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So I dont really understand what I just did. I posted some pictures to my scrapbook, but I dont really know where that is. So this whole teaching thing, I dont know how it is going to work out for me. It started off all fine and good about two weeks ago when I only had to give a 5 minute lesson in English. Then last week, I had to give a 15 minute lesson in English. I was fine with that because all I had to do was make my lesson just last a little bit longer. I chose to lecture about Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores. Seemed easy enough in my mind. But then it happened. The fact that I had come to a French speaking country came into play, and yesterday I had to give the same 15 minute lesson, but this time in French. I however do not speak French, so it was quite the spectacle. On Monday we have to teach our lessons to actual Burkinabé students. I can already tell that that is going to go well.

On a happier note, I find out on Wednesday where I am going to be living for the next two years of my life. I am hoping for southern Burkina so that I can actually see some green instead of red dust everywhere. I am told that most volunteers get placed in the north, so that dream was squashed.

So appaprently in Africa there is an egg season that starts at about the same time as the rainy season. Who knew? So I am happ to report that the last few days straight I have enjoyed a delicious egg sandwich for breakfast and I hope my family keeps it coming. I believe that I ended last time saying that I was taking a trip to the village where some of the girls empowerment volunteers live. I went to a village not to far away called Komsilga. Not to brag, but I was able to convey the message that I was spending the night somewhere else and ask my sister if she could teach me how to do my laundry the next day, and they actually understood me. I believe that that is my first real conversation that I have had with them except for the daily "it is hot", "I am going to take a bath", "i am going to bed". Anyways back to the village. Komsilga is a very tiny vilage with about 250 people living in it. These people dont speak a whole lot of french. They speak a local language Fulfuldey, or something like that. That night there was an awesome electric storm that we all watched for hours. A lot more stuff happened, but it really wasnt all that interesting. The take home message is that I feel ripped off that I have to stay in the "big city" of Ouahgouya while the girls empowerment volunteers get to stay in sweet villages. That is what I signed up for. I guess I will get my chance though once training is over.

The next day I went home and learned how to do laundry, but really I learned how to watch my sister and mother do my laundry for me. I had every intention of doing it with them, but apparently I wasnt doing it correctly so my mother stepped in and did it for me. I tried to tell them that in America there was a machine that did all of that for you, but I being a novice low couldnt convey such a message. I am going to attempt to use the rest of my hour 40 minutes to post 2 pictures, so that is all I will write for now.

Ok so I tried to send only one picture and it timed out on me. I guess I will never be able to upload pictures. Mom/Dad to answer your questions, all I have is a light bulb in my room, and a TV in the courtyard that I watch every night in my family. Aparently the Mayonase just has to be stored in a cool place so that it doesnt spoil and it tastes good to me, so I eat it. Micheal and Jennifer, the greeting here are in Mooré, and the are so easy. You say hello to them, you ask them how work is, then you ask them how their family is. They do the same to you, and the response to everything is Lafi Bala, and the whole process takes about a minute or so.

Yesterday I made the little girl who chants nasara at me cry. Every day she sits across from me and makes faces at me and giggles, so I thought we had a pretty good relationship. Man was I in for a shock. Yesterday she came running across the courtyard and I kind of chased her and she freaked out. She fell to the ground and started kicking and screaming. I guess I am quite the scary nasara. I am pretty sure she is afraid of me now and wont chant nasara at me anymore. Ooops.

I had a list of stuff to talk about, but I left it at home. Last time I came to the internet, I wasted my entire hour and 300 cfa trying to upload ten pictures, and none of them worked, so it looks like I cant post any pictures.

So here is my list as I can remember it:

Dust Storms

Farting with Confidence

Bike Seats

Showering

Day-in-the-life

First off dust storms. Burkina Faso has just recently begun the rainy season. Every time before it rains, the winds pick up pretty much all of the loose dirt and dust from the ground and hurl it up in the air and laugh as all of the towns people...mainly just the peace corps trainees...mainly just me go run and hide indoors. The first time this happened was about 9 PM, well past my bedtime, and I was sleeping. The wind started and I was so excited that there would finally be some sort of air circulation in my clay oven room, then my hopes were crushed as an enormous amount of dirt started to filter trough my window. I was enjoying the breeze, however, so I just covered my face with the fan that they gave us on the first day and went back to sleep. The next morning, since I had been sweating before, I awoke to find myself caked with muddy sweaty disgust. The second dust storm came a few days later as I was heading to class. I was locking my door and my host mom was, from what a novice low can translate; warning me that the rain was coming. I tried to say that it was only rain and that I was going to class, but we dont understand each other. When I got a good distance from my house, I realized that she was trying to tell me that a dust storm was coming. Being out in it was both the coolest thing and the scariest/wierdest. I wish I would have taken pictures of it, but I guess I have years and it is bound to happen again.

This next part is about pooping so you might want to skip this paragraph, if not read on...

A wise man, Michael Schulte, once told me that once you join the Peace Corps and go to Africa you can not fart with confidence. I have not found that to be a problem as of yet. I have had a few digestion related proplems, but anytime I have to fart I do so confidently. I have been told that I am one of the most confident farters that Africa has ever seen.

