I just bought rat poison...

... and Peace Corps gets real! I had my first "oh shit" moment at site last week when I woke up to mouse droppings on top of my mosquito net. Meaning, that the mice have become so comfortable in my mud hut that they feel like they can literally walk all over me...at night...when I can't see them. Well, the mice better think again, because after I poison them tonight with "medicine" and peanut butter, I will hopefully not see them again. Or, at least I won't see them for a while.

So, as you can see, I am a real Peace Corps volunteer now! I keep getting a lot of questions about my site, the work I've done so far, and the 50th Anniversary of Independence celebration, so I will try to answer these questions in as few words as possible (to avoid the super long blog entries I've become accustomed to writing).

Site:
My site is in the Sikasso region of Mali, so it is in the South, near the borders of Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. I live in the bush in a village about 1K off the main road. It is beautiful and green and it has about 3,000 to 4,000 people, I think. I live on the same compound as the dugutigi, or the village chief. He has a huge family and I am slowly beginning to learn their names... but I will probably never get the kids' names right. The dugutigi, his mom, and his wives don't have a lot of teeth so it is hard to understand them when they speak, but we do make limited conversation every day. They are very, very nice to me, and if anything goes wrong, they are always over to check on me and my house. For example, after it rains (which is every day now, in the rainy season), they always come and make sure that my hut isn't leaking. It's not! (Knock on wood).

I live in a two room mud hut, and the outside of the hut has been plastered with cement. I have a thatched roof, so it stays cool - however, I do have a family of mice that live somewhere inside of the roof, between the thatch, mats, and layer of plastic that's been applied to the ceiling. I have no electricity, and I charge my appliances (cell phone, camera battery, computer) whenever I come into my market town once a week. I also have a large nyegen (AKA, hole in the ground) that I use for my bathroom, and it has a beautiful view of the sunrise and the sunset. I would describe my living situation as a slight step up from camping. I make most of my own food with my gas stove, or I eat with my family when they cook food that I like. This is definitely the definition of "living on my own."

Work:
Every day, my family wakes me up around 6AM, fills up my water buckets from the pump for me, and gives me porridge for breakfast. I walk around, greet my family, and then I make my way over the the Centre de Sante Communitaire (CSCOM), or health center. Mondays are exciting days because we give vaccinations to babies and pregnant women. I can't give vaccinations with a needle, but I give babies polio vaccination oral drops, and it is pretty cool. I work from about 8AM to 12PM, have lunch with the CSCOM staff, and then wander around my village, talking to random people and getting to know them all afternoon. They give me free food, afternoon tea, and help me with my Bambara and French (although my Bambara is much better than my French right now). I return home from wandering around by 6PM, take a bucket bath as the sun sets, and then hang out with my Malian friends at night. They talk to me so that I can understand their Bambara, and they give me free food, too. (And, if any of you know me at all, then you know that I absolutely love free food!) I haven't been gaining any weight, though, since I bike about 25K every few days to my market town for veggies. It's nice - I've lost about 10 pounds so far! Then, I wake up Tuesday through Friday and do the same thing. Except, we don't give vaccinations on any other days, so I just watch people get treated for malaria, make conversations with the villagers, and try to understand what each medicine is used for... in French. This is my life! It really is pretty awesome. Sometimes, I can't believe that just a few months ago, I was sitting in an air conditioned office, reading hundreds of documents every day, and spending lots of money on lunch and drinks. It's amazing how fast priorities change! These days, I love just reading a book, playing my uke, writing songs, and talking to people in my village. Life is hard, but easy at the same time.

Cinquantenaire:
Mali recently celebrated it's 50th Anniversary of Independence, and my village had a rockin' party. It started the night before (September 21st), and there was a HUGE, late night dance party. Being the only white girl there, they called my name and I danced in the circle, surrounded by Malians, drums, and guitars, directly under the full moon and plethora of stars. It was so surreal, and is by far one of the most awesome things that I have done so far. I made it to bed by 1:30AM and then woke up at 6AM the following day for the real celebration.

I was treated like a VIP, so I had a front row seat for all of the action: the Mayor's speech, the running race, the bicycle race, the bicycle tricks, the dance-offs, the sack races, and a weird twist of a pinata game that involved tying bags of toys on a clothes line, blindfolding kids, spinning them around, and then letting them wander away, hopefully in the direction of the prizes. It was like a field day in America, but with tons of happy Malians dancing and playing games. There was even a soccer game that I watched, and it was so intense!! I am starting to like soccer now. And, I'm beginning to get used to dancing in large circles of Malians... mostly because I try to sneak away, and then they call my name in the microphone and make me dance alone. But, it's great!

Wow - so much for not writing a long blog entry. If you want to see more pictures, then click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2105544&id=17605365&l=bff3ff9994

Thanks for following my blog!

Pictures!

I made my Facebook pictures of Mali public, so click on this link and check them out! I will add new links whenever I post new pictures - my pictures of swear-in should be up soon! My camera is broken, so I will be stealing pictures from my friends whenever they post them... enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093688&id=17605365&l=d97fb0ede0

Team America!

