chance is... not in the building

chance is on sabbatical... or on hiatus... or on vacation... or on strike...

this here blogger's taking a break until she can find something funny to write about. which i am almost positively assured that will inevitably happen very soon as the foibles and follies of the world come to my attention. i mean as long as george b*$h is still 'prez', there's got to be at least some comedic fodder in that, right?

how about that matt-lauer-gate? i just found out about it. heh.

at any rate, i am taking a break from writing. i will be back. i just somehow feel guilty when i can't keep up with side projects, projects that i enjoy, but can't fit into the reality surrounding me.

i wish you all goodness and love. cherish life always.

peace. chance.

ps. i haven't had any time to read these past weeks. absolutely no time. i am in the midst of reading several books though that i hope to finish. and now to introduce for the first, and hopefully last, time, chance's...

read-what-i-am-reading-right-now-list:
water music: t.c. boyle. fictionalized account of mungo park's journey to find the river niger in west africa for england. hmm... i am teetering between liking and hating this book. i know boyle introduces the book with a statement saying he had fictionalized some aspects of mungo's historical journey, but being where i am and knowing what i know, that fictionalization kinda p!sses me off. kaaba is the original name of the village that i am living in RIGHT NOW, which the french bastardized and changed it to 'kangaba', and it is NOT located 4 km from the city of segou koro. it's NOT even close. if you don't know, look at a map. i love geography and i love literature but i just can't get over this one. don't get me started on the delightful descriptions of west africans...
interview with history: orianna falacci. this woman just recently passed and, later in her life, she made some pretty nasty comments about muslims in europe. those comments of which you can google and find out for yourself. this blogger refuses to make any innuendo to the context and meaning to such prejudiced b.s. booooo--old racist bag falacci. applause--this book, written when she was younger and wiser and not a biggot.

good news & bad for people who love news...

i know it's been over a month. no-i didn't go on my boat trip that i had talked about earlier. in early september there was a temporally coincidental and fatal boating accident on the river niger involving my 4 buddies and training mates. peace corps lost 2 spirits that day, matt and justin. my other two buddies, nate and kevin, survived. they are both in the u.s. recovering. peace corps mali will be overjoyed to welcome nate back in a couple of weeks. we are waiting to hear about kevin's physical therapy… we all miss you kev!

just for justin and matt: you found in each other true friendship here in mali and lived every single day to the fullest. your bright lights will always shine on in our hearts and memories.

in the midst of it all, i had my friend dave come visit mali for 3 weeks. there couldn't have been a more understanding, flexible person to visit, considering the circumstances. he was comic-relief when this soul was very down-trodden. after a few days in bamako, we headed to my village of kangaba for a couple of days. i really needed to see my host-mom, bintu. she was gone when i got the news about matt and justin, and i left for bamako before seeing her. that night, i really needed her to be there, cuz at least she would've held my hand a little bit and would have been the only malian to offer me real, true compassion. thank god linz came up from tegecoro that night, so i wasn’t completely alone, and i was able to get a hug…

see, bintu is a friend of the peace corps. she's been the host-mom to suma and to me. over the course of three plus years, she has met many, many pcv's. so, she didn't take it lightly, the loss of our two friends.

after a few days of recovery in kangaba, dave and i headed out east. ségou, sevaré, mopti, gao, dogon country, and back. overall, we covered about 1400 miles over land. we hiked up the side of the hand of fatima outside of hombori. we heard live music with great company in gao. we hiked up and down the bandiagarra escarpment in dogon country. we hung out with many pcv's along the way. it was two weeks i really needed.

i sent dave on his way back to switzerland wednesday evening. i think he was ready to get back to comfort, to coolness, to indoor plumbing but overall, he thoroughly enjoyed his visit to mali. yay!

then, just a few days ago, was the swearing-in ceremony of the new group of pc trainees. the belushi stage was welcomed to pc/mali in absolute style and crazy fun-ness. we were at the pirate's club in bamako, aaaarrrrrrr, and i am pretty sure that everyone had a complete blast. my abs are still sore from all of the dancing and laughing i did. yay!

now i am back at site. i feel like i have been gone for ages, which i kinda have. but you know when you get back to your spot after a vacation and somehow you feel different. that's kinda how i feel right now. i am happy for my yala-ing with dave, without a doubt, but it's like that line in that flaming lips song on the soft bulletin, '…and suddenly, everything has changed…'

in closing, i think the best thing to have come out of the month of september is the positive demonstration of strength, courage, and understanding of all of my fellow pcv's. i said it once, i will say it for the rest of my days: i have never been surrounded by more beautiful people in my life, real, good, and true. you are all my heroes and i want you to know that forever and forget it never.

