I'm Officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!

Swear-in

You don't officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer until you've successfully met certain criteria. Before I was placed by Peace Corps HQ to serve in Burkina Faso, I had to meet specific legal and health requirements. Check! Next, I arrived in country and needed to pass a medical questionnaire about how to take care of health while in-country. Check! Then, after 10 weeks, I needed to be at a minimum Intermediate-Mid level in French as determined by the international LPI test. I received that level upon arrival in country and I was very happy to have tested as Advanced-Low by the time training was over. To reach Superior, you need to be able to use all formal speech and be able to talk business, politics, economics, etc. Well, Burkina Faso won't necessarily teach me THAT much French, but it's a great feeling to be an advanced French speaker after being here for 10 weeks. Other requirements included integrating into my host family, attending and understanding all technical education sessions, proficiently teaching during summer school, passing the safety/security exam and meeting with program managers throughout to ensure successful service.

So, swear-in was more to us than heading off to serve in a site. Swear-in meant we had finally finished 10 weeks of 8am-5pm sessions and early curfews with host families. Most of us hadn't been students in an intensive 8-5 student environment since high school. But, we made it through and we were so excited!

Before we left for the capital, all of us trainees purchased green pagne that we then took to the tailor to make swear-in outfits. I wish I had better internet to post pictures, but my pagne was a dark green and I had a complet made. A complet is a fitted top with a skirt. I'd asked for the skirt to be full length, but he somehow missed the memo and the measurement his daughter took from my hip to ankle, but ça va aller (literally: it's going to go, meaning: it's going to be ok, life goes on).    

Ceremony 

Swear-in was Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at the US Embassy in Ouagadougou. Before we entered the building to check in and go through security, we greeted all of our language teachers who had come for the ceremony. Without them, we wouldn't be able to be successful volunteers. They taught us French and local languages, how to get a good deal at the market, how to get a bus ticket, what gestures were/weren't appropriate and general cultural dynamics. It was so great to see them there.

We waited in a holding room for an hour before the ceremony started. Hey, we were in air conditioning, so no complaining from me! We were then escorted out of the holding room, through a hallway into the atrium of the embassy. Everyone was ready for us. We walked down the aisle to our seats in the front, passing embassy employees, our language teachers, Peace Corps staff and current volunteers who had made the trip to come see us. There were probably around 200 people in attendance. We filed into our seats and the media followed. Talk about distracting. We knew that we'd be on national television, but I never realized how close the camera men get to people they're videoing. I did my best to just focus on the ceremony and not look at the camera, even though I could totally see it filming MY FACE.

The ceremony started with the Burkina Faso and USA national anthems. I looked across the stage to see His Excellence Tulinabo Mushingi, US Ambassador to Burkina Faso, a man filling in for the Minister of Education of Burkina Faso and Keith Hackett, our Peace Corps Burkina Faso Country Director. After our Country Director gave a speech about what we're here for and what this ceremony means, 4 of my friends went on stage to give speeches in 4 different languages: French, Mooré, Jula and Gulmancema to represent all of the ethnic regions our group will be serving in. Then, the Ambassador gave a speech and swore us in as volunteers. He explained that the oath we were about to take would join us with the Founding Fathers and countless others who have served our nation and the oath was as follows:

I, ______________ do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps, so help me God.

The man representing the Ministry of Education then spoke about what it means to have Americans here to help the education system. Then, the ambassador, interim minister of education and Peace Corps country director cut the cake together and then we went on stage to take a picture with them to end the ceremony.

