My coworker through the volunteer program is actually a Malian and sort of helps us volunteers around by being an active translator between Bambara and French. Upon arrival, I noticed it was a completely different vibe from Bamako or some of the bigger cities I'd visited during my stay in Mali. Oh, and flies were freaking everywhere and I was constantly screaming as they flew towards me. I'm still afraid of bugs... to which my coworker, Adama, asked, "Si tu as peur des insectes, pourquoi as-tu décidé de venir en Afrique ?" (If you're afraid of bugs, why did you decide to come to Africa?) He then proceeded to tell me there were spiders as big as my head in Mali... merde, I hope I never meet one of those! The kids I were to teach found this amusing. They only spoke Bambara so I had no idea what they were saying. But they seemed to think I was some sort of walking side-show freak. They all wanted to touch me!!! It was weird!!! I guess it's because they never saw someone who looked like me before??? They were saying things in Bambara, touching me, following me... it was kind of annoying (considering I'm not very fond of kids). I then asked Adama if he could please translate. Then he said some of the kids were asking me, "You're not black, but you're not white, are you? What are you?" So I guess what I deduced was right. I'm sure most kids, if not all kids in Mali, have never seen a hapa haole before. I felt like a freak of nature. Then I realized, I AM a freak of nature! =D!!! I'm the bizarre product of two very different worlds combined in a form of a crazy American!
In any case, while teaching some of the older kids (high school-aged), we decided to break some cultural barriers by breaking down stereotypes. So I asked some of these kids what they thought of Americans. Their view of Americans are only what they know from having met volunteer workers (like me) or tourists and so they said they thought all Americans were rich, adventurous, homosexual, dirty, feminist, and intrepid. I kind of understood the rich, adventurous, and intrepid part because only atypical Americans come to Africa... but dirty??? I asked why and the answer was surprising. They said it was because we didn't wash 5 times a day (like they do in Muslim culture) and, just as I reached for a book with my left hand... because we used our left hands to do things (which is "unclean" in Muslim culture). I quickly retracted my left hand and hid it behind my back and re-reached for the book with my right hand. I guess I never thought about it. I tried to explain to them I wasn't a feminist and that I was an equalist... but they said to them, it was the same thing. Then they asked me what America was like. Even the village kids knew about the American elections! They asked me things like: Do you think Obama will win? Do people like Obama? Are there other black/African people in America? Do people like African people? Do you like Africans/blacks? To which I replied: Yes I hope so. Yes. Yes, of course, there are all sorts of people in America. Yes. Yes, of course! Why do you think I'm here? After a couple hours of more productive lessons it was time for me to head back to Bamako. The kids followed me to the car... like I said, it was a little disturbing being the freak of the town... and with the last few hands patting my arms, legs, and back, I was in the car back to Bamako.
Back in Bamako, I'd brought some burned and empty CDs with me to Mali and while looking for some music, I befell on a CD with some old picture files. It went so well with what happened today, I thought it might interest you guys a little so I've uploaded them here :) First a disclaimer: I don't exactly remember where these images are from but they are not made by me nor do they represent my views of the world in any way. In fact, all of these views are kind of insulting to me on a personal level... but anyway, it's just for fun so I hope you don't take it in a negative way! (Click on the images for the full-size image)
"The American World View"
This is essentially what a stereotypical American might think of the world. As a child of maybe 6 or 7, my personal world view wasn't very far off from this map! Of course, thank goodness, that changed and I'm much more informed about the world I live in now! I can name all the countries in the world and I know almost all of their capitals. My knowledge of African geography is actually not that great, but hopefully by the end of my stay in Mali, I'll have learned a thing or two! It's a little amusing though, this map. Basically you have:* The USA is represented by the American flag
* Canada is called "Mouseheads"
* All of Mexico and Central American countries are just labeled as "Latinos"
* South America is just lumped together into one country titled "Cocaine & Coffee"
* Greenland is labeled as "Ice" and Iceland is nowhere on the map.
* Europe is labeled as "Wine, Perfume, Spaghetti..."
* UK and Ireland are lumped together as the "51st State"
* Africa is also one country called "Empty Area"
* The Middle East is called "Oil & War"
* Western Asia is called "Nike Factory" while Eastern Asia is called "Microsoft Factory"
* Russia is labeled as the "Russian Mob"
* Vietnam is recognized with "Don't go here"
* Japan is a "Radioactive Area"
* Australia is just a "Big Island (Hawaii?)
* Antarctica is just "Ice"... just like Greenland
* All other island-nation-states are ignored
I can't say the French view of the world is any better, honestly. This was from a French magazine Actuel published sometime in the 1980s and then published in 1989 by Herman Lindquist in his book Rapporter från Mittens Rike (Reports from the Middle Kingdom).
From the Frenchies point of view:* The center of the world, obviously, is Paris (as my French ex-boyfriend used to always emphasize)
* Paris is connected to the French riviera via Autoroute du soleil (Highway of the Sun) and Southwestern France has some vineyards.
