The Color Orange

This is my last post before Christmas. In a few days I travel by Peace Corps vehicle to Aleg, then by taxi brousse to Kaedi and M'Bagne, my new site. Once I reach M'Bagne, I will stay there until just before Christmas, so no internet for a couple weeks. Should be fine, just like being back in Nema.

Though it lessens my time in M'Bagne, I'm glad I stayed in Aioun for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to be with everyone, current sitemates as well as a few future sitemates traveling through on the way to Dogon Country in Mali. We had chicken, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce (imported of course), and five kinds of pie! I made pumpkin pie completely from scratch (cooked the squash myself), something I would not have believed possible before. Get this, it actually tasted like pumpkin pie. The only thing missing was whipped cream. I'm going to make myself really sick when I get home next summer. Other pies were apple, pecan, cherry, and chocolate pudding. I keep thinking about them. Sigh.

The picture is of a mural I helped my sitemate, Susie, put together. It's for the Health Post (Susie works there) where they give vaccinations for infants. The drawings and text underneath chart the schedule for Polio, Measles, and several other newborn vacs I'm not familiar with. I did the drawings, Susie did the text, and some of the older members of the GMC painted. L to R is Susie, Akla, and Khelethiema (pronounced 'huhlehthima'). That was fun, thanks, Susie!