My house!!!!

The day my furniture arrived (last Friday) marked exactly 13 weeks at site living on the floor. Maybe it was worth the wait, but I'm definitely glad it's over!

View of the right side of my house from my courtyard door

Highlights: the mat that I like to sit on; the shed where I keep my bidon (aka 25L plastic container used to transport water from pump to my house) and my bike.

View of the left side of my house

Highlights: outdoor shower (left door), latrine (right door); my bedroom window.

Pano of my main room, from the front of the house.

Highlights (L to R): my fluoro light duct-taped to the wall; the bucket that keeps all my cords safe from mouse intruders; the rolled up mat from pic 1; the bench that I take outside when people come visit me; the REI chair gifted to me by Dana and Louis that I take outside.

My desk, kindly borrowed (fo free!) from my school.

Highlights: the peek into my bedroom and the stack of 88 5eme tests to be graded.

My chairs. No further highlights but yes, they ARE as comfortable as they look.

Kitchen area

Highlights: yellow can of Nido (powdered milk) that makes up a large portion of my diet; glasses and bowls (also new additions, before I only had my mug); the "cantine" thing under my stove table which keeps intruders from my food; the battery by the door with cord leading to solar panel outside.

Close up of my cabinet thing with my spices that fit perfectly inside

Water filter corner

Highlights: solar panel and broom but mostly the fact that my water filter is no longer sitting on a cinderblock; the purple "goblets" used to give water to visitors (because mostly my visitors are small children not to be trusted with glasses); also the essentials on top of the filter (TP, pepto, mouse poison).

My room!

Highlights: bug hut with cot inside; dirty clothes bucket.

MY SHELVES!!!!

Highlights: the nice rock I found in my courtyard to keep my door from falling shut; the fact that my clothes are no longer on the floor; the pics on the wall featuring some of you :)

My Life on the Floor

Tried to post this last week, but it didn't go through. I think it was fate, because my furniture is ready and coming home with me TODAY!!! In honor of that wonderful news, here are pictures of my life on the floor, as promised (to my parents, at least):

Two views of my big main room. And no, you're not crazy, I took one picture during the day and the other at night. :)

Peace Corps Burkina Faso Packing List

Apologies to friends and family: this post is mostly for future PCBF volunteers...

A packing list is kind of a requirement for peace corps blogs, so here's mine! I hope someone finds it useful.

CLOTHING

Shirts - I brought about 5-7 t-shirts, and then I got here and found out they wanted our shoulders completely covered for training sessions (i.e., not even sleeveless), so I had my sister send me a few more. There will be some weekends where you can't do laundry, so I'd suggest enough t shirts for 2 weeks of training days (12 days).

Then again, that's mostly because I'm both lazy and a creature of habit, and had no desire to wash clothes on a weeknight after getting home at 5. Some people did that when necessary, but I preferred to wait until the weekend to do it in the morning.

Not sure why, but I didn't rewear shirts all that often during stage. At site, I find myself wearing the same couple shirts over and over again.

Tank Tops - I brought 3 tank tops (with straps that cover bra straps) and 3 nicer sleeveless shirts. Good move/amount for me. I mostly wear tank tops at site.

Pants - I like pants. I also figured (correctly) that it's easier to get skirts made here than pants. I brought 2 long pants and 3 that roll to just below my knees. This was a lot, but they were all linen-y and after two years, only two pairs remain un-ripped.

Jeans

Leggings - you'll want leggings to wear under shorts if you want to run, and (my favorite) you can also get longer tunics made here to wear with leggings

Skirts - I only brought 1 jersey maxi skirt and at first I thought I should have brought more (and fewer pants), but I've since changed my mind. I rarely wear it now (it's not the easiest to bike in) but it was nice to have at first.

Shorts - 2 nike shorts, 2 Patagonia. During stage, I would wear shorts under my pagne skirts and then take off the pagne skirt during the 1.5hr lunch breaks just to remember what air felt like on my legs. It was awesome.

Now I can also do that in my own courtyard! :)

Socks - I brought 3 pairs thinking I might go for runs or something. I don't, really, but it's still nice to have socks. I keep a pair in my bed in case it gets cold at night (yes, it DOES get cold sometimes!!)

Underwear - If you're into underwear, bring enough for 2 weeks. If you're not, 5ish is probably good. I would recommend bringing some just in case.

Bras - I brought 2 sports bras and 3 regular. Works for me.

MISC CLOTHING

Belt - haven't needed it, but hey why not? Some people (especially guys) lose a lot of weight.

Swim suit - I brought both a 1 piece and a 2. Oddly enough, Burkinabe modesty does not extend to the swimming pool, so besides the first time we went swimming, I always wore my normal go-to bikini.

Rain Jacket

Scarf/shawl thing - I mostly just use a pagne, but that's just me.

