"Subterranean Homesick Alien"*

Eureka! I have found it. It being the Internet, and it's in Koutiala. My town (Kimparana) is on a paved road between two larger towns: my banking town (San) and Koutiala. It took me approximately an hour and a half to get here via bachee (aka "green box of death"). It was a long hour and a half, but there were a four goats and three children in the van for entertainment. I am still making it my goal to find a place in San (which is closer than Koutiala and has my bank, mail, and stage house) that has Internet, but it's nice to know that Kla is here if I need it.

I'm doing well, thanks for asking. I just spent two solid weeks at site without non-Malian contact, and it was fine. I even made it without my computer (which is broken) and iPod (which is dead). That may sound like a wimpy accomplishment, but... two weeks can seem like a loooong time. Baby steps, baby steps. In the interest of full disclosure, the cell tower finally went up in Kimparana, and I now have phone service. I have already made multiple plans, goals, and budgets regarding my phone usage and have already broken all of them. Maybe the novelty will wear off soon, hopefully before I go completely broke buying phone credit.

I've made some Malian friends, which is helpful when you're stuck in the same place for two weeks straight. I've been spending some time at the mayor's office getting to know the people there and the (lack of) work they're doing. I also had a nice birthday. Thank you to all those who expressed birthday greetings via email, Facebook, and snail mail. My actual birthday was on a Sunday, but I spent Monday night in San with some Segou and Sikasso region PCVs. Good times. After over one month without Internet, you can imagine I have quite a bit of email to attend to, so I'm going to sign off. Stay tuned in the coming week for pictures on Facebook and my running list of English t-shirt slogans I've seen. Hilarious.

Ala ka tile here caya! (May God increase the happiness of your day.)

*I miss OK Computer. Radiohead would not go over well here.