Dear
Families,
It's been a while
since we've sent you an update, so here it is! Dorothee and I have been doing
well, and are getting well acclimated to Mali at this point. We've made lots of
friends, and are continually involved in many routine activities such as trivia
nights, hashing, brunches, getting tailor-made clothes, and so on.
Last month (June) we spent a week in South Africa, and a week in Namibia, and then Adeel a few days in Kenya (due to a canceled flight).
South Africa was
great. Dorothee's aunt, Penny, was gracious enough to allow us to stay for a
week at her place, and she even lent us her car for the week! Adeel was happy
to meet the rest of the Bonds, and felt welcomed to the family. Penny hosted a
Braii (a South African BBQ) for us, which was spectacular. Adeel went to the
hospital because he was increasingly becoming deaf, and after getting his ears
de-waxed, could miraculously hear again - Johannesburg seems to have good
healthcare. Otherwise we explored Johannesburg and the surrounding areas. We
shopped (we missed going to proper shopping malls), visited the Lion And Rhino
Park, saw the cave of human kind (where some of the world's earliest hominids
are found), completed a bike tour of Sowetto, visited Satyagara house (where
Gandhi used to live), saw the apartheid museums (which shocked Adeel because
the events were so recent), had a lot of good South African Cuisine, and much
more.
Namibia was great as
well. Along the Skeleton Coast there are sand dunes as far as the eye can
see. We saw tons of critters in the dunes, and were surprised that the desert
hosted so much life! Adeel climbed and coursed around the dune in dune buggies,
while Dorothee met with her colleagues from Peace Corps. There was a lot of
eating, working and socializing there as well, and it has taken us nearly a
month to get back to our pre-vacation weight! Namibia and South Africa both
reminded Adeel of America or Europe. He was surprised to find parts of Africa
so developed.
Last week was Eid. We
first celebrated with a colleague of Dorothee, and ate riz gras, french fries,
goat meat and locally made yogurt. We then went to visit friends who own a
restaurant. The Malian husband built a smoker in the front of the restaurant,
and after feeding a fire for hours with wood, we had wonderful roast lamb with
20 other people as our Eid dinner!
Next week
Maman/Christine is arriving to spend a week with us, and we are both thrilled.
We've planned out lots of activities for her (Dorothee has a long list in her
phone). We'll be sure to send you all some updates and photos of what we'll be
doing! We're also hoping that Ammi/Abida will come visit us soon as well. We'll
plan out lots of good things for then too!
Anyway, we are both
arguing about how long or short the email should be. Dorothee thinks it should
be much shorter, but Adeel thinks it should be longer. So we will compromise
and stop here :)
Hope everyone is doing
well, and we look forward to hearing from you too!
Lots of love,
Adeel & Dorothee
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