I've never...

…seen such excitement over an airplane.
A airplane flew close to the ground the other day, and it was the most hysterical site ever. People young and old stopped everything they were doing to watch. Children screamed at the top of their lungs, yelling to the big thing in the sky, running circles of glee around each other. Women kept repeating “Beleebeleeba!” the Malian word for “that’s freakin huge.”

…had my barf cleaned up so easily.
Got sick again for a morning. May have eaten too many peanuts. In any sense, I did not make it to the “negen”, and threw up all outside my hut in front of my host family. Embarassed about making a mess, I started to get some water to wash it out. “Stop Aminata,” as my host mother comes over with a shovel full of dirt. She dumps it over the mess and batabing- it’s cleaned up. Hmmm, maybe it’s good I didn’t make the negen.

…seen a snake with huge teeth about to devour a huge frog.
I think it was a cobra, but whatever it was, it was pretty freakin scary. Luckily, it was more scared of me, than I was of it, and abandoned its prospective meal to scurry into the bushes.

…been so happy to play the piano.
Yes! I found one! Election night, we arrived at the home of the head of the medical devision for UNICEF Mali. An incredible place, a great gathering of Americans and Malians alike. And yes, she had an electric piano. They keys stuck terribly, but I was still able to make a sound. My fingers have never been so happy.

…known my bellybutton to be so funny.
There’s no such thing as an “innie” in Mali. My three sidekicks- Shaka, Mohamadu, and Cesalo, caught a glimpse of mine as we were stretching before a run one day. They could not stop laughing and pointing.