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

Misc Stage Pictures

Life in Leo

Hello Family, Friends, Admirers, and Friendly Neighborhood Stalkers!

My bad - Dana kindly pointed out that I neglected to mention where we are now that we've left Ouaga. Answer: Leo! I don't know how to get the accent on the 'e' on the computer, but there is one. I forget which type, and I don't feel like getting my notebook out. I think I heard that Leo is about 250km south of Ouaga, so we'll go with that. I know it's south of Ouaga, I just have no concept of distances in this country yet.

But more importantly: life in Leo is pretty sweet! We have training Mon-Fri, 8am - 5:15, and Saturdays 8am-12:30. I usually wake up around 6:30 and by 7 (maaaybe 7:10) I've eaten breakfast and gotten ready. That leaves just enough time to re-organize the chaos in my room or finish my French homework before I leave for the training center at 7:30. For breakfast I usually have half of a giant loaf/baguette of bread and coffee, although the last few days I've also had peanut butter with my bread! Today and the other day I also had some delicious savory beignet type things.

Soo at 7:30 when my sister sees me closing up my room and putting on my helmet, she opens the side gate (right by my room) and brings my bike outside for me. I say my farewells and make my way to the training center. It's not far - only like 10-15 min - and once I get on the main street it's easy peasy. It's not bad on our side street either, but there is this oooone little mushy patch that is a pain to bike through if it's even remotely wet. Once I get to the training center we kinda just mill about until the first session at 8am. Usually the first and last sessions are French, and our French class (there's four of us) meets at our LCF*, Konfe's, house, which is only about 5 min away from the training center. If it's not raining, we sit on benches under the trees in this little meadow area outside his house, and if it is raining, we boil on his little porch area.

The first time we were in the meadow we were all like "Holy moly, we're legit sitting under a tree in Africa learning French. NBD." It hasn't lost its luster yet, and I hope it doesn't. Also of note is the gaggle of local kids who watch our class from about 10 feet away. We decided the other day that we were going to have to start keeping count, mostly because there were about 15 of them, and they all followed us as we brought the benches back to Konfe's house. It was like some hilarious/weirdy parade.

*LCF = language and culture facilitator, aka teacher
OH putting this here but it happens literally any time any of us bike/go anywhere: "Nasara" means "foreigner," and small children get great joy out of pointing to us and shouting "Nasara! Nasara!" until we wave, at which point they are completely overjoyed. On the one hand it's kind of adorable, but as one of my lang class friends, Hadden, pointed out, "sometimes when I'm exhausted at the end of the day, I just wanna be like, 'Still here. Still white.'" Totally true, especially when the exact same kids have already seen (and shouted at/been greeted by) the exact same Nasaras three times that day - as is the case when we're leaving Konfe's house after our final/afternoon session of the day.

When I get home at the end of the day (before or around 6, depending on how much I stall at the training center), if my sister realizes that I'm home before I get to the courtyard, she'll run out and insist on bringing my bike the rest of the way in, and either she or my host mom will put out this mat in the courtyard so I can hang out and/or do my homework. My host mom usually makes me a beautiful salad with cucumber and onion and sometimes potato or egg, and usually some sort of mayo/oil dressing. My sisters get a less pretty version in a bowl, and they're always willing (/eager) to help me finish my serving. Around 7, my host mom comes out of the kitchen area with a platter and calls me over to my room.

I'm not entirely sure why, but apparently it's pretty common for the host families to serve us our dinner separately, so I kinda just go with it. I usually eat my actual dinner (and my breakfast) right inside the screen door of my room, which makes me feel a little less awkward about it. I count myself lucky for having the salad out in the courtyard, because that feels like something of a compromise. Other trainees have said they eat everything separately, another said they sit with their family but the family won't eat until they're finished. Yikes.

After dinner, I usually shower (i.e, bucket bath most nights, or shower if I want to wash my hair), and then depending on how late it is, I'll either read on the mat in the courtyard or go to bed! I usually "go to bed" around 8, but really that just means I go to my room and turn the light off. The first night my host dad asked me when I like to go to bed, and based off of some advice from the PCVFs*, I figured I'd err on the side of too early, if only to give myself some alone/chill time. I know it's only been a week, but I have yet to regret this decision. This should come as no surprise.

