October 4, 2013

Week one at work complete and I think I’m finished with my first piece on the loom!  I’ve got the easy part down, and today I even got to do weave a design into the fabric.  Monday we’re going to take what I have finished off, and my mentor, Vincent, is going to work with me and teach me how to set everything up.  He thinks we can do it in a day.  But he also said that he could complete a piece on the loom in about a day, too, so we’ll see what happens Monday.  It might take all week to get all the string cut and laid out and threaded correctly, but I’m excited to see the whole thing from start to finish (he had the piece I was working on already set up when I got there), and to be able to start a new project so soon (although soon is relative here also). 

I’m weaving almost every day, Monday through Friday; Saturday we have class at the university and Sunday is an off-day.   I wish I could tell you what an average day is like, but I’m still figuring out what is “normal” and “average” and all those fun things that go into a daily schedule.  Breakfast is sometimes bread, and sometimes my host dad takes me to his restaurant and we eat lafidi, a type of rice and sauce dish.  I try to get to work between 9 and 9:30, and I set up the loom outside under the Grapefruit and Mango trees (though neither are in season currently) and I weave until lunch around 1 or 2, that is if we’re not taking a coffee break at the restaurant next door, or trying to communicate directions in broken French, or trying to learn small Maninkekan (the local Mande dialect spoken in Kankan) phrases from the guys that wonder over from the restaurant, or taking a break to rest my hands and wipe the sweat running down my legs.  Lunch is mostly rice and sauce, but Thursday I had Toh and sauce, which is another staple food to the Maninke diet that is made from maize, but it’s consistency is gelatinous, like what happens when you mix ground flax seed with water.  I really like the rice and sauce, but I had to fight some serious gag reflexes with the Toh.  I’m just glad there were no fish bones in it, also.  People here eat lots of fish, which is absolutely delicious, but they make these things that we’ve named “fish balls” which is like a meat ball made of fish and a local green that’s kind of like spinach or kale, and it’s good, but the amount of fish bones in it makes eating it really hard.  After lunch, I weave for another hour or two, and then put everything away and go…  hang out with the women inside and learn how to use a treadle sewing machine (that was Monday), or downtown to the internet place (that was Tuesday), or to the house to hang out with friends (Wednesday), or to the bakery (the only one in town) for an informal debrief of the week with the group (Thursday), or to language class (Friday).  I get back to my compound around 6:00 or so, and then hang out with the family for the evening, and eat dinner, and then crash early and go to bed; the first night I made it to 10:15, but last night I was falling asleep at 8:00, and since I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I explained I was really tired (or at least really tried to) and went to bed early. 

My host family is extremely nice, and while communication is still really difficult (no one speaks English at the house and my French is really broken – though improving – and my Maninkekan limited to basic greetings and things), I like living with them.  My host parents are in their mid-thirties and have two young children, approximate ages 2 and 3, and they also have five other women in the house who cook and clean and take care of the children, who range in age from 15 to over 70.  Most of the cooking gets done at the extended family compound just across the road, and since I’m away at work most of the day I haven’t gotten to help cook yet, but it’s on my list of things to ask to help with next week.  I’ve been strangely busy this first week, but I’m hoping as things settle down and I begin to learn more about what’s happening around the home, that I’ll feel more comfortable reaching out and asking to help with things.