One of those days

On my way over here, I was contemplating what it is that makes you feel like you're in a foreign country. I was thinking about this because days can go by here when I forget that I'm even in Africa. Today, however, was not one of those days.

When you travel to another country, you often expect it to be "really different", but you're still the same, thinking your same thoughts, going about daily activities much in the same way as you always did and much in the same way that most human beings on the planet do. Sure, the environment might be different, but you get accustomed to that really quickly, even if it's just changing apartments or states. Sure, I may walk through an old market full of dried fish and men in turbans to get to the internet, but what else is new, I see that everyday here.

What makes all the difference is how close you feel to people. There will always be an element of foreign or simply "not home" when you're far from the people you love. Often, though, this can be numbed or neutralized a bit by the connections you feel with the people around you. Thus, when my friends and colleagues are here, Salif, Seydou, Jeff, Abbie, Minkailou, I can feel at home a bit. Unfortunately, Abbie's in the village, Salif is back in Bamako, and Seydou and Jeff took off to Sevare (though they'll be back tonight). That leaves Minkailou and I. We get along fine, but he has a constant stream of visitors over to the house, and I don't feel comfortable just sitting down and chatting with them, so consequently I feel rather alone, and as a result, Mali seems very far away indeed. I just hope this isn't how it will feel all the time when I come back in September.

I miss you all a lot and I can't wait to see most of you in August/September.