All is still well in Mali! I'm as healthy as ever and Bambara is coming along nicely. We're all getting a little anxious to get to our sites at this point, but at the same time we're all growing so close it will be hard to leave each other to our respective parts of the country. That hadn't fully occurred to me until the wonderful Katie Wootten told us she was ETing and left us today. That was a hard, sudden goodbye but Im glad she's proactive about what she needs to do. She's the kind of girl who will be happy wherever she is. On the other hand, welcome to Matt...a volunteer who completed his service in Chad and decided to extend his stay, but to Mali. He joined us a few days ago.
I received my first package from home today. Thanks mom!! So it looks like packages generally take just over two weeks and letters take even less. Mail is always a highlight to the day:) I've decided to keep receiving mail at the Peace Corps office because I imagine I'll be going into Bamako for the bank just as often as I would go to the closer city, Kolokani. So, same address as previously posted.
We were in Banankoro for the end of Ramadan celebration and it was pretty awesome. Lots of meat was eaten, everyone went visiting to the neighbors, and we all went to the mosque. It's fascinating to learn so much about another religion, and a rare opportunity to do it in such an immersed way.
Signing off...
