I got my site assignment today! I'm really excited and really nervous...it's in the Kayes region (pronounced kie) which is the area of Mali closest to Senegal, and in a village of about 550 along a tributary of the Senegal river near Bafoulabe and Mahina. The village is called Drametou, but you probably can't find it on any map because it is so small. I'll be heading out there for my first site visit in about a week, so I'll have a lot more information then...

I heart pygmy goats! They are (so far) my favorite thing about Mali. I just completed my first two weeks at my homestay site of Sinsina living with a Malian family and taking Bambara language and Malian culture classes with 4 other Peace Corps Trainees. Sinsina is a town of about 2000 people, which is deceptive, because about 1200 of them are children under 15 and the families are big, so there are probably less than 100 families. My family is one of the big ones: I haven't totally deciphered how I am related to some of the members, but I do know I have 3 moms and 14 known siblings. Normally I get up in the morning, make (instant) coffee for my dad and I, eat breakfast and go to class. We have about 4 hours of language instruction from our really amazing teacher, Salifou, with a break for tea and then I return to my concession for lunch. I usually eat lunch with the women (and girls) in my family and spend some time attempting to communicate with them through my broken Bambara and pantomime before returning for 3 or so hours of class in the afternoon, which is usually a combination of language and culture. After class, we (the PCTs) have started to either take a walk on this path towards another village or play frisbee before we head back to our concession. I then have dinner with the men (and boys) in my family and then continue with the same Bambara/pantomime accompanied with sketching and (thanks to the genius of my fellow PCT Audra) some singing. The name song (Karmen, Karmen-bo-barmen, banana-fanna-fo-farmen.....) and the kissing frog song (mm-ah went the little Mr. Bullfrog....) are popular due to repetition and hand movement, and I'm currently in the process of translating The Itsy-bitsy Spider into Bambara.
All in all I am enjoying my stay in Mali. I genuinely feel as though Mali, Sinsina, and my host family are exactly where I am supposed to be at this point in time. Although I am happy to be back at Tubaniso right now, able to check email, visit PCTs from other homestay villages and having food that resembles what I'm used to (eaten with utensils instead of hands), I'm also excited to return to Sinsina tomorrow!
***I apologise for my lack of photos, hopefully I will have some worth posting on my next trip in to Tubaniso***

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for the first 2 weeks of my home stay in the village of Sinsina. The village is relatively small, with about 2,000 people, and is south from Bamako. The homestay is essentially a dry run for the site I will eventually be at, and I will live with a Malian family, have meals with them, take language and culture classes from my “Language and culture facilitator” in Bambara (the most prevalent local language in Mali), and generally try and integrate myself into this community alongside 4 other PC trainees who are also going to be water & sanitation volunteers. We’ll be taking 10 ceremonial nuts with us to present to the village chief, and this is where I’ll be doing most of my training for the next 2 months.
Yesterday, in preparation for our entrance into Malian society, we had a cultural festival here at Tubaniso. There was a dance troupe with accompanying drummers as well as a Tuareg band (from northern Mali near Tombouctou). Several people were selling bright African print cloth and there was also a tailor with his treadle sewing machine in the middle of the courtyard taking orders. I purchased two 2 meter pieces with the intent of getting “tafe” (tah-fay, or wrap skirt) with matching head wraps made, as well as some bracelets beaded by an organization that has been started by a PC Mali volunteer. The fete was really great, with quite a few trainees joining in with the dancing, though I was unfortunately waiting in line for the tailor for most of that and couldn't bust out moves from my African dance class. There was a flurry of color and excitement that was only a small taste of what I will probably experience in a real market town, although with all of the information we’ve been receiving for the last few days I’m happy that yesterday was such a simplified version.

I ni ce! (Hello in Bambara)
I've successfully made it through 2 days and 2 nights in Mali! We (all 77 PC trainees) arrived at the Bamako airport Thursday evening to a full-on welcome wagon of PCMali staff and current volunteers, and, amazingly, my luggage arrived as well. We've all been learning the ropes of the nyagen (pit toilet), some language and cross-culture classes, and the proper way to combat malaria (pills, nets, and bug spray - there aren't actually as many of the little suckers as I was expecting).
All of the other trainees have been pretty great and the Malian staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. We had a friendly tarantula waiting outside our hut's door yesterday morning, and I've seen several geckos racing around. There's a ton of vegetation here at the training compound, but now there is also a fair amount of mud, as it stormed last night with a heavy downpour from about 0430-0500 this morning. It may also come as a surprise to some that our food here has been really good...and I haven't gotten sick quite yet.
All in all, I can't believe I've only been here for such a short period of time. Our days have been pretty packed, and the "camp atmosphere" feels really comfortable. I've got a couple more days here at Tubaniso (it means "dove house" in Bambara and is the training center) before I head off to my home-stay village with about 5 other volunteers, when we'll be doing a lot more cultural and language (probably Bambara) lessons with a Malian instructor. I'm so excited!!