africa: anything but ordinary

Au revoir et a dieu!

2008-08-07T21:09:00.003-05:00

Dearest friends,

Please find below my last post on this blog. I promised you over a month ago that I would close this online journal in a proper manor and I always keep my promises ;) In fact, you might be interested to know that I have enjoyed keeping this journal so much I have decided to start another blog that I will write in whenever the spirit moves me. The new blog can be found at: www.sarapiaskowy.blogspot.com. My plan is that the theme and style of this blog will change and evolve as I find myself in new places, with new people and new experiences. You’re welcome to join me!

While this particular adventure to Africa has come to an end, I truly hope it marks a very special beginning to a life lived through eyes wide open. Since the time I landed in Chicago on June 26th until now, I must admit things just haven’t seemed quite right. While I am happy to be back, I feel anxious, confused, and frankly unsure of myself and what comes next. Before living in Africa, I thought I had a pretty good picture of what life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness looked like. What I discovered was that I was only looking at a fraction of a masterpiece of cultures and lifestyles each with unique beauty and value. Compared to how I see things now, I feel like I used to see life through a pin hole. The crazy part is that even though my view has been expanded exponentially there is still so much to learn and experience. So I am living with my eyes wide open to all of this world’s wonders which challenge my understanding and reveal more of that amazing masterpiece of the human race.

I have loved being home with my family and friends. Reconnecting like no time had passed at all is a genuine blessing. But somehow even in the midst of happy reunions, my mind keeps wandering back to Ouagadougou; to a place where it doesn’t matter if you wear Abercrombie or Hollister; to a place where there was always time to greet someone and buy a mango from them; to a place where my list of things to do consisted of drawing, reading and going to the market. Here at home I feel like I am always busy, but never accomplishing anything. Even when I do accomplish my goals there is always something else nipping at heels keeping me on my toes and running; I am still trying to figure out exactly what I am running towards… I have seen how one can live in a totally different way and still lead a life of incredible meaning. So where do I go from here? (At this point is when the anxiety, confusion, and self-doubt set it…)

I have been reading all sorts of development and economics books and could talk and argue with you for hours now about foreign aid and topics I never dreamed of being conversant in. But at the end of the day, the problems in the third world are still very real, and the question of where do I go from here still remains. Pragmatically, the answer to that question is very simple. I will be going to Stanford, but I also managed to plan a trip to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore before school starts, and quite honestly, the prospect of exploring Asia is way more enticing that starting graduate work… But what am I going to do right? One very important development is that I am really considering pursuing photography in a more serious way. Taking pictures has become something I love to do!

Living in Africa seems like the first hit of a very addictive drug. Do I jump ship on the PhD and live like a bum traveling around taking pictures and working odd jobs to earn my keep? That surprisingly sounds pretty appealing right now. Admittedly though, when I get down to the very heart of the issue, I think I am simply ready for a change and I will love it when I get to Stanford. I like being home and all, but I lived alone for nine months and moving back into a house of 5 people is a bit of a shock and very distracting. And the whole travel picture bum idea… well, thankfully my chosen area of study makes travel a must. So the plan is to get a PhD and use the travel opportunities which come with my new life’s pursuit to take pictures and develop myself as a photographer. Phew. Glad that is all settled. Sometimes I just need to talk things out.

My friend Hahna leaves for Burkina tomorrow for a one year Princeton in Africa fellowship. I am kind of jealous. Talking to her about what to expect and what I liked about the culture and what drove me crazy, really made me miss it! Oh well. C’est la vie. I will be back in Burkina at some point…

So what have I been up to since I got back to the USA? Too much to go into detail, but I will give you some highlights. My family hosted a lovely graduation party for my brother Jordan. My friend Annie drove down from Michigan to visit. I got to go shopping and replace the clothes I left in L’Afrique. I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon on the beach in Chicago with my friend Joanna and then the evening barbequing with Katha. I got very sick the next week when my parents went to Aruba; lucky for them, not so lucky for me. I even went in for a malaria blood test since the chills, sweating, high fever, shakes, and headache really got me worried. I caught up with my friend Raj and my boss from last summer, Sharon. Leanna came to visit which was awesome. I visited Philadelphia for a day and then hung out with my friend Caroline and her parents, getting to visit Longwood Gardens :) I spent a week at the beach with my family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents in Seaside Park, NJ. I managed to take a day trip to Princeton to visit the Professor who helped send me to Africa, and see my two friends Joanna Nice who got married and actually just had a baby two days ago! Yeah for Calvin James Nice… he is one lucky kid :) and I saw my roommate of three years, Cassy. She is doing very well, and I loved getting a chance to catch up on things in person. After vacation, I spent a week helping my friend Lillie at Camp Hope, a truly awe-inspiring camp for young adults with developmental disabilities. I somehow earned the affections of one the campers, who had no qualms about expressing his affections by saying, “I love you Sara!” at the most random times; namely after he sang the national anthem and as he was jumping into the pool. It was actually pretty good for the self-esteem ;) I also achieved a life long goal by going to a concert at Ravinia with Lillie and her friend last Sunday. Check that off the list. And drum roll…I finally bit the bullet and purchased a new guitar, a ticket to Asia, and new computer. While my bank account is hurting, things are looking pretty good ;)

I’m now back home happily preparing to head up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a weekend reunion of 11 girls from Princeton (+1 baby who is 4 months old…). It’s called the Duzz reunion (because there are twelve of us) and it is going to be amazing! I leave for Stanford on the 23rd and in the mean time I am going to busy myself reading photography books, learning some basic Thai phrases, and packing my life up into four to five 50lbs bags… not to mention painting random houses for my father.

There are lots of new photos up on my Picasa website so please explore.

[Philadelphia]
[Seaside Park]

[Camp Hope]

Alright then. (Deep breath…) Over and out.

Sara A. Piaskowy

Photos from Togo! You have togo...

2008-06-28T14:40:00.001-05:00

Togo Hiking, Paycheck Nightmares, and HOME!

2008-06-28T14:31:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning I wished I could have slept in. However, that was not the case as Bianca and I got up at 5:45am to get to the bus station on time. We had no problems finding a taxi in the morning and got the station, boarded our bus and were off to Togo in no time at all. The trip was uneventful and went by pretty quick given we both took sizable naps over the course of the 5 hours it took us to get to the border. As we pulled up the station in Sinkansee, there was a swarm of taxi moto drivers who descended on the bus and specifically Bianca and I. While it bothers me that they do that, it really bothers Bianca. She can not stand these guys. And to top it off, the guys were calling to each other claiming each of us as their customer… yelling out things like “I get the tall one!” As you can imagine it was unpleasant. The funniest part is that Bianca can’t even ride motos, Peace Corps rules, and so we had to walk anyway. They kept on saying, “Oh, it is too far, yadda, yadda, yadda.” It took us 5 minutes to walk to the Burkina Faso immigration office. They stamped our passports and we walked over a small bridge packed with trucks trying to get across the border. Then we stopped in at the Togo immigration office. This was a bit trickier because we had to buy a visa on the spot. Togo doesn’t have an embassy in Burkina so there was no other option. Bianca and I had intended to go get ID size photos taken, but we ran out of time so we just hoped for the best. $30 and 30 minutes later we had our visas, no pictures provided, and headed out to find a taxi to Dapaong, a town about 40km away, where we would spend the night.

We actually had to walk a long time to find the taxi area. Since we weren’t sure where we were going and Bianca really does not like associating with African men, we stopped by a beauty salon and asked some ladies for directions. They were really nice and their whole little beauty salon hair braiding scene was very stereotypical. We kept walking and walking and I finally asked another little boy if we were headed in the right direction. He said yes, but then even better he found a guy like right there who had a taxi that was headed back to Dapaong. I think he was going anyway and so we only had to pay a small fee to go with him and we had the taxi to ourselves. Trying to get back to Cinkase (Togo side of the border) again on Monday, we would realize just how great a deal it was.

We had the driver drop us off at the hotel that we had picked out from the guide book. As we pulled up we saw that the name had changed. We figured no big deal. Except that this name change came with many other changes as well. When we asked the guy at the desk for a room and his response question was “Do you want the room for the whole night?” We were like um, yes… as he lead us to the room which was in a really dark hallway we slowly came to realize what he meant by that earlier comment. The room had no door handle, just a lock. The door jab had been busted in at some point and now was being held there by an added metal strip. To top it off there was a safe sex instructions poster hanging on the bathroom door! We spent about 5 minutes convincing ourselves it would be fine. Bianca was on a tight budget and this was in her price range. I thought very diligently and decided that there was too much at stake. I was too close to getting home safe and sound from Africa and I did not need to put myself in a less than optimal situation for a mere $10! So I told Bianca if should could chip in as much as she was planning to pay for the first place, I would pay the rest for us to stay somewhere nicer. That was the best choice we could have made.

We found a nice place the called Le Campement. This place was definitely less shady. It had clean rooms, a nice outdoor seating area and I did not fear for my safety… all good things. After we settled in, we struck back out and explored the market. It was market day so the place was hopping. However, I can’t say it was much different than any of the other West African markets I have seen. We got supplies for the next day’s hike; bread, cheese, and water. On our way back we checked out transport options to get to Bogou. We found the same guy who had driven us from Cinkase earlier and talked with him for a while. While he seemed really nice the price he wanted was really high. However, he assured us that there were no other options. He was a liar. Just down the road we found the shared taxi stand to Bogou where the transport was half the price the first guy told us.

Back at the hotel that night I worked out, showered, and then started reading a book called Ishmael that Susan gave to me. It was very philosophical. Good, but at the end it really seemed to have not made any really strong points. It was a fun mental exercise, but there was no resolution or call to change anything that was pointed out. We ate dinner out on the veranda. I ordered a hamburger which turned out to be crumbled ground beef on a baguette. You tell me… It was still good though. p.s. I think we were the only people staying at that hotel that night. Not that it mattered, it was just funny that as soon as we ordered our dinner they opened up the kitchen and there was no doubt that what we were smelling was our dinners being prepared. While Bianca went to bed super early, I stayed up and wrote the last two blog posts. Even though I was tired, I couldn’t let myself get anymore behind.

Sunday morning Bianca and I got up at like 7:00ish. We packed our stuff and ordered an omelet for breakfast. The service at this hotel was outstanding which is very unusual for Africa. After satisfying our appetites in the morning, we found a taxi to get us to Bogou. Bogou is a very small village about 35km south of Dapaong. There was no trouble finding the auberge (guesthouse) where we were going to spend the night. It had no running water or electricity, but that was the point. We wanted to rough it African style. The lady who runs the auberge found us a guide and within 20 minutes, we were off on our hike headed up to the cliff dwellings. It was a nice hike. The terrain was challenging; steep and rocky! When we got to the top of the plateau area we met with the local village chief and bought a ticket to see the cliff dwelling ruins. There were two little boys from the village who also accompanied us. In Mali you can just walk up to the cliff houses. But here that was not the case. This place had been used as a refuge during ancient tribal war times so getting to it was really tricky. So tricky in fact, a steel ladder was built to help foreigners descend to the ledge to explore the ruins. The ladder was made of rebar and was 18 years old. However, it looked like it was in very nice conditions still which I thought was impressive. The view from the edge of the cliff was amazing. It felt like you could see forever!

So we courageously climbed down to get to the dwellings. They were really cool. A lot like Mali, just a much smaller scale, no other tourists were around and you could climb all over the things! The guides also showed us a sweet little waterfall which served as the water source for the people when they were hiding out. We took lots of pictures, but saved our lunch for later. On the way back, when we were almost down, we paid our guide and told him we would stay there to have our picnic and find our way back. At first he was reluctant to leave us but then decided since we were going to stay for a while he would go. Bianca and I had a nice picnic lunch and great conversation ensued. After reveling in doing nothing for a while we decided to head back to the camp. I should note Bianca and I brought some water with us, but not enough. I figured we could buy some at the auberge. Normally that is a fine idea except all this place had was soda water which is infinitely less satisfying than mineral water when you are thirsty. After the hike we had used up our reserves and if we were going to stay in Bogou that night we would have to find more water. We found a Catholic mission that had a pump looking thing. Pump water can be safe to drink as long as it is stored safely and not recontaminated. The same is true for most rainwater. We weren’t sure what this source was, but given our limited options, we took the gamble. This was one we would win. Yeah. I would also just like to note that there was significantly more water infrstracuture in the Togolese towns that I have visited versus the Burkina villages. For example, in Togo I saw many roofs set up for rain water harvesting and many household sized water towers. It was really encouraging. Speaking of water, that night back at the auberge we bucket bathed (i.e. showered without a shower).

In the evening Bianca and I just sat around and read until it got to dark to see the words. We had a dinner of rice and peanut sauce (the sauce was sub-par in my book) with some nasty, no meat on the bones, chicken. After dinner I read a little bit more by kerosene lamp light, remember that there is no electricity, and then called it a night. I had a hard time falling asleep. There was no bed net and no window screens; so to discourage mosquitoes, we kept the windows and door closed, but this also meant we forfeited any chance of air circulation. It was hot. No electricity, not even a fan! Then I heard the thunder. The rain arrived not long after, and boy did it make itself known. The roof of our room was tin which means that the rain was deafeningly loud. It was a hard night.

We got up at like 5:45. What else was there to do because I couldn’t really sleep…? We left in a private taxi which was nice considering we were planned on waiting for a shared taxi. The only reason why we went that way was that the driver came way down in price for us. Back in Dapaong, we tracked down the Peace Corps hostel. We met a nice female Togo volunteer there and got a ride to a sweet breakfast place with another volunteer on his way out to a camp. We had an astonishingly good omelet sandwich for breakfast. After breakfast we took a taxi motos to find the weaving cooperative noted in the guide book. It was really interesting to watch these women hand weave these beautiful textiles. I was able to take some great photos, and bought a few coin purses. Back at the hostel, Bianca and I had a little less than 2 hours to kill. So what did we do? We found out the hostel had a sweet collection of Disney movies and watched The Little Mermaid. It was so cool because just the day before we were saying how much we wanted to watch that movie! We totally sang along the whole time.

Following our childhood reenactment we headed off to the taxi stand to get to Cinkase. We had to wait a while for the taxi to fill up and boy did it fill up. They put two people in the front seat and four crammed in the back. It was absurdly tight. In addition, one of the woman in the back seat with us had a very newborn baby with her. I thought it was insane she was traveling with a baby that small!

Back in Cinkase we walked to immigration office. We had a similar experience with the taxi moto guys charging us when the car pulled up. But before Bianca would even got out I leaned over and yelled “NO!” out the window at them. They backed off really fast. My very serious, don’t mess me, “NO!” has that effect on people. Anyway, during the epic walk back to the border I really had to go to the bathroom. But FYI, there are no public toilets. There are rarely toilets at all and so the people that have them hardly make them public. I knew my options were limited, so I took my chances and asked the border police if I could use their bathroom. Sure enough they said, “Yes.” I was totally surprised, but very pleased as they had a flushing toilet which was clean and had toilet paper. You never know until you ask.

From the Togo immigration office we headed back across the border to Burkina. We thankfully had no problems. Since I was leaving in two days, I was a little nervous about having problems with immigration. I wanted to be able to go home! Once we checked in at the bus station, we found more water, and then I ordered spaghetti for lunch. It was cutting it close for the bus departure, but I was so hungry. The bus on the way back was the small size which I tend to prefer because I feel like they go faster. The driver seemed to be a pretty aggressive man, which I thought boded well for him driving quick and getting back to Ouagadougou in good time. NOT! He was so slow! He kept on stopping at random villages just to say hi to people. All the while there is a storm rolling in from the East. It normally takes 2.5 hours to get to the halfway point. It took us 3.25 hours! 45 minutes longer than it should have. 45 minutes crammed in those buses in nothing to dismiss lightly. Anyway, we are on our way to Ouaga from Koupeala and the driver stopped and got out again. As I said this was not unusual. However, he pulled over again like 2 minutes later and everybody has to get out of bus. We had a flat tire! Doah! Add to that the fact that the rain is coming quickly and you have a recipe for two unhappy white girls. We could feel the cold wind coming. At the first few drops, Bianca and I get on the bus. The problem was everybody followed us. This was bad because the jack was still under the bus. They got everybody else off again, but Bianca and I stayed on, we were not about to go get wet. We got off the bus at the first Ouagadougou stop, the Gare de l’Est where Ben and Reid came to pick us up. They were a few minutes late because they went the wrong way which meant we had to wait in the eerie post rain dark in not such a great area.

Final note about the bus… partway through the trip, some guy got several people to move so he could sit next to Bianca and I. I was not pleased by this. He started trying to talk to me and I just ignored him completely. Not even a response. I was not in the mood to talk especially when this person made other people move just so he could come sit by us. Not cool. After his first attempt to start a conversation in French failed, about 45 minutes later he tried starting a conversation in English. Again, I simply ignored him. I’m not necessarily proud of this, but I really just want to illustrate that I learned I don’t have to respond to people if I don’t want to. After I wouldn’t talk to him, he started singing Jesus songs in English in a low voice. That did it for me. I was thinking, “Seriously!” To top it off he looked a lot like my friend Pascal from 2iE who is nice, but just doesn’t get it. I was happy to get off of that bus.

Anyway, Ben and Reid picked us up. We were tired and gross from traveling. However, it was Ben’s last night in Ouaga. He was headed back to the US for 3 weeks that night on the Air Maroc flight. We went back to their house and they had dinner of rice and brochettes ready. Yum! We hung out for a long time. I was able to check my email which was important because I had a lot going on in the next two days before I left. However, one email I feel compelled to share was one from Pascal. He thought I was already gone and wrote me this very nice, but unwanted email about how much he will miss me. He even attached a picture of himself to the email. Wow. This was in addition to a text message I received before I left for Togo again saying how happy he was to meet me and how he will miss me forever… Oye!

At Ben and Reid’s house we chilled through dessert and tea, then the power went out. Lovely. Again, the powers that be were just making sure I got the full Africa experience in my last few days on the continent. At 11:30, I asked Ben to drive us home since I was really tired and still wanted to pack that night. They drove us home and I said good bye to the guys. They had been really great friends to have! At home, after showering I should have gone to bed, but instead I stayed up until 2:30am going through my life in Burkina Faso and packing. I got pretty much all of it done which would prove to be very helpful. Bianca slept on the couch at my house again that night. She could have stayed at Leanna’s but we planned to make French toast in the morning so she camped out at 2iE for one last night.

Tuesday morning the French toast making was a huge success, despite the fact that we had to go use the communal kitchen next door because I still didn’t have a new gas tank for my stove. On the way over we saw Namaro and asked him about it. He gave us some lame excuses, but really there is no excuse. He should have had it changed already, it was 5 days since I first told him about it…Anyway, as we were eating breakfast, the tailor came by. The green dress I was really skeptical about came out great! I was really excited. The dress he was copying wasn’t such a success. He still needed to work on the sleeves. I tried it on, he took some measures, and assured me he would be back that night to drop it off. He also asked for money to pay for gas to get there and back. I didn’t really care so I gave him some. Also, I think he may have showed up the night before looking for me because I told him, and thought myself, that we would be back earlier than we ended up getting back.

I went into work about 8:00am which was part of my plan. I went to check in on the pay check situation. The guy told me I needed some document from the bank proving I didn’t have a loan out! Are you serious?! Okay, no problem. I was going to go to the bank to close my account anyway, I will just go right now and do it and bring them the paper after lunch. I was planning on making up a poster about Jstor that morning, but instead I spent it waiting at the bank. I went to the main branch because last time I had to go there anyway. I was told I have to write a letter asking them to close my account. There was no form and I am like, 1. Where do I get the paper? and 2. My French isn’t really good enough to be writing something like that… When I finally got someone to help me, I learned it would be 2 weeks to verify my account was closed or at least two days to get the no loan verification. I HATE African bureaucracy. And to add insult to injury it was going to cost me about $20 to close my account. What would have happened if I just took out all my money and left, I don’t know. But frankly I’m not a fan of messing with that sort of thing in a place like Burkina Faso. Anyway, after all that they then tell me I have to go to the branch where I opened my account. Are you kidding!? No, they weren’t.

What was I going to do? I was very worried about this stuff, but I had my last tennis lesson that morning at 10:15am. I decided to go to the tennis and leave by 11:05am to get to the other bank before it closed at 11:30am for the afternoon break. I HATE the African time schedule… Besides it was my LAST lesson; I had to go! I tried very hard to be focused, but it was very tough. However, I gave it my best, best effort and it was fun, even though I had to leave a little early to get to the branch office before it closed! When I got to the branch office I had a long meeting the accounts manager guy. He was not all that helpful and the number of people he called in the time span of our meeting was absurd! No one knew what the other was doing… At the end, I did submit my demand to close the account. I got no promise for the official document, but I did get an account activities report print out. I was hoping that would work. I should also mention at this point I am wearing my nasty tennis clothes. I felt rather out of place. In any case, I brought the print out back to 2iE and gave it to the secretary explaining the situation. She said if there was a problem she would call. I was expecting to get my check the next morning.

I went home, showered, ate lunch, went back to the office to send some emails, then happily awaited my last French lesson. It was great! No exercises, just a nice French conversation where my teacher asked me all sorts questions about my time in Africa. It was sweet. At 3:00pm I was supposed to have a meeting with the director. That didn’t happen. It kept getting pushed back until it was time for the farewell cocktail party they were throwing for me… Even that got pushed back 30 minutes. I had planned to slip out of 2iE pretty quietly. While this was not quite, it was actually really nice. The director, Yezouma, and Konate all said some very kind words. There were refreshments as well as tons of presents for me. It was amazing. I got a table cloth, an African dress and necklace, a tourag box, a leather imprint picture, and a beautiful large batik. The funny thing is the gifts were all things I wished I could have bought for myself but didn’t feel like I could justify spending that much money on. It was great! I felt very good as I said good bye to everyone. I had been doubting my contribution to 2iE, wondering if I had made any sort of an impact. I guess I had! I also wore my new green dress for the event. What you do you think?

That night after the cocktails I went to dinner at Gondwana’s with Susan, Bianca, Keith and Sheryl at Gondwana’s. I had been looking forward to this goodbye dinner for quite some time. I planned to order the taxi burger… the epic burger of Burkina Faso. Not even on the menu this is 4 full size patties with cheese. It is literally about 10 inches tall named after the taxi buses which stack cargo to unimaginable heights. I was totally geared up to eat one all by myself. However, I only got half way through and then hit a wall. I cut off a small piece for Bianca and that gave me the inspiration to keep going. All the sudden I was done! It was amazing. I had conquered the taxi burger! Originally, Bianca and I had planned to watch a movie Tuesday night, but I thought better of it. I needed to finish up life stuff and wanted to get a decent amount of sleep. Bianca slept at Leanna’s for the night. I went to bed at a reasonable time and for my last night in Africa, I slept very well.

Wednesday June 25, 2008. That date had been engraved into my mind. There were times when I thought it would never come. There were times when I willed it to come sooner. And now it was here. I can’t be sure if it was nerves or the massive hamburger I ate the night before, but I woke up on Wednesday feeling not all that great. In fact, I had no appetite what so ever and when I thought about food it gave me nausea. My stomach would knot up and then relax again in waves. It was not fun. Anyway, I had to get on with my life. I was leaving Ouagadougou that night! My plan was to get up early to get my check, go to the bank, go change my money, run my errands and get to the pool. Unfortunately, Africa had other plans for me. The first issue was that there was no check waiting for me. Apparently the boss said the record I gave him was not good enough. They were seriously going to make me go back to the bank, when I was certain it wouldn’t do any good and just waste the limited time I had left. I said I wanted to talk to the boss. No problem, except he wasn’t in yet! Oh and the guy who I saw last Friday had the nerve to tell me I should have closed my account earlier. Um, no. If I needed something more, YOU should have told me that when I came in to see you last Friday. Don’t make it seem like I should have known it would take 2 weeks to close a bank account. In America, it takes all of 30 seconds.
I was all fired about this, but decided to go back to my office and chill. I chilled reassessed my situation and went to the library to show the librarian how to use Jstor. As I was walking over I saw the financial bosses car pull up. I quickly showed the librarian the neat features of the website and then went straight back to the financial office. I had every intention of making myself a nuisance until I was paid. After waiting like 15 minutes, the boss came out and told me he will try and call Bank of Africa to verify I didn’t take out any loans. The reason why the yneeded to verify this was that if I had taken out a loan and left town the bank would come knocking on their door. It is a legit concern, but also a stupid one because why in the heck would I take out a loan. I can hardly get my own money out without a myriad of issues springing up… So the guy calls, and no one is available. They are in meetings until 11. I lost it a little bit, but figured I could wait until 11. If after 11 there was still no movement, I would go see the director who told me yesterday to go see him if I had problems getting my last paycheck. He said he had already approved it. In the mean time, the boss’s assistant gave me my pay bulletin. This was when I learned that I was getting paid twice as much money as I expected because of vacation pay! WOwowowow! Talk about an amazing blessing!

I went back to my office feeling both utterly frustrated, yet overjoyed at my discovery of a “bonus”. I stopped by and saw Konate. I explained the problem to him and my one consolation was that according to Konate this guy does this to everyone. So it wasn’t just me getting the short end of the stick. Really though, how would they have paid me after I left? I surely wouldn’t have forgotten the money and it would have made more work for them!

Anyway, I resigned to wait until 11. In the mean time I called Bianca and asked her to come over. We went through my kitchen stuff dividing it up. Then we started watching a movie called Dan in Real Life. I got it from Ben who loved it. Wouldn’t you know, just as we start the movie, it starts raining! Sad. No pool I guess... The rain made it hard to hear the TV sound, and it was still down pouring as 11:00am rolled around. How was I going to get to the office again? I waited until 11:30am. The rain had slowed, but not stopped. I put on my rain coat and decided to brave the elements to get my paycheck. This time when the boss called the Bank of Africa he got through. He wrote up the form and I was able to go to the money lady at the school and get cash instead of having to go to the bank to cash a check. Yeah! Walking back to my house at that moment I was full of joy and didn’t even care that it was still raining. I had gotten paid, and I was leaving that night to go home!

I got back and we finished the movie. I couldn’t eat anything for lunch because my stomach was still upset. I thought maybe a little exercise would help shake out any thing that might be bothering my stomach so I did a short workout routine. By 3:00pm, the rain finally slowed to a mist and Bianca and I decided to brave the conditions to run my last errands. I bought my spotted ceramic chickens, changed my money, and picked up two other little trinkets. We also stopped by Helvetas and SIM to drop off some stuff I had promised to get to Nicolas and Rosie. Oh, side note: At first I couldn’t find the change bureau I was looking for so we stopped in to Bank of Africa. Their rate was worse than I had anticipated and I was ticked off at them about my account stuff, so I left. After leaving the bank I was able to locate the place I went to change my money when I first got to Burkina. The place had a worse rate, but with my new knowledge of Bank of Africa’s price I was actually able to negotiate an even better rate than at Band of Africa. It was a pretty solid moment for me…p.s. when I first came to Burkina the dollar could buy 445CFA today you can only get 390CFA. What is going on!?

Anyway, after SIM we dropped our bikes at the Burg’s house and walked back to the main road. We stopped at Prix Bas looking for oatmeal for Bianca. This was third boutique we stopped at and we had all but given up hope, when voila, they had it! From there we took a taxi back to the University. I wouldn’t have been unbearable to walk, but we tired. Walking back to 2iE from where the taxi dropped us off, I picked up some credit for my phone to leave on my card for Hahna. I also passed Susan as she was headed for her class and gave her a final good bye hug.

Back home I was able to see that the dirt and water that splashed up my back from my biking adventure was way worse than I had imagined… That is why I put on grubby clothes when we went out. I knew they would be gross when we were finished. Anyway, I showered and then went to my office a final time to email my parents and finalize things. On my way back I called Nancy Burg and told her she could head on over to pick us up. It was so nice she came to get us! We first stopped by Leanna’s house to drop off all the stuff Bianca was going to keep. Then we went to the Burg’s house for a lovely dinner. I was surprisingly able to eat. I hadn’t had much all day so I was surely hungry. I was just glad my stomach agreed that I should eat.

At about 8:30pm we left for the airport. I was nervous about my bags being overweight. I had no scale to use when I was packing. However, in general I am an okay estimator of those sorts of things. Just to make sure everything was good Nancy, Diana, and Bianca waited for me to check in and come back out and tell them the status. Turns out you get a
22.5 kg allowance. My heaviest bag was 21.7kg. Amazing! I just have a sixth sense for packing 50 pound bags! Check-in went really fast and I had no word on my large basket carry-on. I went back outside to say goodbye. It was weird. I was happy to be going home, but also sad knowing that this chapter of my life had ended.

Back in the airport I filled out the Burkina Faso immigration card. When I started there was no one in line. But Wham, as soon as I finish, there is a team of like 30 people who got in line. My heart sank. What should have been 5 minute wait was 25 minutes… I was still was doing fine with time. I got through customs no problem. The only bad part about the whole travel thing was that the security took the baby giraffes that I had packed in carry-on. I was unaware that you couldn’t pack bronze in your carry-on. I guess they count it as a weapon. Watch out, my baby giraffes are really dangerous! (NOT!) I was so sad, but didn’t want to mess with trying to get them into my other luggage which had already been checked and done. I did not want to mess up getting home.

I thankfully had an aisle seat on the airplane. Funny enough, sitting next to me on the plane where three kids whose mother was behind me in line through security and clearly did not grasp the idea of personal space if you know what I mean. I stayed up for dinner, but then fell fast asleep. I didn’t wake up until we were in Paris! It was great. In Paris, the flight to New York was in the same terminal as where we arrived. While I did have to wait a long time to go through security again, no terminal change meant I didn’t have to wait in the immigration lines again. Phew! While I was waiting near the gate, I sat and worked on my final Africa Update email.

On the flight to New York I got an excellent window seat with no one in the middle. The only downside was that Paris to New York is a long flight! I read, watched a movie, ate, slept and we still had 3.5 hours to go. The first movie I watched was Fool’s Gold. The second movie was 10,000BC. Both were pretty bad. I felt like I got really shafted with the plane entertainment this time. But whatever, I was just so happy when our plane finally landed. I went right through customs, no problems :) I rechecked my bags and went to the domestic Delta terminal. There was no line at security and there was, to my luck, pay phones right across from gate that I used to call my parents. The only bad thing was that it was a really small plane and my basket did not fit in the over head bins. It was a bit of hassle to figure out how to make it work, but I did. Oh, and there was a lady was sitting my seat! Like, really, please don’t assume I don’t want my window seat. It is a little presumptuous and makes me seem like the bad guy for asking for my rightful seat… The small plane made for a long flight. I read a lot, but otherwise just tried not to get too excited as the Chicago skyline came into view! My parents met me at the bottom of the stairs leading to the baggage claim. It was so nice! My luggage came out right away and we were on our way home…

Home. I could have kissed the ground, did actually but not literally. Kissed my hand then touched the ground; you get the idea. I quickly showered and then headed back off in the car to see Ryan at his Boy Scott Camp in Michigan. It might seem a bit weird to get off the plane and then into a car to drive for an hour and half again, but my parents were going anyway. I got to see Jordan when I got home, but Ryan was obviously still at Camp… I could have sat at home or I could go along and sit in the car with my parents. I chose the later which was a great idea. The Boy Scout Camp had a very nice authentic American feeling which was awesome. I stayed up until 10:15pm at which point I crashed pretty hard. Lying down in the back seat, I was out like a light bulb in Africa when the power goes out. When we got home I showered one more time and then crawled into my princess bed which had been waiting for me for nine long months! Wait no more. I slept with reckless abandon, safe and secure in MY room, in MY house, with MY family.

I love home.

Love,
Sara

The next post will be my Togo pictures. After that there will be one more follow up, wrap up post… so stayed tuned!

Civil Unrest, Movie Night and Speed Scrabble

2008-06-27T16:23:00.001-05:00

My last week at work was crazy and riotous. Literally. Monday I would have loved to sleep in. Not a chance. I had an 8:00am meeting with Professor Maiga. I worked in the morning on a short summary of the ceramic filter initiative at 2iE. It actually went quite well. I worked until like 1:30pm and had almost finished the summary before going to the gym to work out. I had to wait to use the treadmill, but that was okay. It was worth the wait. My workout was great. Three and a half miles of running and afterwards I was able to arrange to have a tennis lesson on Tuesday at 2:00pm. I needed to go to Marina to pick up some ground beef for Tuesday so I decided to just go after my workout since I was already halfway there. I felt pretty dehydrated and by the time I got home I was regretting not stopping and buying water while I was out. I got home, ate lunch, showered and went back to work. I was able to go with Susan to arrange to hold an information session for how to Jstor. Just because we had access doesn’t mean it will be utilized. People have to know it is there and how to use it! We planned for Thursday from 3:30-4:30pm. I was very excited about this chance to leave something useful at 2iE. I also made up a schedule of things I needed to show Martha, the new girl from Ghana. I had a whole plan for when and how we could fit everything in and trust me there was a lot to fit in so I had to be creative. We would start on Tuesday morning.

I talked to Ryan online for a few minutes that afternoon before I left work and then met a very nice woman named Jocelyn in evening. She works for Catholic Relief Services on their global water initiative and was interested in point of use treatments and partnering with 2iE. It was great to talk to her. It seems like I am leaving just as things are getting interesting. Or maybe they are getting interesting precisely because I am leaving…? That night I cooked up the meat I bought at Marina. P.S. remember the guys from Marina market at the airport in Accra. I saw one of them at the store. He totally recognized me, but I was not up for an awkward encounter so I quickly left the store after buying my groceries. Monday I also wrote up some on my Ghana posts. I have fallen way behind with my blog and it is killing me. I have done so well so far! This is the home stretch I can’t lose it now… So I stayed up and gutted it out. I also went through some of my photos and picked which were ones that made the cut go online. I was feeling pretty odd in general that night. I had a low grade headache and a nausea feeling that came and went. Well, as soon as I finished working and was headed to bed, I started feeling really badly. I had a terrible time going to sleep. That was the first time since I have been here that I have not felt well to the point where I was having trouble falling asleep. As I laid in bed I just kept thinking, come on… I am almost there! I am almost going home… don’t fail me now body.

Tuesday morning I woke up and felt better but not 100%. I started working with Martha which has turned out quite well. She is a very smart and able. She also speaks English since she is from Ghana. In fact, she speaks little to no French so by default I have become a great resource for her in getting her settled at 2iE. We started with a non-saturated flow rate test and prepared the gel medium for our microbiology tests.

Before I left for Ghana I submitted a request to be reimbursed for my French lessons. Since I hadn’t heard anything about it I went to check in on it. It was a good thing I did because it still sitting in the same place. I was able to take it the right people and got things moving again. Geez-a-lou. I don’t think I will ever know how this place functions. In the morning, Nicolas was able to arrange an appointment for me to go to Poceram to take pictures on Wednesday morning, but I had to get there. I emailed a couple of people and finally Professor Maiga’s assistant Madame Dayamba, very intimidating but genuinely nice lady, helped me arrange a car from 2iE to take me. Phew. I did not want to have to pay for a taxi.

Anyway, in the midst of dealing with these little things I realize there is a bit more of a ruckus on the University campus than usual. I thought maybe school was out for summer and they were celebrating. Oh, naïve Sara! They were rioting. Legitimately rioting. You know how I found out? As I was walking from office to office, through open air passageways my throat and nose started burning and it was hard to breath… TEAR GAS! The gendarme (military) had intercepted the mob of students and was using tear gas on them! It was so heavy in the air it wafted to 2iE. It was serious business. I never felt unsafe and generally tried to keep doing what I needed to do with work stuff. I figured it would be over by lunchtime. I had my tennis lesson and a meeting with Nicolas scheduled for the afternoon and was not looking forward to canceling them. Well, about noon, from my window I see a bunch of people congregating by the entrance road. They are looking at something, but I can’t see the gate. Then the start running and I’m like “Oh man, what’s going on!”… Well, I stayed safe up in my office, but later I learned that several students had fled onto 2iE’s campus before our guards could stop them. The gendarme decided to pursue them and rammed their army truck into our gate. I am not kidding.

When things calmed down I left my office to go home for lunch. I found Susan by the entrance road and went to talk to her for a few minutes. It was about 1:20pm. While the roads were barricaded by the students with piles of rocks, there wasn’t much action going on. I was still debating on whether to go to my tennis lesson or not. Susan figured I could get out okay, but it was questionable as to whether the roads would be blocked to get back in. Again, I’m thinking to myself, come on I have 8 days left in Africa, did they really have to riot today! I was resentful of this useless violence and didn’t want to have to change my schedule because of it. However, I’m not stupid. I don’t like civil unrest in general and tear gas, let me tell you, is not pleasant to experience. So, I decided to play it safe and cancel my lesson. I took it as a sign from God I needed to take the afternoon to rest which I did. Before I took a nap, I went to make lunch. No big deal except as I am working in my kitchen I look out the window and see two students hiding out behind where my laundry dries. That took me for a bit of a scare. I decided not to mess with the situation. My doors were all locked, they were literally taking a nap themselves so I just finished making my lunch and went to my room hoping they would be gone when I woke up from my nap. At first it was hard to fall asleep because I kept hearing tear gas shots and there was a constant riot background noise that would crescendo and subside again. Nancy Burg called to check in on me which was really nice of her. I love their family. I hope to get to see Lindsey in August during the down time she will have between when her Dad leaves and when she starts college. She will be in Minnesota, which isn’t like next door to Chicago, but it’s not an unreasonable distance to traverse.

When I woke up from my nap it was calm again. It was about 4:00pm and although by now it would have probably been fine to go, I still cancelled my meeting with Nicolas. Instead, I talked to Ryan online until my French teacher came for my lesson. I was happy he was able to come. As I said, the hullabaloo had calmed down. Susan and I had planned a dinner and movie night for that night. This would be the last of several such nights we hosted for our English speaking toastmaster and 2iE friends. About midday we considered canceling it, but by 5:00 since things calmed down we decided to go through with it. We served chili with cornbread. The chili was only so-so. We didn’t have any tomato sauce only some tomatoes. So it was really just chili flavored ground beef, but it was still good. I’m not complaining. The movie for the night was The Pursuit of Happiness. It is an excellent movie, but it is seriously hard to watch. I feel like the entire time I am holding my breath, even though I know what is going to happen. You just wish the guy could get a break. One thing I do love about the movie is the Rubik’s cube references. My Dad used to love those things, and even I used to be able to do them. Seeing them in the movie just brings back nice memories.

There were 7 of us at the movie night. It was very nice. All my favorite Burkinabe ladies were there; Mintou, Salimata, Lydie, and Sandrine. Also, we invited Martha to join us since she lives with me and all… I would like to interject here and note for the record, that not having Leanna in Ouagadougou feels really weird. Like I am so used to being able to text her or stop on by her house and now I can’t do that. No tears, just somber realizations and appreciation of what a good friend means in your life.

Wednesday morning I got up and got ready to head off to Poceram. The 2iE car was ready to take us at 9:10 :) Martha came with me. Since she will be working on the filters, I wanted to make sure she is involved with what I am doing to wrap things up. When I asked Konate about her coming with me, he was like “Okay… but her first priority for work is with me.” Fine, whatever, but clearly I’m leaving and if, as you say she will continue my experiments, I have to show her what to do before I leave! AND you sure as heck are not taking the time to show her anything (sound familiar?). Gosh. Last week. Be patient Sara. Anyway, we went to the ceramic workshop and the visit went very well. My French was on the ball that day. I was able to show the owner the video footage of the filter factory I had visited in Ghana, and I took pictures of their workshop to send to Ron Rivera. I was very pleased. When we were done, the 2iE car came back to get us. I felt like finally after 9 months here I can successfully go somewhere on my own for work and make it work for me! Success!

After we got back from the workshop Martha and I started the saturated flow rate tests. We had set the filters to soak after the last measurement the day before. I also went to the informatics service and got Martha a power strip and Ethernet cable so she could get on her computer. Again, not my job (ah-hem), but otherwise she would sit there with nothing to do until Konate got back from Mali. So remembering how I felt, I helped her out. When I left the office for my lunch break, I didn’t eat right away. I rode my bike over the rec center and set up a lesson for Thursday at 8:00am. It was only time that would work for me! I had 5 lessons that I already paid for and needed to use. Thanks to the riots I may not got to use them all… In any case, I went home, made lunch, and took a short cat nap.

