Leaving Tubaniso

So I've been in Tubaniso the past 2 weeks doing technical training. The first week just volunteers. the second week our homologues joined us. We learned about family planning, pre and post natal consultations, malnutritioin and programs available to help malnourished children, we had some more malaria training and food security. One of Mali's goals is food security. How to make sure that food is available to all families, all year round and at an affordable price. After our homologues got here we had training on how to get projects started, funded and make sure they are sustainable after we're gone. it was a touch week. Of course there was more Bambara being spoken then English...except amongst ourselves...which leaves me with an aching brain. I have enough time following in my own language. But it was educational and the homologues learned a lot. They learned how to do everything we learned to do so when we are gone they can replicate anything we've done on their own. It's a good plan.


We are leaving camp today. Most people are not going back to their site yet. There is a big get together in Manateli, the last place in Mali you can see hippos in the wild. There are beautiful lakes and an amazing damn. they are staying until after the 4th. I'm not going. I heard it's pretty much a drunk, orgy fest. If this had been the early 80s I'd be all over it, but i'm way to old for that kind of partying. Me and the other volunteers I was at homestay, Muntugula, with are going back to see our host families. You may be saying, "I thought you hated them?!" I did for a while and I didn't for a while, but when all was said and done i was sad to leave. Also, everyone else from that site is going and my family would feel really bad if they were the only ones not to get a visit from their volunteer. I don't want to leave that bad feeling with them. So we are getting on a shuttle in a little while. They will drop us on the main road. We will need to figure out how to get ourselves and all our luggage 7k down the dirt road to the village on our own. Maybe a bush taxi. Maybe a donkey cart. I guess we'll figure it out when we get there. We're going to spend the night. Then tomorrow I will head to Bamako, then to Bougouni for a night or two. I'm not ready to go back to site yet. Then maybe Thursday I will head back. I'm not sure if i'm going to do anything for the fourth yet that doesn't involve sex and alcohol. A bunch of volunteers that don't want to be part of the big festivities may go to Sikasso. Several volunteers live there. There is shopping to be done and waterfalls to be seen. I haven't been yet. I hear the traveling to Sikasso is a bitch. It's only 150K but it can take 4-5 hours due to poor roads. At some point I have to stop being a baby about traveling (it makes me very anxious...especially since I have such poor language skills), put on my big girl panties, take a Dramamine and get out there and start traveling around Mali. There are a few places that are on my list of must sees and since I never plan on coming back to West Africa again I better see them while I can. We can't go swimming in the falls, shistos and all, but I hear there quite a hike to get to the top and they are pretty to look at.

Rainy season is here. If it's not raining it feels like it's going to. I love the rain and the thunder and the lightning. Unfortunately as I mentioned before the rain brings on a whole other array of bugs and creatures. First their is the flies. You know how you can see a commercial on TV about starving children around the world and they always have flies on them. That's me!! The flies are relentless. They are always on your body somewhere or another. i'm constantly moving my arms and legs, as is everyone else, to keep them off of me. They are also eating some volunteers. If you have any kind of scrape or scratched mosquito bite...any open skin...they find it and swarm to it. They have sticky tongues, so they will lick, lick, lick at the scratch until before you know it you have a huge, gaping, open sore. Not nice. The medical staff and some volunteers have told us horror stories about stuff like that and how dangerous it is to get a cut or wound during rainy season. As if it isn't hard enough to get cuts to heal regularly here, it's even worse in rainy season. And then with the mud and the sludge of fecal matter floating around it leaves you with a open door to infections of the worst kind. There was a volunteer that accidently cut her toe nail to short and made it bleed a little. Within a month the infection had gotten so bad she had to have her nail removed at the Bamako Hospital. I've seen how they clean their medical tools. I don't want to have an eyelash removed from my cheek no less have a toe nail removed. Ahhhh Africa.

Then there are the flying termites. Apparently the night after it rains swarms of termites take to the air. i think I've mentioned this before. One time I thought it was raining because I could here the pinging of what I thought was rain off of my tin roof...it was termites. What they do is swarm, get into everything...you hair, mouth, eyes, down your shirt, up your skirt, in your house...then they drop their wings and die. Quite the process.

This is pils of wings in the nyegen.  A few minutes ago these were flying termites.  Now...just wings.

Piles of wings.

