Je suis ici!

So I've arrived here at the Peace Corps training center outside of Bamako, after a day (only?) of travelling. The Philadelphia orientation was brief but definitely brewed my excitement. After hours and hours waiting at the airports in Philadelphia and Paris, with our backpacks strewn across the terminal, irrecognizable from the mounds of sleep-deprived bodies (not to mention the 13 hours we spent in the air) all 66 of us landed in Mali. As soon as we stepped off the plane, the humid dusty air hit us (80 degrees even though it was after dark), and I felt that immense, excited jolt of realization that I was here to stay, for awhile at least. We waded through the chaos that is the tiny Bamako International Airport, which was just big enough to fit the people in our flight and the mounds of bags. We finally found our luggage, and were greeted by seasoned Peace Corps Mali volunteers who slightly intimidated us with their flawless Bambara. They threw our bags on top of several serious looking jeeps, we piled in the back, and off we caravaned Tomb raider style through the city, past the shanty towns and suprisingly clean metropolitan areas of Bamako. And here I am at the training center, which has electricity, fans and shower heads! What a luxury. Today we learned some of the interesting nuances of the Malian culture, including the intricacies of handshakes and the horror of using your left hand to do anything but, er, clean yourself. It really is amazing how much pride Malians take in their appearance; the women wear the most beautiful clothes everyday. I've started the malaria pills, which I swear is giving me some fun perceptual changes (extreme depth perception and color contrast after affects). The other side effects include "vivid dreams" and some other fun things. I will be here for a few days and then I go off to my "homestay" village where I will live with a few other volunteers with a host family for the next nine weeks before I am sent off to my village post. So far so good! More to come.