Two Days til Swear-In!!!

We will all officially be Peace Corps Volunteers in less than 48 hours! We are all very excited about it here at Tubani-So. There may be some discussion as to whether people are looking forward to the actual swear-in at the American embassy, or the massive, non-stop party following that. I leave it to you to decide.

Anyway, we have been here since Sunday, mostly in meetings (per usual here) but taking a few exams to prove we are actually ready to graduate. I had a half-hour conversation with a language trainer yesterday in Bambara, 5 minutes of which were spent explaining that I was actually born in Mexico, and no, thats Mexico the country and not New Mexico (this is the general reaction I get among Malians. I think I may be telling people I am born and raised in the US from now on. Sorry, guys). Anyway, I passed the exam after promising I would study hard and practice more, as if I had a choice. Then we had a written exam about general things involving Mali and our specific tech sectors and staying healthy in general; overall, I'm pretty sure that as a group we failed, mostly because of faulty writing on the test and poor information sessions. Most of us figure we'll pick it up as we go along; again, like we have another choice. There are more sessions today and tomorrow, but generally we are just drifting through until Friday. I will be wearing a beautiful Malian complet for the ceremony; wait for pictures. Saturday is my last day at Tubani So, and on Sunday morning I depart early with the rest of Team Kita for the Peace Corps stage house. We will be traveling public transportation, but, thank goodness, the Peace Corps is taking all of our luggage ahead for us, because I could definitely not handle 2 bags, a trunk, a mat and a couple buckets on my own. And yes, I've only been here 2 months. Monday is spent shopping for my compound, because right now it consists of 3 empty mud huts and I will be the very first person installed Tuesday morning. After that, the little Peace Corps SUV will drive off without me and I'll be left alone in my little village. If that sounds scary, well, welcome to my world. I am looking forward to getting to site, but also starting to get intimidated at the thought of being out on my own with little language skills, no direction and zero cell reception. However, I'll be back in Kita every few weeks, where I'll see my fellow volunteers and get in touch with the rest of the world, and that'll suffice. I will try to post again with all the details about the swear-in sometime this weekend though.