Homestay

So, I've been in Mali for about 2 weeks now but I have got to say, it feels like so much longer. Our days are full with training sessions from breakfast til dinner, so we haven't had much free time.

After leaving Boston, I spent 2 days in Philadelphia with the other 80 or so trainees talking about safety, cultural integration...nothing too exciting. We arrived in Bamako and spent a few days in training sessions at the Peace Corps training center outside of Bamako. The training center is pretty nice by Malian standards, with electricity, running water, and even ceiling fans in our mud huts! Then we were divided up into different homestay villages, all of which are fairly close to Bamako. I live in a village of about 6000 people, fairly compact but with no running water or electricity. Adjusting to this lifestyle is less of a big deal than I thought it would be; adjusting to differences in culture and language is less easy.

I live in a compound with about 15 other people near the center of my village. My family is really great and they are doing a lot to make me feel welcome. My host father and one of my sisters speak French, which helps a lot, since my communication abilities in Bambara (the local language) are quite limited. I spend every day (even weekends) with the other 7 volunteers in my village and our teachers, doing Bambara and Malian cultural training. Our classes are held under a mango tree next to a house belonging to a village family. It's nice having class outside, and funny when donkeys/horses/chickens/goats distract us by running by. People in the village tend to stare at us a lot, but are very friendly, especially when we greet them in Bambara! Children scream "Toubabu!!" at us incessantly (actually means "French person" but has come to mean any "white person") , and run after us to shake our hands. Now that they are learning our Malian names (mine is Sianwa), they yell those instead. Walking through the village was at first really overwhelming, but has gotten better as people get used to seeing us. However, there are still those groups of children for whom I think I will always be a novelty.

Before coming to Mali, I was really worried about things like mosquitoes, spiders and snakes. Now that I'm here, I realize that the worst animals are actually flies and roosters. The flies are everywhere...no one bothers trying to kill them or even brush them off themselves because it's hopeless. I had this notion that roosters would crow once around sunrise, and then stop. In fact, they start around 3:30 and do not stop their incredibly, incredibly loud crowing until much later.

That's all for now...I'm going to try and post pictures in another post but the internet here isn't that great so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get them to load.