Updates on Life Again

In January and February, I did lots of things I don’t remember.

But let's talk about what I do remember. First off, sometime in January I went to go visit one of my nearest neighbors, E. Even though we live close, the only time I had been to her site was to drop her off over a year ago on my way to my owns site for affectation. But, her village was having a fete in honor of the village itself. And I thought to myself, what better reason to party? Originally I had opted out, but as everyone else was bailing, I decided to go so that it wouldn’t be a letdown. It wasn’t at all. 

B and E

Everyday life in Burkina photos

Water (canary, goblet, bidon: clay pot to cool water, cup, plastic carrier)

Salt for sale in packets or by the tin can full

This is where I buy a lot of things in village. It's the closest you get to a store :)
You just tell the guy behind the counter what you want.

(A little bit of) What my Christmas looked like...

Me and the kids christmas morning

After church

Dancing at Verro's house

It took over three hours to download these pictures. Please (for the love of my sanity at 2 AM) enjoy!

Stuff I Forget to Tell You

This one's for the people back home.
I’ve realized there is a lot I forget to tell you guys or that’s difficult for me to explain. I forget that many of the realities I deal with everyday make no sense to you, because I forget that they are not “normal” or thought of in Americaland. And, sometimes I just feel weird posting about the honest realities where anybody with internet access can read them.

Anyway, we’ll start here...

Sunburn and Poop

So this is what happened.

While I was in Ouaga I offhandedly realized I had to pick up next month's money from the poste (think bank). There were rumors of a devaluation of our money and I didn't want to be caught empty handed. Also, I was running low on funds. I had to squeeze it in before I went home. 

I walked in with my friend around 9 am. There was some confusion as to what we were supposed to do as usually you just walk up and see where to put your ID in the line on the counter. But after listening to someone explain, we took a number from the pull (which I had often thought silly before as no one used it) and sat down to wait. I saw I was 70. High, but it could be worse. Surely several other people had been in in the last hour. Ding! The number counter switched. To 1. Fourty-eight minutes, much cussing in English and one phone call to the PC money people later, we decided to leave... they were on 8.

Christmas Sub-Saharan

To be honest, I don't know too much about the specifics of what Christmas will be like because last year I didn't really "do" Christmas. I’d just gotten to my village less than two weeks before and I knew maybe 6 people. I didn’t know where the church was or what they were doing to celebrate and I didn't really know how to ask. I didn’t have presents for anyone, I wasn’t cold... it just didn't feel like Christmas. I missed stage and I missed home. I was scared. So I hid in my hut and pretended it wasn’t Christmas. The only person that came to see me was my neighbor, who wished me a "Joyeaux Noel" and invited me to hang out with his family. Which was really nice until he gave me a beer at 8 am, which I couldn’t refuse (I tried several times), and which I proceeded to throw up all over the courtyard. I said I was sick and went back to sleep. I maybe read a book and ate oatmeal. Not exactly the kind of holiday you write home about. But this year I made plans.