Hi all,

Sorry, I've not been so good lately about posting. Things here are hot as an oven, which means we all spend a lot of time doing as little as possible-Malians and volunteers alike. You can check on google.com anytime to get the temperature in San, which is close to my village. Today, we had a cool 42`c, which means about 107.6`f. Jealous?

As you can guess, I'm really looking forward to coming home in 9 weeks. We just finished a polio vaccination campaign, walking and biking village to village, door to door, vaccinating any children under 5. My job was to mark the pinky nail of the children that had received their vaccine. It was a 3 day campaign, and while it was nice to be out and working, feeling busy, it was a reminder of how much I miss home. Children were scared of me, dogs were scared of me, and I wilted faster than usual when I ran out of water in the 2nd of 6 villages on Sunday. Which meant that I was none too thrilled to be teased by Malians about my lack of a husband. Or to be chased around a compound by a mother with screaming child, frightened for his life of the white woman-me.

But I just spent a few days in Bamako, the capital, eating ice cream and cheese burgers, enjoying air conditioning and the illusion of being anywhere but Mali. I am feeling rested and ready to go back to village, excited even to see my host family and homologue. So wish me luck, friends, as I embark on my longest stint in village. I'll be back in three weeks, lots of love to you until then!