Cake 

Let's talk about this cake for a second. The French word for "cake" is "gâteau." If you walk into the marché or down the street asking for gâteau here, you will receive a muffin sized ball of fried dough, and sometimes this dough has fish in it. Cake? I think not. So, when I saw a traditional American birthday cake, I got very excited. Again, it's the little things here. It's amazing how just eating a familiar food can make my day! My friend Chloe was sitting next to me during the ceremony and we made a B-line to the refreshments once the picture was taken. We're food soulmates…if a volunteer brought us cookies during training or the American restaurant in Léo made banana bread, you could count on us to park ourselves in that area. "Well I already ordered one piece of banana bread, so I might as well order another, right?" It was pretty hilarious. Anyway, we grabbed our respective pieces of cake and mingled with our friends and those who came to the ceremony. Another girl friend asked, "so do you think they'll notice if we take a second?" Girl, you just read my mind. There was so much cake and a group of us went back for seconds. Mind you it was 10am, but is it really ever too early for cake? (The answer is no, btw.) Another girl friend came up to me, knowing I'm a sweets person like her and asked, "so what do you think would happen if I got a second piece?" I laughed and replied, "well, I seem to be doing just fine, go get a piece!" We were all so on the same page, it was awesome. We also knew the extravagance of American and European food would be limited or completely gone once we left for our sites in 48 hours.    

BBQ and Swimming 

After the cake feast, we were escorted out of the atrium to the swimming pool. Yes, the swimming pool. Peace Corps reserved the pool and bbq area for us. We ate burgers, hot dogs, chicken, pasta salad and the list goes on. It was wonderful. Then we jumped into the pool. I had not felt so refreshed in Burkina until that moment. When it rains here, the temperature drops and if I get caught in the rain, it feels nice to be soaking wet (for about 5 minutes until I'm over it), but it was the nostalgia that made me appreciate that swimming pool so much. We splashed around for over an hour and then headed back to the convent for the rest of the day. I wanted to rest, but I also wanted to get a leg up on my shopping, so that's when I went to look at the solar panels and go to Burkina Pas Cher, as you can read in my previous post.

Clubs in Ouagadougou

That night, we went out to a dance club to celebrate. Okay, I was super impressed. I've been to cheap bars with dance floors in Pacific Beach, San Diego to the luxurious XS club in Encore, Las Vegas. I would say this was on the luxury side of the spectrum. There's not a whole lot of luxury in this country and I didn't join Peace Corps to be in Posh Corps (as volunteers joke about placements in other countries where electricity and running water are givens). So, whenever I experience something remotely westernized, I take as much advantage as possible because I don't know when I'll come across it next. Well, since we can't leave our sites for the first 3 months, my answer is 3 months. The DJ worked his booth in the back and played a lot of electronic dance music (EDM), a lot of which we recognized, which made the dancing that much more fun. There were semi-circular couches setup to form booths. And we had the place to ourselves for about an hour until local started to arrive. You should have seen all 30+ of us when "Call Me Maybe" and "Macarena" came on. No shame. We sang our lungs out and danced that Macarena like we were still kids in the nineties.

Food

I haven't talked about food a whole let yet, right? Just kidding. I do want to detail my food experience in Ouagadougou, though, because it was definitely a highlight of the week for a lot of us!

Dany Ice

The first day we arrived, Sunday, I ate lunch at the same place I'd eaten when I stayed at the convent for site visit 6 weeks ago. I ordered a café au lait and a "cheese burger," which has a patty, cheese, egg, fries, coleslaw, mayo and ketchup. Afterward came the ice cream. Everyone was just staring contemplating if they wanted to get ice cream with lunch or dinner. There was no deciding for me, I wanted the refreshing coldness of the ice cream. I gave my order to the lady and I turn around and everyone had followed. It was hilarious. You can't deny the ice cream. It's just not possible! Well, you can imagine I was stuffed, so I snacked on granola bars as a light dinner.