Back at work in the afternoon, Martha and I finished the flow rate tests, washed and prepared the bottled to be sterilized, scrubbed the filters and brought them over the STEP area and loaded them with raw water. Things were moving right along according to my schedule. Even though Martha’s computer was now hooked up, it still wouldn’t connect to the internet. How do I know this? She and I share my office now. It is bit inconvenient to be almost finished and then have to change things up accommodate another person for the last week you are there. And we have one key for the office between the two of us. Normally, this would have posed a huge problem because I am in and out, in and out all the time. But we worked it out. There is a hook in the entryway of our house and the first person to leave in the morning takes the key with them. Midday the last person to leave locks the door and puts the key back on the hook. The first person headed back to the office after the break grabs the key, and like before the last person to leave locks up and hangs the key in the entryway ready for the next day. It has worked great so far. Martha is very easy to get along with :) Anyway, I contacted the information services people again and hoped they would come.

At 5:00pm I went to Professor Maiga’s office to have a conference call with Professor Soboyejo. He wasn’t there the first time we called, so we waited 15 minutes and called back. This time we got through to him. It was an important call because it essentially was the last meeting between myself and my two bosses. Professor Maiga leaves on the 21st so anything I needed him for I had to figure out before then. Regardless, the call went longer than I expected and I know Professor Maiga was late for his next meeting. I was given the task to write up a call summary. I didn’t mind though. It was nice to feel like I had something to do.

Wednesday night I finally had a free night. It was glorious. I worked very hard on writing more of my blog posts, the call summary, and drafted some other documents I have to leave for 2iE. The tailor came by that evening. Of course he comes when Susan is gone. Anyway, he had the first version of my dress to show me. I was having him copy the cute blue dress I have with some fabric I got in Ghana. It looked okay, but not great. He has to fix the sleeves. I also gave him the green fabric I bought with Mary Ellen. I had meaning to sit down and design something with that stuff, but never had time and I knew if I didn’t give him the fabric now to make something with, it would never happen. So I quickly decided on a long dress with strappy straps and fairly simple lines. I am very skeptical of how it will turn out. However, as I said, I knew if I left Africa without having something made with it, it would sit indefinitely. So we’ll see!

My tennis lesson on Thursday was tough. I was still a kind of asleep and rusty from not playing for a while. By the end things were better, but I was just not on my game. I got home, showered, popped into the office and then went with Martha to start the flow rate tests. We had plans to meet Nicolas at 11:00am, but he called to cancel. At first I was ticked, but it turns out I really needed that time to get ready for the Jstor information session I was going to facilitate. Susan helped me send out an email invitation, and I hung up 10 posters. However, I was still worried no one would come… Martha and I were going to do our lab tests in the afternoon before the workshop, but my preparations took longer than I had planned and I was starving. I reassessed my situation and decided we would move the sampling to after the session was over. I was going to take the 45 minutes of down time I had to run to the Shopette to get the mango pieces and other food items I needed. However, after lunch I took a nap and the Shopette plan went to “File 13” (a euphemism my 2nd grade teacher Miss Flessner used to use to refer to the trash).

I got up and went to work. Seriously the segmented workdays make you feel like each day is really two days. I am happy to be almost done with that work schedule. Anyway, I printed out the handouts I made for the session and went to get set-up. Six people came to the session and I think that was more because Susan went around drumming up business. Regardless, once they were there and saw what the website had to offer them they were really excited. I had debated about making a PowerPoint presentation versus using an online connection. I am glad I used screenshots because the internet was really slow and not working great at the beginning. I was very pleased with how the workshop turned out. It was exactly what I hoped it would be. What really needs to happen is to have workshops like that for every unit at 2iE. I also plan to go and work with the librarian personally before I leave… Oh, I should also mention the Peace Corps wanted Bianca’s signature before they approved the trip. This was a bit of an issue considering she lives about 5 hours by bus from Ouagadougou! So instead of coming Friday morning, she decided she would come in on the evening bus on that day. She is such a trooper. More on that later…

So after the session Martha and I went to work taking water samples and running physical parameter and microbiology tests. It was really fun to show her how to so this stuff. I like teaching and not to brag, I think I am not all that bad at it. Instead of the hodge-podge instructions I got, I worked with her to actually DO the experiments. I would do the first run and let her do all the others. I would take the first sample and then let her take over. It is one thing to watch someone do something and something totally different to do it yourself! We finished with everything at about 6:00pm. It was perfect timing. Oh and update, the information service people came and Martha’s computer is set up now. Score one for Sara. I was able to connect with Adam online for a bit, which was nice. I also talked to Leanna on Skype and set up for her to come visit in July (maybe). She can extend her layover in Chicago from Seattle for like $90, which is way cheaper than any other flight and probably even driving…

Thursday night was great. I just chilled out at home for a while, did some dishes, had dinner, ect. Oh, for dinner I made potato pancakes. They were amazing! Only problem was my stove ran out of gas while I was cooking. Lucky for me the communal kitchen for the apartments is next door and so I just popped over there to finish cooking them. Ben and Reid came over about 8:30pm to watch a movie. We watched a movie called Disturbia. I was not all about the movie because it sounded like a scary movie and I don’t like scary movies. Anyway, Ben said it was more suspense and I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Reid is really funny, and when he and Ben are together it is ridiculous. Reid says whatever he is thinking which is refreshing and often leads to side splitting hilarity. We were about 15 minutes into the movie when Bianca arrived. I was so happy she made it. We filled her in on what had happened and continued with the movie. It was good times. While the guys left by about midnight, I stayed up until 3:00am working on stuff. Time was running out and fast.

Friday morning Bianca and I got up early and went to buy our bus tickets. We were going to Togo! I got back and Martha and I headed over to Helvetas for a 9:30 meeting with Nicolas (third reschedule). He wasn’t at the office when we got there which wasn’t cool. I had my day planned out pretty tight. I didn’t have 20 minutes to wait for him. But we did and I was able to go over some things with him, and he was able to meet Martha which was also important. I had hoped to leave Helvetas at 10:00 to walk back to 2iE stopping at Shopette, the bank, and the market to get some things I needed and to show Martha around a little and be back in time to make it to my 11:00am tennis lesson. We left Helvetas at 10:20… grrr. I again did a quick assessment of my options and chose to walk back but only stop at the Shopette and simply point out the market. I was able to get everything I needed at the Shopette which was great. I got about 2 pounds of dried mangos, peanuts, yogurt, jam, and bread. Very successful stop. We got back to 2iE at 11:00am. Great. I change quickly and go to get on my bike. My tires had been really low, but I was doing a really good job at putting off stopping to get more air. Not a good plan. They were finally so low I couldn’t reasonably make it to the rec center so I had to stop and get my tires pumped. Not that it takes a long time, but I was late!

When I got the rec center Emile my teacher was just finishing up a game with someone. It was no problem I was late. I actually knew it would likely be just fine, but I hate being late. And I hate that my being late was because someone else was late and messed up my plans. Being late is not respecting that person’s time. This second lesson went better. It started out rough warming up with another tennis player, not Emile. It was weird to get used to. And, and my mind was in about a million and one places, but not the tennis court. I just found out that morning that I don’t normally get paid until the 26th, 27th of each month. I never really gave much attention to the actual date because it was electronic and I never had a problem with not enough money. Anyway, if I didn’t figure out how to get paid early I would have a big problem on my hands! I was already stressed trying to figure out how to change my money and bring it back with me, or wire it, ect. Add this to it and you have reached code red on the Sara alert scale. I did my best to focus and things improved. I will likely only have one more tennis lesson before I leave which makes me sad. I hope I make it a point to keep up with it. I have really enjoyed learning to play.

After tennis I went to the bank to get some money for Togo. Thankfully they use the same currency there so there is no hassle with changing money! I stopped for some veggies for dinner on the way home. I was planning on making salmon cakes with rice and green beans. After my successful errands, I went home, showered, and ran over to the office to send some emails. Bianca had gone with Ben in the morning to the Peace Corps office to sign her form, and then over to Air Maroc to check on Ben’s ticket which he thought he might have a problem with since he lost it. Turns out it was an E-ticket so he is good to go. I finished up at my office and went back home to make some hummus for lunch :)

Bianca and I had a nice lunch and then got on our bikes to go with Susan over to a new and different artisan place. Susan picked up two shish-ka-bob sets like the ones I got for the price I paid for one set. I think I still got a reasonable deal. Her deal was just astounding. After going to the fancy and low key artisan workshop we ventured into the not so peaceful booths across the street. I was still looking for four baby bronze giraffes for my Mom. I knew how much I should pay for them, but no one was giving me the price. Anyway, this seller was very pushy and very rude. He finally came down to my price, but I left without buying them because it had been such a terrible experience. That made him mad. Bianca, Susan, and I were headed back and then out of nowhere the guy comes up next to us on this moto, giraffes in hand still wanting me to buy them from him. At this point Bianca starts yelling at him in French to leave us alone. They finally turned around, but my goodness. Talk about ridiculous. Idealistically, I hope that teaches him not to pull that crap with other people, but I know he won’t do anything different. After that mess, I just wanted to go home, but I still needed my giraffes and so we stopped by the artisans near the Hotel de Independence. The vendors there remembered me from last time. I finally got the giraffes for a price close to what I wanted to pay, as it was clear there were no other options.

After the shopping trip, I left Bianca at the house and went back into work. I was able to talk to someone about my pay check, phew. AND I got paid in cash the reimbursement amount from my French lessons I was totally surprised! I met with Konate for a few minutes to work out what would happen to finalize my time at 2iE. All I can say is he is a little late! I have only been saying June 25th is my last day for 2 months now. If there were things YOU were supposed to arrange in regards to my leaving, wrap up meetings ect. because you were quote unquote responsible for me you should have done that before now. That is your job. I am not familiar with 2iE ending formalities! Sara, be patient… I don’t where that came from. I have to remember all the things I have been helped with while I was here. Even though the help was sometimes infuriating and frustrating, they had the best of intentions. At first he was saying something about meeting with a bunch of people and doing this and that on Monday, and I’m like, um… I won’t be here on Monday. I’m going to Togo… We settled on Tuesday afternoon for more of a social goodbye among the GVEA faculty. I don’t have to give a formal presentation or anything, which is good considering I already presented at the Scientific Forum. Glad that was all straightened out.

Martha and I went to go read the tests we had completed the day before and I was shocked to find no result what so ever. Turns out we had prepared the extreme sensitivity variation of Chromocult instead of the regular medium. So it didn’t register anything. I didn’t know there was more than one type of Chromocult! It wasn’t a huge deal that the tests couldn’t be read, because my main concern was that she knew the procedures. She can ask for help reading the tests the next time she does them. It was frustrating though… 2iE wins one again. Anyway, after that I worked on some finishing touches on the documents I needed to leave for 2iE. I was heavy into fixing up one of my excel sheets when I realized 1. It was past 6pm and 2. It looked crazy outside, really windy and dark skies. I did not want to get stuck in my office if it started to rain! I packed everything up and booked it home.

So I was planning on a chill evening, but Ben and Reid texted and said they wanted to hang out. Not chill evening; Ben and Reid equal a high energy evening of food, fun and games. I wanted to chill, but you only live once so we told them to bring dessert and we would do dinner. I had planned two meals for two nights of salmon cakes and spaghetti with spinach sauce each would feed 2-3 people. So what did we do, we made it all! When I got home everybody was there. We borrowed the gas tank from the communal kitchen and hooked up my range to that so we didn’t have to move everything over there which would have been crazy. We had all four burners going cooking rice, beans, pasta, spinach, salmon cakes. It felt like a restaurant in my kitchen. It was so fun! And that night, as we started cooking, it started to rain… Since the kitchen was so hot we opened the back door in the kitchen and had excellent rain storm sound effects and refreshing smell of African rains wafting through the kitchen. That dinner was a great way to use up some of the food I had left.

We sat down to eat and it was great! Again, the conversations among the four of us were amazingly entertaining. We lingered for a long time at the table and only cleared the dishes so things would be ready for dessert after we played a few round of speed scrabble. It was great fun. We must have played 25 games of speed scrabble. No one kept score and we even tried to come up with some variations meshing speed scrabble with spoons or rotating spots, ect. It was wicked. We paused only for a little while when we decided it was time for dessert. The guys were put in charge of dessert and they pulled through in a big way. They brought ice cream and cookies. Talk about amazing. We ate 2 liters between the 4 of us. Yeah that’s right a ½ liter each. Boo-yah. The speed scrabble recommenced after dessert. I was so tired though. When we finally stopped and they guys left, Bianca and I finished up the dishes, I packed my stuff for Togo and we turned in for the night. I think I was asleep close to 1am. We were up at 5:45 to get to the bus station.

The adventures that ensued in Togo and my final days in Ouaga will follow in the next post!

WIRED Retreat Pictures!

2008-06-27T15:44:00.001-05:00

Salt and Light, Galloping Horses, and a Significant Departure

2008-06-27T15:39:00.003-05:00

When I got back from Ghana I felt like I didn’t have a chance to take a breath before I dove right back into the swing of things. After Susan left on Tuesday night I went to my office to let my family know I made it back safe to Ouagadougou. Ryan was the only one around so I regaled him with a few of the crazy transport stories. He got a kick out those… I went home and should have gone to bed. But instead, I showered, unpacked my bags and went through some desk stuff. I didn’t go to bed until like 2am. Oh and I noticed when I first got home that the door to the bedroom area of the house was closed, which was unusual. I didn’t think anyone had come because I didn’t see any tell-tale signs of another person being there. Also, when Susan came over I wasn’t exactly quite when retelling my adventure tales. But, when I came back from my office and opened the door to the bedroom area… dun, dun, dun there were strangers shoes in the hallway. Indeed there was another person staying at the house. The shoes looked like the kind my old Asian doctor used to wear, so naturally I assumed there was a small Asian man staying in my house. Boy was I wrong!

Wednesday I slept in until about 9:00am and then went into work. I worked a continuous day so I could go to the bible study party and do some errands afterwards. In the morning I worked on going through my emails and figuring how to finish up all I had left to do in the very limited amount of time I had before I was to leave. Anyway, while I am at work I met a new girl who will be working with Konate for the next 10 months (Heaven help her…). She is from Ghana and, surprise, was the person staying at my house. She had actually just arrived at 2iE when I returned from Ghana myself. She is very nice and is going to be helping to continue my experiments when I leave. I was really excited to hear that, but it also meant training her to do all the experiments in t-minus 5 days. But have no fear… I’ll figure it out somehow.

Wednesday June 11th was the last Ouagadougou girls bible study so we planned to have a nice little party. In order to celebrate in true fashion I made up some quick brownies and bought some sugar peanuts on the way over. I also made up some sesame bars, but they weren’t ready when I had to leave so I left them home planning to have them as a treat for myself ;) The final bible study was lovely. I hadn’t had much time to prepare, but we did go over some of things they most remembered, and then I had them write a letter to themselves to open a year later. It was an exercise I think they all liked. I also gave the girls the bookmarks I had made. I hope they use them ;) Anna’s family (one of the other leaders) was in visiting from England, so they sat in for the final bible study. It was overall really fun, and Anna’s family loved the brownies I had made. I thought they were okay, almost too sweet, but they LOVED them and kept saying they were the best they had ever had. Beats me! After the party was over I sat around chatting with Anna’s family for a while, but then I had to head home so I could scan my Ghana receipts to get reimbursed for my expenses before I had to meet Ben to finalize plans for the WIRED retreat which was FRIDAY! Holy COW! We hashed out details, but just in general we were both pretty worn out and you could tell. After Ben left, I took the evening to write up a short summary of my Ghana trip to send to Professor Soboyejo.

Thursday morning instead of going into the office, I wrote like 15 emails I had needed to get to but had been putting off… writing emails takes a surprisingly long amount of time. At about 1:15pm I left my house and I stopped by SIM to pick up my ring and brownie pan I left there yesterday. Then I went to ISO to see Leanna for a few minutes. She had lunch plans so and I went back to her house to chill out for a while and send my emails. It was a great plan and then Ben showed up which was great to have company, but I really needed to get my emails sent and did not want distractions. Ben is like a walking distraction. It wasn’t bad though, and I was saved from total loss of productivity because Leanna’s DVD player wasn’t working so Ben couldn’t put on a movie… I did thankfully get all my work done. After Leann’s lunch she picked me from her house and we went to the SIAO (Artisinal Village). I was originally planning to send the emails from my office and then got ISO, but as I walked outside it looked like it was about to down pour rain and I didn’t want to be stuck at 2iE… hence the down time at Leanna’s house. Anyway.

The SIAO was great. I made a list in Ghana of what I needed to buy and how much I wanted to spend and so it wasn’t stressful and I only bought what I knew I wanted. The only thing I could find was actually some soap and papers for Cassy. Leanna found some cool stuff for her to bring back with her too, and we ordered a custom batik which the guy assured us would be ready by Sunday (it was Thursday…). A batik is a type of Africa art that uses fabric, wax, and dyes to depict pictures. She was having one made as a thank you for her home church that raised a lot of money for the food distribution. After getting back to Leanna’s house, I peaced out so I could be back in time for my French lesson. It went pretty well. I will miss my French lessons when I leave Burkina Faso! When the lesson was over, I was spent. I had been going non-stop since Ghana, since before Ghana and I couldn’t do anything more… So, I put on Miss Potter, curled up on my couch, forgot about all the things I had to do and called it a night! After the movie, I did try and write my toastmaster’s speech for Saturday, but it just wasn’t working. I really wanted it to be written so all I had to do was practice it on Friday, but no.

Friday I got up feeling much better after having given my brain a rest. BTW I love Miss Potter. I could watch it a million times and still love it. This woman’s life was unreal! I went to work in the morning and had a wonderful surprise… I was about to email the woman from Jstor to find out why I hadn’t heard anything from them lately, but I first decided to check out the website and see if by magic we were connected. Getting to the website searching for a keyword and having the page load and say I was connected though 2iE was one of those moments when the heaven’s parted and angels started singing. It was glorious. After 3 months of work, finally, finally we were connected and now the 2iE community had access to 1.8 million articles from over a 1000s free! I spent the morning going around to other offices showing my co-workers this great new resource… I also took a few minutes to write up an announcement to post on the 2iE website regarding the new Jstor access. It was a great morning!

I left work at 10:30. I had to go to the bank to get some cash and then do some last minute shopping for the retreat. I had to get marbles, crackers, apples, cards, and other random items for the relay races Ben and I dreamed up. There were a few things I couldn’t find such as baby bottles so we had to change a few of the tasks. Since I was already downtown, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and went souvenir shopping. It was about half as pleasant as the first time I went before I came back the US in April. I felt like the prices were all higher and my French was a weak that day. It didn’t leave me feeling very good about these vendors. I got home from my errands in enough time to get back to the office and go stand in the lab to greet some visitors who had come to tour 2iE. After they went through I raced home, threw my things into a bag, and grabbed some lunch before Leanna came over to pick me up to go to the retreat.

The retreat was hands-down amazing. As a youth group kid you don’t appreciate all the hard work that goes into planning those things… so let me tell you, it is a lot of work. Leanna is the youth leader, but since Ben and I had planned this she was counting on us to kind of run things. It was an awesome responsibility, but I have to say I was dead tired. Ben had also had a monster of a day so it felt like things got off to a shaky start. I was also stressed out having to give a speech the next morning and not yet knowing what I was doing for it! After convening everybody at the Harrison’s house, our caravan of 7 vehicles carrying 40 happy retreaters headed out for Nong Taaba. When we got there we couldn’t give the kids their room assignments because Ben had them and he was late, so instead we had the guys put their stuff in one room and the girls put their stuff another. We had originally planned to have an opening ceremony right away, but instead decided to put that off until right before dinner and let the kids have free time all afternoon. While it was “free time”, it was also the time when the kids could play paintball if they wanted. The only problem with that whole plan was that we hadn’t confirmed our tentative reservation and so they were scrambling to accommodate everybody. Since there were 26 kids who wanted to play, we had to have the kids play in two different games. Once things got settled on the administration end, life was smooth sailing as the paintball people took over. I was keen to take pictures and since the opportunities from the sidelines would be limited, the paintball people invited me to put on a suit and stand up in the tower with the game referee and take pictures! It was so cool!

The games lasted for two 15 minutes halves of capture the flag type play. I only stayed in for the first half of each game. In the mean time, I was trying to get Leanna, Ben, Bianca and I together to figure out what the heck was going on later that night! We had to push dinner back a bit, and I had no idea what we were doing for the opening ceremonies. Since I was still dealing with paintball, Ben and Leanna said they would take care of it. Yeah. They also took care of giving the kids their room assignments which was nice because then the kids could get all of their stuff out of the leaders’ rooms. When paintball was over we had the kids change and then meet in the tiki hut area for the… drumroollll please, opening ceremonies. Ben came up with a cool skit, which we used to debut the amazing retreat t-shirts they were going to get. The theme of the retreat was Salt and Light. Here are the t-shirt designs…

Do you get it? If not, read Matthew 5:13 :) We also told them a little bit about what to expect and went over ground rules which was actually pretty fun. We went out on a limb and had them suggest some rules to begin with. Of course we had a list of ones we wanted to have covered, but we thought it would be more effective if they voiced the rules they wanted to see followed to make the retreat the best it could be. After the opening bit it was dinner time. We prayed in the tiki hut and Ben and I were set to start a stampede to dinner, but as we were about to let them loose, Leanna says, “Oh and please try to be civilized as you walk to dinner…” Doah! Our plan for mayhem was foiled. Next time we have to let her in on our plans ;)

Dinner was great and even better because all we had to do was sit down to it. After dinner Joel Gray, one of the missionaries in Ouaga, gave the key talk for the retreat. He did a great job. We broke with tradition of having worship multiple times during a retreat and decided to save the music for the morning. After the talk, they were given several options for activities; card games, a judged synchronized swimming competition (which was not a well received idea, even though I would have totally gone for it), and capture the flag. Most of the kids wanted to play capture the flag. FYI that game is like a youth sponsor’s worse nightmare. A bunch of kids running around in the dark = recipe for injury. Anyway, we got permission to play in the paintball arena which eliminated the issue of designating boundaries. We had the kids pick teams and let them go get ready. They convened at the referee tower in the paintball arena and we went over the rules. Capture the flag with this group of kids was crazy. It took a while for the game to get flowing, but once it did, it went on for a while… This group has a history of arguing over who tagged who and if they were in no-man’s land or not, so I patrolled no-man’s land which virtually eliminated any problems.

I was dead tired by the time the game was over. Leanna and I went and set out the snacks and I put my feet in the pool for a few minutes which was really nice. I made Abby and James pick out the music for the morning so I could at least look at it once before I played solo leading worship for 40 people after having been gone and not playing for like two weeks. Am I getting any sympathy from you yet? No. Alright, try this one on. After I went back to my room, tuned my guitar and played through the songs once each I had to restart my brain cells to write a freaking speech for the morning! AHhhhhh… I planned to talk about the perils and pleasures of friendship, but decided I didn’t really like the idea. My speech topic was actually inspired by the t-shirts we made for the retreat which were green. I titled my speech, “Green with Envy” and talked about the dangers of being envious of others. The goal of the speech was to use body language and I was able to work in three stories that illustrated my key points but also allowed me to really use my body in delivering the speech. That night I only outlined the speech. I knew the keys points I wanted to make and the examples I wanted to use… I was praying I would be able to pull it off.

Saturday morning came way too fast. I rushed through breakfast to get ready for worship. I had Bianca practice with me, she sang while I played guitar. While it would be rough, I knew it would be okay. Before starting life that morning, I had laid in bed and prayed that God would work in the worship, that he would be with me in giving my speech and just be Lord of my life that day. You think I would learn to do that everyday! The results of my day were phenomenal and unbelievable in many ways. After Worship Bianca shared her testimony and spoke to the youth group about her experiences as a missionary kid growing up in the Philippines. She did a wonderful job and you could tell the kids were listening to every word. I had the great pleasure of introducing Bianca before she spoke. I was confident in giving her introduction because I remembered some of the things I had learned in Toastmasters :)

Speaking of toastmasters, as soon as Bianca was done speaking, I left Nong Taaba hoping to get back to 2iE in time to give my speech. Nong Taaba is a bit of the way out of town and since there no taxis going by I started walking towards town. I was just about to reach the big gas station when I saw a green car approaching. I was saved! I paid the taxi 3500CFA and he got me to 2iE pretty fast arriving at the gate at 10:25am. I rushed home, showered, got dressed, grabbed the few props I needed to speech, mentally ran through the key points again, and headed to the meeting. I got there as the first girl was finishing up her speech. I was sitting down for about 4 minutes before it was my turn to get up and give my speech. I took a deep breath and decided to go for it, 100%. I had never actually practiced the speech and if I was going to sell it like I had prepared well, I knew I had to just jump in. It was awesome. I rocked my speech. That experience gave me such confidence and was probably the best thing that could have happened to finish off my Toastmaster’s time in Burkina. I needed to know I could give a presentation on a whim. That I didn’t have to write it out, but that if I had an outline, knew my points and illustrations, by not having it written out, I could be more genuine and adjust what I was saying to how the audience was reacting. As I said, it was just what I needed. The meeting ended with elections for the next year’s executive board. They were supposed to follow parliamentary procedure, but it was a challenge. There was only one person running for each position, so it wasn’t much of a contest. It was good that they went through the motions, but you tell they were a bit uncomfortable with nominating and voting (not surprising given the political history of their country). It was a little odd, but I am sure a very good exercise for them.

After the meeting the club went out for a celebration luncheon. We went to a restaurant called “Gracias” and it was great fun! I went home and chilled out a bit before riding my bike over to the Harrison’s to be there when the kids got back to say goodbye. While I left at about 9:50am, the retreat went until 4:00pm, so Leanna, Ben and Bianca ran the rest of the morning stuff. There were group discussions led by the llama leaders followed by games. The epic relay races Ben and I had planned went off really well. I heard a bunch of really funny stories relating to completing some of the tasks we came up with. Funny enough the race wasn’t even close. The tasks were so hard there were 7 minute gaps between team finish times. That, my friend, is a well planned out relay race. The rest of the time minus a short wrap up talk was free time :)

After saying goodbye to some kids I would likely never see again, I rode my bike over to Pete and Alice’s house to return some books I had borrowed. That in itself isn’t exciting, but let me tell you about their dog. It scared the living ga-gee-bers out of me! It was barking so loud and jumping around, and it is this big German Shepard. I start calling to Pete and he acts like it is no big deal and says that “Teddy” wouldn’t hurt anybody. That may be true, but how am I supposed to know that. Note to all dog owners. Unless you are certain your visitor is comfortable with your dogs, assume they are not. Anyway, after chatting with Pete and Alice for while I head over Leanna’s house so Bianca and I can plan our trip to Togo :) Yeah! We had originally planned to leave on Thursday, but I realized this wasn’t feasible with my work expectations and so we decided to shorten and shift the trip, leave Saturday morning come back Monday. I would have Monday night, Tuesday and Wednesday until 5:00pm to pack and wrap up life in Burkina. While I knew it would be killer, I so wanted to go to Togo. The only problem was Bianca still had to get approval from the Peace Corps to leave the country. How different our experiences of Burkina Faso have been?! Outside of work I am free to do whatever I want. Whereas Peace Corps Volunteers have their lives pretty tightly regulated. Okay, really tightly regulated.

Anyway, I rode my bike home and worked out for 20 minutes doing some toning exercises. I showered, and got ready to go to Natalie’s house. FYI, I was still so tired, but I wanted to go… Natalie is a French girl from work who had been saying she wanted to have Susan and I over for dinner for a while. Side note, she is totally opposite of a type A person. I kind of admire that quality; I mean she is free spirited, dresses a bit bohemian, and lives in a dome shaped house with a hammock outside. But I could never live like that. I am too type A. I thought it was going to be a low key dinner with only a few people… not! There were over 20 people crammed into a small veranda. There was a long wait time before dinner was served, the silences of which were punctuated by bursts of awkward conversation. This is a pretty typical African evening… It was a nice group though. One of the redeeming qualities of the evening was being able to sit next to and talk to Susan. However, I could hardly stay awake for dessert, but there was not sign of us being able to leave. Since we had gotten a ride over, we were dependent on others for a ride home. Finally at 12:30am I told Susan we needed to go. We could find a taxi... I was, in all seriousness, having trouble responding to people in a coherent manner. Not long after making that declaration the party dispersed and we didn’t have to find a taxi because everybody was leaving and we just grabbed a ride with someone headed that way. I got home and fell fast asleep.

Sunday. Happy Father’s Day Dad! I set alarm for 8:40am because I had plans to leave to go horseback riding with Pam and Susan at 9:00am that morning. I knew I had time for one snooze. My phone went off and I tried to hit the snooze, but it wouldn’t turn off. Then I realized it wasn’t my alarm going off, but Susan was calling me! It was 9:05am and Pam was there already. I was still in bed! I jumped out of bed and was out the door in less than 5 minutes… It was nice drive to the stables which gave me some time to wake up. When we got there we told them we wanted to ride and we got right on some horses. It was fun and dandy, but, ah-hem, I hadn’t ridden a horse in at least 10 years. Even then, it was like walking in a circle at Mrs. Wychoki’s farm. But everybody was else experienced, so I just went along with things. Dude, we were going out on a trail ride. I was pumped. They gave me a calm horse and the guide helped me figure out the mechanics of riding. Once I remembered the commands it was super easy and really pretty amazing. I feel like I am a natural. In fact, I am seriously entertaining the idea of pursuing horseback riding at Stanford… it’s worth a try right? Anyway, our little ride was not a nice trail walk. Oh, no. We trotted, cantered, and yes my friend even galloped! It was one of those surreal moments of like, is this really happening? Never in the US would I have been able to just get on a horse and go galloping away, but I guess that is beauty of the lawlessness of Africa… The ride was about 1 hour long and only cost like $20 something dollars. Yes, Mom, I wore a riding helmet.

After riding, we went to lunch at Le Coq Bleu. That is supposedly one of the nicest restaurants in Ouagadougou and the prices are a little higher than other places, but I wasn’t too impressed with the feel of the place. I did get a great hot salad though. I know it sounds gross, but it wasn’t. I also figure I am almost done in Ouaga and can afford to eat out at some of these places. I got home, showered and took a nice little nap. Leanna came to get me about 3:30pm to run errands with her. I was able to bring my laundry with too and wash a couple of loads for the last time! FYI This was Leanna’s last night in Ouagadougou. She was headed back to the states at 3:00am on the Air Maroc flight so I was glad to spend some time with her! We ran a bunch of errands; SIAO to pick up the batik (Surprise, it was ready on time!), pharmacy, ceramics stop, sugared peanuts hunt, among others. We got back to Leanna’s house and just chilled out there until it was time to leave for dinner. I talked to my family online wished my daddy a Happy Father’s Day! We left for Pete and Alice’s house to drop off Leanna’s car for the last time. She is hoping to have Pete sell it while she is gone for the summer. Ben and Reid met us there and we all went out to dinner. We had wanted to go to the Bouganvillie, but wouldn’t you know it was not open on Sundays! Sad. Instead we to a place called La Vita. Leanna and I couldn’t decide what we wanted so we order a couple things and shared it. That is just how we roll. It was excellent.

After dinner, we went out to ice cream. I got this caramel monstrosity which I should have only eaten about half of, but I ate it all and was hurting afterwards. We sat in the ice cream place for a while and enjoyed some super funny conversations. We went back to Leanna’s house and shot the breeze until 11:30 rolled around we left Leanna so she could finish packing and be ready to go. It was weird saying good bye for the last time. It had not really sunk in yet. I don’t think it will be that bad though, because Leanna is someone I am sure I will stay in touch with :) Good Bye Leanna! Ben and Reid brought me home… I was out like a light as soon as my head it the pillow.

Cape Coast Photos ;)

2008-06-27T13:52:00.001-05:00

Anamabo Beach Resort, Canopy Walk and a lots of Tro-Tros!

2008-06-27T13:01:00.004-05:00

Friday morning I got up quite early and took a taxi to the bus station. The funny thing is that the taxi to the station cost me more than the bus ticket to Cape Coast! Oh and I had to pay for my luggage. I guess the airline trend or charging for luggage is catching on quicker than they anticipated… It was an uneventful trip, and I was able to read like half of the Freakonomics book. It is a quick read, but very entertaining and insightful. I highly recommend it. Instead of one long continuous story it takes on various topics and talks about them for one chapter. I like that style.

Instead of going all the way to Cape Coast I got off at Anamabo. There was a beach resort there called the “Anamabo Beach Resort” that Mary Kay had recommended to me as a nice place to stay. I had emailed them the night before, but hadn’t received a response before I left. However, this is Africa I figured they would have a room for me anyway…and if not, I would cross that bridge when I came to it. Thankfully I never got to it ;) The bus dropped me off at the main town junction which turned out to be a 20 minute walk from the resort. Man and it was hot outside! However, the consolation prize for my toils was being welcomed to a beautiful resort :) Well worth the effort to get there… The resort is right, right on the beach and for $27 a night I got my own little hut. They had electricity and while they did have rooms with A/C none were available and with the sea breeze at all hours of the day, I didn’t need it anyway. I was pretty stoked at this point to say the least.

Alright, have I got settled in I headed right back out to Cape Coast. I flagged down a tro-tro and 0.55pesos and 20 minutes later I was in the town of Cape Coast. When we arrived, I was bombarded by taxi drivers wanting to take me to the canopy walk. However, as you can imagine a private taxi was just a little out of my price range. To top things off, I still needed to find an ATM because there would be no canopy walk otherwise. Thankfully, I found the Barclay’s Bank that was shown in the Lonely Planet Guide Book. Can I just tell you that I love Barclays. No matter where I am I have always been able to get money out at a Barclays. I was somewhat worried to make a withdrawal since I hadn’t seen any email confirmation that the transfer had gone through. However, I didn’t have time to go to an internet café and I figured if the transfer wasn’t completed yet I would just get an error message. Thankfully, it had gone through and I was now in possession of a fresh supply cash.

After remedying my lack of money issues, I found a tro-tro headed in the direction of Kakum National Park, where the canopy walk was located. I would like to make you think I was able navigate the mayhem of Cape Coast on my own, but the only way I found the right tro-tro was with the help of a little boy to whom I did not mind paying a nice tip. On the way to the tro-tro station, I stopped and bought my mom a sweet bag. She wanted one like the one I had, all multi-colored and African looking, but with a nice zipper and pockets, ect. Anyway, the one I found was like the ideal bag. I am not even kidding. It was a little pricey, but I had to figure she was worth it ;)

Leaving Cape Coast the sky was clear and blue. However, as we drove further and further from the coast and into the rainforest, the skies turn darker. The rain started slow and rapidly escalated into a downpour! I always wondered what happened to the passengers in those old broken down tro-tros when it wasn’t bright and sunny outside. Well folks, you guessed it, you get wet. Water was coming in from the roof and seeping in cracks in the sides! They did at least make an effort to move the men in the very back who were literally getting all the rain dumped on them. I guarded by bags and just had to laugh a little on the inside. It was such an Africa moment. Besides I was on my way to a rainforest. Duh! It would be unusual for it NOT to rain…

The whole time we are driving I am hoping and praying it stops before we pull up to the Kakum National Forest. It slowed down, but it did not stop so I jumped out of the tro-tro and ran into the nearest hut. I was greated by a nice group of people who motioned me to cross the little ditch on these rickety looking logs or risk being knee deep in water… Only the children spoke English. The adults spoke their native language. I bought some roasted corn from the lady whose hut I gathered I was standing under. The corn was not of the variety you find at the state fair. No, it is much coarser and really tastes kind of like popcorn, just not popped yet. It wasn’t bad, and since I picked each kernel off the cob it kept me occupied for quite a while as the rain stopped. I bought a nice girl a sachet of water and myself some pineapple cookies. The young girl offered to be my escort into the park. Since I was by myself and thought I would appreciate the company, I said sure.
I paid for our admission and we walked to the main area. It was still a bit drizzly outside so we had to wait. In the mean time, we sat down at the Kakum Rainforest Café. I know we have Rainforest Cafes in the US, but this was for real a Rainforest Café which made me really happy! I bought a doughnut and drinkable yogurt for myself and the young girl. I wasn’t psyched about the idea of a donut, but it turned out to be amazing! Really doughy and good, not sugared or glazed, but more like an elephant ear or funnel cake taste.

Anyway, the rain stopped and I bought my ticket to go get a bird’s eye view of the rainforest. I also found out you can do overnight camping trips into the park. That sounds awesome. Next time, my friend, I’m doing that! While I was anxious to get going, afraid that the rain would start up again, I had to wait for a school group of like 150 kids to go before me. That reminds me… on the way up to the entrance, we passed a school group getting ready to leave. The kids were piling into the buses. No big deal except the bus was packed like a sardine can. There were like 3 kids hanging out every window, kids packed solid in the aisles and like another 20 still waiting to board the bus. It was quite a sight. It was such a sight, in fact, I felt uncomfortable taking a picture. So, you will have to imagine it. However, I don’t think even your wildest scenarios will come close to what I actually saw. It really made my mad they were endangering those kids like that, but then again is there an alternative here? The answer is no, and that makes it even harder to stomach.

When it was finally my turn, I struck out on the trail to the canopy walk with the real Kakum guide and my friend. The canopy walk was amazing. It was essentially wooden planks supported by aluminum ladders laid horizontally with netting on either side up to about your armpits and a steel cable suspension system. There were seven separate canopy bridges and at the most extreme you are suspended about 40m above the ground. You are truly walking in the rainforest canopy.

I had the pleasant company of one Englishman and two Ghanaians during this excursion. The walk was over all too quickly. When we finished we headed back to the entrance. The young girl helped me get a tro-tro and gave me her address. I was totally won over. She told she wanted to be a nurse, that her favorite subject in school was agriculture, that she liked her teacher, that she was 16 years old and had one brother. I tell you this as a preface to what I am about to tell you next.

It is hard to retell this portion of my adventure as it still makes me sad. As I mentioned I really liked this girl and when she offered to hold my bag for me, since it would have been awkward to have with me on the walk, I happily agreed. This was not a good choice. I will remind you I just went to the ATM. You can probably see where this is going… I believe I processed the thought, “That’s not smart to leave your money with that girl…” but for some reason I still did. Maybe I was subconsciously giving her permission to take my money. Who knows? All I know is that later that evening I found I was about 135 Cedis or about $135 dollars short of what I took out of the ATM. If she did take it, I can only hope it was to help pay for nursing school next year. But I am not convinced she took it and it is very odd that she only took 135 and left me the other 180. When I was retelling my Mom this story she suggested that maybe the canopy workers had gone through it and she protested but could not stop them. Maybe I am just being naïve again. Thankfully, I think I can adsorb the loss with only minor inconvenience. However, I have to say it really feels awful to have money taken like that. To be traveling alone, to have something like that happen, and not be able to talk to anyone about it is really hard. You can bet I was praying that night. In fact, I am not mad at the girl and that even bothers me. More than anything I feel sad when I think about it. I can’t change it now, so there is no use in being angry, but my heart just breaks that thievery was the method chosen. Frankly, if she had asked me for 135 Cedis flat out, I may have given them to her, but to steal is a whole different ball game if you ask me. Alright, enough of that sad news… While my loss was substantial, as I said it could have been worse, and I was determined not to let the incident define my mini vacation.

Following the Kakum National park visit I took a tro-tro back to Cape Coast. The guide book had jokingly mentioned that some of the tro-tro drivers think they are really Formula One Racers… Well, coming back from Kakum, I think I found the one they were talking. It was definitely a bit scary we were going so fast. However, we got back okay and in record time! I was planning to head back to my resort, but since it took half the time to get back than I had planned I was able to pay a visit to the slave castle. It was pricey to get in, and they charged me extra for my camera. But it was worth it and the price included a guided tour… Coincidentally, while I was there I ran into the Peace Corps Volunteer I met at the conference. W had talked about meeting up in Cape Coast, but she was dependent on her Dad’s schedule which wasn’t predictable in the least. The fact we were both in the same place at the same time was definitely providential. She stayed for only part of the tour though, because they had to get back to Accra that night.