Sweatshirt - As I said, it DOES get cold here! Only wore it one morning during stage, but I'm pretty sure I'd freeze at night during cold season if I didn't have it.

Hat - I never wear hats in the states so I'm not really sure why I thought I'd wear one here.

Sunglasses

Chacos - only bring if you wear chacos at home!! I wore them all the time at home but don't really wear them here

Birkenstocks - My go-to shoes. At the beginning of stage, they said they wanted us to wear shoes with straps at the back and to look professional, etc., but I figured my Birks looked a whole lot more professional than my chacos, so I wore them. No one seemed to mind.

Tennis Shoes - Again, thought I might run sometimes. Nice to have just in case, and hey, not ruling out the possibility of "faire du sport."

Havaianas or other shower shoes - you can easily get these here. I didn't bring any, and within a week my host dad insisted on buying me some.

TOILETRIES

They say to bring a three month supply of toiletries. For me, the only things for which that meant "bring 2," was deodorant and body wash. Although you can easily get soap here, too.

Med unit supplies everything you need, including:

Sunscreen, bug spray, floss, diva cup, basic OTC meds

**if you have any weird prescriptions, definitely bring enough to get you through stage. The med unit will provide it, but if it's not something they normally keep in stock, they'll have to order it, which obviously takes time.

Face Wash

Moisturizer

Make up - bringing/wearing make up when you want to does not make you a diva. you're not camping for two years.

Deodorant

Toothbrush

Toothpaste (Colgate is easily found here)

Floss

Mirror

Shampoo/Conditioner - I have always believed that 2 in 1 is where it's at, and bucket baths convinced me further of this fact

Soap holder/container

Loofa

Razor

Razor blades

Fingernail clippers

Tweezers

Contacts (yeah, yeah, not supposed to wear them...I wore them all through stage and switched to glasses for site)

Contact solution

Glasses (2 pair but one is an old prescription, so if my first pair breaks, I think I'm going to let PC buy me new ones...)

Rubber bands

Bobby pins

Hair clips

Nail polish - my host sisters (and mom!) loved painting our toe nails, and so do my neighbors! :)

Q-tips - you can buy more here

Towel - I didn't bring one and I don't miss it. Got a cheap pagne the first day in Ouaga to use as a towel

GENERAL

Cards, phase 10

Water bottle - I brought a Tulane nalgene, hoping it might foster a bit of heretofore absent school spirit. I think it's worked!

Flashlight - I had a mini mag light (the one that's like 6 inches long), and I used it around village all the time but when the batteries died and I found that the battery compartment was stuck shut w battery acid, I wasn't too concerned. The cheap phones you use here all have flash lights on them.

Black Diamond Apollo Lantern

Headlamp - I have the Petzl Tikka something and it's pretty awesome

Leatherman Wave - I don't use it that often but when I do, I'm very glad that I have it

Leatherman field knife - highly recommend. Makes things like avocado sandwiches and mangoes on the go a reality.

Thermarest - I used mine during site visit (when I was sleeping on the ground in an empty house), but I did appreciate it then. Now I roll it out when I have more than one guest. A lot of people bring them whenever they visit other volunteers, but by now I don't really mind just sleeping on a concrete floor.

Bug hut - I sleep in mine every night. Recommend, although you can easily buy one when you get here from someone who's COSing.

Duct tape

Watch

Pillow - It's true, the pillows here are awful. I brought a little travel pillow but some people brought their normal pillows from home. I'm happy with my choice but that may be because I'm not really a pillow person. Completely up to you.

REI Flex Lite Chair - I didn't think to bring this, but my sister and brother-in-law gave it to me as a going-away gift and IT IS AWESOME. I think it might be my most highly prized possession in this country. I sit in it for hours every day. (I'm sitting in it right now!)

Is it required? Of course not.

Do most volunteers have one? Not sure but I don't think so.

I didn't use it during stage, but I have a new site (i.e., I'm not replacing a volunteer) and moved into an empty house. When I had no furniture, it was literally my only chair. Even though I have furniture now, I still use this chair during the day, because it's so light and easy to move around to follow the shade in my courtyard.

Hammock - I brought one but have no posts in my courtyard yet to put it up. I've tried other people's though, and it's awesome. Nice to have but certainly not strictly necessary

Scissors

Pens, pencils, highlighters

Spiral notebooks - Most notepads here are graph paper, so these aren't really necessary unless you despise graph paper. I love graph paper, but I also do like having separate, sturdy notebooks for lesson plans.

KITCHEN/FOOD

Ziplocs - I brought one box each of quart and gallon size, and I don't think I'll ever need more, but I appreciate having them

Tupperware - Highly recommend. I brought one pack each of a small/medium and a bit bigger. Definitely recommend, might even recommend one more pack. Maybe that's just because so I use the smaller size as bowls...

