Bamako, Mali. Saturday July 18th, 1998

I wake up a little tired. But feeling somewhat better. I told everyone before that the course starts at 9h30. My course is suppose to start at 10 but we start at 11. I'm kinda used to it "Malian Time" now... If you want everybody to be on time, you tell them that the course is at 9am. After my course, Djénéba stays wih me for awhile and I compliment her coolio boubou (a boubou is a traditional garment). She tells me that she can get one for me. So we set up a date for next week to go shopping for some material.

I go home to prepare for the wedding. Papi is alone at home and he's bored. I look frantically for my camera. I think I lost my camera! Now I am totally pissed. All my pictures of Dakar and my first impressions of Mali where there!!!! I am SO pissed! But I don't understand how could I have lost it... It's either in my room or at work. I check everywhere... No sign. DANG! The last time I used it was at the museum but I remember bringing it back and flopping it on my bed. I also remember taking a picture of a donkey in the street while going to work. But maybe I did that last week... Oh POOPERS!!!!! I hope I find it and I surely hope that no one stole it. Apparently, stealing is very taboo here. Once, there was a guy that robbed a house in this area. When someone screamed "Thief!", everybody in the whole NEIGHBORHOOD ran after him and beat him to DEATH! I don't want to accuse anybody since it could get a bit hairy if I did. But that was Sebby's camera!! The one I gave him for X-Mas! I'm so PISSED!!

Mohamoud picks me up to go to the wedding. At the city hall, we barely can find a parking. He tells me that he'll wait for me in the car. I tell him he's nuts. He apparently knows alot of people there, some of which he didn't really want to see. Sounds kinda suspicious to me. I tell him to go home and that I'll hitch a ride with Alexis and Yaya. It takes time, but I finally convince him to leave. I dunno, but that does sound kinda fishy. I meet the groom (I didn't even know it was him who was getting married!) and his wife. She's wearing a pretty white wedding dress but it doesn't seem very convenient, considering the roads here are dirt roads. She walks carefully across the road. Yaya, Alexis and I go home and chat. Yaya shows me some pictures of Vienna, where he lived there fo 11 years. I thought it was cool. After supper, we go to the reception. It was pretty boring. Then going home, we made a quick stop at the Akwaba... hehehe... They played good music today! They even played one jazz song (they usually play traditional African os salsa songs). It was a good jazz song too! I loved it! That place is really full of life and it's fresh. I likey alot. We made it "our" hangout. Coming back home I ask Papi if he could ask his friends if they saw a camera. He says that they didn't take the camera. I say that I didn't accuse them, I just wanted to know if they saw it. I also tell him that it's still a possibility since he goes in my room to take a shower sometimes without asking me and his friends could've came in too. He says it's impossible. We argue a bit. He's really getting on my nerves. I try to be as patient as I can and act like an older sister, but he's arrogant! He thinks he can do anything he wants because his step-father is Raphaël! GRR! He pisses me off SO much... Apparently, I'm not the only one who can't stand Papi. Alexis, Yaya, Eric and some others think he's a spoiled brat too. I can't wait til he leaves next friday. He is going to visit Montréal. Ha! I'm finally gonna have some peace and quiet for the rest of my stay here... =)

Bamako, Mali. Sunday July 19, 1998

I am suppose to go a babtismal today but woke up too late. It's a muslim babtismal. I would've really like to have seen that. But it was at 6am. I feel a little better today. I clean up my room. I want to work a bit but feel a little lazy at the same time. So I check out my photo album in my computer. Bad move. Now I miss everybody SO badly back home!!! All these memories of good times and bad come flooding through. From the time me and my brother boy first got the digital camera and we were fooling around with it at work and stuff. I even have pictures of Sebby there too. Oooch, I miss everyone!!! =((((

At supper, I ask Papi if he wants to go out to eat. He seems reluctant to go. He's been moody the whole day. Oh well. I call up Yaya and we meet at the mini-prix (mini mart kinda thingee). We decide to walk all the way to the restaurant but Papi doesn't want to. So I tell him he doesn't have to come. H shuts up and comes with us. At the restaurant, we don't talk very much, just me and Yaya. Then Papi seems to be in a hurry to leave. GAWD I can't wait til Raph comes home! I don't have to babysit every single waking minute!! I mean, if he was a little less spoiled I'd be happy. Then again he is in his teenaged crisis period, so I should be more understanding, but still!! GROWL!

Bamako, Mali. Monday July 20, 1998.

Work is pretty ok today. Raph is coming back today! WOO HOO!!! Finally... I'm making quite a number of friends at Infotel. It's pretty cool. It's hard to remember all these new and unusual names, but I kinda likey. There's Aminata, she's a programmer and she's super nice. Then there's Fatoumata. Actually, there's 2 Fatoumatas. They are both very pretty and tough. I really like it here. I ask around if they have seen my camera. No one has seen it. I'm desparate! I don't know what to do!! I'm SO sad and pissed off!!! Raph arrives at around 15h00. I continue working until late at night. I talk to Diallo, the guard at work. He speaks english so we talk in english. It was pretty cool. He helps me find the camera. But we still can't find it. I'm SO pissed off!!! Gawddangsonofawitch!!!!!!! I meet Papi's mom. She seems nice.

Bamako, Mali. Tuesday July 21, 1998.

I wake up early today despite the fact that I slept late last night. I just realized that I only have less than 3 weeks here!!! ACK! So that means I'll have to hurry up and finish my work ASAP so I can try to visit the country... I'm still pissed about my camera. I see a horse browsing on the road and think that it would've been a great pic... WAH!!! People at work ask me if I found my camera. They seem very willing to help me find it. I hope I find it. I'm SO pissed!!!!

I learn something cool... Family names here really have an important meaning. People who have "Keita" as a family name are in some distant way related to Modibo Keita, the most famous ruler of the Malian empire. The Sogobas were the warriors chosen by the rulers for their huge size and strenght. Sogoba literally means "Big Piece of Meat", referring to being as big as an elephant. (btw, he is big as an elephant!)Their names are important because they tell you where they come from. It's pretty cool! Knowing this, Malians have made a kinda tacit pact to try not to marry with someone who has the same family name as you. They also treat people with the same family name like family, whether they know eachother of not. Because of this tacit peace treaty, alot of wars were avoided. In the old times, Malians were reknown warriors and conquerors. But now they are reknown for being amongst the most peaceful people in West Africa.

Papi is a little bit more civilised today. I guess it's because Raph is back. Thank God. I think I have diarrhea. I just finished with my cold and now I have traveller's diarrhea!!! Grrrr... AND my camera is GONE! WAH!!!!!! I FINALLY finish my instruction manual on how to use PageMaker and PhotoShop. That was long. I hate writing in French. It takes me a billion years to compose something in French. Well, I guess I needed the practice.