As far as the slave castle goes it was eerie, but not overwhelming so. I actually the architecture of the place was amazing! And the scene of fishing boats on the shore was quite breathtaking. I guess it just the whole history of slave trafficking that taints the aura of the place. We went through the “door of no return”, which is to say the door where they used as they led the slaves from the dungeons to the boats waiting on the shore to take them to the ships crossing the Atlantic. I tried to imagine the castle hundreds of years ago. I strained to hear the slave chants, the cracking sound of the whips, but with the tour group it was hard to get to a place to mentally process things. As funny and insensitive as it may sound my travels to Cape Coast made me draw an interesting parallel between the crammed slave ships and the crammed modes of transportation. I am not saying they are the same thing, but the more I think about it the more I realize the current way of traveling, crammed like sardines, is totally disrespectful, dangerous and should not be tolerated even if it is “voluntary”, which it is, but then again isn’t because there are few alternatives. In any case, I took a lots of photos of the Cape Coast castle which was quite a sight to behold. As a last side note, there was this guy in the tour group, who was clearly American and here with a group of clearly US college students, whose eyes were a crazy shade of blue. They looks really weird. Turns out he and the group it seemed like he was leading were staying at the same place I was! Oh the irony of life…and, some lady on the tour asked me where “my” group was from. I actually took a bit of offense to that. Um, no lady, I am not with that group of students. Please, I am the lone mysterious traveler. How could she have missed that?!

Stop, backup, rewind. So when I went to the ATM, I got my big wad of cash and folded it into my small wallet. Clearly that was not going to work. Most of it ended up loose in my bag. When I was leaving Kakum I checked my bag and saw there was still a bunch of money left. I didn’t count it right when I got it of the ATM for safety’s sake given the ATM was not enclosed and I was in the middle of the town. I also did not think it prudent to count my cash while in the tro-tro, even though I was worried that some of it was taken. All through the tour, the sinking feeling of the inevitable grew and grew and finally when the tour was over I went to a private corner of the castle and counted my money. My head was swimming when I only counted 180 Cedis. I had taken out 340 Cedis… where had the rest gone? I knew to well where the rest had gone, only I didn’t want to believe it. I was stunned but not altogether surprised by my discovery. I just wanted to sit and wallow; however, it was getting dark and I had to get back to the resort. But what about my money situation? I had taken out enough to get me through this trip and now I was 135 Cedis short! After rapidly mentally assessing my options, I decided to stop at the ATM before I left Cape Coast and I took out 70 more. I planned to go over finances that night and figure out whether I would pay for my accommodations with my credit card or cash. I was leery of using my credit card because I had heard a few stories of people having problems later, but didn’t want to pay the ATM fees again. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place!

I started on my way back to the bus station, i.e. open area crammed with all sorts of vehicles, people and goods. It was still a good distance away and guy at the castle was pretty un-encouraging about my finding a tro-tro on its way Accra, which is the direction I needed to go, at this point in the evening. After having just lost all that money, the thought of paying for a private taxi was killing me. Like an answer to a prayer a tro-tro comes ripping down the street the promoter, not the driver, but the other guys who deals with the money and tries to get people to get in, was yelling Accra! Accra! Accra! So I waved him down and got. I was starting to feel a bit like this trip was turning south very quickly as we continue through town and I was the only passenger. The door is hanging wide open though as the promoter is yelling, so I figure I am still in a good position. Then two more young African ladies get in who are headed to the same town I am and my comfort level stabilizes again…but not for long. Sunset went quickly and it was getting very dark very fast and the tro-tro kept stopping and I wasn’t sure I would recognize the exact place to have the guy stop! I didn’t want to take it to the main junction. Remember the 20 minute walk earlier in the day, yes hard to believe all this adventure happened in one day.

Anyway, I was looking really hard, and I had told the driver to stop at the road leading to the Anamabo Beach Resort. Well, I saw we were coming up on it and weren’t slowing down. So I start saying stop, stop, stop, and banging my hand with my nice ring on it on the metal bar in front of me to make enough racket that they pulled over. Luckily, it was only about a 20 meter over shot. Unluckily, it was still a good 400m down a dirt road to the entrance of the resort. I had brought my head lamp with me out because I half thought I might get back after dark, even though I was aiming not to. I’m not a boy scout, but I do always try my best to be prepared! I strapped on my headlamp and not kidding you ran all the way to the entrance. I was not about to me ambushed in the dark. When I get to the resort it was really dark and I was like “NO!” what is going on… then I realize the power is out. Oye! Again thank you headlamp…

I went to my room and laid in my bed reading my bible trying to process all that had just happened in the course of 7 hours. It was, to say the least, overwhelming. But there is amazing comfort in knowing that even though you feel alone, the God of the Universe is right there next to you. He knows what you are feeling and is there, and as illustrated by the footprints in the sand poem, is carrying you when you don’t even know it. After spending some time recovering I assessed my financial situation for this trip and in general. I laid out money for all the expenses I would have over the next few days and figured out exactly how much I had been taken for… I figured I might have been able to make it paying cash for my hotel, but it would be too tight and I worked through the overall finances of leaving Africa and having enough money for the summer and decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and stress of penny pinching in this sort of travel situation. After all that I decided I needed to clear my head so I worked out in my room with one of my workout DVDs which was a great idea. Following a much needed shower, I happily went over to the resort restaurant and ordered an amazing chicken burger with fried rice for dinner. Very good.

At dinner I sat listening to the ocean, reading my book and enjoying life. This was not my own accomplishment, but a testament to the power of faith that lets you live each moment in joy that is not dependent of circumstance but on the knowledge that you are in this world, but not of this world and that there is more waiting for you on the other side. This is what allows me to weather the storms of life. I am sure there will be a tempest far greater than losing $135 dollars, but it I am prepared because I have built my faith on the rock of ages. That night I fell sound asleep hearing the waves crashing on the beach not 40m from my little hut ;) Okay, so I borrowed Susan's video camera for the trip so I am going to high tech here and see if I can't include some sweet footage I took of the beach resort. That way you can actually see and hear the ocean off the coast of Africa. I'm not going to lie. It was pretty amazing.

Saturday I had decided to play things by ear, but I had to wake up by at least 9:15 to partake of the free standard breakfast provided by the resort. Being in Africa, and given the overall disappointment of hotel breakfasts in general, I didn’t have high expectations. However, boy did they prove me wrong! The breakfast was great; toast, cereal, fruit and juice. After breakfast I went back to my room and wrote up the last blog post you read as well as the May Africa Update. While I was working it rained a little outside. That was pretty cool actually. I went to the beach and read my book for a little bit. When I became too restless, I changed into swim suit and put on my running gear over it. I went running along the beach. I was a great beach for running. The shore was very flat and the sand was packed in really hard. I did not run too long though, the beach got pretty deserted and frankly I didn’t want to find myself in a dangerous situation so I turned around. I was surprised by large amounts garbage that had washed up on shore. It was pretty gross in places! To cool off from my run, I went to a quick swim. Swimming like that is way more fun with someone else, so I stayed in just long enough to feel I earned the right to say I went swimming off the Gold Coast of Africa!

I left the resort to go to Elmina about 1pm. Elmina was a small town just past Cape Coast that has it’s own slave castle. I went out the main road, but had trouble getting a tro-tro to stop for me. One taxi stopped for me I told him I wanted to go to Elmina and he said 4 Cedis. I thought that was way too low but figured, Cool! Must be my lucky day. Then we start going and found out he misunderstood my destination. Great. So I was like peace dude! But when I go to get out, and the door won’t open. This is not uncommon as the vehicles they drive seem to be held together with chewing gum and feel like they will fall apart with you still in them. However, the door not opening was not cool and there was another guy in the taxi who was trying to help me open the door. Which was nice and all, but I was really like “NO, I JUST WANT TO GET OUT!” I was definitely starting to panic a little. I was telling the guy to get out on his side and let me out. Not that I felt I was in danger, but I really just wanted to get out. The driver kept telling me to pull at the window and jab the door with my elbow while he was holding the handle and I was getting ticked, like this is clearly not working and I want to get out! Finally, the latch popped and I was out. I was clearly frustrated and said “Good bye” in a way that insinuated good riddens. Anyway, that whole scene probably lasted 30 seconds, but it felt like an eternity and was quite the little scare…

Finally after the taxi fiasco, a local came up and helped me flag down a taxi. When I got back from my trip I tracked him down I gave him a small tip. The first tro-tro brought me to Cape Coast and then I followed a very nice lady to find a shared taxi to Elmina. In total getting to Elmina turned out to be a much longer trip than I had expected. It took over an hour to get there! When I finally did arrive, I ate at the Bridge House. It is a hotel and restaurant associated with the Coconut Grove Beach Resort frequented by the rich and famous. I had contemplated staying at the Bridge House for my vacation, but boy was I glad I didn’t stay there!
There was a terrible fish smell outside so bad I had to move tables inside. I ordered the coconut chicken, their specialty and supposedly my splurge meal, but it turned out to be not very good! In general I was not impressed with Elmina. The guide book writers seemed to like it more than Cape Coast, but I do not agree. It was dirty, unfriendly and just yuck. Maybe the real Coconut Grove Resort is worth it, but I didn’t make it that far…After lunch I decided I did not want to pay to go into a second slave castle. So instead I took pictures of its façade and then climbed up a hill to a smaller castle. It was a very nice view, but contrary to the guidebook it was definitely not open to visitors. In fact as I was walking up the steep road to get there a nice gentleman warned me not to walk around to the back of the castle because someone would take my camera... A slightly disquieting welcome for sure!

I didn’t stay in Elmina very long. In fact, upon my descent from the treacherous castle I immediately found a tro-tro back to Cape Coast. From Cape Coast I found a tro-tro headed to Accra, thankfully this time it was still afternoon and I got them to stop in the right place. It helped I was sitting up front. It was the first time I rode shotgun and honestly I prefer the other seat because you can’t see the crazy driving that is going on quite as well. When I got off the tro-tro, instead of going right back to the resort, I took the fork in the dirt road to the left and went up a very steep hill to the Ocean View Lodge. It was awesome! I ordered some pineapple juice, read the new book I just started “The Tipping Point”, and enjoyed the view which was truly spectacular. I can’t imagine it being a private home and living there. It would have been awesome! It was cool and all, but I prefer the beach access to the view when it comes to actually booking accommodations. It was a nice place to a little break or have a meal as a change of pace. A funny side note is that the waiter there was shamelessly hitting me. FYI, when I travel like this I “have a boyfriend” or “I’m married”… Whatever they ask, the answer is such that I am not available… Oh and randomly enough, this one time a guy asked me my name and instead of saying Sara, I was like “My name is Kate.” Just like that. It even surprised me how definitive and nice it sounded. I realized I could essentially create my own alter ego… no one knows me, I can be who I want! That is a bizarre feeling. So after that I was “Kate” to any curious Ghanaian guy.

I left the Ocean View Lodge in time to get back to the beach resort before nightfall. I read on the beach until it was dark and then had a relaxing dinner at the restaurant. Again, a very good meal. I ordered the kid sized pasta because I wasn’t too hungry and it turned out to be the perfect size. After dinner I sat at my table to a long time working out what presents I still needed to buy and generally enjoyed the down time.

Sunday morning I got up feeling just so-so. My throat was starting not to feel so great. Basically it hurt every time I tried to swallow which made it hard to sleep. I had the awesome breakfast take two…this time with the added bonus of an omelet. I changed into my swimsuit and sat out in the sun, tanned a little and read. After I had my fill of reading and sleeping on the beach I drew a picture of the shore scene. It was not my best work, but I am getting better at doing landscapes. It is harder than you would imagine… When I felt like I had finished my picture I went back, got a small plastic bag from my room and a beach towel from the reception. P.S. the resort lends out really nice Beach towels. This place was seriously choice. Anyway, I went seashell hunting. When I found 5 I liked I went back and took a quick dip in the ocean one last time before heading back to the rush of life in Accra. I showered, changed, and packed and was out of my room my 12:00. It was great! I did pay with my credit card, but I paid with my debit bank card. I don’t have much money that account and wouldn’t mind closing it so if it gets messed up, so there you go!

I ventured out to the main rode to get a tro-tro back to Accra. Considering it was Sunday about noon, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the traffic was sparse. To make matters worse, I couldn’t seen to get the ones that passed me to stop. It was hot outside and I was starting to feel a bit defeated. At this point some local guys walked past and asked me where I was going. When I told them Accra they responded by showing me the hand motion that means Accra. Apparently, I had been signaling something else! Sure enough, as soon as I use the new right arm point to the sky up and down a van stopped for me :) It is amazing. They have a whole language in how you wave your hands indicating destinations. This tro-tro business is more serious than I thought. The ride I got was actually pretty nice. It was a nicer Ford van. Still packed with people, but at least it wasn’t rusting. Back in Accra I got dropped off at the main traffic circle and had to take a taxi back to the guesthouse.

I was happy to be back at the guesthouse. My throat got infinitely worse on the ride back and I developed a pretty strong headache. To top things off, the guesthouse manager made a mistake and there was no room for me. Thankfully, they didn’t just say tough luck. Instead, they let me stay in daughter’s room! It was really nice of them and they wouldn’t let me pay them. When I got there I was surprised to find Ming. Ming is another student working with Susan. She was supposed to head up to Tamale Saturday, but the airline lost her luggage so she stayed in Accra to get it back. Ming was staying the families guest room, hence why I was in the daughter’s room. The family we stayed with was really nice. They even shared their lunch with us! Ming and I got to know each other a little and just chilled out for the evening. Since I was not feeling good I walked over to see if the pharmacy had anything to help me. I bought some menthol throat drops and some Vitamin C chews to boost my immune system. I had to go to the bathroom like a million times that day. At the time, I was in denial and wouldn’t have said I was sick. But now that I think about it, I was in pretty bad shape. Ming and I made a sad dinner of toast and ramen noodles, but it was spiced with good conversation.

I talked to my mom that night and was able to post on my blog and send out the May update. These are both good things… I took a quick shower before I hit the hay. I also tried a throat drop before I went to bed. Not a good idea. It actually made things worse! Anyway, it didn’t really matter because I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get to the airport for a 6:00am flight to Tamale. I was afraid of being out and about looking for a taxi at that time of the morning. Thankfully, African women get up really early and so I was not the only person out. I did okay waiting for plane, not falling asleep I mean. The flight to Tamale was interesting. It was a propeller plane which made me feel like I was in Africa in the 1950s really adventuring into the great unknown. I really just wanted to sleep on plane. I got on the plane and there is a guy sitting my seat so I have to tell hime to move over as kindly as possible on 4 hours of sleep after traveling from place to place on a daily basis…. Then guy sitting next to me, whom I had to ask to move, kept trying to hold a conversation with me. That was strike two. He was nice and all, but when my eyes are closed and my head is clearly resting against the window, do you really think that is body language for “Sure, go ahead ask me another question…” And he had some kickin breathe, strike three buddy.

I was finally able to sleep and it was a short flight. It started to pour rain like 20 minutes after we touched down. Just enough time to make it difficult to get a taxi. I ended up paying way more than I should of for a taxi. That really ticks me off. Not just a little more, but three times normal. I didn’t know any better, and I was not in a position to argue considering my alternative was to get out of the taxi and stand in the pouring rain. In addition to charging me an arm and a leg, he didn’t know where he was going. When we did finally the GILLBT guesthouse no one was there. The girls told me they would likely be staying there, but they weren’t and Susan had just come and picked up the other visitors. No one at the guesthouse knew where the Pure Home Water (PHW) house was located. I went looking through all my stuff for the cell numbers I wrote down. But I couldn’t find them! It started pouring rain again and I was at a loss sitting in this guesthouse reception area.

Honestly, I just wanted to be back in Ougadougou. I was not feeling well, I was lost, it was pouring rain outside, and I had paid 3 times what I should have for a taxi. I was feeling pretty low at this point. The workers at this center must have picked up on my desperation because they went out of their way to track down the location of PHW house and they called a taxi for me. This time I paid a reasonable price. We got to the general location of the PHW, i.e we were on the right road, but I didn’t know which house it was. The driver started to get an attitude with me, but I stayed in control as much as I was ready to lose all poise I had left. Do I detect a pattern between myself MIT and taxis? These factors do not make a positive equation. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a bunch of filters piled up to the roof. I had found it! I was never happier to see Vanessa and Kate. Even so, I didn’t have much time to revel in my victory of getting un-lost. I put my stuff in the room where I would stay (since Ming wasn’t there yet I would sleep in the bed meant for her), and headed out with the girls to the village where they would be working. I had had very little to eat and my throat still hurt really bad. It was hot, and the meeting was long. The saving grace was it was actually really interesting, and I took a bunch of great pictures! The exciting newness of being at a village meeting triumphed over my physical exhaustion. Interestingly at the village meeting all the men sat on benches on the left side of us and all the women and child stood on the right. The woman liked the design of one safe water storage container, but the men liked a different one! It is such weird dynamics. I thank my lucky stars I was born into America with an amazing family and wonderful opportunities.

We got back about 1:00pm. Thankfully we went out and found some lunch. It was okay, but not great chicken and rice. After lunch I checked out transport situation for the next day. Turns out there is no direct bus to Ouagadougou. In fact I would have to take 4 different transports. I would have a long day ahead of me on Tuesday. I also stopped off at the market on the way home and bought some fabric for Rosie and myself. I laid down when I got back, but it was not for long. I got up and helped the girls experiment with using alum as a flocculent. That was really cool. Basically you swirl this ball of what looks like salt around in very turbid water. Once the ball dissolves about halfway you take it out and let the water sit. The particles clump together and fall to the bottom. It is incredible when you see a side by side before and after picture. Here's a collage of pictures from the day...

When we were done playing with the alum, I went in a took a nap before dinner. Dinner was nice. It was all the MIT students, Susan and the visitors from the Path Project. The sauce was pretty spicy, but it was food and I was hungry. Before going to bed, I showed Derek pictures from Burkina and other trips. It was nice to show someone who was genuinely interested in seeing my pictures. I was ready for bed and reading for a while waiting for Susan to get back. I was able to catch her before we went to bed and arranged a time when I would be able to talk to her in the morning the next day. That was the last thing I needed to do. If I could talk to her in the morning then I could head out a little before lunch time and hopefully back it back to Ouagadougou at a reasonable hour.

Tuesday morning I suffered through another wimpy breakfast of bread and jam. I was not eating very well these last few days. Following breakfast I was finally able to commandeer Susan’s attention. I went over my experiment results with her and talked to her more about the work in Ouagadougou and at 2iE. This exchange was really one of the key things I was hoping to accomplish by coming to Ghana. Staying to talk with Susan after breakfast was worth the price I would pay later. What is that price you ask? How about an 11 hour journey back to Ouagadougou.

I left the PHW house at about 11:00am. Shaq one of the NGO employees was making a delivery and so he offered to drop me off at the station. He also helped me change some of my money back into CFA. The first leg of my trip was taking a tro-tro to Bolgalatanga. This was a tough 2.5h ride, I was able to read a little but I was sitting by the window on the side facing the sun and I am pretty sure my left are is now a few shades more tan then right side. From Bolgalatanga I took a taxi to Paga, the Ghana border town. Paga wasn’t far but I waited 30 minutes for the taxi to fill up. In the end, I bought the remaining ticket just so we could get going! They were trying to be nice by letting me sit upfront, but sitting up front but me in the sun again. Get this, I made them stop and moved myself to the back…

When we got to Paga I crossed border on foot. That is how they do it! It was pretty hardcore, I’m not going to lie. They have customs houses where you walk in and fill out the cards and have your passport stamped. I had all the papers I needed, but the other guy who came in the taxi who was also going to Ouagadougou didn’t have his papers, so apparently he snuck across and met up with the transport a little past the border. Talk about Sketchy with a capital “S”. From the border I took another taxi to the border town of Po. It was 5pm by the time we got to Po. The driver took us to the nice bus station, but it was sold out! I should have tried to buy someone’s ticket from them, but I don’t know how that would have gone over… Instead got seat in a taxi bus. I was just happy to be over the border and to Burkina. The taxi bus didn’t leave Po until 6 pm. The guy said it would be 2 to 2.5 hours to Ouagadougou. Here I am thinking oh, okay I’ll be home around 9:00pm. Side note, I bought my ticket and loaded my big bag in the vehicle. I had to pay extra to get it stored inside and not on top. I don’t do “bags on top”. Anyway, I was waiting with the rest of the people and then the packed van pulls out. I have all my valuables, minus Susan’s camera, on me. I figured it was coming back, but after a while I finally asked the buy sitting next to me what the deal was. It sounded like he said boeuf. I was thinking, “Hum… maybe I heard him wrong and he meant to say gas.”
Nope he meant boeuf (French for bulls or cows). They had gone and loaded two cows on top of the van! It was unreal.

As we were boarding I did not want to get in the back so I waited a couple of minutes before getting in. It was pretty funny because the guy next to me was also waiting, but he wasn’t in such a great spot and cow slobber got all over him. I didn’t want to sit in back because it just doesn’t appeal to me, but boy was I glad I stuck my guns. We start to go and less then 5 minutes into the trip the guy behind me slams the window shuts. I can’t figure out what is going on and then I turn around and see a clear liquid running down the window. That clear liquid… you guessed it. Cow pee. Gross and that is why I pay extra to have my bags kept inside and not on top. The sun went down pretty soon after we got underway and it turned out to be a long, dark ride. When we finally got the Peage defining the city limits I was thinking “Yes! Home free!” Then, the taxi bus pulls over and everybody gets out. At this point it has been 3 hours… People go pee and walk around and I surmise that it must be the “rest stop”. Wrong. First, the they take the moto off the top. Then they tie the cows and unload them. How? They literally yanked they off the roof and let them fall to the ground with only a spare rubber tire placed under them to break their fall. It was really outrageous and totally Africa. Talk about a stupid way to treat your investment. Oye!

At this point I figure things are about as crazy as they will ever get. But no, they get crazier. We start going again and as we passing the detour, really quite close the end fo the trip the guys in the backseat start making a ruckus. This time it wasn’t the cows, we had dumped those already. Instead I look out my window and see that there is a guy being chased by another guy who looks like he has a club. Hahaha, guess what. It was not a club. It was a machete! The driver of our car slowed down, and in my head I was thinking “Please, please, please just keep driving. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.” We were almost out of sight of the incident when I saw the guy being chased fall and the other guy still swinging the machete. I had to turn away. I don’t know what happened, but to say it was a bit disquieting would be an understatement.

Leanna was busy and couldn’t come get me from the taxi bus depot. It was a bit far from 2iE, but after my day of traveling I didn’t want to fuss and paid a pretty penny for a private taxi. I just wanted to be back. As I walked down the lane to my house I sent Susan a text. She came over and I was able to vent some my crazy ride home stories and share a little bit about this almost indescribable and never reproducible trip to Ghana. Oh I forgot to mention this earlier, but Ghana has a strong Christian influence and like everything else that they take the extreme they take their expressions of faith to the max… specifically in how they name their businesses. I saw, for example, God is My Strength Printing, Jehovah is King Enterprises, Emmanuel Food, Clap for Jesus. You get the picture. The other weird thing about Ghana is that when you go somewhere people greet you by saying “You are welcome” to which I am at a loss to reply by saying other than, “Thank you…?” Clearly they want to let you know you can come in and they are happy you are they, but instead of just saying, “Welcome” they add the “You are” part which totally changes things in my book of colloquial English. Anyway, it was normal for Ghana, but it seemed a bit turned around if you ask me.

In general, while amazing, my trip to Ghana was really challenging. Nothing seemed to come easy. The money stuff was partially my fault, and I should have made sure I had all the information I needed before I left… but I didn’t, and I paid for it dearly in fits of frustration and unnecessary worry. But I learned several valuable lessons. Always make sure you have money in an account that you can access, have the address of the places you are staying, don’t lose important phone numbers, and never sit by the window when there is a cow strapped to the roof of your vehicle.

You live, you learn.

Love,
Sara

Aburi Gardens Photos

2008-06-27T12:59:00.001-05:00

Executive Bathrooms, Money Woes, and some Beautiful Rainforesty Gardens!

2008-06-27T12:55:00.003-05:00

When I got up at 6:50am on Sunday June 1st, I felt pretty beat up. I also realized in a panic that 40 minutes was not enough time to do all the computer things I needed to do. I rushed, rushed, rushed and was able to at least pay my tuition bill and find an address for the US Embassy in Accra. I had a bunch of emails I wanted to send, but those would have to wait. When I got home I quickly did the dishes I had left sitting in the sink for several days. I figured that was pretty important as coming back from Ghana to 10 day old dishes was not going to be a good plan. Leanna and Lorinda came and picked me up and drove me to the airport.

I got to the airport at about 7:45am and it wasn’t even open yet! So I had to wait… I saw a woman I thought I recognized with a friend she was clearly seeing off at the airport. She turned and started to talk to me, and I was immediately able to place her as Embassy staff. In fact, she drove me home from the first Bunco Night I ever went to! She introduced me to her friend who was going back to Accra. She worked for the Embassy there and was just up for a visit. We ended up chatting the whole time in the airport as we waited to board the plane. She was a very nice woman and had led a very fascinating life!

When they called us to come and board the plane I was starting to feel skeptical of my choice to fly an African airline… However, as the bus bringing us from the terminal to the jet rolled to a stop, most of my fears subsided as the plane looked newer than most of the domestic planes I have flown on in the US. Indeed, when I boarded I saw that the plane was practically brand new. That was the first good sign. Next, I was in the bulkhead row. Score. And I had the row myself. Excellent. The not so great thing was I was starving. No time at home meant I all I could do was grab a power bar and hope for the best. I wasn’t expecting anything on the plane, but to my surprise they did provide us with a lovely morning meal. Again, I was impressed. The flight was a little over an hour and it went by very quickly.

Before I knew it we had touched down in Accra and I was walking with my new friend through the airport. When she found out I didn’t have any local currency and that I didn’t know where I was going exactly, all I had was the name “Baptist guest house” and that it was in Osu, she offered to ask her driver if he knew where it was and if not she would be able to bring me back to her house with her and then I could go from there. I was more than happy to take her up on that offer. Side note, as I was filling out my landing card for customs these two guys started asking for me help because they didn’t know how to fill it out. It was no problem, but I was in a bit of a hurry. As is the norm, they wanted to keep talking to me and in overhearing their conversations I knew they worked for Marina Market in Ouagadougou. I think they were on a business trip to see about opening them up in Ghana. I entertained myself by thinking maybe they will give me some free groceries the next time I go shopping, but then I realized that was a ridiculous idea! Second side note is that I didn’t go to the bank in Ouaga before going to Accra. I had 20,000CFA on me that was it. I figured I would take money out of an ATM. However, I had the same problem as in Mali. No one took Mastercard and my Bank of Africa account would be more accurately named Bank of Burkina Faso, as there were none in Mali or Ghana! So I changed what money I had and hoped that would last until I could transfer money between accounts and get myself set again…

Leaving the airport we headed to this nice lady, Kate’s, house. The first thing that struck me was that we were traveling on what seemed like a normal highway and that the airport had dual departure and arrival levels like in the states! Accra is much more developed than Ouagadougou. However, I would learn later that developed does not always mean better…

Kate helped me find an address to a Baptist guest house in Osu. However, before I headed off in a taxi we walked over to the Embassy and she took me on a tour. It was so cool! The compound is much larger than the one in Burkina, and it is practically brand new. There is a Marines house that houses the high security people. I got to see the main areas and then she brought me in to see her office. Well she works as a secretary for the Ambassador so we are walking around and she is opening the door to the storage room, the office kitchen, and then wham! The Ambassador’s office. I am not kidding you. It was so cool. There was a picture of her dancing with President Bush during his visit to Ghana in 2007. There were full size flags on either side of the desk. It just felt super cool to get to see that. Then, as if that wasn’t enough she showed me that the ambassador has her own private full bathroom because she has to be able to get ready for any range of things on short notice. As we left, it definitely felt like one of the unreal moments, like “Did that really just happen…?”

Anyway, I took a taxi to the guesthouse. There was no one at the reception and I didn’t recognize any of the names that keys had been left for. I started to talk to the several people I saw sitting around and about. I explained my situation, all too aware that I was likely not in the right location! They were all there for the WHO Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) Conference as well, so they were inclined to want to help me which was great. The internet wasn’t working so I couldn’t even go and try to find out more information. My lucky break came when one of the ladies there mentioned she worked up in Tamale. I asked her if she knew Mary Kay from Pure Home Water. She did and offered to call her for me. I was saved! Mary Kay came and got me and brought me to the “Mid-Baptist Guesthouse”, slightly different name, but very different location. I was relieved to finally be hooked up with the group I was looking for. Susan Murcott, the MIT professor who had helped me sign up to come, was already at the guesthouse and I was quite happy to finally be there myself! I said hi, but since she was working hard on a presentation and I was about to collapse from exhaustion I retired to my room. I unpacked my bags and tried to sleep.

There were two problems with this plan. 1. I was hungry. By now it was 3pm. Airplane breakfast, no lunch = not a happy Sara. We were planning to go to dinner at 6:30, so I was hoping to just wait it out. Well, I realized if I had any aspirations of sleeping I would have to shamelessly go and ask if there was any food in the house I could eat and then pay for later. I was able to find a small yogurt. Something is better than nothing! I also made myself some Propel water thinking the vitamins couldn’t hurt either. 2. The curtains in the room had the thickness of bed sheets and the room was not dark at all. To remedy this I pulled out my AirFrance eye cover thing and hoped for the best. Still a bit restless and probably inspired by my quasi state of consciousness due to lack of sleep, I sat up and wrote out a business plan for the photo taking venture I dreamed up last summer. Only this time it seems like it might actually work and the details of how it would function were crystal clear. It was bizarre to say the least. However, not wanting to lose this clarity during my nap, I took out my notebook and wrote it all down! Once I was satisfied that I had developed a plan that would make me rich, muahahaha, I went to sleep. When my phone alarm went off at 6:15 I couldn’t really believe I had to get up again. But I pulled off my eye mask and got dressed. I was hungry and that need trumped the sleep need. The weirdest thing happened though. My left eye wouldn’t focus. It took a while for my right eye to be able to focus objects at difference distances, but it was 3 hours before my left eye was back to normal. Needless to say during that time I was convinced that I was losing my vision in my left eye; sure that my lack of sleep, lack of food and water was taking its toll by taking my left eye. This is how my brain works. The smallest disturbance of my otherwise normal health and I jump to the most dramatic scenario. It isn’t on purpose; it is just my natural response… I was just so thankful when little by little it was improving. It is fine now.

For dinner Susan and I joined Mark Kay and her family for a dinner at Frankie’s. It reminded me of a 50’s diner, but without purposely trying to be a 50’s diner. I ended up sharing various Lebanese dishes with Susan and Mark Kay. It was frustrating because I was so hungry and they forgot to bring my plate out. Judging by the size of the other plates I was a bit skeptical and worried I would still go home hungry. However, miraculously, there was enough food for all of us. When we got back to the guesthouse about 9:00 I went straight to bed. I slept for 10 hours and it was glorious! Final sidenote, the guesthouse had wireless internet which was awesome, but it wasn’t working! This was not good since I really needed to set up a transfer of money between accounts. But there was nothing I could do about it and I was just praying it would be up and going in the morning.

Monday morning I got up and had a nice breakfast with Susan. She really likes breakfast. I had toast and jam which was fine for me… We got in a taxi to go to the conference center. Mary Kay told us it was like 5 minutes away. After 40 minutes in the taxi we finally found it! This guy had no idea what he was doing. Thankfully here you pay a flat fee you decide on beforehand. The fact that the guy had to drive around forever cost him money, not us. We were late getting there, but it all turned out alright. They were still just starting. Oh, Africa! The morning of the conference was interesting. They had an opening addresses and the panel of important people who are there for the first hour and don’t see another minute of the conference. They had a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the poster exhibition which was cool. There were in total 5 sets of 5 presentations scheduled over the next two days. Here is a collage of several pictures I took...

The first set of presentations was given before lunch on the first day. Lunch was okay. I felt a bit like a loner the whole time I was at this conference and that feeling was exacerbated at meal times. I ended up sitting with two Vietnamese guys… and a Ghanaian. When I sat down they were all eating in silence. I had two options I could join there silence or I could say something. As I was sitting down I knew my window of about 20 seconds to naturally start a conversation was coming to a close. So, took a deep breathe and went for it. I said hi and introduced myself. What followed was not a stellar conversation, but one infinitely more desirable than sitting in silence.

The afternoon was even better than the morning. We had another set of presentations and then were given time to explore the poster exhibition. I really enjoyed talking to people about their projects. Several projects I want to mention include a very nice one by Samaritan’s Purse. I am continually impressed by this organization. There were also great presentations on a new design for a ceramic filter, a siphon filter, and a really neat model for educating women and empowering them to treat their water using community groups that are already in place.

That night I met two MIT students who had just arrived. They were really nice and welcoming to me. Since they just got into Accra, they wanted to stay in for dinner. Susan and I on the other hand were in search of a Chinese restaurant. We saw a sign for one on the main road nearby. So we decided to venture out. We had to ask about 6 people before we were able to track it down and it was much closer than we originally thought, but took us forever to get to because we had gone such a round about way getting there. Anyway, we got there and told the guard we are looking for Chinese food. He pointed us up the stairs on the right side of the building. We went up and were greeted by very impressively carved heavy wooden doors. Upon entering, getting a table and looking through the menu we come to realize we are in at the Heritage Indian Restaurant, not the Noble Chinese Restaurant. Turns out it is a two story restaurant complex with Chinese downstairs and Indian upstairs. I guess the guard was friend of the Indian Restaurant people since we told him Chinese and still pointed us upstairs! The mix up was really no problem though. We had a nice meal of Indian food and it was great to discuss with Susan much of the impressions and questions that were floating around in my head after the first day of the conference. I have to admit, I am working on getting used to the Indian spices. Wow. The food is spicy!

At home that night the internet was still not working… I was getting pretty anxious to let my parents know I was safe and really needed to fix my bank stuff as I was running out of money. It was a very stressful time actually. I went to bed and finished reading Utopia. Check another one off the list. It wasn’t a scintillating book, but it was interesting and now I can place and compare any reference to a Utopian society with the original context.

Tuesday before going to the conference I went with the two students, Kate and Derek, to an internet café to go online. I was so happy they suggested that! I won’t have access to my money until Friday, but at least I will have it eventually which makes me feel like I can ask to borrow some. While the first day was new and exciting the second day of the conference was really quite exhausting. My brain was going a mile a minute. I had met all of these really prominent people in the field of Point of Use Water Treatments, learned a ton of new information from 20-plus presentations and observed from a non-invested point of view the dissensions and weaknesses within the field. Wow.

In my own work, I came across the problem of the percent reduction measure as not being descriptive enough. However, the WHO indicates that is the best measure. I was pleasantly surprised when this topic was brought up by others. It gave me confidence to question the norm. Here I had observed the same thing they had. However, I thought that since the WHO said something else, I must be wrong. That I learned is that is not the case. I can and should challenge the norms. I really wanted to talk to the main guy who brought up this point at lunch. The problem was, I was having trouble introducing myself and joining his conversation while waiting in the buffet line. It was rather awkward, and I ended up feeling a bit like I had butted in.

I went and sat down on my own feeling like it was a lost cause, but he ended up sitting at my table. I was able to better introduce myself and explain my situation and why I was interested in the prior conversation. I talked to him at lunch about “scaling up” versus “scaling out”. I feel they are using the wrong term to describe what they are trying to achieve. I would better understand later that afternoon that within the context of household water treatment scaling up is scaling out. However, I think this term masks the end goal of wanting people to have piped water which in my mind constitutes scaling up. I also noticed the guy sitting directly to my left had the same last name as the company that produces the Lifestraw and other fancy textiles. Turns out he was the CEO. Funny. To my right was a rather unassuming looking woman who turned out to actually be the chair of the afternoon’s presentation session and who works for the US government in the Earth and Ocean department in some capacity. After talking to the measures guy for a few minutes most of the rest of my lunch conversation was with this very nice woman.

In the afternoon it was tough to stay interested. I had kind of hit information overload. But I did my best to stay engaged. I was so happy when they had a coffee break… It was actually quite divine, in fact, because I was able to meet a Peace Corps volunteer who was there with her father. We had a great time talking about the conference and our observations. We were both coming from similar mind frames on a lot of the development issues and were able discuss some very interesting points.

After the last presentations there was supposedly a cocktail hour. Kate, Derek and I stuck around for like 10 minutes of that and then took a taxi home. We stayed in for dinner eating whatever hodge-podge of food we could put together. I also met the other MIT student named Vanessa who had just arrived. She seemed really nice. That night the internet was finally working in the guest house. It was wonderful to get to talk to my Mom. We talked for quite a while which was totally what I needed. I was able to vent my frustrations, shed my feeling of exhaustion, share my concerns about my money issues, and figured out what to about Wednesday. Why was Wednesday a problem? Wednesday was not the same symposium style program as the other two days, but more a meeting of the network. From the start, I was under the impression that these would be closed meetings so I made other plans for Wednesday; namely to go to the Botanical Gardens and hour and half from Accra in Aburi. So what was I to do? Should I now go to the meetings because I could, and resent not going to the gardens? Or do I go to the gardens and potentially feel guilty about not going to meetings! And I didn’t have enough money left. Do you see the problem here? I decided I would ask Kate to borrow enough money to get me through until Friday and ask Susan to pay the Guesthouse fees. I would pay them both back when I cam up to Tamale on Monday. I planned go to the conference center in the morning and get a feel for things. I would be ready to head to Aburi and make a decision at that point. I went to sleep that night in such better spirits after reconnecting with my family. I also started reading Freakonomics. Awesome book.

Wednesday morning I got up early and went running with Kate and Derek. Kate is training for a marathon so when I heard that, I offered to go run with her in the morning. While it was only 3 miles and pretty slow paced, I really enjoyed myself. Just to get out and run was great. After breakfast we went to conference center. The three of them stayed, but I poked my head into the room and decided to peace out. I had contemplated staying for like 30 minutes or so, but I saw that the meeting was going to suck me in a not let go. So I didn’t go in. From the conference center I walked to the tro-tro station. A tro-tro is the Ghanaian term for a taxi bus. I thought I knew where I was going, and I did get there eventually, but I ended up taking a very long way around. It wasn’t all a loss though… I got to see a lot more of Accra than I would have otherwise. I also noticed that by myself in the market I do not attract as much attention as when I am with a friend. This is interesting. I bet they figure if you are comfortable enough to be there alone, you aren’t likely going to be taken in for a scam.

When I was finally at the tro-tro station, I had to ask about 5 people to find the right one headed to Aburi. I wasn’t sure how much it would cost, but it was only 1 Cedi for the 1.5 hour ride. I sat in the very back next to the window. I am very adamant about sitting by a window. If I am going to be crammed into a vehicle like a sardine, I want my window. FYI, the Ghanaian currency is the Cedi. It is roughly equivalent, maybe slightly less than the dollar. They just went through a redenomination of the Cedi last year and so the people still quote you the old prices. Essentially 1 new Cedi is 10,000 old Cedis. So when some tells you something costs 2000. What they really mean is 0.20 Cedis, or 20 pesos as they call the change!? It was weird and I am happy to not have to live in that economy. In fact, I have enjoyed Accra, but am so thankful God put me in Burkina Faso. I am much happier there than in Ghana. In a side note, there were two adorable twin sisters who sat in front of me in the tro-tro. They were eyeing my camera and when I asked them if they wanted me to take their picture they were really excited. Since it was just he two of them, afterwards I showed them the picture. They love that! I also bought a FanChoco while we were waiting in the station for the vehicle to fill up with passengers. There are no scheduled leavings. They simply fill up and go. And FYI, a FanChoco is frozen chocolate milk like a FanYogo, but even more delicious. I had been wanting to try one ever since I went to Bianca’s village and the other Peace Corps Volunteer bought one. Mission accomplished!