*PCVFs = PC Volunteer Facilitators - basically just current volunteers who have applied and then been selected to help with our training. We have a couple each week, and they rotate in and out

And then it's bed time! It can be kind of hard to fall asleep when it's hot enough to melt in my room, but what can you do? The fan I brought doesn't seem to work, so that kinda sucks. No one in my family sleeps outside normally, so I don't want to propose sleeping outside because apparently one of them would have to join me. This is getting long so I'll post more about my host family another time - and maybe some pictures soon too!

xo, chlo

PS - you're not crazy. I backdated this post to the day I wrote it, but wasn't able to post it until Saturday

Stahhh-ge

Hello Family, Friends, Admirers, and Friendly Neighborhood Stalkers!

How are y'all?! I miss you! Everything's is pretty great here though - just a little hot.
We arrived in BF last Friday (June 6), and it's hard to believe we've been here over a week already. We landed in the capital city, Ouagadougou (Ouaga for short), and stayed at a convent there until Wednesday morning. Obviously the convent has no affiliation with the Peace Corps - I think they're just available for groups who need food/housing/conference rooms.

It was nice and spread out, and definitely helped to ease us into being in-country - they had showers, toilets, fans in the "dorm" rooms and "dining hall," and an air conditioned conference room. While there we ventured out to the marche once, and to a restaurant for ice cream (!) another time. Saturday was a bunch of administrative type things (setting up bank accounts, getting phones, etc.) and medical/language placement interviews, but Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we followed what is now our typical schedule:

8-10: session
[break]
10:30-12:30: session
[lunch]
2-3:30: session
[break]
3:45-5:15: session
done!

More on sessions/training later!

Our training group is preeeeeetty awesome - there's 31 of us, from all over the country, ages ranging from 22-34. Our training group is only Education sector; Health and Community/Youth Development (I think) volunteers come in October or something. One of the best things about Ouaga was that the convent had these great gazebos, and it turns out that a bunch of people in our group are incredibly talented. Y'all know I'm not counting myself in that number - these people are super cool and musical and artistic and wonderful dancers. We discussed having a talent show at some point and I'm like ummmmm I don't have a talent. I'd have nothing to do on stage but convert oxygen into carbon dioxide! Name that movie!!!

SIDE NOTE about the title of this post: training is called "stage" the French word for training, not the English stage for a play, etc. So "our training group" is also called "our stage" - spelled phonetically in the title of this post. :)

We left Ouaga on Wednesday after lunch, and walked off of the buses straight to the ceremony for our adoption into our host families. I was mildly terrified to leave the group to live with people I can hardly communicate with, but it turns out it was all for nothing. I may be biased, but I think I definitely have one of the best (if not THE best) host fams - they're so adorable and so so sweet. At the ceremony was my host mom and her sister, and my youngest host sister. After the ceremony (complete with dancing), we piled my bags onto their two motos, and I hopped on my bike (with my 30+ pound backpack) and we rode home. It felt like a lifetime, but after having made the same trip twice a day for the past five days, I can admit that it's really not that bad.

About the language barrier: I said I didn't much care about the age(s) of my sibling(s), but said if there was a choice I'd prefer a younger one. I figured it wouldn't matter so much that I didn't know French because I could just play with a little one, and BOY WAS I RIGHT!!! I played with my little sister all that first evening (or two), and being able to do interact with the family even though I don't know French made me feel a lot less awkward - and I think it also helped them be able to tell that I wanted to interact with them even though I couldn't really communicate much. Thank Je-Zeus for small blessings!

When my host dad got home, he did the official introductions, and later I got him to spell out everyone's names so I could pronounce them correctly. As it turns out, I have five siblings! The two oldest boys are at university (Mohamed and Aboubacar), but they'll be home at the end of the month. The next boy is Idybapon - I think he's about 14 or so, but honestly I have no idea. The only thing he's said to me besides 'bonjour' and 'bonsoir' is "I'm going to dance" - although I'll admit that was pretty awesome. Next is Basadequoa, who is 8. She and I are basically best friends, even though we didn't meet until Friday. Friday and Saturday afternoons, when I sat in the courtyard reading/writing in my journal/doing my homework, she'd sit next to me and write in her notebook or play with stuffed animals. Ranea is the youngest (about 2) and she's also very sweet - always wants to play!

I'm at an internet cafe right now and I told my host mom I'd be home by 7, so I'm kind of running out of time - so more on training and my host family in a few days! Love and miss you all!

xo, chlo