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

Kickin' it at my new home

Where to start....

I really don't feel like writing right now because It seems like I've been doing that non stop since I got back to Tubaniso. We are back here at the headquarters for some more training. To me, it seems kind of pointless to have to come back here throughout our language training but its just something that we have to do. Anyways, I have been at my homestay for the past 2 weeks and it has been very good. My host family is great, my language facilitators are awesome, and the other 3 people in my class are really cool people. The food is not bad, usually rice and some sort of meat sauce or noodles with some sauce on them. Nothing to complain about compared to what a lot of the other volunteers are eating. If i never have to eat tao (sp.?) or intestines, I will be just fine. So usually a typical day for me goes like this. I wake up around 7am every morning, my sister, Adijatou, gets my water for me from the well for my bucket bath. I bathe, eat breakfast which consists of a loaf of bread and peanut butter and a glass of tea. After, I place my Peace Corps issued helmet on and ride my bike about half a mile to my LCF's house where we have our language class. Language class is from 8:30 to 12:30 and then I go back home and eat lunch with my brothers and my uncle. I've mastered eating from a communal bowl. The first couple of days I was really struggling seeing that I could not keep rice off of my clothes with my new technique of eating with my hand. Anyways, after lunch, I go back to school for 2 more hours of French and then an hour of cultural training. From little kids chanting Tubabo - white person - to elders staring at the strange white guy riding his bike to the kids my age who are super curious about me and just America in general, it usually takes me about an hour to get home because I end up having to talk to every person that I cross. When I get home, I usually just chill with my brother, Issa, who's 17 and some of his friends. I eat dinner then look over french until about 1130 or 12 and i go to bed and do the same thing again.

Ok that was super long, and kind of lame but I just thought yall might be interested in hearing about a typical day. Needless to say, in between those daily activites, there are many strange and unordinary things that happen that I will get into on another day. Im watching Boondock Saints right now with the other stageres and it's kind of sad because its reminding me of chilling at the "U" with my roomies wacthing this movie. Boondock Saints, what a classic movie. I miss everyone and send my love and my best. I think after I get done with this blog, Im going to leave becasue the movie just started and I really am sad, sucks...

I have an internet cafe, if thats what you want to call it, about a mile from my home in Droit 2 so Im going to try and get there once a week. Next time, I will have some interesting stories...for now I just thought I'd give you the basic details. I love you all and miss you all and hope to stay in touch and hear back ocassionaly.

PS. My Malian name is Illisou Toure

take care

-Westin