8/10/10

8/10/10
Whoa, I can’t even write all that happened today, but to sum things up, I have the best homologue, the best host family, the best site buddy and the best village in all of Mali! The people at home must really be praying for me because I think I’m in Malian heaven! This morning started off with Bakary stopping by and leading me and my new PCV friend to my first community meeting. I was so glad that my friend was there because she translated for me. After the meeting, we met the Mayor, the PC people stopped by to check out my housing and I was able to get the wrongs corrected. Then, my friend and I ate lunch and we had the most stimulating conversation I’ve had in weeks, she’s from Texas, she likes me, annnd she loves Corrine Bailey-Rae. We’re friends. Done. After lunch, we went on a walk to the awesome school and orphanage in my village and we get there and a teacher was there and he offered to give us a tour! It was amazing. The school was nicer than some schools I’ve seen in the US. It was a school for grades 1-9 and they had a cafeteria, kitchen, library, a technical training department specializing in making mud cloth, carpentry and sewing. They also had basketball courts, soccer field and volleyball nets. And a big thumbs up is that there were separate boys and girls bathrooms with sinks! This separation is a big deal because many girls don’t go to school when they are on their period because there is usually only one nyegen/hole and it’s for everyone’s use. Located right behind the school was an orphanage and the tour continued with the teacher! He was awesome! The orphanage is one of the nicest, cleanest facilities I’ve seen in Mali and they have a fruit and veggie garden. We were given samples from the garden and it tasted so good! I can’t wait to live here for two years!