My 3 and 1/2 months of training are over and my training group and I were sworn in on Thursday. Our training was a little bit longer than normal so that our swearing in ceremony could be the kick-off of the 50th anniversary fair at the Maison du Peuple in Ouagadougou. It's was pretty big affair since the U.S. Ambassador and Prime Minister of Burkina Faso were there. Rain in the early morning blew over all of the tents right before the ceremony, but all of the volunteers got together and made it work by putting the tents back together and moving things out of the rain below the stadium. (To see more on the fair check out the youtube video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI2vFj3mvZw .) Our ceremony was followed by a really nice reception. It's a really great feeling to finally be able to start my service here. Best of all my host family from Sapone came and I think it was a really special occasion for them. I am so greatful for their hospitality and help with learning culture and language, so it was nice that they could celebrate with me. They threw a really nice party for me when I left Sapone and gave me an authentice Sapone chapeau (hat). They sell these all over Burkina Faso at tourist places, but I have a real original!

In front of me is the daunting task of moving to my village 75 km from the southwestern city of Banfora. As I've mentioned before I will being living in a small 2 room house with no running water or electricity. Although I've been living in Africa for 3 months already I had the added benefit of 35 other Americans in the same town and I got to speak English everyday. That safety blanket will be taken away tomorrow! (Not to worry, Americans are only a couple hours away by bike or bush taxi). I'm savoring my last few hours at the pool in Banfora with some other volunteers and free internet! We are planning on eating cheese for dinner tonight since that's a food that we can't have in village!

I'm really excited to finally start working. I found out last week that my supervisor, the mayor of the village, is a woman! That's pretty rare around here, and since my goal is gender equality that should help my cause! I'll be working with a lot of women who don't speak any french, only local language (Jula/Dioula or Senofou), because they never had an opportunity to go to school. AHH I need to study!!! I just reached advanced low in French only to start learning a totally different language.

I'll let ya'll know how it's going in a couple of weeks!

Just finished typing up a complete post about my wonderful birthday and other happenings in Burkina which I lost because of the sloooow internet connection. I'm sweating here in my concrete room, and since my computer is contributing to the heat I'm not feeling up to trying to retype everything. Good news is that a breeze has kicked up and I think it might rain, which will cool everything down nicely.

Basically, Leigh (who is my partner for tutoring) came over for breakfast yesterday morning. She brought delicious cookies from a care package...Newman's Own. Then after lunch Emily whipped out some KICK BOOTY BROWNIES from a box of mix she received (also from a care package). They were none other than Ghiridelli brand. This was a huge surprise since brownies can not be found here and we don't have access to an oven and are forced to eat our host families' food. With the help of Maren, Beth, and Marysol, she whipped them up with the help of the PCVF's oven (probably the only oven in Sapone). I still can't believe that she made them to celebrate my day. They are so nice! They also got me a wheel of La Vache qui Rit (Laughing Cow cheese that I LOVE and doesn't need to be refridgerated). Finally, the whole training group went out to our favorite buvette after classes for a drink. The owner let us hook up our ipods and blast the music. It was a really great time and everyone made me feel super special! I'm so lucky to be here with such an awesome group of people.

Peace Corps has a rule against travelling at night. It's just generally unsafe. There are a lot of old vehicles here, and therefore a lot of vehicle trouble. People just stop in the road sometimes for repairs. Also, most people here just aren't great drivers. When you add in the darkness of night things get even tricker. With all of this in mind my homologue (my village counterpart) and I decided to take the earliest bus leaving Ouagadougou for the long trip to the beautigul southwestern region of Banfora, not far from the border of Cote d'Ivoire. I had a lot riding on this trip. We were traveling to visit the small village that will be my home for the next two years.

I was already dreading transport. It's the most dangerous thing that we do as volunteers. Behicle accidents here are pretty bad and there's not a lot of medical assistance around. Also, transport is cramped, dirty, inefficient, and looong! When I travelled with my language group to the small city of Tougan for our demystification trip (a trip to see what volunteers' lives are like), we ended our day of travel exhausted, hot, thirsty and COMPLETELY coverd in a layer of red dust.

I was pleasantly surprised by the AIR CONDITIONED bus that I boarded that morning. The bus even had two T.V.s so that people could watch bad soap operas and music videos. It took us about 5 hourse to reach Bobo-Diolasso, where we had a 2 hour layover, and then another hour or so to reach Banfora. I slept most of the way, and everything ran like clockwork. Plus, Yacouba (my homologue) was with me and helped to keep an eye on my sweet mountain bike.

