Avocados, shea nuts, and mangoes-- I'm set!
I'll be spending the next two years of my Malian existence in the Sikasso region of Mali where it is greener and wetter (and full of yummy yummy foods). Bamako will still be my closest regional capital and I'll be able to make it to the city pretty quickly whenever you come to visit :-) This is definitely where I wanted to be placed. My current homestay village, with which I am more than content, is actually very close as well, so if I ever get "homesick," I'll just hop on my bike for a nice ride.
My site is a "new" site-- "new" (and not new new) because another volunteer finished her two years of service with a few months in this village. As if I didn't already have enough reading material, this volunteer has prepared a lot of great information that I will definitely benefit from. My village is smaller than Waddington, but I can't wait to be immersed in a really personalized environment where I will more than likely really get to know everyone. Out of all of the Small Enterprise Development volunteers, my site is the smallest. Woo!
Some potential projects include work with shea nuts (for lotions, foods, etc), chicken raising (eggs...), and microfinance, among other things... and... that's all I know for now! That's it! I'll be sending more details when I find them out.
Tomorrow we head back to our homestay for a week before making our first trek to our actual site. Cannot wait.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Steam baths
While I'm still in the "honeymoon" stage of my time in Mali, I figured that I would write up some of my favorite things so far.
--watching myself steam as I pour cold water over my head on a cooler morning after sweating through the night
--dinners of french fries, tomato, onion and hard-boiled egg
--the most amazing (and frequent) heat lightning
--more beautiful stars (lolow in Bamanankan-na) than I ever thought possible-- even more gorgeous than those in the non-light polluted north country
--babies
--never being cold
--"we wish you a merry christmas" ringtones
And this is just the beginning...
--watching myself steam as I pour cold water over my head on a cooler morning after sweating through the night
--dinners of french fries, tomato, onion and hard-boiled egg
--the most amazing (and frequent) heat lightning
--more beautiful stars (lolow in Bamanankan-na) than I ever thought possible-- even more gorgeous than those in the non-light polluted north country
--babies
--never being cold
--"we wish you a merry christmas" ringtones
And this is just the beginning...
Monday, July 14, 2008
Aw bissimila!
Thousands of "aw bissimila" posters greeted us as we slowly got off the plane from France (Aw Bissimila means Ya'll are Welcome" in Bambara, which about 80% of the country speaks). I had spent most of the flight watching the streaming video of what we were flying over-- from the Mediterranean onto the never-ending Sahara desert. I was surprised as we arrived at the Bamako airport just how light and busy the city was, even at 9:30 pm at night. While I was in Kampala, Uganda, electricity shortages meant that lighting was questionable and usually every other night. Of course, Bamako is more likely to have consistent electricity than most other places because it is the capital.
The 77 Peace Corps trainees filled up a number of airconditioned Peace Corps SUVs and a bus with ourselves and our luggage-- each person with two huge bags at least. After a drive through the outskirts of the city, we got out at our training village. My glasses fogged up as if I were entering my house after playing outside in the snow, except this fog was humidity. There isn't even a word in Bambara for snow.
We've gone through sessions outlining health, safety, language and cross-cultural concerns. We've had interviews with our sector (mine is Small Enterprise Development) and language leaders. We've played and danced at the "cultural festival" organized at our training village. We've had so much fun-- it's great to be with a slew of such skilled and awesome people and at the same time that our time together as the big group will be limited.
My interview with our sector leader makes me believe that I will be placed in a smaller village to do my actual Peace Corps service. This was further confirmed by the fact that I will be focusing my language studies on Bambara for most of our pre-service training (PST). (Side note: I received an "Intermediate-mid" rating after my French test-- not quite sure how, but I think that I can make stuff up, even in French!!) Half-way through PST I'll also receive a lot of French lessons to insure that I will be able to speak when necessary.
I've had no trouble whatsoever sleeping in the heat-- it's actually quite comforting. Each night has been approximately 80ish degrees farenheit, plus humidity. We have a fan in our room that we have been using, and we sleep with the door open and a screen door shut. Maybe I'm just so exhausted from the long days or maybe this is good weather for me! Either way, I should be sleeping well for a while until the rainy season ends and the mini-hot season begins in Octoberish. Then, supposedly, most volunteers end up sleeping outside. I can't wait.
Animals seen so far include: awesome bugs and birds, lizards and salamanders, and more bugs. The training center is next to the Niger (the gorgeous river that flows through Mali). I might find some hippos soon :-)
I won't be able to write for a while as I get settled into my homestay, but know that I'm thinking of AW (ya'll in Bambara). Next time I'll come back with tons of new phrases to share with you-- my homestay family won't speak English and few will speak French.
We've learned the basics and tomorrow will be headed to our homestay villages to make ALL of the cultural mistakes possible. At least I'll be good at that.
The 77 Peace Corps trainees filled up a number of airconditioned Peace Corps SUVs and a bus with ourselves and our luggage-- each person with two huge bags at least. After a drive through the outskirts of the city, we got out at our training village. My glasses fogged up as if I were entering my house after playing outside in the snow, except this fog was humidity. There isn't even a word in Bambara for snow.
We've gone through sessions outlining health, safety, language and cross-cultural concerns. We've had interviews with our sector (mine is Small Enterprise Development) and language leaders. We've played and danced at the "cultural festival" organized at our training village. We've had so much fun-- it's great to be with a slew of such skilled and awesome people and at the same time that our time together as the big group will be limited.
My interview with our sector leader makes me believe that I will be placed in a smaller village to do my actual Peace Corps service. This was further confirmed by the fact that I will be focusing my language studies on Bambara for most of our pre-service training (PST). (Side note: I received an "Intermediate-mid" rating after my French test-- not quite sure how, but I think that I can make stuff up, even in French!!) Half-way through PST I'll also receive a lot of French lessons to insure that I will be able to speak when necessary.
