February 2003 Happy Hour

And you thought that you were the only person in London that spoke Bambara?!!? On February 7, 2003, Mali RPCV's took a break, had a beer and told some bean jokes to fellow Mali RPCV's. They pulled out their best and brightest boubous and had a blast! You can read comments from each of the Happy Hours below--just click on a city on the map. If you went to a happy hour which doesn't yet have comments posted, please your comments to the webmaster

By the way--we are sensitive to the feedback that we have received regarding the family-friendliness of this group activity, and our next get-togethers (as yet unscheduled) will take that into account.

San Fransicso, California
Heather McCurdy: "The Friends of Mali San Francisco kicked off their socializing with drinks and dancing at 26Mix in the Mission. Two RPCVs from the early '90s saw each other for the first time since their service ended, with Celeste Howell (Kangaba, 1992-94) and Dennis McMahon (Soulouba, Bougouni, 1991-93, now the Public Affairs Specialist at the San Francisco Peace Corps office) catching up and networking. Kris Olson (Kintieri, Koutiala, 1998-2000), Kelvin Quan (Kita, Kayes, 1998-2000), Heather McCurdy (Niana, Segou, 1999-2001) and Heather Franzese (Zangaradougou, Sikasso, 1999-2001) got the groove going on the dance floor. Fellow West Africa RPCVs Steve Sakala (Gambia 1999-2001, Guinea 2001-02) and Bosco So (Liberia, 1987-89) highlighted the joys of peanut sauce and dahblini for Andy, an RPCV from Paraguay (an elusive and little-photographed bird) and Scott "Don't Mock Me Because I Was In Peace Corps Fiji" Watenpaugh (1988-91). Making our Happy Hour TRULY international was the appearance of Tolga Mahlke (Elephant Boy’s Driver, 2000), fresh off the plane from Germany to visit his honey, Kathy Fox (Djenne & Segou, 1998-2000). All in all, a good start for the San Francisco Friends of Mali. "
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New York City, New York
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London, England
Vanessa Cesarz: Cheers from London! The FOM Happy Hour was a success (if you judge success by how many 'Friends' we made who were forced to listen to stories about Mali)!! It was, as expected, me, Jon and Chad, but we had a surprise visit from RPCV Elisa from Niger, (who, coincidentally, wrote meÊa letter before she got her assignment - we had a mutual friend at Brown) - so the world got even smaller. We promised she could join us at our next tidadegana night... Many, many beers were had, followed by shawarmaÊto top off the night. Belgian beer wasn't quite the same as Castel, but i'd say we were prettyÊhappy anyway!
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Washington, DC
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Denver, Colorado
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Austin, Texas
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Boston, Massachussetts
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Seattle, Washington
Teresa Kuklinski (Mopti Region '95-'97) and Diana Vinh (Sikasso Region '84-'86) met at Diana's house for snacks and drinks (and impromptu Cantonese singing by Diana's 3 children). They had a good time talking and planning future Seattle Mali RPCV get togethers. They've also figured out how to corner the local market in Heremugu powder and Solibras to ensure that the parties are good ones.
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Tahoe City, California
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