Things we get to look forward to in the next 20 days:

So after our amazing site visit we have to return to our rigorous language training and back to our host families. This also means we will not be near a computer for the next 20 days so if anyone wants to talk feel free to call our phones, we love hearing from you all! (Aunt Debbie, the beeping is normal, that is what the ring sounds like here, so you are on the right track, I just have to answer next time :) )
Anyway, these are the things we get to look forward to in the next 20 days:

Language Training- a necessary evil

Our language test, in which we have to be at intermediate mid to be sworn in as a volunteer-eek! And God-willing we both will PASS!!!

Felid Trips- to various places to helps us with our technical training (me for education and Joe for environment)---this also includes trips into the capitol city, where you get to dine at "american" style resturaunts---always a plus

More rice and sauce---okay this one is questionable-- do we look forward to it, or dread it

Getting clothing made-We have to wear tradational Malian clothing for our Swear-in Ceremony at the US Embassy so we get to go pick out the fabric and visit a tailor---I am more excited about this than Joe.

Getting packages from our loved ones

Hanging out with our LCF's or Languange/Cultural Facilators---which are two guys, who are completely opposite, one a traditional Malian and the other a Westernized Malian, we always laugh alot together

Making a furniture list-we get to buy all new furniture for our "little italian villa"

And on Day 20--We are offically done with training and are on our way to being official volunteers and not trainees.

Site Visit

Over the last nine days Ashley and I traveled north from Bamako about 11 hours to the village we will be living at for two years. This gave us the chance to visit our site half way through our training period. During site visit we had an opportunity to see the house we will live in, we met the village chief and all the village elders. We stayed in the village four nights, during which we attended two baptisms and a tribal elders meeting in which we recieved Dogon names from our village.

The Dogon are a group of people living in the central plateau region of Mali, south of the Niger bend near the city of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The Dogon are best known for their mythology, their mask dances, wooden sculpture and their architecture.

Out the side mirror of our bush taxi traveling between Bandiagara and Severa
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The house we will live in for the next two years - I think of it as an old Italian villa in Mali

This is our yard


Ashley and I took our bikes out for a ride from our Dogon Village of 600 to Bandiagara a town with a population of 10,000.

Dogon grain silo's near our house.

The shadow of our nieghbors houses as a strom rolls in.

Sioux City Journal

Couple land in Mali for Peace Corps work

| Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sioux City native Ashley Wollersheim, and her husband, Joseph Wollersheim have accepted a Peace Corps assignment.

The couple were scheduled to depart for Mali earlier this month to begin pre-service training as education Peace Corps Volunteers. Upon graduation from volunteer training in October, Ashley, 26, will be developing and implementing education programs and activities, while Joseph, 28, will work on environmental education projects.

Ashley Wollersheim, the daughter of Randy and Debbie Martin, is a graduate of North High School in Sioux City. In 2003, she was graduated from the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., where she earned a bachelor of arts in elementary education. She previously worked in Washington, D.C., as a second grade teacher.
''My husband and I have desired to live abroad for a few years, but we wanted to live abroad with a purpose,'' Ashley said. ''With the Peace Corps, not only will we be able to do this, but it also let's us serve others.''

Joseph Wollersheim is a graduate of Xavier High School in Appleton, Wis. In 2002, he earned a bachelor of aArts in communications from the University of Montana, where he met Ashley. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, he worked in Washington D.C. as a legislative assistant for a member of Congress from Colorado.

''When contemplating our decision to join the Peace Corps, our family members were very supportive,'' said Joseph. ''We were both brought up with a sense of adventure and goodwill.''

During the first three months of their service, the Wollersheims will live with a host family in Mali to become fully immersed in the country's language and culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist their community, the Wollersheims will serve for two years in Mali, living in a manner similar to people in their host country.

Ashley Wollersheim joins the 102 Iowa residents currently serving in the Peace Corps. More than 2,006 Iowa residents have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.

More than 2,235 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Mali since the start of its program in 1971. Currently, 147 Peace Corps volunteers are working within Mali to confront imminent food shortages due to a rapidly growing population and frequent droughts. Volunteers strive to improve domestic food production, as well as find solutions to difficulties in water availability, environmental conservation, and micro-enterprise development. Volunteers are also providing education on preventative health care and HIV/AIDS awareness.

A Day in the Life of Jennaba Mete Troule

Okay so here in Mali my Malian name is Jennaba Mete Truole, it was given to me by my current host family. So I am no longer Ashley at my house, which was quite strange at first but I am getting used to it and now I respond when my Host Mom is yelling, "JENNABA, JENNABA!"

So here is what I, Jennaba do pretty much everyday during my Peace Corp training.

4:30AM-I get woken up by the call to prayer from the Mosque directly across from my home.

5:30AM I get woken up again by yet another call to prayer by the Mosque or the Donkey next to my house also loves to make noise around this time too.

6:00AM For the third time I get woken up, but this time it is because of my Mother who is pounding millet, a grain made into "Toh" which has the consistancy of hard mashed potatoes, but you have to grind it down before you can cook it.

7:00AM I finally get out of bed and head for my bucket bath, in which I am not allowed to talk to anyone on my way to the bath because my face is not washed. In the morning, Malians will not acknowledge someone until they have clearly washed their face, and I am not suppose to talk to anyone until it is done.

7:30AM Breakfast:Bread and coffee(which basically tastes like condensed milk, bc they put so much of it in the coffee)

8:00AM I pick up Joe from his house and we head off to school, which is about a 10min walk from our house.

8:00AM-12:00PM We have language training, in which we are learning French.

12:00-2:00PM Lunch Break:I go back home for lunch, I usually eat about 3 bites of rice with some type of sauce.

2:00-4:00PM MORE FRENCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4:00-5:00PM Culture Training Session

5:00-6:00PM I hang out with classmates, we may make some tea, eat some mangos, or peanuts, perhaps buy a coke.

6:00PM I go home, take a second bucket bath(bc Malians shower several times a day), study some french with my host dad, play cards with the kids and possibly visit Joe's family(or should I say Ibrahim, Joe's Malian name)

8:00PM I eat dinner with a flashlight bc it is dark by now, I am not sure why we wait to eat when it is dark(mind you I have no electricity). I usually have some type of fish for dinner with either pasta, rice or potatoes.

After dinner I go out and sit with my host Mom to sell fish, cous cous, pasta, and black-eyed peas on the street. I enjoy my time with her, bc it is the only time she gets to sit down all day, and we get to stare at eachother bc neither one of us can speak the language. She speaks Bambara-a native language and I dont speak it, but it is fun.

9:00PM Off to bed, to do it all over again, tomorrow.

Been gone for a month

Ashley and I with my host brother Musa

Ashley and her host mom

My host brother watering the family cow

Ashley's house

Joe's house

A giant rain storm rolled in so I had to hole myself up in my room and read.