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Thursday, December 8, 2011

taxi brusse

 Just imagine a chester molester white van that hasn't passed inspection in 27 years, 18 people piled in (some on the roof) not including the animals, no AC, plus a country that doesn't use deodorant. You have just imagined a taxi brusse (bust taxi). Me and my fellow stagiares have the pleasure of riding in these vehicles to and from our sites. I was honestly amazed to see how they keep these things running. They literally had to push start the car. This particular taxi did not have a set ceiling, so whenever when went over a bump I had to guard my head to avoid getting cut by a rusty piece of metal.


barb, gerard, ryan (he ETed), and marci enjoying the forbidden backseat of the taxi brusse

me smushed in the brusse with amy

barb admiring this guys ashy ankles as he sits on the roof of the moving taxi brusse

My second experience in a taxi brusse was worse than the first despite the fact that it was more luxurious. I was slightly hung over, stuffed in between what seemed like a million other Burkinabe. I'm sitting by the window in this super hot vehicle when I realize that I am nauseous. I start to tell them to pull over when I realize omg I'm in Africa and they speak french. Its hard to think of the french phrase for "pull this GD thing over, I'm about to hurl" when on the verge of death. Luckily my fellow trainees got the point across and they pull the taxi over. After the door opens and we all spill out of the van I sit on the side of the road. The driver then proceeds to tell my friends to give me a bag to throw up in so we can continue our journey. Mind you, Burkinabes are not known for their promptness so why did this guy pick this very moment to hurry me up. Because my french sucks I could not argue so I took the bag and road the rest of the way in silence. 

I've only ridden in a taxi brush 2x so hopefully the next time around will go more smoothly.

disclaimer: not all taxi brusses are this tore up. Some are really nice, but a lot of them are pretty shabby.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Lion King

I have a nephew!!! My older sister had a beautiful baby boy on November 16th 2011 and am officially an aunt! It's crazy how quickly things begin to change after leaving for less than 2 months. My cousin is engaged, my sister has a son, kim kardashian and her husband are divorced. I don't know what I'll do if Justin Beiber impregnates a girl while I'm while I'm away! 

On another note, a lot of people think that Africa looks like Disney's Lion King or like certain scenes from Coming to America but this continent is very diverse. Even within Burkina Faso there are many differences when traveling through regions and cities. The place that I am in right now looks a lot like any hot 3rd world country, but sometimes, at certain moments, in certain places the landscape actually looks like a scene from Lion King! I love it when that happens. The sun will be setting in just the right place and I swear I can hear Mufasa's rumbling voice in my ear, telling me that all this land will belong to me one day. I savor those moments.
this is when it looks like a 3rd world country


I have been in Burkina Faso 7 days shy of 2 months. The second month went by like lightening. But now December seems to be creeping along because I have something to look forward to in mid december. SWEAR IN!!! I will officially be a Peace Corps Volunteer on the 15th of December. We will have a grand ceremony in the morning and then we will fete (party) the night away. I cannot wait to be stripped of my trainee title and move to my site! 

Speaking of official business, my fellow stagiaires and I went to the US embassy and it was pretty boss. Not because it was clean, not because it was full of English speaking people, not even because it was air conditioned. It was great because of the porcelain toilettes, and running water! We all looked like we were 10 year old children on christmas morning. I swear I washed my hands three times, when to the bathroom twice, and stared in the mirror for a good 10 minutes. I have a little hand mirror at home that allows me to see parts of my face at a time. When I saw my whole face all at once I was shocked. Lets just say Burkina will do things to your exterior..terrible terrible things. 

I tutor this 12 year old boy and it is so rewarding. Not only does he help me with my horrible french, but I can actually see his progress. I also see the gaps in my English grammar education, I should have listened more closely in Ms Sadusky's 2nd grade class!! This little boy is so motivated and eager to learn. Last night we were actually talking in complete sentences. I hope that after I move to my site he continues to work really hard. 
Papi
So I am already thinking of my post peace corps plans and going to medical school in still number 1 on the list. But before that I want to go on a really good close of service (COS) trip. I also want to WWOOF for a while. It seems like it will be really interesting and a really cheap way to travel. Check out the website. 

