one of his cousins. My malian name is Omar, all i
kept thinking was that I had to travel all the way to West African
village of 800 people who don't know Spanish people from white people,
to be given a spanish name. They pronounce it ooh-mar but its all the
same. So first off I'll talk about the food. I am happy to say that I
have not eaten any bugs, , lizards, or other strange food. I mostly
eat rice and tegadegana (a hot peanut sauce), macoroni, potatoes in
this really cool red sauce, and in the morning i get bread two
hardboiled eggs and peanut butter. Organic peanut butter is absolutely
fantastic. I also have my fair share of beans, but here in Mali when
you eat beans its a big joke. Quick side note, here in mali you have
whats called joking cousins. Its more or less the reason why there is
no war or civil unrest here, if two people are arguing, one of their
joking cousins (these relationships are all traditional) can come up
and call them a bean eater or say their brother is a donkey and
everyone laughs and goes about their business as if nothing was wrong.
So now onto the people im with. I am at my homestead village with 7
other PCT's (peace corps trainees). We have all meshed really well. I
am thrilled to say that we have become a good group and rely on each
other as a support system and its been really good. I am pretty
surprised to see that I am only one of two people from NY in my
staging group but its cool to see people from all over the place.
The local language of Mali is called Bambara (pronounced
Bahm-bah-ra).This has made me reallly want to
learn spanish again so I will need help with that when i get back. I
study hard during class and my routine through out the day does
include some time going over bambara. So to elaborate on that my
routine consists of waking up at about 6 am going back to bed till 7
then getting out of bed. I take brush my teeth, take my bucket bath,
have my egg sandwich. I go off to class around 757 for class at 8. I
always get there on time bc it is a five second walk. After morning
class i go home eat lunch and then sit in my pimp hut aka the bull. my
lunch break is james time. I sit in there and either read passages of
the prophet, listen to american music or just write. I go to night
session around 230 till about 530. Then i go home grab my bike and
ride for like 3 or 4k. Then i go to the yiri kalanyoro (the
kalanyoro-school- yiri-tree-) and i do my pull ups and push ups. I had
home around 630 and take my bucket bath, have some lipton tea, and
then relax all night. Duley and Adama go over my bambara with me and
then i have malian tea with my dad and stare at the stars. HOLY CRAP
you have never seen the stars till you have seen them in west africa.
Then around 930 i go to bed. I wake up at 12 to towel off the sweat
then again at 3 when the donkeys begin to seizure/orgasm/death rattle
and then at 530 when the roosters starts sounding off every 15 minutes
like clock work. and then i start alll over again. Its nice to have a
routine it keeps me really sane.
So I regret to tell you guys that i can not in good conscious come
back to America during my two years here. I mean that might change but
im not sure. I think that if i came back it would be way to hard to
leave the US and come back to mali. This is not something you long to
come back to in that way. I would love to meet you guys in Spain or
Morocco but the US aside from being close to 6 thousand dollars round
trip would be too much to handle. I am sorry i know i said i would try
to come home but it would be sooooo hard. I may change my mind but
right now i'm in the no us for two years mood.
So next step will be the thunderstorms. I don't know if you have ever
lived under a tin roof, but when it rains its loud. Im pretty sure i
can empathize with london during WW2 and the bombs that went off. It
breaks the humidity and the thunder and lightning are amazing but shit
its loud.
I'm sorry if this blog bounces a lot but i took notes on what to say
and obviously its just random thoughts so I am trying to correlate
that best I can. I got to watch the world cup final and it was
wonderful because the malians all laughed because i stomped about and
yelled in english the whole time.
I need to say this now too so you all see it. This was the best
decision i have ever made, the Peace Corps. Oh and I am currently
vaccinated from Yellow Fever, typhoid fever, rabies, hep a, hep b,
meningitis, and will getting more soon. I take my vitamins every day,
and if i don't i take an airborne every three to four days. I take my
doxy malaria medication every day.
Overall i really love this place and am enjoying my time here. I will
spend 795 days in mali and tonight marks 780 left hahaha. Love you
all. i'll try to write again before I leave on wednesday.

To finish here is a nice passage i read in Kahlil Gibrans The Prophet
that makes me really understand why i'm here.
"you give but little when you give of your possessions.
it is when you give you of yourself that you truly give,
for what are you possessions but things you keep and guard for fear
you may need them tomorrow?
and tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying
bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims...
you often say 'i would give, but only to the deserving'
surely he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to
fill his cup from your little stream."

Counting the days

So after this thursday I will be posting a lot less regularly. I am off to Homestay which means i will be living in a village with a malian family. I will have my own room and get to stop living out of a bag. It was really cool here today at like 85 degrees. Sorry for not posting as much, I had a rough day yesterday but today is going great and I really love being here. Started learning bambara today and I am getting pretty good at it. I hope this post finds every one really well. Today was a cool training day we got to start looking at our sector of work, and in WatSan (water sanitation) we get to do anything from fish hatcheries, to garden work, to wells, to digging negens (toliets). I am looking forward to my work and my two years of service.


N taraa!!!

Breakfast in Mali

I am officially eating my first breakfast in Mali. We arrived in Bamako last night and were met by a gracious staff of volunteers that met us with friendly smiles. After settling down in H-7 with my two hut mates, we were taught how to use the bathrooms again. It was a cool 80 last night and the humidity was really high. I slept really well last night, only for 5 hours though. Today we have a great big meeting and then we are celebrating the 4th of July at the American Club. I've only been here a couple hours but I feel adjusted and I am ready for the task ahead of me. Yea for Africa

Paris

I am currently in CDG airport in Paris. I am doing great and only have ten minutes of free wifi. Flight to Bamako leaves at 4. BON SOUR.

Last Day In Philly

So here I am, last 25 minutes in Philly. Great day at staging and a really great night out in town. Hanging out in the restaurant area watching the Ghana game. Got to watch Brasil loss this morning while enjoying an ice cold Yuengling. The city is beautiful and being here the weekend of the 4th is pretty epic. I'll probably sleep on the flight....after having a tanquery and tonic. It was good to see some many other people with the same aspirations and beliefs. Its just as nice to see people are worried and nervous. Its hard to fathom that I am about to go to a country, that two months ago couldn't point out on a map, to volunteer two years of my life to better others. This truly is a dream come true. Looking forward to the flights and arriving in Bamako. Hope everyone who is reading is doing well.

As-Salamu Alaykum

First Post, First Leg

So this is my first post on my blog. Here it goes...

I am sitting on the 2153 Amtrak Train headed to Philadelphia for my Peace Corps Staging. The train is really comfortable and they have free WiFi, its gets better because there is a wicked cute girl sitting across from me. I helped her put her bag away, 95% motivated by being a good person 5% motivated because she is cute. It was definitely a little emotional leaving Mom and Dad. I knew I wouldn't "go to the airport" (cry), but I almost did.
Today starts with this train ride out of NYC and will continue when I arrive in Philly and head to Staging. I will be in staging for the better part of the day and it will be informative I hope. I hope it settles my expectations and sets new ones for me. I must admit I almost don't know what I am getting myself into. But this is my dream and its an opportunity that may never come again.
When I leave Philly tomorrow at 2pm, I'll head back to JFK and my plane leaves for Paris at 11:30. This will be the first time I fly out of the North American Continent and only the second time I step foot on foreign soil. On a lighter note if this door separating the car from the entrance way doesn't stop opening and closing I may or may not jump kick through the door shattering its hopes, dreams, and functionality.
Nothing more to report, except this time July 4th, America's Birthday, I will be in another country spelling Peace with a CAPITAL P!!!