Update: Homestay

Some definitions:
Tubaniso: The Peace Corps Training facility which we've compared to summer camp. Here we have electricity, running water, a cafeteria, internet, etc. We return here every few weeks to have training sessions with all the other volunteers.

Homestay: Each PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) is placed in a village where they spend around 6 weeks total living as part of a family in a local village. We go to homestay for three 2 week periods throughout training. About 4-8 volunteers are in each village. We all attend language, technical, and cross cultural classes for 8 hours every day at the local school. At homestay we live without electricity. All water comes from a pump and must be carried, filtered, and bleached before drinking. (I dont think I fully grasped how much I would have to plan ahead to make sure I had enough water for those really hot days!) Also, no AC or electric fans. And we eat a lot of to, the most common food here: think of bitter dry mashed potatoes with slimy green okra sauce. mmmmmmh. :P

Site: The place we will be living for 2 years. We STILL dont know this yet but will be finding out in 2 weeks!

Joye's first impressions of homestay:

As one of the current PCVs put it, Homestay is a very "real" experience. Some highlights,

Language: We only had 1 language lesson before we went to homestay. So the first day or two were a bit rough. Turns out its hard to explain to your family even little things like "Im not too hungry because my stomach hurts" when all you can say is hello, goodbye, and how is your family. go figure. However, its pretty amazing how much we've picked up in just 2 weeks. I can communicate most of my daily activities in 3 tenses, bargain at the market, ask for directions, and chat about peoples family members. Its definitely still frustrating to have the language skills of a 5 year old sometimes, but we're excited that this "total immersion" thing seems to work pretty well :)

Malian Names: Since our American names are too difficult for Malians to pronounce. Each family has given us new Malian names. I am Aissata (or Sata in short) Samake and Jim is Numujo Traoré. Which makes me Madame Troaré. Malian women do not change their last name when they get married. They keep their maiden name but use their husbands name after Madame. A little confusing.

Living Conditions: The first few days at homestay were admittedly tough. It was a LOT of change combined with a LOT of heat. I live in a 1 room mudbrick house with a tin roof. My bathroom is a walled 5' x 10' area with a hole in the ground on one end and a cement area on the other side where I crouch to take bucket baths. The food has taken a bit of getting used to. Since human feces is used for fertilizer, we arent alound to eat any vegatables without soaking them in chlorinated water for 30 minutes and peeling them. Fruits are generally easier because you can peel bananas and oranges, but you can only get fruit in bigger villages and cities. I've been living in a town of about 600 people, so were lucky if we can get oranges even 1 day of the week. So that means we've been eating A LOT of carbs. But honestly its amazing how quickly you adjust to your surroundings. Within a few days, I had a system down for taking bucket showers, timing when I would get water, airing out my house so it wouldnt be too hot to sleep in at night, and stocking up on fruit by biking into neighboring villages (oh yeah, they gave us all mountain bikes!). It was also really nice to have the support system of other volunteers in our villages as we could share ideas and vent about our frustrations. It also helps that Malians are amazingly hospitable and friendly people. Guests are treated with the utmost respect and care and our host families are constantly going out of their way to make sure we are comfortable. It cracks me up when I wake up on the "cool" ~75 degree mornings and my host family offers to boil water so I can take a warm bucket bath since I must be freezing.

My host family: I have a host father and mother who are about 60 years old. Then my host sister and brother are around 30 years old. They have 5 children ages 1 to 14. I absolutely love my host "nieces and nephews." Its really nice to have kids around because they really help with the language. Also, around the 3rd day, I realized that I knew the Bambara word for "chicken" and "dance." So naturally, I taught them the chicken dance. That was a big hit. Now they want me to do it with them every night. They look completely ridiculous and every time they get to the part where you shake your backside I die laughing wondering what their conservative parents must think of what I've taught their children.

Overall, it has been a challenging 2 weeks, we've oscillated between extreme enthusiasm and intense homesickness, but as we get used to life here, we're starting to find a happy medium between the two. Sorry for the long posts! Its hard to fit in 2 weeks worth of info into a few paragraphs! So let us know if you have any questions!

-Joye