Festival de la Glace

On Monday we were provided breakfast and lunch, but were on our own for dinner. Well, Monday was bank day and we were so hangry after our sweaty, 45-minute ride to the bank that we were ready for an early dinner. We went to Festival de la Glace, which translates to…wait for it…Festival of Ice Cream!! The ice cream strikes back. The third-year volunteer who'd taken us to the bank recommended it and it sounded great to me! When we walked into the ice cream parlor, it felt like a piece of western Europe with its interior decoration, tiled floors, glass cases filled with pastries and sweet smell. We sat in a booth and when I looked at the menu, I was instantly overwhelmed: salads, sandwiches, crêpes, burgers, pizzas, egg rolls, EGG ROLLS? I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm at a European restaurant in a West African country that offers "Cuisine Chinoise." Is it worth the gamble? Egg rolls sound so good. So I ordered a croque madame (grilled ham and cheese with an egg on top) and egg rolls.  And boy was I glad that I did. I lowered my expectations from the amazing egg rolls my boyfriend's mom makes and I was extremely happy. They were simple veggie egg rolls with a sweet and sour sauce. Well, then I HAD to get ice cream because who doesn't get ice cream at "Festival of Ice Cream?" This ice cream blew Dany Ice's ice cream out of the  water. I ordered a coffee truffle truffle scoop with a banana scoop. Amazing. I revealed that I could eat even more ice cream and my friends pressured me into taking some ice cream to go with them. Well, it didn't take a lot of pressure since I secretly wanted more anyway. They were impressed with how much I'd eaten. I remember when I used to eat like that all the time when I was running track and field in college. It had been a while, but the athlete in me came out at Festival de la Glace!

Tuesday night, the night after swear-in and our bbq, I went to Dany Ice because it was raining cats and dogs and it was close to the convent. Wednesday night, I came back to Festival de la Glace with friends for our "last supper" in Ouagadougou before we would all be separated and sent off to our sites. I ordered the kingburger. As you can imagine it was large and had lots on it and was delicious. We got even more ice cream than Monday night to-go and thoroughly enjoyed our ice cream binge. But that's the thing, it doesn't feel like a binge when you know you aren't going to have it for a while. I've been reading about great harvest festivals and feasts in fiction and nonfiction my entire life. I never really understood and appreciated a feast until I came to this country. On Ramadan, it was a FEAST for those who had been fasting for the past month. On the holy day of the Assumption of Mary, it was a FEAST and celebration that rivals Christmas and Easter. After living in a small town in a developing country for 10 weeks and then having access to western foods for only 4 days for the next 3 months, we FEASTED and it felt amazing.  

French Class

Almost every single day we have French class. I am in the intermediate-mid class with 4 others. Our language instructor is amazing!! We're lucky because she's one of the few Burkinabe instructors whose French is easy to understand. We can understand all of the language instructors, but her accent isn't as thick because she taught in France for three years. 

We meet in tons of different locations around the city of Leo in order to learn the culture. The pictures below are of our favorite spot. We sit at a table under a large, shady tree. Sometimes we order coffee and/or tea since we're near a little restaurant.

One of the trees we will sit under. The teepee used to be a fence, but the goats/pigs/sheep knocked it down. Ca va aller!

The kids in the area will sometimes flock to meet us. We fist bump kids. In French, the word is "tampon." Not kidding.

My water bottle makes a cameo. Just another day in French class!

This mama goat JUST had baby goats! The babies are cute like puppies...at least I think so. ;) Talk about a distraction when trying to learn French!

The Morning Commute

The steps of my 1.00-mile morning commute

1. Exit my courtyard

My host brother insists on walking my bike outside the courtyard every morning.

 2. Turn right outside my door. 3. Turn left onto the main dirt road.

The courtyard with the yellow gates is next door to my courtyard and where my host dad grew up.

 4. Dodge the ditches and turn right toward the bank.

The main dirt road that connects to my street (can you imagine the river road in the ditch on the left?)

 5. Ride toward the bank and turn right onto the paved road.

I drive by the entrance to the bank atm every morning and say "bonjour" to the security doorman.

 6. Head toward Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

Turning left would take me to the market.

 7. Turn right at the roundabout. 

No traffic lanes, good luck getting around the roundabout!

 8. Ride uphill.

Typical paved road in Burkina Faso.