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, so this will be a long one. I apologize if your eyes start to hurt, but it’s okay because I AM AN OFFICIAL PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER now! We were sworn in at the Embassy in Bamako on September 3, and, like everything else in Mali, it was a very random day. We arrived at the Embassy completely soaking wet from the torrential downpour outside (which has actually become a common occurrence, given that it is the rainy season here). I had on a Malian dress made of new, unwashed fabric, so the color bled all over my legs and feet. Plus, the AC was pumping in the Embassy, so all 80 of us were wet, shivering, and completely exhausted. But, we took our oath, took some pictures (which I will post later because they are on my friend’s camera), and then took off for the American Club. The American Club is this magical place in Mali that serves beer, hard alcohol, has a pool, and has a large TV. After shitting in a hole and eating only carbs for two months, going to a place where only Americans with a valid ID are allowed in is like a little piece of home. It poured for a while there too, but after feasting on a burger, quesadillas, potato salad, pasta salad, and mojitos, I was in a great mood. Then, the weather cleared up, we played a lovely game that involved flipping cups over on a table, and then headed into Bamako for our swear-in party. We ate some Chinese food, learned that our stage name (the name of our group of volunteers) is Team America (because we are all very different but still all-American?), and then crashed around 4AM. It was kind of refreshing to have one last chance at fun with other Toubabs before heading off to my site in a few days. Which brings me to my next point that…

For the next two years, I will be living in a village in the Sikasso region of Mali! I am the only volunteer at my site, but I have a site buddy that is only 4K away from me. I will also be able to get into the city fairly regularly to access the Internet and access the market, which is great. My village has about 3,000 people, and I will have my own, two room “house” on the dugutigi’s compound (AKA, with the village chief)! I have no electricity, I will still be using a nyegen (hole in the ground) and bucket bathing, I will be cooking all of my own meals, I will wash all of my clothes by hand, and I have mice in my house. I am most definitely getting a cat. But, I am pretty excited to start working, especially after meeting some people in the village and working at the CSCOM (health center) already. I’ve even helped with some PNC’s! I definitely excited to really dive in, talk to people, and just immerse myself in life over here. It’s great to be able to have Toubab time, but I am really looking forward to hibernating in my village and really getting to know people for the first three months. So, please note my address change on the side of this blog… and also, notice the “wish list” that I have. Please do not feel obligated to send me anything at all! But, anything (emails, letters, etc) is more than welcome! I download all of the emails that people send onto my IPod, and I read them when I get homesick. So, keep sending me emails and letters and I will write back whenever I have the chance!

Here are a few other random thoughts that I wanted to share about my life over here:

- I keep hearing two songs on repeat on the Malian radio stations: Rude Boy and Sexual Healing. I find this completely ironic, especially since my homestay family used to watch me awkwardly dance to Sexual Healing whenever it came on the radio…alone…at night…while cheering my Malian and Ameriki names. Oh, how I will miss my homestay family. They were amazing!! I am going to call them every Sunday and keep in touch.
- I always forget that my life here is so much different than my life in the states: I eat every meal with my right hand (because the left hand is used to wipe after using the nyegen… no TP here), I have no electricity (and therefore get very excited whenever I can sit on a real toilet or use a real shower), I sleep under a mosquito net (or as I like to call it, a princess net) every night because malaria is dormant in my system right now (thank you, Mefloquin, for keeping it dormant!), I bathe with a bucket, and I shit in a hole. To me, this all seems relatively normal now, but I realize that to others, it might be shocking.
- The donkeys, goats, sheep, and cows make the loudest and most obscure sounds that I have ever heard. I can’t even describe it…it sounds like someone is being violently attacked on the hour, because that is when the donkeys make the awful sounds. I am pretty sure that Malians can tell the time solely based on which animals make which noises at certain times. Strangely enough, I walk side by side with all of those animals every day and am never attacked.
- Mali runs on West African International Time… otherwise known as WAIT. You wait around for everything, especially when it rains. Malians are afraid of the rain, apparently. But, when everything is so slow, it leaves more time for…
- Greetings – you greet every person you pass on the street, and they all love talking to you. You ask how they are doing, how their family is doing, how their children are doing, and how their village is doing. Then, if you know someone well, you go through a list of about 5 to 10 benedictions (such as, “May Allah grant you many children” or “May the bed bugs not attack you today”). It’s refreshing to talk to someone and have him/her be genuinely interested in your life.
- I have seen the breasts of every woman in my host family because breasts are completely non-sexualized here. They just whip them out to feed their kids all the time, and it does not matter who is around. Knees and thighs, however, are never, ever seen. My legs are covered at all time!
- The concept of joking cousins is really important here… and because of my last name (Diarra), everyone calls me a shodunna, or bean eater. It’s like a fart joke, and it’s a way to instantly talk and bond with people. It’s actually really fun to laugh and call someone with a different last name a bean eater, a donkey, or a lion as an insult.
- Since I’ve been here, I’ve biked 20K in one day (yes, ME), been on a bush taxi (AKA, mini bus with open windows and falling-off doors), seen a chicken get killed, plucked, and eaten (I only did the eating), and had 2 marriage proposals. Life is hard over here.

Tomorrow, I get installed at my site and the real Peace Corps begins. Keep following my blog, keep sending me emails/letters/packages, and keep cheering me on!