Angry Humping Donkeys

So where to begin, possibly with the title of this blog?? We will soon see. 

I am currently at the training center after 12 days of being at my homestay site.  To be honest, I am very relieved to have electricity, internet and a shower, but I find myself missing my homestay family.  They are really awesome, I am learning a lot of cultural information which is great and I do not feel very awkward at home which is a relief.  When I arrived, I was actually very nervous because I met my brother who seemed very intimating to me. I soon find out he speaks fluent english and is super awesome! The only negative to the English speaking at home is that I am not getting the necessary practice in Bambara.  I honestly am getting upset with the language itself, I keep on rushing myself to know this language that I have been speaking for 2 weeks now, what more can I ask for. I do feel that others expect me to have a conversation, and others try to make me feel bad that I speak English at home.  I do practice with my host bro MaMari, he teaches me a lot. 

Now for the random stories such as the title above.   So I leave in this little town outside of Bamako, it is a little dirty (meaning a lot of garbage everywhere).  We have language class outside in which we had 2 angry donkeys trying to mate came running through our class.  We have had herd of Cattle, chickens, sheep and goats walk through our class too!  It is very distracting, so we changed classrooms to the LCF's compound where we were interrupted by an angry women who was screaming at these people, she was topless and her child was trying to breast feed at the same time.  She was very angry and was yelling for over an hour!!

My family now, they make fun of me all the time now, they know that I don't know their names and call me out all the time.   They have patience with me and are trying to help me learn the language.  Also my host bro, MaMari, thinks I am fat so I have to go for a run and when I return there, he will be making me play soccer to lose more weight.  I have lost 13 pounds so far!! 

All in all I am enjoying Africa, nothing too shocking yet that makes me want to leave, so 27 months here I come!!

A Demain!

So tomorrow I will be moving to my host family/village for training.  I will be living in the village of Dialokonoboro(or something like that). I will be training in Bambara for sure now which is great since it is one of the biggest languages here in Mali, and has versions of the same language around west Africa, so for business purposes and foreign service, it is a good language to learn.  I am a little nervous about the whole ordeal, but I think that I may be psyching myself out a little, only time will tell.  I feel it will be awkward for a couple of weeks, until everything gets adjusted and use to things. 

On an interesting note, I bought bleach today to add to my water. It is weird to purposely drink bleach, but it will be diluted enough I guess.  It cost 175 CFA which is roughly 35 cents, I gave the guy 200 CFA and since he didn't have change, I let him keep the 25 CFA (5 cents) and he was so excited and grateful.  It is astonishing on how cheap everything is here and how appreciative things are.  I got paid 90000 CFA (180 dollars) for walk around money, although I don't have to pay for food or housing for the next 9 weeks.  This may not seem like a lot but the average Malian only makes 15000 CFA (30 dollars) a month, and they have to pay for everything :(... Yesterday, I bought Malian fabric that cost 10000 CFA (20 dollars) which is enough to make a 3 piece outfit and it was hand printed and dyed by a woman's association here in Mali; this type of fabric would normally cost 20 dollars or more a yard in the USA.  I bought this fabric to be tailored in my town to have as a ceremonial outfit for my Swearing-In. 

I will not have the internet for the next 2 weeks so I will update then.  It will be an adventurous one so we will see what happens, keep posted.

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.

My final farwells and departure!

So right now it is 10:30 in the morning in Washington D.C. I am sitting here in my comfortable bed at the Holiday Inn in Georgetown and I am about to finish my packing and readjusting my luggage.   Today is departure day for me, I am very anxious and truly excited at this moment for the thought that tomorrow I will be in Bamako, Mali, FINALLY!!  I am very ready at this point, I spent the last month saying good bye to everyone that is very dear to me, I have been reading numerous blogs to mentally prepare myself, and of course I ate everything that was in front of my face (20 pounds gain in a month, not bad, lol). I had staging yesterday which honestly made me so much more excited and motivated about the future 27 months. I am moving to AFRICA!!! 

From this point on , this blog will have a different tone for obvious reasons, instead of talking about my application process, and all the hardships I had and the anticipations.  I will turn the page and write about the ADVENTURE. I will try my best to update on a regular basis, letting you know my feels, my stories, and everyday life that I will be experiencing. I will start uploading pictures once I arrive, and share everything. 

Only 2 weeks to go!!!

So the last month and half have been a whirlwind of fun hanging with my Family. I was able to go to New Orleans for a week with my mom and dad, which was really nice. Spent sometime in Georgia at my sisters with her new baby, Zander.  I went to Orlando and was able to visit the new Harry Potter Land at Universal Studios-Island of Adventure.  I am so happy that I was able to spend this time with my parents before I leave. We have decided that I am probably not going to go home at all during my 27 months, but through my mid-service time frame, my parents will be come to Africa for a couple of weeks. So I know I will miss my parents so much!!  The last two weeks will be busy for me too, I will be going back to New York City for a few days to get some needed good-byes in and important stuff done. Then I come back next Sunday which leaves only 8 days until I leave... I still have to finish backing, and I really just want to enjoy being home and having some home cooked food. By the way, I gained like 15 pounds in the past month, eating all of my favorite foods that I will not be having in the next 2 years!

No matter how much I know I will miss my life here in the USA and my parents, I am so excited about going to Mali, Africa!  I feel very confident that I am making the best decision in my life, joining the Peace Corps has created such a great sense a pride and excitement in my life.  It is going to be an experience that is unparalleled by any other opportunities that I may have had. I am looking forward to meeting and living in a new culture, and helping part of the world so many have forgotten. I can't wait to meet the other volunteers that I will be serving with, I know that they will be a great part of my life.

2 more weeks!!!

STAGING INVITE

So it is so hard to believe that I am officially going to be in Africa as of February 2nd, 2011.  I received my staging invite today.  I will be in Washington D.C. January 31st for orientation, then February 1st, I get my vaccinations then at 9 p.m. I fly to Paris with my fellow trainees where I will have a layover then onwards to Bamako, Mali!!! 

I am so excited that I am going to be going to Africa. It is crazy that through all the application process,  planning for the adventure, that now everything has come together and I am going to be leaving in just over a month!!

So...

It has been a while since I have posted last...  I haven't had the internet recently, at least not the access to update.  So I feel like I should be doing more before I leave for the peace corps, I sent out for my passport already, but that is it... Is there something else I could be doing right now???  I haven't had any information from the Corps at all so I am not sure what else there is...  I go back to florida this coming sunday :(  I am really going to miss NYC!  but a month and half home will be really relaxing. I also have to start talking to my student loan people to make sure I can defer my loans and I need to call my health insurance company to try to make sure I can get 3 months supplies of my medicine.  But is there something else I could do or need to do?  I feel that there was so much to do while an applicant but now as a invitee, I feel like I may be forgetting something...