Back in Tubaniso

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great New Years. Mine was filled with fun -- I stayed in Segou and had a few friends come into town.

Well, I'm back in Tubaniso (Peace Corp's training camp) until this weekend. I've been helping out with the newest group of PCVs' in-service training (IST). It's so strange that it has been a year since my IST. Now I'm one of the "experienced" volunteers who's helping lead sessions on technical skills. So far, I've talked to other SED volunteers about things like exporting products, product differentiation, cost-plus pricing, illiterate accounting, financial management, etc. Fun huh??

It's been great to meet all the new volunteers (well, they're not really new anymore...they swore in last September) from all over the country. All the volunteers who came before me have finished their 2 years and gone back home, so me and my group are now at the top of the totem pole.

Other than being busy with training the past week and a half, I've been staying busy working on projects and saving the life of another kitten. I found this kitten (literally only a couple days old -- it was still blind and couldn't walk yet) almost two weeks ago on the street outside my office in Segou. It was crying so loud, and it had definitely been abandoned. I had to do something. So I brought it home, cleaned the dirt off its face, and started feeding it milk through a syringe. I couldn't find anyone to take care of him while I came to Tubaniso, so I took the little guy with me. All the volunteers here have been sharing the burden of feeding him and cuddling with him, and he's growing really fast. He's moved from looking like a rat to acting and looking like a playful kitten. I still haven't named him, but I think I might have found Jaba a friend (although Jaba did nothing but hiss at him when I first brought him home).

(the new kitten -- the day after I found him. he looks much cuter now)

Well, that's about it. I'm done with my grad school applications, so now I'm trying to stay busy and not think too much about them until I hear back. And I'm coming home THIS YEAR!