and I'm back in Tubani-So. Crazy to think that, in 5 days, I'll be sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Crazy to think I've been in this country for 2 months (only 24 to go!). Crazy to think that I've almost written a novel in just over 2 weeks (17 hand written pages to go until I reach my goal).
A note about my host family, and living with them. They've shown me what it is to truly be a good person. To accept others exactly how they are and to not expect people to be anything that they're not. They were indeed my family for the first 2 months here, and I will continue to visit them from time to time because they are truly good people.
The food, however, wore on me. I ate spaghetti in an oil sauce (almost everything is oil based here) nearly every night, ate potatoes/yams in a red, oil sauce nearly everday for lunch, and could probably count the amount of times I actually ate meat on my hands. So, the food, I will not miss. There were gems, however. One day, they gave me fish. I raved over how wonderful this was, which made them happy (but they didn't give it to me again, regardless). And there were a couple of times that they gave me cucumber salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and bread). They gave the latter to me for my final meal, as well (along with prawn chips). Then, I ate "to" with them (pronounced like "toe" or "toh"), which is this thick creamy texture stuff that really has no taste and is a little thicker than refried beans. The strangest texture ever, and if you're one of those eaters that can get grossed out by certain types of textures, stay away from "to." They normally dip it in a sauce. The most common sauce is a green, leafy, slimy sauce that is really and truly disgusting (but it does have nutrients in it). So, I ate this with them last night for the first time ever. They were amused.
In news that shouldn't be all together unexpected, I've lost a little bit of weight since arriving here 2 months ago. More so than my last report. Currently, I'm somewhere between 143 & 148 (depending on the scale I use), where as I was between 170 & 175 when I arrived. I believe I was between 150 & 155 the last time I reported on this. I'm thinking (hoping) that I've probably lost about as much as I can lose, and should be leveling out now. Especially since I'll be moving to Bamako next week and will thus be able to cook for myself for a change.
My laptop is en route. My dad mailed it off this past Monday or Tuesday and said it should have arrived in Virginia Thursday or Friday (it's being sent via diplomatic pouch, which has a Virginia address). So, with any luck, I'll have it in another week or two. He also said that he bought me another 160 gig flash drive so I could make sure I have back ups of my files. My dad rules.
As mentioned earlier, I swear in as a PCV on Friday. It'll be at the Embassy, which is pretty nice--I've been there for meetings. What I don't know yet, however, is if I'll be able to take pictures (since it'll be at the embassy and all).
Anywho, that's all I've got for you right now. I was actually going to mention something more about swear in (perhaps the after swear-in celebration? I dunno), but it slipped my mind. Such is the way of things.
I'll try to upload more pictures sometime soonish.
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