peace. chance.

hot or not?

just for sh!ts and giggles. haha. this is me and balla kante, my neighbor-tailor, and member of my extended host-family-somehow...

today is day 53+. no smoke, no nicotine replacements, no acupuncture. do you know that i have made a list of reasons for why i quit smoking? here is my favorite reason: #43-life is too short to sit around smoking it away. and that's exactly what the man wants us to do. damn the man.

feeling good right about now. life is good. the rains are here in full force and keeping temps down and bearable. going on a boat ride here pretty soon, hopefully all the way from bamako to gao. if you don't know where that is, take a look at a map, folks. just checking in. don't have much to say.

sending all of my good thoughts and hopes to those who read this pink blob of a blog. i will have more to say in a couple of weeks, and much much better photos to post.

peace. chance.

read-what-i-have-read-book-list!!!
dancing skeletons-life and death in west africa: katherine a. dettwyler. written by a nutritional anthropologist doing research in mali. good read, informative, and gives a good idea of what hunger in the sahel is about.
the dharma bums: jack kerouac. kinda makes me want to become a monk. sitting in a monestary, meditating all day wouldn't be all that bad.
chomsky on miseducation: noam chomsky, edited by donaldo macedo. is chomsky too smart for his own good? i was kinda disappointed in this read because about one-third of the book was taken from another book chomsky had written. and the title is misleading. here i thought the man was going to talk about the american education system, not the case. granted, it was an interesting read because he talked about central america and the middle east as a lens through which to discuss democracy. but the lofty ideas don't necessarily address pragmatic solutions to america's democracy/education problem.

who's the crocodile hunter now, huh? or i must be crazy for traveling on public transport for over 2000 miles roundtrip!

this was at the zenga crocodile pond in paga, ghana, on my way back from the ocean and the rainforest, suckers. a pcv by the name of yonas (who by the way lived in minneapolis at the same time as i, small world...) hosted me in his town for a couple of nights. he's a small enterprise development pcv working on eco-tourism in paga and the zenga crocodile pond is one of the 5 sites he is developing for appropriate tourism. other sites include: 2 other croc ponds, a former slave camp, and the traditional chief's palace.

this particular croc was 88 years old and very tame. there were about 100 crocodiles inhabiting the pond. i wasn't too worried about this one because earlier, he let me hold his tail and pose for a picture. the younger ones are more aggressive and if you don't keep your eye on them they will follow you-which happened to yonas.

at paga, i also went to the slave camp. the tour guide, simon, just graduated from high school. he explained to me the history of the camp and what each part of the camp was once used for. he is the descendant of the original owners of the land. his family didn't contribute to the slave trade, though. they just took over the land after the trade diminished.

paga is in northern ghana, only kilometers away from the burkina faso border. during the height of the slave trade, traders from mali, burkina faso, ivory coast, and ghana would bring their people to the camp. from there, after enough captives were taken, they would be marched down to elmina fort, in the city of the same name, to the west of cape coast. from there they would be shipped out to europe or european colonies.

on the lighter side, it was fantastic to spend about at least a week along the coast. we arrived at big milly's backyard, kokrobite, ghana, late evening on the third day straight of transport. it was really nice, live music was playing with waves crashing in the background. there were lots of palm tress and shady areas at big milly's.

after 2 nights big milly's, i headed to accra with some of my favorite people in peace corps--jen, nate, and charlie--to watch the world cup at champ's, a celebrated sports bar in the capital with real nachos and great beer. we watched the first round of the round robin, usa v. czech republic, and ghana v. italy. it was a lot of fun! everyone there was really into it, especially the ghanaians, this being the first time ghana had made it to the world cup.

one night in accra, then charlie and i headed to awkwidaa, ghana, while nate and jen headed north. we met up with the rest of the group, the other pcv's we split up with a couple of days before, at the green turtle lodge. it's an eco-tourist resort run by an english woman and her husband. it's all run on solar panels, has self-composting toilets, and employs ghanaians from the nearby village of awkwidaa to work there. the food is excellent, the beach is really private, and if you need a beer, you can have a cold one, easily. this would be a place that i would return to in a heartbeat. the only issue is getting there-it's definitely off the beaten path. you have to get to takoradi, then to agona junction, then find a tro-tro that goes all of the way out a 10 km. dirt road, past dixcove and busua. needless to say, it's worth it when you get off transport and it's instant zen that washes over you.

