Tempting... but Must Resist!

Most people in our apartment complex are people with families, married couples, etc., who are working temporarily in Bamako. They're nice enough and we'd make small talk if we run into our neighbors but my roommates and I haven't really befriended anyone... that is until recently! I went food shopping and was walking up to the 3rd floor (we live on the 3rd floor) with a bunch of mangoes, bananas, couscous, onions, spices, a watermelon, and some slabs of beef, I'd bought at the open air market... quite a handful I know. I was hungry though, so everything looked good when I was shopping.. hm... maybe that's why my mom always told me to go food shopping after you had a big meal. Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent. While juggling everything, a couple of the mangoes had escaped from me (maybe they didn't want to be eaten =D) and started rolling down the stairs. Of course, I chased after them =). In doing so, I ran into (figuratively and literally) one of our new friends.

I did recover my fugitive mangoes, though they were rather bruised after the tumble down the flight of stairs. Picking up the fruit he asked, "Tu vas ravitailler une armée ou quoi ?" (You are going to feed an army or what?) when he saw the armful of groceries I was carrying. Upon my denial, he offered to help me carry at least the watermelon. After a bit of small talk, it turns out his name is Heikki from Helsinki and he lived just across the hall from us with his Finnish, Norwegian, and German roommates, Jukka, Kjetil, and Tassilo. As we made it into the apartment, my roommates had just gotten back from their trip to Sikasso. I introduced them to Heikki and vice versa and it ended up that Heikki stayed for a coffee and all of us got on quite well. Paul actually mentioned that it was a pity that we don't know our neighbors that well and that they should come over for dinner sometime, then saying, "Hey, why not tonight?" he invited Heikki and his roommates over for dinner that night. After he'd left I couldn't help but say, "So, Paul... who's going to cook for 8 people?" He quickly responded, "Don't worry Kerstin, I'll help."

With that, we had our first guests over at the apartment and our guests brought as gifts... alcohol!!! We got along so well, it was great. Oh, and his Norwegian roommate, Kjetil understands (though doesn't really speak) Swedish and I can sort of understand Norwegian (sometimes and not much) so it was great, though I'm realizing how badly my other foreign languages have suffered since I've been here. Oh man, it ended up being quite a party. After dinner, we decided to go out to a nightclub in Bamako. It was the first time in a long time that I got to party like that, the last time I'd partied like that was in Bratislava, 2 months ago. We headed back to our apartment eventually and had some intense conversations and I learned a song in Finnish!!! (Long story) But that's what is tempting me right now, Finnish! It's such a funny language! I mean, it doesn't exactly sound pretty, but it sounds... funny in a cool way. I can't describe it. Äiti means "mom" and isi is "dad" to give you an example of how different Finnish is. It's such a weird language... but Finnish is like some kind of weird neon sign and I'm a weirded-out moth suicidally drawn to it. I want to learn it but I know I have to resist the temptation because I will never learn any language if I keep this up. I'll end up being the Jack of all trades and the master of none! I have enough on my plate and I should finish it before asking for more rounds. This is why time is my immortal enemy - there are too many languages I want to learn but never enough time to learn all of them! Portuguese, Romanian, Swahili, Polish, Bambara, and now Finnish! Actually, if I had all the time in the world, I'd learn Icelandic, Hungarian, Mongolian, and Indonesian as well. Alas, time continues to tick.

In any case, my roommates and our new neighbors decided to do this again next weekend and I think I'm going to ask my old roommates, Anaïs and Ben to join the fun, though our apartment's living room is rather small, the more the merrier! 10 people in our tiny living room... I guess some of us will have to sit on the floor =). Of course, that would mean cooking for 10 people, but I had to cook for 15 people for an entire semester during my university days so I think with some extra hands as help, I can handle it. It'll be a feast! =D I feel a little weird only hanging out with other volunteers and temporary workers from Europe, though. This is Mali, I should hang out with more Malians! Even my old roommates were Namibian and Beninese, not Malian. I only have a handful of Malian coworkers but I never really get a chance to talk to them. Perhaps it's because the only Malians I actually get to spend significant time with are kids younger than my little sister. Maybe I should start talking to random people on the streets to make some Malian friends!

Today's Random Quiz:

You Should Learn Portuguese

Muito legal! For you, learning a language is all about the lifestyle that comes with it. And beaches, hotties, parties, and soccer matches are just your style.

What Language Should You Learn?