Pre-Service Training

So this is the first time I've had to go on the internet and I wish I could send out personal emails but time restraints won't allow it.
We're in Pre-Service training and it's pretty intense. We haven't had a day off or a morning to sleep in since we arrived. We spent five days at the training center and then they moved us into our homestay villages where we'll do our trainig. Right now we're doing language and cultural training. Next month it's language adn technical. Everyday we go to class for Bambara. Bambara's not too hard and we're making progress but it's difficult at times because Bambara is our main method of communication. There are seven other volunteers in my village and three language and cultural facilitators.
My host family is really nice and I'm enjoying myself there. The dad in my compound speaks French but he's hardly ever there so I've been speaking Bambara with the mother and kids. There are six kids in my house ranging from 1-15 years of age and I love them all! The moment we arrived in the village we were welcomed with a special masked dance ceremony; this is the first time our village has ever hosted volunteers. Everyone in town knows our names ansd everyone is super nice and welcoming. Missalabougou (our village) is really small approx 300 people and most all are farmers. We're only 20km fron Bamako but it seems a world away. Today's actually our first day in Bamako and we only have like an hour, which some of us are spending in a cyber cafe.
It's the rainy season and I've seen some killer thunder storms. Last week I biked 5km in a rain storm on a muddy road after coming back from a market. Let's see... I plucked a chicken on Friday and last night I killed 3 crickets in my room. It's still really hot here, especially when it doesn't rain for a couple of days.
I don't know how often I'll be able to communicate but swearing-in takes place on September 29th and I should have more free time then. But all is well here, I haven't been sick really (knockin on wood) and I feel great emotionally. Ok that's all for now. Feel free to write me by post. I miss you all! Much love!