I was able to sleep on the way there which was odd, but I didn’t fight it. The mountains were beautiful! You could look out and see the valley that stretched to the sea. You couldn’t see the ocean, but you knew it was there. The Botanical Gardens were great! They really felt more like a rainforest in some areas, which was really cool. I took tons of pictures! Also, when I am traveling on my own, I tend to talk to the local people more, especially the kids which is totally cool. When I was there I found out about a sweet mountain biking company. You can pay for a by hour trip or you can do a one way distance trip where they pick you up at the end and drive you back. I really want to do this next time. Oh and at this place, there were these amazingly energetic cute girls who went wild over my camera and actually asked me to take their picture. I happily obliged and got two of probably my favorite pictures from Africa ;)

I ended up waiting for a long time to get a ride back into Accra. While I was waiting I bought some awesome fresh pineapple. It was great, but the experience was bittersweet because I had terrible mouth sores from the stress of this trip. I took the tro-tro from Aburi only as far as the ring road and got a taxi to the STC bus station to buy my ticket for Cape Coast. I was pressed for time, but it didn’t look far on the map. Oh, but there was traffic like you wouldn’t believe. I had 40 minutes to get there, buy my ticket, get back to the guesthouse, shower and be at the Accra Toastmaster’s Club meeting. The first not good thing was I misunderstood the price the taxi guy told me and had to renegotiate while in route which was less than ideal. Then we literally waited 10 minutes stopped at the major traffic circle waiting for our turn to go. At the bus station, the lady was super rude about my paying with a 50 Cedi note. It was literally all I had. And if any business could change it, they could! Anyway, I got another taxi back to Osu. This driver was much nicer, but it frankly amazes how little they know about the city…I got home to shower at the time I was supposed to be at Toastmasters. I showered super fast, got dressed and got into yet another taxi. Frankly my taxi expenses were the most stressing on my budget. Surprise surprise, the taxi driver didn’t know where he was going. We drove for quite a while and had to ask 3 people before we found it. When we did finally find the “Ghana International Press Center” The driver didn’t have change, but luckily Regina, my contact at the Accra Toastmaster’s Club was able to help me out. It turned out not to be a big deal that I was late. They had me answer a table topic question and also evaluate Regina’s educational session. It was good. It was certainly different than our meetings; much more informal. I like Club 2iE ;)

Regina took me home after the meeting which was much appreciated. I had more bread and eggs for dinner which seems to have become the staple. After dinner I talked with my mom online and bought a ticket to see Caroline this summer! Yeah ;) Wednesday night I had to move into Susan’s room because the Guesthouse managers said more people were coming. This was a hassle, but Susan was so nice about it and it helped me go to bed at a decent hour. In the morning I found that they were wrong and I could have stayed in my room. My Goodness!

Thursday morning, I had a terrible time waking up. Wednesday was a busy day and I guess it took more out of me than I had realized, that and I still hadn’t made up my 16 hour sleep deficit. In the morning we left to go on a field trip to the Ceramica Tamakloe factory where they make the ceramic pot filters. This is one part of the trip I was really looking forward to. After having expressed interest in establishing a factory in Ouagadougou, seeing an operation in action was very important to me.

When the van Mary Kay had arranged pulled up at our guesthouse Susan indicated Derek and I should sit in the back. We moved to the back, but another guy moved so I sat in the next available seat. I talked to the guy sitting next to me who seemed very nice. Just random development work stuff, ect. Anyway, we get to the factory and Susan pulls me aside and tells me on the way back she has to sit next to the guy I was sitting next to. Apparently he is in charge of some major funding. She needs to be able to talk to him about future collaborations and the opportunities were limited. She was obviously a bit ticked I had sat next to him, but I had no idea. She could have asked me to move, or told me ahead of time. I felt bad at first, but I had done nothing wrong and the rebuke was a bit out of line. Paraphrasing and reapplying the words of Anne Shirley, “Lucky for her I have an imagination and can imagine how horrible it must have felt to need to talk to someone and have that opportunity taken away.” So I let it roll off and went on with my life… I just think it is funny because I was talking to this guy and had no idea he was some big wig of sorts. I may have even been critical of the kind of development work he supports. Good for me, right. You have to say the tough things, and he was clearly enjoying our conversation, so I figure it was fine…

The factory was cool, but somewhat intimidating to think we have to come up with something like that in Ouaga. I had borrowed Susan Strand’s video camera and was able to get some great video footage of the factory. This will be very helpful in showing the ceramist in Ouagadougou, just what the filter making operation entails. It requires a lot of space!

Since I had to sit in the back on the trip back from the filter factory I felt a little car sick. Luckily not too bad and since I was not engaged in any conversation I was able to check out after a while and doze off a bit. After dropping Derek off at the guest house Susan, Mary Kay and I all had lunch at Papaye. Papaye is like a weird African fast food type place. They have take out downstairs, but upstairs it is order in, but still fast… I ordered a hamburger which hit the spot. While the food was good, I have to say the most interesting part of the meal was when I went to the bathroom to wash my hands before eating. There was someone in the bathroom so I had to wait. No big deal here. But the young woman who came out of the bathroom didn’t just walk past me. She started talking to me, asking me if I was student there. It was just plain weird. When she finally stopped talking for a second I indicated I really didn’t know what she wanted and then she proceeded to tell me worked for Plan International Ghana as a scriptwriter. Apparently they were going to be shooting a skt and she thought I would be great to act in it. I can’t lie, I was pretty flattered. I figured nothing would actually come of said encounter, but I did give her my email address and phone number. I honestly think it was because I walked into the restaurant with some sweet stunner shades on which, let’s be honest, do lend themselves to a Hollywood personality… even if it is somewhat of an inaccurate portrayal.

After lunch we went back to the guest house. The Pure Home Water people had to have a business meeting so I hung out with Kate and Vanessa. In fact, we walked over to a really neat artisan boutique that my taxi driver the night before had pointed out and highly recommended. I bought a sweet bookmark for like a dollar. I have decided I think I will start collecting bookmarks. One, they are useful. Two, they are inexpensive. Three, they can bring back great memories of exciting travel every time you open a book! Anyway, the rest of the afternoon I squandered online. When it was finally getting to be about dinner time, I offered to go out in search of some bread. Funny thing is there are bread ladies on what seems to be every corner until you actually want to find one! I ended up walking almost all the way back to Papaye. I wasn’t upset though, it was nice to stretch my legs, and the store I had stopped in right after lunch was still open. I decided to go ahead and buy the imitation Kente cloth that had the colors Susan was looking for (Purple and Green). Kente cloth is a type of hand woven fabric native to Ghana with very distinctive patterns. The real stuff is majorly expensive, but you can buy imitation, i.e. printed fabric with the Kente patterns, for the price of any other type of fabrics. The only time I would be back in the area was on Sunday and the lady already told me nothing was open on Sundays in Accra, which is really true!

Before dinner I asked Susan if she could cover my guesthouse expenses and I would pay her back in Tamale. It is really humbling asking for money…She was so nice about it though. I know it must have felt like a bit of gamble to her, but when I asked the guesthouse manager if I could just pay for all the nights on Sunday when I get back from Cape Coast he wasn’t to keen on that idea. I don’t blame him. I know I would have paid him, but there are certainly innumerable people would have just not come back! After a dinner of soup and bread and eggs, random I know, I spent more time on my computer and then started talking to Ryan and my Mom. We opted to pause the conversation for a little while and I worked out and then chatted with the girls about the project they were going to start in Tamale. After getting done with those two things I was able to talk to my Mom online for quite a while. What a difference that makes… Before I went to bed I made a new to do list and outlined this post. The only thing I didn’t do was get directions from the airport to the Pure Home Water house in Tamale; I would later regret that oversight! So there you have it; Ghana Part 1.

Toastmaster's Gala

2008-06-08T14:34:00.003-05:00

Just a few pictures to give you a taste of what a formal in Ouagadougou looks like!

The Impossible Task - TM Speech Level 4

2008-06-08T14:25:00.003-05:00

Can I admit something to you?

The truth is, I don’t know how I am going to do it…

The task seems impossible, insurmountable, the idea is incomprehensible!

How can you explain Burkina Faso to someone who has never been here?

I have started to think about this question more and more lately. Sadly my time in West Africa is running out. I see the time like sand slipping through the hour glass and wish I stop it, slow it down, turn it over!

But I can’t and before I know it I will be faced with the challenge of making my friends and family try and understand what my life has been like over the past year.

People will ask, “Sara, how was Africa?”
“Sara, tell me about Burkina Faso!”
“Sara, what was life like in Ouagadougou?”

But, where do I even start?

I spent some time reflecting on these potential questions and my experiences in West Africa and I came up with list of things that stick out in my mind as really defining the culture here and that I would like to share with friends and family when I return to the US…

To begin with, I have never seen so many people using two wheeled modes of transportation in my life! Yes, I am talking about all the motos!

It took me a good month before the sight of a river of motos zooming past seemed normal to me. There are so many bikes there are two different stop lights one which directs bike traffic and the other to direct vehicle traffic!

My idea of what was possible to carry on a bike or moto, or even in a car or truck was dramatically challenged as I saw trucks with so much stuff tied on top it seemed they were defying the laws of physics. Bikers carrying so many yellow jerry cans from the back you can’t even see who is riding the bike!

Another thing I love is the fabrics.

I have never seen such colors and outfits before. Ruffles and feathers and zigzag hem lines. Woah.

I even like it when the panyas are mixed and matched. I have learned Africans can totally pull it off. On me on the other hand, it would look ridiculous!

Susan and I took many trips to the markets fabric hunting and it never ceased to amaze all the crazy patterns I would find. Fabrics with roller skates or lampshades printed on them in colors that can lift even the saddest of moods.

But my eyes are not the only senses that are engaged. No, the sounds of Africa are undeniably unique.

The music. The music has such energy and I think it that reflects the energy of the people.

I get an amazing sensation when I ride my bike past a kiosk that is blasting out African music. I can hear the drums and the balaphone going and I simply have to smile and think to myself happily, I am in Africa!

The ease with which people start to dance here is also impressive. It seems like there is a sixth sense that people have that tunes into the music and movement just flows naturally.

But in the quiet, when there is no music… the sound of the language is what is entrancing. It rolls off of the tongue. A sing song, up and down, loud and soft quality to what I hear. Sometimes it is staccato, sometimes smooth, but it is always mysterious and going at what seems to me to be a lightning speed!

Now I knew West Africa was a dry place, but the dust is something you have to experience to really understand.

I was struck by the reddish color. And since the dust is red so is everything else! The dust settles everywhere.

It is also much finer than anything I could have imagined. So fine in fact, sometimes when I blow nose the two reddish/brown dots left on the tissue is evidence to the fact that there is probably a nice layer of African dust now coating the inside of my lungs…

Speaking of my nose, the smells of Ouagadougou will knock you out. I mean they can hit you like a brick wall from out of no where!

I have come to appreciate that there are several types of smells; there are rancid smells, urine smells, the smell of garbage, a body odor smell, dried fish smells, and don’t forget the smell of exhaust or the unpleasant odor of burning plastic which somehow wafts through your house unannounced.

While the olfactory quality of the city leave something to be desired, the cuisine is enchanting!

I didn’t like mangos before I came to Burkina Faso. I think it was because I had never actually had a good mango before. Now I LOVE mangos. Love in capital letters L.O.V.E. mangos. Now I understand why everybody looks forward to mango season.

And don’t forget strawberry season, which happened to coincide with my Birthday in February… And papayas and bananas, and pineapples. You get the picture.

I also really like the rice with red sauce, rice with vegetable sauce and rice with peanut sauce the peanut sauce is my favorite and the fact that I can peanuts as a snack anytime I want from pretty much any street corner is awesome.

In November and December, I couldn’t believe people when they said that was the cold season… But now I understand. The heat is exhausting. I have perspired more here than I ever thought possible. I finish playing tennis and I look like I have taken a shower! The strength and intensity of the heat makes you feel like the sun has come unhinged and is on a trajectory path headed straight towards you and in a moment you will simply spontaneously combust! I may be being a bit dramatic, but… it’s true!

On a totally different subject, market vendors crack me up too… Figuring out how to bargain was a huge step for me. But I guess it paid off because when I traveled back to the US I was able to talk down the price of a new SIM card for my phone.

You see the skills I am learning here, they will be totally useful down the road ;)

I have learned how to handle sitting in a hot crowed bus for hours on end which will make the vacation trips with my family seem like a breeze.

I have learned how to carry my own toilet paper with me at all times.

I have learned how to politely refuse the constant stream of people trying to sell me something at every stop light.

However, adaptations aside, what I will bring back with me from Burkina Faso is a sense of inspiration.

The smiles I see are genuine. When it seems like there should be nothing to be happy about, I hear children laughing, playing. In the midst of poverty people find joy and that is inspiring. Joy should not be conditional on circumstance and I think that is one thing American’s would do well to learn from the Burkinabe or at least those whom I have had the good fortune of meeting.

Burkina Faso has challenged me.
Burkina Faso has changed me.

Burkina Faso has carved out its own special place my heart and infused my mind with countless precious my memories

For me Bukina Faso has lived up to its name as the land of the upright people in the friendliness and sense of welcome that are extended to visitors.

I have been privileged to be able to call Ouagadougou home, even if only for a short time and I sincerely hope I can to do justice to this place when the time comes to describe, to those whom I love, what Burkina Faso has meant to me.

Jesus Drives a Black Mercedes, One Paper, Two Posters and the Toastmaster's Gala

2008-06-08T14:01:00.002-05:00

So the good news is that Thursday I threw off the shackles that had been holding me back and began to enjoy life again :)

In the morning, I slept in and didn’t go into work until the afternoon. I had a ton of errands to run and couldn’t really focus with all this stuff hanging around in my mind. So I struck off intending to apply for my Ghana visa and buy my plane ticket. Those were the two big ones. However, my knee was still an issue. I wasn’t up to biking quite yet, so I was planning to walk and get a taxi. Everything was gravy except for the fact I forgot my passport and had to walk back for it before getting my taxi. The upside was the backtracking allowed me to pick up some bandages for my knee.

I was able to get a taxi and find the Ghanaian Embassy without a problem. It took me all of 15 minutes to apply for a visa. Probably the fastest documentation process I have experienced in Africa! Funny enough, as I was leaving the gate worker gave me his contact information on a torn and scribbled piece of paper (In fact this is a very common thing here… but my question is do they actually think I am going to call?!)

From the Ghana Embassy I went to the SatGuru travel agency. They had been so good planning my trip back to the US in April I wanted to go back. I was well rewarded. It was so easy. I didn’t know how to book tickets and pay for AirBurkina or domestic Ghana flights and they were able to do it all, all at once… and I was able to pay with a check. In general I was pretty psyched.

I left the agency planning to go home. However, the taxi situation was bleak. There were not many taxis going past on this particular road. So I decided to walk towards the market looking for one as I went. Well, I made it all the way there and decided instead of going straight home to go get some groceries. I bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables. This little market trip was just what I needed. After my knee injury and having to stay in all the time, I forget how amazing the Burkinabe people are. I am always so much happier after I interact with the locals. They just make me see life in such a relaxed carefree sort of way. The women are also extremely friendly; case in point, one lady I bought lettuce from felt the need to introduce me to her husband! Before I left the market I bought two croissants with the plan of making chicken salad sandwich croissants for lunch. Chicken salad is good on french bread, but it is even better on a croissant ;)

From there I was close to the US Embassy, about a 20 minute walk from home. I kept walking waiting for a taxi to pass and one never did! I made it all the way to Charles de Gaulle, the big main street. I waited at a corner for 10 minutes and not a single taxi passed. At this point it is well past noon. I have been walking around in the sun for an hour. I was sweaty and tired from carrying all my groceries. Things starting seemingly really grim, I thought I was going to be walking the rest of the way back which was rather inconvenient at this point. So I said a prayer for some sort of help to come and just as I was headed toward a tree for some shade, a car drives past and the driver yells something to me and pulls over. I was stunned. It was almost instantaneous after my prayer for help.

I walked over and talked to the guy in the black Mercedes Benz that had just pulled over for me. I told him where I needed to go, it wasn’t right on his way but he said it would be no problem. I did a mental evaluation of my situation and the potential dangers, and then got in the car. Before you say you would have never done that please see that my options were pretty limited, AND this guy was driving a very nice black Mercedes, not that dangerous people don’t drive nice cars… but it was a bit reassuring. I also figured I could do the tuck and roll maneuver if necessary. Turns out the guy worked for Onatel, the phone company, and had been to the US several times so we switched between French and English. He could have owned the company for all I know! He also told me used to play football for the Burkina national football league. So anyway, totally bizarre, but really cool ;) He drove me back and I had him drop at the entrance to the university and to walk the rest of the way… see I am cautious!

The most amazing thing is that as I was getting out of the car I was so thankful for the ride I said something along the lines of “Thank you again, so much… You really saved me!” To which he replied, “God is good.” I am not kidding you. I leave you to assess the situation for yourself, but I am convinced that Jesus drives a black Mercedes Benz. Seconds after I prayed for help in my moment of need this car comes and gives me a ride. God is good.

When I got home I was still a bit in shock from my heaven orchestrated rescue, but I went over and invited Susan for lunch. We made chicken salad on croissants, just as I had planned…yum! In the afternoon, I went to work. I am not sure what I did exactly… I did leave early though. I had a tennis lesson at 4:00pm and it was first one since my fall. I couldn’t wait any longer. I rode my bike there without a problem. That I figured was the first test ;) I told my tennis teacher my situation and we decided if it was a problem we would stop. Thankfully it was fine and I had a great time letting some of my pent up aggression loose on the tennis ball. I was glad to be back in the game

Although I rode my bike to tennis I asked Ben for a ride to WIRED since I didn’t want to push it, and I like to ride back fast at night and wouldn’t be able to do that in this case. It was no problem and Leanna was able to drive me home. One of the senior guys from the youth group gave the talk. He did a really nice job preaching the gospel. Literally, the gospel of salvation, back to the basics of a story we will never fully understand. After the talk, which went a little overtime, we had ice cream and cake in celebration of the Food Distribution achievements. After Youth group I worked earnestly on writing my speech for Toastmasters. The title of the speech was “The Impossible Task” and was about how to describe Burkina Faso to someone who has never been there before. Since I knew I would be face with such a task in the near future I figured coming up with some organized thoughts might be a good idea. I am posting the speech script to give you a preview… If you ask nicely, maybe I will perform it for you live when I return. I also probably watched some Hannah Montana, but I can’t be sure. Sorry! In any case, I went to sleep in a much better state of mind on Thursday than on Wednesday.

Friday I went into the office at the normal time and got right to work! After running my errands on Thursday my brain was free to focus on the tasks at hand. I wrote a ton of emails and just generally got things back in order. I worked all morning and through the break until 1:30. At 1:30 I hightailed it out of my office to get back to the Ghanaian Embassy to pick up my passport. I didn’t have time for lunch so I cross my fingers Leanna would offer me some since I was headed over there afterwards.

Wouldn’t you know, between 12-3 it is really hard to find a taxi… I had almost walked up to the traffic light before one passed me. I flagged him down and he was able to give me ride even though it wasn’t right on the way to his other destinations. Thankfully my passport was ready, and 15,000CFA later I was set to go to Ghana. From the Ghanaian Embassy I took another taxi to Leanna’s house. Surprise, though, she wasn’t there! She got there 20 minutes later, but it wasn’t a problem because I had my book with me and was able to read a little bit which kept mind off of the heat. Ben arrived as well because we were supposed to figure out the awards to give out at the end of year WIRED Banquet scheduled for the next Friday. We came up with some pretty good and goofy awards. For example, “International Woman of Mystery Award, Renaissance Woman Award, Most Likely to the Next Disney Heart Throb, The Person People Most Want to Impress, The Person Least Likely to Own a Donkey Cart…” The list goes on, but you get the gist.

Once we hashed out those details we trekked over to the leather shop and put in an order for some end of the year gifts of the WIRED Llama leaders, bracelets for the Famine 2008, and I ordered custom bookmarks to give to my bible study girls ;) The stuff was pricier than I thought it would be, but I think it was still worth it. Leanna drove me back quickly to get to my French lesson in time. But it turns out my teacher wasn’t able to make it. Oh well, it was still good to be back. Susan and I went to Pam’s house for dinner. It was a fun evening. We had been planning it forever, so it was nice when it actually happened! It was Mexican style food with pina coladas which were not quite right on… there was something wrong with the proportions, but it was still good. After dinner we settled in and watched 4 Weddings and Funeral. I know this is a really popular older movie, but I really didn’t like it. I thought it was rather tasteless and a bit pathetic and not realistic at all. Pam gave us a ride home and I worked on polishing and cutting my speech down to fit in the time allotment.

Saturday I got up and went to Toastmasters. My speech went off great. I think the Burkinabe liked hearing impressions of their country from a foreigner. The meeting was pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary… After the meeting I made a quick lunch before Leanna came by to get me. Leanna, Ben and I headed out to Nongtaba Village the place we wanted to have the WIRED end of year retreat. It was great. I never knew such a cool place existed in Ouaga before! It is like a sweet summer camp. A huge pool, cabanas, air conditioned rooms, a play ground and dig this… a mini zoo with monkeys! The monkeys are tied to the trees with rope which can’t be very humane, but it is cool to see a monkey up close like that ;) We were able to negotiate a nice price and I think we are going to do it! The nice thing is everything is catered in and all we do is show up and run our program… P.S. the owner was definitely European and drove a Porsche in Burkina Faso. Those two things just don’t go together. I was also the translator for our group which was pretty cool. In the afternoon I decided to bake something. However, having very few ingredients I chose to make the “Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake”… without any of those ingredients you have to wonder what exactly IS in it; well, there were raisins, flour, sugar and spices. It was very much a spice cake. I didn’t have high expectations for it, but it was surprisingly good and ended up lasting me all week.

That night Ben, Leanna and Reid came over for a movie. FYI Reid is new to Ouagadougou and is Ben’s new housemate since Will moved out. Which by the way, Will is engaged! His girlfriend said yes, and so I guess he is now his fiancé. He proposed at the Eiffel Tower while they were in Paris. Nice. Anyway, Saturday night we just watched a movie. The movie of the evening was supplied by Benjamin and it was called “Run, Fat Boy, Run!” It was really quite excellent. British and Funny. If you like that sort of humor. I think it has a nice overall feel to it.

Sunday I slept in. No church this week. That’s not true I listened to a sermon. I also worked out and felt really good actually. The big surprise was that Sunday morning it was raining lions and elephants! I had never seem such a down pour before. Part of the reason I got up when I did was to see the rain and because it was so loud on my roof there was not use in trying to sleep. Now I understand why there are floods in Africa. It all kind of makes sense now. There is no flood infrastructure because for 8 months you don’t see a drop of rain and then, deluge! So what are you to do? You have to prepare, obviously… but to what degree is necessary. The rain was intense.

I was supposed to go to lunch with Susan and a friend of hers out at a restaurant by the Lombila Dam. I was pretty excited to finally the dam where all my water had been coming from. However, with the rains the road there were washed out and the place it outdoors so we had to change plans. Instead we went to an Indian restaurant. It was really pretty good. The only thing about Indian food is that it comes in rather small portions which is good for your waist and bad for your wallet. The two best parts of the outing were meeting the friend’s daughter who was in 3rd grade and just charming and the fact that their 4x4 got stuck in the mud in front of Susan’s house. We tried using bricks and cardboard under the tires to get better traction, but in the end the guy had to rock the car forward and backwards until it made huge ruts and was finally able to grab the more solid ground.

In the afternoon, since things were still a bit drizzly I figured I wouldn’t have tennis lessons. However, I decided to go anyway just to work out. Even though I had to use the elliptical, it was a good choice to go. I left refreshed and rescheduled a tennis lesson for Monday. I went home and showered. I didn’t really want to go out again, but Leanna was having dinner at her house. I debated and debated. I got home and showered and then convinced myself that if I went I would leave early and get to pick up the four things on my store list I needed to buy. A run to the store was something I had been meaning to do, I figured I could rationalize going to Leanna’s by also going to store.

Leanna made great baked potato soup. It was so creamy and bad for you, but oh so yummy! I stayed through dinner but peaced out when they were going to start watching LOST. I was afraid the places I needed to go would be closed, but no… all the little boutiques and kiosks were open. I really had to get some toilet paper. I was literally out out and had gone through all my stashed tissue and paper napkins, so this was kind of an imperative item to procure. When I got home, I went into the office and talked to my family online. It was a great conversation, but again a late night.

Monday morning, I went into work again dreading having to write my paper. So I was not super motivated. I did some work, but mid-morning Konate came by and talked about making up a poster for the upcoming Journee des Entreprise, or “Business Days” which is kind of like a job fair without such an emphasis on hiring, but more just getting exposure for the businesses and letting the students know what is out there. Anyway, our group (GVEA) was having a booth and so I needed to make a poster. I spent most of my day working on that. It went quite well. Monday night I worked really hard to finish reading “White Man’s Burden”… a task I was successful in completing. That book took me quite a long time to get through, but it was truly amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking about international development. At 11:00pm I was back in my office. Why so late? Well, the IWA sustainability toolbox effort I helping coordinate was having an online chat that night among the available members. We had just finished a big push to assign people to smaller teams with specific tasks and we wanted to keep things moving forward. It was an interesting group chat. I had to facilitate it and figure out how to get everything to work with Skype. I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t work, but it did! The online chat is less efficient than a conference call, but an okay alternative when not everyone has those capabilities.

Tuesday morning I started off with a make up tennis lesson. That was fun, but in the morning I was not quite as ready to go as when I play in the afternoon. Regardless, it made me alert and productive on Tuesday. I finished up my poster and planned for a meeting with Nicolas. We needed to follow up on the visit to the ceramics workshop. I made an outline of topics to cover so the meeting wouldn’t go too long. FYI by this time my knee is back in business. I am still cautious because I don’t want to accidentally rip off the scab, but it looks good and I can do everything I used to do! The meeting with Nicolas went well and afterwards I raced back to school for my French lesson. I was on fire with my French that day. I don’t get it, some days I am really rocking it and others not so much. Anyway, Tuesday night I stayed in the office pretty late working on emails to follow up to the meeting with Nicolas. I also created the design we are using for the T-shirts we are going to give out at the end of the year retreat. The theme of the retreat is salt and light. Leanna and I came up with an awesome graphic on Saturday. I simply digitalized them in photoshop. What I did at home that night has been lost to the black hole of my memory. It must not have been that important! I am, however, fairly certain that I spent some time planning for bible study.

Wednesday I worked a “continuous day” as they call it. I started early in the morning and worked through the break. That way I didn’t have to come back after bible study. In the morning I worked with Konate to have my poster printed. It was super easy, and I am really impressed they have a legitimate plotter at 2iE. I also worked on writing the first parts of my paper. I was able to hammer out the introduction and part of the methods section.

I was thankfully prepared for bible study this week, the lesson always goes better when I prepare ahead of time... We talked about Oracle Psalms. I think it went quite well. Rosie’s family from England was there visiting and so they sat in and participated in the study which was a nice change of pace. For snack I busted out the box of cookies I brought back from Paris with me along with some dried mango pieces. The cookies were a HUGE hit. They were the very skinny butter cookies dipped in chocolate…mmmm good. With the weekend approaching I realized I would have to kick my paper writing into high gear. The pressure was finally on. I ended up staying up super late working on this thing. I had written up my Introduction and Methods, but couldn’t do my results yet because I hadn’t really sat down and sifted through everything. So I finally took the time and endured the brain strain of analysis. This in and of itself was a huge task. I gave myself a reward break after a couple of hours and watched Grey’s Anatomy. It was a two hour special and man was it good! I finished with that show and was so happy :) I got to a place I could stop at like 4:00am, late I know... I did sleep until 8:00am, so that was still four hours of sleep. Not ideal, but not horrible.

The reason I had to get up that early was that I had to help out that the GVEA stand at the Business Fair. They had been setting up for this fair ALL WEEK! They were not just little tables. Oh no, they were whole rooms! Each exhibitor had an individual room with electricity to it and a roof over it. I was blown away. Some businesses brought in whole furniture sets and really set up there display very nicely. Anyway, I got to explain my project to a couple of people. Not too many, but it was good I was there. Mariam, a PhD student at 2iE who has helped me a ton, was also there so it was nice to have a chance to talk to her. After working at the table in the morning I now understand why the booths have roofs. It was SO hot! Oh, yes at 9:00am I had a French lesson. I knew I would be busy on Friday and so I arranged for him to come Thursday morning. It worked out quite well. I was able to take a short nap in the break time, but it was cut short by my tennis lesson at 4:00pm. Much better than last time. I tell you, those morning slots are just not good for me! I went home and feverishly worked on my paper for thirty minutes until I had to leave for the ISO Celebration of the Arts. I was still working on the results section… The Celebration of the Arts took the place of youth group and while I had this paper pressing down on me I knew I needed to go to the show. More importantly I wanted to go to the show to support the kids I knew. When I got home I finished up my results section. Then I got right to work on the Discussion portion of my paper at about 1am. I was working well, but I was pretty tired. I finished the discussion, or so I thought…

I went to bed at 5:00am and the sight of the sun coming up as I was going to bed was not comforting at all. I wanted to finish up my paper by Friday to email to the MIT professor and Professor Soboyejo. It was a self-imposed deadline, but I still wanted to keep it. I wanted to be done with things before I went to the conference.

Friday I had no qualms about sleeping until 10am. There were terrible rains in the morning which wiped out the Business Days. I got up and worked at home for the morning. I went into the office in the afternoon and realized that I should have made changes to my poster and had a copy printed to bring to the conference with me in case I could exhibit it. So I gave myself until 5:30 to get it done, thinking I would still have time to print it. Well, thanks to the Business Days, nothing was working as usual. I tried to get Konate to help me, but things just got more complicated and he ended printing another copy of the original which didn’t help me. So Africa wins again. I was still holding out hope of printing it on Saturday, but I couldn’t stick around any longer because I had the youth group banquet to get ready for. I got back to my house at 6:20 and was dressed, ready to go at 6:30. I was even able to track Susan down and borrow her tank top since my white one was still damp from when I hand washed it. Line drying clothes is fine except when it is humid outside and the rain in the morning was not helping my cause.

The banquet was amazing. Leanna did such a nice job presenting the awards and making people feel special. The banquet was held at the Palmier Hotel. It was a great venue. Clean, chic, and good food is a winning combination by my standards. They served spaghetti carbonara which is quickly becoming one of my favorite dishes. Ben and I had to rearrange the tables a bit, but we were successful in setting up the room very nicely. All the kids dressed up and it was so cute to see them in their pretty dresses and dress shirts.

After the banquet, Leanna drove me home and I got back to work on the paper which had become a thorn in my side. I was inspired to write the conclusion and the abstract. I was able to do it in pretty good timing as well. I was about to call it a night when I decided to tackle the last thing on my list and that was to check over the microbiology specifics in my paper. I have never been trained in microbiology and was thrust into this work with little preparation or assistance. I read a great MIT thesis that spelled everything out for me. The problem was, however, I realized I had made a huge error. My results were all based on Total Coliform (TC) levels since there was no E.Coli (EC) in the raw water. Well, this means that yes I can talk about the efficiency of the filters in terms of TC removal, but can not extend my results to proposed health impacts because EC is the required parameter. So once I discovered this, it literally felt like the roof had collapsed on my head. However, after a nice mango, strawberry, and pineapple smoothie I was able to regroup my thoughts and make the needed changes. They weren’t as dramatic as I had first imagined and I now feel much more confident in what I can say about my experiment. I finished up with a draft that was just about ready to go. I also readjusted my poster accordingly, so I guess it was a good thing it wasn’t printed. This took me again until 4am to complete. Do you see a pattern here?

I got up at 8:40am to go to my 9:00am tennis lesson. I got to the rec center, having sacrificed my sleep, only to find my tennis teacher couldn’t play because he had received a vaccine shot in his leg and couldn’t move easily since his leg was sore. So instead he got this punk guy to play with me. I don’t like this guy very much, period, and the way he was putting forth little to no effort in playing with me was really frustrating. Luckily we ended early and I just left. I didn’t have him sign off my card because that did not constitute a lesson in my book. Oh, I should note, on my way to the rec center I passed Konate who stopped and told me to come and print my poster right then. I kindly told him I was busy and would be back in an hour… He is so exasperating! Given that encounter, I did go straight back to my office after the non-lesson. Turns out, the printer guy was not coming in on Saturday, and I was out of luck with my poster. But you know what? I was okay with that because at least I now have a poster that is ready to go for then next conference that comes up. Instead of going home I stayed in my office and went through my paper one last time. I made some changes and then sent out the copies to Professor Soboyejo and the MIT professor. I also was able to write some other important emails and in general wrap up everything that I had been struggling to do this week.

I left my office and went home feeling like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders! I cleaned up the mess of dishes and other junk that had been collecting on my table since Wednesday. I put on some music and danced around. I also started to pick out the clothes I would need to wash for Ghana. I had made plans to go to lunch with Susan and Mary Ellen, but Mary Ellen had tennis at 12:30pm so I figured the earliest I would hear from them was about 2pm. Well, I realized my phone was on silent from the night before and I had missed all sorts of calls and texts from them. They were meeting at 1:00 at Paradisio’s for lunch. Well, it was 1:30 when I got this information. So I grabbed all my clothes shoved them in my backpack. I was planning to stop by Leanna’s, put my clothes in the wash, then head over to at least say hi. Mary Ellen would be leaving while I was in Ghana so this was my last chance to say good bye, good luck and just socialize one last time. I got on my bike and realized immediately something wasn’t right. My back tire was flat. Oye! Not what I needed. I felt like my life was beginning to resemble a sitcom script. I thought maybe I can just have the bike guys pump it up and I can have it fixed later since I was in a hurry. However, as I pulled up to the bike place, I got off my bike, looked behind me and I saw a thumbtack stuck in my tire. My aspirations for the afternoon deflated about as quickly as my flat tire.

The tire patching took a record 10 minutes. That was fast indeed. I was able to rearrange my plans and went straight to restaurant and sat and chatted for about an hour. We had great conversations, reflections, and the insights were wonderful! After lunch, I went to Leanna’s. She didn’t care I was much later than my earlier text had indicated… that was before I found my flat tire. I must admit it makes for a great story. Anyway, I had no problem doing my laundry. I wasn’t going to dry my things there, but realized I couldn’t take them home soaked and so I did hang them up for a bit and just bummed around Leanna’s house for a while. She had two students over because she was helping them on a math project. They had to design a shopping mall and these girls were having some trouble with figuring out how to get all the areas to fit together. It was so nice of Leanna to have them come to her house to work on it. I did finally go home and hung up my laundry outside to finish drying. As I was rehanging the clothes I figured out I put too much detergent in the washer because the clothes were a little sticky… Just so you know, if you don’t already, it is a bad idea to add more detergent because you think your clothes are dirtier and you have more of them.

After making sure my laundry was on its way to being ready to pack that night I got ready for the Toastmasters Gala! I wore my class day outfit from last year in honor of the Princeton Reunions I was missing. That was about killing me… But, oh the Gala was wonderful :) I couldn’t believe it. It was a huge gathering. Several hundred people and everyone was dressed up. Even the employees of the Sofitel had matching gowns and blended in with the crowd. The food was good and the place was decorated with balloons and just all around it was a high class affair like I had never seen in Ouaga before. But it figures… I paid about $35 US for the ticket to go; however, it was well worth it my mind. It was not just any Gala though. Since it was a Toastmaster’s Gala they worked in all the elements of a real meeting. Susan lead the Table Topics improvisational activity. Her theme was the 2008 Olympics and she did it mostly in French asking only 2 questions in English. She did a great job. She had asked me before if she could call on me for one of the English questions and I enthusiastically agreed. She didn’t tell me the question beforehand because it is supposed to be improve. Anyway, I was to imagine I was on the women’s US volleyball team won gold at the last Olympics and explain how winning a gold medal changed my life. It was a prefect question for me and I really enjoyed answering it. I also have to admit I derived a good deal of confidence from the fact that very few of the people <15% would know what I was saying.

It was really cool because they love the way English sounds and for me to get up and speak English was like “Woah!” to them, so I felt good. I took some nice pictures of the evening. I was also very happy because a very nice girl from our club named Mintu sat next to me. It was nice to get to talk to her outside of the regular Toastmaster meetings. We are just getting to be friends, and I will miss her. I wish it hadn’t taken so long! The reality of my leaving is setting in and I don’t like it.

We got home from the Gala at about 1am. I wished I could have crashed into my bed and fallen sound asleep for the next 24 hours, but I couldn’t. I had to pack to go to Ghana! It went very smoothly and I was asleep by 2:30am which was good because I had to get back up 6:50am to go to office for some last minute online tasks I had to complete in case I was without internet in Ghana. Morning came way, way too quickly but I was headed to Ghana so somehow found the energy to get up even after only getting 4 hours of sleep for the past four nights. My horrible sleep patterns were not a good thing and I could tell they were taking a toll on my body and mind. I just kept on imagining finally getting to the guesthouse in Accra and sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.

I will end this post here. Thanks for being patient with me. Stay tuned for my Ghana adventures!

A Little Drive Through Ouaga

2008-05-27T14:36:00.010-05:00

So since I normally just put my pictures in a slideshow you don't get any explanation of what you are looking at. I wanted to do something different with this post and have decided to take you on a short drive in Ouaga. I will be your guide....

Let's get going!

To start with you will see many bicycles, both pedal bikes and motor bikes. They look really old and probably are really old ;) Bicycles always ride on the right of the vehicle traffic, or at least they are supposed to...

It is also impossible to go out without seeing a donkey cart. The donkey carts usually carry garbage, but in other cases they can be rented to transport other things as well. There is a running joke with my friends and I about the donkey cart boys and the fact that Donkey Cart was a very popular video game at one point in time :)

Alas, there are gas stations in Burkina Faso. You can see it in the background of this scene. They have working pumps, but are few and far between and the gasoline is very expensive. However, usually motos just buy gas from someone in the market that pours the fuel into your tank using a funnel and the gas is poured from glass bottles. Far cry from safe or healthy.

AND you have the ditch diggers. There are open sewers in Ouaga and people have to dig them... People also have to shovel them out sometimes which is pretty foul.

Sadly there are moto accidents all the time. Not a week goes by that I don't see a crowd of people off to the side of the road. Notice the people bending over the man sitting on the ground hidden by the moto in front. The bikes are usually left on the road until the authorities arrive.

Where do mangos come from? Why the man with the gaint mango wagon of course! People who these carts carry all sorts of goods with them. I have seen whole carts loaded with bananas, bicycles, construction materials, ect. The are pulled by man power.

I don't really buy fruit from the sketchy guys with the gaint carts of fruit. I prefer the kind sweet ladies who have a semi permenant locations from which they sell their fruit. The mobile vendors who aren't there is the morning to be held accountable for their fruit waulity are no friend of mine. I would also like to point out the women use the same cloth for clothes as so for table coverings.

Need a pair of shoes. How about the ones hanging in your face? This shoe vendor is quite representative of retail shops in Ouagadougou. They aren't really shops at all, but more like stands at a state fair. The have everything out for display and they like to hang things. Hanging mechandise from tree branches is a favorite pastime of vendors here.

These bags contain flour, tapioca, sugar, peanuts, and sugared peanuts. If you need any of those things feel free to stop at one of the many tables like the ones you see here.

And finally to end this little adventure I leave you at the La Shopette. Yes, that blessed establishment that supplies my weekly alimentary needs. They don't have everything and their prices flucuate like a yo-yo, but it is small, friendly and locally run. They also have dried mangos. Enough said. I'm going to stop in and grab some rice, eggs, milk, and juice. Need anything?

Anyway, hope to see YOU around Ouaga the next time I'm out and about...

WIRED feeds 5000...

2008-05-22T10:25:00.001-05:00

Food Distribution Day!

$9786.44, Minor Knee Issues, and a Ceramics Studio

2008-05-22T10:21:00.003-05:00

I have been putting off writing this until I felt a little higher spirited, but since that doesn’t seem to be happening I guess I will have to just forge ahead. I have been in a bit of a down mood since Saturday when I fell and cut my knee. If there is one thing that can really, I mean really throw me for a loop, it is some sort of physical ailment which I brought upon myself. I haven’t been able to run, play tennis, or ride my bike and it is killing me. I just don’t know what to do with myself and the days keep on slipping by. I have a million things I should be doing, but I can’t bring myself to want to do anything! It is a horrible feeling. Sorry to have to burden you with this, but I can’t be Little Miss Sunshine all the time you know… Anyway, Sara is in a slump and hoping she will snap out of it ASAP, because, honey, life ain’t waitin’ for ya!

