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