things that I miss

about the US

While at site--saving lives and doing a plethora of selfless activities-- I made a list of the things that I miss about the states. Please humor me.

Things that I miss about the US list

• Googling my wildest question on demand
• inappropriately imitating sensitive quotes from the Color Purple at random times with my friends
• Easy access to new music
• Tofu
• Driving while blasting music
• Wearing make up and looking good
• Dressing for winter (Boots)
• Movies + movie nights with Sassafras
• Family gatherings
• Understanding the language/ being able to express myself completely
• Trashy reality TV
• Easy access to any kind of food
• Full body mirrors
• 24hr stores (wawa, fast food, etc)
• Being cold
• Not being sick all of the time
• Homemade vegan pizza w/ Daiya "cheese"
• Facebook stalking
• Good beer
• Snacks
• Good customer service
• Men who are discreet about their creepiness
• Family gatherings
• Clothes shopping
• not having to sleep under a mosquito net

Burkina is great and all but sometimes I just miss home

where have my manners gone?

I love when select individuals here talk about me in from of my face like I don't understand most of what they are saying. Usually they are mocking me or repeating something that I've said in the past. Sometimes they even say my name or use nassara when they talk about me. I guess it's not much different than me talking about people in english in front of their faces. I need to stop doing that. The other day I was at the pool with some other volunteers and these people (who I assumed were Burkinabe bc they were speaking french) were learning how to swim. Their instructor was teaching them this weird jelly roll stroke that literally involved a lot of paddling and no progress. This woman was flailing around for a good 30 seconds and moved about 2 inches forward. Of course I found this hilarious so me and another volunteer started cracking jokes to one another. I don't know if they heard us but about 15 minutes later they come up to us and start speaking to us in english. They were from Nigeria. Oopsie. I need to stop that now before I go back to the states talking about people right in front of their faces thinking that they don't understand me. Sheesh I'm going to come back a strange woman.

It's officially hot season and next is rainy season but rainy season came a bit early. The only difference between the two seasons in that it rains. It is still hot as anything! In Ouaga the other day it was 123 degrees F sheesh!

it rained at my site!!!

lovely scorpion that I found in my house one morning

 I started my first mini project with a neighboring village. I started a tree nursery at the primary school! We only planted 60 seeds but its just my first time. I wanted to make sure that I did it correctly before I do more.

kids that helped me plant the trees + Ousman and Amidou

me and my counterpart Ousman

my measly 60 tree pods

I also sent the official invitations to the 8 students that I'm taking to camp g2low in August. My french and moore are getting better. I finally got a tutor. He is a teacher so he will be gone during summer break. Hopefully during the fall we and start our lessons again.

So I've started planning the 2012 Burkina Faso bike tour. The tour is hosted by the Gender and Development committee (a PC committee that I happen to be on). Basically the BF volunteers bike around the country and put on awareness building activities. I will post a blog on this event but just be ready to donate money to this amazing volunteer run fundraiser tour. The money goes to volunteer grants to do things like girl/boy camps, mural paintings, tree planting, income generating activities, the list goes on. Stay tuned for that =]

here is a link to the bike tour blog that they used last year. We will update it shortly.
Sur nos vélos, pour le Faso!


SHOUT OUTS:

Thank you Tiana and Sandra for the amazing care package ( I ate/used everything in like a day lol)
Thank you Aunt Leigh, Amber, and Jenai for the letters (I sent the responses out last week)
Thank you Lize for surprising me (again) with yet another package.
Thank you Mother for being on constant call whenever I need your advice/attention (I know these calls ain't cheap)

mobs, trains, and automobiles

2 weeks ago, the other African American/Black volunteers and I had a 3 day get together in one of the bigger cities in Burkina. Out of 170ish volunteers there are only 12 black volunteers; therefore me and another volunteer decided to have a weekend to celebrate our culture by sharing our different backgrounds and experiences. Although only half of the invitees showed up I had a very good time. We discussed politics/current events, swam, and shared fun personal stories. I want to have another one later in the year. Hopefully the attendance will be greater next time.

After a long day, I am on my taxi brusse heading back to my site. At about 4pm and 1hour away from my site we enter this town and we see hundreds of people running towards our moving vehicle. There are also other trucks and buses pulled to the side of the road. The driver pulls over with all of the other stopped cars. Apparently in that town a woman was killed in a car accident and the people decided to express their grief and frustration through striking. They would not let anyone pass in either direction. We all got out of the van and waited on the side of road. Cars that made the attempt to pass were stoned or the tires were set on fire. At this point I'm standing on the side of the road with the other passengers not sure if I should be scared or annoyed that we stopped. luckily there was this really nice Ghanian woman that explained things if my french comprehension failed me. We wait on the side of the road for about an hour before I call the PC saftey and security guy to see if I should be worried. He tells me to not do anything that makes me stand out and he says that things like this are usually not violent. After some more waiting the driver proposes that he try and go around the mob while the passengers walk through it. I think that this is a great idea other than the fact that its a 3mile walk with all of my bags. Despite this we end up walking/running the stupid 3 miles. While the driver cut around the mob on brusse the van got messed up somehow. So about 45minutes and a few outdoor urinations later we get moving. At this point its pitch black outside. I look out the window and see sparks flying! The guy on the road yells something through the window and the driver pulls over. The guy yells something again (in Moore) so of course I don't understand. After that, all of the sudden everyone jumps up and rushes for the door. People are pushing and shoving trying to get out. Of course I chose to sit in the back so if the van was about to blow up I would not have made it off. I was so afraid. When people start running I'm not going to stick around and observe. Luckily it was a false alarm. I'm still not sure what really happened, and why people started to freak out. I finally got home but that was one of the most stressful trips of my life.

 Long story short a 2hour journey took about 6hours. I still don't see what holding up traffic/ destroying other people's cars is going to do for your grief.