N Togo Sanaba Sacko

So!! I finally got back to some internet!! I will try to make this post in some sort of order but I feel like I have so much to say! Homestay has been amazing, we're in a really small village of about 400 people which has actually turned out to be the best thing that could have happened because everyone in the town knows us (there are 3 of us there) and they all want us to learn bambara so they make us stop and talk with them. And people don't point and shout tubabu (white person/foreigner) at us, which they definately do in the bigger cities. The people are fantastic, they are so funny, so so patient with us, and protect me like i'm their daughter. The other night one of the other girls got sick and we were waiting for the peace corps to come pick her up to bring her to the med unit in Bamako and the boys wouldnt go to bed until they came so that they could walk us back to our homes since it was after dark. And I could literally see my house from where we were sitting. But the boys all make sure that we have escorts everywhere. And they make sure I am eating enough and showering. I was playing soccer with the boys (they were a little too cool for school until I started to play with them and now they accept me, haha). After a little while, one of the boys who is like 10 made all the boys stop and take me home because it was time for me to shower. hahaha. My host family is so so enthusiastic. They absolutely love it when I can form sentences. They are so encouraging, and after dinner my host dad makes me come over to chat with him in bambara. Oh, which brings me to my bambara name!! I'm Sanaba Sacko, which everyone in the town knew even before I did. And whenever I talk in bambara my host dad is like AH SANABA! You can speak bambara (all in bambara of course, he speaks some random phrases in french but mostly only bambara.)

The hardest parts so far have been the frustrations with communication. It is so so tiring to always be on. I have to always be thinking about communicating and trying to communicate. I never thought it would be such a relief when I hear french. Its like I can finally speak in full sentences. My bambara is actually getting pretty good though, I told my host family all about my US family and what everyone does (minus the karate part because they didn't really get that but I got teacher across about my mom and dad, and they think that's great). They thought that the fact that tanna, danny, and I aren't married was like the funniest thing in the entire world. Women here get married around 16 and men get married around 20. But anyway, so that's difficult/tiring not being able to speak english. And it has been really tiring getting used to the diet, I was really low energy for a while because the lack of protein and stuff, but I my body is starting to get used to it now. And a bunch of people met up at a bar last week, so that was definitely a relief to see other americans.

So now I am back at the training site after 2 weeks at homestay. We find out our sites tomorrow, so everyone is nervous/anxious to find out. I am trying to put up pictures too but we'll see if that happens. I know I am missing things that I want to say, so I will probably post again tomorrow!!!

Camp Mali

So, camp Mali has been going excellently so far. I guess I should start from the beginning of getting off the plane on the runway, and finally stepping foot in Africa. The airport was craaaazy. But they had people to come help us and we got on the buses to go to our training site. (We fondly refer to it as Camp Mali because they totally take care of us completely. The food they have been cooking has been excellent, lots of sauces and they have these thin sugar cookies as snacks, which are excellent. Lucky for me I have been sweating out like 20 pounds a day. Hahaha. We had a cultural festival here, and they had traditional dancers and drummers, who were awesome!! And we got up there and danced with them. It was amazing, they were so encouraging and loved when we would break it down and dance with them. The Malian women are gorgeous. Like some of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. And they wear these elaborately tailored outfits made from all different colors that always match (along with matching their headscarf). So of course, I sit and stare at them all and gape. I bought some fabric so I am going to go to a tailor and have them make me some fun stuff. Malian people are hilarious. They have the BEST sense of humor and they all joke around with each other. They have this relationship called joking cousins where you are supposed to joke around with someone you meet who is from a different ethnic group, like playful making fun of each other, and that is what has kept the peace between ethnic groups for a long time. It is seriously the best system I have ever seen. It is so culturally ingrained that there are very few conflicts and if there are, the conflict must be resolved by a third party ethnic group. Anyyyway, back to first impressions. I feel like I have known everybody here for EVER. There are 77 of us but I guess being here we’ve all become fast friends. And we have been doing some intense training, which is funny because most of the training thus far is basically how to survive here. Treating water, food, how to stay clean, traveling methods, basic bambara (the largest native language), etc. And there is so much more to come. Tomorrow we go to our home stays (there are a few of us in local villages around our training site and we are there with two language/cultural trainers and that is where we do most of our learning). It is actually a great system to slowly integrate us into Malian life. It is weird being an extreme minority. I talked to some children, and greeted them in Bambara and their eyes popped out of their heads!! And then they responded in french, because apparently they assume all white people are French, which was good for me b/c I got to practice my French. Ok, this has been a long post, I will post again in a couple of weeks b/c I won’t have internet until then, and I will have pictures too.

Staging

So! It definitely seems like we have all been here much longer than 2 days!!! The time went fast, but I feel like I have known everyone for a while. And the amount of stuff we went over was pretty far ranging for the limited amount of time. And tomorrow we get on the plane to Paris and then Bamako!!! We really got everything out on the table; talked about our fears/reservations, what to expect, how to cope with certain situations, aspirations, goals, and basic getting to know our group. (Plus we went to see the liberty bell, and ate some really good food to store up for the next 2 years!!) There are 77 of us and we are joining 119 other volunteers in Mali now (half of which are starting to come home since their two years are ending). We're staying a couple of days in the training center and then moving to host villages until September when we move to our permanent posts!!! I am a group leader for traveling tomorrow, which is a little nerve-racking because I don't want to lose anybody, hahaha. But I'm sure it will be fine, and I am up for the challenge. After all, if we can't get ourselves through the airport and to Mali, I might start to question how we're going to last in country. I will probably have so so much more to report come thursday.

Setting Up This Blog

So, I can't really believe I am doing this...but danny suggested it, and well, I think it is probably a good idea, since I won't be able to e-mail everybody that I want to!!! Plus I can put up pictures and stuff, which sometimes get difficult to e-mail me. And, even better, everyone can post comments making fun of me for setting up a blog to begin with, since I stopped talking to a boy once because we discovered he had a blog (we fondly deemed him "blog-boy"). However, blog boy was blogging about his feelings and daily life, I will be blogging about Mali. So there. Anyway, I will try to post every once in a while some pictures, my current projects, and just general life in Mali!!