* Spain is just mentioned as "Vacation homes"
* Portugal is called "Cleaners".
* Monaco is referred to as "Our Princess", probably referring to Caroline of Monaco.
* Corsica is exaggeratedly large (of course, since it's a French island and the birthplace of Napoleon)
* Sardinia and Sicily are nowhere to be seen, let alone Malta, Cyrus or any other tiny island states in the European waters.
* Italy is noted with "Lock the car"... perhaps it's the Italian drivers? Car thieves? I don't know?
* The French also seem to think that Scandinavia is plagued by "Everlasting winter"
* Britain is plagued by rain apparently since it's noted as "Rainy area". Ireland, Greenland, Iceland are nowhere to be found.
* Apparently only France exists in Europe, then it's the "Iron Curtain". (remember, this was in the 1980s)
* There's Poland, only mentioned separately due to the Separatist movement at the time.
* From there, the rest of the "East" are "Gulag" and "Indochina" (Indochina being an ex-French colony)
* Japan is mentioned as "Copy machines" - is it because of the actual machines or because they copy, improve, and perfect foreign inventions? Hm....
* New Caledonia, is disproportionately large, being a French dependent state and is much bigger than both Australia labeled as "Kangaroos" and New Zealand labeled "Our enemy" (probably in reference to New Zealand's stance against French nuclear testing on Mururoa "Nuclear testing").
* Libya is separated from the rest of North Africa as a "Terrorist centre'.
* The rest of Northern Africa is labeled "Our Arabs (poor)" and Central Africa is called "Our Africa" since these parts were mostly French ex-colonies.
* Disproportionately small is the rest of Africa, which is labeled as 'Black Africa'.
* Beirut, another French colonial area, is labeled "Gun market" and the rest of the Middle East is labeled "Oil Arabs".
* Réunion, a tiny French island in the Indian Ocean seems to have replaced Madagascar.
* Parisians' view of America: "Guyana" (French Guyana in reality is a small French territory between Suriname and Brazil), Québec (French-Canadian province), Louisiana (formerly a French colony that was sold by Napoleon in the Louisiana purchase to the U.S. and now a U.S. state) and some small room for Canada and the U.S. The rest of Latin and S. America, and all other island nation-states are ignored.
Probably the most offensive is the Tories' (a political group in the UK) view of the world. Probably because the Tories were overtly racist, extremely right-wing, Anglocentric, and nostalgic for Britain's imperial past. All of this is reflected in the map, which oversizes ex-British territories, minimizes others, (as in the French map) and renames a few.:
* Grossly oversized England is labeled "home counties". Wales seems to have disappeared.* Scotland is called "Ghillie Jocko Land" and the Isle of Wight is enlarged.
* Northern Ireland is called "Bogland (UK)" and Iceland is apparently British too while Greenland has disppeared off the face of the Earth.
* "Real" Canada is "The Commonwealth (UK)" with a thin strip for Canada.
* The U.S. is labeled "Yanks" and Washington D.C. is named "Chez Reagan"
* Alaska is "Eskimo Land"
* Central America and the Caribbean are "West Indies and so on"
* Colombia is labeled "British Honduras", which is the former colonial name for present-day Belize.
* Brazil is "Greasy Gaucho Spic Land"... but I thought "gauchos" referred to those in Argentina?
* Argentina is "Argies".
* The Falkland Islands are larger than life since they were successfully recaptured by Margaret Thatcher.
* South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Island, all British possesions are enlarged as "Where the triangular stamps used to come from, but now crawling with our coloured brethren, of course".
* The rest of S. America is passed off as "Various darkies, cannibals and huns".
* Northern Africa is labeled as "Filthy Shoplifting Arabville".
* Egypt is mentioned as "Gippos".
* Sarahan/Subsarahan countries are lumped into "Bongo Bongo Land" and an array of incorrectly-drawn West and Central African nations are called "Coon Coast", "Slave Coast", "Nignogeria", "Nasty Smells", "Begins with T", and "Fuzzy Wuzzy Land".
* "British" territories in Africa are called "British Guyana" (actually in South America, which is the now-independent country of Guyana) and "Kenya" are mentioned.
* "Portugal" is labeled as being in Africa... twice since in the eyes of Tories, Portugal was a country little better than an African one.
* Madagascar is labeled "Borneo?"
* The rest of Central and Southern Africa is "The Much Maligned South Africa".
* Scandinavia is hapharzardly labeled as "Holland", "Lapland", "Finland", "Denmark", "The Other One" and "Plucky Little Poland", completely off in terms of actual geography.
* Denmark is regarded as "Pornoland", while "Moustachioed Shortarses" (Belgians???), "Frog Land" (a minaturized version of France), "Slimy Dago Town" (Spain), and "Gib" (Gibraltar, hugely oversized) are to the south.
* Southern Italy is "Wop Land" and Northern Italy + Switzerland is "Wog Land".