Alright, enough of the introduction which turned strangely into a self pep talk… I left off last week on Tuesday. I have to admit I am having a terrible time remembering back that far. While it was only 7 days ago, it feels like months ago. Being in the depths of despair makes you forget life was pretty darn amazing just a few days ago. So, anyway, I’ll give it my best shot. Wednesday morning I got really up early and went swimming. I had made up my mind the night before to do this, but funny enough, my room was over air conditioned that night and in the morning I almost didn’t get up to go because it was too cold. But then I realized when I stepped outside it would still be hot, so I rolled out of bed, determinedly struggled to find motivation! It was a great idea; expect that the pool guy cleans until 8:30 and I didn’t know that. When I got in the pool at 7:15 he wasn’t super happy. However, I didn’t really care. I swam anyway and it was great! After I showered and got to the office, I spent some time proofreading my last post and posting it. I was just chillin’ in my office trying to do something when all the sudden someone knocks on my door. As I tell them to come in, I am sure it is going to be another awkward interaction in my broken French with a co-worker. However, I was pleasantly surprised when my co-worker stepped aside after getting my attention and introduced me to an American visitor to 2iE. Turns out he was U.S. State Department Regional Environmental Officer for West and Central Africa. Awesome. He is normally stationed in Ghana and was in Ouagadougou on a tour of the region. It was great to get to show him some of what I was working on and be able to talk to him about 2iE, ect. It is good to make contacts like that. When I am at Stanford and need a site where I can do my fieldwork I will hopefully have a whole list of names of people to contact :) Building that network…

Anyway, his visit didn’t last long and I was able to prepare my lesson for bible study. Unlike last week I hadn’t planned ahead and therefore spent the hour before getting myself ready to go! I had, however, thought far enough ahead to happily accept the extra cookies from the movie night to bring as the snack. I also stopped along the way to pick up some treats called “FanYoGo” it is basically yogurt that is frozen. Literally. Not frozen yogurt that tastes like ice cream. This is much more crystal-y; it is seriously yogurt in a small plastic bag that is frozen. I knew the shopette had them, but it was out of the way and I figured the little kiosk by SIM would have them too. Wrong! I had backtrack quite a bit to find them, but it was worth it. It was very very hot that day and the cool treat was much appreciated. In bible study we looked at Penitential Pslams, namely Psalm 51 where David is repenting. The lesson was really good. When everyone had left I rode my bike over to the pharmacy to finally fill my prescription for malaria meds. I got the prescription a week ago and kept on saying I would go. Well, Wednesday was D-day in that I had to take my next pill then, so I would HAVE to go get them! Anyway, it was no problem. The pharmacy had what I was looking for. Thankfully I have health insurance. An 8 week supply cost me 4310CFA or about $9. However, this was only 10% of the total price! Without the health insurance from my job I would have been paying $90… Ouch. Regardless, from the pharmacy I biked to Leanna’s to drop off a card for a girl who was leaving Ouaga the next day. She was having a going away party that night, but I didn’t think I would be able to make it. Leanna wasn’t home so I had to hide the card in the bushes. No problem, I would just send her a text message to let her know where to look. I rushed back to 2iE to get back in time for my French lesson. But wait, gasp, I checked my phone and Leanna’s message hadn’t sent! Yikes! After getting super mad at my phone I finally realized it was my fault because I ran out of credit AND to make matters worse I left my wallet at my house and my teacher was coming in 5 minutes. Never a dull moment. So I ran home grabbed my wallet walked out the gate and flagged down the first guy I saw to buy some credit. Gotta love Africa. I charged my phone, sent my message, and just about finished sending an important email just as my teacher arrived. Score. My lesson was great fun. Really, I was energized and ready to start talking. Yahoo. Yeah, yeah normally French is on Tuesday but because of the movie night and the meeting beforehand I moved it a day later.

Following my lesson I finished up some stuff at my office and went home. I watched the newest Grey’s Anatomy and debated going to the going away party. Since the other plan for the night was ironing my clothes, I decided to go. Ben came and picked me up. It was a nice gathering. I ended up being there later than expected and Leanna got there way late and I didn’t even really get a chance to say more than Hi to her, but it was good that I went. When I got home at like 10:30 I was still a bit mad at my Mom for not being around earlier in the day to talk, but instead of staying mad I realized maybe I should be putting in some more effort and so I trekked to my office, crossing my fingers my family would be home. AND they were! Yeah! I had a great talk with Ryan and then a really great talk with my Mom. I didn’t leave my office until 1am. It was a bit eerie walking back, but I made it and the conversation was well worth it. That night I slept amazingly and on Thursday I stayed home and did my work there in the morning.

It was great. I read a bunch of technical briefs on setting up a filter factory and then typed up a list of questions for the upcoming visit Nicolas and I would be making to the ceramics workshop. At lunchtime Ben came over and we had lunch in the cafeteria. It is always nice to have a friend join me to share a bit of 2iE campus life. During lunch and afterwards we hashed out plans for the end of year youth group retreat. All I can say is it is going to be awesome! In the afternoon, my friend Moulaye stopped by to invite me to a Cameroonian Cultural Night. It sounded like fun and I considered going, but had to email him and tell him no because it was same time and day as the Edge Service and I hadn’t gone to the Edge in a while with being gone for traveling and stuff…Also, Bianca was coming in to town and I wanted to hang out with her. So I made up my mind. At 4:00 I went for my tennis lesson. Again, I was on Fi-re ;) I got back in time to shower and have a nice dinner before leaving to get to youth group. I wasn’t teaching this week so I had the good fortune of simply showing up. Leanna did have me run the opening game which went just so-so. The girl who normally does it is so good at it, it was hard to live up to the precedent she set. That night we found out that the youth has raised $9786.44 for the 30 hour famine food distribution. They had set their goal at $5000 and that was a faith goal, pretty sure it would be impossible to reach. But nothing is impossible with God and he made that very clear. Let me also tell you there are about 45 kids in the youth group. You do the math. That is impressive work! I came back that night and read some of the two books I am currently digging into. The first is White Man’s Burden which is super critical of foreign aid agencies and really interesting. However, one can only take so much of that so I started the book “The Life of Pi” to read at the same time. Seems to be going well…

Friday. Oh Friday. I can’t remember Friday morning. It is probably inconsequential as I feel much of which I do these days is… At any rate, I was going to take Friday as a rest day from working out, but with the food distribution on Saturday I figured I would take that as my day off instead. So in the early afternoon I hit the gym. Hard. I ran 4 miles at an 8:30 mile pace which is pretty good. All week I was just rolling… I forgot my workout CD which was a bummer, but I prayed instead mainly for my brother who would be having his regional track meet that evening. It was an exhilarating run to say the least. In the afternoon, I went to the library and got some books I would need for my meeting with Pam on Monday. She is doing a “cable” (some embassy lingo) on water in Burkina Faso and wanted to talk to me about it. Since I know some, but not a ton I went and got some reports to base my contribution on. Friday was French lesson day again. Again, a positive attitude makes all the difference. I had friends coming over that night for a movie and not much to worry about so I just had a fun time arguing with my French teacher about any and everything…

In the evening I made myself dinner and watched a little Hannah Montana before my friends came over. When they did get here we made popcorn and Ben and Bianca chose Independence Day to watch. We made it all of 10 minutes into that movie and decided to change plans. Instead we watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! Leanna and I bought it at the ISO Yard Sale and it was just the right upbeat and ridiculous movie for our group that night. I did have to borrow Susan’s transformer though because it was a VHS and Leanna brought her video player but it was only 110V. I bring this up because the transformer plays a critical role in Saturday evening’s fated fall. Oh, this totally does not fit into this paragraph, but one thing I really look forward to in America is finding toilet seats that match the size of the bowl. The seats here are frequently too big or too small or so crooked you wonder why they bother! but I digress… The movie was great fun indeed. Everyone left about 9:30 and instead of going to bed I looked over some of the books I picked up for Pam and then at 10:30 decided to watch The Pursuit of Happiness. I had wanted to watch that from the start so I decided that there was no time like the present and that if I wanted to watch it that is what I should do! So by golly I spent the next 2 hours of my life entranced by Will Smith’s unending dedication to making something of himself. I can’t say I shed any tears, by at one point my eyes did well up in emotion. So there… Again, I should have gone to bed but instead I read more of my books which seemed more appealing to me than sleep at that moment. I would regret that decision, however, in the morning when my alarm went off at 6:30 beckoning me to get my lazy butt up and over to the Harrison’s to leave for the grain distribution.

Saturday was an incredible day. About 30 kids showed up to help distribute the corn that had been purchased with all the money they raised. We were a caravan of white vehicles that made its way to Sector 30. Sector 30 is a very poor area of Ouagadougou. It is also where CAMA has a compound and has the facilities for a grain distribution. That morning they were dedicating a new Women’s Center and so we had to first sit through that whole ceremony. Blah, blah, blah… They are literally always the same thing. They thank every president, director and vice president in attendance. People come in late and the French to tribal language translation makes the thing last twice as long. Can you tell I’m not a big fan of these events? I mean really, these people need to get over themselves. Oh, but before the ceremony Rachel Harrison and I joined in an African dance. It was crazy cool. There were about a hundred African women all standing about in a circle and Rachel and I were in the middle with two other women who were showing us how to shake our behinds and stomp our feet the way we were supposed to. Bianca tried to take some video footage of me, but it didn’t come out because of the sun. Talk about disappointing. I would have loved to have shown you. I will include, though, a clip I took of the Africans dancing. It was choice. p.s. I borrowed Susan’s camcorder for this event. My plan is to make a short movie about it later!

Well, the ceremony came to an abrupt end and that meant it was time to start passing out the corn. There were 5 rooms where the grain was stored. The corn came in 100kg stacks of which we had purchased 200! Each person who received a ticket from the CAMA organization was entitled to two buckets full of corn. In total, 600 tickets were given out! The estimate is that 5000 people will be impacted by the food we distributed. That, my friend, is a lot… Anyway, it was bit chaotic as are most things in life, especially when something is being given out free. I walked around and took pictures and took video. I have posted 92 of them to my Picasa account and have them displayed above… I did also help with the corn which was cool. But there were enough people there and the kids wanted to do the work. It was really their thing. At the end, things got a bit harried. A few of the ticket collectors weren’t ripping the tickets and a few ladies came in a back door, and so the integrity of the system was compromised. The grain was gone, but there were still people there demanding food. Normally, they would have left, but because people showed up without a ticket and got food others thought the should be able to get the same. In the end, one of the workers started whipping a rope around to get the people to stop rushing that door to the last room where they were keeping 5 sacks. That was pretty traumatizing to some of the youth group kids. I don’t know what my problem is, but it didn’t really phase me. I should probably spend some time thinking through my reaction to everything. In the end you can certainly call the outreach a success and I was glad to have been able to help.

However, and you know that there was going to be a however… I still have problems with the free handouts thing. I mean really. $9786.44 could pay for schooling for hundreds of kids or even build a school for crying out loud. I just don’t know that giving people things like that isn’t more detrimental in the long run. Give a fish, or teach to fish. So I struggle with this. I can’t stand the thought of doing an outreach like that and then going back to my nice house and eventually my nice life in the US feeling all good inside about myself because I gave people two buckets of corn. Um, what happens when that runs out and we aren’t there to refill their buckets? Isn’t that making the poor people more dependent. But then again, they are hungry and is not feeding them an okay response? NO. So herein lies the problem. I feel like there is no way to win in these situations. But that doesn’t mean stop trying. I am often brought back to a quote from the movie Everafter. Not a movie you would think is super quotable, but it is. Anyway, the prince says that he used to think if he cared about anything he would have to care about everything and then he would go stark raving mad. But he realized he could start by caring about something and go on from there. I feel a bit like I haven’t quite moved to the point where the caring about something makes a noticeable impact. I care about water, that is my thing. I know that is my thing, but I can’t help but feeling puny and insignificant when I see all that needs to be done. I just want to do SOMETHING! But the problem I don’t know what that something is. My plan of action for the moment is listening; listening to the still small voice that directs my steps and dispels the mystery of tomorrow. Listening and waiting patiently so that I am humbled and ready when, like Esther, I am called to play my part in history. Whatever that part may be.

After spreading Christian love by giving out corn all morning, I uploaded the pictures onto my computer, ate lunch, and showered to get all the corn dust off of me and trust me there was SO much dust it made it look like it was snowing in rooms which is a ridiculous imagine in Africa during hot season, I know. I then promptly fell asleep for 3 hours making up for what I had missed the night before :) I slept like a baby. When I finally stirred I went to my office and had a great skype two-way webcam chat with my parents. I also got to talk to Jordan which was great. It had been a while since we connected. The results from his track meet were just as he had hoped for. Even better really. He won the pole vaulting competition with a personal record of 12ft. This means he will be competing at the Illinois State Track Meet. I am so proud of him! He also took 3rd in the two mile. His two best friends also made it down state so the triple threat still lives ;)

I got off the phone with them because Leanna was coming to get me to go to the Edge Service. At home I changed, packed my overnight bag, and got Susan’s stuff together to return to her. I didn’t have a ton of time, but I wanted to get it back to her as I promised I would. Anyway, I headed over and thankfully she was around. We chatted for a few minutes and I saw Leanna’s car pull up. At this, I said goodbye and ran back to my place. I hate to admit it, but what was going through my head at that moment was how cute my skirt must look billowing in the wind… (It is undeniably a really cute skirt.) However, as I was pridefully thinking way to highly of my appearance WHAM! My foot slid on a patch of wet ground from where the gardener had watered that afternoon and I was down. Not only down, but I had fallen against the cement rain trough filled with rocks. Not good. Frankly, I was more worried about the fact that my keys had flown from my hand and about the thought that my skirt was probably wrecked to really notice the gash on my left knee. Leanna got out of the car and helped find my keys. My skirt was miraculously without blemish. That is what I get I guess… However, the reality of my knee was setting in. I went in my house and washed up. I cleaned it out as best as I could and bandaged it up. It was a pretty deep cut, but I was like “oh its fine”. Here’s a tip, if it doesn’t stay together on its own 1. get stitches, or 2. at least track down a butterfly bandaid. I did neither and have paid dearly since. Saturday night I was still delusional that it was fine. I had pizza with Bianca and Leanna and we watched some of The Office after Edge. By the way, the Edge Service talk was really great. It was the final talk on grace and the speaker talked about the downward spiral of sin and the upward spiral of grace and obedience. I got a lot out of it. Anyway, we had a fun girls night and in the morning we got up and went over to Lorinda’s for a great Sunday Brunch of blueberry pancakes and hashbrowns.

Sunday morning, my knee was exuding some clear yellowish fluid which I thought was part of the normal healing process. Again, hint, yellow may mean proceed with caution when you driving, but what it means in the world of first aid is go get help. Lorinda looked at it too and we all decided it would heal fine on its own. After we finished eating and washing dishes, I played guitar and we all worshipped together which was amazing. It is for moments like those that I wanted to learn to play. From Lorinda’s we drove Bianca to the bus station and then Leanna dropped me off at home. I worked on stuff for my meeting with Pam the next morning and made beef stroganoff I was planning to have for dinner. Then I went and called my family for the second time this weekend because my knee thing was pretty ridiculous. I was so mad at myself for being so stupid! If I had just remembered the wet spot was there. I actually noted it in my mind when I first crossed my yard to get to Susan’s. But I was being vain and I feel like this injury was God whacking me over the head. Thanks, I get it now. No more thinking I’m hot stuff because as soon as that thought crossed my mind, WHAM!

Sunday night I watched Phantom of the Opera. I borrowed the DVD from Leanna. It was a movie I have wanted to see for a long time, but never had the chance. Well, my pity party for myself afforded me just the opportunity. So I watched this very intense musical consuming two batches of popcorn, one that I tried unsuccessfully to season with propel water flavoring. It was worth a shot. What if you could make berry flavored popcorn? I had to try, right? Anyway, the movie finished and I decided my knee was not doing well. In fact, it was very yellow now and continued to produce yellow fluid. I will spare you the details. I decided to take a shower and scrub it is clean. That was probably the best thing I had done up to that point in wound management. The polysporin was good, but quite useless in the face of the crazy bacteria and pathogens you find in Africa. I read for a long time on Sunday night and got up dreading what I would find in regards to my knee on Monday morning.

Monday I would have probably laid in bed feeling sorry for myself all morning, but I had a meeting with Pam so I pulled myself together, bandaged up my knee and went to work. The meeting with Pam was great. I found some information that I think will be very helpful for her. It was fun to be the go to water person :) Something I would like to continue to gain a reputation for… I went home for lunch around 1:00, but before that I did some online research and figured out the yellow slough on my wound was not good. When I went home I carefully and mercilessly scrubbed it off. The pain was bearable only because I imagined it was helping to make this horrible mistake go away.

I ate my lunch, read and then slept until 4:45. I’m not kidding. I don’t know what was wrong with me besides the fact I had a profusely running wound on my knee and was about as low spirited as they get. I didn’t want to see anybody or talk to anybody. Whenever I did see someone they would ask me why I was limping and I didn’t want to have to explain to them the problem. In addition, my relationship with the French language has moved from a love-hate to a dislike-hate relationship. The only reason why I got up at 4:45 was because my house guy came in to clean. GRrrr… It was fine though, I went to the nurses station to have her help me out. She looked at it, rubbed some Betadine on it, not very gently at that. I believe as I was walking out I was comparing her to the spawn of satan… I may be being a little dramatic here, but fine.

Monday night I did bring myself to work on my experiment report paper a bit, but then succumbed to continuing my wallowing by watching more Hannah Montana. The marathon was only interrupted by Susan coming over to partake of the left over ice cream I had been saving for a night she was free. After the ice cream I pulled myself away from the TV and made myself do something constructive. I decided to draw something. But what? Oh that infamous question which stumps even the best of the best artists. I let my mind wander and settled on drawing the candle and candlestick holder which I displayed on my table. It was a good choice. I also read for a long time. I am proud of those few good things which came out of Monday. In fact, in retrospect it was quite a good day. All I can remember though is my infernal injury and the anguish it was causing me. FYI I depend on my bike and my ability to walk for everything. I have no car and therefore if I can’t easily walk then riding my bike is out of the question and I am stranded, not to mention I have a long list of errands I need to run including food shopping, buying my ticket to Ghana, getting visa pictures, getting my visa, I also had to miss two tennis lessons and haven’t really worked out since Friday. Are you tracking with me?

Tuesday, again I had a meeting scheduled in the morning. This is really the trick for me. I have to something to get up for. Living alone doesn’t help the whole up and at ‘em in the morning thing. Then again, living with a random housemate doesn’t seem to help either. I miss Cassy and Ruby and colonial breakfast! I was supposed to go with Nicolas to the ceramic workshop at 10:00. We wanted to start a dialogue about manufacturing the filters in Ouagadougou. However, I got a call from Nicolas saying the guy wasn’t available and that they needed to change the visit time to 3:00. I didn’t see this as a problem. I had my French lesson scheduled for 5:00 but two hours should have been plenty of time. Should have been is the operative phrase here. Anyway, that left my morning totally free. But honestly, I was pretty worthless. My knee looked about the same as it had on Sunday which in my book was not a good sign. But the nurse seemed to think it was fine. I emailed the missionary doctor I knew here and was hoping to get a response and go see him before going to the ceramics workshop. That didn’t happen. Instead I ended up reading all morning. Not all was lost. I was reading the development book which I still consider researching my topic.

When 3:00 finally rolled around I went out and waited for Nicolas to come pick me up in one of his NGO vehicles. Nice. The ceramics workshop we visited was great. I mean really great. They are perfect for the filter project. They have the space, the equipment, and most importantly knowledge of clays and a knack for business. I was super pumped. The only problem was my knee was still hurting and as the clock turned to 5:15 I knew I had missed my French teacher, or more accurately he had come and waited and I didn’t show up. I even left my phone in the car by accident so I couldn’t send him a message. I felt really bad, but he always understands.

I got back to my office in a bit of a tizzy not knowing what to do. I was mad at myself for not going to the doctor sooner and finally tracked down his number, but it is so expensive to call people on my phone. I decided to go see the nurse one more time. She wasn’t there… perfect. So I bit the bullet and called the doctor. His daughter is in my bible study and I know the family from various connections. He told me to come over to his house and he will have a look at it for me. Great! Except I am worried that walking and riding my bike will make it worse and as I mentioned before I have no car, so I ask you, how would you proceed to get to the doctor’s house which is at least a mile away if not more? As I was about to start crying at my dismal situation, I ran into my boss at which point I proceeded to explain without hesitation that I had hurt my knee and needed to go to the doctor’s house but had no way to get there. My boss had his driver take me. Hallelujah!

The doctor took one look and told me it was infected and I needed antibiotics. He wrote a prescription and told me to clean it twice a day with Betadine. Well, I called Leanna who agreed to pick me up and drive me home. The 2iE driver could only bring me there… In the mean time I walked 200m from the doctor’s house to his clinic where I bought the antibiotics. I hadn’t had time though to run back to my house before leaving my office so I didn’t have enough money to pay my consultation bill which was 10000CFA ($25) and they don’t take insurance… What is the point of insurance if it doesn’t pay for your medical bills?! I am going to have to learn more about this twisted world of health care and taxes if I don’t want to be taken for a ride at each turn in the road.

Anyway, I did thankfully have enough money with me to buy the medication so I could start it that night. The doctor did give me permission to walk normally and ride my bike if I could. It wasn’t going to make it worse, which is what I needed to know. I considered walking home but a dust storm picked up and I decided instead to wait for Leanna as planned. I really appreciated her coming to get me. There were about a million and one things she needed to do and driving me around was not on that list. But she was so nice about it. She drove me home and I went in to my office and chatted with my Mom. Going to the doctor was the best choice I could have made. I’m just mad it took me so long to get to that point. Africa makes you do funny things. I didn’t talk with my Mom very long and instead went home did some Abs of Steel toning, made crepes for dinner and watched Grey’s Anatomy. I took the first antibiotics pill with dinner and wouldn’t you know within an hour the yellow was disappearing and it skin was closing up. Talk about a turn around! Anyway, the rest of the night I read my book the Life of Pi. I actually finished it ;) It was really good. I highly highly recommend it and would love to discuss with someone who has read it! I fell happily asleep confident I had the worst of my knee problems behind me. As a note, I would like to add that left over beef stroganoff makes an excellent filling for crepes. Seriously.

Today, Wednesday, I got up and made oatmeal for breakfast. I must be the world’s worst oatmeal maker because every time I make it turns out slimy yet crunchy on the inside. Not super appealing in the morning to say the least. I stopped by the nurse on the way to office since I hadn’t bought Betadine yet and she had some. The big gash closed up overnight. Yay! I spent the morning reading a new paper on the ceramic filters published by a professor at UVA as well as getting the food distribution pictures online. I decided to shelve the experiment write up until I felt divinely inspired. If I try and do something like that and don’t feel like it, I end up wasting my time. So I am being patient with myself. I think after the knee heals and my Ghana plans are taken care of I will be able to focus. I had a late lunch and planned for bible study. I bandaged my knee and mounted my bike. My knee is doing better, but it is not great. In an ideal world I probably should not ride my bike yet. However, I had no other option so I did it. With each pedaling motion I could imagine the cut on my knee reopening. Gross, I know. I stopped to get my visa picture taken, but it was going to be complicated so I peaced out. I also made a minor detour to buy some juice to go with Angela’s banana bread we had for our snack. This week’s bible study topic was Thanksgiving Psalms, specifically Psalm 118. Read it. You’ll like it. You’ll also recognize several of the verses from popular worship songs. After study I stopped by the bank to check my balance. It was much less than I thought it should be so I have to check with what is going on with my paychecks… Then I went to the pharmacy to get my Betadine and rode my bike through the university campus until I found the guys with the blue fabric hanging from a wooden frame who take the ID photos. It is an admittedly shady system. I paid this guy 1500CFA he took my picture, and I am supposed to come back to the same corner tomorrow morning to get my pictures. I am sure he will be there as I have used this system before, but it still just cracks me up!

I got back in time for my French lesson. Phew, if I blew him off two days in a row that would have been terrible. My knee had suffered from all my bike riding so I was a bit preoccupied but I did my best and was glad to have had the lesson. And I was able to distract him with enough random conversation that we didn’t get to the part of the lesson where he reads a paragraph and I have to write what he says. After French I was going to walk to the American Language Center (ALC) to watch Susan’s students have a mock presidential debate, but time was short so I rode my bike instead. It wasn’t the best thing I could have done, but I survived. I should interject that the tailor who makes clothes for Susan and I has a terrible habit of showing up at the most inconvenient time, namely as I walking out the door on my somewhere and leaving late… So it was classic that he came as I was leaving for the ALC. I took the bag of clothes from him and excused myself as politely as possible. Anyway, I made it to the debate on time which was important to me. I want to be a punctual person. The debate was interesting. The participants are non-native English speakers so they struggled a bit, but it was a great experience for them to have. A bunch of Toastmaster Members showed up which was very encouraging. Susan and I walked back which was much appreciated. I made myself a hodge-podge dinner, watched some Hannah Montana and then brought myself to write this post. It has been a long night, and this is certainly a long post. Thanks for sticking with me. I knew it would be hard to readjust to life after my visit to the states, and boy was I right… I want enjoy my last month in Africa and I am sure I will, I have just hit a bump in the road which my drama queen nature has turned into a total road closure. I’ll see about opening things back up tomorrow. Until then, I bid you Adieu!

Virtual Tour of 2iE

2008-05-15T04:21:00.002-05:00

So I thought I posted this a while back, but it turns out I didn't. This is a photo tour of 2iE, where I work :) I am trying to get them to put up the pictures on their website; however, turns out no one really knows who runs what around here making it difficult to get something like an online tour of the campus up and running. One can always hope...

Nanny Diaries, Singing Nuns, and an Amazing Brownie Farewell Message!

2008-05-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday, after I had just made my graduate school decision, I felt great. Also, Thursday was “Labor Day” for Burkina so I had no work! I stayed home for most of the day. I did go into my office and use the internet, but mainly I stayed home. I also made a quick run out to pick up the book club book from one of Susan’s friends. Susan had taken off for Bobo for the weekend, but reminded me that the next book club meeting was that Sunday and I could try and track down a copy of the book if I wanted. I did and made it my mission to read all 309 pages of the Nanny Diaries before Sunday. Leanna left Thursday morning to go to Bobo and onto Mali for the long weekend so I was out both of my good friends. It was okay though. I needed the low key time to get back into the swing of things. I have to say, that the day off what exactly what I needed!

Since Leanna wasn’t around, Ben and I ran Wired. It went fine. I taught the Jr. High and Ben taught the Sr. High. The music was supposed to be taken care of, but I found out only a few minutes beforehand that that wasn’t the case. I brought my guitar and ended up playing! Sheesh! I was glad it came off okay. I hadn’t played my guitar in over a month and was a bit worried… After Wired Ben and I headed over to the Peace Corps hostel and hung out with Bianca. She was going to go back to her village on Friday, but we convinced her to stay around until Saturday… and promised her an awesome dinner Friday night. By the time we were done catching up and hanging out it was about 10:30pm and so Ben rode back with me to 2iE because it was too late to go alone and apparently there had been a few incidents in April and I didn’t want to take any chances.

Friday, I all of the sudden felt inspired to work. It was glorious. I think it had to do with the fact that Thursday was a day off. In the morning, I started typing up and analyzing the results from my experiments. I wanted to send the preliminary results off to the MIT grad student who wanted to use some of the information as soon as possible. I got pretty far but not far enough to send it before lunch. I had like no time for lunch or even to prepare for bible study. I have to be better at stopping when I need to. The problem was it was one of the first times I really felt inspired to work and I didn’t want to lose it…

However, the reason to stop was pretty good. I was hosting a Pool Party for my Jr. High Girls bible study. Since Prom was Wednesday and that would have proven a problem for some girls, we moved bible study to Friday afternoon and brought it to the pool! What is not to love. It was great. We played Marco Polo and a game called “Categories”. I brought sugared peanuts for a snack. The girls love them :) The fellowship was great, the lesson was only mediocre. I was suffering as a leader because I hadn’t taken the time to prepare. Not a good thing. Anyway, the pool side bible study will go down in history as a great success.

Afterwards, I went home showered and changed for work. Normally would have been pretty averse to going back to work especially because Bianca and Ben were coming over in the afternoon to cook dinner and hang out in my air conditioned house ;) However, I had a goal in mind and I worked really hard to finish the report. I stayed long enough at home to let Ben in and then headed back to my office. I was done with the report by 5:30, but my email wouldn’t attach the files! I spent 40 minutes trying to get it to work, but no luck. I left my office at 6:15 done with the report, but not having sent it… Dinner was amazing. Ben had made an awesome red wine pasta sauce so we had spaghetti and cheesy garlic bread. There were four of us: Bianca, Ben, Will and Me. After dinner we did all the dishes and I made up some bread pudding. I had wanted to try and make bread pudding for like for some time, so I was so happy to have a crack at it. I even bought real milk with the intention of making it. After mixing up the ingredients and putting it in the oven the four of us headed over to my office. Firstly, because I had to send that email! and Secondly, I thought it would be fun to show my friends where I worked. Thankfully the email worked and I was able to take my computer back with me happy as a clam. We got back and I found the oven was turned off! Not good, what about my bread pudding?! I must have turned off the gas we walked out of the kitchen. It is kind of an automatic reaction for me. Thankfully, we were able to relight the oven and the dessert finished cooking. While it was finishing up we started the entertainment for the night which happened to be Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail. The movie was great. I love the part when he picks out the right cup and can pick it out because it looks like a carpenter’s cup. Awesome. Oh and it had been a really long time since I last saw the movie and I don’t know if I have ever seen it in its entirety, but regardless, I was totally surprised by the Hitler scene. Talk about crazy, coming face to face with Hilter and having him autograph your Dad’s sacred book on the Holy Grail. Ridiculous! Oh, and before we put on Indiana Jones I made them watch an episode of Hannah Montana just for kicks. It got mixed to negative reviews, but that doesn’t bother me. I enjoy it and that is all that matters…

The bread pudding turned out okay. I liked it, but I know it wasn’t the best thing ever. I like that it tastes like French toast... I had enough of it left over that it lasted me all week as a dessert and some breakfasts. While the boys left, Bianca stayed over and slept on my couch. She was getting up really early to catch her bus back to village so I said goodbye at night and she got up and left in the morning. (Kind of like what I did in Boston…) Before I went to bed, I snuck to the front door and left a bag of M&Ms for Bianca to take with her on the bus. I got a text message from her later saying she got them ;) It is fun to do little things like that. I wish I had more time to do random acts of kindness.

The weekend was amazing. I did very little and loved it. I slept until noon on Saturday. You think I am exaggerating but I am not. When I did finally get up I spent most of the afternoon time reading the Nanny Diaries. I finished it! I also went in and talked to my family online briefly and then spent an hour scrubbing filters and setting them up to saturate for 24 hours. I worked out in the evening and watched the last episode of Grey’s Anatomy I had on my computer. I knew I was going to be getting the next two episodes in the series on Monday and it had been so long since I saw the last one I wanted to refresh my memory. I have to say though; it is amazing how short the day seems when you get up after half of it is over. Oh, my housemate left on Saturday to go to Niger for 6 days. She is very nice, but I enjoyed having the house back by myself.

Sunday started out much like Saturday. However, this time I only slept only until 11am. The other thing I should note is that when I woke up on Sunday my eyes looked just a little funny. A little like they did after my trip to Bobo and Banfora… hum…
I got myself a breakfast together and sat in my PJs and watched four, count them, four episodes of Hannah Montana. I have decided to watch them in sequential order. My brother gave me seasons one and two and I plan to be fully caught up before I get home in June. I also worked out, cleaned my kitchen and room, and was showered, done and ready to go to the book club meeting at 3pm. Susan and I walked over to Joann’s house. Oh, it was so much fun! I would have liked to discuss the book more, but we watched the movie so that makes up for it. And there were incredible snacks! Cookies, popcorn, and chips and dip. It was like being back in America!

When I got home, I stopped by the lab only to find my plan for saturating the filters didn’t work because the drain plugs I rigged up were slightly less than water-tight. Oh well, I would just have to saturate them on Monday when the downstairs lab was open. I listened to a sermon from HTB and then planned for both my bible study on Wednesday and Wired lesson on Thursday. It felt really good to have them both done! Sunday night I broke out my drawing pad and colored pencils and sat and drew for a while. It was unbelievably relaxing, and the picture I drew of the mango actually looks pretty good if you ask me. I want to keep up with this sort of thing and one of goals for the summer is to try painting; like really painting, oil painting. My Great Grandmother Fischer painted and was very good at it. I am thinking since I kind of look like her and have been told I have some of her other qualities that maybe, just maybe, the painting one was passed on too… One can always hope. And I have to say after going to Giverny, seeing Monet’s Gardens and all his paintings and the new affinity I have developed for impressionism I am so ready to pick up a brush!

Monday, the start of the work week, was surprisingly pleasant. Several things happened that made it that way… first, I was able to put my filters in the proper sinks this time. I also got word from Susan Murcott regarding the WHO Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage Network annual conference that would take place in Accra, Ghana at the beginning of June. I found out I would be able to register with her group and am now really excited about being able to go! It is such a motivator to get my work done… Plus when I get back from the conference, I will have about two weeks left in Burkina. Crazy! The only negative is my eyes still felt funny. I did some deep thinking to try and figure out what the problem could be, and I came up with several factors: 1. my malaria medication 2. the chemicals in the pool I swam in on Friday 3. the sun. So I stopped taking my doxycycline and will see what happens.

In the break time I went over to the rec center. It was first time I had been back…bizarre I know, but I was enjoying working out at home and there is nothing wrong with that. I wanted to run but there was some lady there on the treadmill. I used to enjoy ranting about how much I hate it when people walk instead of running on treadmills, but Annie pointed out that when it is 105 degrees outside they have a right to use the treadmill to. Fine. Thanks a lot Annie, ruining my pitty parade… So instead of running I had to use the elliptical machine. No big deal, worse things have happened to me.

For dinner I enjoyed the leftovers from Friday’s dinner along with a small glass of red wine. The pasta was great, but even if the wine is just to compliment the meal I don’t think I should have it when I am alone because without other people around I started to feel very melancholy. This is probably something I should pay attention too. After dinner, I watched Grey’s Anatomy. It was glorious! It had been six long months since a news Grey’s Anatomy came out, thank you writer’s strike… Anyway, I love being able to get into their drama instead of my own! I had two new episodes on my computer and told myself I would only watch one Monday night and then the next one on Tuesday night. Well you can imagine that didn’t happen. I watched both episodes and went to bed blissfully happy reveling in the twisted and wildly entertaining lives of the resident doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital.

Tuesday was equally as pleasant as Monday and, in fact, even more satisfying. I worked in the morning and started flow rate tests again. I was able to contact the people at JStor about our registration and started reading a great book called White Man’s Burden; Very provocative and critical of development work. I Love It. Anyway, I worked all morning and then went to ISO to meet Leanna for lunch. We walked over to Paradisios and both ordered full pizzas for ourselves ;) I got one with salami on it which ended up being very much like pepperoni. I have nothing, nothing to complain about in regards to the food or the company. Since Leanna left the day after I got back and was gone all weekend we hadn’t had a chance to catch up so lunch was much appreciated. I went back to work in the afternoon and kept busy with making Ghana plans. I also had my normal French lesson at 5:00pm. It went well. My French is super duper rusty and it is hard to motivate myself to get back into it…

In the evening after work I went home and had originally planned to be domestic on Tuesday night, making pita bread and doing other things generally associated with domestic upkeep. However, I remembered I wanted to get the article revisions done and out of the way and had been putting them off. At lunch with Leanna, I mentioned that was one of the things I wanted to do while in Africa was get this paper published. Well, I knew to do that I needed to get moving on it so I buckled down and was up pretty late but was able to get the paper very close to being ready to submit. It was actually really good that I did this because, surprisingly enough, Wednesday midday I received an email from my professor inquiring as to the paper’s status and thankfully I didn’t have to backpedal and come up with some excuse for not having it done! I was also able to put into writing some next steps for the IWA toolbox I am working on. Debborah, another woman on the project, and I are kind of the driving forces behind this thing and work had stalled out so we were emailing back and forth to figure out how to jump start things again. We came up with breaking the large group into smaller teams with one team leader each to work on the various aspects of the website.

Wednesday morning was just another day at the office. I spent a lot of time trying to email Tuesday night’s work to my professor, but Gmail was acting up. Just as I was sending it, though, I got an email from her asking if I had made any progress; great minds must think alike! I kept up with the flow rate measurements and finished up the first half of my day in time to hit the gym before bible study and lunch. This time, lucky for me, I was able to use the treadmill. It is so hit or miss over there! I ran for 30 minutes easy. It had been a while since I last ran and I didn’t want to over do it and be hurt the next few days. On my way back from the workout I stopped and had some pages photocopied for my bible study lesson as well as the Wired lesson on Thursday. It was surprisingly difficult to get the guy to give me the number of copies that I wanted. In the end it worked out and I even picked up a blank CD-R which I planned to use to make a mixed music CD that I can bring to the gym considering I am again without music. Such is life…Oh, and my experiment of stopping the doxycycline worked. My eye condition improved so instead I have started on Mefloquine again. Man will I be happy to get off these wretched medications ASAP.

After showering and grabbing a quick bite to eat I was off to Anna and Rosie’s for bible study. This time I brought the peanut M&M’s for the snack. I got them in Paris for the girls, but wanted to wait for the perfect time to give them to them. It was the perfect time and the girls were so excited :) The week’s lesson was on Trust Psalms looking mainly at Psalms 139. Awesome one by the way. One of the main points I wanted to take away was that each one of the them is special and unique and God really loves them! He knows the number of hairs on your head, he perceives your thoughts, he knows when you are coming and going… They got it a little, but they kept focusing on the portion talking about being made aware of your sins. This is also important so I was in no way disappointed. After study was over I stopped by the little shop called Prix Bas to buy some food stuff. I also stopped and picked up a bunch of fresh vegetables which made a few wonderful salads over the next few days. I am trying to each more fruits and vegetables. I got back to work by 5pm, just in time to get the call I was expecting from Professor Soboyejo. It was very helpful to reconnect. I was able to talk to him about the experiments and Ghana plans. I think these next few weeks will be very productive which is a great feeling. I have a real plan and vision and am ready to move.

Wednesday evening I spent a lot of time at my computer. I typed up a summary of my conversation with Professor Soboyejo and the action items that were to result so I wouldn’t forget them! I also typed up the April Africa Update which is why this blog post is so late… I only have a couple of hours a week to devote to this stuff and I had reached the limit. Once the update was written I spent a good chunk of time reading. In addition to White Man’s Burden which is a pretty deep book, I started at the same time a book called Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. It is a novel about an opera singer and a terrorist hostage situation. Very enthralling and well written.

Thursday I continued with flow rate measurements and received not such good news that the place I was hoping to stay in Ghana was booked! grrr… I had lunch with my friend Moulaye who I hadn’t seen in like forever. He originally wanted us to go out to dinner and after already having made that mistake once, I insisted we have lunch at the cafeteria if anything at all. Afterwards, we grabbed some coca-colas and he showed me some of the movies and music he has on his computer. At 4pm, I had my first tennis lesson since I returned from the states. It went great. Before I left, Emile, my first teacher, had hurt his finger and was out for a while and I had to have another tennis guy. But Emile was back and it was very nice to play with him agin. I was also doing pretty well if I don’t say so myself. At the end he was like, “Wow, what happened? You didn’t play this well before you left…” I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder and the tennis player more coordinated ;) In the evening I taught the Jr. High at Wired again. Leanna helped and that was greatly appreciated. We did this thing were I cut up papers into puzzles and hid the pieces all around. In teams they had to find the pieces and then assemble the puzzles. It went great! Except that it took them much much longer than I had anticipated and had to really cut the reading and questions short. But, oh well!

Oh, Friday. I love Fridays. Really, truly I do. The prospect of the weekend on the horizon just makes everything more pleasant. In the morning I finally had some incentive to get into work because I was going to have a skype call with Adrian who is the toolbox point person at IWA. The call was productive, but not all that enjoyable because the connection wasn’t great and I had to try and piece together what he was saying. I am sure it was the same thing for him as well. I did another flow rate measure in the morning and kept myself busy with some articles and cleaning up my office which was very much needed. Friday I had originally planned to go swimming at the rec center for my workout, but my arms were killing me from the tennis lesson the day before. So instead, I took the day off. I love that I can do that!