Spatula

Can opener - heard you can't find them here but to be honest, I didn't even look bc I brought this one

Veg Peeler - same as can opener

Good non-stick pan - I'm almost positive that I could have gotten a comparable one in Ouaga, so probably not really necessary

Kitchen knives - knives here, not so good. I brought two Kuhn Rikon knives (one serrated) that I already had, and I'm glad I did. I appreciated the little covers that come with KR's. Also they're so pretty! :)

Knife sharpener - I didn't bring one and I've never felt like I needed one. Both of my knives are still doing just fine.

Spices - Tony Chachere's, Taco Seasoning (old El Paso makes a shaker container!), and Zoe's Kitchen "Spice of Life" << a very much appreciated gift :)

You can get most spices in Ouaga, but mixes certainly make things easier

Barbecue sauce - holy moly do I love having BBQ sauce or WHAT. It's also really fun to make the Burkinabe try it. At first they're very suspicious but then they taste it and they're like OMG THATS SO GOOD hahahah

If you're picky about food, go ahead and bring a box or two of granola/power bars.

Tô is not great, but your host family will make it for you. If you're the kind of person who will only be able to eat a bit to be polite, bring some bars to supplement dinner on tô nights.

I also brought peanut m&ms, goldfish, and a box of Oreos, and I very much enjoyed the taste of American junk food every once in a while. :)

ELECTRONIC

Kindle

Computer - I have not met someone who brought a computer who regrets it. I have met people who didn't, who regret THAT. Be aware that PC will give you a flash drive with lots of valuable documents on it. Also, the cell phone companies make these cool things called internet keys, which plug into a USB port and give you phone-ternet on your computer. Do with that information what you will.

Smartphone - I brought my iPhone 5c, and I'm very glad that I did. Even before I got phone-ternet, I liked being able to check my email at wifi spots without carrying my computer around all day.

Flash drives - I brought an 8 gb and a 16 gb, and haven't really needed them, but I like knowing I have them in case I do need them. There are computers in Ouaga that we can use, so I leave my computer at site and bring work back and forth via flash drive.

External Hard Drive - I brought a 1TB, loaded with a bunch of movies and shows and music that I had. Between that, media trades with other volunteers, and more downloads, it was full after a year. I'm a media hoarder, so instead of deleting anything, I bought a 2TB and sold the 1TB to another volunteer. At 5 months left, my 2TB is about 2/3 - 3/4 full.

Anker battery - this thing is the only way I survived 5 weeks at site with no solar panel.

Rechargeable batteries (eneloop) - I have never once used these but I hear they're the only rechargeables that hold their charge.

Converter/adapter (FR)

Shortwave radio - not necessary

Camera

Memory cards

Speakers - not strictly necessary, but I like being able to play music when I'm cooking or doing laundry. I splurged on a small Braven speaker. It's a bit water resistant, feels really sturdy, and can be really loud if I want. They're Bluetooth but also come with a cord, and you can get them half off through the pro deals website.

BAGS

I like being able to manage my bags by myself. If you do too, here's what I would recommend:

1 rolling duffel

1 big backpack

1 small/medium duffel (used as my carry on)

1 small day-to-day bag/backpack (used as my "personal item")

-- I didn't bring any kind of purse, but got a little bag made here out of pagne. Didn't miss having a purse in the meantime.

Eagle Creek offers a 50% discount for peace corps volunteers, so I took the opportunity to stock up on good luggage. I was a walking eagle creek advertisement in the airport, and that was just fine by me. Here were my choices, in case they help you at all:

- Gear Warrior Wheeled Duffel 32

- Rincon Vita 75L

- Medium classic duffel (I think I should have gotten the small)

If I were doing it again, I would choose a different big backpack. The one I got was great, but even empty, it feels big. I think the padded waist straps contribute a lot to that impression. A couple people in my stage had Ospreys, and they seemed lighter. 

Note: I did appreciate the waist straps while waiting in line at the airport for an hour to check bags with it on my back.

My big eagle creek backpack came with a small backpack, but I got a Timbuk2 bag (Medium, Classic Messenger, in case you were wondering) my first Christmas here and I love it.

Looking back, I would have preferred the lighter big backpack + Timbuk2 bag combination from the start.

OTHER

Gifts for host family: 

If possible, I would recommend waiting until you actually know them (also knowing how many host siblings you have and how old they are), and then having your kind family include a few things for them in a package before you finish stage.

Phone: 

As I said, I'm glad I brought my smartphone, but it's completely optional. For calls/texts in country, I use a little brick phone that I got the first day here.

If you do bring a smartphone, make sure it's unlocked and can take a SIM card!

Money:

PC will give you some money at stage for dinner that night before you leave, and airport snacks and such. I also brought a couple hundred USD, which I was glad to have for the following things:

- the symbolic last Bud Light in America ($10 at JFK. Insane, but it was fun.)