* The Balkans are lumped together as "Greek Homo Fellows" and Central Europe is lumped together as "Federal Republic of Bulletheaded Krauts".
* The then-West Germany and I guess possibly Austria (???) are combined as "Foreign but can ski in it"
* Eastern Europe is named "Commie Federal Republic of Sausage Eating Krauts and Lesboes" and geographically misplaced countries are also there including "Nicaragua", "Austria-Hungary" (?????? WHAT??? This map was created in the 1980s!!!), "Moldavia" and "Transylvania".
* What is presumably the then-USSR is called the "Union of Soviet Russian Commie Bastards".
* China is dubbed as "Slanty-Eyed Chinky Takeaway Land".
* Japan is regarded in a more positive light as "The Wonderful Hardworking Japanese".
* The Kamchatka peninsula is labeled as "Used to Be British, But Gone to the Dogs Now". (I think they may have been mistaken...)
* Enlarged Hong Kong is there and the Philippines are labeled "Channel Islands" and "Au Pair Land".
* Australia is "Singapore", Tasmania is "Thingy". Indonesia is "No Idea", "No, sorry", "Got me there", "Nope" and Papua New Guinea is "Who Cares?".
* New Zealand represents two countries in this map as "Australia New Zealand".
* The Indian subcontinent is called "Pakis" while the the other half of Southern Asia is called "Can't Remember"
* The Middle East has another "Portugal", where Yemen and Oman should be, and the rest of the areas are labeled as "Something really horrible can't remember what", "Loathesome Johnny Afghan salt of the Earth", "Garlic eaters yellow hoardes and people who shit in your airing cupboard if you let them."
* The Caucasus region is called "Dracula"
* Malta is mentioned and labeled but has "(Commies)" written under it
* Turkey is called "Rat like Johnny Turbans" and the area between what is Greece and Turkey is labeled "Kebabs World".
A little less offensive, perhaps, is this map of the Belgian view of Europe.
* Belgium is the biggest country in Europe though in reality it's a small sandwiched between France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. De Panne to Knokke are coastal cities that border the "Belgian Channel" (as opposed to the actual English Channel) with "England" and the megacity of London is called "The Village of London".* Switzerland is the "Swiss Ardennes", northern Italy is the "Italian Ardennes" and Austria is the "Austrian Ardennes".
* The Netherlands, (in real life bigger than Belgium), has shrunk into a small, northern appendage that "speaks a dialect of Flemish".
* France "speaks a dialect of Walloon" and Paris is a "town".
* West Germany "speaks dialect of Luxembourgeois"
* The "Grand Duchy of Luxembourg", in reality much smaller than Belgium, is now about the same size as the Netherlands and occupies Southeastern Europe.
* The North Sea is called "North Belgian Sea".
* Spain is labeled "Summer Belgium" and its coast called "Costa del Belges".
And finally, A Texan view of the United States..
This map has effectively renamed and combined some states:Washington: Wash Tin
Oregon: All Gone
California: Uninhabitable
Idaho: Hi Ho
Utah: You Saw
Nevada: Never Add
Arizona: Arid Zone
New Mexico: New Mix (Hiccup)
Montana: Mount Annie
Colorado: Color Radio
Wyoming: Why Home In
North Dakota: North Colder
South Dakota: The Cold (South)
Nebraska: Knee Grass
Kansas: Can This
Oklahoma: Okay?
Minnesota: Mint Soda
Iowa : Out-A-Way
Missouri: Misery
Wisconsin: Wise Cousin
Illinois: Ill Noise
Michigan: Miss Again
Indiana: Indian Annie
Arkansas : Arch Insult
Ohio: Old High
Kentucky: Canned Turkey
Tennessee: Ten Seeds
Louisiana: Lousy Annie
Mississippi: Miss-Is-Yippi
Alabama: All Mammy
North Carolina: North Carol's Line
South Carolina: South Carol's Line
Maryland: Snafu
The New England states, DE, NY, NJ, PA, and a chunk of Canada: "Damned Yankee" Land (They'd love me there in Texas, won't they? =D)
West Virginia: West Gin
Virginia: Where's 'In
Georgia: Judgy
Florida: Swamp Land
The Great Lakes: "Few Puddles"
Alaska and Hawaii don't seem to be mentioned.
Let's stay informed of the world we live in! I just love this geography quiz I found online. It's quite addictive :)
This Traveler IQ challenge compares your geographical knowledge against the Web's First Travel journal's other 3,214,699 travelers who have taken this challenge as of Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 06:34PM GMT. (TravelPod is part of the TripAdvisor Media Network)
Today's Random Quiz:
| You Are Friday |
 More than anything, you are outgoing. You are a very affectionate, caring person. You love being with others. Deep down, you crave attention. You are secretly quite vain. Friday tends to be a very social day, which fits you perfectly. You don't like the structure of the work week. You're always waiting for the weekend. |
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