Update: A little like Summer Camp...

So Jim and I have been here at Tubaniso (PC Training Center) for a few days . We’ve been going to sessions every day from 8am to 6pm, eating in the Peace Corps dining hall, and living in a cement “hut” surrounded by other huts where other PCTs live. (Peace Corps Trainees) So in that sense, at the moment it kind of feels more like summer camp than Mali. We leave tomorrow for our training homestays where we will be going back and forth from for the next 9 weeks. This means that we won’t have internet access until July 21st. We’re learning a lot in training-way too much to fit in 1 blog post, so here’s a quick list of some highlights that we have learned about Mali/Malian Culture.
• We will be eating out of communal bowls with our hands.
• We cant shake hands or eat with our left hand because it’s the “dirty” one
• They have popcorn here! (well, at least at the training center, so Joye will live! Yay!)
• Women should never initiate a handshake and eye contact with your elders is considered disrespectful.
• Malians are extremely hospitable.
• Malians think Americans are dirty because we only shower once a day and we use toilet paper instead of just washing ourselves every time we go to the bathroom
• Malians don’t wash their hands with soap
• There are a lot of languages here but we have been learning the most common, which is Bambara : Basic Greetings, Farewells, # 1-10, etc
Its certainly been an adjustment to get used to the heat, food, time change, especially with the malaria medication etc to get used to, but were excited to really dive in these next few weeks. Hopefully we’ll finally have some interesting anecdotes to share with you when we return.