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." 

Affectation Shopping

I was in the Ouagadougou, the capital, from Sunday, August 17 through Thursday, August 21 when I affected to Boussé.

Shopping

I'm very happy to be the third Peace Corps volunteer in Boussé. Many of my friends were freaking out and trying to figure out how they'd spend their move-in stipend. They receive twice as much as those of us who are replacing volunteers, as they should. I can't imagine moving into a brand new empty home!

EcoBank

On Monday evening, the first order of business was getting money to make purchases. I have an account here in Burkina Faso with EcoBank, which is one of the largest banks in West Africa. It takes an incredibly long time to make ATM cards, so at this point I only have my checkbook. We received our checkbooks, broke up in groups and rode our bikes to various EcoBanks. Ouagadougou is a big city and there are many EcoBank locations. Instead of all 30 of us cramming into one bank, we split up. Little did I know I signed up for the farthest bank. 

We biked and biked and biked. Then, to my joy I saw the giant EcoBank in front of us. Our current volunteer leader turned around to tell us, "Not this one, but we're almost there!" Okay, "almost" was a relative term to her because she bikes long distances all of the time. We do not and so we expected to arrive within 5 minutes. No, that giant EcoBank was only the halfway point. At this point, sweat was dripping off my face and I found myself getting claustrophobic with the large number of cars, motos and polluted air. Smog check? Never. I find myself constantly holding my breath when motos drive by and black smoke pours out the back. 

We finally arrived after 45 minutes of biking. 45! The 7 of us walk into the bank dripping wet and looking exhausted. The other fancily dressed clientele of the bank turn to see all of the hot mess nasaras in a group looking lost. We grabbed numbers and found seats, staring at a tv screen as if we were at the DMV. One of my friends stood standing to "let the butt sweat dry." Thank goodness I was wearing spandex pants that wouldn't show because I was sweating from head to toe. I have never been so thankful for air conditioning. 

I wrote myself a check and walked up to the counter on my turn. Peace Corps, as well as any other travel organization, has trained us to never show how much money or expensive items you have on your person. So when the bank lady gave me all 150,000 cfa uncovered in a stack, I panicked and threw it in my passport, hoping people wouldn't see how much I had. I guess all of us had the instant moment of panic. In the future I'll have a wallet ready. Here's Kathleen with lots of money, who wants some? Then I watched a man walk by with a wad 3 times the size walk by. I didn't feel concerned at that point. 

Solar Setup

Tuesday, after swear-in at the embassy, the second order of business was to find an inverter for my solar-powered battery. I have a couple small solar panels at my house that charge my battery so that I can have lights at night. If I didn't have this, I would have purchased it in the capital. I grew up in suburbia with the comfort of street lights. I'm a stranger to darkness, so I'm very thankful for these lights! The inverter, however, additionally allows me to plug in devices to charge. So far, I can fully charge my computer every morning with more than enough juice left in the battery for lights at night.

I taxied with three friends to Centre Ville, which is the major shopping area of Ouagadougou. It started down-pouring during our ride. At a stop light, our taxi driver handed his poncho out the window to a man next to us on his motorcycle. My jaw dropped. Can you imagine seeing this in the United States? Their greetings were short and didn't seem characteristic of good friends or family here. Maybe he knew him, maybe he didn't, maybe he knew the jacket would find its way back to him since he drives a marked taxi. I honestly have no clue. That was one of those Peace Corps moments that made my day. 

One of my friends is a current volunteer and had a friend in the marché, so when we hopped out of the taxi, her friend ran to us with his giant umbrella to get us out of the rain and take us into the marché. In the Grand Marché there's a combination of people on tarps and people selling from stalls. Everything from crafts to jewelry to fruits, veggies and spices can be found in the marché. Imagine a warehouse, like Costco, with tall overhangs as a ceiling and so many tables and stalls that the aisles are only fit for 2 people across. The marché is lit only by what little light filters in through the overhang and on this rainy afternoon, not a whole lot was coming through. Good thing we were being escorted!