I've had no trouble whatsoever sleeping in the heat-- it's actually quite comforting. Each night has been approximately 80ish degrees farenheit, plus humidity. We have a fan in our room that we have been using, and we sleep with the door open and a screen door shut. Maybe I'm just so exhausted from the long days or maybe this is good weather for me! Either way, I should be sleeping well for a while until the rainy season ends and the mini-hot season begins in Octoberish. Then, supposedly, most volunteers end up sleeping outside. I can't wait.
Animals seen so far include: awesome bugs and birds, lizards and salamanders, and more bugs. The training center is next to the Niger (the gorgeous river that flows through Mali). I might find some hippos soon :-)
I won't be able to write for a while as I get settled into my homestay, but know that I'm thinking of AW (ya'll in Bambara). Next time I'll come back with tons of new phrases to share with you-- my homestay family won't speak English and few will speak French.
We've learned the basics and tomorrow will be headed to our homestay villages to make ALL of the cultural mistakes possible. At least I'll be good at that.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Beautiful
Exactly one week from now I'll be on a plane making its way across the Atlantic Ocean that will separate me (geographically) from the country that I call my home. Hopefully my time in Mali will allow me to call another country my home, at least temporarily.
Feelings. Right now.
Okay. I'm nervous mostly because I really don't speak French yet. I know they say that immersion is the best way to learn, and I'm super excited to be immersed, but I've never done anything quite like this before. Spanish immersion camp didn't count-- we'd always cheat by speaking to our bunkmates completely in English. But this time I won't have English speaking bunkmates. For the first three (or so) months, I will live with a homestay family outside the city in a community that will host up to 15 other Peace Corps Volunteers. This is where I will put in to practice all of what I will learn at training. I hope that I'll have homestay siblings about my age who will demonstrate the dos and don'ts so I do shower twice daily and I don't smell a banana again (for those of you who missed out on my Uganda messages, smelling food is impolite in Uganda, but guess what I did even after I had learned this...)
The north country has been so gorgeous lately, I almost wish that I could stay a little longer to enjoy the tranquility that accompanies being in the middle of no where. As much as I despise north country winters and a general lack of action/motivation, the winds off the St. Lawrence immediately temper my mood and make me wonder why I chose to move away from this beautiful place. I'm excited, though, to add a new definition of "gorgeous" to my vocabulary as I make my way through the Sahel.
Feelings. Right now.
Okay. I'm nervous mostly because I really don't speak French yet. I know they say that immersion is the best way to learn, and I'm super excited to be immersed, but I've never done anything quite like this before. Spanish immersion camp didn't count-- we'd always cheat by speaking to our bunkmates completely in English. But this time I won't have English speaking bunkmates. For the first three (or so) months, I will live with a homestay family outside the city in a community that will host up to 15 other Peace Corps Volunteers. This is where I will put in to practice all of what I will learn at training. I hope that I'll have homestay siblings about my age who will demonstrate the dos and don'ts so I do shower twice daily and I don't smell a banana again (for those of you who missed out on my Uganda messages, smelling food is impolite in Uganda, but guess what I did even after I had learned this...)
The north country has been so gorgeous lately, I almost wish that I could stay a little longer to enjoy the tranquility that accompanies being in the middle of no where. As much as I despise north country winters and a general lack of action/motivation, the winds off the St. Lawrence immediately temper my mood and make me wonder why I chose to move away from this beautiful place. I'm excited, though, to add a new definition of "gorgeous" to my vocabulary as I make my way through the Sahel.
Friday, June 20, 2008
College Graduate
I have survived the first month post-graduation!
Some days have been more difficult than others, as I find myself sitting at home with my dog watching old movies and making photo albums to take with me to Mali. The days that I wait anxiously for my gmail account to show a new message from friends actually doing things are bad day; the worst are the days of South Bend permacloud that I feel like doing nothing except turning on the classic sports channel and watch reruns of amazing football games.
I have to be honest-- I've been sleeping in way past the time anyone should be allowed to sleep in multiple days in a row. If catching up on sleep is possible, I must be close to being back to the normal average number of hours of sleep a night. Or maybe it's just that I realize I won't be getting a lot of sleep in the heat of the Sahel, so I'm storing it up.
Not much of interest going on. Packing is almost complete. This Saturday will be Paige's Afternoon Tea with the girls. Sunday is theatre in Canada and Monday I'm gone for my cross country road trip with Matt. Yee haw! I think that this is the longest we'll have been together in approximately 5 years. Maybe that's a lie. But regardless, it will be quite an adventure.
Some days have been more difficult than others, as I find myself sitting at home with my dog watching old movies and making photo albums to take with me to Mali. The days that I wait anxiously for my gmail account to show a new message from friends actually doing things are bad day; the worst are the days of South Bend permacloud that I feel like doing nothing except turning on the classic sports channel and watch reruns of amazing football games.
I have to be honest-- I've been sleeping in way past the time anyone should be allowed to sleep in multiple days in a row. If catching up on sleep is possible, I must be close to being back to the normal average number of hours of sleep a night. Or maybe it's just that I realize I won't be getting a lot of sleep in the heat of the Sahel, so I'm storing it up.
Not much of interest going on. Packing is almost complete. This Saturday will be Paige's Afternoon Tea with the girls. Sunday is theatre in Canada and Monday I'm gone for my cross country road trip with Matt. Yee haw! I think that this is the longest we'll have been together in approximately 5 years. Maybe that's a lie. But regardless, it will be quite an adventure.
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