Dear people-
Hello once again from Burkina Faso. I AM still here in Africa!
Besides the occational phone call or quickly typed email to family, most of you all know little more about my life here than that I love it and that I'm still alive.
The past month has been filled with both great challenges and successes... and very little time to write about any of it. Ironic for someone who was so keen just a few weeks ago to write about everything.
Time here for me is l'heure Peace Corps most of the time-- my days right now in Pre-Service Trianing (PST) go like this: Way too early: hear call to prayer and go back to sleep
6am: wake up at my Burkina moms house
shower
breakfast of bread (and maybe eggs)
make time for tea run out the door
bike 20 minutes to the center Abby Pierre where Peace Corps training is stationed
7: tutoring in french
studying french or talking to people
8- noon: Peace Corps "school"... technical training, language, history, how to fix a bike, etc.
noon-1 lunch
1-2: repo (study, nap, meet Burkinabe outside of the compound)
2-5:15: Peace Corps "school"tutoring again or studying or talking
bike home
watch the end of the soccer game by my house
greet everyone in my courtyard, maybe hang out
study
shower again (by this point I need it)
dinner
study or talk to family or watch weird things dubbed in french on TV if that's what everybody's doing (yeah, my host mom has a TV!)
write in my journal , call someone or write a letter if I'm not exhausted
about 9pm: go to bed
repeat 6 days a week.
Sundays bring surprises like hospital visits with my family and getting to read things not in french or going to mass ( more on that soon).
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When I first got here, I couldn't stop sweating, but now it is starting to cool down some (some days even into the 80s F). I have my hair braided in tiny cornrows into a ponytail which is super comfortable and sometimes helps break down the barrier with women I dont know. I am, after all, a nassara. (Nassarra is one name for a foreigner here). I honestly have started to forget its that way (since there are no mirrors and all) so I thought I should probably mention this style change before I forgot. My friend Grace's host mom does hair and even though it was a little expensive (at least for my budget), she did an awesome job! With the glasses and the tan added I dont think most of you would recognize me! OK, so mostly I look the same... but I do love my hair like this!
Learning things takes time, so I spend a lot of my time not understanding things (stupid languages!) and being told I do everything wrong. I also sometimes get laughed at because I dont eat cow liver and have never hand washed my clothes ( its embarassing really. what DID my mother teach me over there in America anyway?) Reminder to be nice to foreigners in the US too... its really hard!!!
In four days I will find out my village and in five days it will be my birthday. I think we are going to go out for some meat and maybe some Brakina (Burkinas finest) and definitely some dancing.
I know this is just bits and pieces but my computer time is up and I need to get home before it gets too dark.
All my love.