In the meantime, my hair is beautiful. The humidity and the laundry soap that I use to wash with has done wonders for my locks. I will defnitely have to live some place humid when I come home!! NY here I come.

Bamako doctors

I went to Bamako today to visit the the Ear, nose and throat doctor.  He looked in my ears with a contraption that has to be  years old.  Just a big, chrome disk with a light buld in the middle that send light relecting out.  Then a reusable chrome funnel thing that he held in my ear.  I like to think he washes that in between patients.  I know they don't sterilize anything here...for the most part.  Dr. Dawn told him my story.  I wanted to tell him that I have 2 siblings that have Tinnitus presenting itself as a ringing in their ear.  I am on blood pressure medicine and other pills both of which can cause Tinnitus.  But apparently they don't need any kind of history to make a diagnosis.  He said it could be Tinnitus but he would like me to come back tomorrow to have my hearing checked.  Then gave me a prescription for drops saying that it could be caused by inflammed blood vessels in my ear/ear drum.  Dr. Dawn isn't going to fill the prescription just yet.  She wants to run the diagnosis and request for meds past Washington DC.  But I am going tomorrow for the hearing test.

Vistor from the states...soon!

June 18


Doctor Dawn, Malian PC staff, called me today. Washington would like me to see a local Bamako ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor) as long as I’m in the neighborhood. I guess that’s a good thing although I feel like an idiot going to the doctor with a fluttering bug like noise in my head. It sounds just ridiculous to say it. And knowing now that if it Tinnitus there’s nothing they can do about it. But better to be safe than sorry, that’s the PC policy. So I am scheduled to go Monday afternoon. Stand by for results.

*I have a wonderful friend that was in the Peace Corps several years ago in Mozambique. Since then she has worked in the states for Americorps at the Red Cross, which is where we met, and now she is doing her second PC Response trip. PC Response is when you go into a developing country for a specific short term need. She went last year to Brazil for 3 weeks…adding another 3 weeks for vacation time. Yesterday she left the states for 2 months in Ghana. Ghana just happens to be 2 small countries away from Mali. She has added 4 weeks onto this trip to travel and hopefully, inshallah (god willing…I know funny coming from me), be in Mali around September 1st or 2nd to visit and travel with me for a week or so. I wasn’t sure I was going to get to do any traveling around Mali. The trips that the whole group goes on all together seem to daunting for me. They wind up turning in to big drunk, orgy fests…from what I heard. I have no desire to participate in that. And to travel alone…the buses and the time it takes to get around does not sound appealing. That being said there are a couple of places I really do want to see. So I am going for it. I will plan to meet her in Bamako, or Segou depending on what I figure out in between now and then. Then we will spend some time in Segou, head to Mopti which is the home to Djenne (pronounced Jenny) the home of the largest mud structure in the world, a mosque. And from there check out Dogon Country. Where the cliff dwellers used to use. Also, one of the few (or was it one of the two) places on earth where you can see the actual curve of the earth as you look from the cliffs down onto the desert. Regardless of how much I am dreading getting on a bus for 10 hours at a time I am actually looking forward to her visit and traveling a little. If I can survive with these bugs, creatures, frogs and rain until she gets here.

hummmmmmmmmmm...buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*So about 5 weeks ago I was trying to fall asleep and I felt/heard what seemed to be a fly or another unknown entity flying in and around my ear. It scared the shit out of me. I jumped up and with my finger in my ear started to dig around to make sure whatever it was didn’t go in my ear. Then I started to think it was something inside my pillow. So I beat my pillow half to death and threw it out of my bug hut. After I was finally finished freaking out I went to sleep. The next night, the same thing happened but 3 times. Then next night again, and again. Now it is 5 weeks later. I haven’t gotten used to whatever this noise is…a buzz, humming, vibration sound. Some nights it only happens once, some nights 3 times…the other night it happened every time I laid my head down. I sat up crying until 3:30 in the morning when I could no longer keep my head up or my eyes open.


For a while I started to think there was something actually living in my ear. I don’t know what, but something. Then I started to think that the mefloquine(malaria prophylaxis) was making me hallucinate. One of the many side effects, including but not limited to anxiety and paranoia. I told my brother about this and he assured me that it was probably something burrowing into my head. Asshole!! So now I think about that. I have realized that it doesn’t only happen at night. I have heard it during the day but not very often. I think it probably happens just as much but with all the other daytime noises and people talking and me talking it drowns out the noise. I also found that if I sleep with my ear buds in and my MP3 on very low it will usually drowned it out as well. Enough that I can fall asleep. I don’t like sleeping with the ear buds in though.

