I'm the proud new owner of a hen!

I have been at site for over 4 weeks now! In the mornings I go to Souley's family's boutique. I sit and talk with Aïsseta and practice Mooré whenever people stop at the boutique to buy things. I then head home for lunch, which I either make myself or eat next door at my neighbor's house. Then, I head back to the boutique, read with Souley, chat with people nearby and then head home for the evening. 

Aïsseta talks with a man who stopped by to buy some handmade soap.

On market days, it gets pretty chaotic in front of the boutique: motos, bikes, sheep, wheel barrows, etc

One morning, Souley stopped by my courtyard with a hen in his hand. He held her by her feet so she was hanging upside down. Aïsseta sent her as a gift and I was a little overwhelmed because a chicken's are not inexpensive. Souley asked if I have something to prepare it with and I told him that I'd just prefer to not eat her and keep her for eggs. Was he expecting me to chop her head off? No thank you. 

So, he untied her feet and let her run around the courtyard while he made a cage for her. There are a bunch of random cement blocks and rocks around my courtyard. He stacked them against the wall to make the side walls of the cage. Then, he broke up some clay blocks in my courtyard, added water, and then used the wet clay as glue to hold the cement blocks together. Let me remind you that Souley is 11 years old. The children are so crafty here!

Souley stacks the bricks and a broken water carrier

Souley smashes the clay, adds water and makes clay glue!

Souley told me I needed to catch her so we could trap her in the house so she'd learn that's where she goes at night. I laughed at him and told him that I have never trapped a chicken before. Guess what? I trapped the chicken!! It's really not hard. She had run into my house and was watching Souley. I came from behind and grabbed her legs and the rest is history.I expected a mess of feathers in the process, but the minute I had her legs, she submitted. I can't believe I know how to catch a chicken. The random things I've learned here...

Penny ran into my house and of course found the kitchen! 

Well, if I embraced the true spirit of Burkina Faso, I wouldn't name my chicken because they don't name animals. Why would you name your food? Penny popped in my head, so now my chicken's name is Penny and she's a hot mess. She fully embraces the term "bird brain." At all of my neighbors' houses, when they make cluck noises and throw grains out for them to eat, the hens and roosters come running to eat. When Souley and I make cluck noises and throw food, she runs the opposite direction. Over the peanuts and through the corn, away from Kathleen she runs. Seriously, this hen is terrified of me. But, my neighbor said she's going to find a rooster for me and then the hen shouldn't be so confused all of the time being by herself.

My corn has grown so much since my arrival!

During lunch, I sit under the neem trees to avoid the heat and read a book. The short plants to the right are peanuts and the taller ones in the back are corn. The plants to the left are the dang weeds that just never stop growing!

One evening, I came back from the boutique and Penny wasn't in her house and we couldn't find her hiding in the weeds. Granted, my courtyard is huge and the weeds are high, so she has many hiding options. The next day, we never found her. I lost a chicken. Who even says that? You know you're in Africa when you walk around your neighborhood asking, "have you seen my chicken?" I mean, I expected one day I'd have to do that to find a cat or a dog. But, a chicken? Hilarious.

Well, that evening, Souley and I went to a neighbor I hadn't yet met. I asked if they'd seen my hen and they were like uh ya she's right there. Sure enough, she was running through their corn field with all of the other chickens. That was easy! He went into the house to grab some millet and threw the grains for them to come closer and then we could snatch her. Well, he threw the millet, the chickens came and Penny ran the opposite direction. Ha! Penny. You are such a crazy chicken!

So I proceeded to watch Souley and two grown men running through the cornfield, trying to trap her. It was going to happen, so I just came back later that evening after she'd gone in to the chicken coop with the others. She's still terrified of me. We're working on our relationship.

Penny says, "Haters gonna hate." 

Site Placement and Visit

I apologize in advance for formatting issues.

Site Announcement

Wednesday, July 2, was the day the Peace Corps staff announced the sites we will be serving in for two years after training finishes. Halfway through training, which is now, we get to visit those sites. After teaching us for the past 4 weeks, our local training staff thought it would be a fun surprise to show us something they had learned…the electric slide! It was quite the surprise! We all cracked up, it was awesome. Knowing we were full of anticipation as to where we were placed, the staff then made two of the trainees go on a scavenger hunt to find the papers with our assignments. They found a box, opened it up, and out burst candies and chocolate for us! We then started the announcements by drawing site names from a box. Once the site name was announced, one of the placement workers would read a short description and then announce the trainee's name.  Drum roll…

I'm wearing a dress made by local tailor from the pagne (ponya) that I purchased at the market!