- pagne and tailoring - could have saved up for this, but it was nice not to have to

- general extra cushion for food/swimming during stage

- extra money for affectation (i.e., moving to site). PC does give you a "settling-in allowance," but big purchases (like solar panels and furniture) add up quickly, so I was glad to have a bit extra

The first day in Ouaga, PC will have a guy there to exchange money, and you can put credit/debit cards into the PC safe. Once you remove your items though (say, before you travel internationally), you can't put them back.

Packing:

We had about 5 days in Ouaga before going to our host families in Leo. Luggage was stored in a separate (locked) room, so make things easier on yourself and make your toiletries and clothes easily accessible in your bags.

Keep in mind that you won't need cooking things until site, so if you're running out of room in your bags, you can get that stuff sent to you.

And on that note - don't freak out! Anything you forget that you NEED, you can get here.

Anything you forget that you WANT, you can ask friends/family at home and if they like you enough, they'll send it. :)

Food I eat in Village

...in case you were wondering, which admittedly, you probably were not:

SOMETIMES:

- tô (if I eat with anyone)

- grilled corn (sometimes given to me by my neighbors)

- gateau (I often get a plate at the marché and share it with Rosalie, my neighbor and usual marché shopping buddy)

- potatoes (someone once gave me a cooked potato at the marché. Obviously I took it home and made mashed potatoes. It was awesome.)

- peanuts (if someone gives them to me)

MORE OFTEN

- taco lentils (lentils, tomatoes, onions, taco seasoning, and a couple wedges of laughing cow on top -- so so good, I'm serious)

- tuna salad (tuna, mayo, onion, tomato, and a generous shake of my Zoe's kitchen "spice of life," kindly gifted to me before my departure)

- omelet (if I happen to have bought eggs in Tenko recently, and they haven't gone bad yet)

- jambalaya (I have a couple boxes of zatarains that I've been carefully rationing)

- rice (when I really just want a vehicle for Tony's)

- spaghetti

- oatmeal (the magic is in the spice mix I found in Ouaga called "quatre epices," which is basically just cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Sometimes I even get bananas in Tenkodogo. And peanut butter, of course)

- chocolate milk (well, it tastes like chocolate milk but actually it's a chocolate protein powder drink thing)

- laughing cow by itself

- PB&J (yes, just mixed together. It's delicious)

- peanut butter by itself (or with some added sugar and salt to make it taste more like JIF)

- a little something I like to call village pudding (it tastes like brownie batter, I'm not even kidding. How did I happen upon this? Where there's a will, there's a way. How do you make such a thing? I'm so glad you asked!

A couple/few big spoonfuls of powdered milk, a couple normal/small spoonfuls each of cocoa powder and sugar, a bit of salt, a scoop of peanut butter, and some water until it's the right consistency. The peanut butter is not strictly necessary, but does help add a - admittedly very small - sense of legitimacy to the snack. Sometimes I like a little peanut butter flavor, but sometimes not, so adjust cocoa/sugar amount accordingly.)

---

So basically, I eat a lot of oatmeal, lentils, tuna, tomatoes, onions, and peanut butter. 

Perhaps it's not the most balanced/healthful diet, and I don't eat many vegetables besides tomatoes and onions, but what can you do?

I mean, I guess I coooould buy eggplant the next time I see it at the marché, but nothing else really appeals much to me. 

Okay, okay, I'll be honest, I could also get ready made salad at the marché, but the one time I had salad here (in Ouaga), there was a good amount dirt on the leaves, and I'm just not a big fan of that texture in a salad so I'm kind of afraid to get it again.

All told, you can very rightly assume that I've gotten very good about taking my multivitamin every day. :)

xo, chlo

A day in the life, addendum 1

So I'll admit that I was mostly worthless on Tuesday (besides an hour of class), but I promise I'm not like that every day!!!

Proof: it's only 1pm right now and I've already...

- planned most of Monday's 2 hour 6eme class

- taught 2.5 hrs of classes

- gone with my director, my homologue, and another teacher to visit my chief (which is why I only had 2.5, and not 3 hours of classes - I was literally summoned in the middle of one)

- discussed the new-baby gift to be given to my director and his wife by me, my homologue, and the English/French teacher

- chatted with my neighbor and agreed to charge her phone on my solar panel AND to go to church tonight

- added air to both bike tires

- moved my little bike bell to the right side of the handle bars so I can make it "ding a ling" with just my thumb

- FIXED my little bike bell, which included taking it apart and cleaning the tiny gears and rigging the whole thing with a bit of rubber (from the strap that holds things on the bac)k so it can be "ding-ed" without scraping along the handlebar

A day in the life

The other day, I was talking to one of my fellow volunteers, and she goes, "So....what do you do all day??"

As it turns out, she was feeling a bit worthless, so we chatted about how we'd just gotten here, and right now, getting to know people IS doing something, etc etc.

But then I figured people on the home front might also wonder what I do all day, so here's what I did yesterday!

