PST in Tubaniso

7/23/07

Nobody around me has showered in 3 days, flies have been swarming around my head for hours now, and the guy next to me no longer smells anymore because my own stench has taken over…Not really but I did do my first bucket hand wash today to the clothes that I had been wearing for the last 3 days. Mali is an awesome place and the Malians are super nice and very patient. I am in Tubaniso which is a city North of Bamako, the capital. Tubaniso is where the Peace Corps headquarters are in Mali. It’s about 5:40pm right now, so back in Texas it’s about 12:40. I’ve been able to call the states and talk to my parents and my sisters using my macbook, which has worked out for me very well. If anyone is familiar with skype, download it and I can call to your skype name on the computer for free and it works perfectly. Anyways, I will be leaving this site on Wed. morning to move in with my host family in a village for the next 9 weeks where we will start our community based training. It is intensive language training with a Language Coordinator and about 3 other volunteers. I am learning Bambara (the predominant language spoken by 80% of Malians) right now and that is what my host family will speak, but during the language training I will be learning French because after the pre service training (the 9 week stay with the host family), I will be on my own most likely in an apartment in the city working in an office with French speaking Malians. Well, everyone take care and keep me updated and I will be trying my best to do the same thing.

K’an ben
-Westin