Knowing that I would be at Tubaniso I decided to wait to contact the doctor. May as well do it while I’m here right? So two days into our stay I talked to Robin, the new doctor on staff. I told her what was happening. She kind of giggled when I told her that I, more than anything else, just want to confirm that there is nothing living or burrowing in my ear or head. She looked in my ear and confirmed that nothing was in there. She also reassured me, and I thought of this as well, that even if something was living in there it would have been dead after 5 weeks. She checked my hearing…all is well. And then we discussed what it could be. Her diagnosis is that it could be Tinnitus. Tinnitus usually presents itself as a ringing in the ear, but after checking it out on the internet it could also be a humming or buzzing or whooshing sound. She said this diagnosis has it pros and cons. The pros, it’s nice to have a diagnosis opposed to not knowing what it is. The cons, there is nothing they can do about it. It may or may not ever go away. My brother and my oldest sister both have Tinnitus and have had it, ringing in the ears, for years.

It can be brought on by taking certain medications, Ibuprofen, aspirin, caffeine. It can also be brought on by certain conditions…such as high blood pressure…which I have. But the doctor said it would be really, really dangerously high blood pressure that would bring it on. Not my little bitty 155/95 blood pressure…which is only that high probably because I’m freaking out about the bugs in my head…and I stopped taking my medication. My doctor in San Diego said that my blood pressure could have been caused by my extreme obese (LOL) weight. So if I lost weight I could wean myself off and see what happens. My blood pressure was 104/62, 120/75…pretty frickin low. So I stopped taking my pills about 1 month ago. Kept monitoring my blood pressure and it hadn’t gone up until now. Needless to say I’m back on them now. In the meantime, the doctor said she would consult the other doctors on staff and also consult Washington DC doctors. Protocol don’t ya know.

Father's day...not in Mali though.

June 19


This morning, after a week of sector classes, we had a field trip for shopping into Bamako. I went with a group to the tubob store where they sell normal people stuff…stuff you can’t get anywhere else in Mali. Olive oil, good vinegar, cans of beans and corn, popcorn (god I miss good popcorn), CHEESE…no such thing as cheese outside the tubob store. Whatever you get you have to eat that day though without having a place to store it. Except for laughing cow cheese. You know which cheese I’m talking about. It comes in a round shaped cardboard disk. When you open it there is eight wedges of individually foil wrapped cheese…cheese like product. It is a processed product much like Velveeta. Not real cheese so it doesn’t need refrigeration. It amazing what you come to appreciate when there is nothing else. They even had a butcher. I don’t buy uncooked meat here and I’m leery even about the already cooked stuff. I am damn near a vegetarian. If you saw the uncooked stuff in market you wouldn’t eat it either. It is covered entirely in flies. And I just learned, that the meat that has no flies on it is even worse. It doesn’t have flies on it because the meat vendor sprays it with insecticides to keep the flies off of it. I guess they think that the poison is better for you than the fly mung.

After the tubob store we had a nice lunch at the restaurant next door and then back to Tubaniso. Today is the day our homologues are coming. I didn’t want to stay out too long just in case my homologue got their early. I actually miss the guy. I took another shower (I average about 3 a day) and then went to the refectoire to look to see if Solomane was here yet. And he was. Glad I didn’t stay longer. He gave me a big hug, which is unusual for Malians, and we went through the usual greeting process. It was nice. We “talked” for about 2 hours then had dinner. I am now back in my hut. I like to read for an hour or so and then maybe watch an hour of TV or a movie that I have on my external hard drive. It makes it easier to sleep if I cool off in my room for a little while before even trying to fall asleep. Tonight it is really hot and humid. I felt a few sprinkles earlier but nothing yet. Usually there is wind and thunder and lightning right before it rains. We’re getting nothing! It will stay sticky all night I’m afraid.

I just heard a terrible scream coming from the hut next door. I can only imagine what happened. A tarantella, a locust, millipede, or lord knows some unidentified creature. All I can hear is someone yelling “what is that?”….”where the f#&K is it?”. I want to know and yet I don’t, Some things are better left a mystery.

