We were installed by a member of the Peace Corps staff to our sites. Here in Koutiala we visited the head of police, the head of the military in charge of policing in rural areas, the governor of this circle and the mayor of Koutiala. As amazing as it sounds for us Americans we were able to get in and talk with each official without an appointment. They all had good things to say about the Peace Corps and the work volunteers have done in Koutiala.

Now that I am in Koutiala my work begins. But how? I have two homologues. What is a homologue, a homologue is my Malian counterpart that directs me with my work, introduces me to the community, and helps me with projects. One of my homologues is on vacation and here in Mali it is not uncommon for people to be on vacation for all of August and September, life in Mali resumes after Ramadan which ends the first of October.

My other homologue showed up drunk and was inappropriate. Luckily a Peace Corps staff was here and when I brought it up to them they agreed something had to be done. He is no longer my homologue. So for the next two weeks things look like they will be moving lowly. The first three months we are not suppose to do any projects, just integrate into the community do what is called a base line survey of community needs.

Language classes continue. I walked an hour each way to my language tutor’s house yesterday for a two hour lesson. My bike is on loan to a volunteer who needs it to get the 5 kilometers to her site. Our Stage has not officially received their bikes because they have not come in. Can you believe it I have hardly ridden a bike for over two months.

My house is in a concession (a concession is a compound of buildings walled in where usually a family lives with grown children in some of the houses etc.). I call it the “pearly gates” because it is the most upscale compound I have seen in Mali and the gates are painted black and white instead of the rust color everything else is painted. The family owns a restaurant at the bus station called the

Dunni Dunni, which means little by little in Bambara. Here is my front door, my kitchen and my clothes rack that is in my bedroom.