Maduwee egan (what's up in Tamashek)!

Thanks for all your super encouraging words, I think my little rollercoaster is leveling out! My friend Steph (she was the Fulbrighter here last year and is very wise) advised me to just take one day at a time and to look for one thing every day that is wonderful/interesting/different and focus on that thing . . . that has really helped!

I started by looking for the huge bats she told me about, which hang in these tall green trees near the Petit Marche, and wow are they cool! Thy just sleep upside down during the day, chilling there, and I haven't seen them at night yet . . . I remember seeing them in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, they were also huge and made lots of noises and looked cool as they flew around at sunset. Now I am realizing that each day here presents me with so many new and eye-opening experiences, and that I should be grateful for all of them! Some fun times lately have been: strolling in the neighborhood with Mohamed, my 6-year old homestay bro who is literally and objectively one of the cutest kids I have ever seen, and practicing Tamashek with my new tutor, who is very kind and patient and gave me a book of Tuareg proverbs to read. He is making practice the four Tamashek sounds that I can't yet pronounce over the weekend with my family.

My homestay mom is a very interesting woman and I am learning so much from her. It is great to be with a family and see what they do on a daily basis. . . . it's amazing how much time they spend together and how generous my mom is.

Gotta go now, but I will write again soon . . . I'm about to go sweat a lot as I hail a cab to head back home! Keep me posted on your happenings, it's always fun to get email! xoxoxo

Fofo,
Maggie

Luggage update: going to the airport in a few hours to try one more time to get those bags. My least favorite phrase in French right now is "ca va arriver" because that is just what people say and who the heck knows if that means they will come tomorrow or next year. Whatever, I'm going with a nice girl from PC who speaks Zarma and saw me crying at the airport the other day so that is good. All the baggage people know me by now, so that's fun. But it's really ok now, because some awesome PC people (one of them is Sarah Kraemer's friend from Madison!) lent me clothes and took me to the market to buy undies that were from the salvation army in the U.S. I got two pairs for less than a dollar, how about that !? Then tonight I'm going out with friends and will probably have my first Biere Niger, yay.