First Couple of Days

I ni Wula...(Good Evening)

So here is a rundown of my last few days of being here in Africa...

I have arrived in Bamako, Mali at 9p.m. on Wednesday night (5 hour difference for the east coast).  We then came to  our training facilities, which is neat, it is like being at summer camp :).  We sleep in huts, poop in a hole in the ground and take cold showers or bucket shower with warm water from a huge cauldron.  It is quite interesting :) 

Our first day here, we had general greeting, no the rules and what is in store for us. All of our classes are in huts too, one big hanger type and then a few small ones.  I had my language test yesterday, and I managed to get intermediate-medium, which is good since I forgot so much french because I haven't spoken in a while.  It is also the level that I need to become a volunteer so I am set :).  Last night, I hung out with volunteers and we played riddles, and true to their names, I couldn't figure any out.   It was also very warm too, about 100 most of the day. I did start my malaria pill regime today too.

Today is a little cooler and more intense, we learned about Diarrhea or what they call Mr D. and how we can work to avoid it, such as not drink the water with out treatment, don't drink the milk that hasn't been boiled etc... I got my hepatitis A shot today and my Meningitis shot. We also had our first lesson in Bambara, it is interesting, there are letters that are not in the English alphabet, but I managed to learn how to say, good evening (I ni Wula), how are you (I Ka Kene) and what is your name (I togo), plus the responses.  I requested today to be placed in a medium sized village and I want to be speaking Bambara and French, so hopefully this will come true for me. 

I will update more soon, but training is just interesting, and next week I move in with my host family which will be awesome, they will help me learn the language and culture, I will live with them for 8 weeks too.

Until later, au revior.