I apologize in advance for the level of detail...as you'll see, I literally had nothing better to do. (Or at least, nothing that I wanted to do)

6:05 - snooze once, wake up, make first cup of coffee, check email/viber, realize I'm out of internet credit, transfer some and consider going into Tenko this weekend to get more

6:30 - second cup of coffee, start this log, turn on podcast ("how animal domestication works," by Stuff You Should Know)

6:50 - pause podcast to move chair into the shade.

Upon standing, look over courtyard wall and notice kids going to school (I live near the primary school); realize that I didn't go get water before school time as I had intended. Alas. Move chair, play podcast. Watch lizards eat ants while listening.

7:45 - brush teeth, get dressed, fill water bottle.

7:55 - wonder what I'm going to do until my class at 10. Enjoy breeze, look off into the distance for any hint of rain clouds. (No such luck)

8:00 - decide to read, but find myself wishing I hadn't finished The Count of Monte Cristo yesterday because I enjoyed it more than I'm enjoying book 2 of The Magicians.

8:05 - Set alarm so I don't end up being late for class. Listen to all ringtones and wonder who at apple makes up ringtones? Do they outsource that to a ringtone specialist? Whoever made the most recent ones is much better at it than whoever made the "classic" ones. Decide on "Uplift." Return to book.

9:20 - Alarm. Pack backpack, remove bike from shed (more on this upon the official presentation of my house), and realize I gave myself entirely too much time for this. Refill water bottle, put out solar panel, and have a little snack of PB&J (not a sandwich, just PB&J mixed together in a bowl).

9:40 - Depart for my school; notice that my back tire is a little low, decide to deal with it when I get back home. Immediately regret this decision when the bike ride there feels like it requires more effort than usual. Grudgingly admit to myself that if I hadn't seen that the tire was low, I probably wouldn't have noticed a difference. 

9:50 - Arrive; see my homologue!!! This is only the second time I've seen him since the day I arrived at site, so this is exciting! Chat with him, the English/French teacher, and the director for a while. Both other teachers have class at 10 too, so I figure at least I won't be the only one who's late.

10:?? - finally start class. Today is 5eme (about the equivalent of 7th grade)

11:00 - end class even though we haven't finished, because I'm nice like that. 

11:10 - almost home but see an SUV at the primary school. Oh look, it's the older French couple that I met last night at the Chief's fete for Tabaski! They (and whatever group they're with) are the people responsible for building the library in my village, but (as I have noticed) the library isn't getting much use. SO they came to do a training with the primary school teachers on how they can use it more. They shared with me some frustrations about the obstacles they face working with Burkinabe, who just don't do things the way we're used to.

11:15 - back home, change into my home clothes (tank top and shorts) and in light of how sweaty I am, add some oral rehydration salts (ORS) to my water bottle. 

11:30 - my homologue arrives to visit! A bit earlier than expected...he had said that he had class from 10-12. Hmm. Whatever. Throw on a skirt over my shorts. I show him my solar panel and we discuss furniture. He's very impressed by my calendar.

11:45 - He leaves, and as enjoyable as the visit was, I'm not entirely sure that he understood what I want as far as furniture...so I guess I'll find out at some point. Drink ORS/water while updating this log

11:55 - Wait impatiently for the kids at the primary school to go home for lunch/break time so I won't have an audience at the pump. Consider going before everyone is gone so that they'll pump for me. Organize things in my house to kill time.

12:10 - I hear a moto! It's my director, seeing if my homologue was still here. Alas, he is not. Director continues his running joke about me cooking for him by asking what I've cooked. He leaves and I listen to a class at the primary school singing something. Super cute. Note some dark clouds but I don't think it's going to rain any time soon. In case you were wondering, I have become a pretty good rain predictor. Not as good as a Burkinabe, but maybe I'll get there someday.

12:20 - excitement at the primary school is dying down, so I decide that I'll go at 12:30 to get water. Generally just sit in my chair, drink water and think about random things for a bit.

Look over and see that my vitamin and doxy blister packs (both come in sheets of ten) are off by two. That will never do; I resolve to fix that today and tomorrow.

Survey my "pantry" area and decide on tuna salad for lunch.

12:30 - put skirt on, lock door, and go get water. It takes a bit longer than usual bc some of my neighbors were there at the same time.

12:55 - get back, see a missed call from Chris, so I call him back - he was in Ouaga getting an MRI of his knee but nothing is torn! So he's very excited to be going back to site tomorrow.

1:00 - make lunch -- "make lunch" implies that I did something beyond cutting up an onion and a tomato and opening a can of tuna and a jar of mayo and mixing things together with some spices; I did not.

Fill water bottle, grab chair, phones, and kindle, and move outside.

1:10 - eat lunch

1:16 - finish lunch and realize that I eat way too quickly. Considering how slowly I do other things simply because there's no reason to rush, one would think I would take my time to eat. Maybe I'm just too good of a cook, and the food I make is too delicious not to scarf down. HA. I'm sure that's it.

