I have been renamed by my village. I am now Renatou Kindo. Kindo is the name of my host family. My host sister started calling me Renatou - i'm not really sure why because she still calls me Jenni (or Jini or Djini as many other people here say).

Things are going great and I am genuinely enjoying myself. In the beginning, there were a few moments when I had to remind myself that I have only been here for days and that everything is new and I need to give myself a break. I was really pushing myself to do everything - learn local language, work on my French, hang out with my host family, write letters and remember to breathe and rest from time to time. We have an ridiculously structured schedule and I am rarely alone when I am at home in village, so getting time to relax and decompress is a bit difficult to come by. I let my mind relax on my 10 km bile ride home, which is beautiful. Also, my host family has evolved into a group of people that I am happy to see and I am comforted to see the hill that leads to my house when I get to our village. My host mom speaks Moore, but we still have wonderful conversations about random things conducted through grand theatrics. She is so smart and cool, she reminds me of my own mom. My host brother has become my French tutor and village counterpart as he translates and preps me for anything I need to ask of him.

Nothing much to report this week. My mind is a little tired and I am just glad to feel comfortable and at home in my life here. Though if anyone wants to send me some of the following, I'd be even happier!

- Kool Aid/drink mix with and without sugar (the little packets of stuff are probably more mail-able)
- granola or energy bars
- cds (anything, but country)
- news paper articles or magazines, like the Economist (i have no idea what is going on in the world)
- photos
- or anything really...!

a letter with even one or none of these things would rock my world! Letters have taken from 9 to 15 days to get here.

Lastly, you can catch me on Yahoo messenger sometimes. oh, and, I'll post pics as soon as I can... but the internet is so slow here. As soon as I get a chance, I will!