BF Journal: 9/2 - 9/4

9/2

I saw a bit more of the countryside today on my way to a large Turka speaking village.  Apparently there are a few villages that speak Turka which might create a good environment for a newbie like me.  I am still into the idea of working with languages before they disappear but I am told by multiple sources that you don’t want a language that is only spoken by the elderly for your first one.  I will take that into consideration as I select one.

The day was fairly uneventful.  I met some new people and we brought along a couple of botany students with us.  I think Jeff might be heaven.  He is getting tons of names in both Jula and Turka since he has these guys with us.  In the meantime I get to feel like an idiot because he hears the tones in each language no problem.  My initial hypothesis is that Turka has three and Jula has two.  I am fairly certain about Jula because all I hear is two, all Jeff hears is two, and the writings on Bambara that I do have also say two tones.  If I end up with Turka, I will talk more about it later.

My accommodations in this village are not bad.  I have a mattress on the floor of what looks like a small catholic mission.  Interestingly enough, nobody smote me upon entering.   

I saw a teensy weensy baby goat today.  I considered whether or not it would be weird if I just went over to it and started playing with it, but I am pretty sure the person I was being introduced to would not have appreciated the goat being more important to me than him.

9/3

We went out all morning to identify plants.  It was nearly perfect weather for since it was cloudy off and on.  It seemed like the weather couldn’t make up its mind.  But for us it meant a cool day with intermittent sunlight. 

Jeff was in his element today, he had two students to lecture about which plants we were finding and to which family they belonged.  I chatted with the botany students a bit.  One of them has taken some Spanish and some English so between what I know in French and what he knows in English, we can pretty much say whatever we need to.  I learned some more Jula today (like every day).  I can say the equivalent of “go away shithead” (directed at children) in Jula now. 

I definitely did not pack the right things for this trip.  I did not know what to expect, so I packed light (which may seem counter-intuitive unless there is a possibility of foot travel).  You would think that the fact that small mattresses were being loaded on top of the vehicle might have clued me into that fact that we expected to be sleeping indoors.  I was not 100% at  a.m. apparently.  I brought nothing to shower with except baby wipes.  This was my custom in Iraq, when I went outside the wire, but this was not the same situation.  I get to be the smelly guy now because everyone else can bathe properly.  Only one more day…

9/4

Today entirely sunny and I did not enjoy it as much.  I was able to snap some pictures for you all, but I was finding shade as often as possible during our treks into the bush.  Spending our time walking along a terracotta road in the direct sunlight was not the best.  Jeff was almost the same color by noon but he didn’t seem to notice.  Everything was sweaty.   I definitely regretted my baby wipe decision.  I imagine everyone else in this vehicle did too.  Jeff, Minkailou, Argetta, or Stephen: if you ever read this, I am sorry. 

I did get some pictures of the landscape and the edge of a slightly wooded area with corn and peanut fields mixed into the natural vegetation.  We also stopped by a waterfall area as some plants and such only grow near water.  I do not know if wooded area at the mouth of the river counts as a legit jungle or not, but here you go…

When plants/trees sprout leaves they start out reddish because they do not have chlorophyll yet

Corn field amongst the Ronier and Mango tress

Peanut field

Waterside vegetation

Possible the mouth of a jungle river

Incidentally, mango trees can get pretty big:

As we came to a small farming village a gentle breezed picked up and the large mango trees seemed to sigh in relief.  I took some pictures of village structures for you.. 

These thatch-roofed structures are usually storage for grain and other farming stuff

People do not live in these

A closer picture of one

Some people in farming villages live in mud-brick houses like this

...and these

The afternoon was laid back and I mostly read and talked in somewhat French and semi-feeble attempts at Jula conversation with Mik.  It’s only been a couple weeks, but I am really interested in not sounding like an idiot as soon as possible.    

This weekend we plan to do a trip to the plateaus to a Lobi village.  

Next week I plan to put some very serious effort into Jula while everyone else is busy with the Mande conference.