1:18 - turn on data to check the news. Wait for it to load. While waiting, move solar panel to its afternoon position and then sit and look at the lizards and think about things.

Decide to burn some trash this afternoon.

Swat some flies away from my person.

Wonder if my arm jiggles when I write on the chalkboard. Decide to do start doing some tricep dips to mitigate, just in case - but not today. Maybe tomorrow.

Again notice a dead branch currently caught by other branches in the tree. Remind myself not to sit in the shade under that part of the tree until it falls.

1:30 - news still hasn't loaded so I decide to give up for now and read a bit.

1:40 - news has loaded!!!! Take this intermission to refill water bottle before going back to the book

2:30 - kindle battery dies, so I bring solar panel inside and switch the set up from charging the battery via the sun to charging devices via the battery. 

Decide to be somewhat productive, and continue the task of cleaning my nasty walls, which I started this weekend.

2:35 - put on some muzak for the project and get to scrubbin

3:30 - I'm about 2/3 done with my big room, and I decide that's enough for today.

Wash dishes from lunch and determine that it's sufficiently hot/still to burn trash easily.

Fill up bath bucket and the second bucket that I'll use to refill my water filter before I go to bed.

3:40 - burn trash

4:15 - clouds are starting to look more legit, so maybe there's hope for rain yet!! I've finished burning my trash and even tore up half of the giant box that my solar panel came in to use as future kindling - not a bad thirty minutes. Back to the book.

4:20 - the ants are persistent today!! They keep crawling onto my feet and making me crazy, but luckily I find a way to curl up in my little chair so my feet don't touch the ground. Always feels good to outsmart insects.

5:05 - the kiddos have been released from school and are joyfully expressing their approval of the hour.    The clouds haven't brought rain yet but they did bring cooler air and nice breezes, so I'm not complaining. And  I see more in the direction from which the rain likes to come, so I'm hopeful.

Refill water bottle and consider a snack. Since it'll be dark and mosquito-y soon regardless of any potential rain, I decide to postpone the snack until I'm in the house for the evening.

5:20 - CHECK ME OUT!!!! It's getting all nice and blustery!! New prediction: if it doesn't blow right past, it's gonna raaaaaain!!!!!

5:30 - the wind keeps blowing my door shut, so I'm taking that as a sign to move inside. And hey, since I'm here now, it may as well be snack time.

Make a little something I like to call village pudding. Will explain more another time, but basically it's chocolate and that's all that matters.

Hear rain start as I'm mixing. WOOHOO!

5:35 - eat village pudding and relish in the sounds of rain upon my tin roof

5:45 - return to book (which, by the way, has recently gotten more interesting)

7:05 - it stopped raining at some unknown point and I go outside to go to the latrine and notice that the full moon overhead looks positively werewolfian.

7:15 - chat w Chris a bit on his way from happy hour back to the transit house** for delivery pizza** and cards against humanity. My stomach calls out for pizza, even though I'm not actually hungry at all, so I keep reading to distract myself.

**NOTE: yes, there is in fact delivery pizza in Ouaga!!!!

And the transit house is a dorm-like house in Ouaga (property of Peace Corps Burkina Faso) that we can stay at for cheaper than a hotel - and for free if we're there for Peace Corps business!

8:45 - sad but true: about to fall asleep reading. Decide to turn off the alarm for the morning.**

Muster up the energy to take a bath and get to bed.

Fill a pot with water from bath bucket, and while it's heating up a bit, fill water filter.

Take a nice little bucket bath

**NOTE: apparently my internal clock is too good - even without the alarm, I only slept ten extra minutes.

9:00 - unplug light, and hop in bed with absolutely zero shame that I'm going to bed at 9pm

Money Matters

I figured I'd share some average (Non-Ouaga) prices with y'all because I think it's really interesting!! 

525 F CFA = $1 (last I checked)

10 cfa - text messages within Burkina

100 cfa - international text messages

1,500-2,500 cfa - 1 pagne (colorful fabric to get clothes made)

1500 cfa - tailoring for a shirt

2000 cfa - tailoring for a skirt

2500 cfa - tailoring for a dress

500 cfa - Coke/Fanta (glass bottle)

650 cfa - Brakina (one of the cheapest beers)

1000 cfa - 1L box of wine -- bottles of wine are more like 3000+

1200 cfa - 1L box of sangria

**these are those weird coated paper /cardboard boxes that you see of soy/almond milk

50 cfa - sachet of water (about 16oz)

150-300 cfa - cafe au lait

FOOD

750 cfa - package of laughing cow cheese (aka "la vache qui rit," literally "the cow who laughs" hahahahah - as you can see or may already know, French doesn't use present participles/gerunds/gerundives the way English does, so I often find literal translations hilarious)

800 cfa - can of tuna

100 cfa - 1 egg

350-500 cfa - omelet

400-500 cfa - rice with sauce

500-600 cfa - couscous with sauce

700-1000 cfa - plate of fries

1300 cfa - 200g can of oatmeal (lasts me about 2-3 weeks)

5750 cfa - 900g of powdered milk (also lasts me about 2-3 weeks)

1000 cfa - enough peanut butter to fill a JIF container

FRUIT - I think this very much depends on where you're doing the buying, but in Tenkodogo:

100 cfa - 1 banana

200 cfa - 1 red apple

250 cfa - 1 green apple

VEGETABLES - I think this is where prices vary the most depending on your negotiation skills. Vendors will make little piles of items, and usually each pile will be the same price.