So, randomly enough, I go back to my office in the afternoon and the female guard at the reception follows me to my office and closes the door behind us both. I am like, huh? But them she starts talking to me about if I know anything about how she can become a guard for the U.S. Embassy. phew… My goodness, I thought she was going to ask for a visa or money or something. Information on the embassy, that I can handle. Anyway, she has been a guard at 2iE for 2 years and would like to work instead for the U.S. Embassy. The embassy employs many many Burkinabe as guards for the actual compound itself as well as all the employee’s homes. They are on a 45 minutes rotation so they don’t fall asleep. Try that one on for size… I told her I would ask and try and find out what she has to do to apply. After that I read my book Bel Canto until my Mom called. We were supposed to talk from 6-6:25pm my time, before I was picked up by my friend Pam to go to dinner. At 5:55pm I got an email from my Mom saying she was still at school and had to finish programming the electronic baby dolls her child development students use. That was super disappointing! But life goes on…

At 6:25 Pam picked me up along with her daughter and friend who were coming to dinner to, then we swung by and picked up Emily who was leaving Burkina the next day. We wanted to take her out to eat on her last night in Ouaga. We decided to go to a place called L’eau Vive, or Living Water. There is one I went to Bobo and loved it. The restaurant is run by nuns and the food is pretty good. But better than the food is the mango juice. It is really thick and yummy. I ordered an omelet and mashed potatoes and for some reason they brought it out before everyone else’s meal. I was a bit frustrated and they seriously didn’t bring out the other food until I was done! Anyway, the juice was amazing and then to top things off at 9:45pm every night the nuns sing Ave Maria. It was beautiful. I thought it would be sister act style with the robes and all the swaying, but there were no black robes and the nuns spread themselves out amongst the tables. They all stood and faced a statue of Mary that was on top of a pile of rocks that water flowed down. Hence, living water… whatever, singing nuns definitely equal a highlight of my week. Friday night I had a terrible time going to sleep. I just wasn’t tired at all! It was actually pretty frustrating because I knew I had to get up early the next day and I wanted to sleep, but couldn’t! When I did finally get some sleep it was shallow and not refreshing at all. Ugh!

Saturday morning was very busy. At this point, I had like no clean clothes left at all. I had had to hand wash the essentials earlier in the week! So I got up and packed all my clothes into my big backpacking pack to bring them to Leanna to wash. I got on my bike and struck off trying to quickly master the balancing act that riding my bike with this massive backpack required. I stopped at the bank ATM since I had no money and still made it to Leanna’s by 8:00am. I put in the first load of wash and then Leanna, myself, and another woman Martina all headed over to the ISO yard sale. It had been open for 10 minutes by the time we got here, but it was already a full house. It was fun to look around and see what everyone was selling. There wasn’t much I needed and, leaving in June, the last thing I need to do is accumulate more junk. I did, however, buy a DVD, The Pursuit of Happiness. It was one I wanted to see and I knew the guy selling it so I only had to pay a little over a dollar for it. Well worth it. Anyway, we were back to Leanna’s by 9:05, I jumped on my bike and rode home really fast. I had 25 minutes to get home change and get to Toastmasters. I walked in to Toastmasters at 9:31. They had just started. It wasn’t that bad. The meeting went well. I evaluated a speech for the first time ever and it as really fun. It also helped that the guy did a really good job. I also found out the Gala is May 31st and not the 30th which is what I had originally thought. The youth group end of year banquet is the 30th and I didn’t want to have to choose between the two. However, now I don’t have to. I can do both! Especially since I plan to leave for Ghana on June 1st. Everything is falling into place :)

I got back from Toastmasters and promptly started my video workout. I finished and was showered and dressed when Leanna came to pick me up at 1:30pm. We had lunch with Ben at her house, I put in the last load of laundry and then we worked on decorating the cake for the CMA cookout the next day. Leanna was going to draw an airplane and put pictures of the people leaving in the windows. It was a great idea, but I must admit I was quite skeptical. However, I am happy to report the cake turned out great! Very professional looking indeed. While Leanna finished up the big cake I used the leftover icing to decorate the tray of brownies she made for our dessert. We were having a special dinner in Will’s honor. Will has been in Burkina about 9 months working with the group called SIM. He and Ben were housemates. Anyway, he was leaving Burkina on Tuesday evening and we were having a farewell dinner for him. The message I put on the brownies was, “Will, miss you!” Get it? Get it, Will (We’ll) miss you… I crack myself up. In addition to the clever message, I drew a Canada leaf and an Eiffel Tower with interlocking rings because he is going to Paris with his girlfriend on the way back and is planning to propose to her! Congrats Will!

Enough about the brownies. Ben planned the dinner. He made chicken, rice and stir-fry vegetables. He marinated the chicken at Leanna’s, but then we moved the operations over to my place with Air Conditioning. We made up the vegetables and cooked the meat at my place. My housemate who had gotten back from Niger joined us for dinner which was nice. After dinner, Rosie and Anna, Naomi, and Naimi came over and the eight of us played Speed Uno. It was a blast! Ben clearly dominated, but Leanna played really well as well, she just always got stuck having to pass her hand with one card left because someone would play a zero. But hey, that is part of the game… After a full cycle of rounds we stopped the game and unveiled the blessed brownies. Everyone enjoyed my pun of a farewell massage and we served the brownies with ice cream, a rare treat in Burkina. But I have to say the ice cream really made the dessert. Separately the brownies and ice cream are good, but together they knock your socks off. After dessert the girls left and Ben and Will hung out a little longer. They peaced out about 11:30pm and I stayed up and did the dishes. I figured as much as I didn’t want to do them that night, I would want to do them less the next day and the food on them would be dried up and they would be much harder to clean. So I bit the bullet and did all the dishes. I had music going, though, so I didn’t really mind.

Sunday I got up early and went to church. Mark your calendars. I haven’t been to an organized church in Burkina for some time now. I preferred to simply listen to a sermon at home and play my guitar for worship. In fact, I still prefer that, however, I do realize it is important to participate in a more corporate church service, so I went. I was regretting that decision after getting up at 7:30 though… I went to the CMA Patte d’Oie church with Leanna, Lorinda and Martina. Anyway, church was fine. The music was grating on my ears and the sermon was confusing, but I did sketch a pretty picture on my scrap paper store list so not all was lost. After church we headed to Marina Market to do some grocery shopping. This is the tradition and I was so happy to get to pick up some of the things I needed without having to ride my bike downtown. Since the CMA was having a cookout in the afternoon Lorinda had ordered a bunch of sausages and bread last week to pick up that Sunday. Surprise, surprise, they didn’t have her order. So we ended up having to drive to the other Marina downtown too, and they didn’t have any either. They were quite a pickle with 30 people coming over in less than 2 hours and nothing to barbeque! I still haven’t found out what solution they came up with. They dropped me off on their way to search other meat shops for the goods.

It was 11:00am when I got home. I went straight to my office to talk to my family. I told them I could talk starting at 7am their time. Well, they weren’t online. It wasn’t until much later that I realized I was an hour early. For some reason I only added 4 hours onto 7am instead of 5. Anyway, when 12 rolled around the power went off! Can you believe it? I sat and read and waited for 30 minutes and thankfully the power went back on. However, when the power goes out someone has to reset the server and since it was Sunday there was no one around to do this. Quel Dommage! Also at noon a huge dust storm came though. I was crazy. Trees were shaking like crazy in the wind and you see the dust clouds blowing all over. In any case, I couldn’t gamble on somebody coming in later so I went home had a great salad for lunch. I then packed up my stuff for the afternoon and headed over to Les Petites Delices, my resident internet connection place if something is wrong at 2iE. I didn’t really want to talk there, but it was Mother’s Day and I had to connect. Anyway, it worked out and I got to talk to my family which was nice. It was a bit strained though since we hadn’t talked in a while. I don’t want that to happen again…

After spending the afternoon online I headed over to the rec center at 4pm for my tennis lesson. It was, again, fantastic. I went home and had Saturday’s leftovers for dinner, yum :) and then filled out the PiAf 6 month report. Even though it is a month late, I figured better late than never! My reward for finishing the report was to watch an episode of Hannah Montana. Then I worked on the finalizations of my article for resubmission to the Natural Hazards Review Journal. When I had finished those, I made some popcorn and sat on my couch and finished reading Bel Canto. Talk about a loaded last 7 pages. I didn’t think I could handle it; it was super intense and you don’t know how to react as a reader. I went to bed after that, but not before spending ample time looking over my finances. I like to make sure things are in order every once in a while.

Monday I slept in until 9:15. I was feeling a bit under the weather, but there was a lot waiting for me at work. I worked all morning on IWA stuff as well as submitting my ASCE paper again. I am so happy to have that monkey off my back again for another 3 months until it is reviewed and I have to change it again… However, I have to admit I feel this version is way improved over the other one. I replied to a bunch of emails and finished in time to get a very late lunch. I didn’t take a long break, but instead had to be back by 3:30 for a meeting with Professor Maiga. I had some stuff prepared which was good. We went over my preliminary results and agreed on what I would do as far as reports go. Then we had a nice conference call with Professor Soboyejo. It was tricky to get the call to connect, but it was well worth the hassle. There are so many opportunities for collaboration and really neat projects and ideas coming down the pike. I am so happy to be helping facilitate and contributing to work that is making a difference.

After all that I played online for a little while and then headed home. I grabbed my swimsuit and rode over to the rec center. Bad idea. Actually, it was a great idea, just everyone had the same one! There were so many people in the pool, I couldn’t do my laps. I had also forgotten my goggles and headlamp to ride back with so I only swam for a little while and then called it a night. When I got home I felt inspired to make some corn bread… random I know, but I didn’t fight my inspiration and made some corn bread. I also made up some spaghetti sauce. It turned out way better than last time. Once I satisfied my cooking impulse I sat down and wrote the better part of this post. However, I was still not feeling great. I had battled a headache in the afternoon and it was still there so I turned in early for the night. I did, however, have a stroke of genius before I went to bed and froze my pasta sauce in little one serving amounts using saran wrap and all my Tupperware containers. That way I can grab a one serving disk of pasta sauce and defrost it without the hassle of managing that big block of frozen stuff you get when you freeze things normally…

Tuesday I didn’t set my alarm. My headache was pretty bad as I went to bed and it freaked me out so I wanted to give my body a chance to fight whatever the problem might have been. It seemed to work. I was in bed by 11pm and got up at 9:15am feeling pretty darn good. I worked at home in the morning and went to the gym around 11:30. I had to wait for a guy to finish using the treadmill. That didn’t really bother me. What did bother me was the fact that I had made a sweet workout mix CD and when I turned it on the guy complained it was too loud…Well, buddy, the treadmill kind of makes a lot of noise so for me to hear the music I have to turn it up load! So he would turn it down and I would use the remote I stashed in the cup holder and turn it back up again. Ah-ha! Take that… I mean seriously. It was even a pretty killer CD. Whatever, he finally left and I turned it up even more. My run was amazing. I could tell my legs were ready to go! I ran 4 miles at about an 8:30 mile pace closing in a sub 8. It was sweet. After showering and getting dressed again I stopped by my office and then rode over to the Burg’s house. Nancy had called at 10:15am and invited me to lunch. Of course I agreed! It was great to have a family meal :) I was also able to get them the map, guidebook and british pounds I had gotten them on my trip to England. They are visiting England on their way back to the states, and I stayed and talked to them about things to do and transportation essentials.

After lunch I hung around and used their internet. It was 3:15pm and I had a meeting with Nicolas at Helvetas at 4pm and it didn’t make sense to go back and forth. The Nicolas meeting went great. We are going to go visit a potter’s workshop next Tuesday! I finally figured out if I want something to happen I have to initiate it and make the effort. Waiting for others to do something you can do yourself is not advisable. You waste so much time and frankly life it too short. Take it by the horns! I also got an email from my Mom saying my Grandad went into the hospital with some cardiac issues. So please keep him in your prayers.

On the way back from the meeting I stopped and picked up vegetables to make mango salsa and guacamole for the Mexican dinner and movie night Susan I were hosting that night. The chip dips turned out really well. The mango salsa recipe can be found here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Avocado-Tomato-and-Mango-Salsa/Detail.aspx

I would highly recommend it. Very summery feeling and the mangos here are to die for! I slightly burned the ground beef when I was seasoning it, but no one noticed and I didn’t say anything…Oh, and my housemate left for good. She was really nice. She worked all the time so there wasn’t much time to get to know her, but I much prefer that to the last arrangement, if you know what I mean. The Mexican food was a hit with the Burkinabe women who came. We watched Rent the movie. Very good movie. Sad, but it deals with tough topics that can’t be ignored. Anyway, I came home and did my dishes, wrote some emails and finished this post. That is all. Good night my friend.

Next Fall ;)

2008-05-01T13:25:00.002-05:00

I usually don’t write a post just for a single day, but this is a special case. Wednesday, I woke up and went into work. I was surprisingly refreshed, but did my best to avoid seeing people as I was not in a social mood. I spent the morning editing my pictures and stopped by Susan’s to say hi on my way home for lunch. I took a nap after lunch and was thankfully able to pull myself out of bed again at 3:40-ish. I made a store list, prepped a little for Wired on Thursday and then I went into my office. It was at that point that I got the email I had been waiting for.

The verdict is in, and I am officially going to Stanford in the fall. I was not chosen for the Weidenfeld Scholarship. There were no tears, just a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and a rather unpleasant sinking feeling in my stomach. I would be lying to say I’m not disappointed. I kind of feel it was cruel joke for God to bring to Oxford, let me fall in love with the place all over again, and then say… nope, just kidding. The funny thing is I felt like everything had gone so well. Like I said I wouldn’t have done anything differently, so I can’t say I am upset with myself in any capacity. I tried my best. I obviously wasn’t what they were looking for and that is okay. I still feel like I am destined for Oxford at some point in time, but I guess the timing just wasn’t quite right yet.

Anyway, the truth is I couldn’t be happier to go to Stanford. It seems that is where I'm supposed to be, and now I can view the Oxford trip as simply wonderful and unexpected blessing. So following the reception of the scholarship outcome, I was able to finalize everything else. I am going to room at Stanford with my friend Sarah Moore. I thanked the professor I met at Oxford and delivered the news I would not be at Oxford in the fall. I also emailed the Stanford people with the positive message that I would be there in the fall and was surprised by a lovely response from one woman saying she was sorry for me that I didn’t get the scholarship, but also delighted, even though it might sound awful, not to have to wait a year to have me at Stanford. That was the kind of response I needed. What a journey this graduate school stuff has been?! Both physically traveling all over the place, and emotionally going from the depths of despair (gotta love Anne Shirley) to the pinnacles of happiness. I am happy to be set for the fall and happier to be going to Stanford. I am ready to be in one place for a while and I can’t think of any place that would have suited me better. Besides, I left it all up to God and I don’t think he makes the wrong choices.

“I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but is the Lord’s purpose which prevails.” Proverbs 19:21

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3

Anyway, at 6:00pm I called it a night. I went and grabbed my bike and headed for the shoppette. I was able to find everything on my shopping list and went home to make dinner. I made a great pasta dinner with a spinach and cream cheese sauce. It was great. The recipe is definitely a keeper. You can find it online here at RecipeZaar.com. RecipeZaar is my favorite online recipe site. Try it, you’ll like it.

Susan and I toasted my plans for Stanford and enjoyed a great meal. She brought over some salad that went great with the pasta. After dinner, I borrowed Susan’s hard drive, made some popcorn, and watched the movie Juno. Well done is all I can say… I haven’t really taken the time to analyze it for the deeper meanings, but it is quite enjoyable to watch. I can see why it got such great reviews and won all those awards!

That is all. You can expect the next update in a week or so. Hopefully, this has given you enough to read for a while. It took me long enough to write, that is for sure! Sorry it is coming all at once. That is what happens... p.s. here's a shout out to Raj, who helped me cultivate my love for English culture!

Enjoy the all pictures as well!

Respectfully yours,
Sara

a.k.a. the wearied traveler...

Pictures from the fairytale land of Oxford...

2008-05-01T13:19:00.003-05:00

Weidenfeld, Oxford, and a side order of bread... What?!

2008-05-01T13:00:00.002-05:00

My time in Oxford was, in a word, magical. I don’t know how one can walk the streets of those hallowed halls and not feel a tingle in their fingers and toes. It is beautiful. I wasn’t sure I made the right decision applying to Christ Church College, but in fact I did. Walking the grounds I know I would be happy there. I am actually on the bus on the way to the airport! (It is 4:22am) They have outlet plugins on the bus, which is amazing :) Boy am I a far way from Africa. It is kinda of crazy to go from of the absolute poorest places in the world to one of the richest!

So my flight from Burkina to London was uneventful. Leanna picked me up at 5:30pm and dropped me off at the airport. I was there and just waited around for two hours. When I first arrived I decided to check out the VIP Salon which was conspicuously located in one corner of the single room waiting area. I didn’t know who it was for and figured, hey, maybe there is no one checking and I can just do whatever I want. Well, that wasn’t quite the case. You are supposed to have a business class ticket, something I did not have. However, I learned that I could pay 5000CFA to use the room and you just two drinks and some snacks. I debated it, and if I truly was in a place to call myself VIP I probably would have plunked down the cash and enjoyed the comfortable chairs and table bowls of peanuts. But, since I am on a budget and need to not be frivolous at this point in time, I opted to sit in the layman’s area. It is nice to know though that you can buy your way in the VIP area…

I tried to sleep as best as I could. There was the infernal layover in Niamey as before… I really hate that. It just feels like we are sitting there for no reason. I know, I know they are refueling, adding luggage, adding passengers, ect. but it is still annoying. I ended up watching the National Treasure sequel which was interesting, but in hindsight I probably should have simply slept.

I arrived in Paris and the hour and a half I had to make my connection proved to be just enough time. At Charles de Gaulle you have to go through customs in and out just to change planes it is really a terrible system. Anyway, I made my connection and the flight from Paris to London was a whopping forty-five minutes which doesn’t give one anytime really to use your electronic devices, not that I have one anymore since I lost my ipod… sad. I slept the whole time I was on the connection. Once my bum hit the seat bottom and I put my earplugs in and covered my eyes, I didn’t wake back up until I could look out my window and longingly look at London from my window seat on the right side of the plane, strategically picked so I could have a sweet view during the descent. At Heathrow I got through customs, picked up my bag, and was at the bus loading point in less than forty minutes. That should be a new record. I got the 8:30 bus to Oxford and met two other Weidenfeld Scholars taking the same bus. Both of them were very nice; one American and the other from Jordan. We talked quite a bit during the hour plus journey.

When we pulled into Oxford, it was a beautiful sunny Friday morning. It was a rarity I am told. I was afraid my memories and fond feelings of awe and splendor would fade the second time I saw the University. However, that was not the case. I was equally as enchanted this second time around. The first order of business before going to the business school that would serve as the base camp for the weekend, I popped into the post office and mailed all the Paris postcards I had been saving. I also had to mail several packages for Rosie and Anna, two English girls living in Burkina who help me with bible study :) Can I just mention I actually enjoy the English postal system, some people may disagree, but I think it is quite organized and logically run. AND, my grandparents received their postcard 3 days after I posted it. That is impressive! From the post office I caught the 35A bus to Templeton College/Said Business School/Egrove Park. I met one of the program representatives, got my name tag, folder of information and my room key. I found my room and boy was I glad to ditch my bags! At this point I haven’t really slept yet, but there also isn’t much time for such an expendable activity. In my room by 11:00am I had about 2 hours before lunch. I should have napped. But I couldn’t. I had all sorts of stuff to figure out with the extra day I had to spend and finalize arrangements to visit with professors. I was lucky enough to get in touch with my Mom online. I just had to talk through everything so I could make a clear decision about what to do! Not having heard from the family I had stayed with before, I booked a room at a hostel for Monday night. I wouldn’t end up using the room and am yet to know if I lost only the seven dollar deposit or if I had to pay the whole price of the room.

Lunch was incredible. I would soon learn all the food was going to be stellar quality! The assortment of cheeses as really quite impressive… Anyway, I really enjoyed lunch, but couldn’t linger all that long after the meal because I needed to get to the science area to meet with one of the professors. I donned my running gear and headed to the bus stop. I saw the bus go past on my way to the stop and consequently had to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus, ugh! I figured I was going to be super late for my meeting and was getting pretty anxious. Turns out, the bus was really speedy, once it came, and the walk to the building from the stop wasn’t too terrible. I got there at like 2:33pm. I walk in and tell the receptionist I was waiting for so and so and she said he wasn’t in yet and wouldn’t be in for another half hour or so. It was 45 minutes before he came. I was luckily able to rest my eyes while reclining on padded window seat. The only discomforting thing about the whole situation was there was a warning sign that the panels behind the bench contained asbestos. That bit of information was a bit disconcerting! Anyway, the professor finally arrived and I had a very nice meeting with him. It lasted longer than I had predicted, but it wasn’t a problem. From the Science Area I ventured to run back to Templeton. It was a lovely run. Very relaxing… My favorite part was the discovery that the main bridge you have to cross is called Folly Bridge. If that isn’t a fated name, I don’t know what is…

The run back took me less time than expected, but longer than I had allocated since I got distracted by the shops along High Street. Back at the room, which was really really nice by the way; internet, a nice work area, private bathroom, cable and a plush bed, I took a shower and then took a nice little nap. It was only like 30 minutes, but it felt like hours had passed. I love it when that happens!

That night was the formal dinner. At first it was a bit awkward as everyone was trying to get to know one another. We had to repeat ourselves about a million times answering the questions, where are you from, what do you want to study, ect. At the dinner, there were several speakers. It was great to observe their different styles. After being in toastmasters, I am always interested in seeing how people speak in front of groups. The dinner lasted until 11pm and I was really tired. I had met a ton of new people, hadn’t really slept on Thursday night at all and knew I had a written test in the morning. So I went to bed.

Saturday’s breakfast was great. The only not so great thing was the written test that was looming over the morning. At 9:00am, we all assembled in a room and had one hour to write an essay response to the prompt “What are the virtues and vices of democracy? Answer in relationship to your country of origin.” Well, great. I am not a political scientist nor do I pretend to be. But I answered the question as best as I could. I put together a pretty coherent essay with three virtues and three vices which come as a result of the virtues being twisted by the imperfections of the system. I had given it my best effort and that was all I could be asked to do. I was grateful I didn’t freak out, and was able to sort through my thoughts and plan something I was proud of creating.

The interviews started right after the exam. My interview, however, wasn’t scheduled until Sunday at 1:45pm, the last possible interview time. I could have let that upset me, but I didn’t. Instead, I took a nap after the exam on Saturday. I woke up to go to lunch. As I mentioned the food was something I didn’t want to miss out on. And actually Lord Weidenfled sat down at our table near the end of time and so I got to say hi and ask my Lolita question. Score. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I needed to get the 2:03 bus. I politely slipped away and then headed into Oxford to attend part of an apologetics conference my friend Vince was helping out with at his church. His church is right across from Christ Church College where I would be if I got the scholarship. I sat in for the last 10 minutes of a planned talk and then got to be there for all of the very interesting Question and Answer session. I got to meet a bunch of really nice people at the church! It seems like it would be a nice fit for me… Anyway, after that I wanted to go get some Ben’s cookies so Vince and I headed over to the covered market and partook of the best cookies you will ever find! From there we walked to Christ Church College, because I wanted to have another look around. We tried calling our other friend Christian, but he didn’t pick up his phone. Then, as fate would have it, we literally ran into him as he was leaving the gardens with his friends. So he said goodbye to his friends and joined Vince and I in the master’s gardens. The amazing thing about Oxford is that it looks very old, which is it, and somewhat foreboding, which it is… But behind these stone walls there are all these hidden secret gardens! They are so pretty. I think it also helped that the weekend I was in Oxford, there was wonderful weather. So the three of us just kind of sat around in the gardens and caught up on how life was going. I got to ask a bunch of questions about Oxford which was very helpful. Vince and Christian both went to Princeton which is how I know them :)

We parted ways about 6:00pm. I had to get back for the second dinner, this time informal… Lovely. It didn’t last nearly as long which was great! The only downside was there was no assigned seating so it felt a bit like junior high in the lunchroom on the first day of school. Not pleasant, let me remind you. After dinner they had tea and coffee and chocolates. Yum! I got to bed much earlier and was nice and refreshed on Sunday morning.

Sunday I had a great breakfast and tried to keep myself busy and not thinking about the interview. I read for a while in the morning. Still trying to finish up Lolita. I went for a run at 11:00am. It was great. I brought my not-ipod mp3 player and was able to listen to a very timely sermon and inspiring music as I ran along the Thames. I think I may broken the mp3 player though… it doesn’t respond when I press the buttons. I wonder if some sweat got inside and messed up the controls. Again, I would just like to point out I feel like I am cursed when it comes to music, and by that I mean cursed in using portable music players! After my run I showered up and ironed my black jacket. I got dressed for my interview and headed downstairs. I had to wait a good 30 minutes, but that was okay. I was expecting it.

I walked into the interview room and was surprisingly at ease. I was able to answer their questions to the best of my ability. I had prepared as best as I could. I was not totally at a loss except for the stupid weaknesses question. People were coming out of the interviews traumatized, but I didn’t feel that way at all. I gave it my best shot and would probably do the same thing again if I had the chance. The interview didn’t last as long as I had expected which was somewhat troubling. I was getting all sorts of smiles and what felt like positive responses. I left feeling pretty good about things…

I sat down for lunch, by this time it was well past 2:15pm and I was starved. I couldn’t eat much right before my interview as I didn’t feel like I was hungry and didn’t want to mess anything up. Lunch was great, and afterwards I packed up my stuff in ten minutes and walked to the bus stop so I could go on the walking tour of Oxford. I wanted to stay in my room at Templeton another night, but they said that wasn’t possible. Instead, I would crash at Vince’s place on the extra couch they have in the basement. I didn’t want to come back and get my stuff so I would have to have my bags with me for the tour, but I didn’t really care. I was planning to stash them at the church since I was going to go to the 6:00pm service there anyway.

Well, turns out that the church was locked. My plan was foiled and instead I had to lug my luggage through Oxford as we learned all about how old the colleges were, how so and so went to this college and how many books are in the library, ect. It was tiring and I was glad when it was over. I was also quite dehydrated. During the church service I felt a bit light headed. Luckily they had drinks and donuts for sale in the foyer after the service so I paid my 1 pound and felt much better after refueling a little bit. After the service a group of people went out a place called All Bar One. It was really cool. Most of the people only ordered drinks, but I hadn’t had dinner and was again, need I point out, starved! I ordered a wrap which was a great choice :) We stayed until about 10:30pm and then called it a night. Back at Vince’s place, I cancelled my hostel reservation planning to stay in Oxford for Monday and not deal with the hassle of getting into London for a less than 24 hour stay. I was also thinking the Oxford was looking pretty promising and was banking on being able to head into London on the weekends next year… Anyway, I slept like a rock and morning came all too soon!

Monday morning I walked to the science park and met with the professor at Oxford who knows the professor I will be working with at Stanford. He helps run the Water Science, Policy and Management Program. It was great to connect up and learn more about the program. After the brief meeting I stopped at a gift shop and bought a magnet and a bookmark; a wise use of 1.80 pounds if you ask me. From there I walked the 20 minutes back to Vince’s place and headed out for a run. My legs were done for before I even started! It wasn’t a long route, but it took me forever because I was running so slowly. But how could I stop? And the surroundings were so beautiful I couldn’t help but enjoy myself even though I was in a non-negligible amount of pain.

Once back, I showered quickly and walked into the center of Oxford and met up with Christian for lunch. This time the journey took about ten minutes longer because I couldn’t walk as fast due to the fact I was exhausted! I would also like to point out that the weather all day was really schizophrenic. It would rain then be super sunny. Cloudy and the sunny, then rain. Anyway, Christian is in St John’s College and it was great to have a meal at a real college in Oxford.

After lunch I ran some errands picking up random things people had requested I bring back for them. I got a 1GB flash drive, a map of Southern England, a London guidebook, some red tissue paper, and some pens to give to my coworkers as gifts. Turns out they were fountain pens… yikes. But what can I do, so I am going to give them to them anyway, even though they may be entirely useless. At least they look pretty! I also took some photos and found a couple of neat pieces of clothing and a necklace at a great second hand shop I had been eyeing since I first drove past it on the initial bus ride from Heathrow to Oxford… From there I walked to the ice cream place on St. Aldate’s. Wow. That is all I can say. The ice cream was phenomenal. And, was able to taste the flavor before I bought it. Score.

I ate my ice cream on the way to attending the first Weidenfeld Speaker’s Series event. The title was something like “Are Revolutions Contagious?”. It was very fascinating. It lasted like 2 hours, plus another 1 hour of question and answer. I took a ton of notes, not because it was especially interesting. It was good, but not enthralling… I took notes because if I didn’t I would have been fast asleep and that was not something I wished to have happen. I didn’t know too much about Central and Eastern European history so I was lost in some of it, but still enjoyed what I learned and it made we want to go Google a ton of different topics which I think is a good thing.

After the talk there was nice little reception. I ate a bunch of cookies, again quite hungry. From there I went to dinner with a couple of the other candidates. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money so I ordered the soup, that and as I mentioned I had just eaten a bunch of cookies. However, when I ordered the soup and bread, the server thought I meant a side order of bread and brought me more bread than I wanted. The bread was as much as the soup and had to end playing 7pounds for my dinner of soup and bread… That is like 14 dollars. I was ticked off. If I had wanted to spend 7 pounds I would have ordered a pizza or something legitimate. Not good. Anyway, I left the dinner earlier than everybody else because I had to walk back to Vince’s place. It was 10:20pm when I left the restaurant and 10:45pm when I finally made it back. I had said I would be back by 10pm so I felt kind of bad, but it wasn’t a big deal. Next time, one, I will not order the soup, two, I will just go home. I learn new things everyday. I just thought it would be nice to hang out with the Weidenfeld people some more. It was nice, but I think I had hit my limit and the bread fiasco did not help the situation.

Back at Vince’s I packed up my stuff, yet again, and made plans for the morning. I got to sleep all of 3.5 hours from midnight to 3:30am, when I had to get up and walk to the bus stop to get bus to get to Heathrow for a 7:40 flight. I got there in no time, but spent 40 minutes in line at the Air France counter. It was ridiculous. And I would like to point at this point my body officially hates me. I haven’t had regular meals for two days and the food I have been eating hasn’t been all that great for me… I was a bit queasy. I finally checked my bags in and got through security. I tried to track down something for breakfast, but was only mildly successful. I didn’t have a long wait at the gate which was nice, and the flight from London to Paris is a brisk 45 minutes. However, my plane touched down in Paris at 10:10 local time, leaving me 50 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave. I have the Paris airport. I think I have mentioned that before, but let me reiterate. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go in and out of customs as I had on the way over. After a good twenty minute walk from one terminal to the next, and a short delay at security, I made it to my gate as the plane was boarding. Thankfully, it wasn’t the last call like my time through Paris. But still. Once, just once, I would like to feel like I have things under control as I am flying through Paris.

The godsend of the whole trip was that I was able to sleep on both of my flights. I was done for. I did wake up for the meal and after the meal watched I Am Legend before falling asleep again. The plane made a stopover in Niamey, Niger. I hate just having to sit and wait on planes like that. But alas, there wasn’t much I could do about it was there. So I dosed in and out of consciousness. I was so happy to be parked in Ouagadougou. After the landing we taxied for what seemed like forever. I was not doing well and really needed to get some fresh air off of the plane. I had a similar feeling getting off of the bus that morning. My poor body had been through a lot of flights in the last month and wasn’t too happy about it… I went through customs without a hitch this time. Last time I had filled out my landing card in pencil and had to redo it. I wanted to yell at them that if they wanted it in pen they needed to indicate it somewhere on the card. BUT it is Africa. It wouldn’t have made a stinking difference.

Leanna picked me up from the airport and we went back to her house. I had offered to help her decorate the cakes for prom and was happy to spend some time with her. She Skyped with her sister and I emailed my parents and took a shower before we got down to business on the cake. The theme for the dance was Fire and Ice so we made flames and icicles growing from opposite corners of the cake. It turned out very well. Afterwards we invited Ben over to share a smaller leftover cake that I had decorated to look like an Easter egg. Go figure. Leanna drove me home and I wanted to sleep so badly. However, I had to greet the new lady who was staying at my house. Things just keep getting more and more complicated, eh? Anyway, to my relief she is very kind and I was able to talk to her for just a few minutes before politely excusing myself for the evening.

So that is it. My travels have officially come to a halt. It is a bit of a let down and I wonder how I will readjust to life in Africa. I feel it will be as hard as I first imagined it would be. With only two months left I feel like it will be struggle to concentrate, but I am going to pray it all works out. Somehow it usually does…

Brief stop at home in Burkina...

2008-05-01T13:00:00.001-05:00

So I don’t remember all that much about the 3 days I spent back in Africa before heading out for England. I know on Tuesday I went work and did as much as I could do. I greeted all my co-workers and stopped in to see Professor Maiga. I know that doesn’t account for the several hours I spent sitting my office, but frankly I don’t know what I did to pass that time… Oh well. I was a bit worn out and leaving on Thursday there wasn’t much I could dive into and get back out of before then. Tuesday evening Ben and Leanna came over. Ben brought pizza and Leanna brought salad. It was nice to catch up a little and Leanna helped me pick out clothes for the interview and stuff. We also had a nice girl talk about all the stuff that has been going on over the past two weeks!

Wednesday I went to work at 7:00am. Go Sara! I wrote a bunch of emails, but then ended up heading to ISO to meet Leanna at 10:30 to help her figure out Prom details. Prom would be Wednesday April 30th, the day after I was scheduled to get back. I offered to take the pictures and was planning on it until the last minute another girl said she wanted to do it. I was okay just having a chill evening at home. Anyway, we figured out a great design for the picture background and also planned out an idea for how to decorate the cake.

From there, instead of going home I went to Leanna’s and did a load of laundry and chilled out. I also planned for bible study which was at 3:00pm that afternoon. It was nice to see Rosie and Anna again and to lead bible study! Geez, it had been a good two weeks and I hated to feel like I had abandoned the girls… The study went well. Oh and fyi, it is really hot in Burkina right now. I missed a good chunk of the heat by being in the US for the most part of April, but man oh man. It is a new level of hot. Wednesday night I worked out and then tried to get my life in some semblance of order.

Thursday I got up and started packing. I went to work and had like a million emails to send. Luckily, I got through them all and even ordered the bus ticket I needed to get from the airport to Oxford. I had lunch at the cafeteria because I had very little food at my place and like to no time to eat. I went out and picked up a few trinkets to give as presents to Vince and Christian if I ended up seeing them. That afternoon I worked out and then after I showered I saw I had missed a call from Nicolas. Apparently, the people from Ghana had arrived. At this point, I had 40 minutes before Leanna was picking me up to go to the airport. I told him to come by my office in 10 minutes. I shoved everything in my bag to finish packing and went to my office. They took longer than 10 minutes and I had only 20 minutes to talk to them when they finally arrived. It was great though. Making the connection with the two people who work with the ceramic filters in Ghana was very helpful. They were able to see the experiment set-up I have and were able to give me new faucets and brushes to clean them with. The meeting was brief, but I was happy they came, even though it added some stress for me.

I made it back to my house just as Leanna was about to call me and find out where I was. We loaded my bags into her car and we were on our way to the airport!

61 Photos of Paris. Enjoy!

2008-05-01T12:56:00.001-05:00

Monet's Gardens, Russian Symphony and 300Euro Air France Voucher... Oh the adventures of Paris!

2008-05-01T12:35:00.002-05:00

To quote Sabrina, “Paris is always a good idea.” I had a wonderful time exploring the city of lights. Normally people think Paris is for lovers, but visiting by yourself can be awesome too!

My plane landed and after getting my luggage and passing customs it was only a short time before I was on a train headed for the Gare du Nord. My urgency would result in one minor incident, that I wouldn’t realize until later that night. Alas, I left my ipod on the plane! I do not have such a good track record with keeping a hold on these little buggers. Here’s the other issue… When I got on the plane I first had to kick someone out of my seat who had the middle seat, but was obviously hoping to have mine. Anyway, then I go to put my bag under my seat and the girl sitting ahead of me has her bag under her seat instead of the seat in front of her. Well, this kind of makes sense because she didn’t have a seat ahead of her. Instead, there was the section divider. Anyway, anyone who has flown their fair share of flights knows that the benefits of not having someone lean their chair back on you is offset by the fact that you have to stow your carry on bag in the overhead bin. Well, I kindly asked her to move it and she wouldn’t. She said she would wait until the cabin crew told her that it was my storage and not hers. At this point I was not so happy, I mean really… So I went and told the cabin crew the problem and they made her move her bag. That was all fine and lovely, but the whole time the guy who had to move from my seat was kind of glaring at me. This situation didn’t improve as to my horror I realized my backpack was too big to fit under the seat! What is one to do? I had officially ticked off both of the people around me and now had to shove my bag into a place that was far too small for it. Let me tell you, things were not looking good. So I try and settle in and reassure myself I did the right thing by making the girl move her bag… It was rightfully my space! Regardless, my ipod ran out of batteries during the flight and since I was half asleep and there was no chance I was getting to my bag again, I left it lying in my lap. That was the last time I remember seeing my dear, sweet, cute blue ipod :( What happened after that is a mystery. Did it fall on the floor and I didn’t see it in cleaning up my area? Did it fall in the crack between the seats? Did my resentful neighbor swipe it from me while I was in the throws of sleep? Did I accidentally wrap it up in the blanket and not see it? The possibilities are endless, but all I know is I should have made sure I had it before I stepped off the plane. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but at least it wasn’t my passport I lost! That would have been catastrophically bad, but I also would have probably figured out sooner that I had left… so… Anyway, I also wonder if losing my ipod was bad karma kicking me in the butt for being the jerk and making the girl move her bag. I could have easily put my bag up overhead, next time, my friend.

I digress, back to the train. I got the station and headed for the Metro. I found my hostel without a problem and was very impressed and pleased with my choice! Check in wasn’t until 2pm and I had arrived about 8:30am. I originally considered venturing out, but then instead opted to grab some of the free breakfast they had out and use their wireless internet to take care of the million and one things I had hanging over my head! I ended up keeping myself busy until at least 3:00pm. I checked into my room, changed into my running clothes and hit the road. I ran along this amazingly scenic canal and around a science amusement park. Very French. After washing up, I struck out for the Pompidou Center. It was about 5:30ish I think, when I left… I planned to walk the two miles or so to get there. That was an awesome idea except for the fact I didn’t have a map and went the wrong way to begin with… I ended up spending an additional forty five minutes walking through town. I managed to find my way by consulting the ever present maps outside of the subway entrances…

I made it to the museum and discovered to my great amazement that Wednesday nights from 6-9 there is free admission for young adults between 18 and 26 years of age! So I saved my seven euros and enjoyed the modern art exhibits even more reveling in my good fortune of getting in for free ;) In case you are curious as to what is special about the Pompidou Center, let me enlighten you. It is known as the inside outside building. All the stairs, escalators, piping, ductwork is all on the outside of the building. It is crazy cool to look at. Very modern art looking, effectively reflecting the essence of the museums contents.

Being close to 9 o’clock I opted to take the metro back. I had to switch lines a couple of times, but made it. I got back to the hostel and ate dinner which consisted of a sweet tuna salad I had picked up on the walk back from the nearest metro stop. I worked online a while again and then called it a night.

Thursday morning I got up and headed right for the Musee D’Orsay. I wanted to get there close to opening time. I succeeded, but was very disappointed to learn that the workers were on strike and only the first floor was open. Well, that certainly would never do, so I determined to return on Saturday and instead go to the Musee Rodin. Rodin was a famous sculptor and the line to get in to see the exhibits was wrapped around the corner! But had no other alternatives, so I waited… It was worth it. I wasn’t a huge fan of sculpture art before and am still not totally won over, but I can definitely appreciate it more. The only bummer of the day was that it was a bit cold and I had worn a skirt and so I was freezing! I went back and had a late lunch/early dinner. I worked on fixing up my pictures from my grad school visits and otherwise wasted time on my computer. When I finally pulled myself away it was about 30 minutes before dusk would set in. I had to snap out of the computer screen daze so I went for a quick run. Just the medicine the doctor ordered! I felt much better afterwards and headed to bed pretty early that night...

