Hi from Leonie Hill!

I have lapsed of late in my bloggings....sorrs about that. Traveling has been insane but amazing. I believe I left off with my birthday which turned out to be just what I needed to jump start my second quarter of a cenury. The girls and I had a good time in Bangkok and then headed off towards Cambodia via Chanabury, Trat and Ko Chang. The beaches on this island are absolutely beautiful and it was nice to recharge and relax for a few days before we pushed off for the border. The crossing turned out to be less painful than we anticipated (we aren't in africa anymore afterall) and when we got to Battambang we took a leisurely boat ride to Siem Reap through the biggest lake in Asia. It was beautiful. Then...Angkor Wat. Words cannot describe how awe inspiring this place is. georgeous. Our favourite temple was about 2 hours away from everthing else but well worth it. It was completely run down and dilapidated and you could scrambl;e on the rocks and check everything out yourself which was very cool. It has also only been open for a few years as there were landmines in the area before and have just been cleared in the past couple of years. I believe it was called Bang Melea.

So after Angkor we went to Phnom Penh on an AC bus in which we got water and a snack! These Cambodian peace corps volunteers have it good! We met us with our former health boss in Mali, Cheryl who moved to Cambodia to start PC last year. We met some PCVs, swapped storties, played the usual "whose country and service is harder?" game which is obligatory when you meet other PCVs, and generally have a good time.

On the 24th we went to Vietnam, which was great, but too short lived! We were only able to get around Ho Chi Min city and ge to the Cu Chi Tunnels, but it was a nice first taste of the country and I very definitely plan on coming back.

Sooooo, now I am in Singapore! The crowning cap and glory of our trip! We got in not even twelve hours ago and it has already been amazing. My friends Kay took us out for Chilli and Pepper Crab at East Coast Parkway last night and oh, my, god. The Red House has got to be the best restaurant I have ever been to. Amazing. In every way. I took pictures. Oh yes I did. And I will put them up next week when I get back to Seattle. Next up today is Leonie Hill to visit the old Berthiaume stomping grounds, then the American Club for some dinner then a night safari! It feels so good to be bad in Singapore and to be sharing it with some great peace corps buddies, but I am also so very excited to get back to America. It's been 15 months and I can definitely feel it. It is hard to imagine that by Thursday I will be home eating sushi in front of a TV wwith my family!

Namaste!

Hello from Bangkok! We just arrived tonight after a wonderful and too short of a week in Nepal. Well, let me start from when we left Delhi. After viewing the Taj Mahel which literally took my breath away, we decided to go to Lumbini or Buddha's birthplace just past the Nepalese border. So we took a 16 hr train to Gorakphur, then a 2.5 hr ride to the border. From there we saw the most beautiful World Peace Pagoda where my friend Lindsay and I got up at 4AM to bang drums and chant with Japanese monks. It was amazing and one of the most spiritual things I have ever done. From there we caught the most frightening bus ride up the mountains to Kathmandu and then carried on the Shivapura National Park for a yoga/mediation retreat. Again, one of the coolest things and one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It has now become my official happy place whenever I need a break from reality.

From there we returned to Kathmandu, an interesting town with beautiful temples as well as congested roads full of perpetually honking cars. Tonight I find myself in Bangkok kinda in shock over all of the lights, skyscrapers and general atmosphere of the place. Soooo many tourists, debauchery and just general craziness that I just don't know quite what to do with myself. We will be here for another couple of weeks as we have decided to not go to Myanmar this time around. This is a very rough sketch of the past couple of weeks, but I will promise to extrapolate when I catch my breath as well as post pictures. Up next: a crazy night in Bangkok to celebrate my big 2-5! One quarter century down! I wonder what the next quarter has in store......

Mumbai!

So Jaqui and I arrived in Mumbai a few days ago and I thought I'd give you a little update on my travels so far. Things in this city are insane, especially after coming from Mali. We have almost gotten hit by cars on various occasions, have bumped into the millions of people who live here cuz we're just not used to tight spaces and have realised that we speak English "small-small" now. Sometimes it's just easier to say things in Bambara. We walked through the Taj Hotel (very swank and lush) with dirty feet and flip flops and realised that we were suddenly back on terra firma and the real world and we didn't quite fit in. It's a strange feeling I'll tell you that.

So then we decided to walk through the slums and the outdoor market and that made Mumbai feel a little more familiar to us. Here, like in Mali, there are random goats and chickens hanging out on the streets, your feet get dirty from the mud streets, street vendors are selling you cheap food, and the smells range from delicious to ghastly. You can, however, tell how much more developed and prosperous India is to Mali by the quality of the produce that venders are selling, the relative cleanliness of the place and the fact that instead of missing limbs and kwasikor bellies, beggers have gold bangles and pretty decent clothes on. I miss Mali like I knew I would, but life goes on and what better place to miss my home of two years than in a beautiful city such as Mumbai. The walks on Marine Drive, the fabulous shopping and the great food have definitely softened the blow. In addition we have had some insider help from a friend of mine from Seattle who has been studying Urdu in Northern India for the summer.

