Swear in

Hi all,

Big news: I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! We were sworn in on the morning of July 10 at the American Embassy. Most everything that was said was spoken in French, but a copy of the country director’s speech, in English, is below for you to read. Everyone was dressed in Malian attire for the ceremony. I got a lot of good picture, which I will try to load on here, but other people also got some really good ones that are surfacing on Facebook and other blogs. A lot of other volunteers are blogging, and many of them are very good, so if you are interested they are worth checking out.

The rest of swear in day was spent at the American club, eating good food and playing in and by the pool. Look Ma, no sunburns! In the evening, we were shuttled to the hotel we stayed at and got ready for the night out. I had a very nice dinner of pizza and champagne with some friends (my first pizza in Mali. They do get a few foods right.) and then we went out to a place called thee Pirate’s Club across the street. There was music and lots of dancing, everyone had a really good time. At around midnight, most of us jumped into another shuttle and were taken to another club called the No Stress. Both places were very fun and really quite similar to a bar or night club you would find in the states. They even played the same music. We were finally taken back to our hotel around 3:30am, where some people continued on to the pool.

Needless to say the next morning, we were all a little slow. But we didn’t have much planned for us back at Tubani So and were able to relax a little. And pack! Friday night, we had a dinner with family members from our host families where the families were congratulated on keeping us safe and sane and encouraged to host future volunteers. The representative of the host families said a few words, congratulating us on our progress and wishing us luck in the next few years. They said that they looked forward to our visits and would want to know when our service was up because they would want to know what we had done and how we were doing and what we thought of Mali. The families all received a certificate which they displayed proudly. In Mali, a certificate for ANYTHING is treasured and usually displayed the way we might display a diploma or degree from school.

Yesterday, we got on a bus and began the long trek to San. We had already loaded all of our big bulk luggage onto a luggage truck that would follow us, stopping at each bureau or stage house to drop off our things, so we only had to load minimal luggage onto the bus. Which was good because we also loaded live stalk on. Two different families gave their volunteers a goat and a sheep, both of which traveled the long journey to Mopti under our bus. We checked on them every time we stopped and could usually hear them making noise while we were driving. The drive itself actually went smoothly for the most part, unlike last time. We stopped in Segou to drop off some other volunteers and then to get lunch before getting back on the road. It rained while we were driving and that is how we discovered that the us leaked. But still, we were almost to San and could get to a shower soon, so we weren’t too fazed by it. When we did finally get to San though, we realized that the luggage truck was not behind us anymore. In fact the truck had gone about 100k in the wrong direction and headed towards another stage house. We waited for them to catch up, finally unloaded our things and watched them continue on the way up to Mopti with the last 18 volunteers.

Today we are going shopping for the things we will need in our homes. The current volunteers will take us to find the things we need, the things they said they definitely needed, around town. The lists include things like a bed and mattress, a stove, tables and chairs, pots, pans, utensils, etc. While we are shopping, we will also explore San and locate other important things like the internet café and places to get good food while we are in town. I am set to install in my village tomorrow afternoon. Peace Corps sends out one of the staff members, an APCD , to come help us move in to our house, help us make sure we are settled and such. (I actually can’t remember the actually meaning behind each letter here, but each sector has an APCD who is in charge of the learning and progress of the volunteers. The APCD that is helping our region is the SED APCD, but will also be in charge of helping our region when we need it.) They will be traveling by PC transport, which means that we will just load that vehicle with our stuff and be driven out to our site.

In the next week or so, I will be getting settled, meeting more people and doing some work at my CSCOM. I plan to meet one of my friends at the market between our towns on Thursday and then next week is the end of Ramadan and Tuesday is Malian independence day. The next few weeks should go by quickly.