We made our way down a semi-dark corridor of stalls, which terminated at our destination, a technology stall. There were solar panels, batteries, you name it! And if he didn't have it there, he knew someone who had it and he'd send a kid through the marché to find it for you. Three of us sat on a bench while our friend talked with the vendor about prices and what size solar panels and batteries my friends would need. Children would run up and down the dark corridor, women would shuffle by with their purchases, vendors would walk around and chat with each other and sometimes people would stop and sit near us and just stare. Music blared from a few stalls over and when a catchy song would come on, our friend would bob her head in recognition of the song. I've been here long enough that I'm starting to recognize the local popular hits, too. After about twenty minutes of talking and explaining, we calculated numbers of everything required for a solar setup and then the negotiation began. Well, my inverter only came out to 21,000 cfa, which is about $40, so I was totally okay with that!

We wanted to get a leg up on some of our other shopping while we were in the area, so our marché friend helped us carry the heavy batteries and solar panels out of the marché to an overhang across the street where he'd wait and watch the items for us while we finish our shopping. For all we know, that was his first sale of the week, or maybe longer, so after selling a full setup for both of my friends, he was more than willing to help us out. The people here are seriously so so nice!

Household Goods

Burkina Pas Cher, "pas cher" meaning "not expensive," is Bed Bath & Beyond meets Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Let me explain. The shops on Pier 39 and along Fisherman's Wharf are full of touristy items, so many touristy items that they're packed onto shelves with aisles only wide enough for one person to go up and down. It's not shopping mall quality of organization and cleanliness, but if you search well, you can find some awesome items considering the store is packed floor to ceiling. Now, imagine a touristy store in your major city and take out the tshirts, mugs and toys and insert flatware, towels, brooms, gadgets, you name it. Et voilà, you have Burkina Pas Cher. I never imagined I'd find a piece of my summer visits to San Francisco in Burkina Faso. 

Here are some of the items I purchased and their converted prices:

• Self-lighting stove top with 3 burners (not including gas canister) - $24
• Stainless steel teapot - $10
• Non-stick frying pan (28cm) - $12
• Vinyl (3m) to cover countertops - $6

The teapot is a classic tale of bargaining with a vendor. I bought the teapot from a vendor on the street because the teapots I saw in stores were closer to $40, which is not something I could afford. I walked up and asked the prices for a small pot and a medium, stainless steel pot. He said the small one was 5,000 cfa and the stainless steel was 13,000 cfa. I said I'd take the small one for 2,500 because it looked cheap. He agreed to that and after I handed him the money and he handed me the teapot, he said, "but look, it's not good quality, I can press my thumb through it." I looked over at the medium pot and saw the far "stainless steel" sticker and changed my mind that yes, I should probably go with the more durable one. He said he'd let me have it for 5,000 cfa. What the heck! You were going to charge me 13,000 cfa, but now you're only charging me 5,000 cfa. You can't fool this nasara.

Internet Key

I was informed during my site visit that there isn't an internet café in Boussé, so I decided to purchase an internet key. The internet key looks like a Flash Drive that plugs into my USB port. I insert a SIM card into the internet key and that allows my laptop to connect to 3G Data. Wi-fi is not required. 

Wednesday morning, I went into the TelMob store with a few friends. We pulled a number and waited to talk with customer service. I felt like I was in the DMV...again. This must be how most customer service places operate here. When it was my turn, I walked up to the lady with my friend and asked if I needed to by the internet key here in the store. Does the data plan withdraw from my bank account or is it pay as you go like most phone services here? Can I buy the top-up cards here? She looked like a deer in headlights and responded in French, "talk to the lady next to me, she speaks English." I was dumbstruck. I had just asked all of those questions in French! I politely go to the next lady and ask the same exact questions, in French. She replies with answers in English and I continue to reply in French. She answered my questions and passed us back to the first lady. Great. What seemed like ages later, we were finally all setup. I think she'd just had stage fright with the Americans? I mean, how often do Americans/Canadians/Europeans come into the store to buy a data plan because they live in Burkina Faso? Not often, and if they do need service, it's most certainly done through their business like my phone service was setup with the Airtel representatives coming to a Peace Corps session.