after the green turtle, we headed back east to cape coast for a few nights. we hit elmina and the castle there one afternoon and the next morning we went to kakum national park where we went on a canopy walk in the rainforest. pretty cool. after kakum, some people headed west to accra, while jen and i went north to kumasi.

we basically jumped from town to town on our way home. we stopped in tamale and that's where i met my new friend yonas. and that pretty much brings us full circle.

i didn't spend much time in ouagadougou other than for a night's rest on my way to ghana and on my way back to mali. and the fact that there is peace corps dotting the path along the way to the coast, is really nice. it's wonderful to see the hospitality extended to all peace corps volunteers by other pcv's. and of course, both burkinabes and ghanaians are wonderful too! yay for nice people in the world!

other random ghanaians interjections will likely come up in the near future, so bear with me. i would recommend anyone to go visit ghana, or burkina, or mali, for that matter. just remember the closer you get to the sahara desert, the harder it gets on all different levels of living and being. word.

read-what-i-have-read-list!!!
everything is illuminated: jonathan safran foer. amazing! i am curious as to how the movie would turn out... comments from any readers of this book would be welcome.
forward ever-the life of kwame nkrumah: editors of panaf books. kwame nkrumah is the guy who lead ghana to independence and was ghana's first president. his social and development programs are incredible-the volta dam, the roads, and the school system. too bad he was overthrown. read up on this revolutionary.
the souls of black folk: w.e.b. du bois. expat to ghana, where he later died, du bois is considered one of the father's of modern sociology. a really good read if you want an objective perspective of the few decades after emancipation in america.
the darwin awards 2: wendy northcutt. funny and disquietingly reassuring that hopefully i won't ever win a darwin award.
jesus' son: denis johnson. a collection of short stories. strangely good once you get past his character's need for pointed, senseless violence, or moreso, the ideas in his character's heads about violent actions they could take.

well, that is all for now.

peace. chance.

5

this is how many days i have gone without a smoke. i wish i could have started on 1. then you would have really seen what it is like to battle such a bad addiction. for those of you out there who have never smoked-bravo! for those out there that are still battling to quit, or for those who even enjoy it, i have officially turned in my smoker's club i.d. card.

when i was on vacation in ghana, i realized that i was battling an addiction. nothing less than pure, unadulterated addiction. for the past * years (i don't want to divulge how long i have been smoking because it's so gross to think about) i was deluded to think it was something that i enjoyed, something that relaxed me, something that complimented coffee and beer quite finely. for all of this time i have been in denial about what it really was that i held in my hand.

this realization has marked a sea-change in the way that i approach quitting smoking now. it probably has been the biggest mental block for me to hurdle, this notion of addiction. what?!? me? addicted...no!! can't be! but alas, 'tis true. and now with this ephiphany, i bring it to you the public, my readers, to openly admit to my addiction to all the world.

hello, i am chance, and i am addicted to cigarettes. if i don't beat this addiction now, it will kill me. i am sick of stinking. i am sick of wanting to quit smoking for what seems like forever, and never succeeding. i am sick of stained teeth, lack of energy, and grumpiness when i can't smoke. i am also sick of people looking at me in disgusted ways whenever i light up (which happened quite often in ghana, believe it or not...).

yeah, so, if you can throw some thoughts out into the universe in support of me licking this addiction in the bud, me and my lungs would be eternally grateful.

peace. chance.

ps. next time i post will be about my trip to ghana and the return of the read-what-i-have-read-book-list!!! i just needed to share about what is currently happening to me right now at this moment.

ps2. if you like good music and you haven't already purchased or burned or downloaded the latest built to spill: you in reverse, you really hate music. at least i have a reason to not be up on the latest and greatest music-I LIVE IN AFRICA!

half-@#?ed posting

ha!

well, i am heading to ghana for a couple of weeks' vacation. i will let you all know about it upon my return. in the meantime, keep it real.

peace. chance.

ps. chew on this: without the already existing structure and efficient logistics of the trade in west africa, slavery would never have been nearly as successful for european imperialists in the 'new world.'

read-what-i-have-read-book-list!!
the shape of a pocket: john berger. a collection of essays on art, resistance movements, beauty, and this really messed up economic world order. includes correspondence with subcommandante marcos of the chiapas' zapatistas. excellent.
pictures of a gone world: lawrence ferlinghetti. pretty good collection of poems. interesting enough even for a non-poetry fan.
the autobiography of malcolm x: as told to alex haley. i cannot believe i haven't read this book earlier in my life! funny thing is that just before malcolm x was assassinated, he travelled to mecca for the hajj, then to ghana and other african countries. there he met the widow of w.e.b. du bois, author of 'the souls of black folks,' maya angelou, and other african american expatriate artists. not even a work of fiction could tell a tale such as his. he has become one of my heros for his spiritual evolution, his self-education, his creation of pan-african unity, and for finally becoming a champion of human rights.

