Quick quick update!

OMG y'all it's happening! I swore in on Tuesday, bought things for my house yesterday (in Ouaga) and got to Tenkodogo today! There are four new volunteers in my region, so the first two were dropped off this morning in a Peace Corps car, and Kelby and I were going to be picked up in the morning. BUT THEN! we were walking down the street and we saw the car and our awesome driver, Moussa!!!

He picked us up, drove us (in the air conditioned car) around to a couple places for some bigger items,  and even helped Kelby not overpay for a bed! AND when we got back to our hotel, he helped me fix the flat tire on my bike.

Now, Kelby and I are at a hotel (not our own) mooching our last bit of internet time! Tomorrow morning, Moussa (and Kelby) will drop me off at my new house and then they abandon me all by myself…! Needless to say, I'm a little intimidated, but looking forward to it nonetheless.

The first three months of service are called "Etude de Milieu," which means that we have to learn a whole lot about our villages and write up a report about it by the time our In-Service Training (IST) rolls around at the beginning of December. The idea is that asking all those questions will help us integrate into our communities, and having the answers will help us develop good projects in the future.

During Etude, we're supposed to stay at our villages as much as possible - both to be able to get to know it, but also so our communities don’t think we're not really interested in being there. SO what that actually means for anyone following this blog: I think I'll be fairly out of touch for a while. :(

But don't worry about my radio silence! I'll be fine!

The good news is that after I get my solar panel set up (probably in a few weeks), I'll be able to charge my computer so I can type out all sorts of updates - on the last few exciting things of Stage (there were several), and on Etude - and post them when I get a chance!

Hope all is well on the home front - love y'all!

xo, chlo

PS - here's a link to the story on our swearing in! http://burkina24.com/2014/08/19/usa-burkina-prestation-de-serment-de-30-nouveaux-volontaires-du-corps-de-la-paix-americain/

Pics from the end of stage

My host family and my class at model school!

End of Model School.. :/

Model school is coming to an end, so here is a summary of my class (5eme B) in numbers:

13 kids (I know, model school has been spoiling me)

8 last names

5 girls

4 weeks

2 tests (called devoirs)

3 new boyfriends

Monday: Devoir Day

Last week, I had told the class that the test would be really easy because we hadn't had any time to review. Obviously, after they took it, I wanted to confirm that they agreed.

After the test, there were little batches of students milling about in the grassy area between the classroom and our bikes.

I leave the classroom and three of the girls are right outside. "Facile, oui?" I get a somewhat shy "Oui, Madame" in response. Success.

Next, the (five or six) little troublemakers hanging out under the tree. I get "A demain Madame!" with some frantic waves as I get closer. "A demain! Facile?" I get a few excited "TRES FACILE!!"s and arms raised in victory, so I return the enthusiasm with arms up and a "TRES BIEN!" This seems to amuse them, and a couple of them come running up, one for a high five and the other for a fist bump. I continue on my way after "Bonne journee"s all around, but I only make it a little bit past them before I hear another "Madame! Madame!" 

I turn.

Ibrahim is holding something out between both hands. Hmm, it resembles a bracelet, stretched out so I can put my hand in it. I do so, and he is delighted. I look more closely, and it's a rubber puma (the brand) bracelet, still wet from when he washed it off at the pump. That explains what he was doing over there...Boyfriend #1.

Tuesday: Test Return Day - aka Last Day of Class

Autumn and I go over the test (she taught zoology, I taught botany, and we gave a split test).

Armel is the LCF observing today, and at the end he asks if we want to take pictures! What a good idea, Armel. The kiddos agree and I'm glad Armel is there directing the endeavor because the photo op makes them very rambunctious and I can only understand about every other word. After the big group photo, Alimata begs me to take a picture with her and her friend (whose name I forget...). I find this both sweet and amusing because she gave me serious sass the first few days. The boys photobomb us, and then Ibrahim and Nicaise want a separate picture too. Boyfriend #2.

Tuesday: Post-Photo Op

Okay, so there are two notebooks for each class: the cahier de texte and the cahier d'absences. In the cahier de texte, you write down what you did that day, and as you might guess, in the cahier d'absences, you write down who was absent.

One of the students will usually remind me if it looks like I'm going to forget, and today it was Romaric. He stood next to me and told me who was absent and then I needed the date, so I pulled out my phone. He then pulls out HIS phone and says all innocent-like, "Madame! Ton numero?" And he looks at me as though this is normal and I'm like "PSH!!! Noooooo!" (except it's more like the French non, so it sounds more like "nawwww!" haha) and we laugh and he pulls this fake disappointed face even though he knew what I was going to say from the beginning. Boyfriend #3.

Wednesday: Grade Calculation and a Confirmation of Love

I'm about three bike-minutes away from the lycée (school) when it becomes really hard to pedal and I hear a strange sound from my bike. Uh oh... Yes. A flat. Joy. Time to walk.

As I'm crossing the field in front of the lycée, one of my students (Romaric) sees me and comes running up to take my bike. I show him the problem, and he makes all the appropriate sounds of dismay. He seems surprised when I flip the bike over to take the back tire off.

