Moving in

This last Tuesday I moved into my new house. Peace Corps loaded up one of their cars with my stuff and another PCV's things and took us out to site. I was dropped off first and my host father and a few other neighbors were there to welcome me and help me unload my things.

Since then, I have spent my days visiting other people in the village and setting up my house. I am in town for right now and have picked up some fabric to make curtains for my multiple windows. The first night I was back in my house, we had a big storm. I was very nervous since the last time I was in my house, for site visit, my roof leaked and by the end of the storms, there would be standing water. But there was none of that this time. I think it is all fixed!

I biked into San for the first time yesterday. It took me about an hour or so and was actually quite a pleasant ride. It was very warm though, so I will be going back today later in the afternoon when the sun is not so hot.

Tomorrow is the first time I will be in my village during their market. I am excited to experience that. My village is small, only about 1500 people, but the place where they set up the market looks large. Plus, markets are always entertaining. I will probably go and meet up with my homologue and do some people watching.

Soon it will be the end of Ramadan and already my host dad has ensured me that there will be a BIG party. I believe that it is tomorrow, but it has been hard to pin down an actual date thus far. I am planning on bringing my camera with me, so hopefully I will end up with some awesome photos.

We are already in the planning for Halloween, since we hold fast to anything to look forward to in these first few months. The plan thus far is to travel to Segou, which is near by, for a costume dinner party. An added bonus: the hotel in Segou has a pool. We are lucky because Segou is the capital of our region, and therefore in our region, which means we can travel there in these first few months, when travel outside of our region is forbidden.

So if anyone has costume suggestions, send them my way. We have all kinds of "value village"-type vendors here, I am just drawing a blank. Hope everyone is doing well, enjoying the last few days of summer and going back to school. I miss you all!

Hugs, kisses, and loves