One cool thing that is going on in the city right now is the festival Ganesh Chaturti. This festival is weeklong and there have been drums parties and parades through lit up streets since we got here. It all culminates next week with a party on Chowpatti beach at which people will throw Ganesh statues into the sea to drown them and dance it up. I'll be sure to take lots of pics to show you guys and update on everything Mumbai before I leave next week. Until then, take care!

Bangers and mash!

so I've been meaning to write for a while...things have just been so hectic. I left site two weeks ago and it was as hard as I thought it was going to be. I still search around in my bag looking for my house keys only to realise that I already gave them to my replacement. All of the parties and festivities made it if not easier then at least bittersweet to leave Kayes. It is a place I will never forgot and a piece of me will always remain there. What else can I say except that I hope to go back one day and see my family and friends and until then I will miss them dearly.

Bamako has been crazy over the past fortnight. I COSed and got a peace corps pin and a handshake from our country director; said good-bye to so many wonderful volunteers who I hope to see real soon in Ameriki-land, went to a memorial for Matt Costa, who I can't believe passed away a year ago...it seems like yesterday to me; and generally just tried to say good-bye to Mali.

There are so many beautiful and unforgettable things about Mali, but for me one recent trip kinda ties everything about Mali together for me. In between Matt's memorial in his village and my COS week I had a weekend in which I was completely free of any responsibilities (I am sooo going to miss that!) so I decided to go to a stagemates village in the southern region of Sikasso for a couple days. She lives in a tiny village called Zambala, which is about 20 Km away from a paved road that runs all the way down that region towards Cote D'Ivoire. So I leave Bamako wth two other volunteers Reneen and Jason at around three and make it to Jason's site which is about 200k away from the capital in about 3 1/2 hrs. So far so good. In fact, I was beginning to believe that the transport gods were lending us a helping hand.....and then we got off the paved road and onto Laura's road. We all piled into a bashe filled with rice and flour sacks at around 1 pm and started down a pretty muddy road as it is the end of rainy season here and Sikasso gets hit the hardest. About ten minutes into our trip, however, we get stuck in the mud. What follows is 2 1/2 hrs of Malians trying to unstick us by digging the back tires more into the road so that they can apply traction with rocks. Huh. So we finally get going after what seems like an eternity and we then we break down. The driver takes a rock and hammers part of the engine and we're off once again. Thennnn, we get stuck in the mud again. But not before it starts raining. Hard. And everyone decides its probably best if we get out of the bus and start walking towards Laura's village. So we all have to take our flip flops off because we are basically walking through a small stream and we've got our huge backpacks on and we find ourselves being totally ok with this. If anyone had said that I had to get off a bus and walk the remaining 3 or 4k in pouring down rain with no shoes on two years ago I would have laughed. No no, I would have lawwwfffed. I guess you don't notice how places change you until you are confronted with torrential downpour.

We finally get there at around 7pm. 6 hours for 20k. All I can say is my hat is off to Laura who has to deal with this 4 months out of every year. Thank god Laura was at the end of the trip with hot falafal and hot chocolate waiting for us. The ceremony in her village to celebrate the opening of a secondary school that Laura helped to build went off without a hitch and even started on time! It was great to spend time with volunteers in a village, get away from Bamako and city life and just enjoy each other. I could not have asked for a more perfect trip to end my service in Mali. It was just so indicative of how the wonderful things in Mali compensate 100fold for the things that are not so awesome. It was a great end to my two years and I could not have asked for a better send off.

As for the future...or I guess I should start with the present. Jaqui and I got on a plane to Nairobi last night and this morning we had one of the best breakfasts I've had in 2 years. Bangers and mash, weetabix with real milk, real coffee, bacon, scrambled eggs, and this is the best part, baked beans on toast. Oh and freshly squeezed orange juice. It was pretty much heaven. Now I am off to our room which has a real bathtub and a hair dryer (!) to sleep until our next flight which will take us to Mumbai. For those of you who thought I would be coming back to America soon......well....define soon. I am backpacking through Asia, more specifically India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam and then finally Singapore before heading back to Seattle. I should be back around Nov 1st insha'allah. I will try to update my blog and pictures as often as I can, but if anyone wants anything (small) from any of these places I will do my best to pick it up. Happy Ramadan everyone and I commisserate with all you who were bummed out about U Dub's loss to Ohio, namely papasan berty. Bummer.

