Life in Mali

I was going to post some pictures from a cultural fair we had yesterday, but my camera and I are in disagreement about whether or not to transfer them. So hopefully I'll get this little thing worked out and get some pictures posted for you. We had drummers and singers and fabric and jewelry sellers and a tailor. We ate some fried fufu, which was awesome. The drummers were a local African drumming/dancing troupe who performed a welcome to Mali dance for us.
When Malians eat, they don't each get their own bowl with a fork and a spoon. There is one bowl in the middle and everyone sits around it on the floor with no shoes on, except we learned today that ladies are allowed to sit on little stools. Everybody holds onto the bowl with their left hand and eats with their right. People don't talk during the meal, because since you all share the same bowl, you better eat quickly or somebody else is going to eat your share. We practiced this afternoon, because tomorrow we are going to our host families, with whom we will be eating in that manner for the next eight weeks. At first I will be able to say this to them: Hello, how are you? How is your family? How is your father? How is your mother? How are your younger siblings? How are your older siblings? And when we are all together I will be able to count them. Imagine how strange that would be, some stranger who looks weird and acts even weirder comes into your house to live for two months and spends her time counting things out loud and being proud of it. We have been told that we will simply be laughed at for, essentially, the rest of our time here. Should be exciting!