Boussé

I will be living in Boussé!! Burkina Faso is about the size of Colorado and our sites are a mix of towns and rural villages spread throughout the country, with the high north as an exception. I could not be more relieved that Boussé is a town and easily accessible by a paved road. The paved road from the capital literally goes right through my town, so that means I won't have to take sketchy bush taxis, which often get stuck in the mud during rainy season, unless I'm traveling to see friends! My site is about 45km from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. By bus, it takes about 45-60 mins. I cannot complain! And since Boussé is so close to the capital, its market has a decent selection of fruits and vegetables year-round. I can find eggs and meat on a regular basis. Seriously, none of this was an expectation. It's a blessing. There are also a few boutiques in Boussé. No, not high fashion boutiques. Here, boutiques are like mini grocery stores. I'm lucky because one of the boutiques has a fridge/freezer, so I will be able to buy cold items if I'd like! Boussé is in the sahel, which is just south of the Saharan Desert, so it's going to be HOT during hot season (writes the American who is sweating during the cooler rainy season), so having the option of cold items is amazing! I asked my local counterpart, who lives in Boussé, what I need to buy in the capital and he said, "nothing, you can find everything here." Unbelievable. Just wait until you hear about my house!

Friday, July 4, we ended sessions early and rented out a restaurant to celebrate America. We all pitched in to buy ingredients and ate like kings and queens. We ate hot dogs, cheeseburgers, tacos, chips, guacamole, etc. Let me tell you about the cheeseburgers. Holy cow. Literally. I hadn't had American food in a month, so the concept of having cheese on a meat patty was out of this world. Cheese is rare and ground meat is rare. It tasted amazing, but I was even more thankful that my body didn't reject the grease and fats that I hadn't consumed in 4 weeks. We took turns plugging in our iPods and dancing to hits. It was super fun!

Counterpart Workshop in Ouagadougou

Me and Ésaïe

Sunday, July 6, we loaded up the Peace Corps vans and drove for two hours to Ouagadougou to meet our professional counterparts (aka homologues) as part of a 2-day workshop. My counterpart's name is Ésaïe, which is the French name for Isaiah. He teaches physics and PE at the same school as me and I will be the third volunteer he's worked with. We were all joking that he was "alpha homologue" because he always rose his hand with the correct answer to questions during the workshop. He knows Peace Corps backwards and forwards, so I felt relieved to know that he understands safety/security procedures, housing requirements, etc. Also, he went to a university in Germany at one point and has also visited Shanghai. I'm very grateful that his French is comprehensible. We had very productive collaboration and he was able to answer all of my inquiries with regard to my upcoming site visit. Site visit is nerve-wracking because we have to travel with the counterpart we just met, who doesn't speak English, to a place we've never been to. I felt pretty confident going into site visit!

In Ouaga, we ate AMAZING giant breakfast sandwiches of "cheeseburgers." Then we bought "American" ice cream which was vanilla chocolate chip. We all joked around that any weight we'd lost was definitely regained in those few days in the capital.

Site Visit

Wednesday, July 9, we travelled to Boussé! Immediately after dropping off my bags at my house, my counterpart took me to the boutique and bought me a 6-pack of 32-oz. bottles of water. This guy knows what he's doing. I only had enough water for the next hour, so I was very grateful that I wouldn't have to rely on iron tablets to filter water. Then, we went to a little café for breakfast. I don't seem to have an insensitivity to eggs here, so I eat omelets ALL THE TIME. I think my body craves the protein. Anyway, we got omelets with bread. Sometimes, the café cooks will throw in local ingredients, which at this time of year seems to only be onions. Then you put the omelet in the baguette and bon appetit! When the café worker brought the coffee (I use coffee loosely because the only thing they have here is Nescafe instant coffee), he also brought sweetened condensed milk. I have never been so happy for a milk-like substance. So sweet. So good.

After breakfast, we walked all over town to meet the important people of the region. Since I'm in a pretty big area, a lot of VIPs work here. I met the school superintendent, the mayor, the regional director, police captain and other folks whose jobs I didn't quite catch during the rapid French exchange. With each VIP, my counterpart introduced himself, Elie, my community counterpart, and me. The exchanges all went pretty much the same with the VIP bidding me welcome and thanking me for volunteering to help the community. The regional director went on and on about how important it is in this culture to protect visitors, so if I ever need anything, I should not hesitate to ask. The mayor asked if I'm French. He didn't quite comprehend what I was doing here, but I'll never work with the mayor's office, so it doesn't really matter that he didn't grasp why I'm there. I took being "French" as a compliment. I must have said "bonjour" REALLY well.

