Happy halloween!!!

10/31/2011

So today Halloween! Me and the other trainees are going to go to one of the 2 restaurants in Sapone and have a Halloween party.

This past weekend was very interesting. Another trainee ETed (early terminated) on Friday. That’s the third one thus far. Our group is starting to make a bad name for ourselves.

 Other than that the weekend was pretty fun. Me and some of the other trainees had a night full of dancing, beer and American music. The bar owner let us plug in one of our ipods to the system and we turned that place out! Just when I thought the night couldn’t get any more interesting we bar hopped to the other bar (Belle Vie) and turned that place out too. Just imagine, 7 intoxicated foreigners dancing in the middle of the dance floor alone. I’m sure it was a weird site to see. For all of you wondering, there are some cuties in my stage (group). I think I’ll just leave it at that lol.

The next morning (10/30/11) we caught the tail end of the tour de Burkina. The good thing about being a foreigner here is that we get special treatment. So when the other Burkinabes had to stand behind the line I got to go meet the cyclists. I took a picture with the Ghanaian and French team.

some of the ghanaian cyclists

Positives about Burkina:

• ·      We are like mini celebrities
• ·      Burkinabes are VERY friendly
• ·      My homestay familiy is great!
• ·      The weather isn’t too bad (so far)
• ·      Burkina business casual is American Casual
• ·      No internet Café in Sapone!
• ·      New friends!

Negatives about Burkina:

• ·      We are like mini celebrities
• ·      My French sucks
• ·      They think that we all are rich so they try to overcharge us
• ·      Time goes by very slowly (which could be a +)
• ·      My fam and friends are not here.
• ·      Cold drinks are hard to come by
• ·      We can’t drink the tap water
• Malaria meds are annoying to take every week

I washed my clothes by hand for the first time this weekend. Its such a long process. I had to fetch my own water (and when I say I, I mean Afou the house girl). Then I got multiple buckets for the soak, wash, and rinse cycle. All of that hard work for semi clean clothes! I will hire someone to wash my clothes from here on out.

Creatures that can be found in my room:

• ·      Lizards/geckos
• ·      A roach or two
• ·      Crickets
• ·      Spiders

I’ve actually been woken up by a cricket jumping on me while I lie inside of my mosquito net. I probably won’t be afraid of anything by the time I come back. That roaches still creep me out a lot.

Oh yea I almost forgot. My homestay dad bought me a puppy today! His name is neuf, which means nine in French. He will be my last numbered dog I swear!!

yes, we are dancing in our helmets. safety first

Tonight was unreal! We went to Triangle D’or and had a Halloween extravaganza! We invited the French tutors to come too! Most of the trainees brought their little host brothers or sisters and we handed out candy to all of them. Some people dressed up as pretty cool things. I just wore my Rocky Horror Picture show shirt. Even though this wasn’t a standard Halloween, I had a good time sharing it with the Burkinabe and the trainees. Its funny because I know that I like to dance but sheesh, talk about a dancing machine! I also am glad that today ended as it did because it started off a little rocky. It seems that most of my bad days end well. My emotional roller coaster is very short in terms of mad moods.

sapone nights, every saturday

Well the donkeys are calling so I better get to sleep. Oh yea, I wake up with the roosters every morning. They do not cock-a-doodle-doo once a day. Its an all day annoying thing. Now I don’t feel so bad for Chanticleer.

Ps today a lot of ppl got mail, so I go and see if I got mail too. And of course I was the loser that didn’t get any. So send me letters please!!!!!

My first real day

10/15/11

Today (my first real day) I went to stage (training) and I had a lot of fun. We had culture/peace corps training and we rode our bicycles all around the city. I was feeling dizzy for most of today so they told me to drink this sodium potassium mixture to restore my electrolytes. When I rode my bike home I pulled out a notebook, pen, and French/English dictionary on my ipod. I sat down with Alice (my HS mom) and we communicated en francais. It was great! I feel like I can learn fast here. We understand each other a lot better now. She is a banker and he is a nurse.

When Isaka (my HS dad) came home they were going to try to make me eat dinner alone but I told them that I wanted to eat as a family…so we did! This is the family dynamic: I have a mom and dad and a little 2year old brother named Farid ( he is super spoiled. They also have a little girl who is basically their servant. I feel bad for her sometimes. She does everything. I tutor my little neighbor boy, Papi (steve) in French. I hope that he improves a little in school with my help.

After dinner we all went walking around in the dark and we ended up at a restaurant. We sat under the stars and drank Brakina (tasty beer). I am so happy that I actually got to sit down and speak to my family. They are very patience with me.