For example, each little pyramid of 3-5 small tomatoes may be 50 cfa, but you can exchange tomatoes to make your own pile if you think another tomato is better/more ripe/not mushy. And you can also be like, okay I want three piles for 125 cfa and kind of demand a deal that way.

I often go to my village marché with my neighbor, Rosalie, who has turned out to be an incredible negotiator. Clearly she knows exactly how much things should cost, and what she can get away with in terms of adding more items for the same cost.

For example: the last time I went with her, I got 10 (small) onions and 14 (small-med) tomatoes for 225 cfa!!! That's about 43 cents!!! Hoping to include a picture of that purchase with this post because it absolutely blew my mind.

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

100 cfa - one fork/knife/spoon

200 cfa - Brillo-type sponge

750 cfa - 18L bucket

50 cfa - single use packet of powder laundry detergent

250 cfa - bar of laundry/multi use soap

250 cfa - roll of toilet paper

12,500 cfa - my gas stove

18,000 cfa - the cot that is serving as my temporary bed (woven plastic-y cords on a metal frame)

77,500 cfa - solar panel, battery, cord, inverter, 1m fluoro light (awesome deal)

Some FAQs

What's your water source?

There are a couple water pumps in my village, and I live pretty close to one of them!!! And by "close" I mean, it takes about three minutes to walk there, and about five to walk back with water. Not bad! 

I have this big, yellow, plastic container called a bidon (bih-DOH-n, rhymes with "phone"), which I take to the pump and fill with approximately 25 L of water. Then I strap it onto the back of my bike with a rubber strap, and ever-so-carefully walk it back to my house! 

I think I mentioned in my post about site visit that my neighbors make dolo (a beer of sorts made from red sorghum); well as you might guess, making dolo requires a loooot of water. So really, most of the times that I go to the pump, some of the neighbor kids are there pumping a water into 10 or so bidons, and if they're there, they pump it for me. :)

Depending on which/how many kids are there, sometimes they also insist on walking my bike/water back to my house for me. The last time this happened, I told the boy who started to walk my bike back that I could take it, and he just really quietly says, "Non."

Hahaha ooookay fine by me!

Round trip usually only takes 15 min, and I usually need water every other day or so.

Do you have to sterilize your water?

You bet I do, but it's super easy! Peace Corps gives us water filters, so I just have to pour water in the top, let that water pass through the two filters, and put bleach (two drops per liter) in the bottom.

**Some day I promise I'll post pictures!

How do you cook?

I have a gas tank and a little gas stove with three burners. The awesome PC driver, Moussa, who dropped me off at my site, set up my  tank/stove and demonstrated its use. He then made me try it so he could make sure I did it correctly, which I very much appreciated. So basically, Moussa is the reason I can eat at site.

PS Can you tell that I adore Moussa?? He also called each of us after our first nights at site to make sure we were doing okay. Angel. 😍

How do you bathe?

I pour water from my bidon into a bucket, and use a little plastic cup to take water from the bucket to rinse with.

Sometimes I heat some of the water (as much fits in one of my cooking pots) and then pour it back in the bucket - and man does it feel gooooood!

Sometimes when I want to spoil myself, I use this pressure shower thing, which was super cool care package gift from my sister. Basically you put the water in this little tank, hit the seal, and then push this little foot pedal to pressurize it. There's a little hose that connects to a sprayer - almost like one you'd see at a kitchen sink. You just keep pressing the foot pedal to add pressure! 

It makes washing my hair a LOT easier so I definitely use it for that, but I don't use it every day because quite frankly, I'm pretty good at bucket baths. Its reeeeally nice to be able to close my eyes and pretend I'm taking a shower, though!! I seem to use it in spurts - I'll use it every day for a bit, and then one day I'll forget to fill it up before it gets dark so I'll just do a bucket, and then I get on a bucket kick for a while, and so on. 

How often do you wash your hair?

To this I say...don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to.

How do you wash your clothes?

I have three buckets. I fill each one 1/2-3/4 full, and put three light articles of clothing in the leftmost bucket. I take a bar of laundry soap, and scrub it on key areas of the first garment (collars and under sleeves for shirts, waistband and pockets and hems of pants/skirts).

