I came here to shop Old Navy???

Yesterday, I found myself in a place I never would have thought of...make that many strange places. I had slept at a friend's house after Friday night's adventure and returned home, hoping to sleep so more, or at least shower. Then, my sister asked me if I wanted to come with her, like she does so often, without telling me where exactly we were going. I managed to get "the market" out of her, so at least I prepared for being out for a few hours. My sister, cousin, and I took a Sutrama (bus) to the grand marché, and then got on another Sutrama and got off at an unknown destination. My sister didn't seem to know exactly where she was going either...great. We finally found our destination, a tin roof shelter where men were selling clothes from big bundles.

Apparently, that is the place to shop. Two guys helped us- they held up one shirt at a time and my sister said yes or no until we had gone through their entire stock. The clothes were american thrift store castaways. Apparently it is common for places like Goodwill to send the clothes they can't sell to Africa, where they get sold at pret-a-porters (one step up from where i shopped with my sister, since you might be able to find multiple copies of the same style) or on the streets in "stores" like the one I was at. I also saw men cutting out seams and resewing some of the shirts they received before reselling them. The clothes that my sister was looking at included a lot of brand names that i recognized, and I ended up buying one shirt, Old Navy by way of Africa. One of my friends said that the style I got was just from earlier this summer, so the lag time in clothes getting there is not too long. The Malian girls are definitely stylin', especially my sisters, who ended up buying 15 or so shirts. After making sure there was nothing left that they wanted at that store, we got back on a Sutrama and headed back to the grande marché, where they got accessories and shoes. It is interesting to go to the market with them, and try to see it through their eyes. They focus on trying to look western, so they love stores full of imported shoes or cosmetics. When I go, I prefer looking at the Malian fabrics and go to the craftsmen's part of the market, where one can buy handmade leather shoes, instruments, jewelry, and other 'african' looking things.

After that 6 hour excursion, I finally got to shower and rest from my previous night of fun. I had spent the night at a friend's house, and we went out with her Malian brother and sister, met up with a couple other students and then went to the Maison de Jeune in downtown Bamako. There, we met some Malian guys that one of my american friends knew and they took us on their motos to a restaurant with live music. The music was great- in the style of Ali Farka Touré with kora and blues guitar. We ended up dancing a lot with the random Malians, who ended up being pretty sketchy and made us pay for their drinks. I don't know what exactly happened, since they never were my friends and I spent most of my time taking to my friend's host brother, who also thought the other guys were bad. All in all, it was a fun night, but more expensive than i expected.

So, Friday night was tiring, but I could not pass up the chance to go out to a boite (nightclub) with my own host sisters on Saturday, especially since they are not allowed to go very often. My sister was kind enough to complete my outfit of my brand new old navy shirt with some of her white, sequined skinny jeans (i said no to a miniskirt) and her shoes so I was set to go. Bintou took at least two hours to finally decide what she as wearing; she was disappointed since she ended up repeating an outfit. Her boyfriend picked Bintou, Dadi, and I up, and we headed to No Stress in the Badalabougou neighborhood about 15 minutes from our house. Apparently, 11:30 was much to early, since we were the first people in the doors. Luckily, some of my friends were sitting at a restaurant next door to a club so i went and had a banana split with them instead of waiting inside the empty club. We danced from about 1:30 to 4 am, or rather, they danced and I did variations on a step touch. The music was all american or french and didn't impress me nearly as much as the live music the night before. Nevertheless, it was a Malian experience I needed to have and will probably repeat.

I'm all tired out today, and am having more trouble with the heat that has been building recently. Apparently October weather is not the best, since it is just about done raining but the cold season doesn't start until November. It will really hit hard tomorrow, when I go to Sanankoroba tomorrow with the group. It is our week long rural village stay without electricity, so I won't be updating again until next weekend, when I probably will have a lot more to write about. My family here in Bamako thinks it will terrible there, which I guess makes sense, since they spend 80% of their time watching tv in a house cooled by fans. I am excited since it will be a great time to practice Bambara (most adults there don't speak french), and we get to tie and dye!!! Luckily, there are two students placed with each family in the village so two can communicate better than one.

If you have any questions, ideas for posts, or just want to say hi, i think it is best if you email me at courtney.kerestes@gmail.com. My experience with the commenting option on blogspot isn't good, so email is easiest. Have a great week and enjoy the cool of Minnesota and the joys of electricity!