The Policeman

1/11 Bamako

Today started off well again, with a lovely walk to the sotrama, and fairly interesting classes. Dragoess brought in one of the actors from the movie we saw yesterday to talk to us which was really cool. Lunch, though, is when things got really interesting. I was walking back from the fast food place alone, and the driver of a car that’s going by sticks his head out of the window and starts talking to me. He then proceeds to pull over, in front of me, and hard core hit on me. He was a police office too, which made the whole thing that much stranger. He asked for my number, and stupidly, I gave it to him. He’s definitely having no further contact from me though. I just don’t know how to say no without being rude. We went to a conference on Segou after that, at a super nice hotel, which was cool. Then dance practice, where I played the djembe for the first time. When I was walking home, I had a bit of a scare because it was dark, and I was still thinking of the police officer who stopped his car to talk to me. A truck zoomed by me, then stopped and started backing up. I was thinking “Oh man, I’m just going to keep walking.” But it turned out to be Youssouf and the driver, so all was good. I texted Moussa for a while after I got home, which was interesting. I still don’t know what his motivations are, but hopefully they’re good. I’m supposed to text him when I’m on my way home so we can hang out. I established I’m only looking for friendship, but it makes me a little nervous, all the same, and for reasonable reasons, I’d say. I also with baby Tamani for a bit tonight, which was lots of fun. She’s adorable!

That police officer was probably the most interesting way I got asked for my phone number on the trip. Getting propositioned on the street, by a policeman was definitely not something I expected coming in to the trip. Not this exact situation, but this was not the only time police flirted with us. It's interesting going to a place like Mali where the police do things like that. I can't really imagine that happening in the US.