I'm in the club!

Alright, i'm now an official Peace Corps Volunteer! after 2 months of intensive training at homesite and Tubani So, we all (76 people, I think) swore in at the American Embassy in Bamako. The cermeony was long and conducted in French, Bambara, Sonrai, Fulfulde, Tamasheq, and Donnaso.... so basically I didn't understand a word of it! There were brief explanations in Englsih, but they were few and far between... even people that I didn't think spoke French went up to the podium and addressed the crowd in French.

After the cermemony we were invited back to the American residence where the Ambassador and his family live. There was a ton of amazing food which included kabobs, rice, beans, salad and bread. After that we went back to Tubani So and had a cookout (sort of...) with hanburgers, Ruffles, Doritos and French Fries... I ate more yesterday than I have in the whole 2 months I have been here so far. Hopefully I put on some of the 12 pounds I've llost already.

Last night there was a party for us at a club called The Pirates Club... cheesy pirate jokes were told all night... it was awesome. Later we stayed at a hotel and went swimming almost until the sun came up. I was able to sleep in a room with air conditioning, but now my lungs are kinda messed up... go figure. A lot of people got a cold from just sleeping in such nice conditions.

Today I had some pizza and am just hanging out at the Buearu Office and may go to a party for Malian Independence Day (which is today) hosted at the American Club by the local marines.

I leave for the Mopti region on Sunday and will be installed at my site on the 26th. Basically, my birthday is going to be a very different sort of birthday this year (for thos of you that don't know, I'll be 23 on Sept. 27). Malians don't generally celebrate birthdays, rather they only know the year they were born on, but not the day... and thos are the more educated Malians that tend to life in more urban settings.

Birthday wishes aside, I'm really pumped to get up to site and start doing my community based assessement to determine which projects are actually feasible. It is oging to be ridiculous only communicating in Fulfulde because my level is barely communicable. I did pass the test easily and am able to communicate basic ideas, but living in a community of Peuhls and Dogons is gonna be a trip for sure! I will be able to see some Americans at least once a week or every other week when I have to go into a large market area to buy food supplies.. I definitely can't live in "to" alone. I bought a gas tank and 3-burner stove, and the Peace Corps gave me a cookbook, so we'll see what I can cook up!

That's about all for now. Next time I update this I'll have a pretty good idea of what life in my village of roughly 100 people is like and I'm sure I'll have many new culture shock stories.

Oh yea, I got walked in on again by the little 2 year old girl when I was taking my bucket bath. She stood there staring at me until I finally doused her with a cup of hot water (malian feedback???) Hahaha that got her out of the nyeggan real fast . Don't worry, that water wasn't that hot.... it's just i was naked and she wouldn't stop staring at me. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.