The long good-bye...

This week my first two stagemates and dear friends, Miguel and Rachel, are COSing. It is insane to think that we have all been here for two years together and that we are going our separate ways and leaving Mali to return to the states. While most of us are going on trips to soften the blow of our impending departure, we should all be back in the US of A by December.

It is hard to explain the mix the feelings that I have as I prepare to leave my site in two weeks. I already miss it and I am still here. I am trying to go through my day and just really appreciate every single aspect of it. Getting up with prayer call (Ramadan is coming up soon and people are gearing up...) and eating some mooni (millet balls with milk) with my friend Alima, taking a bucket bath (cause it's getting too cold to take cold showers again), going to my service and talking with my homologue, Maiga, and the secretaries, my lovely host family; I will even miss the people who work at the Post Office who give me my precious packages and see the joy on my face everytime!

My replacement arrives in Kayes next Tuesday and although I sad to be leaving friends and family and feel that the end has come too soon, I am very excited for Amy to experience all that I have in Kayes and realise how wonderful Mali is. I suppose wanting to stay here longer is selfish in the end because it would mean that another volunteer would not be able to share in the fun! It still is very bittersweet to be leaving Mali and all of my peace corps buddies. I shall take lots of pictures during the next month and be sure to post them as there are so many beautiful expressions of good-bye in Mali. When a person leaves for a long time, or indefinitely, their family and friends extend their left hand instead of their right. Malians usually shake with their right hands as this hand is the 'clean hand', the hand with which they eat, and not their left hands, the hand reserved for cleaning up after using the nyegen (bathroom). Extending the left hand to someone leaving therefore, is quite an honor as it implies that this person considers you close and is willing to touch your left hand. You might think about this too much and decide, that is not the cleanest way to say good-bye, but there is something very sweet about it to me. The expressions that Malians use to say goob-bye are also unlike those in the states and I am also fond of them. They include ''please forgive me for any rudeness/offenses towards you'' after which the Malian to which you are speaking will promptly forgive you; ''May Allah help in reuniting us one day''; ''May you remain as straight as an iron rod''; and finally when you are ready to leave you literally ask for the road. There is a real sense of creating a space for those leaving to really say good-bye properly, and as this has been an issue leaving country after country in the past, I really appreciate how it is so important here.

I will post once again when I am in Bamako seeing friends and getting paperwork done, but for now just picture me shaking lots and lots of poopy hands and smiling!

Happy belated Fourth of July! Monantali was beautiful as per usual and I pretty much spent an entire week with 55 other PCVs eating pig and drinking beer. It was awesome! Northern Kayes region (which includes me!) won the freedom olympics which included a tug-of-war playoff, tigadegena eating contest, three legged race, wheelbarrow race, and regional skits. It was the last time for a lot of us to get together and hang out so it was kinda bittersweet, but so memorable. After the festivities and a bit of rock climbing with some of my Bamako stagemates, we traveled to the capital for our COS conference, which was about 150 k south of Bamako in the Sikasso region. it was amazing to reflect over the past two years with my stagemates and although I am still pretty far away from being ready to leave Mali, I am coming to terms with the fact that at some point this does have to end and September is as good a time as any. My official COS date is September 14th after which I am planning on traveling for about a month in Africa and Southest Asia. So I plan on being back in Seattle around the beginning of November, insha'allah. I am going back to site on Tuesday and finishing up all my projects and turning in completion reports, which I hope will further push me down the realization road. As they say here, "dooni donni", or "little by little". I've uploaded some more photos of the 4th, rock climbing in Siby and my COS conference so enjoy!

This past weekend I went to Mauritania to play in a soccer game between Mali PCVs and Mauritania PCVs, and alas we lost 2-0. Meh. But I did put up some colourful (well actually they are pretty bland and sandy coloured) photos on flickr. The whole event was orchestrated for Jody Olsen, the associate director of Peace Corps, who was stopping through both countries to check out what we were up to. The ''pitch'' consisted of dirt and cow pies and there was a constant stream of cows, camels, sheep, general livestock through the field along with a sturdy sandstorm in the second half. So we definitely did not have home court advantage. It was a quick trip, I left for Bamako on Friday, we took a bus to Mauritania on Sat, played on Sunday and I was home and tucked in my bed by midnight. It was crazy, but good fun.

As for now, I will be in Kayes until the fourth at which point I will be in Monantali to celebrate our country's day of independence. Then it's off to our COS Conference in Sikasso in mid July, which I am not looking forward to because I finally have to face the fact that soon I will be leaving Mali. It's all gone by too quickly and I can hardly believe that it is the beginning of summer and that I will be leaving in four months. And then I will have to think about what to do with my life back in the real world...didn't I just do that two years ago???