The interesting part of the trip was after we reached Banfora. First of all we had trouble getting the front tire of my bike situated correctly. Tansport is really really tough on bikes and they are not typically treated with care. So, Yacouba took me to meet a friend of his, Issa, who knows a few things about bikes and was able to fix mine right up (despite the missing piece). Issa is a super friendly older gentleman who was very easy for me to understand (his French) and we had a nice little chat while Yacouba checked out the situation with the bush taxi (which would be necessary for the last leg of our journey).

Bush taxis are cars or vans that dudes drive to the smaller villages to offer transportation for the average village dweller. If buses tend to be dirty, cramped, and break down a lot; well, bush taxis are a whole lot worse. It was getting late in the day, so I was anxious to leave (because transport at night is sketch). Since we are not too far from the equator the sun set here is around 7 PM or so. However, the driver waited until he had every seat occupied (and then some...a dude on the roof), and took quite a while to load up everyone's junk (and my poor bike) on top. Eventually we did take off on the windy, red dirt road to my village.

Banfora is the most beautiful area of Burkina Faso, and possibly the world. The road to my village winds its way for 75 km past bright green fields spotted with large, ancient trees. Occasionally we passed a village of round huts with thatched roofs and a few concrete buildings with metal roofs mixed in. I felt like we were in a park because the road is lined with large trees on either side. As the sun began to set we saw mist hovering over the rice fields and people started heading home.

Despite the beauty, it was not lost on me that it was getting dark very quickly. Our journey was slow because the roads were very muddy and covered with water in many places. This is the one of the tradeoffs to living in beautiful Banfora during the rainy season. Riding in the bush taxi at night was pretty interesting, but we made it to my new home around 9 PM safe and sound. And I had to hurriedly take my bucket bath before the thunderstorm rolled in.

The villages in the Banfora area are situated a little differently than other villages in Burkina.. Most family dwellings around here are situated in a courtyard style with a wall separating one family from another. Typically, just a nuclear family lives together. In my village huge extended families live together in a hodge-podge of huts and concrete houses. I live among the famly of my homologue. In general I'm glad to be around a family, because it will be easier to integrate and much safer. Although, it will take a while to get used to all of the publicity and also the noise. As in my training village there are a lot of animals among the dwellings, and the women wake up around 5 every morning to start pounding corn for the day (so loud).

The next day I was busy meeting the chief of the village, the workers at the health center, peeps at the mayor's office, and the director of the middle school. This was a great because everyone was super friendly and spoke French (I could communicate)! A lot of people in my town speak no French, but only one or both of the local langauges, Dioula and Senafou. Other than when I was meeting the officials (who speak French), I did a lot of sitting around while everyone elso spoke either Dioula or Senafou. It was a little uncomfortable for someone who is used to talking so much. Luckily, I start my Dioula training in a couple of weeks!

The next morning I hopped back on the bush taxi and made my way back to my regional capital, Banfora. I was met by another volunteer who has a really sweet house in the cityy. She showed us around and we got to eat some great burgers and fries. Saturday, we spent the whole day at the most beautiful pool I've ever seen. We had free Wi-Fi, a restaurand with western and Lebanese food, and great views of the surrounding countryside. Since I will have no electricity or running water and limited access to a village market, it's great to know that Banfora is not too far away with some nice amenities.

Here in Burkina Faso we are called “Nasara.” The word means foreigner in the Moore language, spoken by a majority of Burkinabe. I am going to attempt to explain my experiences here so far, but keep in mind that pretty much everything here is probably different than what you might be thinking (unless of course you’ve been to West Africa). A lot has happened since I first arrived with the 49 other future volunteers in my training group. For the past month we have been living in a medium sized village 30 minutes south of the capital city Ouagadougou. Each trainee lives with a host family which is meant to help us to integrate and learn some necessary skills, like how to wash clothes by hand, navigate the market, and deal with neighbors/visitors to the courtyard.

A courtyard style home is pretty typical here. My family’s courtyard consists of 3 small mud and brick houses with metal roofs surrounded by a wall (which I can see over). One corner is walled off and divided into two open air stalls. One stall is tiled and used for bucket baths. The other stall has a concrete floor with a hole in the middle (yes, the latrine). My host mother (Paschaline, 29) and father (Prosper, 33) live in the largest of the 3 houses (which is not large at all) with the 4 youngest kids; Stephanie, 10 (I KNOW!); Melchie, 7; Willie, 7; and Deo 2. Melchie and Willie are not twins. Willie is actually a nephew who was adopted which is fairly common here. My older host brothers live in the medium sized, one room house; Celistin, 21; and Roland, 17. Celistin and Roland are actually my host father’s brothers who have lived with the family since their father died. I live in the smallest house which is McKenna-and-a-half long, by McKenna-and-a-half wide, and McKenna-and-a-half tall. I am lucky to have such a nice and clean dwelling, and mine is actually much larger than others I have seen. My family is relatively well off (we have electricity, but nobody in the village has running water). My host father manages the pharmacy and my host mother sells fish in the market.