My house is BEAUTIFUL!! I am the third Peace Corps volunteer to live there, so it is fully furnished and has decorations that make it feel homey. The house has three rooms, cement walls and a metal roof. The windows have mosquito screens on them and metal shutters for security. My front door has screen doors that lock and metal doors that lock. 

The view of my house as I walk in the courtyard. You can see the bed frame under the tree on the right. A lot of volunteers like to sleep outside at night because it's cooler. I will probably sleep inside, though.

My kitchen! Gas stove setup is on the right.

I will definitely post more pics of the interior later once I move in and make it my own. It is so weird to say that I have my own house at 23 years of age. I mean, how cool is that? I do not have electricity, BUT I HAVE A SOLAR SETUP! Ésaïe set it up a while back. So, I will put the solar panels outside during the day. The solar panels charge the battery. At night, I flick the switches in my house and voila, I have lights! This honestly makes the world of a difference for me. I grew up in suburbia, so I'm not familiar with darkness. Even though my home and courtyard are very secure, I feel even safer with lights at night. Having lights also allows me to cook after the sun goes down without having to use a headlamp. I also can purchase a charging station to connect to the battery so that I can charge my devices while at home. Or, I can charge them at school in the teacher room. Seriously, I am so stoked about my house.

This came from Esaie's mango tree. Giant mangoes are so heavy here, but so delish! This is also a view of the path in my courtyard. The greenery is beautiful, but to reduce rodents, Peace Corps will cut it down before I move in.

In the afternoon, the volunteer that I am replacing came to stay a night to show me around and introduce me to people. It was extremely helpful to see how she lived in the house and what she'd left and how I could use things. She took me to the school to show me around. I met a lady that makes the best fries in town (or in country, they were so good). We ordered some BBQ'd lamb and ate small pancakes that are made with local grains that make it not taste so much like a pancake. She showed me where she's had her hair braided, which greatly helped her integration. She showed me her tailor. She showed me the health center, where I hope to volunteer a lot. My favorite interaction was when I met one of her friends...

School building

(In French)

Me: Good evening.

Burkinabe: Good evening. How are you?

Me: I'm well, thank you and you?

Burkinabe: Well. And your work?

Me. Well.

Burkinabe. And your family?

Me. Well.

Burkinabe: And Obama?

Me. (Cracking up) Well! 

People here are OBSESSED with Obama. He's become a brand in almost every industry, but I'll make a post about that later. ;)

African sunsets are like no other. This was a great way to end a successful first day at site!

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.

My Host Family's Home

My Room

Le balai

I'm usually only in my bedroom for sleeping because it gets pretty hot in there during the day. Electricity is very expensive here and my host dad was nice enough to give me a fan, so I try to only use it when I'm sleeping. It makes a HUGE difference in my quality of sleep. It also works as fantastic white noise during loud thunderstorms. The floor is concrete throughout the house, so I always wear flip flops. My door is about 2 inches off of the ground, so it is not rare for me to see bugs in my room once in a while. I sleep under a mosquito net, so I don't worry about them then. It's the surprise 6-inch black beetle on my curtains that makes me jump and go grab my host brother for assistance. He's a 14-year-old boy. Bugs don't bother him. Anyway, I had my first sweeping experience after about 10 days in the house and now I understand why it's good to sweep every couple days here. A lot of dirt gets tracked in, in addition to bugs that die from eating my bug spray (I sprayed my room and then left for the day, as recommended by Peace Corps). The sweeping device here is the "balai" (buh-lay) which is only about one foot long. Talk about a good exercise for your back!

Shower

My host family does not have running water, so I take bucket baths twice daily: immediately upon awaking and again before dining. Whenever it's around the time for me to shower, I'll hear a thud of a bucket outside my door saying, "hint hint, take your shower." I grab my shower items from in my room, grab the bucket full of water outside my door and take a few steps to the other side of the hallway to the shower area. To take a bucket bath, I use my 12 oz. plastic cup to scoop up water and pretend it's a transient showerhead. It seriously saves so much water. Want to lower your water bills? Consider switching to bucket baths. Or turn off the shower when you're washing your hair, shaving, etc.

Latrine

Sorry if you wanted me to leave a little mystery, but I warned you that I would keep it real on this blog. Here's my toilet for the next 8 weeks. Some restaurants have toilets, but most places don't have running water and thus provide a hole in the ground. Usually the surrounding walls are only about 4 ft high and the area is home to flies having a party. I'm EXTREMELY fortunate that my host parents keep their latrine clean. I don't know what they do, but there are less flies in this outside latrine area than most gas station restrooms. I'll be sure to learn their ways so I can keep mine this nice at my future site.

Burkina Faso shower area

Burkina Faso Latrine

Courtyard

Chez Moi - My host mom came out the door just as I took the picture!