 8. Keep riding.

Vendors sell liters of gasoline to the motorists. It's cheaper than going to the gas station but of questionable quality.

 8. Slow for donkeys.

There's always that one "ass" backing up traffic. (Sorry, the pun was too tempting.)

 9. Turn left into the Peace Corps Training Center!

On the left you can see the boutiques next to the training center where we can top-up our phones with airtel time and//or buy items such as mangoes, soap, candy, etc.

There's Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself.

All of us volunteers know that at some point we're going to have a hot mess, terrifying but sort of hilarious story to tell. Three of us didn't expect it would happen so soon to us. It happened Sunday June 15. I'm safe and sound, please don't worry. It's just a funny story to me at this point. I wrote it the night of the incident. Enjoy!

Morning

Today was my first day off since I arrived in Burkina Faso. I slept in until 8am, took a bucket bath, ate breakfast and hand washed my clothes. Bam, 11:30 hit and I'd only done those things. Hand washing clothes is quite the process. Anyway, it's a super hot day so my host dad showed me a chair I can sit in under a giant tree in their courtyard. It's probably 20+ degrees cooler under that tree than it was in the house. My room is an oven.  So, I spend most of the day under that tree reading, writing my blog, writing letters, [insert other unplugged activities here]. Before I realize what's happening, my host brother and his cousin are bringing over the kitchen chairs and table that we usually sit at. They brought lunch to me! It was spaghetti and a sort of tomato sauce. It's safe to say my lunch was half spaghetti, half mangoes and bananas. They really don't appreciate how little I eat here. I promise I'm eating until I'm full, I just don't have an appetite. I do more unplugged activities and then decide it's about time to head over the internet café in town since it's late enough in Burkina for people in California to be awake. Also, I really wanted to get another blog post posted.

My Host Family's Courtyard. Left to right: host brother (14), his cousin (13) and the family donkey!

At the Cyber Cafe

On my bike ride to the cybercafe, I see another trainee riding his bike. I haven't seen another trainee in 24 hours, so I'm stoked and catch up to him. We ride to the café, where I find other trainees and some of them head out to play soccer. I take my sweet time at the internet café. Well, there's really no other option because it can take anywhere from 5-30 mins to upload ONE picture to my blog. After 1.5 hours, I'm ready to head home when it starts sprinkling [insert Jaws theme here]. I pay a whopping 450 cfa ($1 USD) and am about to pack up and leave when a torrential downpour and thunderstorm begins. Great. I'd told my family that I would only be gone for about an hour and it had already been over that. I'm not the only one there. Two of my other friends are there. We think, "let's go beat the storm before it gets worse," but the men working the cybercafe tell us, "vous devez attendre!" (you must wait). I know I shouldn't be out there anyway, but it's getting dark. I take off my backpack and set it down and we settle in to wait for the storm to pass through.

It's a Peace Corps rule that during training, we must return to our families by 7pm every night, with the exception of two nights per week when we can stay out later with friends as long as our families know. Welp, I don't have my family's phone number (my own fault), but they have mine, so I figure they can call if they get worried. Wrong. Cell phone service rarely works during thunderstorms. Cool. After about 45 mins, the rain finally starts to calm down and the lightning no longer seems to be within 1-3 miles like it had been. Yes, 1-3 miles. Bright. Loud. Scary. We take this as our chance to get home.

The Journey Home

I live the closest of the three of us girls to the cybercafe. However, half of my route is dirt road. And when I say dirt road, I mean currently river. Torrential downpour for 45 mins creates 6-inch deep rivers in certain sections of the road. I turn my bike light on and we wade out into the road river to start the trek home. We hit a point where the water isn't super deep, so we jump on our bikes to try and get home faster. All is well until BAM rider one hits a dip in the road and her bikes stops, BAM rider two hits the dip in the road and almost falls off her bike, and BAM I try to swerve to the right to not hit them, but the angle of my turn makes me hit the dip and fall sideways until SPLASH I'm in the river. I start cracking up laughing because I'm not even the slightest bit surprised that the first time I fall off my bike is in a muddy road river. Let's talk some more about me falling in the water. I'm coming from the cybercafe, so my laptop is in my backpack, the same backpack that gets submerged when I do. My laptop is in my North Face hiking waterproof backpack. Doesn't get wet. So, now I feel like I'm one of those hardcore people in North Face cliff climbing commercials. But, then I remember I'm not. I'm in a road river, in the dark, in Africa. I seriously couldn't stop laughing.

