Site Announcement

So site announcement is something that all of us PCTs have been eagerly anticipating for the past month! It's we finally found out where we will all be going once we swear in. The way that they did site announcement was really cool but also really nerve-wrecking. They made the announcements by region, so that meant that they called out a region and then one-by-one listed all of the PCTs from each sector who will be going there. The whole process and the assignments themselves were kept a big secret, but a few things slipped out. For example beforehand I was told that nobody wants to go to Kayes region because it's the hottest place on Earth. I also didn't want to be in the Koulikoro region because that meant Bamako (the capital city) wpould be my regional capital, and because of that it would lose all of it's novelty and no longer be a big deal to go to. So because of those impressions I had of those 2 regions, my whole body was incredibley tense when the PCTs in those regions were being called out. The one region I REEEEAAALLLY wanted to be in was Sikasso because I heard that it is the most lush region where most of the fruits and vegetables come from (I miss produce sooooo much), and also where they always have a big Thanksgiving party (the reason this is so special is that our first 3 months as sworn in volunteers has to be spent at site, meaning that if you aren't in the Sikasso region you can't come to the big Thanksgiving dinner in Sikasso).
So back to me being super tense. The first region to be called was Kayes. When it came time for the Education volunteers to be announced I was crossing my fingers and praying that my name wouldn't be called, and it wasn't! The next region was Koulikoro, and I again crossed my fingers and said a prayer, and again my name wasn't called out!! The next region to be called was Sikasso. I had pretty much convinced myself that I wasn't going to get what I most wanted because I had basically exhausted all of my luck by not getting Kayes or Koulikoro. They made it through all of the Sikasso announcements and they saved the Education names for last. The Education head got through his 3 or 4 names and got to his very last name, and guess what, it was me!!! I jumped up and threw my arm in the air and yelled out "yes!" and then proceeded to high-five a few people. lol. I was super excited. I got my dream region, but unfortunately I didn't get my dream site. It turns out that I have to bring my mountain bike with me because my village is several kilometers from the main road. I love biking in the US, but biking in Mali is a different story. Besides the fact that it is super hot here and I am constantly sweating during my bike rider, the roads and paths are super terrible, and I often have to bike through nasty puddles and over donkey poop. I also found out that my site doesn't have reliable cell service, so I'm not too sure how I will be making my phone calls. Another thing I got but didn't want was a male Homologue. I really wanted the person I work the most close with to be a woman. i just felt that a woman would be able to help me more, and would be more comfortable around me because a male homologue could feel like he might not want to tell me something because it could be a touchy subject. I don't know. Anyway I actually just got to meet my homologue and he seems like a super nice older man. He speaks Bambara and a little French (or so my info sheet says, but I haven't actually tried to speak to him in French yet so we'll see if this is actually true). I'm glad he looks nice because on Sunday I will have to ride with him on public transport to Sikasso, a 4 to 5 hour drive from Bamako, and him being nice means that the ride will of course be awkward seeing as we've only just met, but not super awkward because he's not a weirdo!