Birthdays in Africa

Yesterday was Kevin’s birthday. Certainly the first birthday (of anyone’s) I’ve celebrated in Africa! While there was no birthday cake to be found, we did have a good day, I think. I got him a traditional African board game that is akin to mankala (it’s called Wali here) played by dropping little seeds or beans into various holes around the board, which we have now been playing to determine who will be the ultimate Bean Master. We’re even.

After lunch, we played some Scrabble, then took a little motorcycle ride up the road. We went up past Petaka and turned off the road where there was a good photo opportunity for Gandamine (spelling?), these big fingers of rock that jut up beside a large cliff. Being late afternoon, the light was really beautiful. It was also his first chance to really get out into the open and see big herds of goats and horned cows and all the other pretty things the Malian countryside has to offer. Then after dinner, we celebrated with the neighbors over a couple beers.

This morning, M. Guindo, Ramata’s old lodger, came over and I got a little bit of work done. I have to keep forging forward, after all.

I did find some guavas in the market on Sunday, though. And I successfully navigated the market with just Kevin and I—only toobobs. I realize now that very seldom if ever did I go to the market by myself without a Malian friend. Now I can use my little bits of Fulfulde or Tommo-So enough to give myself some street cred and avoid excessive toobob prices. Like with the guava lady, she looked like she was Dogon, so I greeted her with a generic Dogon greeting “poh”, which she replied to in Jamsay and I continued in Tommo-So. That’s the thing with Dogon greetings. The words are different, but the general structure is the same, so you can go back and forth in two languages. It would be like:

A: Hello.
B: Bonjour, ca va?
A: I’m fine.
B: La famille va bien?
A : They’re fine. How are you?
B: Ca va bien.

But everyone knows what’s going on. Also I can ask how much something is, but I don’t really know my numbers that well, so I’m at the mercy of whoever’s selling to give me correct change. By asking “how much” in a native language, though, they assume I know what’s up, so they always give me the right change. But that’s my little secret that I wouldn’t know the difference.