Happy Birthday Joshua

June 12, 2011


Today is Joshua’s 21st birthday. I have never missed one of the boys birthdays in 21 years…until now. I am feeling very far away from home. Very alone. Very sad.

I haven’t written in a while. I guess there wasn’t much to say. I stay at my home site every day, trying to learn bambara but not feeling like I’m improving much. I go every Sunday to Bougouni, my banking town, where I have electricity, the internet and somewhat running water. I spend the day and night calling the boys and family and a few friends, spend the night, go in the morning to the market to buy whatever fresh produce they are selling and then head back home again. Luckily I usually get a bus in a timely manner and it’s only a 40-45 minute bus ride. A cinch compared to some PCVs commutes. Today I left my village for 2 weeks though. My stage (staje) is meeting back in Tubaniso (PC camp) for some intense sector training (health or small business or environment depending on what you were sent here to do). We will have a week just with PCVs and then our homologues (counterparts) will come in from village and meet us and we will all train together for another week. That is always more difficult than it sounds. Everything is done in English, then bambara, as well as some of the minority languages. It’s exhausting.

We are moving out of hot season and into rainy season. So although the temperature has gone down as much as 15 to 20 degrees the humidity is so high…all the time…that it doesn’t feel any cooler. You can take a shower, but you just keep right on sweating. When it actually rains it cools off a lot. I almost had to think about putting my sheet over me last night. It rained, thundered and lightninged most of the day…on and off. It had been threatening to rain for the past 2 days. The sky was dark, it looked like and felt like it would rain any day now, but nothing. Just hot, stifling air. But when it finally did rain, what a relief. It was great. It seems that after the sunsets the day after it rains termites come out in droves. So tonight, the termites are out, which in turn brings out the frogs and other ungodly creatures. Of course the termites are attracted to the lights, and there are lights on after dark at the showers and bathrooms. There must have been a million, no exaggeration, termites in the bathroom. I peed behind my hut in the dark where the termites were not. They do the very strange thing of shedding their wings. I don’t know why, what brings it on or what happens to them after their wings come off. But not only was the bathroom soaring with flying termites, the ones without wings were walking all over the place and the wings are all over in piles. Very interesting. I might have to read up on that.

My last thoughts from the US...for 27 months

Another one not posted...

Today will be my last day in the US for 27 months.  The last day I could take a nice, long, hot shower.  The last day I'll sleep in a big comfy bed...with multiple pillows.  The last day I will just lounge around watching TV.  The last day I can pick up a phone or a computer and get access to whomever or whatever without having to think about it or hassle with it.  The last day I can, easily, run away screaming and head back home.  Today was the last day to see one last more American pre-Peace Corps friend before I leave.

Don Scott...my first manager when I started working at the Red Cross a few years back.  He moved to DC about a year or so ago.  He came to the hotel and took me to breakfast before he went to work.  It was real nice to see him again.  And again, the last friend I will see in the US for 27 months.

Now I'm back in my room.  Last minute checking around to make sure I didn't forget anything.  We have to meet down in the bar area at 12.  Big, giant, heavy luggage in tow.  At 1 we will get on a bus to go get our shot. Only one...yellowfever. When we're done with clinic at about 4 we'll head over to the airport. It's going to take about an hour to get there. Then we get to wait for 4 hours to board the plane. Then Paris here we come. OMG. I don't know at what point this will becomes real.  I just keep going where they tell me to go and doing what they tell me to do. Like a robot. Maybe when I get off the plane in Mali at 9pm and the hot air hits me will I realize "I'm going to Africa".

Apparently I'm not leaving on a jet plane...yet!!

Apparently I never posted this...day late and dollar short.  Story of my life.  This was from January 30th.

I’ve been at San Diego airport since 6am. My flight is at 7:30. Randy drove with Loreen and my two boys in tow. Can’t be seen off without my boys. As it turns out I have to pay for my bags. From what I understand PC will reimburse for this. BUT they will not pay for over weight limit charges. Although PC said a total of 80 pounds AAs weight limit is 50 pounds per suitcase. I have one suitcase that is 53 pounds and the other is 54. Opposed to charging me for both bags she let me move stuff around so I would have one bag at 50 pounds and one at 57. So Josh and I took care of that in a minute. Exactly 50 & 57. The extra weight cost me another $60!! Who knew. But what I am going to do. There’s nothing in there I don’t need. Of course I say that now…we’ll see how much I am bringing with me that I don’t need, want or will ever use. I tried to pack as smartly as I could…but we’ll see.


