My in-service training is officially over. For the last 3 weeks I’ve been at the Tubaniso training center with all of the people from my stage doing follow-up studies, and for the last week all of our homologues have been here with us. It was quite the experience, I learned quite a bit, and now I’m heading back to site with a ton of ideas swarming my brain. The best thing about the whole experience, though, is not how much knowledge I gained, but rather how I’ve been re-inspired to help my community. It’s not that I was down-trodden before, but after sitting in village for 4 months the honeymoon period of being in Africa (!) was beginning to wear off. I’d like to think that we’ve now moved into a more mature state in our relationship, if you will… My friend Audra, who lived with me in Sinsina will be going back to site with me tonight on the train. I’m very excited for her to come visit and see Dramétou, and I think it will help my transition from seeing 70 Americans every day and speaking English for 3 weeks to living in village. We stayed in Bamako last night for one last evening with a few friends (watching the Superbowl, actually – it’s amazing how much American culture I’ve packed in this month) before we once again scattered across the country.
All of the volunteers here in Mali were invited to the American Club here in Bamako to watch the inauguration of President Obama, and I think everyone from my stage and a few others went. It was exciting to see and I’m grateful that I was able to watch both the election and the inauguration – two things that I don’t think I watched in entirety until this year, but both of which have taken on greater importance now that I’m out of the country. I would have to say that the inauguration was more fun though, since we were basically at a clubhouse with burgers and a bar, whereas I watched the election lying on a foam mattress on a Malian friend’s living room floor until 3 in the morning.
Yesterday I went back to Sinsina, my homestay village, with fellow Sinsina-kaw Audra and Dave. We’d always been taken in Peace Corps transport before, so it was a little complicated getting to and from village (multiple bachees), but I’m so glad that we went. My Bambara is better than it was when I left 4+ months ago, so I was able to chat fairly well, and it was really nice to see and be seen. Hopefully I’ll be able to go back again sometime in the course of my service, maybe at the 1 year mark or so…
I may not be able to achieve internet access again until April, but I still love to hear your comments and I will write again as soon as I can!