Site visit

Hi all!

I've just returned from site visit and I couldn't be happier about my site. On Sunday, we loaded onto buses headed to our various villages and set out on our long journey. Of course, it rained all morning long and we left an hour and a half later than we had planned, but we were excited to be going. Twenty minutes into our drive, we stopped at the bus gar (bus depot) to change a tire. Then we went about three blocks for gas. Another 20 minutes and we stopped for food and bathrooms. Every time the bus stopped, the street vendors would storm the bus, standing outside the doors and some even getting on the bus to sell their goods. Finally, we were off. Sort of. Our ride included a few more of these types of stops including two maintenance stops. When someone on the bus wanted to be dropped off, we pulled over and let them out, stopping long enough for them to get their bags and the street vendors to get on and off the bus. On one stop the bus wouldn't start again and we had to make a rolling start. At another stop, the bus would not start at all and many Malians and PCT's had to get off the bus to push it!

Finally, after hours on the road, we reached our destination around 5 pm. The whole trip took us about 8 1/2 hours, but in total we spent about 10 hours on that bus. And there were other PCV's who had to go further north, making their trip an all day affair. We found out afterwards that the bus hit a cow on its way to drop them off!

Once we made it into San, we proceeded to our stage house (a house that is owned/rented by the peace corps for our use) and had some great Mexican food and met all of our new San buddies. I am so excited because everyone was so nice and friendly and all around fun to be around. On Monday, we went early to the bank to set up our accounts and then to the post office and also to the big San market. In the afternoon, we boarded transport with our site buddies, current PCV's who had volunteered to go to our sites with us and help us get settled, and went to site.

I got to meet the people of my village, those that work at the CSCOM, those that are part of the Mayor's office, people who own the boutiki's in town. I met the dugutigi (the chief of the village) and the doctor. And finally I met my host family. They are great. It is a mother and father with about 7 children (from what i can piece together so far) and my host dad is the head of the literacy campaign in the village and a teacher of Bambara. This is really great because he will also be my tutor while I am still learning. He says that right now, my Bambara may be dooni dooni (small small) but in one month, and then in two months, I will be singing in Bambara. I would love to believe that!

I got to stay in my house for a few days as well. My house is not in the same concession as my host family, it is a little ways down the road from them. I have my own concession (which means I have my own courtyard and my house and land is walled in) with a three room house (mud/concrete walls with thatched/mud/plastic/cement roof) and three trees. I also have my own negen (with an impossibly small hole) and room for a garden. It is strange to think that in my own way, I am now a home owner! And strange as well to think that this will be my house for the next two years. I have grand plans to make my house homey and can't wait to get started in just a few weeks!