Sidenote: while we were drinking our beer this fou (crazy person) came up to us asking for money and such. He was singling me out because I guess he knew that I am a nassara (foreigner). Isaka stepped in and defended me hardcore. Yay!

Meeting my host fam

10/14/11

The beginning of this entry was meant to be my first Burkina post so some of it might be a repeat of the last post.

What can I even say about today? It was amazing! We had the usual classes then we drove to Sapone, a city outside of Ouaga. When we got there we had a small celebration, then our host families adopted us. After the ceremony, while everyone else was struggling to put their luggage on top of their bikes my host mom takes me to a van where some other trainees (Gerard and Kelsey) are standing. I thought she was one of three wives but she is not. Gerard, Kelsey, and I get to ride in style to our separate homes. I only met my host dad once and it was for a short time. They told us to expect really modest conditions but I think that my host family is pretty well off. We actually have a tv and a refrigerator. This is VERY rare.  (tv and fridge but no running water—how interesting)

Sidenote: I didn’t realize how bad my French was until I tried to communicate with my host family. They probably think that I am special ed or something. The neighbors that live in the courtyard are very nice. They laugh at me because I don’t understand what anyone is saying. They speak French, Moore, and a little bit of English so does my homestay mom.

I took my first bucket bath today and had my first latrine/squat toilet experience. It wasn’t bad at all. It’s a lot simpler than American showers and bathrooms. I def. do not live in a traditional Burkinabe household. I ate dinner (bread and beans) by myself! I was expecting to sit down with the whole family over a long awkward dinner. My host family is actually following my vegan diet. They probably think that I’m crazy.

I’m not really sure how many people live here. I don’t know if the little girl doing all of the work is my sister or a servant (she’s the servant/house girl). I can’t wait to get a better understanding of who is who because that would make this a lot easier. My room is pretty modest; I have a bed, chair, desk, and table.

where to begin?

I already had a pre-written post for my first in country update but of course I do not have my flash drive to laptop with me.

So here we go

I arrived in Ouaga with 24 other volunteers. We stayed at this weird missionary/youth hostel/summer camp place for days and days of orientation, vaccines, and ice breakers. I took my language placement interview and realized that my french SUCKS. I tested into novice mid (novice low-mid-high, inter low-mid-high etc) A trainee must be inter-mid in order go to actual site.

After this me and the other volunteers traveled to Sapone where we were adopted by out host families. They held a little ceremony full of heavy dancing and strong armpit aroma. Deodorant is def optional in this country. My home stay family is great, they cook me vegan food. I have a mother Alice, father Issaka, and a little 2yr old brother Farid. My family is very educated in comparison to the other families. Issaka is a nurse and Alice works at a bank. They probably think that I'm an idiot because like I said before, my french sucks. Most of the other families don't have electricity but my family has a tv and a fridge! Lucky me.

A normal day here in Sapone for me is class from 8am-5:15pm. Classes usually consist of french, cultural session, and government protocol stuff. My french is slowly improving. I cannot wait to get better!! After class I go home and chill out with the fam and do hpmewprk. I also hang out with the other trainees. For the most part they all are pretty cool!

This past weekend they split us up into groups and we visited an actual PCVs(Peace Corp Volunteer) site. My group went to Nakaba to stay with Doug. Doug took us around his village. We met the Chief de Terre and his many sons. They both gave us chickens as welcome gifts. One of the other trainees, Gerard, slaughtered the chicken and we cooked it for dinner. I actually saw a chicken being killed. It was intense. They have this home made brew of fermented millet called dolo (sp?). Usually people sit in the shade and pass around calabashes of dolo. So we of course went dolo bar hopping. It was pretty fun.

I am back from Nakaba right now in Ouaga waiting for the bus to go back to Sapone to stay with my host family. It is going to be hard to keep this thing undated. There are a lot of people behind me right now waiting for the computer so I can't type too much.

I miss you all and I hope all is well.

Packed and ready to go

I finally gave into my OCD tendencies and started/finished packing today! We are allowed 2 checked bags (no more than 80lbs combined) and one carry on. My big checked bag is 40lbs and my smaller one is 30lbs. HELLLOOOO!!, 10lbs to spare!!!

the before packing storm

I received my final itinerary last night and it is so real now. I'll be in Philadelphia on Sunday 10/9 then I will travel with my PC counterparts to Ouagadougou (Wah-gah-doo-goo) or Ouaga in Burkina Faso. After two days of orientation and lengthy procedures we will travel to Sapone for the real in service training (IST). During this we will be "adopted" by a home stay family (yay, new burkinabe mama)! Then language/cultural training will commence. don don don donnnnnnn. Parlez vous francais?


I won't have any internet/phone access for a while, so if you don't hear from me don't call the Police Nationale du Burkina Faso


until next time =]