how long have I been here?

Since my last post, I've:

* Received 6 or 7 shots in my arms.
* Played soccer at length twice.
* Pooped in a hole in the ground twice.
* Spent nearly 24 hours in travel time between Philly and here (including the layover in Paris, driving to NYC and waiting in the NYC airport for the flight).
* Eaten messy food with only my right, bare hand three times.
* Witnessed monsoon like thunderstorms in the middle of the night.
* Experienced the unforgiving heat of Mali the very next day.
* Been told of the horrors of malaria, and that we will all likely receive it at least once while in country.
* Been confirmed that I will be teaching English at a university in Bamako AND will be helping to develop lesson plans and teach other teachers how to, well.. teach.
* Greatly missed the simple taste of fresh milk.
* Made some truly amazing friends already.
* Been more and more impressed by how wonderful Malians truly are.
* Run out of water to take a shower twice.
* Eaten some truly amazing food.
* Suffered from insomnia due to the Malaria medication (a side effect).
* Had really crazy dreams in the few moments of sleep I've actually received due to the Malaria medication as well (another side effect).
* Sat outside in a circle with other Peace Corps Trainees late into the night listening to music and just making silly conversations.
* Learned that Mali is officially the 3rd or 4th poorest nation in the world.
* Sat in class after class on basic things to prepare us for homestay.
* Lost track of what day it is multiple times... the last couple of days.
* Enjoyed every moment of it all.

So, in the morning, I leave for Homestay. Or, as it's often referred to here, I leave Camp Mali and actually enter Mali. Tubani-So, where I'm currently located, is amazing. It's a huge amount of land owned by Peace Corps where they do a lot of training. But not all the training. Thus, Homestay. I'll spend the next 8 weeks living with a Malian family and taking language and cultural classes from 8am to 6 or 7 pm every day (which is what my schedule here at "Camp Mali" has been like as well). I'm definitely looking forward to that. I'll be learning primarily French, but in the last 4 weeks, they'll start working on teaching a little bit of Bambara as well (I've learned a little of that here, too)--but still mostly French, since I'll be teaching at University and living in the capital city.

I wish I had pictures to share. Eventually, I'll get to upload some pics and I'll definitely share. For now, however, you'll have to settle for this post. Also, it's likely that I won't have access to internet while in Homestay. I will, however, be returning to Tubani-So every 12 days or so for about a day or two and then going back to Homestay.

Speaking of Tubani-So, it means "Dove House" in Bambara--since Peace Corps is associated with doves (a sign of peace). Broken up, Tubani means dove and Su means house.

Aw ni su

I just wished you a peaceful night.

If you're a guy, the response is: Mbaa, I ni su.
If you're a girl, the response is: Nse, I ni su.

BTW, it's the 14th, which means I've only been in country 3 days (I think). It feels like it's been 2-3 weeks. Seriously. But not in a bad way. More of a "Really? Are you serious? That's all it's been?"