I talked to my friend Jeremy today, who is just back from Mali. Why did he go to Mali, you ask? Because he decided it was probably a bad time to go to Uzbekistan, and Mali was his second choice.
I like to think I'm all intrepid traveller woman, and then I talk to friends like Jeremy, and I realize I'm just a poser. I'm using a travel agent, for god's sake. Sigh. Whereas Jeremy just wandered around the wilds of Mali, treking from small village to small village, paying the village chief to stay in someone's house/on someone's roof (it's really hot) with a handful of cola nuts, which are, apparently, a mild narcotic. Because that's what you do in Mali -- you offer happy berries to random strangers in the middle of nowhere so you can sleep on their roof. He got around speaking French and a little Arabic, learning a bit of the indigenous language as he went along.
Mali is cheifly known for (1) Timbuktu and (2) being gradually swallowed by the Sahara. (It's in the middle of that big bulbous bit right under Algeria.) And most people think Timbuktu doesn't really exist. It does, it's just slowly succumbing to the the Sahara, as mentioned above.
So when Jeremy isn't wandering from village to village in the middle of nowhere, he's in Timbuktu going up to people who look like they speak Arabic and saying (in Arabic) "Hi, I'm an American. So what do you think of all this bombing and stuff?" Because that's what you do in Timbuktu, a Muslim city, when your home country is bombing the bejesus out of another Muslim country -- identify yourself as the enemy. People were amazed he spoke Arabic ("They let you learn Arabic in America?" was a typical reaction) and he said most folks supported the US actions. Whether they were sincere or being polite to the crazy guy, I don't know. Granted, Jeremy doesn't exactly exude threatening vibes, but I could imagine that people didn't want to hurt the feelings of the crazy American guy by slamming his country. Or maybe they're really supportive of the US. Who knows.
The one time sanity did grip Jeremy was when he declined to go introduce himself as an American to the guy who was pointed out as a recent arrival who was a member of the Taliban. I'm shocked.
Some background on Jeremy -- we met in middle school, when we both started at a private Quaker school at the same time. He was megamega geek, and had no problem with that, it seemed. I was also megamega geek, and wanted desperately not to be. So I tried to blend. Didn't work. Jeremy, on the other hand, just seemed to sort of go through life being exactly who he wanted to be, without shame or compromise, and by the time we graduated was probably one of the most popular people in school. Damn, he's good.
So, Jer, sorry if this embarasses you or anything, but you kick ass, and I'm very glad we're still friends (i.e., that we didn't actually kill each other in 7th grade.) It's an honor and a privilege.
I like to think I'm all intrepid traveller woman, and then I talk to friends like Jeremy, and I realize I'm just a poser. I'm using a travel agent, for god's sake. Sigh. Whereas Jeremy just wandered around the wilds of Mali, treking from small village to small village, paying the village chief to stay in someone's house/on someone's roof (it's really hot) with a handful of cola nuts, which are, apparently, a mild narcotic. Because that's what you do in Mali -- you offer happy berries to random strangers in the middle of nowhere so you can sleep on their roof. He got around speaking French and a little Arabic, learning a bit of the indigenous language as he went along.
Mali is cheifly known for (1) Timbuktu and (2) being gradually swallowed by the Sahara. (It's in the middle of that big bulbous bit right under Algeria.) And most people think Timbuktu doesn't really exist. It does, it's just slowly succumbing to the the Sahara, as mentioned above.
So when Jeremy isn't wandering from village to village in the middle of nowhere, he's in Timbuktu going up to people who look like they speak Arabic and saying (in Arabic) "Hi, I'm an American. So what do you think of all this bombing and stuff?" Because that's what you do in Timbuktu, a Muslim city, when your home country is bombing the bejesus out of another Muslim country -- identify yourself as the enemy. People were amazed he spoke Arabic ("They let you learn Arabic in America?" was a typical reaction) and he said most folks supported the US actions. Whether they were sincere or being polite to the crazy guy, I don't know. Granted, Jeremy doesn't exactly exude threatening vibes, but I could imagine that people didn't want to hurt the feelings of the crazy American guy by slamming his country. Or maybe they're really supportive of the US. Who knows.
The one time sanity did grip Jeremy was when he declined to go introduce himself as an American to the guy who was pointed out as a recent arrival who was a member of the Taliban. I'm shocked.
Some background on Jeremy -- we met in middle school, when we both started at a private Quaker school at the same time. He was megamega geek, and had no problem with that, it seemed. I was also megamega geek, and wanted desperately not to be. So I tried to blend. Didn't work. Jeremy, on the other hand, just seemed to sort of go through life being exactly who he wanted to be, without shame or compromise, and by the time we graduated was probably one of the most popular people in school. Damn, he's good.
So, Jer, sorry if this embarasses you or anything, but you kick ass, and I'm very glad we're still friends (i.e., that we didn't actually kill each other in 7th grade.) It's an honor and a privilege.
posted by SAJ at
7:53 PM
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