After each key area is washed, scrub soap indiscriminately over entire garment and scrub fabric together. Rinse, wring out, and move to middle bucket. Repeat with garments 2 and 3. Add three more garments to left bucket before doing another all-over scrub of each in the middle bucket. Rinse, wring out, and move to bucket on the right.

Continue until all clothes are in the rightmost bucket. Dump soapy water from middle and left buckets, rinse them out, and fill middle bucket 1/2way. Take item from bucket on the right, rinse and wring out REALLY well, and wring out in middle bucket. Add a couple more if you want. Rinse and wring out items from middle bucket, and dump in (empty) bucket on the left, until all pieces of clothing have been rinsed and wrung out a final time. Turn items inside out and pin on clothes line.

NOTE: as you may have noticed, it takes a good amount of water to do laundry - almost a whole bidon. I'm not a big fan of going to get water, so needless to say, after a couple weeks at site I was OVERJOYED to see my neighbors washing their clothes AT the pump!!!!! And then just hanging up at their houses! Talk about a game changer!

How long of a bike ride is it to Tenkodogo?

Tenkodogo is my regional capital, so it's a pretty sizable town/city - and it's only like 35 min away!!!! I mapped it, and it's only about 8.something km. It's a dirt road for probably 7m, and a paved road for 1+. 

Going into Tenkodogo on the dirt road, there are two slight downhills (one steeper and one more gradual) and one slight gradual uphill.

On the paved road, there's a crest, I would say, and it's closer to my dirt road than to Tenko.

All that said, it probably takes 30-35 min to get into town, and more like 35+ to get to my village - so not bad at all!!

I'm pretty sure that every time I make the trip I do it a minute or so faster, so it's probably going to become my personal speed challenge. I mean, I kind of figure that I'm going to be drenched in sweat upon my arrival no matter what, so I may as well get there faster, and with more of a biking-created breeze!

So FOOD

Hello Family, Friends, and Friendly Neighborhood Stalkers!

So let's talk about food. Some really strong cons, but there are already some really good pros, too.

CONS:

Meat. I just don't trust it yet. I had some chicken the first night in Leo and got violently ill, so I've been a bit hesitant, although for all I know it had nothing to do with the meat. I had some meat in Ouaga, but even that seemed a little funky at times soooo, idk. We'll see.

Tô. The best word I can use to describe tô is gelatinous. I don’t know what it's made of, but its basically a white, gelatinous substance that looks like very finely ground grits with no flavor whatsoever. It's served with a sauce, and really it's the sauce that makes or breaks the meal if said meal is tô. Tô doesn't really do it for me no matter what the sauce, though, so oh well.

PROS: (in order of preference)

DEGGE. Oh my dear Je-Zeus, y'all, degge is the boooomb. Description to come, but you should know that degge is a big part of my life these days, and it has become very important for my quality of life.

After the first training session every day, Talia's host mom is usually right inside the gate of the training center ready to sell us degge for 200 cfa. Sometimes I deem it "a double degge day," because it's just that good, and I am just that weak.

For a while all I knew was that it was some sort of delicious yogurt based item, but Konfe told us that it's yogurt with millet that's been cut like couscous in it. I don't really know, and I don't really care. Cold, (slightly) sweet dairy - get at me.

Fun fact: degge is sold in little plastic baggies (sachets), as is other yogurt that you can get at a boutique, or peanut butter, or any number of other things. It BLEW MY MIND when I learned that a sachet of water is 16 oz - AKA AN ENTIRE BOTTLE OF WATER!!! I'll post a pic sometime of a sachet so y'all can be similarly surprised/impressed.

Beignets. When I posted about Life in Leo the other day, these were still a new addition to my life, but they have since become a regular thing, and I very much support it. Something about fried dough, man - can't go wrong. I've also become a bigger fan of the little spice that's sometimes sprinkled on top! I think it's just some kind of mild pepper or something, but it is delish.

Benga. Apparently this is just the Moore word for "beans," in which case it's an apt term for the dish. Also I hear there are different varieties, but I only ever eat it at this one place right outside the training center, so I'm going to stick with what I know. First, the Benga Lady scoops up a beans/rice mixture, which I would guess has been cooked together because the rice has turned the color of the beans. (into a bowl) Next, she adds a scoop/handful of a very finely ground/shredded grain, which is almost looks similar to the tempura bits that some sushi places put on top of crunchy rolls - but verrrry verrryyy fine, so it's not crunchy at all, just looks like some weird powder/shredded stuff.

Anyway. Next she puts a little bit of diced onions on top, before adding a splash of oil and some salt. It's so simple and I don't know why it's so delicious, but IT IS.

Riz gras. If it's not tô (and sauce) for dinner, usually it's (white) rice with sauce, but the other option is riz gras. It looks and tastes very similar to chicken jambalaya, so I'm into it. Really, besides tô, food here isn't all that strange - just a lot less variety.

xo, chlo