Camera Issues and Tabasky

I'm getting photos made for my family in Mali. Karadie doesn't have an address, but I asked, and it's possible to mail them to the Direction Nationale de l’Agriculture, which is the partner organization that supported CWY, and the agricultural school from which we got all our Malian supervisors, and if I write a request to have it sent to Karadie, they'll do it. I know past participants have done it.

When I was taking photos, sometimes the memory card would come loose and the photos would move to the physical camera instead of the card. My camera has a weirdly shaped port for connecting with a computer, so at first we didn't think it would be possible, but we found something that fit, but it still wouldn't acknowledge the camera (I know I'm not explaining this very well). So it looks like we can't get those photos on the computer.

There were almost another 100 pictures, but partway through, the memory on the camera ran out, so every time the card came loose, it would say "Memory is Full", which would alert me to the problem. Therefor, most of the pictures on my physical camera are pictures nearer the beginning of the program... That means Quebec, and I don't really care about the Quebec photos that much.

However... As luck would have it, there were a few photos that I'd like to get off the camera. There are pictures of the two houses I stayed in in La Pocatiere, and the mud hut I slept in in Mali, and the only picture I have of my first host family is on there... I'd kind of like to have one photo depicting that experience, just so it's no like I'm trying to delete it from my memory.

Also, I was thinking about just sending four photos originally: Me and Baby Ali, Baby Ali, The family photo, and then one of my host father. I have more photos, but I'm afraid that the family members will be jealous of each other if certain people have more focus than others. I decided that it was better just to send as many family photos as possible, but it still bothers me. One of my inaccessible photos is an individual photo of a girl who didn't get a photo with a focus on her. Kind of would like to send that... And there's another good one of my host father that I would like to send as well.

My camera was so stupid. It had the problem with it's weird port and it's slippery memory card, but also, it would emit a loud beep sound every time I took a picture, it would select whether it would flash or not based on it's own preference, and whenever it took a picture, it randomly placed it in whatever order it wanted.

Every time I took a picture of someone, they would want to see their photo, but because the photos were scrambled, it would take forever to find them. That meant that, I spent more battery power looking for photos than taking photos, and I wound up having to say no to the villagers when they asked for photos, or else I'd burn my batteries out way too fast. But I couldn't explain to them that the problem was battery conservation, or that I could take a picture, but I wouldn't be able to show them. And I couldn't take photos of things stealthily, because every time I took a picture, it would beep, and everyone in town recognized that beep. Then everyone would come running, and everyone would want their picture taken. and once I got started, I couldn't just start excluding people...

My camera was so old, too, that Canadians would think, when they saw it, that it was new. It got a lot of complements, for being all cool and retro.

So, there's this Muslim holiday, called Tabasky. It's celebrated with hype and preparation comparable to how we celebrate Christmas. Part of Tabasky is a mass prayer ceremony. Two Canadians in the group were told by someone that they would be allowed to attend, but only if they took part in all the ceremonies. Another Malian told two other Canadians that we would be allowed to attend, but only if we stayed out of the ceremonies and just observed. Another person said it would be an insult if non-Muslims attended, and yet another person said that it would be an insult if we didn't attend.

So, what do you do in a situation like that? I figured that there would be people sharing opinions with all four of those people, so no matter what you did, some people would be insulted. When things got confusing, the guy who invited the first two Canadians to participate, told them that they should still participate, and that he would take the heat if anyone was offended. So I decided to follow the advice of the person who invited me, and therefore, let him bear the weight of his advice. He had told me to attend, but not participate.

When I got there, a lot of little girls told me to pray, but I told them no. Eventually, a big, important-looking guy in fancy robes told me to pray, and so I did, following his instructions. He only invited me, though, and I was standing with three other Canadians.

I hadn't dressed up for the celebration. The person who invited me told me not to. You're supposed to wear long sleeves and long pants, and be wearing your newest, best clothes. I was wearing short sleeves and short pants that I would sometimes work in. Also, when I was leaving to head for the celebration, I happened to have the most amazing slip in the mud ever. I basically flew into the air, flipped over, face-planted in the mud, and then toppled over on my stomach. I cleaned up, of course, but I still felt too dirty to be praying at such a fancy festival. I remember thinking that that was probably the most awkward series of events that could have happened to me.

After a while, the big robe man thanked me for participating and sent me on my way, so it's not like I participated in the entire festival. I never found out if what I'd done was right, or if I'd offended anyone.

I'm balding so bad. Before, it was about half-and-half, depending on who I asked, whether or not I was balding, but now everyone says yes, and I'm pretty sure it's not something you have to look for to see, now.

You know what I don't like? Words for poop and pee. You have poop and pee, and then shit and piss. One's too childish, and the other's too vulgar. You can say number one and number two, but then it sounds like you're avoiding confronting the topic. You can say urinate and defecate, but those are way too scientific. You can say "Taking a dump" or "Taking a leak" and various other phrases like that, but those are just silly. I feel like they are all situation-specific words. I feel like there aren't any good general-use words for that subject.