WWOOF - World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms


I also apologize again for not posting pictures on Facebook or on my blog. Internet is super hard to come by and it is really slow. I am going to try to put some up tomorrow.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

I am officially bougie

11/13/11

Today I finally received my first wedding proposal. Sheesh took them long enough. I get invited to a bar with my home stay parents. My HS mother’s brothers are there. When I go over to the table I greet everyone with the normal handshake salutation. The brother then grabs my face and begins kissing my cheeks 4 times (This is a normal greeting here, but mainly for people who know each other). He then tries to kiss me on the lips! This is when I pull away. Everybody at the table starts laughing. The brothers know very little English and their lack of sobriety doesn’t help. One of them tells me that they have a cousin in NY and when I go home I should visit him. The brother lives in Ouaga and he invites me to come spend the weekend with him in his bachelor pad. He then goes on to tell me that I should stay in Burkina and marry him. His marriage proposal is in broken, drunk franglish, but from what I understood he offered me 10 chickens for my hand in marriage. 10 chickens, are you kidding me?! Me and some other PCTs received 2 chickens just for visiting the chief de terre, and this guy is offering only 10? I think I'm offended.  I'm going to hold out for a better offer.  I should worth at least some goats or maybe even a few head of cattle.
I think that it would be very easy to find a husband or wife here.


My hs fam's lovely house girl, Afou will be leaving Ouaga for an undisclosed period of time. So my HS 'rents got another house girl. 
I didn’t know how good I had it until Marceline came along. She talks back to my 'rents, she's not very clean, she isn’t as good of a cook, and she does not understand personal space. 
I decided to wash my hair today. As I begin to twist my hair Marceline(who has a cold) comes over and starts asking me a million questions in French while touching my hair with her germy, sickly hands. She is so close to me that her stomach in literally touching my arm. (I’m sitting down) She then takes the mirror that I am using and starts popping pimples on her face. She is still holding my mirror and standing over me. At this point I am beyond skeeved so I scoot my chair over. She finally gets the hint and pops her pimples elsewhere. 
You just can't get good help these days.
Afou, wherever you are, if you can read this please come back!
Afou holding a plate of spaghetti 


Oh, and I got the results of my last language test, I am now inter low!!  I need to be at inter mid to go to site, almost there.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

My site is near MANGA!!

11/10/11

I’ve been in country for a solid month!!! There is NO turning back now. Today was a pretty eventful day. We get random assignments to complete throughout training that will prepare us for life as a PCV. Today’s assignment is preparing a meal. We split up into 3 groups (appetizer, entrée, and dessert). I of course joined the entrée group to make sure that something would be vegan.  Clarissa and me cooked a really good stir-fry. I would also like to add that we made rice over an open fire! Since all the burners were occupied we decided to build a fire and cook over it! According to Chopped, rice is supposed to be pretty difficult to get right, but we made over 20 servings of yummy rice au natural. I’m pretty proud of myself.

After a bon mangé we received our site announcements. ::drum roll:: I will be spending the next two years in a place near Manga which is in the south of Burkina.Looks like I’ll be making a trip to Ghana! 
Today elevated my excitement and anticipation 10 fold. I use the word excited a lot in English, so I figured I would use it a lot in French as well. Well, turns out that saying I am excited en française (Je suis excite) translates to sexual excitement not joy. So guess who decided to tell the interviewer of her excitement during her first language interview?  The same person who got in Novice Mid during our initial evaluation. 

