The Hannons in front of their new home! This is our pad during training, although our permenent placement is up in the arid northwest (pretty much Mauritania), so not sure what our new place there will look like...
The Happy Couple
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Haven't left yet
Yep, we are still here in Mali! Yeah. We have officially made it through 2 1/2 weeks. Let us recap some highlights for you...
Let us first start by what we talk about missing all the time. Cheeseburgers with bacon and blue cheese tops the list. Flushing toilets and showers where you can control the temperature are not too far behind. Whatelse??? I would say all of you!
We have been lucky here in Mali as not only did we import our own best friend (each other) but we have another Jackson Hole friend here as well. Kelly is funny. Hilarious actually. Her abdomen hurts. One would think it was from laughing too much, but it only seems to hurt when she hasn't been laughing. We are very lucky.
We want to describe Mali, but it is nearly impossible. We have been trying to upload a picuture with each blog written and it just doesn't work. Is it because we are in Mali? Think so.
So far we have had 3 days at the PC Training Facility (aka summer camp) followed by 12 days at home stay and then 3 more days here at PC Training Facility. The days at PC are packed with lectures and training and learning about weird health issues we may get (yes, you really can poop out a 10 inch worm). We are also working hard at making NBFF (new best friends forever).
While we are at home stay we are living with seperate families but we see each other daily for 6 hours of language class followed by 1 hour of cultural class. We usually yaalayaala after class (walk around). We are lucky as our group of 8 in our village are all very nice, fun people. We can't lie, the homestay part of Peace Corps is TOUGH. It is quite an emotional rollercoaster but worth every moment. Not speaking the language is difficult not to mention eating with your hands, pooping in a hole and taking bucket baths instead of showering can be mentally draining.
We are doing great and have to run. In 1 hour we will know where we will be permanently placed for our two years. That info will not be posted, however!
Let us first start by what we talk about missing all the time. Cheeseburgers with bacon and blue cheese tops the list. Flushing toilets and showers where you can control the temperature are not too far behind. Whatelse??? I would say all of you!
We have been lucky here in Mali as not only did we import our own best friend (each other) but we have another Jackson Hole friend here as well. Kelly is funny. Hilarious actually. Her abdomen hurts. One would think it was from laughing too much, but it only seems to hurt when she hasn't been laughing. We are very lucky.
We want to describe Mali, but it is nearly impossible. We have been trying to upload a picuture with each blog written and it just doesn't work. Is it because we are in Mali? Think so.
So far we have had 3 days at the PC Training Facility (aka summer camp) followed by 12 days at home stay and then 3 more days here at PC Training Facility. The days at PC are packed with lectures and training and learning about weird health issues we may get (yes, you really can poop out a 10 inch worm). We are also working hard at making NBFF (new best friends forever).
While we are at home stay we are living with seperate families but we see each other daily for 6 hours of language class followed by 1 hour of cultural class. We usually yaalayaala after class (walk around). We are lucky as our group of 8 in our village are all very nice, fun people. We can't lie, the homestay part of Peace Corps is TOUGH. It is quite an emotional rollercoaster but worth every moment. Not speaking the language is difficult not to mention eating with your hands, pooping in a hole and taking bucket baths instead of showering can be mentally draining.
We are doing great and have to run. In 1 hour we will know where we will be permanently placed for our two years. That info will not be posted, however!
Friday, July 25, 2008
First Days in homestay:
O.K. We are in a village near Bamako. We are taking Bambara classes all day. It is quite difficult here, leave it at that. We are certainly out of our element. Things are going well, though. We are not living in the same family but we see each other everyday. Doni, doni. Slow, slow.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Arrival:
I ni ce! Greetings from Mali! We had a very long journey here (27 hours from Philly to Bamako) but we made it! It’s not too hot and right now we are in the Peace Corps training compound. So while it’s officially Africa, we have certainly been sheltered for the past few days. It almost feels like everyone in Africa is American and speaks English.
Power and Internet have been intermittent, the food has been great and there have been limited mosquitoes. On the other hand flies are in abundance. Our squat pot (bathroom) is under the stars and, while there are showers (no heated water) there is not always water. When that happens, a bucket and a scoop are our showers for a bucket bath.
Tomorrow we are off to our home stay villages. We will be living with families where we will learn Bambara, the local language. While we will be in the same village, we will be eating and sleeping with different host families. And it’s at this point we enter the unknown…
We are certainly having a blast and it’s been great to meet everyone here. It’s amazing how you can meet 77 new people and like them all.
N bE taa kalanso la. (I am leaving to the classroom).
Power and Internet have been intermittent, the food has been great and there have been limited mosquitoes. On the other hand flies are in abundance. Our squat pot (bathroom) is under the stars and, while there are showers (no heated water) there is not always water. When that happens, a bucket and a scoop are our showers for a bucket bath.
Tomorrow we are off to our home stay villages. We will be living with families where we will learn Bambara, the local language. While we will be in the same village, we will be eating and sleeping with different host families. And it’s at this point we enter the unknown…
We are certainly having a blast and it’s been great to meet everyone here. It’s amazing how you can meet 77 new people and like them all.
N bE taa kalanso la. (I am leaving to the classroom).
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Welcome everyone!
Hello everyone! Thanks for tuning in.
This is going to be our lame attempt to keep you updated on what we are doing. For those of you who do not know, we are heading to the Peace Corps in Mali. Our tour will be 27 months. We go to Philadelphia on the 7th of July and off to Mali on the 9th. We will be in training for nine weeks before we start our placement, which will last for two years. We are scheduled to return on the 12th of September, 2010. Good times.
Sam is supposed to be working in the small business enterprise field and Mark will be on Water and Sanitation projects. You now have pretty much the same information as we do on that front.
We are quite excited about this adventure, although it can be hard to get too excited with all the pre-trip preparations. We are both ready to stop packing and start training.
Please, if you would like, periodically check in at this website to see if we have it updated. How often that will happen is any one's guess at this point. We are thinking somewhere between everyday and twice a year.
Please leave messages for us along the way too. We know that life will not stand still awaiting our return so we'd love to hear how everyone is doing. Good luck to all in the next few years. May they be happy and healthy!
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