Homestay begins tomorrow

So lots of exciting things are happening!

I got my assignment for homestay- beginning tomorrow I will be living with the family of Samba Sako in the tiny village of Satinebougou (2k outside of Banankoro). The village has only 400 people in it and the only other thing I know is that most people there are gardeners and fruit sellers. There are only 2 other PCTs in my homestay village but there are about 8 in Banakoro that we will see when we do are shopping etc. Bambara lessons everyday, meals with the family, and experiencing a lot of people pointing and laughing at the "toubab" (white person). It should be exciting though. So far we haven't been outside the gates of Tubaniso, but we've been eased in to the culture so slowly that apparently now we are ready. Representatives from our village came to have lunch with us today, which is another interesting topic. We learned how to eat in the traditional Malian fashion yesterday so as not to make a fool out of ourselves today. We sit on the ground, eat from a communal bowl, don't talk to each other, and hope to burp so as to compliment the chef.

Today the Health Education volunteers had our first training session- it is all I expected and more. The job is going to be tough- working with sick babies, doing school presentations for preventative health, etc.... but it sounds so exciting and perfect for me.

I got to sypke with my family today- it was so awesome! I miss all of you guys so much. Everything here is great except for missing friends and family.

It will be 12 days until I am back in the Peace Corps Training village of Tubaniso, so I may not be able to write until then. Wish me luck! It's going to be one of the strangest experiences of my life.

PS- sorry for the lack of pictures... maybe next time!!