Site Visit Here I Come

So!! We found out our sites, I'm in the Sikasso region which is south eastern mali. It is supposed to have the best food in Mali (its all relative, hahaha). Speaking of food, i guess that one came up a lot, what I eat. Well, its a LOT of starches, potatoes, rice, millet, bread, macaroni. hahaha, its always exciting to get beans, meat, or veggies. Vegetables have to be bleached or totally cooked so they dont really give us many in homestay. Once I get to site I can cook for myself (well, eat things raw) and Sikasso has a lot of fruits and vegetables. My family gives me a lot of fish, which is awesome and sometimes chicken or mystery meat which I choose not to ask what it is. hahaha. My daily routine now is I wake up at around 6:30, take my bucket bath (which I actually love, its in an inclosed area with no roof and the walls are low enough so I look out over the sun rise or the sunset), greet everyone in my compound (greeting people in mali is realllllly important), my mom brings me bread with peanut butter and tea. Then I get an oatmeal like food. Then I go to class until 12, come back for lunch, sit around with my family, sometimes make tea (its this whole long amazing process that involves cool pouring techniques, which I have yet to master), then I go back to class until like 5, then come back, hang out, take another bucket bath, eat dinner around 8, then chat with the fam or make tea until I got to sleep. The latest I can stay up is like 9 o'clock. hahaha. We've actually had some good conversations too. I told them about how there are african americans, which they were really surprised about. The other night I told them how long it takes to get to mali from america and how you cant get directly there. They always think its funny when things are the same in america as they are here, like the fact that we can see the moon and have corn and goats, they think is hilarious. These conversations take place all in bambara, although sometimes if I'm lucky there is some french thrown in if someone is visiting. And the other night I walked past the boys who were watching TV (they don't really have electricity in my village but they have literally a car engine hooked up to a black and white television, and everyone in mali watches this brazilian soap opera that is dubbed in french) anyway, so it was in french, and I was like do you guys understand this? and they were all like yeah of course. And I was like WHY HAVENT YOU BEEN SPEAKING FRENCH TO ME THEN?!?! hahaha, they thought it was great, especially when I said that they know i cant speak bambara but they speak french but refused to speak french with me. haha. Ok, i'm trying to upload pictures but the internet here really sucks, so I will try again but no promises!!! And i will report back more after the next two weeks b/c we are going on our site visits so I will see where I am going to spend the next 2 years!!!