I brought the tire to the lycée (we park them a ways away) and as soon as I started fixing the flat, I attracted a horde of helpers - who then insisted on doing it themselves. 

So I guess the moral of the story is that I'm going to miss those little snots... Don't worry, I brought them candy today.

xo, c

Site visit, site visit, site visit!

So as I said: site visit happened!! In case you missed the single-line mention in the last post, my site is a little village called Oueguedo!

It was so much fun; first we went to Ouaga for a couple days of a Counterpart Workshop. I'm told that the French word for counterpart is "homologue," and that's generally what we use. My homologue is a physics/chemistry teacher at my school, and the idea is that our (professional) homologues help us assimilate into the school world, and just generally act as a resource for our integration into the community. My homologue's name is Mahamadi, and he's very nice! He's actually from Cote d'Ivoire, but came to Burkina for University a few years ago. He's only been teaching in Oueguedo for the past year, but he seems to know all there is to know about Oueguedo.

Speaking of which, some details (according to my paperwork):

• Population ~1200 (…yes, it is as small as that number makes it sound)
• About 10k from the regional capital, Tenkodogo (I'm not entirely convinced that this is accurate; I think it may be closer to 15. My homologue also told me that my school was only 1k away, but it wouldn't take a blind monkey 45 minutes to walk 1km, so I don't think I'm wrong to question his judgment of distances)
• Marche every 3 days
• Transport is available between Tenkodogo (/Tenko) and Ouaga every day

OKAY so last week (or maybe more like 2 weeks ago, now), Monday and Tuesday we had our Counterpart Workshop, and Wednesday we left for Oueguedo! My friend Diana's site is actually only about 4-5k from mine (supposedly), so she and her homologue took a bus from Ouaga to Tenko with Mahamadi and I on Wednesday morning. Diana and her homologue found a car going near her site and piled in, but Mahamadi and I went via a moto/bike caravan of sorts. Well, that's the short version of the story…howeverrrr Mahamad's moto didn't fit on our bus from Ouaga, and it was supposed to come on the next one but it didn't…he ended up calling a kid from Oueguedo, who came on a moto and drove him and my big bag to Oueguedo, while I followed on my bike.

Unfortunately, that little 12 year old did not exactly understand that the only thing propelling my bike forward was the movement of my two little leggies, and they disappeared into the distance pretty quickly. Needless to say, I was not amused, and called Mahamadi so they'd stop and wait for me. After that they were a little more aware of the power of human legs compared to who-knows-how-many horses inside a moto, but really not that much. I thought I was about to die when we finally arrived, at which point I was informed that I had to go meet the chief of the village…

The chief was very nice, he gave me and my homologue both Cokes, and also offered us a plate of peanuts! When we didn't finish the peanuts, he had one of his minions put it in a baggie for me. And THEN, FINALLY, I saw my house!!! I'll do a whole separate post on it when I actually move there, but it's so so wonderful! Admittedly, there is no electricity or running water, but that's not exactly a surprise. I have a private courtyard (!) with a separate kitchen building thing, and my actual house has one main room, two bedrooms (!), AND a little tiled room with a drain so I can shower inside!!! I'm so excited, mostly about the private courtyard.

The only thing that would make me happier is if I could get some shade in my courtyard. Rumor has it, some kind of shade (either a tree or a hangar) is required by Peace Corps, so hopefully that'll happen. Well, I mean, I guess electricity and running water would be great too, but let's not get too crazy. OOOH also I would really love it if I found out there was a bush taxi that ran to my site, so I could maybe avoid that 10-15km bike ride to/from Tenko…okay, okay, I'll stop. I love my site!

That Thursday (the day after I arrived in Oueguedo), I think I walked about 5 miles, around and around, meeting neighbors, seeing the school, seeing the marche, hanging in the chief's compound, and, the highlight: repose-ing from 12 to about 3:30. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of repose-ing in the next two years. Oh, I also learned that my neighbor makes dolo! Dolo is a Burkinabe alcoholic beverage which varies greatly in taste and strength depending on who makes it and how they do so. It kinda smells like apple cider vinegar, but the kind my neighbor makes isn't nearly as biting as the kind I've tried here in Leo. Drinking dolo is very much a social thing here, and I decided (for safety reasons) that the only alcoholic beverage I would drink at site (aka, without other PCVs around) would be dolo. 

Early Friday morning, we went back to Tenko, and let me tell you: 6am is THE time to make that trek. I mean I was sweating at the end, but I'm pretty much always sweating here, so that's not really anything new. The exciting thing is that I didn't want to DIE at the end. So my homologue deposited me at my hotel, and I hung out there for a couple hours until my region buddies arrived: Diana, Kelby, and a current volunteer, Sam(antha). Sam was responsible for showing us around the regional capital on Friday and Saturday, and I am so glad she was because she is both knowledgeable and hilarious. Sam showed us which hotel lets us use their internet for free, which alimentation (grocery/convenience store) is the most legit, and (most importantly) which restaurant makes the BEST GARLIC CHICKEN EVER!!!!! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it…

Sunday morning, Diana, Kelby, and I returned to Ouaga, where we (and the rest of our stage) got to stay in the transit house. The transit house is something of a combination palace/dorm. It has two sleeping rooms with a bunch of bunk beds, a nice porch, a kitchen we can use, a library (!), wifi (!), hot water (!!!!) and tons of fans. We (PCVs) do have to pay to stay there, but it's less than the hotel we stayed at in Tenko, which had neither hot water nor wifi but was still more luxurious than my site.