I am not sure who invented bike seats, but whoever they are did not do so with the idea of comfort. I have to ride my bike probably 3 miles a day which isnt all that far, but everyday. My butt is so sore. I hope to gain some type of butt callus in the near future so that this will no longer be an issue. I am also incredibly out of shape. I have been riding a bike for two and a half weeks now, and I should be more in shape than I am, but my legs are so sore everyday. Just goes to show how unactive I was the last 6 months living with Matt.

I am a gross person. Before I came to Africa there were times when I would go three-ish days without taking a shower, and the joke was always made that I was just getting ready for Africa. I thought this was true. In my mind, once in Africa I would probably shower only once a week, this is not the case. I take two bucket baths a day. It is a cultural thing that I thought was a little strange when I got here, but now I really look forward to my morning bucket bath and the one I take after class. That is what everyone does here, and I am jumping on that band wagon.

My mom requested a day-in-the-life of me, and it goes a little something like this. I wake up at about 6:30, which is a time that I didnt even think existed in the states, and I take my first bucket bath of the day being sure not to speak to anyone in my family because it is rude to speak before you have brushed your teeth in the morning. After my "shower" I eat my usual breakfast of bread with mayonase, which sounds gross, but I have grown to love it. Sometimes when I am lucky I get an egg to put on my sandwich, and that is when I know it is going to be a good day. At 8, I go to class. Along the way, I either get called nasara, which means white person, or le blanc, which literally means the white. I think it is funny and I usually respond to them in Mooré manawana, which means Whats up. At class, my day consists of language, culture, qnd technical training. I get out of class at 5, ride home to the usual calls and have my second wonderful bucket bath, and then study french until it is time for dinner at around 7. Dinner usually consists of rice, couscous, or macaroni with some unknown sause that is usually pretty good. The TV is turned on and I watch foreign soap operas dubbed over in French. There is one the is from the Ivory Coast that is not dubbed over, but it isnt on that much. Anywho, Then I go to sleep at about 9 and wake up the next day and do it all over again. I know what you are thinking, but my life is not as glamorous as I make it sound.

I am spending the night tonight in a village with one of my friends, and it is going to be my first night without electricity. I am excited.

Right now I am having a really good time in the Peace Corps. This could be due to the fact that I am currently sitting in one of the maybe two air conditioned building in all of Ouahigouya. It really all depends on the time of day when you ask me. Last night my friend Christine and I were the first Peace Corps traniees to get in trouble with the fuzz. For those of you not hip with the lingo that is the police. We were taking a tour of the city and we just happened to run the one stop light on the one main road in the city and there just happened to be a cop standing right there. Lucky our language teacher was with us and he worked it all out. If it hadent been for him, we probably would have had to spend the night in Burkina jail. Not really, but I am sure there would have been some type of fine.

In other news, the animals of Burkina Faso and I are not becoming fast friends. My courtyard is currently inhabited by, from what I have seen, two cats, two dogs, numerous chickens, numerous goats, numerous pigeons, and a rooster. The rooster, however, is the bain of my existence. Said rooster decides that it should be morning and everyone should wake up at 3AM, and when he gets no response at 3AM, he decides to talk to the rest of his rooster friends in the neighborhood. Their conversation usually lasts until about 4:30AM. Just as I am about to drift back to slumber land, my family wakes up at 5AM to start their day, when it seems like they just went to sleep at 2. I hear the TV while I sleep until the one station the country plays its turn off sound. Oh yeah, if I have not mentioned it yet, my family has a TV that we watch every night. We watch the japanimé adventures of Sinbad dubbed over in French and some spanish soap operas dubbed over in French. They are pretty interesting and I think that they are helping me with my French a little bit. One night there was some type of Burkina kids jeopardy show that I was pretty awesome at and understood what they were saying.

In summation I am having a good time. I really like my homestay family. I may not understand completely what they are saying but I have only been here for a week. Also the crazy heat is not as bad as it used to be. I think I am getting used to it. Days that are 95 seem like spring time. Mmmmmm spring time.

It is about to start raining and I am so happy!! Yet again I only have like 10 minutes to write on this funky kepboard because I didnt tell my family where I was going. The French keyboard letters such as a and m are in different spaces and all of the letters and nu,bers are screwed up. Last night I ate what has been called a local favorite here, To. It is a substance that has the consistency of playdough that you mush together with this strange sauce. I didnt think it was great, but from what I hear from the volunteers who have been here for a while it grows on you. Other than that I have pretty much enjoyed all of the food that has been given to me. That is all for now, the electricity keeps flickering and we have to turn off the computers.

Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive. I am however typing on a french keyboard in a cyber cafe and only have a few minutes of time left. Everything is going great. I like all of the volunteers and feel like I have known all of them for a really long time, even though it has only been a week. Last night on my birthday I got adopted into my host family and spent the night with them. The family consists of a man, his wife and 3 kids. I will be speeking French and the local language Moore, but right now I am having some trouble communicating with them. There are just a lot of hand gestures and laughter. Also it is crazy hot here. I think last night before it rained it was 115 degrees in my room. Tonight I am probably goping to sleep outside with the family. I have not taken ,any pictures yet, but tonight I am going to take some of where I am staying and post them soon now that I know where the internet is.

This is mainly just a website for my family that does not have access to facebook so that they know I am still alive.