Anyway, back to the story. We get back on our bikes and my wimpy light shows me that I wiped out literally 10 yards from the paved road. You have got to be kidding me. So close. So, I we ride our bikes on the road, I wave bye to my friends and I'm super close to home. I ride around the roundabout, take my exit and then turn left onto another awesome road river. My cue is a set of golden yellow doors to turn onto my street. When I say street, I mean another unmarked dirt road. I get off my bike and start walking. I remember from the previous thunderstorm that the roads are hard to bike on because they're soft. I walk my bike close to the right side of the road so I can have a better glimpse of the golden yellow gates with my wimpy bike light. It's still sprinkling and the thunder and lightening are coming back. Great. Searching. Searching. Searching. I'm used to riding this section, so I have no grasp on how soon it will be while walking. It's seriously probably only a quarter mile from the main road, but it's pitch black and I'm walking, so I have minimal spatial awareness. People walk by saying "bonsoir" like we aren't in the middle of a thunderstorm and I politely respond with "bonsoir" even though it is NOT a "good evening." Closer lightening. I really don't like lightening. I'm not used to it in California, so being outside during a thunderstorm terrifies me, the girl on a road river, pushing her metal bike. Real smart, Kathleen.

I am starting to freak out because I cannot seem to find my golden yellow landmark. More lightening. I pass an overhang area and consider stopping and staying there and wait for another storm to pass, but change my mind and decide to push forward. I hit a large intersection of road rivers. I must have gone too far. I turn around and head back. I see the overhang again and consider stopping, but another person wishes me "good evening" and I begrudgingly keep moving. I see doors to my left and I literally walk right up to them with my light. Yep, yellow. It had looked red before with my dumb wimpy bike light. I also see a bunch of unfamiliar trees, but I turn anyway. Sure enough, there's the small opening in the wall to my host family's house. Made it!

I open the house doors and my host brother stops watching the World Cup match and says my name, as he's the first one to see me. I immediately say bonsoir like I'm supposed to, even though it is NOT a good evening, and my host parents come out from the kitchen area. My immediate reaction is to apologize profusely because that's my automatic instinct as an American. I should apologize for being late and for the worry I've caused my family. Before I can begin my French apology, my host mom walks out with a look I will never forget. Burkinabe people are always happy and smiling. So, when she walked out with a worried and sad face, I didn't know what to do with myself. I just said I was fine, "ca va aller?" and I need to take a bath. Everyone laughed. Ca va aller is a big joke to us trainees because anytime we say that we get food poisoning, or our bike break or whatever other hardship is happening, our trainers and host families almost always say, "ca va aller," which essentially means "c'est la vie" or that's life, everything is fine. And, I'm definitely shaken up, but everything is fine!

This is another one of those emotionally scarring moments where there's potential to change your perspective indefinitely. I didn't break down during or after the terrifying episode of being in a thunderstorm in the dark. I'm proud of myself, not because I didn't break down, but because I know that I can do this. I can be a Peace Corps Volunteer. We all have moments that make us question whether or not we can finish out our service, but I figure if I can live through an ordeal like that on my 10th day in country, then I can be ready for anything else that comes at me.

Needless to say, I no longer plan to be out after dark for the rest of staging, even though we're allowed to. I'll of course make exceptions for celebrations like July 4th, but in those cases I'll have friends to help me home. 

My bruised hip, knee and ego wish you bonjour in California and bonsoir here in Burkina!