Monday we had our usual 8 and 10am sessions next door to the transit house at the Bureau (aka the PC office in Ouaga), but a delicious lunch was provided and we got to go to the US Embassy after lunch! The ambassador spoke to us briefly and he is super cool, and then we heard about all the other agencies currently working in Burkina so that we'd be a little more aware if people were to ask us about them. BUT the best part: REAL COFFEE!!!! (normally coffee here is instant nescafe, which is fine but not the same) And cookies!!!!! Gingersnaps and snickerdoodles!! And sugar peanuts! Ugh it was incredible.

And then we headed back to Leo! The trip was fun but pretty tiring, so I was glad to be back. THE END!

xo, chlo

My bad...

So I just realized that I haven't posted in a while…oops… It's been a busy one! Here are some of the small highlights:

1. I got my first clothes made in country!! One of the host dads is a tailor so a bunch of us went to him the first week in Leo. I got two shirts and a tunic-type top, and I think I'm going to go back soon to get some more stuff made because I love the ones I have. I promise some day I will post pictures…

2. Okay so one Sunday I was going to meet my friends Chris and Jeff for lunch and  then go hang around for some internet time. Only Chris knew where the selected lunch spot was, so we decided he'd come get me, we'd pick up Jeff, and then all go together. Only my host parents and sisters were around, and Ranea was apparently afraid of the tall white man and cried behind her mom the whole time. My 8 year old host sister (nickname Mami) was a little shy, but introduced herself nonetheless. BUT!!!! Apparently Mami sees Chris EVERYWHERE in Leo and will always shout across/down the street, "CHREEES! CHREEES!" frantically waving. I've only seen it in action once, but they both always report in to me, and it's both adorable and hilarious. NB: the time I saw it happen, Ranea was also with us, and she hid behind my host mom again, hahaha

3. Site visit: so this happened! And it's very exciting but it deserves a post all to itself, so I'll try and do one this weekend. Until then….MY SITE!! AKA the village that I'll move to at the end of August, and where I'll live for the next two years! It's called OUEGUEDO! More details to come!

4. We've started Model School, which is where they find willing kids in Leo to come to school for a month during the summer and we get to practice teaching them. It's kind of a blessing and a curse…I know the practice is good but it's (obviously) a lot more work to make lesson plans and teach than it is to sit in class and "listen" all day. (Just kidding mom, I listen attentively to every word…)

Model school is from 8-12 Monday-Friday, and this week I have one class every day except Friday. In order for everyone to teach at least four hours this week, they had to split two of the grades into two classes, so I'm kind of hoping that next week they put them back together so I don't have to do so much…I know that's a bit lazy buuuut…we still have sessions in the afternoons, so the days have become pretty packed!

Since last Friday, I've been teaching 5e (cinquieme), which is basically the equivalent of 7th grade. I've got a couple little snots who sit in the first two rows with these shit-eating grins - so obviously, they're my favorites. Today one of them was taking forever to finish copying the diagram of a plasmodium into his notebook but I didn't realize it because the rest of the class was finished. So I went to erase it and he's all, "AH, no, Madame!" and because it's one of them, I got to be all dramatic and be like "you aren't finished?! UGHHHHH," which the rest of the class enjoyed, hahaha.

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

Observations (part 1)

Family, Friends, Admirers, and Friendly Neighborhood Stalkers,

I present to you the first installation of a new series which shall contain my random observations that don't warrant entire posts.

1. When donkeys bray - is that the technical term? Idk - it sounds very much like they're being slaughtered. "Dying" donkey is basically the soundtrack to my life. Also…
2. Chickens. I thought roosters were only supposed to cockadoodle-doo in the morning, Burkinabe roosters like to do so at all hours of the night.
3. Goats bah-ing sound very much like humans pretending to make goat sounds.
4. French spellings of animals sounds are much more accurate than English spellings. I promise this is the last one that relates to animal sounds…for now.

cockadoodle-doo >> cocoricoo

woof >> ouah

quack >> coin

moo >> meuh

5. African 8 year olds are just as weird as American 8 year olds. The other day my (8yo) host sister was goofing around and put a hoodie backwards on her head - i.e., covering her face - and then was just bopping around blind, dancing with a sweatshirt hanging from her head. It was awesome.
6. Stage is basically middle school. You're completely dependent on your (host)parents for a lot, and your life is very scheduled. Things I've said/have been said to me: "I hope my mom made spaghetti!" "What was our homework? Do I have time to do it tomorrow morning?" "Y'all my mom said I have to be home by 8."

That's it for now but I'm sure there will be many more :)

xo, chlo