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.