In particular I get along with Celistin, perhaps because we are the closest in age, have the most in common, and of course I appreciate the fact that he speaks French very slowly for me. All of the other trainees who have met him really like him too. He is the captain of the Sapone soccer team and enjoys discussing soccer with the two guy trainees who live near me. He’s generally good natured and we enjoy laughing at all of the ridiculous things that happen when one culture meets another (mostly we laugh at me). Sometimes we trainees get together with our host siblings and hang out. One such trainee that Celistin and I had gotten to know pretty well had been out pretty late at night. He stopped by my courtyard completely lost and a little freaked out. To top things off, he was struggling with his French quite a bit. Celistin and Prosper had a BIG chuckle once I finally managed to explain that he needed someone to show him the way to his courtyard.

Paschaline doesn’t speak French as well, so it’s been harder to get to know her, but she definitely has my gratitude for all of her hard work. As is the case in this society, she does all of the cooking, cleaning, and overseeing of the kids. One day I had gone to the market with Stephanie and bought a pagne (the colorful, printed fabric that is frequently used for clothing). When we got back to the courtyard Stephanie immediately started talking to Paschaline in Moore, but I heard my name thrown in also. Paschaline marched right over to me and demanded to know how much I spent on the pagne. She then proceeded to tell me that I’d spent WAY too much. Next, she marched me to the market, fussed at the boutique owner, and made him give me some money back (1500 CFA, or about $3). It was all pretty funny to me, but of course I really appreciate that she looks out for me. She introduced me to this older lady and said that I was to buy my pagnes from her for now on.

My host family is very kind and supportive, but that doesn’t mean that my experience has been without culture shock. I feel like things here are about as different as they can get! First of all a lot of my fellow volunteers have complaints about the animals and the constant animal noises (this is a problem mostly at night/early morning). The entire village is crawling with dogs, chickens/roosters/guinea fowl, goats, sheep, donkeys, cows, and pigs. Animals (and their droppings) are allowed to roam EVERYWHERE. We still have not figured out how people can tell which animals belong to which families. Luckily, I’ve been sleeping with ear plugs for a while now, so that animals don’t bother me very much! Right now almost all of the female animals look like they are about to burst. This of course means that soon there will be a lot of cute BABY ANIMALS running around…might become a vegetarian.

Obviously the latrines have been a bit challenging as well. It’s not the worst thing, but I have yet to talk to anyone that was really into the idea of the latrines. My problem in particular is the copious amount of flies and cockroaches that inhabit my family’s latrine. They’re just sort of gross. Another annoying thing is remembering to bring toilet paper with me each time. People here do not use TP, but plastic teapots filled with water…and their left hands (hence the whole practice of handing things to people, shaking hands, and eating with your right hand only). It’s also a little unpleasant during the rain. Squatting on the ground in the rain and trying to stay dry, and keep your toilet paper dry is NOT fun.

Also, the food is not my favorite, but there is the promise of being able to cook for myself once I get to site in September. Meals mostly consist of a starch (rice, spaghetti, couscous, or something pronounced “toe” that is a corn-based paste) with a sauce of some type. Since Paschaline sells fish in the market, EVERY meal she makes consists of fish. I would normal be happy about eating fish regularly, but this is the fishiest fish you could ever have. Very bony and just gross. Needless to say I have already lost a little bit of weight from all of the biking, lack of interest in meals, lack of ability to snack, etc. Also, the sanitary practices regarding food preparation have managed to make pretty much every trainee sick with stomach/intestinal issues. At least we’re all in this TOGETHER!! More on the food situation in BF later…

I really must say that despite all of these challenges, I am having a blast. As you know, I really love kids and have taught all of the kids in my neighborhood my name. I find this much more satisfactory than always being called “Nasara.” They are also always willing to help me with anything and I try to repay them with occasional candy or snacks, and have given little gifts to my siblings. Most people here are very kind and enthusiastic about having us in village. Greetings are VERY important and we have all learned how to say the appropriate greetings in Moore. Sometimes Paschaline takes me to the market just to show me (and my Moore skills) off to her friends. It means so much to all of them that we make the effort to learn the local language. Somewhat unfortunately, the region of BF that I am going to speaks Dioula instead of Moore. Today was the first day that I learned the language! I have a lot of learning to do still in both French and Dioula. Our language lessons are frequent and intensive. I have already moved from Novice- High to Intermediate-Mid in French, but I am definitely Novice-Low in Dioula. Tomorrow I am traveling with my community counterpart to visit the village that will be my home for the next two years. I will be in the beautiful and lush southwestern part of the country. More on that to come…