Training in Tubaniso...

So last Thursday, I arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Staging. After some brief orientation, and a fun night and good food out on the town with my fellow 80 Malian Peace Corps Trainees, we took a bus up to JFK Airport in New York City and flew out Friday night to Paris, and then to Bamako. After our flight was delayed a few hours, we finally arrived in Bamako around 11 pm.

The Peace Corps Trainee concrete huts with straw-thatched roofs at Tubaniso, the Peace Corps Mali training facility outside of Bamako.

We moved into our huts that night, and had a snack in the refectoir (the kitchen). We are staying in three-person concrete huts, with straw-thatched roofs. The huts actually have electricity, with a ceiling fan and light! It has made sleeping in the heat and humidity of the rainy season very much bearable. I have a small twin-sized mattress with a mosquito net.

Our latrines are basically a concrete pad with a surrounding concrete structure. There is a hole in the concrete pad for the toilet, and a shower head as well. This training village, Tubaniso, is very much a halfway village of sorts, with many elements of the rural villages we will be placed in combined with a few creature comforts, like plumbing and electricity.

The terrain here is mostly plains with very green trees and shrubs. It is not quite as arid as I expected, but it has been in the 80's an 90's with high humidity, being the rainy season. We were told that it is very possible to see monkeys here on the site, but I have only seen lizards, cockroaches, and lots of mosquitoes and flies so far. It is exciting to know that non-American forms of wildlife are around, though.

The past couple days have been full of training courses, including safety and security, medical, food and water treatment, and other standard core subjects of the Peace Corps. We have been getting accustomed to Mali meals, receiving additional vaccinations, and beginning our malaria medication. We are now getting used to life in a much more rustic setting. Today, I washed my clothes by hand for the first time.

Sunday, we attended a 4th of July celebration in Bamako hosted by the US Ambassador to Mali. It was a good time, with games of volleyball and American food and drink. But we are more-so anxious to experience the culture of Mali since we just arrived.

The drive through Bamako revealed the bustling markets and busy streets. It was crazy to see cars, motorcycles, mopeds, bikes, pedestrians, taxis, donkeys, and goats all making their way speedily down an unmarked street. I am surprised we didn't see more accidents than the two we did, although there were some near misses on the way! I definitely understand the Peace Corps policy banning the operation of motor vehicles after this trip.

The majority of the homes were cinderblock construction and the market storefronts were made of corrugated metal with wood posts. Sanitary sewage and storm-water drainage facilities along this main road involves open concrete trenches installed along the roads. Off in the distance were some small mountains with linear rock faces spanning the entire face of the mountain. The contrast between vivid green vegetation and red rocks is breathtaking.

On Thursday, we will begin our home-stay, when each volunteer stays with a separate host family in a surrounding rural village. This will be the beginning of our major cultural and language training, as we will be required to live amongst people in their way of life who do not speak English. I am excited to learn what language(s) I will be learning, and where the language(s) might take me in two months and beyond. Tomorrow, I will have my interview with the WATSAN (Water and Sanitation) staff for placement evaluation. So far though, I am enjoying training, although it has been very busy.