Monday, November 7, 2011

encounters with wild animals

11/7/11
I think I`m going to start a segment on my blog called “encounters with wild animals”. Today I had two encounters. The first was with a cow. These cows do not look like the fat white and black American cows. All the cows here look more similar to bulls. They have this weird hump on their back that either stores water or fat. (It may be used to increase surface area to keep the cow cool, but I’m not sure) I’ve seen many different colors: white, black, tan, brown, grey, etc. They usually are pretty chill like any other cow minding its own business. But today’s encounter was NOT a friendly one. I’m riding down the rode with some of the other stagiaires and this cow decides to pull a lion king and tries to stampede us(yes one cow can be a stampede, if it's the right cow). Imagine riding straight on a dirt road, you then look casually to your left to enjoy the scenery of Africa and you see a wild cow coming for you at full trot! The riders in the front including myself decide to speed up while the riders in the back are forced to stop suddenly. You would think that this cow would slow down but crossing that road at they very spot was the most important thing on his mind at that time.
this cow is so fascinating
The second encounter was with a rabid dog. All the dogs here run wild like squirrels. Usually they are more afraid of you than anything. I happen to live near the baddest dog of them all because this one is not afraid of me whatsoever. Not only is this mutt mean, he has the exterior to match. Most of the dogs here are tan and short haired. El Diablo on the other hand in dark brown with white paws, he has bright yellow eyes, and longish shaggy fur. Whenever I pass him on my bike he gives me a little growl then he goes back to doing his doggy duties. Well this one night I pull out of my courtyard on my bike and he begins to chase me at full speed. I try to scare him and yell at him to go away but he getting even angrier and begins to growl and run faster. At this point I switch to the high gears on my bike and pedal as fast as I can. So far its Devil dog: 2 Jalysa: 0. I’ll get him next time.


the boy I tutor (papi) and my dog neuf aka 9

Sunday, November 6, 2011

can't go any lower than this

11/6/2011
For the last few days I’ve been debating on whether or not to post this next topic on my blog because it’s very embarrassing. I figured that I want this blog to detail my true experience in Burkina so like it or not here goes.

Everybody knows that when you go to a new country with different and exciting new foods there is chance that your body may not react well. When we first arrived in country we had diarrhea-parasite-amoeba-etc training. It was a matter of when you get sick, not if. A lot of the stagiaires accepted the fact that they might get sick during there stay. But I refused to accept this reality. I figured that if I keep filtering my water, soaking my raw fruits and veggies in bleach water or cook them, continue to not eat foods from random venders, and stay vegan I will be safe. 
FAIL.

I didn’t realize how much I would miss raw yummy vegetables. I don’t know if this is the reason for my ailment but I gave in and ate a salad at a restaurant. I know that they rinsed the veggies in unfiltered water but I did not care. I’ve had this salad 3 more times since then  A few days ago my stomach started making weird noises. One morning I woke up and realized oh my goodness I have to go to the bathroom! I rushed around my room looking for toilette paper. I reach for the doorknob and before I could get the door open…it happens. Right there. After much cleaning and laughing at myself I realize that I am now officially a Peace Corps trainee. I also realized that life is A LOT harder when you have to hand wash everything.

Of course I kept this a secret from my homestay family. I don’t think that they would appreciate me having a bowel movement in their house. I’m sure Alice found it weird that I was washing random articles of my clothing in the middle of the week (we usually wash clothes on the weekend). Dialogue with my hs mother:

Alice: Jalysa you washed your mat this morning?

Me: Uhh yeah, it was dirty.

Alice: You’re washing your clothes right now?

Me: Uhh yeah, they need to be washed.

Alice: (skeptical) okay?

Me: (nervously smiles) Alright.

Mind you this whole conversation was all in French. Hahaha
This is going to be a funny 2 years!

Monday, October 31, 2011

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!!!!!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

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!

Friday, October 14, 2011

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.

Monday, October 10, 2011

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.

Friday, October 7, 2011

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 =]

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Ultimate Update of a Lifetime

Guessss whaaaaatttttt!!!!!!!
yes, these are my crazy eyes.
During November 2010 I applied for the Peace Corps

After the loooonnngg application process I finally received my invitation to become a Health Development Volunteer. I will be spending the next 2 years and 3 months of my life in Burkina Faso.

I leave October 9, 2011!! (10 days)

I am currently preparing myself for my travels by:
  • brushing up on my french
  • freaking out a little bit
  • buying essentials 
  • spending a crazy amount of time with my family
  • kissing my American lifestyle goodbye (for awhile)
Hopefully closer to my departure I will post my final packing list. So look out for that.

Also, when I get it I will post my Burkinabe address and phone # on the side bar. If you want you can send me your address/email so I can send letters and stuff to you. =]