ARRIVED

hey all. just so you know i cant use exclaimation points right now so its not that im unenthused. it is incredible here. were staying at a hotel in bamako, for the moment being fed delicious simple meals, croissants and nice french bread. we have gone to the SIT school and already learned some Bambara, and yesterday, our first day here we were dropped off in pairs downtown with a given destination and some questions we had to answer before finding our way, by taxi, back to the hotel. first day. crossing a bridge on foot across the Niger river; i thought to myself, this is the kind of thing that brings me back to childhood thoughts of, but are my parents allowing me to do this? they couldnt, its too dangerous. but alas, i remember, im 20.
the people here are stunning. i honestly cannot get over how beautiful they are, dark dark brown skin with brillantly colored wraps and robes, called pagnes. im constantly surrounded by bambara, not english, so well see how im doing when i get to my homestay on friday. were about to meet one of the members of our family this afternoon, testing out some of our new language skills...i ni tile means good afternoon, and i ka kene means how are you? yay.
im really having a good time, but i can tell this orientation is quite the cushion because besides the heat and the headaches nothing feels too hard yet...
i feel like ive been here for so long already yet this is only my second day here.
im in for quite the adventure, dudes, im so glad i chose to do this.