Hairdo and Friends

So, many of you asked me what I was going to do about getting my hair cut here in Mali. In fact, there were many of you who were worried about that for me. So, I wanted to show you what I had done to my hair yesterday. The market lady that I have been meeting with was so excited about doing my hair that I finally agreed to let her do it. She had been working on it for about an hour when one of her friends came by...we were on the street, by the way, when she was doing this. Her friend said a few things to her in Bambara and then took over working on my hair. They took everything out and started over again. So, 5 hours later this is what I looked like....

Is that not crazy??!!!! I have never had my hair braided before (like this) and wasn't really sure what it would look like, but that's actually pretty scary. I agreed to get it done for the sake of the good news and I would have kept it that way for a while just to appease, had my guard not looked so scared when I got home. So, you know where I am going...my hair did not look that way today. Sorry to all those who are disappointed in me. At least I tried it.

I also wanted you to see the group of kids (it always seems to grow) who greet me outside of my house and walk with me for a portion of the way to wherever I am going each day. They were so excited when I took their pictures today. I need to find a place where I can print them out so that they can have some of these. They always want to carry my things for me and if anyone gets left out of carrying something they cry. So usually I have to pull things out of bags to make sure that each child has a little something to carry. Oh, and I have taught them my name so that when they see me, instead of screaming out white person, they now scream out my name. I like that much better!