Then we went to have some breakfast. I didn’t eat much, shared a burrito with Jarrod. And then the time came...time to say goodbye. There was crying and sobbing (my oldest son is quite a drama king) and the saying of nice things. I love you so much, I’m going to miss you more than you will ever know. I don’t know what I would have done without you guys in my life. As I waited on thankfully was a very short security line, they all stood there crying and waving and not wanting to make the final parting of the ways. But when I finally left out of site they left as well.

Almost made it through security without a glitch. Just as I was putting my shoes on, they grabbed my backpack to put through the scanner again. Stupid, stupid scanner. There is something in there that is unidentifiable. They moved me over to the check desk and will have to go through it by hand. My brother gave me a water filter and apparently no one has seen one of these things before. I only put it in my carry on because it is the one thing I would hate for anything to happen to it. Clean water will be crucial on this trip. Finally I get cleared, just a short walk to my gate and…WAALAA…my plane is starting to roll. WAIT…WHAT??? It’s 7:21 and the flight time is 7:30. WTF…it’s not supposed to leave for another 9 minutes. How can this be. So I frantically (still crying mind you) ask the clerk at the next desk what’s going on. My flight is scheduled to leave at 7:30 and it’s already pushing away. Yes, she says, you are supposed to be at the gate 10 minutes prior to departure. OK…I get that…but you LEAVE EARLY??? Who does that. What form of transportation EVER leaves early. When you a running a system that is as precise as a train, or..i don’t know…A FRIGGIN PLANE, how do you just take off early!!?? Where are my bags?. Oh they’re still on the plane. They will be waiting for you in DC. Really? Seriously? It used to be that if bags were checked in but the person whose bags they were didn’t show up for the flight they would pull the bags. OMG…you have got to be kidding me. And they may have left 10 minutes prior but they had already given away my seat, everyone’s belted in and they did their “safety” checks. All in 1 minute. I think not. They gave my seat away 20 minutes before take off time.

Finally I am underway after waiting so long and working so hard. Finally something to really blog about, orientation, the traveling, the new people I will be meeting. All squashed because the plane, which they never usually even leave on time, left 9 minutes early. What a way to finally begin Clare’s Peace Corps Adventures!!

And they have you by the balls. I can’t say “screw it I’ll drive”, or “I’ll take the train”. Now on stand-by for the 8:30 flight.

Not so much…well…maybe 9:35.

Nope, not 9:35. Still overbooked. Maybe 10:50. Only consolation, there is a beautiful Haitian man in the same boat/plane, or lack thereof, as me. So we are moving from gate to gate together, chatting it up and making the best of a bad situation. My new BFF.

So if I don’t make the 10:50, there’s another flight at noon, then another flight at 12:50 and so on. Worst case scenario, I get a red eye getting into Dulles at 1am. There’s plenty of seats on that flight. Well of course there is.

The 10:50…NOPE. Next possible flight to DC is at 12:06 thru Chicago instead of Dallas, getting into DC at midnight.

So here I am sitting in O’hare airport in Chicago. 7:30pm local time and my flight doesn’t leave for another hour and 20 minutes. I realized I hadn’t eaten since my couple of bites of burrito at 7am. I never eat fast food, but I gotta tell you the chicken snack wrap from McDonald’s is a tasty little sandwich. I didn’t get to say goodbye to my BFF.

Made some phone calls to let everyone know my status, texted a bit including calling my friend John whom I haven’t seen in 4 years that was going to pick me up in DC at 5 and hang out with me for a while to let him know what’s up. Hopefully I will get to see him tomorrow. Life does not go as planned does it. Bummer. Thankfully I was already getting in a whole day in advance. I have plenty of time to get a good night sleep and make it to orientation by noon tomorrow. Maybe I’ll study some Bambara while I wait.