Friday was lovely, simply lovely! I ventured out of the Paris city limits to visit Monet’s Gardens in Givery. The train ride was nice. I had left pretty early and so was grateful to rest a bit. You can take a bus from the train station to the gardens, but I decided it would be more fun to walk the 6km instead. On my way I stopped at a grocery store and bought a picnic lunch. The guidebook had warned that there was no picnicking in the gardens and the town wasn’t so friendly to it either, but I didn’t care… tourist food is ridiculously overpriced, so I was willing to gamble. The walk was very peaceful, and I had my camera out taking all sorts of pictures! There was one point where I thought I was lost, but thankfully I wasn’t. I didn’t know how I would find the gardens, but I shouldn’t have worried because once I hit the town limits, there were tons of tourists all over the place. Besides, I learned the village was quite small and so even though I didn’t know exactly where I was going I could wander through the whole thing in very little time at all. I did finally find Monet’s house and Gardens. The gardens were breathtaking. However, the number of tourists did detract a bit, but who am I to talk. I was one adding to the numbers! Monet’s house was interesting. It was fun to imagine this genius of a painter walking around in the same rooms. The rooms by the way were painted these very bright colors. I asked the workers if they were the original colors and they said yes. Of course their have added coats of paint over the years, but the original colors were preserved. I’m talking bright yellows, blues, rose and green. Definitely a painter’s house! I would also like to note that the wooden Japanese bridge in the water lilies garden has been replaced by a replica steel version and they have done nothing to try and disguise the very industrial look now. I have to say, the painting are prettier than the real thing…

After visiting Monet’s crib, if you will, I changed into my running clothes then found a bench and had my picnic lunch. There was not a problem with that and I think that was the one thing the guide book has been wrong about so far. After lunch, I read for a while and then walked to the American Art Museum to see if could leave my bag there while I went running. Sure enough, the guard was sympathetic to my cause and let me use one of the lockers. I got to go running on one the nature paths up through the hills… It was amazing; definitely one of the highlights of the day trip. I kept on thinking I would wake up and all of this would have been some crazy dream. But no, it was all real and I couldn’t get enough of it!

Following my run I picked up my bag and made a quick retreat to the bus to get back to the train station. At the station, I tried to change in the bathroom, but it was a public toilet thing, they have them all over France… it looks like a little kiosk, but you push a button and the door opens and it was all wet on the ground. Not from, well you know, but instead because I would soon find out there were jets of water that spray from the floor to clean everything. I was standing inside trying to figure out how to make this situation work and then all of the sudden the cleaning jets came on and I was like “AHHHHH!!!” Then the panic set in of not knowing how to get out. Luckily I found the button on the inside that opened the door and hastily put that incident behind me. I was a bit shaken up, but the whole thing was hilarious. Foreigners! I caught the train back to Paris and was finally able to change out of my nasty running clothes at the main station where I paid .50Euro to use a restroom that didn’t attack me with jets of water!

The next thing on my agenda was the Salle Pleyel. The Russian National Symphony Orchestra was playing that night and I was going to try and get one of the last minute discount tickets. Well, I showed up a good three hours before the show to find out the procedure. I learned I should come back in an hour and then wait for another two hours in line… I decided to go take a few pictures of the Arc de Triumph, which was down the street, grabbed some food for dinner, and then made my way back to start “queing” as they would say in England. It was a long time to wait, and I was pretty tired. But I read my book a bit and enjoyed talking to a few of the other people in line. I did end up getting a ticket. So for $33 I got to see the Russian National Symphony Orchestra. They were incredible. I actually liked the first and last pieces the best. It was amazing because of the sound was just so clear and precise. I used to think that music was music and there wasn’t a huge difference between performance groups. Boy did that night prove me wrong! I can fully appreciate and discern good classical music now which is very cool. The only thing I was not so happy about was how tired I was! I had some trouble staying awake and so that made it a bit difficult at times, but none the less I wouldn’t have done it differently. You only have a chance to hear the best of Russian musicians perform in Paris once…

After the performance, I walked down to see the Arc de Triumph at night. It was lightly misting which just added to effect of awesomeness. From there, it was about 10:30pm, I hopped on the metro and went back to my hostel. It was a loooong day!

Saturday, I woke up and repeated the beginning of the day on Thursday, where I headed to the Musee D’Orsay. This time I did actually get to go in. The museum was cool, but since I hadn’t gotten to bed very early the night before and since I woke up early to get to the museum before the crowd, I was hurting. I kind of wish I had just slept in and muscled through all the tourists later on in the day… Each day of traveling you learn something new. I wasn’t too impressed with the collection at the museum. They were supposed to have this huge impressionist section and it was kind of weak if you ask me. It could have been because I was so tired and was always looking for those benches in the middle to sit down and rest. It also could have been the fact that even though I was there early, there were still a ton of people milling around which is super annoying. But again, I was adding to the numbers so I can’t complain.

After the so-so museum experience I decided to take the metro to La Defense, which is the modern business district. It was super cool; very futuristic. They also have this larger than life modern art rendition of an arch which is absolutely HUGE! Mind blowing really. There is a whole pedestrian mall area that is in the center of all the business buildings. There are no cars around and so it is really trippy in that way. It makes me think of iRobot, or that 5th Element movie. I tried to mail the postcards I had written out, but the post office closed a half hour before I got there. Bummer! Instead I found a grocery store, grabbed a cheap lunch, picked up snack for my bible study girls and a bottle of wine to bring back as a gift for Susan. I ate my lunch under the looming shadows of the arch. I also saw two girls eating Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and drinking Star Bucks. I was totally looking forward to some ice cream so I decided to ask them where they bought it. I wasn’t sure if they were French or American. There were so many Americans in Paris it was kind of ridiculous. I think I overheard more English being spoken than French! Anyway, I politely went up and asked them in French if they speak French or English. They looked at me like I had three heads and said English was okay… But they were clearly French so I asked them in French where they got their ice cream. They pointed me in the direction of the mall entrance and I thanked them. But MY GOODNESS! What effrontery… when I simply inquired about the ice cream! I mean really is that degree of standoff-ishness really necessary. (Roll my eyes…)

Anyway, I succeeded in procuring my ice cream. Unlike the US you cannot taste the flavor before you order and I got the brownie cheesecake which was less than stellar, but I still tried to enjoy it! Following my time at La Defense, I got back on the metro and journeyed back to my hostel. phew! I got back and decided to nap, and then run… And then head over to Montmatre for the free tour. It was a crazy plan, but it worked! The nap was refreshing, short, but much needed. The run was nice and to the point. I took the metro to Montmatre and found the free tour group. The young woman leading the tour was great. She was in theater school and so, as you can imagine, very animated. P.S. The tour was in English. It was technically free, but the convention is to give a tip at the end. I did tip her, but I was really close to not having enough money left so I didn’t give her as much as I would have liked. I also really wanted to buy one of the fake Pashmina scarves, but I refrained which was good because the place I went to dinner didn’t take credit cards and so I would have been way up the creek without a paddle. For dinner I went to an amazing place that serves salads with hot fried potatoes on top. It is truly a salad of the Gods. I refer you to this lovely blog page which corroborates my opinion of this fine gastronomic establishment. (Scroll down about three-fourths of the way... look for the name Le Relais Gascon, the name of the restaurant.) I actually got a table for one and sat and ate my salad alone. It was one of those landmark experiences: Going out to eat by yourself. It is not something I would like to do frequently, but I am glad it is not something beyond my abilities.

I should have gone back at this point, but the draw to see Paris from the Sacre Couer way up on the mountain was too strong. So, I steeled myself up for the many hundreds steps to climb and was duly rewarded by an amazing panorama of Paris at night. The Eiffel Tower was lit up and there was an impromptu band playing on the steps entraining a large crowd of tourists, poised to bring in a large income of tips judging by the excitement and size of the crowd they had drawn. After taking in the sights I descended the stairs and rode the metro back to my hostel. When I got back I repacked all my stuff. I would have to leave very early the next morning to get to the airport. Everything was ready and I climbed into bed. Terribly tired and yet so happy with my four day Paris adventure. I would do it again in a heart beat! I would also like to mention that I finished reading the Biomimicry book I had started a while back… It was very fascinating, but the middle was really slow going. After finishing that book I commenced reading Lolita. Talk about a whacked out book! The guy who founded the Oxford fellowship was the first to publish Lolita through his printing business a long time ago. I figured that since I would be meeting this guy, maybe I should read the incredibly controversial book he published.

Sunday morning I got up and went to a short run. I knew I would be sitting all day and didn’t want to feel like a slug. After I showered and got ready to go, I brought my bags downstairs. I didn’t have enough money left for the train to the airport, so I left my bags with the receptionist and went to the ATM down the road which was kind enough to work with my foreign ATM card. This is something I was having a big issue with. Anyway, I was overcome with dread when the machine wouldn’t work. I tried the next one down the street and had the same problem. What is one to do! So I went back, grabbed my bags, I was running late at this point, and took the metro to the main station. I figured something has to work out. Well, transferring from the Metro to the airport line there was no where to buy a ticket… So I got on, there was another girl from the hostel with me, and we rode to the airport. No problems. I got to the end of the line where I was to get off and thought to myself, what providence that I didn’t have to pay. Except that I took the escalator up to the exit and wha-bam there were the turnstiles to exit and surprise surprise you needed a ticket… I looked around and there were no ticket machines in sight, and no employees either for that matter. I am not going to write anything incriminating, so I will leave my next actions to your imagination. Let’s just say I was not the only one in my position and some of the turnstiles seemed to be malfunctioning. Regardless, I made it to the ticket counter in plenty of time ;)

As I was waiting in line to check in, an Air France employee asks me very slyly if I would like to make some money. First off, it kind of creped me out. If it wasn’t an airline employee I would have probably been inclined to walk the other way at a very determined pace. But then I realized they were probably looking for volunteers to take a later flight and they would be compensated. So I got past the initial odd comment and found out my hunch was correct. And well, since I didn’t have anything especially pressing to get back for I took them up on the offer and earned a 300Euro voucher and had my own nice hotel room and nice meals taken care of for the next day. I also spent another hour trying to track down my ipod, but it was to no avail. Unfortunately, I think it is lost for good. At least I hope someone is enjoying it! (Okay, so I have lost two ipod shuffles, isn’t about time I FOUND one…)

The little extension to my trip was great. The only two major downsides were that the hotel did not have free wireless and the woman working at the desk of the hotel was unnecessarily mean. She was so jerky about the internet stuff and unhelpful with the telephone. I went to the hotel next door to use the phone card I had received and was able to contact Leanna to let her know the change in plans. To add insult to injury both of the neighboring hotels had free wireless. I was ticked. The good thing was the lack of distractions. I was able to get down to business and write my Weidenfeld Fellowship Motivational Statement. I was super worried I would get back to Burkina and not be able to focus on it. Well, problem solved. I also watched iRobot, inspired by my visit to La Defense. It was great. I was able to go running the next day and enjoyed a great lunch the first day of amazing potato soup and a hamburger. What’s not to love.

Monday I headed to the airport for take two of traveling back to Burkina. I had to wait a long time in line to check in my bags and ended up having to scarf down my last free lunch. Instead of being sensible and getting a sandwich on the go or something I went to a sit down place and ordered something for real. Bad choice. I was so anxious the whole time and ate my food so fast I got heartburn. Again, another lesson learned. The only thing that made it worth it was the ice cream dessert that was covered in whipped cream. But again I had to eat it in like t-minus 3 minutes so not quite as enjoyable as one would have hoped. After my lunch fiasco I high tailed it to my gate, but realized I had forgotten I had to wait through the customs and security lines again. Grrr… I was getting pretty nervous now. I hate Charles de Gaulle Airport. I constantly feel like I am going to miss my flights! Anyway, I made it though and took the tram; yes I had to take a TRAM, to my gate. I was so relieved to be on board that plane. The flight was uneventful and since I had already lost my ipod I didn’t have to worry about losing it twice… I did manage to keep all my important documents with me which is saying something.

Leanna and Ben picked me up from the airport. It was so great to see them both again! Being back in Burkina for the next three days felt very weird, mainly because I knew I would be leaving again very soon. Back at my house, I was able to give Leanna the stuff I brought back for her. Susan also stopped by to say Hi which was nice :)

I went to sleep that night happy to be back in my own bed. But to be honest not all that stoked to be back in Burkina Faso. Hopefully, that would change.

Duke, my family and Hannah Montana! You get the best of both worlds...

2008-05-01T12:21:00.001-05:00

The flight to Raleigh from Chicago was uneventful and much more pleasant than the previous one. Besides, Ryan and I watched Hannah Montana and listened to music together so what more could one want. When we got to Raleigh, Uncle Glenn and Aunt Ruth picked us up. We went back to their house and I slept more soundly than I have slept in a very long time… I didn’t get up until about 10am the next morning.

Saturday started off with a nice run with my Dad and brother through the historic Oakwood neighborhood. I was dying though. Truly and honestly I had spent the whole day yesterday traveling and hadn’t been in the same place for more than a few days. Taxing to say the least. Getting my legs just to pick up my feet was quite the chore. After running, a shower and a great breakfast the crew headed out to peruse the local flea market, a beloved pastime of my family. Besides two used books, which I could have probably done without, the only other items whose draw was strong enough to get us to part with our money were some great socks. I needed some new socks so it was prefect. Random, but good. Oh, and an aside is that there was this very convincing lady trying to get my Mom to by some Himalayan salt. It was supposed to be detoxifying, blah blah blah. The lady was quite the saleswoman and for a moment she had me going, but then I snapped back into reality when she said that one person she knew went to California for a detoxing treatment and on the way back, just in the airplane and through the airports, the friend had reabsorbed 247,000 toxins. That is BS if you ask me. That number is completely arbitrary, how on earth could you know something like that. I would like to see that list of those 247,000 toxins, thank you.

On the way back we stopped to grab some lunch meat to make a small snack, which inevitably turned into much more than that. So after our not so small afternoon snack it was about 4:00pm and everyone was about as far from wanting dinner in the next few hours as you can get. So my Mom, Dad, Ryan and I headed off to run some errands for me. I needed new running shoes, underwear, and a few other things that have since slipped my mind. The running shoes turned out to be more troublesome to locate that I originally had anticipated. First of we tried to find a Sports Authority. We had an address and a phone number, but the store was no where to be found. We even looked it up and it was listed in the phone book, so it must have closed or something, but man was it frustrating! So instead we went to Dick’s sporting goods. (Maybe that used to be the Sports Authority…) Anyway, Dick’s is way too expensive. I wanted shoes that I didn’t mind trashing and leaving in Burkina because that is what was going to happen. So we sojourned on to Target to pick up the other random things I needed. Afterwards, just before calling it a night we stopped at Kohl’s and to my delight found a pair of shoes that worked. Unfortunately, the box didn’t match the shoes and so we didn’t know the price and couldn’t find anymore shoes of the same style. We were going to just try and see if the lady would notice they were in a different box, but thought better of it. Turns out the shoes only cost $12. Talk about a steal! Oh, and my Dad found a pair of really really nice Asics, like their newest shoe but on clearance, clearly a mistake, for $24. They were just a hair too big for me but we bought them anyway for one of my Dad’s runners. A $100 pair of shoes for $24; that you can’t pass up. We got back to the Sappie House pretty late, actually, and had some pizza with Uncle Glenn before Ryan and I watched some Hannah Montana to finish off a very splendid day.

Sunday started with a lovely Skype conversation with Leanna. I missed talking to her and so it was nice to be able to catch up, even if it was only for 30 minutes. I grabbed a quick breakfast and then we all headed off to the Duke chapel for the Sunday service. We got there nice and early. Oh yes, and let me tell you to our surprise it was Alumni Day. SO the place was crawling with people! The service was okay, I hate grading church like this was an A- or a C+ sermon, but there has to be some reflection and everybody has their own preferences. I thought the choir was amazing. I wasn’t super taken by the liturgy, but I was still able to worship. Towards the end of the service I noticed this girl kind of sobbing to herself. I felt this overwhelming need to go say something to her. I didn’t really want to, but I know when I am being called to do something and so I took a deep breathe gently pushed pass my father and went over to say hi this is woman. I simply introduced myself and asked her if everything was okay. Apparently she was an alumnus and had sung in the choir so being back just brought back a bunch of memories for her. She indicated she had no prayer requests and we parted ways, but she did say my saying hi to her made her day. That wasn’t really my purpose I was just being obedient to what God had placed on my heart, but it was nice to hear.

After church we toured the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. I got my picture in front of the sign covering the end of the name so it was simply the Sara Gardens :) The gardens were a nice idea, but I guess everybody else thought so too. There were a ton of people around and it was rather distressing actually. The gardens were beautiful, but somewhat hard to enjoy through the throng of people. So after getting our fill of nature we got back in the car and drove back to Raleigh. Arriving in Raleigh, Glenn gave us a short driving tour of the downtown area which was quite interesting. Once we were home and things were settled down again I made a few phone calls to friends. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon! Afterwards I went on a short run with my Dad and after a quick shower, my Mom, Dad and Ryan and I struck off again on our own, this time in search of a Walmart. Leanna had given me a short list of things they could use in Burkina and I thought I would oblige. The Walmart trip was surprising brief. I sometimes think Walmart is a sort of time warp. You walk in and can walk out 45 minutes later and it feels like only 5 have passed. Have you ever had that experience? Anyway, we had a little more time left and I was hoping to get to a book store. So Ryan, being quite clever, used google info via cell phone to locate a bookstore. We had to call Uncle Glenn for clearer directions, but it all worked out. The place we found was a Borders and I was able to replenish my stock of reading supplies. The new books added to my collection are Lolita, White Man’s Burden, The End of Poverty and Utopia. I was quite pleased by my selections. I used to cringe at paying full price for books, but now that I actually like what I am reading and hope to start a nice book collection it is rather satisfying going into a book store, finding what you want to read, granted that you already know what that is, and buying it.

When we finally returned from shopping round two, we all went out in search of Mexican food for dinner. I still wanted to have real Mexican food, a rarity in Burkina. However, the place we walked to closed at 8:00pm on Sunday, so we were out of luck. After walking around a bit we at last we settled on a sports bar slash grill place. We made the most out of it and things greatly improved after Uncle Glenn got them to turn the music down a little so that an actual conversation could go on… The one thing I didn’t like about the place was that if you wanted to substitute something else for french fries you had to add another one to two dollars to the price of your meal, even though a side of lets say potato salad actually costs less than french fries on the menu. That really frosted my cookies. So in my own little way I rebelled and ordered only a bowl of soup. The soup was pretty good so I can’t complain and the company was superb so again, lemonade from lemons…

After dinner my Mom and I went for a walk since we hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk talk because of all the activity going on. We walked up and down the street and it was great to flesh out how I had been feeling about grad schools and life in general. When we got back I made us some stove top popcorn and again Hannah Montana was the chosen evening entertainment. That night we only lasted through one show since everyone was wiped out!

Monday was my official visit day at Duke. I got there about 9:15am and didn’t leave until 3:30pm. It was nice that they had a whole schedule made up for me. I met with five plus professors. Each for between a half to a full hour! It was crazy. I was so beat by the time I walked off the campus. Just a bit overkill. The nicest part of the day was getting to tour the campus and have lunch with two current graduate students. They were very nice and helpful with offering honest information about the graduate program and how it is run. Just two quick notes. One professor started off her meeting with me by telling me she had emailed me and I had failed to email her back. Where do go from there? So I apologized and tried to move on. I honestly hadn’t remembered getting her email, so she looked it up on her computer and told me the date she sent it! Turns out later I did remember getting it. But it was a totally random email. She never identified herself as a Duke professor and simply asked if I had made a decision for graduate school or not yet. I seriously thought it was a grad student who had been recruited to check up on admitted students and see if they had any questions. So the fault is not all mine, the email could have been a bit clearer. Secondly, another professor I met with literally talked non-stop. I couldn’t get a word in edge-wise! It was ridiculous… and not to mention I was super tired and really struggling to hold back my yawns. However, my will power sometimes could not overcome my body’s need for endorphins that yawns kick out.

After the final meeting, my parents picked me up again and we went for a very early dinner to an authentic Mexican restaurant in Durham. It was really good. I ordered a Burrito which could have easily fed two people. Which it ended up doing because my Uncle had the leftovers for dinner :) After dinner we stopped by a goodwill store to pick up a suitcase for me to use to bring things back with me. $8.00 later I was owner of a rolly suitcase that I was confident would make travel through Paris much easier. From there we headed to the airport because my family was leaving to go back to Chicago. It was so great to spend with them. I really do have a great family. As my Mom was saying goodbye, crying, she asked me if I was really happy. She said I seemed really happy, but she just wanted to make sure I wasn’t pretending. I was able to reassure her that I was truly and honestly happy. In fact, I was the happiest I have been in a long time during those ten whirlwind days. I totally blocked work out of my mind and was about as care free as I have ever been! Awesome.

I drove the car back to my Aunt and Uncle’s house and we had a chill night. I packed up my stuff and when my Aunt Ruth got back we went out in search of some ice cream. It was close to 10pm so we were lucky to anything open still. We were headed to Ben and Jerry’s when my Uncle spotted an Indian restaurant that he promised had amazing ice cream. I was skeptical, but we gave it a try. After convincing the owner to serve us, they were pretty much closed up, we enjoyed a quick cup of ice cream. It was really good. Very different. Refreshing, light and nice. I think a monster chocolate number from another place would have not made me sleep so well or not feel so good on the plane the next day; so, the Indian ice cream plan worked out just great! Before I turned in for the night I talked my friend Carolyn on the phone. I knew it would be one my last chances to catch her and it was great to reconnect. She is at med school and LOVES it! That was awesome to hear!

Tuesday morning I got up and tried to accept Stanford’s offer for admission. They had gotten back to me saying that if I got the Oxford scholarship I could defer for a year and the same financial package would be offered. Talk about amazing. Anyway, there was a problem with the server. The department had forgotten to register my application as admitted so I couldn’t log on! Quel dommage! (What a shame!) so I spent a lot of the morning fretting about not being able to go to Stanford and losing the financial support. Because of that I was hesitating declining the other schools. I mean what if I couldn’t end up at Stanford and had to go to MIT? Anyway, I wrote up the emails to all the professors I had visited. The decline ones were the hardest.

I called the Stanford people as soon as they opened which wasn’t until 10am our time because of the time change. Well, we were supposed to leave at 10am so we were a little late heading out. We got to the airport in fine time. I said good bye to Aunt Ruth and thanked her for the amazing hospitality they had extended to us. Back to the acceptance dilemma, I left messages for Professor Hildemann and Professor Davis at Stanford letting them know the situation. There wasn’t much I could do at that point, so I chilled out and figured I would tackle it again once I got to Boston and was waiting for my flight to Paris. I called and talked to my Grandmom for a few minutes before leaving Raleigh and promised to call back from Boston so I could talk to my Grandad. That was a promise I was able to keep and it was so nice to talk to them both on the phone! It was a short conversation, though, as my flight was already starting to board… The flight from Raleigh to Boston was great. It was a very small plane and not full and the woman I sat next to was really nice. Talkative, but not overbearingly so… We had a few interesting conversations. Turns out she works for the Department of Defense. Nice. That just sounds intimidating doesn’t it.

At Logan airport I paid the $8 for internet and officially declined the MIT and Duke offers for admission. I was able to reach Professor Hildemann who said she would be able to take my email as confirmation of my decision and they would go into the system and make all the necessary changes. Phew. I was also able to email the thank you notes to the professors who took the time to meet with me. I really did appreciate it! With that I signed offline made a few quick calls to friends, my grandparents and then my Mom letting her know the acceptance has been registered and that she should start getting used to the idea of California ;) I tried to board the plane while talking to Annie on the phone, but the stewardess didn’t like that so I had to say goodbye… I shutoff my phone for the last time and stepped on to the plane that would shortly whisk me away from my homeland and onto four days of adventuring in Paris.

Stanford, Stanford, Stanford, Oxford, Stanford, Stanford… (a bit like duck, duck, goose ;)

2008-05-01T12:20:00.000-05:00

Getting to the San Francisco airport I checked my email one last time to any last minute instructions and then caught the shuttle to Stanford. The driver was really nice, but more importantly during the ride was able to call and talk to Cassy. She is doing so well! I miss her a ton and it was so nice to hear her voice. She and I lived together for three years! crazy! Anyway, I got to Stanford and found my friend Sarah’s apartment. She had left a key for under the mat. I was able to shower and get ready in time for Professor Davis to come get me for dinner. She picked me up and had with her two students she is currently advising. We went to a great Thai place. It was a very nice start to my visit :) After dinner Amy, one of the students, went with me to a lecture in a series called troubled waters which was put on by the department I would be in and I got a chance to hear three different professors talk. It was great! However, I didn’t stay the whole time but ducked out after the first few questions in the Q&A time mainly because I was about to fall asleep right there in the chair. I walked back to Sarah’s and called my Mom. She had been asleep so we didn’t talk long, but I did want to let her know I was there safe and had a nice time the first night.

In the morning on Wednesday I met with Amy in a more formal manner. She showed me around the building and we talked about professors, requirements, ect. Then I was able to sit in on an indoor air quality class which was interesting. After the class and before lunch I had just enough time to check my email. To my surprise, I discovered that I had been shortlisted for the Weidenfeld Scholarship at Oxford. This was huge news, but came at a very odd time indeed. Here I am falling in love with Stanford and all of the sudden Oxford is back on the map! Now what? Well, I accepted the invitation to attend the interview weekend and then figured out how to talk to the Stanford people about it. I also called my Mom about in hysterics with glee… I pulled it together and went to the next activity on my schedule which happened to be lunch :) Another grad student took me to lunch which was really fun. He was quite nice and has very similar research interests so we had a lot to talk about. Not to mention the food we got was great.

I had most of the afternoon free and so I went to the library and worked a bit on my paper for my thesis advisor who happened to be on sabbatical at Stanford. Talk about great timing. Anyway, for dinner I met up with my friend Mike from Princeton. We actually ate at one of the undergrad dining halls. I can’t complain though. They had amazing salmon and I welcomed the buffet style service ;) Sarah joined us as well for dinner which was great. Afterwards, she helped me do some laundry and we saw some other graduate housing options. Stanford has really nice facilities. And the laundry is free. (well, I am sure it is paid for many times over in the tuition, but you don’t have to think about every time you want to wash your clothes…) That night I turned in early. The time change makes talking to people on the East Coast at night rather challenging.

Thursday, my second day at Stanford was just as enjoyable as the first. In the morning I went running with Sarah. She showed me a great run up into the foothills. Sarah was leaving that morning to fly to NJ and visit some friends, but I was able to stay in her place while she was gone which was so nice of her. After quickly showering and eating a very nice breakfast with Sarah I was off to attend a course taught by Professor Davis, I really like her style, by the way. I had lunch with another Sara, one of the students from the first evening’s dinner. We ate with a bunch of other grad students in what they called “Lunch Club”. You sign up and then everyone takes turns making lunch for everybody else. I would also like to note at this point, if I end up at Stanford I will likely become a vegetarian or something resembling one. It is kind of inevitable. It seems like many of the students here are vegetarian. We’ll see how long I can hold out against the California influence. After lunch I met the civil and environmental engineering department chair, who it turns out advised one of my favorite Princeton professors when she was in grad school! Small world! My final appointment for the day was with Professor Davis. It was great to talk to her and I am happy about getting to work with her. I think it will be a good fit my interests and personality. She was also really excited about the Oxford possibility and has contact with a professor there as well. If I get the scholarship I will be able to defer Stanford for a year, get a Master’s from Oxford and then head to Stanford. If I don’t get the scholarship I can come straight to Stanford. Not bad options. Before going back to Sarah’s place I met with my thesis advisor and we went over the paper we had submitted and the changes I had made. It was great to get to talk to her and I glad I had such a positive experience with all of that stuff last year. She also introduced me to another professor there who teaches an advanced statistics course. It was nice to make that connection through someone else, as I will probably be taking one of her courses and now I know her.

I made it back to Sarah’s apartment and only stayed long enough to grab my camera. I walked around the campus taking pictures! Stanford is so beautiful. It is really quite astonishing! While photographing I saw an advertisement for the Stanford Art Museum. It wasn’t far so I decided to wander over in that direction as I was taking pictures. Fortunately for me it was a Thursday which meant the museum was open late and I could still go in. They have an extensive collection of Rodin Sculptures which were interesting to see, and I saw a special exhibit of Winslow Homer, Fredrich Church and some other guy about American landscapes. Funny thing is though, as I am going through I realize that everything is surprisingly familiar. That would be because I saw the same traveling exhibit when it was one display at the Tampa Art Museum. What a small world it is indeed! Anyway, to finish up my account of Thursday I decided to try and take one of the Stanford buses back instead of walking. I figured I should try out the public transportation system if I was going to go there. Well, turns out I took the bus in the wrong direction and ended up at the Palo Alto transit center. There I had to wait 40 minutes for the next bus going back. Needless to say it took about an hour and fifteen minutes for me to get back when if I had walked it would have been 20/25 at the most. You live, you learn. Besides I got to call and talk to my friend Lillie while I was waiting so all was not lost.

That night I turned in early, knowing I would be getting up early to run before Sara, the super nice grad student, was going to drive me to the airport. Originally, I was planning on taking the train which would have been fine, but it is only a 45 minute drive and Sara insisted that someone drive me. It was such a nice thing for her to do and I really appreciated it. Not having to haul my bags around and getting there in plenty of time to just relax was great. The run I went on Friday morning was also great. I ran a loop around the campus which was about 4 miles. I was toast afterwards. Traveling was really taking a toll on me.

My flight to Chicago, was in a word, unpleasant. There was a family with two little kids behind me and they were super hyped up. The kids were feeding off of each other’s antics and why the parents didn’t split up and divide and conquer is beyond me. And the two other people in my row were super sourpusses. I was very happy when that plane touched down. I was even happier though when I found my parents at the airport! I got to hug my Mom, Dad, Jordan and Ryan. Mom, Dad, and Ryan were coming to North Carolina with me, but Jordan had some other obligations. However, it was great he was able to come and spend some time at dinner with us. That meant a lot to me. At dinner, I unloaded all my Africa souvenirs and had fun sharing stories as fast I could get them out! Jordan headed home and the rest of us boarded our plane.

Cell phone, MIT, and the freedom trail… tales from my MIT visit

2008-05-01T12:19:00.000-05:00

Even though I would like to dive right in with a retelling of my adventure tales from Paris I would be remise not to go back and fill in the details of all that happened during my US trip. So let me start there… When I finally arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston I got my bags and made my way through customs as quickly as possible. I found the taxi stand area, but ducked into the bathroom for a moment to change my outfit into something more fresh and appropriate for the MIT reception I was heading to. I had the name of the building and directions on how to get there. I figured no problem, any cab should know what I am talking about. Well, that was a wrong assumption and I paid dearly for it. After getting a cab who would accept a credit card, which wasn’t too hard, I watched as the fare meter ticked higher and higher. I had planned on spending like $20-25 on cab fare to get to MIT, however, this ride cost me a whopping $33. Ouch. And to add insult to injury the cab driver didn’t know where he was going and kept asking where to go and I couldn’t answer him but simply repeat the directions I had already given him. So I finally had him drop me off at one of the nearby MIT dorms and went inside to ask. I ended up walking about 300m in the misting rain to actually arrive at my destination. Needless to say it was not most pleasant welcoming I home I have ever had. Oh, and to make you aware of the full extent of this cab drivers rudeness wait until you hear this. I gave him my credit card to pay. I was a bit frazzled at this point and forgot to write in a tip. No problem, though, I thought, I have two dollars in my wallet and I will tip him in cash. Well, the driver gets the receipt and flippantly says, “Thanks a lot, you know this will cost me 8% to cash.” “Excuse me” I reply. Is there a problem? “Oh, no, no problem…” he retorts. I tell him if the tip is the problem I was planning on tipping him in cash, if that would be okay with him. He seemed a bit ashamed and I continued to tell him, thankfully I had such clarity of mind, that he has made this trip extremely unpleasant for me. With that I got out of the cab, thankful to be done with that mess. You know in Burkina Faso I stop a taxi ask him how much the fare will be to such and such a place, he tells me and if it is a reasonable price I get in and that is how much I pay. And they generally don’t get lost. Even though I am sometimes squished in with 3 other people in the back seat I was never as uncomfortable as I was in the US taxi. Thanks buddy. Oh and cab fare in Burkina, on average, about $0.60, cab fare in the states lets not even go there…

Well, besides my storybook cab driver horror story, I did make it to the MIT reception in time to catch the end of the socializing and attend the dinner. I should have been a bit more intimidated, but I had just gotten off of a plane. It was freezing cold and wet outside and all I had to wear on my feet were flip flops. I was so happy to walk into the right building and see the crowd of people that I didn’t care about what entrance I would make. I asked the man at the desk to guard my bags, which he happily did, and then moseyed on over the large room bustling with a crowd of young and old people. The young people being the prospective students and the old people being the professors, sorry profs, no offense. I found a woman you looked kind of secretary-ish and introduced myself, bingo! She immediately remembered my name and warmly welcomed me. I got a name tag and she went to introduce me to several people. But as we were standing there, I looked over and who do I see but a familiar face from Princeton. A friend in the 2007 CEE program whom I knew from countless courses, ect was at the open house to check out MIT as well. What a joy to see someone I knew! You could not wipe the smile off my face. I met with other professors and was introduced to the students who were hosting me. Both girls were very kind and friendly, they didn’t fit the typical MIT student mold I had formed in my head which was refreshing. They had also just both been to Africa so we had great stories to share and they could totally relate to what I was saying! As the reception wound down, I got a chance to talk with Susan Murcott, the woman at MIT who works on the Point of Use water treatments. She and I clicked right away. She was lovely. We talked quite a bit and as we were leaving she proposed I come quickly to her office, a detour enroute to dinner, and she would show me some things from the presentation she gave earlier in the day. It was incredibly nice of her. I felt like the exchange of information and interests that followed was happening at light speed. There was so much I wanted to tell her about the work I have been doing and so much she wanted to tell me about the program. We ended sitting next to each other at dinner which was great. It was a wonderful chance to fill in the blanks left by our harried conversation from before.

For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant, yum. I should mention I borrowed a girls phone to call my Mom to let her know I was safely in the US and she was so happy. She pretty much wouldn’t stop giggling and saying oh yeah. Finally she calmed down and I assured her I would call again to talk tomorrow once I figured out the phone business. After dinner I walked back to my host’s room with another girl who was staying there. Logic told me to go to bed, but I was too hyped up and so instead I went online and checked out stuff for paris, things to do in Boston and prices for phone plans. The pay as go stuff was going to cost me an arm and a leg and I really wanted to be able to catch up with my friends while I was here so I started seriously considering instead a one month plan which comes with the benefits of nights and weekends, ect. When I did finally turn in I slept quite soundly. I just didn’t think about the time zone changes or what I would normally been doing at any given point in time and that seemed to work pretty well.

Saturday morning I got up and met another prospective student for breakfast. She and I by happenstance stumbled upon a fantastic breakfast place. I can’t remember the name, but it was on a side street off of Massachusetts Ave across from a Middle Eastern place. I had an amazing meal of chocolate chip pancakes! They were even better than the ones I used to get at Frist, so that is saying something… We talked about grad schools and it was really nice to hear her perspective on things as well. She was pretty sure she was going to go to MIT, but thought I would really like Stanford. Interesting. After lunch, I went to investigate the phone situation. After consulting a Radioshack about the pay as go plans I ventured over to a T-mobile dealer. He also recommended their pay as you go plan because I would only be here for two weeks, but then I explained how much I wanted to use my phone and he finally came around to the idea of a month-by-month plan. Those are usually for people with bad credit, but whatever, it was suiting my needs. I would get 300 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, and unlimited calling to 5 people I chose. The package would put me back $40, but the guy wanted $20 for the SIM card. I was like, what!? So I start talking to him about how my family has T-mobile and if there are any customer loyalty plans, ect. And it finally comes up that he might be able to sell me the SIM card for $10. Now that is more like it. I tell him nonchalantly, trying to hide me extreme feeling of satisfaction, that I will take it. Unfortunately he asks his coworker if he thinks the $10 thing would be okay. The kid says that the store buys them for $10 and so maybe I could pay $15. To this I replied, well, since we already discussed and I agreed to $10, I would rather pay $10. The guy working with me obviously didn’t want to get in trouble with his boss, so even though I point out that although they wouldn’t be making a profit on the card, they would be getting my contract signed in the store and that should be something, he wasn’t going to budge. Honestly, I think he would have let me walk out without buying anything which would have been terrible salesmanship, but just my luck, at that moment, the manager walks in and saves the day. He okays the $10 SIM card sale and I am soon, after signing several papers and swiping my long dormant credit card through the machine, the proud owner of a T-mobile plan that will allow me all the joys of cell phone usage for the next 10 days. I guess all that bargaining I am doing in Africa has really paid off already!

As I left the store, I immediately called my house and talked with my Mom and brother. It was so great to hear their voices over a clear connection. Unfortunately, my battery was not holding up under the cold weather so after regaling them with story of cell phone victory, I said goodbye and promised to call later when I recharged my battery. Upon ending the call, to my delight, I spotted a Goodwill store across the street. In need of some warm clothes and starved for real thrift store shopping I gleefully entered the mecca of used goods. This place had two major things going for it; one, they take credit cards, and two, they have a ton of brand name clothes that appear nearly untouched. I spent about an hour combing through the racks endlessly impressed and in awe of the bounty which exists in this country. I had a similar moment of awe earlier, as well, as I walked through Walgreen’s and was met by an impressive display of every color flip flop imaginable and a cosmetics selection which spanned the length of the store. The thought of, “Is this all really necessary?” crossed my mind, but was fleetingly beat out by my happy acceptance to be back in the land of plenty. Enjoy life where you are at. If that is Burkina and you have nothing, or America where you have too much at times, make the best of it and stop being all philosophical about it. I took my own advice and happily soaked in as much as I could of the society I had been absent from for six months. Anyway, my goodwill shopping trip was a huge success. I acquired a cashmere sweater, black pants, a long sleeve gap shirt, a running top, khaki adventure style capris, and two very classy dress shirts all for the low price of thirty-nine dollars. What a deal!

High off my latest purchases and not ready to call it a day I struck out in search of the other thrift store whose address I looked up online. It was a place called the Garment District. The clothes were a bit pricier, but the selection was much better and whole experience much more upscale. Unlike the goodwill store, there were no singing homeless men wandering the aisles. Not that that bothered me, in fact, it made me feel kind of at home as such odd behavior is rather common place in Burkina Faso… After taking my time and trying on countless jeans, skirts, tops and shoes I settled on buying a pair of jeans, two skirts, two tops and two pairs of shoes, one pair of black prada dress shoes, oh yes I went there, and one pair of white strappy designer sandals. With my plunder in hand I headed back for the dorm where I was staying. As I walked along the river I was happily imagining myself living in Boston, sailing on the Charles, promenading through Boston Commons. The dorm was a good 25 minute walk back. But thankfully the sun had come out and made it a pleasant stroll. I got back to the dorm and called my friend Robbie to set up dinner. I had contacted him the night before, but we hadn’t firmed up any particular plans. I wanted to go running so we settled that I would run, shower, and then call him when I was on my way up to Harvard Square. I ended up running with one of the girls who was hosting me. She was really nice and it was great to get to ask her all sorts of questions… we also kept a similar pace which made running nice. We ran up and down the Charles River. It was very picturesque.