For $10/month, I get 1GB of data. I had unlimited in the United States, but then again the service was way faster and my plan wasn't super expensive through Virgin Mobile. Here, it takes so long to load pages that I always try the mobile page first. I'd love to upload photos, but that's a dream with this slow data coverage. I tried to download a 4 MB document and my computer gave up. Pretty hilarious. A restaurant here is bound to have wi-fi, like in Léo, so once I find one, I'll upload photos through wi-fi.

Groceries

I fell in love with Marina Market the minute I walked in. Marina Market is one of the largest supermarkets in Ouagadougou. It is Safeway/Vons meets Food 4 Less. They have a range in quality of most food products and more familiar brands that I would have ever expected: Snickers, Pringles, Twinings, Laughing Cow, etc. So, I loaded up my cart knowing that I wouldn't be able to find a lot of those items in the small boutiques at my site. 

Here are some of the items I purchased and their converted prices:

• Baking (flour, sugar, baking powder & soda, cocoa powder, vanilla)
• Cocoa rice cereal (750g) - $6
• Muesli cereal - $4.50
• Real dark chocolate bars (2) - $2.75
• Nutella (off-brand) - $6
• Raisins (500g) - $6
• Lentils (1kg) - $4.50
• Oatmeal - $3
• Olive Oil (1L) - $11.50...ouch, but worth it.
• Curry powder (45g) - $1.25
• Toilet paper (6 tiny rolls) - $3

I didn't bother with fruits and veggies because I knew there would be a fairly good selection since Boussé is close enough to Ouagadougou.

Making Friends

My group of friends needed some items from Burkina Pas Cher, so I went with them. Since these shopping stores are all in the same general area near the Grand Marché, there are vendors that line every street as you go to and from the stores. We saw a man selling soccer bags, imagine your cloth grocery bags you take to the store, so we stopped to buy some to later carry all of the items we'd purchased. My friend asks him the price and his answer is 800 cfa. She asks if he can lower the price a bit and he said no, that's the price. I butted in a explained that I'd bought the same exact bags for 600 cfa back in Léo. The vendor smiled and said, "You're a true Burkinabé. You know your prices!" He said he couldn't make her that good of a deal, but 700 cfa would suffice. He then said, "wait here, I think you might like this," and he ran to the back of some stall and brought out fleece blankets. I told him that was very kind, but where we come from, we're used to the cold and have absolutely no need for fleece blankets. It averages in the high nineties here and after a rain it's no lower than 75. We don't need blankets, but thanks! 

We continued to walk and we saw metal tool boxes that are lockable, so good for electronics or storing food. My friend wanted to purchase one, so we asked for the prices. He wanted to charge upwards of 22,000 cfa. We knew that had to be too much and asked him to lower, to which he replied 21,000 cfa. Ha, wrong answer bud. The soccer bag vendor walked over and pointed to me and told his friends that I know what I'm doing. Honestly, I didn't. I only know the prices of a few items in the marché. Confidence can fool people. After we called another volunteer, we told the vendor that the metal box should only cost 13,000 cfa. He said, "ça marche," which literally translates to "it walks," but is a phrase commonly used for "that works." Thank goodness we called someone. 

The soccer ball vendor then asked if I wanted to check out the textiles store behind the vendors, and I definitely did, but I explained that we're headed to villages and the only money we have right now is strictly for food and immediate home needs. I said I'd be back in December and I could check out more of his goods then. I asked for his name in case I couldn't remember the face when I come back in 3 months. His name is Sambo, just like my Mooré teacher during training! Easy enough to remember.

It's good to have contacts in the marché because if they have your loyalty as a customer, then they give you good prices and will help you with other vendors. That's how we got such a good deal on the solar supplies and maybe he can help me with shopping during future visits to the capital. Now I just need to make friends in the marché in Boussé!

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!

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.