loved it!

I decided to bring my laptop to site visit because I remembered really wanting to journal/blog my first night of homestay. I am going to write a little bit each day so that by the end of the week I will have a mini entry for each day.

Day 1 (August 8)
So I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my entire life. I literally felt like throwing up the entire morning because my stomach was so knotted with stress. This morning we were told to wake up at 4 am so that we'd be ready to leave at 5 am. While eating breakfast my homologue came up to me and showed me his ticket and said something to me in Bambara, so I figured he was saying that he got both of our tickets. After breakfast we went to load the bus, but it turned out that there wasn't enough space for all of us on the one bus so my homologue and I actually got split up. I didn't find this out until later though, so I spent the entire ride to the bus station panicked because my homologue wasn't on the bus. When I finally reunited with my homologue at the bus station it was a great relief, but then I found out that he didn't actually have my ticket and earlier he had told me to go get my own ticket in Bambara. So this news made me panic even more because I thought there might be a chance that they wouldn't let me on the bus, but thanks to my amazing homologue everthing was smoothed out and I had no problems getting on the bus. My bus ride was a very very long 6 hours, although at some point along the trip I found out that my homologue lied when he said he only speaks a little French, because really he speaks beacoup! I was super relieved to find this out because now we can actually communicate, when before I could only tell him about my basic needs in Bambara. On the bus there was a driver and three attendants (they collected the money and helped people with luggage), and after my bus ride when we got off at our stop, all three of the attendants got off the bus and I could see them whispering to eachother. I knew they were talking about me, but I didn't know what about until one came over to me and asked me for my number! lol, I gave him an 'are you kidding me!?' look and then told them all off by saying that they didn't know me, so why should they want my number (all in french). They all cracked up and got back on the bus. My 8k (which is about 5 miles) bike ride to my actual village wasn't at all as bad as I thought it was going to be. I did get covered in mud though because it had just rained. Once I got to the village I found out that I'm living in the same concession with my homologue and his family, not with the chief of the village as I was told. The 2 rooms that they have for me are attatched to their house, and my negen isn't even built yet (everything was supposed to be finished before I got here). I also don't have a hangar in front of my house that can be like a gated area for privacy. What they have provided for me doesn't follow the Peace Corps guidlines, so once I get back to Tubaniso I'm going to have to make sure someone finds out what is going on. Besides my house not being in order, everything else was great! I really like my homologue and his family and everyone that I have met so far in my village, even though hardly any of them speak Bambara (they all speak Senufo, so yay for me having to learn another language when I really don't like language learning!) All in all I'd say that it was an awesome first night, and I think I'm gonna like this place (especially if they get my housing issues situated).
*cool fact: I'm the first American ever in my village, and my homologue said he was going to write "Elizabeth Coomber, the first American in our village" in their history books. Insanely awesome!

Day 2 (August 9)
I feel like I live in Busch Gardens. I know that sounds weird, and I think I'm going to have some trouble explaining this, but I'll give it a shot. So I always felt that amusment parks like Busch Gardens exaggerated the huts and vegetation for what Africa is supposed to look like. I felt this way because I lived in Nigeria for 2 years and never once saw a mud hut with a thatched roof. Well in my village they're everywhere! Almost every household has a round hut with a thatch roof! It looks so fake, just like Busch Gardens, but they're real!
Anyway I did quite a bit today with my homologue. He basically gave me a tour of my entire village. My village has a primary and a secondary school, so I got to visit both of those, as well as the health clinic and a bunch of little random graineries and gardens. I also met the Chief of the village today, he's this cute little old man with coke bottle glasses and a huge smile. He was super excited to meet me, and I also found out that I'm actually the 2nd American to come to my village because the Chief said that when he was a small boy he met an American man and this man gave him 5 francs. I can't believe he can remember something as small as that! Today was another great day!
P.S. there are mango trees everywhere in my village!! I can't wait for mango season!!

Day 3 (August 10)
Today was another great day! It started out pretty slow because after I ate breakfast my homologue and I went to the Secondary school to meet the headmaster there. I also got to sit in on a CGS meeting which is Communite de Gestion Scolaire, which is kind of like a school board meeting. They were talking about the schools budget which I found to be very boring and hard to follow because it was in French, but at just the right time I saw my site buddy walk up. She's a 1 year PCV who lives in a village 12k from me. She basically came to check in on me and see how my site visit was going. She's super cool and very nice. She's staying the night at my place so that she can be here tomorrow for when a Peace Corps official comes to see how I'm doing and to introduce me to the Mayor.

Day 4 (August 11)
So I'm positive that I'm going to love living here. I have the best homologue ever! He literally treats me like his daughter and makes sure everything is perfect for me. I have a couple of issues with my house (I am supposed to have my own negen, but right now there's just a giant hole in the ground, my door is wood when it's supposed to be metal. and it opens with a skeleton key which doesn't fit Peace Corps standards) and my homologue says that there's going to be no problem having those things fixed before I'm installed here at the beginning of September. I also explained to him that I would really like my own concession, even though living with him and his family is great, I just want my own space, and he understood completely, and said that after the rainy season is over he will see to it that a new concession for me gets built! He's so accomodating and hospitable! Today I also got to meet the Mayor, and he seems like a really nice guy that I will be able to work with well. Today was also market day in my village!! It was great! It's not the biggest market, but I was able to buy some pretty cool cloth and some orange and blue (go gators) bracelets. The only thing I don't like about my village is that they speak Senufo here, and I've come to realize that it's going to be very difficult to learn this language because it is spoken with the throat, it sounds very similar to Chinese, and it's almost impossible for me to get my mouth in the right position to pronounce words and phrases correctly.

Day 5 (August 12)
Today was my last full day in village because tomorrow I am going to Sikasso with my site buddy so she can show me around. I need to know where my bank is and where I'll be receiving mail, as well as where the Bureau is so I can get internet access. Today was a really chill day. After my bucket bath and breakfast this morning my homolgue took me to a meeting of the village elders (all men of course) and heads of families. They gathered to talk about me and also about the past school year and any issues dealing with the primary and secondary schools in the village. Earlier in the week I had asked the village chief to give me a Senufo name (really I just wanted a new name because I didn't like Sali at all), so now my name is Gnire (pronounced Near-y) and this means first daughter in Senufo. I got this name because I am their first American daughter, so I'm really happy to have gotten this name! Today I wasn't feeling so well so I told my homologue that I didn't want to go with him to a meeting at the Mayor's office, but that I wanted to go back home and read. So I pretty much spent the whole day reading (I also watched a couple episodes of the Office) except for when I ended up having to go to the meeting anyways just to show my face to those who hadn't met me yet. Overall it has been a really good week, and as much as I really like this village, I'm ready to go back to Tubaniso.