Last day before Homestay

Homestay begins tomorrow. We head out at 8 am. That means tonight I hope my clothes are dry and I can pack them up. Today was a little more crazy than usual because there was a lot of buzz about our sectors and our homestays (the places we will be at for the next 8 weeks... to practice our Bambara). My host representitive plays xylophone, which I'm pretty excited about. He only speaks Bambara, so I better learn QUICK. My LCF (language and culture facilitator) is very nice and has a great sense of humor. Everyone has a great sense of humor. We were told today that people that do PC Africa learn to laugh. I think I have that down pat.

I got my typhoid and rabies shots today. Took 'em like a champ. I wore my taafe today... like a champ. I was able to keep it up, no buttons/zippers etc. Its all about the rolling.

I got to try the whole sit and eat with my right hand thing (Malians believe left hands are dirty and really shouldn't be used for eating or greeting.... I agree) I was doing ok. My host rep made fun of me because I was taking small bites.

At our sector session we got to learn about our projects/goals, planted some trees, and sowed some corn (Dad thanks for teaching me that. I got it down.) We also learned about different trees in Mali and how to identify them. I'm not too good at that yet. Maybe later! Thanks to Sara at the wetlands office though for teaching me transects because I'll get to do those at site when I get there in September! I'm also excited about the chance to write Natural Resource Management reports.

I'll be at my homestay with three other really great people! I'm excited. We will all live in different homes, but in the same village. The village is called Kabe and it's south of Bamako.


Played some soccer today. Pretty funny to have bushes in the middle of the field, in addition to termite mounds. The cold shower afterwards definitely felt good.


Sorry, this entry is a little scattered. I've been writig a little in my journal to gather my thoughts. But not as often as I wanted. I'm so exhausted from all of the learning by the end of the day. I still love it though. I am really excited about starting my garden!


Ok that's it for me tonight. Details really coming soon. Or wait a few weeks and I can finally send some letters.

Training

Tubani so is AWESOME!

I'm learning so much already and having a great time. Temperature is in the 90s... though right now its only 79 because it rained last night. All the volunteers and staff are great. We just started learning Bamanankan.

Another short post but I need to find some stuff I left.


Anyway!

I leave for Homestay on Tuesday and I will have a cell phone real soon. Skype is supposed to be pretty cheap to call cell phones (incoming calls are free) Let me know and I can get you my number. Also.. if you are into texting ask your provider if you can receive texts from africa. I'm five hours ahead of you Minnesotans. Just so you know!


Miss you love you

short and sweet

Just wanted to write a quick message

Stage was awesome Everyone is so funny and great to be around.  I feel like I know everyone already!  we leave for paris soon and should be in Bamako tomorrow night!

Miss you all

Thinking about you

It's about that time!

I am finally all packed up! I hopefully shouldn't be missing anything because I have only packed, unpacked, repacked a dozen of times. Plus there is no turning back as soon as I head out.

I'm really excited to meet all of the other volunteers. Everyone that I have met through facebook seems really enthusiastic, which only makes things more exciting and I cannot wait!

I just want to throw out a quick thank you to everyone that made my last few months in MN really exciting. I had a great time and I'm going to miss you all.

Letters will be slow to come... but don't worry I will have time after training to really get them rolling.

Post is a little short, but I really should go to bed soon so I can make it to the airport by 5:15 am....ahhh :)


Here's to you MN! Thanks for everything!

And if you feel like writing me

Audrey Respet, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 85
Bamako, Mali