The Honeymoon is definitely over...

I am back at Camp Peace Corps again! I was a little worried for a while because apparently a few days ago lighting hit the server, and knocked out the internet? So no blog, no emails, no nothing. But the good people here have fixed it and I am writing again.

I guess there is so much to report that I don’t even know where to start. The “honeymoon” part of our cultural adaptation is definitely over, and people are starting to struggle a little bit (including myself). I actually don’t have much to really complain about, although I feel more than a little lost. I mean, the culture is very different, the language is completely unlike the ones I know and I am hardly an expert in my field. But I am trying to keep a very positive outlook on it all, and remind myself every day of the small victories. At least the mangoes are really good. If nothing else, I have to stay until mango season next year, when apparently there are just hundreds falling off the trees.

I will go a little more in-depth into my home stay family and how it works. I am with five other people in a small village, not too far from other villages with other volunteers but definitely far from Tubani So. I, like every other volunteer here, have been given a Malian name that may or may not change when I move to site permanently: Mamine Sangare. I think it has a nice roll to it; I hope I keep my first name at least. So to Malians I am now Mamine. I have my own room in my family’s house, which is really nice by Malian standards. I eat pretty well, and don’t have much complaints about the food (at the very least, it is not making me sick). The Malian family structure, on the other hand, is kicking my ass. For starters, Malian families are very large and therefore complex; Muslim men here can take up to four wives, and children often don’t live with their parents but with other relatives, for a variety of reasons. My host father has three wives, but only one of which (I think) lives with us; the other two live in other villages. And he has ten children, of which only half live with us also. There is also the oldest son and his family living in the compound with us, as well as my host father’s brother and his family. So there are lots of kids running around, and I am really just very confused about it all. I am mostly watched over and taken care of by my 19 year old host brother, who is the only one who really speaks French. My days are mostly taken up by meals and school, with free time in the afternoon and evenings where I get to hang out with my fellow volunteers or play with my family. It’s sort of strange in a way because I don’t feel like I’m progressing very much, but I know that I must be learning a great deal about Mali subconsciously. But donni-donni, as they say. Everything very slowly.

I don’t think I’ve had a lot of “culture shock” as they keep telling us. Again, perhaps the coming from a developing country helps? It is a little like those articles and documentaries you see on National Geographic, with dirt roads and corn fields, women with babies on their backs, more naked babies running around, and plenty of donkeys and chickens running circles around everyone. Of course its not EXACTLY like that either. I think I will have to take lots of pictures to show, because its hard to explain without going into tons and tons of detail. So I hope I shall have that for you all soon. Anyways, keep the emails coming and I promise I will try to write back to you all shortly!

Reporting from homestay...

Success! It took a while but I have found (or rather my teammates did) an internet cafe about an hour or so from my house. Things are going well here in my little village; Im with 5 other people learning Bambara and about life in Mali. I like my homestay family and I think they like me; they feed me well at least. And except for a short bout of sickness the first day no major problems whatsoever, although the mosquitoes are eating me alive. Anyway just writing to prove Im still alive and I will try to respond to everyones emails soon! Miss you all

Homestay Day!

So today we are off to stay with our homestay families, where we will mostly be living the next two months. I don't know what the internet situation is like out there, so I might not be on for the next 2 weeks (just so you all know). HOWEVER, I have gotten a cellphone. In all honesty, I have no money yet to buy credit, so I can't call anyone, and I'm not sure how much it costs to call me. Furthermore, I probably won't answer most of the time because we have lessons from early in the morning til early evening, whereas I then have dinner and spend time with my host family, so the only time to talk is probably nighttime for me. Anyway, keeping all that in mind... to call me you dial 011-223-478-0069. I think thats right (at least the last 7 digits). We are 4 hours ahead of the East Coast and 7 from the West. Thats the latest update, hope to hear or read from some of you soon!

I ni su from Mali!

Don't get too many expectations from the frequent postings, please; after the next two months this blog will be updated very infrequently. With that in mind.... Things are looking very good here in Mali land! I am enjoying nearly everything so far: the people, the food, the living. The only thing that really bothered me today was our "diversity and cultural stereotypes" training. Now I don't know about all of you (and I especially mean you Oxy alum out there) but I am tired of the cultural diversity workshops, no matter that they take place in Mali. But other than that, and LOTS of flies everywhere, I am enjoying everything. Even the going over a little hole (and you wouldn't BELIEVE how many flies are in there).

I've also started learning the major language here, Bambara. So far its not too hard. It doesn't have a complicated accent like French does, but rather a nice rolling off the tongue feeling. Right now it's mostly about repetition and memorization, which I am rather failing at. However, I do practice with whom ever I can: security guards, the cooks, the teachers, etc. Its actually really encouraging that they all get very happy and supportive every time you try to speak to them in Bambara, no matter that I can't get past the simple "Good day, how are you, how is your family, what is your name?" bit. I have high hopes for myself though. I practice a little French when I can too, although I am unsure as to whether I will be getting a great deal of French education because my main language will most likely be Bambara. Certain readers will be glad to know thatI still make up French words using my Spanish whenever I don't know the real French words. So far no one has called me on it.

What else... although it is the rainy season, supposedly, it is still pretty hot. It poured two nights ago, and then nothing much has happened since. I was rather hoping it would be like the rainy season back at home, but it appears that rainfall is much more sporadic here. Which makes smelling bad an issue, which makes water scarcity an issue. I don't think any of us smell too badly yet, but it'll come.

I guess there are a million things I could go on about, but it would take forever and I'd rather hear what you want to know about.... so send me an email or make a comment here on the blog, and I will try to oblige. Much love from Mali!

First Day....

So here I am in Mali, as you all know by now. I really like it so far- there are about 77 volunteers serving altogether, and all living together for now in the training center. I haven't met everyone yet but people I have seem to be very intelligent, very cool... I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone over the next two years. In a way it seems almost like summer camp: everyone gets up all together, has breakfast in the dining hall, has classes, lunch, classes, dinner, fun evening activities. However, this is the first day, after all, and I'm pretty sure it's going to get a lot more stressful.

About the country though... I like it (the 24 hours I've been here). In some ways it reminds me of Mexico, which is good and bad, I guess. The people are very friendly, which is great. I am sharing a little hut with two other women, which makes it a little crowded, but we all move to temporary host families next week. Right now the worst thing we have to fear is diarrhea... ah well. No crazy animals yet, which makes me very sad. So far I don't know where I will be put permanently, but I will keep you all updated!

Philadelphia!!

It's finally happened! All that planning and packing and over-packing and saying good-bye has led up to this point, sorta: orientation in Philly! So I have just finished my first day here, and it has gone pretty well. I have met lots of cool people already and have learned that orientation workshops everywhere are really, really boring, no matter where you're going. But, I am starting to get excited again, and am looking forward to really bonding with my fellow Volunteers and fly over to Mali and begin this little adventure.

There isn't really that much to tell (its only the first day) but I will say this: its a really, really small world we live in. I had found out that a girl I'd known from studying abroad in Belgium together was going to Niger the same time as me; we've already met up today and caught up a little on what we've been up to the last two years. But even crazier than that was this guy in my group coming up to me and asking me if I had been at the American Middle School in Mexico City! Turns out that he and I had been in the same class in middle school, before he left after 8th grade. We have not seen or heard about each other in ten years, but, somehow, someway, we end up together in the same Peace Corps group heading out to Mali. Now I really do feel like singing the Its A Small World theme song.

Pre-departure Jitters

Sitting at home, trying to get my thoughts together, and my stuff. How do you prepare to leave for two years?