First Two Days!!

So this is a post from the first two days in Mali!!

The first night in Africa!! We've spent the last 36 hours traveling to get here. We arrived at 8:50pm and got to exit the plane using stairs that lead directly to the ground. The air was warm and had a dirt smell to it (which apparently is a burnt wood smell). By the time I reached pavement I was ready to do a happy dance! haha We're staying for the next 6 days just outside the capitol inside the Peace Corps compound while we get orientated and separated for training. We're separated into hut groups to stay in and I'm in a hut with 2 other girls. We sleep in beds that have mosquito nets on them which is slightly disturbing to be 'closed' into your bed. Besides the beds, there is nothing else in the room. We have toilets outside called "negens" pronounced sort of like nyagens which are just holes in the ground that you squat over. There's cement walls around them and doors with locks with I guess is better than out in the middle of nowhere. We have a pump outside for water, however we don't drink that water since it's not filtered. The drinking water is in the cafeteria. We have showers, but they're a little iffy on pressure so I showered from a bucket. It wasn't so bad. haha I'll have to do that at my site so I might as well get used to it. There's electricity in our huts so we have a light and a fan, so I sort of feel like we're being pampered before being sent out into the wilderness. Although some volunteers will have electricity and water because they'll be in the larger city. I found out we'll be getting cell phones which will enable us to text and call anyone in Mali as well as anyone in the world. It'll cost a little bit of money, but it is reassuring that even if I don't have electricity or water, I'll still be able to communicate.
After these 5 days we'll be sent into a village with around 6 other volunteers to go through the 3 month training program. We'll all be learning the same language in that village but won't necessarily be in the same sectors. With my group, there are 3 different sectors here; small enterprise development, health education, and environment. After the 3 months we'll be placed at our official sites which most likely won't be with other volunteers.
The food so far is pretty normal. Potatoes with green beans, spaghetti, and bread. They say alot of what we'll eat is millet. They also say girls tend to gain weight while guys tend to lose weight. Fantastic.
It's all pretty exciting still right now although some of what they say make us really nervous still. The rest of this week will mostly be for vaccinations, language placement, and more orientation stuff.
I'll try to take pictures to post sometime in the next few days!

Oh, and we have to post a disclaimer on all our blogs. So here's mine:
Anything I post on here does not reflect Peace Corps ideas or opinions. They are simply my own and you should not take them seriously and judge Peace Corps by them or Mali. :)