Last night

Well, this is it. My last installment from the US (until August or so). Tomorrow is the big day. I will be flying of Minneapolis at 3:30, then going from Cincinnati and Paris to finally arrive in Bamako at 8:20 local time. For the record, Mali is five hours ahead of CST, so actually not that far away (timezone-wise).

Nearly everything is packed, save for my computers, which I continue to wrestle with. Turns out, trying to copy music from the Mac to the PC is not a given.

If I hadn't mentioned it before, I will be flying over with Abbie tomorrow, a grad student from Indiana who spent a few years in Mali in the PeaceCorps. Talking to her on the phone tonight made me feel a thousand times better about going, enough for me to be able to say I am actually excited! Excited is an improvement from terrified.

I will be able to get some mail at a mailbox in Sevare, on the way to Mopti (though how frequently? Who knows), which is the biggest city in my area. Feel free (read as: Please God) send me letters, packages, a napkin with a doodle, anything.

L McPherson, sous couvert J Heath, BP 48 Sévaré, Région de Mopti, MALI

And of course, drop me an e-mail or a blog comment anytime. I will hopefully get an internet cafe routine up and running in the near future--God forbid I be away from my e-mail for more than 15 minutes at a time.

Those pangolins better watch out, because me and my camera are going to be over there huntin' in T - 41 hours.