I’ve arrived safely at Tubaniso and it is surreal to say the least. It’s amazing that I met all these people five months ago, hung out for random days for two months, and disappeared to site for three months and now thrown together again like nothing has changed. The crazier part is, I’m so excited to see people I know that it doesn’t seem weird that I’ve only known them a few days. I’ve been given more hugs in the past 24 hours by what would under normal situations be with relative strangers, but when you have to discuss in detail your medical and personal problems with complete strangers, it’s quite the bonding experience.
I got to take Peace Corps transit to Bamako which was awesome because it’s free, reliable, and has air conditioning. We spent the evening chatting and catching up with everyone and better news…I got a new room that’s bigger and has a thatched roof!! I hate tin roofs; they’re so loud, though of course there is not too much rain these days to make a racket. I have a whole new respect for Becky and Phil adjusting to Florida, because I don’t know the temperature last night, but I was in two sweatshirts and sweatpants and socks and still freezing! Who knew I’d be cold in Mali.
This morning was delightful to have my water heated for me to take my bucket bath and bread for breakfast. We don’t have bread in my village so I only get to eat it once a week at market, thus every morning for breakfast here I make a pb&j sandwich. I just had a great session where I debriefed all the SED’s and trainers about my site and what I hope to accomplish etc, and it was nice to hear other people were having the same questions and concerns as me. I’ve got a language test coming up in a few minutes which I’m terrified for…I don’t think I speak bad bambara, but it surely isn’t great and I hate oral exams anyways.
I forgot how structured our days at Tubaniso are so that will be an adjustment for sure considering pretty much every hour of my next two weeks is planned out for me. Fortunately, we have a week here by ourselves before our homologues come for a week which I’m dreading. It gets so crowded with them here and makes lines at dinner a logistical nightmare. The sessions look pretty interesting though and tell Uncle Larry that I’m going to a beekeeping session and we have killer bees here! I’ll take some pictures and send them along in a few days.
I just loaded up on my malaria meds which I have to take every Sunday which is particularly annoying because the side effects never seem to really end. Some weeks are worse than others, but Sunday nights I’m pretty much guaranteed to have nightmares or extremely vivid dreams at the very least. Fortunately, insomnia is a common side effect that I haven’t had since the first few weeks and I never got sick which is lucky because most people taking Mefloquine would get bad cramps and nausea.
Love,
Cait
