Friends and colleagues have returned

My Peace Corps friends finally got up to Douentza yesterday evening. Antony and Dave were there, plus a girl Chelsea (?) based in Sikasso and a friend of hers who is visiting for a month. Oumar and I went over to Tango Tango (now called the Mankante) to have a few beers. It was a strange mix of languages at the table, French, English, Fulfulde and Bamana. Everyone could talk to everyone in at least one of the languages. Later on, a volunteer with the French equivalent of the Peace Corps came over. His is Nicolas and he’ll be here for 2 years. He and I talked a lot, since the other don’t speak a lot of French and he doesn’t speak a lot of English. Another friend to add to my list.

Oumar went and got M. le Maire from the base of the cliff today. This evening, I think we’ll resume work on the dictionary. I have about 75% of the words, so I just need to find the other 25% and then double check everything. I hope to have both the dictionary and the fourth chapter of my grammar done by mid-February; I think it’s a very achievable goal.

Not much else to report. I heard Boubou (the big sheep) crying like a madwoman this morning around 7AM, so I went outside and found that Bean had wandered away again. He was just out in the street hanging out with some other sheep, so I hauled him back in and tethered him as punishment. Both he and Boubou are fattening up quite nicely and seem relatively pleased with their lot.