second installment of hot season a la malienne

hello, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it? well, i made it just in time to make one submission for april 2006, this being the very last day of the month. oops.

how are you all doing? excellent, i hope, as spring is in full swing in north america.

now, i find myself in the midst of hot season. it is regularly over 100 degrees where every day and every night, sweating balls is the norm.

work, work, work is what i have been up to. the on-going CLIC cooling project, the 6th annual african day for the fight against malaria on the 25th of april, a field trip i helped organize for the American International School of Bamako to my town of kangaba, and various other activities.

it’s all becoming routine here in mali. garbage in the streets, sweating balls, donkeys braying every hour on the hour, taking 2 showers a day in my latrine, sweating balls, eating lunches and dinners with my host-family, sitting and chatting with the locals, being called a tubabuni, sweating more balls. soon, that will be changing as i reward myself for staying in mali for 2 full hot seasons with a much needed vacation to ghana.

i will be in accra when the united states plays ghana in the first round of the world cup. (by the way, i have become a football fan since I have come to live in mali. it’s the only sport regularly telecast on ortm, the malian national television station.) i will also be taking full advantage of the beach, cheap umbrella-laden beverages, and excellent food whilst gazing out onto the atlantic. after a week of much needed beach-therapy, i will begin the ascent northwards to the capital of burkina faso, ouagadougou, making stops at national parks and wildlife reserves to see monkeys, elephants, and bugs oh my! and whatever other wild animal calls ghana’s country-side home. then, back to mali just in time for the muddy malarial rainy season! woohoo!

other news:

--i went rock-climbing in siby a couple of weeks ago! yes, it's true there are french, professionally trained malians with awesome equipment available here. i actually made it to the top of 2 out of 3 runs, the highest being about 13 meters or roughly 40 feet. this is in the mande highlands and a must-do when in mali! this is the second time i have done it and will be going regularly once rainy season is over.

--it will be arsenal v. barcelona in the champion's league championship on 17 may 2006! i will be watching en direct...

--kangaba's dugutigi, or village chief, passed away 40 days ago. the man was 116 years old, and as one of my host-family member's said, "it's no ordinary man who can live to see 116." this is a sous-entendu that leads to speculation that sorcery was involved in sory keita's longevity... anyways, on the 40th day is time for a big celebration according to malinke tradition. people from all over the world have flown in to celebrate our dugutigi's life and the naming of his successor...

--the announcement of over a billion west african francs for the fight against excision!!! (or about 20 million u.s. dollars!) last night on the news, att, or amadou toumani toure, the wildly popular president of mali received funding to help stop female genital mutilation, also known as excision! plan mali, an english-based international ngo is one of the primary recipients of the funding. there is a plan mali office in kangaba, and as soon as i can, i will be helping out with this project!

--local donkey stops braying! yesterday at about 9 a.m., sekou keita's donkey stopped braying on the corner of the water spigot and the flamboyant tree. "i just don't get it," says keita a 33 year old farmer, "he has been braying for the past 5 years every hour of the day. then today, after his 9 a.m. braying, no noise whatsoever. this donkey has been a wonderful work companion as he helped me to haul bricks and compost to and from the fields." this has raised alot of concern in the town of kangaba that a new strand of avian flu has mutated and is now affecting livestock unknown to scientists and villagers never before seen in the world. the donkey has been confiscated and destroyed by the local bureau of the ministry of agriculture for an autopsy. the examination will take a couple of weeks as there are no testing facilities available in mali. no comment has been issued by either the ministry or the united nation's food and agricultural organization.

okay that last story was satire people!!! this is my life, i have to make fun sometimes. not much happening of exciting. i think i will have more to say after a holiday, don’t you think?

read-what-i-have-read-book-list!!!

okay, i had to re-read the temple of my familiar, cuz it's only my favorite book of all time!

the fifth mountain: paulo coehlo. the story of elijah. coehlo's story-telling can at times be flat, but after you get sucked in, you have to finish it.
the color purple: alice walker. if you haven't read the temple of my familiar, read the color purple first, then temple. if you haven't read the color purple, a friggin' classic, you have no soul.
the god of small things: arundhati roy. talks about how communism in kerala, india, hasn't been successful in breaking down the caste system there. excellent.
the inner circle: t.c. boyle. if you've seen the movie the kinsey report, read this book. coincidentally both were released in 2004 and both are really, really good.