I didn’t study Bambara. I was falling asleep waiting. But I got on the plane, had an uneventful flight to DC and landed at midnight. The airlines actually had my bags waiting for me in a locked room. I don’t know what I would’ve done if my bags weren’t there. I probably would’ve just thrown my hands up and went home. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. There were shuttles just sitting there waiting to take people to their hotel destinations. I got right on, after the supervisor chatted me up and gave me his number so he could entertain me while I was in town, and they took me right to my hotel. On $14. Nice!! Got my room and all I kept thinking is I need to pee, get on my PJs, get on Skype to talk to the boys and get a good nights sleep. This day is over. Nothing else could go wrong, right? WRONG!! I get to my door and the room key is not working. Put the card in and tried again, and one more time before I punched the door and without caring who heard me yelled some profanities…just as someone opened the door on the other side. I let out a little shriek. Was totally not expecting that. I kind of assumed they were going to room us with other volunteers but they never mentioned it. I was a little surprised to say the least. Of course she was already in bed. It was 1am by now. I went downstairs to the lobby, outside in 26 degree temperatures and called my brother to let him know I was there, my sister and the boys. Took a shower and went to bed. Which is what I really needed to do but I wanted to go through my suitcases and adjust stuff, I was going to study some Bambara (yeah right) and watch a little TV. It’s my last 2 nights of being able to watch TV for a very long time. I wanted to get on my computer, check in with everyone. Say goodbye one more time. Oh well, I guess nothing else can go wrong, right? WRONG!! I wake up in the morning and my roomie says, “I didn’t keep you up all night did I?” Nope…slept like a baby. “Because” she says, “I was up all night I think I have the flu.” Are you frickin kidding me. I felt bad for her, but my first thought is “I’ve been waiting a long time for this. You can’t get me sick now.”

So she missed orientation today, had to go to the doctors and slept most of the day. By the time I checked on her she assured me that she had not thrown up recently. So that was a good sign. She had no fever so that was a good sign. They will determine tomorrow if she is well enough to get the yellow fever shot we need before we take off. If so, then she can go. If not…looks like all her packing and planning was for nothing. What a bummer that would be. I got my own room.

Never trust a fart

*Last week food poisoning, this week Giardia. What’s on the agenda for next week Africa. Malaria…death!! Bring it!!


Here’s a helpful hint that wasn’t in our Wellness Handbook…if you ever get Giardia don't get too comfortable and close your eyes. And NEVER, NEVER fall asleep.  That’s a mistake you only make once. Here’s the helpful hint they did put in the handbook…”Prevention, avoid contaminated food and water.” Really??

Whatis giardia you ask:
Giardiasis is an infection of the small intestine caused by a microscopic organism (protozoa), Giardia lamblia.
Giardiasis outbreaks can occur in communities in both developed and developing countries where water supplies become contaminated with raw sewage.
It can be contracted by drinking water from lakes or streams where water-dwelling animals such as beavers and muskrats, or domestic animals such as sheep, have caused contamination. It is also spread by direct person-to-person contact, which has caused outbreaks in institutions such as day care centers.
Travelers are at risk for giardiasis throughout the world. Campers and hikers are at risk if they drink untreated water from streams and lakes. Other risk factors include:

Symptoms
Abdominal pain
Diarrhea
Gas or bloating (along with the most gasious smells you could ever imagine...I didn't know the human 
         body was capable of such things)
Headache
Loss of appetite
Low-grade fever
Nausea
Swollen or distended abdomen
Vomiting

Random stuff

*Most of the time I don’t let anyone in my house. When they do squeeze their way by me when I open the door they check out all my stuff and ask, ‘what is this, what is that’. I don’t have the language skills so I can’t tell them. The other day my jatigi muso (host family wife) who is 19 years old squeezed in. She saw my bottle of body lotion and asked what it was. I motioned putting it on my skin. She asked if it was “tulu” which is actually oil. They make tulu out of shea nuts. They also use the same to make butter that you can either cook with or use as lotion or use on your hair. So I said yes. She was still curious. So I squirted some into her hand. She diligently put her finger in it and before I could stop her it went right into her mouth. Oopsy. I guess I should have mentioned you can’t eat it.


*I got my first care package from home. Bonnie, you are the best. It had tuna fish, good seasons salad dressing mix packets, some pasta, some lights with batteries and a huge package of Oreo cookies. I was so excited to receive these things I can’t tell you. The other volunteers that were at the transit house with me when I opened my package insisted I open the Oreos…right away!! I shared a couple of the sleeves but had all intentions on bringing the rest back to site. When I got home I opened another sleeve so I could share it with my neighbors. They have never seen an Oreo before yet as soon as I handed one to my jatigi muso the first thing she did was twist the two cookies apart and lick out the stuffing.