I've been in Mali for a little over a month and half now, and it is going really good. This last week, I traveled to Kolokani which is the site that I will be in for the next 2 years after my training is over. I have about 2 more weeks of French training and after, I will have my language test and then swear in as a volunteer. I'm anxiously awaiting that day so I can finally be on my own and out from under the thumb of the PC. I am only about 140 k outside of Bamako, the capital of Mali. That is a very good thing becasue it will be the meeting place for a lot of the volunteers so that we can all get together and get some American food and a couple drinks. As for my site, it is a relatively big site with a population of 10,000, but there is no electricity in the whole town except for Mayor's office and some of the administrative buildings. My house is an old NGO house and it is huge. I have 4 bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and a sink all with running water, so that's pretty solid. This means that I can have lots of visitors anytime, whether it be other PC volunteers or friends and family from home. When I was there, one of the guys who works for NGO that I will be working for showed me around the town. He's a younger guy, like 25 or something, and he insisted on being around me all day everyday. In malian culture, men hold hands because it's just a sign of true friendship so men have been doing this since they were young kids. So here I am, a tubabo (white perso) walking through the city of Kolokani speaking my broken french to other Malians holding hands with some young Malian man...needless to say, it was pretty weird so I just found ways to avoid it.

Now, I am back in Tubaniso, the PC headquarters in Mali, and we are going back to our homestays in a couple of days, and finishing up our training. I am ready to get some projects started in my site and get my house situated. There is a high school in Kolokani that I am very interested in working at, so I am planning on talking to the administration when I get back and to teach an English class a couple hours a day throughout the semester and see how that works out.

I really dont have that much because the PC is still owning my life, so I am very ready to be on my own and work and travel where I want. Take care and I'll get back on here whenever I get another chance