Voila my host family's stunning courtyard. Doesn't scream Africa? I know. Flowers mean bugs, especially mosquitos, so  seeing flowers is rare. Want a pretty yard? You're going to have to find another way in malaria-infested West Africa. So, am I safe here? Yes, of course. Peace Corps wouldn't allow a trainee to stay someone that isn't safe. I take malarial prophylaxis everyday and though mosquitos are definitely present, they don't seem to be too much of an issue here in Leo. As for my host family, I have no idea if they also take malarial pills. They're definitely wealthy by Burkina standards, but I don't know what their healthcare is like. 

My host parents' nursery

My host dad is a retired electrician, but I think he still makes a living by growing/selling/planting baby trees. Within my first few days living there I asked him if he sells the plants and he said no. Maybe he misunderstood my question, thanks a lot language barrier, but I don't really know.

On particularly hot days, it's probably about a 15-20 degree Fahrenheit difference under the large tree (below) than outside and probably a larger difference compared to the house. It gets so hot in my room that sometimes my liquid makeup sounds like water when I shake the container (P.S. at this point, most of us girls have stopped wearing make-up, it's wonderful). This is also the tree under which I do my laundry ever Sunday morning. If it's too hot inside during a soccer match, sometimes I'll go sit under the tree and right letters, journal and/or do homework. I call moments like these "Peace Corps moments." There are certain expectations that a lot of us have coming into Peace Corps, and sitting under a mango tree writing a letter is definitely a #peacecorpsmoment.

My brother (right) and his friend staying cool under the tree.

Donkey (left), latrine (center), cactus (right)

My host family has a donkey, but I have never seen him in use. They don't have a farm, so I don't know why they have a donkey. Maybe he was a gift. I need to figure this out. He stands there tied to a tree all day, every day. My room is right next to the back door of the house, which has a direct route to the latrine. So, I pass him every day on my way from my room to the latrine. If he's feeling especially sassy, he'll follow me toward the latrine (square walled area in middle of picture) so that my exit is blocked when I am finished. If he's in a particularly bad mood, he'll back himself up so that his rear end is facing my escape. This immediately becomes a game of dodge the donkey kick. So far, I'm winning, but I'm well aware that one of these days he'll throw some kicks when I least expect them. If I feel like pushing my luck outside of the dodging games, I pet him on the nose. After about the third stroke he decides it's time to snap at my hand, so I stop. We have a love-hate relationship. At least it's mutual. ;)

Family Space with TV

The chair on the far left is where I eat all of my meals.

I played recreational and competitive soccer from ages 5-15, but I never got into watching professional soccer on tv. I've watched so many soccer matches in the past 3 weeks that I now accidentally call it football during conversation. It seems as my French fluency increases, my conversational English decreases. I've just come to terms with speaking Franglais at this point. All of our classes are instructed by locals following Peace Corps procedures from Washington DC. So, even though I'll be in a cultural, technical or safety course, half of the material is delivered in French. I wake up thinking in French. Just wait until I learn third and fourth languages here. My head might explode.

Well, that was quite the tangent. The whole point about me talking about football was that I watch it every night with my host father and brother. It doesn't matter which continent is playing, I have seen majority of the matches. I come home from the training center, take a bucket bath, then bring my homework out to watch the game and socialize. Okay, let's be real, the socializing consists of me and my host brother making "ooo" noises at the tv whenever there's a collision or goal or whatever. My host family always has "my chair" ready for me and facing the tv. Since it's the best seat in the house for watching the tv, the cushion of the chair has completely lost its integrity. The wooden bar is pushing through my tailbone as we speak. But, if I move anywhere else, they will insist that I move back. The only time they don't say anything is when I make a note of how many insects are bothering me. As you can see in the photo, the tv is pretty close to the front doors of the house, which are always open. At this point, I'm used to casually flicking off small flying African beetles that land on me.

GO AFRICA. But seriously, the entire continent is united in supporting any African team to win. It's pretty amazing. My host brother woke up at 1:30am with his dad to watch the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) game one night. Cote d'Ivoire is next to Burkina Faso and so is Ghana, so those games are more exciting for my host brother since he knows a fair amount about the countries from school. Unfortunately I haven't seen either of the USA matches because they always start at 10pm here and I'm passed out asleep by then. The morning after the USA v Ghana match I was expecting the usual morning update from my host dad about who won the match because he always gives me the update each morning. He said nothing. I assumed USA won, and sure enough we had! I'm currently watching the Brasil v Cameroon match. I really want Cameroon to win because one of our Peace Corps physicians was born in Cameroon and he is hands down the funniest professional I have ever met. Also, he hands out chocolate during all of his lectures. I'll talk more about him another time.