We finished up running I showered and put on some of the spoils from my earlier shopping trip. I wore my new black pants, blue cashmere sweater and prada dress shoes. My friend is at Harvard law and I wanted to play the part appropriately. I think I did okay :) We ended up a tavern called John Harvards. I had requested either something authentically American, or deliciously Mexican. American it was and I got a fantastic hamburger with a side of excellent soup instead of fries, as is my normal preference. Following dinner we headed over the local Mexican place for some margaritas. It was a nice idea, but I forgot to bring my ID, (why would I need that silly old thing… oh right there is a drinking age in the states. doah!) and I was carded, denied a drink, the first time in my adult life actually. I guess there is a first for everything and so we changed plans and found a swinging tea joint and ordered tea infused hot chocolate. Sounds gross, but let me tell you it will knock your socks off. At about 10pm I decided the best way to get back given the hour and my lack of familiarity with Cambridge streets, was to take a taxi. Ten minutes and eleven dollars later I was back at the dorm. Since it was the weekend I picked up my phone and called my friend Annie, Katha and then my Mom. It was great to hear their voices and reconnect :) I went to bed about 1:30am planning to get up at 8:00 to meet my friend Sandy for church and brunch in the morning on Sunday.

The 8:00am plan was ambitious, probably too ambitious as I look back upon it in hindsight. I hit snooze one too many times and ended up having to call my friend and we arranged to go to the later service at the church. Instead of going to the early service and getting brunch afterwards, we would eat before church and then part ways after the service. I made my way over to Newberry Street where she lived and we found a very nice Italian place that served up some very impressive waffles. Expensive yes, delicious, you bet! However, more important than the food was the excellent conversation. It was so great getting to see Sandy and talk to her about Africa, she had worked in Botswana for the summer and we were able to discuss some very critical issues that are important to both of us. She seems to be doing really well and enjoying life which is such an encouragement to see. After the morning meal, we went to Trinity Church. It was a lovely service and just nice to be back in an English speaking church.
Following the service Sandy went back to get some work done for classes and I wandered over to Boston Commons. It so much reminded me of Hyde Park in London, always a welcomed recollection, indeed. I made it to the information center just in time to pay my $10 and join the tour of the freedom trail. The tour guide was great, but the group was so big it was slow in going. AND it was freezing outside! We didn’t walk all that far, but ended at Quincy Market. I went inside to warm up before I voyaged back to the dorm. I took the T, the Boston subway, to get back since the thought of walking for an hour in the biting wind honestly made me a bit queasy. Back at the dorm I got online and wasted away my time as usual doing who knows what… For dinner Kelly, one of my hosts, was making omelets and offered to make me one too :) They were really good! We had a nice talk about MIT which was really helpful for me in gathering more information. I again talked to people on the phone until the wee hours of the night and hit the hay exhausted.

Monday morning I got up and went running with Robbie. We ran along the Charles River and around the MIT campus because even though it is less than a mile from Harvard he had never seen it! After the run I grabbed an amazing Boston bagel from a shop in Harvard Square and took the bus back to MIT. I quickly showered and headed over the office buildings to meet with Professor Adams. He was very amiable and answered all my questions. We also grabbed lunch in the student center which was nice because the run made me quite hungry and the bagel wasn’t holding me over for long…

After talking with Professor Adams I was able to see a couple of PhD students, one of whom recommended I stop over and talk with the director of the technology and policy program since my interests have a wide range reaching all the way to policy. She was wonderful and we were able to work out the program of my doing a double major master’s degree and possibly working towards a PhD. However, I hadn’t applied to that program and there would have to be a lot of maneuvering in the next few days for it to be a possibility. Because I really liked the idea of being in Boston and just the East Coast in general where most of my friends are, I wrote the necessary emails to get the ball rolling. Things were looking promising, but it just felt like the whole time I would be fighting the system. And as technical as MIT is, they seem surprisingly unorganized! You tell me…?

My official visit day finished up with my using the computer in one of the Sloan Business School buildings to reserve a shuttle to Stanford the next day, confirm subway, train, and bus times to get to the Providence airport and finalize plans for where I was going to sleep that night. After spending 3 nights with the MIT girls, I felt like it was time to go. So I contacted two of my crew teammates and was able to stay at Devan’s apartment. The only hassle was porting my bags about a mile plus from the dorm to her apartment. My bags were not packed well and were getting pretty heavy. However, the pain was worth it. I had so much fun and Margaret, the other teammate, came over for dinner and cookie baking as well. It turns out Princeton was racing Radcliff the next weekend and it is customary for former teammates to indulge the current team members with all sorts of treats for after the race. Devan made an awesome roast, with veggies and an outstanding beet salad. It was really quite gourmet, and she makes it all look so easy! She had a super cool fold out chair that I slept in and I said goodbye that night before we turned in for the night because I was leaving at 5:15 in the morning to start making my way to Providence.

My alarm went off and the only thing getting me out of bed was horror that coursed through my veins at the thought of missing my flight to San Francisco. So I walked the 7 minutes from Devan’s apartment to the T station, and caught a subway train to South Central Station. There I bought my ticket to Providence and got on the train in time to relax a little before we pulled out of the station. 45 minutes later the train pulled into providence and loading up my bags in the least awkward way possible walked across the commons to find the bus station. I got there in time to take the 7:15 bus that stopped at T.F. Green airport. The fare was only $1.50 and I was pleased as punch that all the transfers went as well as they did. I got the airport, checked in and went through security. I was at the gate my 8:15am, approximately 3 hours after I left Devan’s place and over two hours before my flight was going to leave. The reason why getting to the airport was such a challenge was that the first direct bus from Boston left at 8:30 getting me to the airport at 9:30 which was cutting it too close for my liking for a 10:25 flight. Regardless, everything worked out and I was able to get online, after paying an exorbitant fee, and reserve my Paris hostel, get Sarah Moore’s contact information for Stanford and email my parents to let them know I was okay… The flight was fine. I slept most of the way to Chicago fading in and out of consciousness. The layover in Chicago was a bit trippy. To be there and not be going home felt odd. I did, however, get lunch at PotBelly’s subs which made my day. The flight to San Francisco was great. I had a row to myself so I stretched out and slept slept for 4 hours. Exactly what I needed to make sure I made a good impression at Stanford when I finally got there.

Boston, Cali and North Carolina... Love the USA!

2008-04-18T18:40:00.001-05:00

In case you couldn't tell, the first group of photos is from the Boston MIT visit. Then we move to Stanford and finally onto Duke :)

Long Overdue Banfora Pictures. I thought I already posted these... but oh well, C'est la vie!

2008-04-16T04:09:00.002-05:00

USA Readers Digest installment numero uno...

2008-04-16T04:08:00.002-05:00

I would like to start off this post with a very enthusiastic proclamation of my love for the United States of America. I am sure this warm fuzzy feeling for the homeland will eventually wear off, but at the moment I am relishing it. It is good to be back, even if only for a few days.

So two quick observations about traveling:

1. I really don’t like having to remove my laptop to go through security. I’m not going to lie… usually my carry-on is precariously packed and frankly after taking out my computer sometimes I fear it’s not going to fit back in :)

2. At the Paris airport and the San Francisco airport they have this thing called visual paging now. So instead of announcing flights and other information over the airwaves you have to look at the TV monitors all over the place. This seems like a great idea except if you didn’t realize that the system was new and since you were waiting to hear your flight announced you almost missed it because you didn’t look at the right screen!

So in response to various conversations I have had with people I am going to give a Readers Digest version of my week for those of you avid readers with limited time and then a more detailed accounting of my every move just for the sake of posterity… who knows.

Boston to San Francisco

My flight landed on Friday and I headed to the MIT open house for prospective students. Friday night I stayed with Tamar and Kelly two grad students currently in the program.

On Saturday I grabbed brunch with an perspective student named Lisa and then had an awesome afternoon shopping. I got a SIM card for my phone (a great story in itself) and then basically a new wardrobe by scouring two really great thrift stores in Cambridge. Saturday afternoon I went for a run with Tamar along the Charles and then met up with Robbie and had dinner at John Harvards Pub followed by some great tea infused hot chocolate. We originally had planned on Margaritas but Sara, not remembering that there is actually a drinking age in the US, didn’t bring her ID…so hence the hot chocolate. I think I liked it better anyway ;)

Sunday I met up with friend Sandy for breakfast and then a lovely service at Trinity Church in Boston. After church I walked through Boston commons and decided to pay for the guided tour of the freedom trail. A well spent $10 is you ask me :) BUT man was it cold! I froze… Sunday night I chilled out back at Tamar and Kelly’s place. Kelly made great omelets for dinner.

Monday morning I got up early and went running with Robbie. I ran up to Harvard and then we ran down to MIT along the Charles, again a very nice run. Almost too long though, by the end I was so done. After running and grabbing an excellent bagel for breakfast I headed back to MIT and went to meet with some professors. The meetings lasted like all afternoon and by the time I was done I was exhausted. However, I made plans to stay at a friends place on Monday night so it would be easier to get on the subway in the morning. I had dinner and baked cookies with Margaret and Devan, two of my crew teammates. Devan cooked and it was amazing. I stayed at her house that night :)

Tuesday morning started super early. I got on the subway to get to the train station to get to Providence to take a bus to the airport. Surprisingly the trip went off without a hitch. It took three hours, but I left in enough time that I wasn’t stressed out. The cross country flight was great. I was able to sleep the whole time. I slept really well from Chicago to San Francisco when I was able to lay out across three seats and really crash. In SF, I took a shuttle to Sarah Moore’s apartment, showered and then met Professor Davis and two graduate students for dinner at this great Thai restaurant. By this time I was still pretty awake from all the excitement of a new place, ect. So I went to a lecture on water that Stanford was sponsoring. I stayed for a little over an hour and then headed home and passed out on Sarah’s futon…

Wednesday I had a lovely breakfast with Sarah and then went to start the day of meetings and such that I was scheduled for at Stanford. It was great. I really enjoyed talking with the different professors and I sat in on a class. For lunch I got to eat with a student in the program who shares many of my same interests. We had a great lunch conversation and he has connections in Paris I may be able to tap into when I head there on the 15th. The other big deal is I found out on Wednesday I was selected to interview at Oxford for the Weidenfeld Scholarship. I could not have been happier! Talk about overflowing blessings. In an ideal world, I would get the Oxford scholarship, go there for a year then head out to Stanford. But first I have to go to Oxford at the end of April to interview! Wish me luck :) I really hope this one comes through, it would mean a lot for my future… Wednesday afternoon I spent in the Stanford library taking care of email and other things. It was so nice to be back in a library like that ;) I met my friend Mike for dinner. We oddly enough went to an undergraduate dining hall, but I didn’t mind. I actually welcomed the buffet style eating for one meal.

Thursday morning I went for a run with Sarah before she left for the airport. Sarah was leaving but was totally cool with me still crashing at her place :) After the run I had more meetings and I sat in on Professor Davis’s course. Professor Davis would be my advisor and I really like her style so that is great! I had lunch with another student. We went to a “lunch club” in the environmental engineering building. Each week someone takes turn cooking. It was pretty awesome. In the afternoon I had a great final meeting with Professor Davis, I really look forward to working with her. Then I went and met up with Professor Young who was thesis advisor at Princeton who is at Stanford on sabbatical for a year! It was prefect because we were able to go over the article together we are trying to publish. After my day of meetings I walked around campus and took pictures. I ended up at the art museum which pretty much sealed the deal for me. Talk about amazing! I headed back to Sarah’s from art museum, but unfortunately took the wrong bus and had to switch and wait a while. Anyway, even though I could have walked from the art museum back to Sarah’s about 3 time in the time it took me to get lost on the bus and find my way back, it was quite an adventure and now I know how NOT to use the bus system ;) I had a great talk with Annie when I got back and packed up all my stuff, off to a new destination in the morning!

Friday morning I got up very early, 6:30! and went for a 4 mile run around the campus drive loop encircling the Stanford campus. It was great! I grabbed some breakfast, showered, and met up with another Sara, one of the girls in the program I would work with, who offered to drive me to the airport. It was SO nice of her and made my morning so much less stressful :) Everything about my visit to Stanford was wonderful. I think I would be very happy there. It is quite an inspiring place. Now I may have to wait a year while I pursue my dream of studying at Oxford, but eventually I will be in Stanford…

Well, it is time for me to board my flight. This was, believe it or not, the Reader Digest version. I may or may not give you more details. I depends on how I feel… but at least you have an idea of how my American journeys have progressed.

Much Love,
Sara

Catch up post in brief…

2008-04-09T20:38:00.000-05:00

Yeah so my brilliant idea of having oodles of time to write posts, rewrite papers and catch up with life seems to have been somewhat of a pipe dream. I have been non-stop busy since my plane touched down in Boston. Since all that is still fresh in my mind, before I recount the fun visit I had to MIT in Boston, I thought I would take a few minutes this morning (the time change is causing me to get up at 7:00am Stanford time instead of 8:00am, I can’t sleep in that late, and actually it is really four in the afternoon in Burkina Faso, so….) to write the catch up entry that I promised. I will keep it short because I don’t have much time and because the recent events in my life seem to dwarf any importance of these few lost days, but for the sake of continuity and prosperity I can not let these days’ events just slip into the abyss of time unrecorded.

Let me remind you what was going on around March 26th. I had just gotten back from my Bobo Banfora trip and had gone to the nurse about a not so pleasant rash on my face… The medicine worked. Slowly but surely. I did work on Wednesday, but kept everything pretty low key. I somehow managed to complete some Microbiology tests, nice. Science waits for no one ;)

Thursday I woke up and went to work late. I slept in hoping to give my body a chance to fight whatever was wrecking havoc on my body’s largest organ, the skin. My face wasn’t quite as sensitive to the sun anymore which was good. And in general it looked like things would be fine for teaching Susan’s class on Friday and the toastmaster’s marathon on Saturday. During the day on Thursday, I continued with my flow rate measurements and worked on some MES analysis. In the evening, I helped out at WIRED. It was Tyler’s last week there so he talked. He did a very nice job talking about failing forward and using failure to jump start a new beginning. I was going to go out with a group of people to hang out, but instead opted to come home was oddly inspired to work on my paper for the journal submission. It went very well :)

Friday morning I got up and reviewed my notes on my Point of Use water treatment presentation. I took the bus to the Kamboise campus and was in a room ready to teach Susan’s L3 English class at 7:00am. Now that my friend is early. The first part of the class time we went over what had been learning in the class so far. Then we worked through the list of vocabulary words Susan picked out that went along with my presentation. An hour later, we took a quick break and then I gave my presentation: Beyond Conventional Thinking: Point of Use Water Treatments. I don’t know how much they understood, but they were asking questions and I believe they were generally interested which is awesome. The class ended at 9:30ish and I went to the teacher’s resource area and worked on my own stuff until lunch time. For lunch I grabbed something from the cafeteria because I didn’t have anything at home to pack a lunch with anyway. The Sprite was room temperature which was uber annoying, but I can’t really complain…it was still refreshing ;)

The second class I taught in the afternoon was a carbon copy of the first except the A/C stopped working and there were much fewer students. We had to take multiple breaks because of the heat to keep people somewhat interested in what was going on. I took the 6:00pm bus back to Ouagadougou. Oh, I should note I got a call from a Professor at Duke while I was teaching and asked if he could call back about 6:45ish my time. He thought that would be fine. And I got a call from the tailor because he was going to come over and a call from Emile about the tennis tournament… I never get phone calls, and I go to teach a class and get interrupted three times! Go figure ;)

I rode the bus home and the tailor was there waiting. I quickly finished up with him just as the Duke professor called. Just about perfect timing. I did end up paying the tailor 1000CFA more than we agreed on, but I couldn’t at the moment argue, but in hindsight that is a bit upsetting. The conversation with the Professor went great. He talked to me about the NASA grant they had just received to study landsat data for an area of sub-sahara Africa. Anyway, he offered me full funding for a PhD and the project seems really interesting. At this point, I had not received news of my NSF fellowship and a fully funded PhD, that did not require a prior master’s was looking really good. Even after receiving the NSF, things still look pretty good. I liked the professor’s style and manner about things. This is always a good thing…

I got off the phone with him and rushed over the rec center not sure what was going to happen with the tennis tournament. I didn’t end up playing which was just fine with me, but both Pam and Maryellen were there so I stayed around and chatted with them. I got dinner there, phew, I had nothing at home… and also hit the treadmill for 20 minutes before calling it a day!

Saturday was a big day… It was the Toastmaster’s marathon meeting and I was the toastmaster! That is a lot of responsibility. I had, however, already prepared everything in advance, mostly on Wednesday night I think… details lost to the abyss of time, what to do? The meeting went off very nicely. I was able to wear the new skirt the tailor dropped off the night before and had a fun time being basically the MC. The meeting went about an hour late and the woman from Accra didn’t get there until 12:30pm. We were still able to fit her in and it was nice to hear her speak, she is quite talented! After the meeting we all went out and celebrated at Club Belko. It was a lovely time, but I ate fried foods, which is a no-no and was not feeling so great later on… I left about 3:00pm to go talk to Ryan online. That was a fine idea, but we were both pretty distracted so we ended up cutting things short and deciding to talk later. Saturday night I went over to Leanna’s and we watched National Treasure. It was entertaining, but the logical fallacies were almost too much. Leanna drove me home afterwards because it was too late for me ride back when we were done. This meant my bike was left over there. No big deal, I figured I could walk over on Sunday and pike it up.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention something very important. Last Tuesday my roommates informed me that they were moving out. Like for good. They moved out on Wednesday. It was so refreshing that week to not have to deal with other people in the house. They left a few things because they were headed to Bobo for some field work and would pick it up later. This was NO problem what so ever…

Sunday is kind of a blur. I know I slept in a long time and then probably listened to a sermon and worked out. I do remember the evening which consisted of going over to Leanna’s house for pizza and a fun game of Uno with the guys… Since my bike was left over there I walked to get there. Problem was I didn’t leave until like 6:30 and it was getting dark and it is a much farther walk than I remembered, all in all I was fine, but needless to say I will be leaving earlier next time.

Monday March 31st I got up and felt compelled to work on my paper again. So I did :) I worked in my room so I didn’t show up to the office until about lunch time, but that is okay because I was working in the morning. I did go to the gym in the afternoon which was nice. I should also mention at this point I still have no food around, and I was out of toilet paper and using tissues instead, maybe too much detail for you… forgive me. Anyway, work in the afternoon was jam packed. I met with Oulon the journalist to discuss the possibility of putting together a movie for the upcoming Niger movie festrial. It was a great meeting, but at 6:00 I leave and head over to Pete’s house for a Baptism service planning meeting. This went well and I was done by 7:15 and went over to Leanna’s just to keep her company and hang out. We made baguette pizzas for dinner and played the card game speed. It was SO MUCH FUN! I rode my bike back just pleased as punch with life, love and the pursuit of happiness.

Tuesday was really the turning point in the week and the reason why I am writing this post from the United States. The work day went well. I had my French lesson as usual and then debated working out or going food shopping. Considering I had run out of tissues I opted to go grocery shopping. Good choice. Anyway, I went back to my office and found an email waiting for me congratulating me on my NSF fellowship. I about jumped through the ceiling! Thankfully my family was online so I could share the news with them. Leanna wasn’t around and neither was Susan, so after ample time of celebration on the phone with my parents I went home and had a Sara Dance Party which started off with some amazing Hannah Montana tunes then progressed to more house music and finally on to the classics like Bon Jovi. I indulged in some chocolates from my friend Maggie, which were from my birthday and I was saving them for this exact occasion. I was either going to use them for celebration or to drown my disappointment in chocolates as any normal 20-something woman is apt to do… I also made a strawberry smoothie, popcorn and watched Casino Royale. I love that movie, if only for the line after he resuscitates himself from being poisoned and says, “Sorry, that last hand nearly killed me…” I love that line.

Anyway, I couldn’t really sleep because I was so hyped up on sugar and soaring high from my good news… I did finally catch some Zzzzz’S and the rest is history documented in the post on April 4th :)

Tell you about Boston and Stanford ASAP. Ahh, so much to do!

USA here I come... God is good.

2008-04-04T05:41:00.000-05:00

I am typing this update from the terminal of the Charles de Gaulle Paris airport. From that you can probably conclude for yourself that I have decided to travel back to the US to visit the graduate schools I need to chose between. Wow, the last 24 hours have been a veritable whirlwind. I think the best way to go about retelling this epic tale is to start with when I woke up on Thursday morning. I woke up at 7:00am and little did I know that in 10 hours time I would be sitting in the waiting room of the Ouagadougou airport heading to the good old US of A! So what all happened in those 10 hours…

What you are about to read will both puzzle and astound you! The hand of God was guiding my every step and it was truly his will that I am where I am right now. Too many things went right… things never go that smoothly, except when you give up control and let God lead.

After getting 4 hours of sleep I got up surprisingly energized and started soaking the few items of clothing I needed washed to bring with me. Then I went to my office to check my email… this would be the moment of truth. I found affirmative responses on travel funds from Stanford and Duke. In conjunction with the support from MIT that was confirmed the night before, those two emails sealed the deal. I immediately contacted the travel agent and arranged to go to the office and buy my ticket before 9:30am. I talked to my Mom at 8:00am my time which meant she got up at 3am to talk to me. Thanks MOM! I wanted to just talk things out with her again and had to get the credit card information so I could purchase my ticket. Oye. We hung up at 8:30 and I went to talk to Professor Wethe to get the okay. He also suggested I talk to the Director’s Advisor which I did. Both Wethe and the advisor were very supportive and gave me the green light. All I needed to do was email Professor Maiga and let him know the plan. He is in South Africa right now so I couldn’t get permission directly from him. Anyway, from there I ran back to my house to finish the wash and hang it up to dry. At this point I was planning on taking an Air Maroc flight leaving at 3am Friday morning. No problem, I had all day to get ready and would still be able to play guitar at the baptism ceremony. The only glitch was I was a bit confused by the itinerary the agent sent me because although he said I would be leaving Friday at 3am the date said April 5th 3am which would be Saturday at 3am. I figured I would get things cleared up when I went into buy my ticket.

I rode my bike to the travel agency feeling like a million bucks. I also thought to bring my bank cards and passport in case I needed them for something. Arriving at the travel agency, as is the norm, there were like 5 Africans swarming me trying to sell me stuff. I joked with them about something Peace Corps and just walked pass and into the office. I was helped right away. The guy helping me was great! I asked him about the itinerary, and I was right I wasn’t leaving until the next day… Not good. What was I going to do for another day in Ouaga. It would have been such a waste, so I asked if there were any flights for that night. He works and works and comes up with one. But it is AirFrace so I figure it will be much more expensive. At first it is because of the Raleigh leaving point and the date of the 16th. However, if I could get back up to Boston and leave the 15th it would actually be cheaper…Wow! I asked if he could add a domestic flight from Raleigh to Boston to the package. No problem. In total, with the connect, flying Air France leaving that night in about 8 hours now would only cost me like $50 more. Well worth it if you ask me. And I was flying direct into Boston arriving on Friday instead of Saturday! Arriving on Friday meant I would be able to participate in the second part of the official visitation day. Great! I would get to meet some of my prospective classmates, very important indeed… So now arranging the flight back I was going to have a 12 hour layover in Paris. Ugh. So I asked if I could extend it to a couple of days and have myself a little mini Paris vacation. Voila. For $30 more, I am staying in Paris for 4 days on my way back to Burkina Faso. I am so excited! I want to visit the Louvre again, walk along the Seine, and take a million pictures with my new camera. I also might try and get to Giverny, the place were Monet painted a lot. Oh, c’est la vie! and I can try out my French skills, yay.

Okay, awesome. The flights are amazing! Flying Air France is SO much better than Air Maroc. The flights were such a God thing. The only bad part was I would have to be at the airport about 6:00pm and it was 10am now. Being at the airport at 6pm also had the other negative ramification of making me miss the baptism and leaving the worship high and dry. I felt bad about this and called and talked to Nancy Burg about it before I took the ticket. She thought if I could talk to Amy or Peter about taking over for me it should be okay, but that I should do what I have to do and Air France is way nicer so whatever.

The ticket was booked and now all that was left to do was pay. I got out the information I wrote down from my Mom. The only problem was the travel agent said he needed the actual card. Doah! I thought this might be a problem. So I said, hold on, and I went to the Bank of Africa across the street. I needed 962,000CFA. I hadn’t been to the bank in a while and didn’t know how much money I had. I figured it should be close that amount, but hadn’t done the math lately with my balance to be sure. Anyway, I got the desk and request to know my balance. Get this… I had 1,015,000CFA… just enough! Another God moment. So I withdrew 1,000,000CFA in cash. If have ever withdrawn that much money before you know it gives a person quite a rush. So now I have $2,000 plus dollars in my bag and have to ride my bike back to the travel agency, and I am in Africa. Great idea right. Well, things went just fine and I paid for my ticket in cash. That was pretty crazy!

Walking out of the travel agency my whole attitude was different. I was happier, lighter and so excited to be going back! I was also very confident I would be ready to go by 6:00pm. Packing the night before and writing all those emails was essential though. My being ready would have never happened if I hadn’t gotten up and spent 3 hours preparing the night before. Again, evidence of divine intervention :)

I left the travel agent at 10:30. The whole thing only took 1 hour, can you believe it? I figured I needed to be back to my office by 12:00. I would buy my domestic airfare and send all my emails, hopefully finish that by 2:30 and then go pack for good. From there I didn’t quite know what would happen, but the plans formed as the day went on.

Well, knowing I was going to the US I immediately thought about bringing stuff back for people. I know it wasn’t necessary, but I have the luggage space now and probably won’t have as much coming back in June. So as I rode my bike back from the travel agent I stopped at the Grand Marche and then the mini village artisanal. I was so on my game. All of the sudden my French was amazing and so were my bargaining skills. I ended up buying 45,000CFA worth of gifts which is a lot of money, but you don’t have any idea of how much stuff I got… I got 5 wooden keychains, 2 pagnas, 2 sets of earrings, 2 wooden guard figurines, a large beaded lizard, 2 mini lizard keychains, a puzzle, 2 leather boxes, 2 necklaces, 2 bronze giraffes, 4 woven trivets, large basket, a calabase jewelry box, 3 painted cards, and an adorable basket with a handle and lid. Again, I had such clarity. I knew what I wanted to buy and was able to bargain very well. I finish at the artisanal and I am riding back and this guy starts riding next to me telling me he wants to sell me some jewelry. I was feeling pretty joyous at this moment and threw caution to the wind and stopped by the side of the road so he could show me the jewelry he had in his bag. I was skeptical, but I was leaving Ouagadougou that night so I have legitimate license to take some chances :) I also have a great excuse when the artisans invite me out the club dancing… oh, no sorry I am leaving! ha! Okay, back to the sketchy jewelry dealings, and btw this was on the side of the major road outside the Presidence so there was like zero risk of personal injury or anything bad happening. The only thing I thought was that it would be exactly the same stuff I have seen over and over. At first it was, but then he brought out these really cool bracelets. Great presents for my friends, and I kind of wanted one for myself too. He originally asks 3500CFA for each! Generally the rule is that you can get any item for about half of the price they tell you, sometimes a little more, sometimes a less. Well, this guy was one tough cookie. I originally wanted 3 bracelets, and was willing to pay 2000CFA each. This was a good price. However, he didn’t like it, but did agree to 5 for 10000CFA. Done. I could give two more of these bracelets as presents and that was price I was willing to pay. Buy this time I am quite loaded down with goods, but my spirits are so high I hardly notice!

I got back to my house at noon as planned and was able to inform the house keeper that I will be leaving that night and will be gone for 2 weeks. Awesome. The office was my next stop and thankfully my Mom was available again to talk. I finally get to share my awesome news about the flight arrangements! It was a tough call sitting there. Spending that amount of money and having to make the final call alone; definitely a growing experience. My Mom was so relieved about the Air France airline carrier instead of Air Maroc. Frankly, so am I. We figures out my domestic flights together and I was able to use my Southwest rapid rewards credits to buy them. Flying Boston to San Francisco, San Francisco to Raleigh would have cost me $600. But I only had to paid $10 and that was for security fees. This all sounds nice, but it was tense for a few minutes because I wasn’t sure if I could use the rewards without a long advance time and they have blackout dates too. Thankfully, again, God directing things… the domestic flights were taken care of. My Mom and I finish up discussing possibilities for her to come visit me in Raleigh. It looks like it will probably happen… I can’t believe it and am so looking forward to it ;) And I am stocked about the fact that I will be spending 4 days in Paris. Love it!

Now that the flights are all booked I sent out all my emails. The whole sha-bang. All that I wrote the night before, as well as about six more I had to write just then. But things were going according to plan and I finish at 2:30. I went home and packed. Given that I did most of that last night it was just physically fitting everything plus all the cool gifts I just bought into my suitcase and carry-on. I worked with awesome efficiency and realized at 3:00 I was done! Wow. From there I went to go write 4 more emails, but these were harder. I had to email Professor Maiga and all the contacts at MIT, Stanford, and Duke to confirm I was coming and to start setting up the details. Most important was to figure out where I needed to go when I landed in Boston. I also needed to give them an idea of who I wanted to speak and request housing for Friday and Saturday nights… My, oh my. So I had to look through the CEE department website and come up with a list of people I was hoping to talk to. This actually took a while as did crafting all these emails explaining my travel details, ect. BUT I did it. I finished at 4:15 and then had to go see the information technology people because they changed the email system on Monday and I hadn’t been able to check my messages since. And being gone for 2 weeks I thought I should check my work email every once and a while… Oh also, Leanna called and we discussed the music stuff. I had called Amy and Leanna talked to Peter so things were taken care of. Phew. And… Leanna offered to take me to the airport! I love her! Not only that, she brought me a take along dinner! Again, awesomeness. She was planning to come get me at 5:30. We needed to walk out the door when she came because Ouagadougou traffic at rush hour, i.e. 6:00pm is a nightmare. Imagine trying to maneuver a car through a sea of motorbikes and other vehicles who may or may not decide to obey traffic laws. Okay, so I left the information people at 4:30 and they have fixed the problem, yay! I went home and worked out. I know, I know, but I felt I needed to get my legs moving since I knew I would be seated for so long… So I worked out for 20 minutes, showered and got dressed to leave. I put the finishing touches on my awesome packing job and put the bags by the door. I had 6 minutes to spare. I run to the kitchen and washed the few cups and juice pitcher. 4 Minutes, I dried my hair. 5:30. I take one more pass through my room and a look over of the house. I locked up my room and walked to the front door as Leanna was pulling up.

Ben came with Leanna which was great becuase he carried my bag to the car. Oh, yeah and as I was getting ready to start working out my old housemate stopped by to get the last of the things they left there. I could have cared less. I was on a mission and in a state of bliss really. On another note, since Leanna was going to the baptism that night and they Grey family would be there I put the mini Christmas tree that has been awkwardly standing in my living room by my front door to send with her. I honestly feel like I have thought of everything. I feel so at peace with leaving which is amazing considering I had all of 7 hours to wrap up my life in Ouagadougou for two weeks. I even remembered to text my French teacher and tell him not to come until after the 21st and to leave Susan’s book club book with someone so she would have it for Sunday!

Well, the drive the airport went fine. We just beat the traffic rush. Leanna and Ben gave me hugs goodbye and then peaced out. I went through all the steps of checking in and could finally sit and do nothing starting about 6:30ish. I waited 45 minutes until they started boarding the plane and then sat on the plane a while because the flight was to leave at 8:15. The dinner Leanna packed me was great and the only real food I had all day, sloppy joe, a roll and pasta salad. I was too busy to stop and eat when getting ready to go!

I didn’t realize this and it didn’t really matter, but we had a stop over in Niamey, Niger. Crazy. I didn’t understand why leaving at 8:15pm we wouldn’t get to Paris until 6:15am when it is a 6 hour flight… Turns out the layover in Niamey is a doosey. We just sat in the plane the whole time. I wasn’t able to sleep sleep persay, but I did rest. The food on the flight actual was okay. It smelled better than it tasted though. I also watched the movie, The Golden Compass. I wouldn’t recommend it… I didn’t think it was all that great. But after the movie I was able to sleep for about two and half hours which was great.

We got to Paris on time and it was great to be in a developed country again; sliding glass doors, garbage cans, paper towels in the bathroom, flat screen flight monitor screens, Prada stores, Rolex stores all in the airport. Hallelujah! It took me a while to figure out where to go in the airport. My flight isn’t until 1:40pm so the gate info wasn’t displayed yet. But I managed. I found the gate and then found the bathroom. The next thing on the agenda was to check my email and hopefully have responses from all the emails I sent to know what to do when I land in Boston. I paid 6euros for 30 minutes and YES! I had all the information I needed waiting for me in my inbox :)

After checking my email I grabbed a quick breakfast of yogurt which I was able to pay for in Euros because I had some leftover and even thought to bring them! After breakfast I walked around a bit and then determined I was took tired to function so I found an empty area and sit down. I then took my roll of clothes I have in my carry on to change into once I arrive, and used it as a pillow. I actually fell asleep asleep for like 40 minutes and was able to rest for an additional hour. This was essential if I wanted to be functional when I arrive at MIT ;) There is something funny, however, about laying down on the ground in plain sight in a very public place like an airport. I kept my arms around my luggage so that wasn’t a worry. OH and you won’t believe this… at the airport they have these great luggage carts. They are kind of like shopping carts, but smaller and sleeker and designed to hold you carry-ons, purses, ect.

Anyway, I got up feeling much better. I went and brushed my teeth, nothing like a clean fresh smile to make you feel like it is a new day and that you have slept… Then I started writing this post and so arrive at the same point in time. I will leave this post again with just a few observations.

1. Flying over Africa at night is kind of freaky. I think I may have mentioned this before when I was describing my initial trip, but it is SO dark. There are no lights to look out the window and see. Unlike flying out of Chicago where the city of lights spreads out like a glowing spider web, Ouaga’s lights were few to begin with and trailed off to nothingness, pitch black within a few minutes. So that is why they call Africa the Dark Continent… well maybe there are other reasons for that as well, but whatever.

2. In Ouaga people will often where the airline eye masks as mouth guards to help keep them from breathing in the terrible dust and exhaust fumes of Ouaga. The first time I saw this I was pretty surprised but it has become a normal sight for me now. BUT the funny thing is a guy on the plane, an African I presume, was wearing it over his mouth instead of his eyes on the plane! I wanted to be like, yeah, um that isn’t what they are really for and the air in this plane probably has higher quality and more filtered air than any you have every breathed before… But I just smiled to myself and was contented to write about it in my blog.

3. Finally, flying into Paris this morning it was still dark out. It was amazing to see the tangles of lights. The roads in Paris look like someone scribbled them in, they are all twisty turny and circling each other. Not at all like the grids of US cities. I also noticed that the lights had different hues. Some were very yellow, others a clear white and some had a bluish hue. This must be because of different kinds of lighting, but it is cool to think of light having different colors. I guess that is why there is a market for products like the GE Reveal light bulbs.

Alright. Over and out. I will write a catch up post for my time for Wednesday March 26th to April 2nd soon.

p.s. my friends in Ouaga tease me about my long blog posts. I think they are just jealous, hehehe…

NSF Fellowship News!!! and the ensuing madness...

2008-04-04T05:37:00.002-05:00

I have finally been able to stop and digest what has happened in the last few days. The big news is that I conquered the pita bread! Yeah for getting my dough to finally rise :)

Just kidding that isn’t the big news… The big news is that I was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. This is huge for me. This means I can go to the graduate school of my choice and will not have to worry about where my funding is coming from for the next three years. I worked so hard on that application, and I am so so pleased to have received the award. This really changes everything for me in that now all the doors to the schools where I have been accepted are open. But how is one to chose?! I really struggled with this and was pretty incapable of doing anything since I heard learned about the scholarship because of how hard it will make my decision.

In celebration of finding out about the fellowship on Tuesday night I went back to my house and had an hour long dance party with me, myself, and I :) I also treated myself to a strawberry smoothie and chocolates my German friend Maggie gave me for my Birthday. I had been saving them for this occassion! I then watched Casino Royale and enjoyed some excellent stove top popcorn. I didn't get to sleep until really late I was so wound up!

In the morning, I had a great conversation with Caroline, my dear friend. I was super stressed beacuse I didn't know what to do about making a decision given this news and without visitng the campuses. Since I couldn’t think straight so I went to the gym and ran a 7:30 mile on the treadmill because I felt like if didn’t release the stress I was under I would just about explode. The awesome run was followed by a dip in the pool where I swam some laps. This really helped me calm down and collect my thoughts. It is amazing how awesome news can put you in as much of a tizzy as bad news…

The next thing I did was call Leanna and get the name of a travel agent. I had to call Nancy Burg after that to get the number. I called and asked about getting a flight to the states. I really felt like I needed to start thinking about going to visit these schools. I surmised if the schools were still willing to help me pay for some of the travel costs, it would be worth it for me to invest a little of my own time and money in making sure I end up at the right school for the next 3-5 years! I also had a revelation in relation to work in that I figured out I could take the time off. I thought it would be bad for my experiments and work to leave for two weeks, but right now I can’t work straight anyway because my mind is a million places other than Burkina Faso. Before I was also afraid I wouldn’t want to come back and the culture shock back and forth would be too much. This was cleared up in my mind because I realized I do want to come back. I genuinely like Burkina Faso, my job, my friends and my life here. I also came to the conclusion that the break from all this will hopefully refresh me and help me come back ready to take on the last 2.5 months I will have left when I get back. As far as the culture shock thing, yeah, that is just a lame excuse. I can deal with anything. Bring it on!

Okay, so I contacted the travel agent who told me I needed to email him. Great. Except I was supposed to be leading a bible study starting at in 12 minutes and I had to get there… I was going to go send the email and just arrive late, but something said NO. So I listened and went and lead bible study. Surprisingly I felt so light, focused, and calm. I finished up with the girls and headed back to my office to send the email. I figured if it was too late, it was too late and it wasn’t meant to be. I also figured if God wanted me to go it would work out. I was able to write the travel agent who responded in 20 minutes! I could go for a little over $2000. This seemed like a ton, but if I can get the travel support from all three schools it will be manageable. So I wrote the emails to schools I needed to write and then talked to my Mom.

I went and practiced for the worship service I was helping lead and play my guitar for tomorrow evening. Well, this lasted until like 9:15… at which point I came back and had one positive response from MIT about the travel funds. At that I had a strong feeling of hope that this might work out. I went home and went to bed right away. I was so tired. But I couldn’t really fall asleep, but in my half dream half awake state I felt God saying he was opening the doors for me to go. So I got up and had such a clarity in my thoughts it was astonishing. Hence, why I can write this… I wrote up a to do list, a to email list, and did some packing. I also wrote like 8 emails to tie up loose ends and to contact people I was hoping to see. This took a surprisingly long time... about 2 hours and I stopped writing at about 3:00am. However, things just feel right and I am starting to really look forward to this two week adventure I am about to embark upon.

You will receive an update from the last week and the monthly update hopefully soon. I just wanted to post this in the mean time.

In other random things I wanted to add to my blog…

I learned the hard way after eating M&Ms at Leanna’s that it not a good thing to eat a bunch of M&Ms and then ride your bike. Just don’t do it, it’s not pleasant…

On Monday I saw an African wearing a Princeton T-shirt. I was smiling from ear to ear as he road past on his bike…

I hadn’t done dishes for like a week. Why? because I didn’t feel like. And that’s okay, because my housemates moved out and I don’t have to worry about not bothering them anymore. It was my small form of rebellion I feel.

On a more serious note, it has come to my attention that there are so many crippled people here. People who walk with a severe limp or have to use a crutch. People who are paraplegic and have special hand/arm powered bikes/carts. You can not go out on errand without seeing someone with a disability. It is really just amazing and makes me realize how lucky we are in the United States to be able to treat illnesses and provide treatment for full recovery from accidents. I ride past these people on my bike and look down at my legs as I pedal and think, wow that could be me just as easy as them. Sobering thought.

Peaks, domes, waterfalls and hippos. Banfora is surely the place to go!

2008-03-26T07:21:00.001-05:00

And continuing…

So when Pam pulled up in a sweet almost new looking Rav4 SUV, and I knew it would be at the least, a comfortable trip. We left following the embassy driver through the maze of streets that is Ouagadougou. We passed the peage and the open road stretched out before us. We drove for over 2 hours before getting to Koudougou. It is normally an hour and a half drive, but Pam hasn’t driven much in Burkina outside of Ouaga and so we progress at a slightly slower speed than what the Embassy driver normally goes at. When we get to Koudougou we first have to stop at the chamber of commerce. Pam has to go in and meet with some people so Chelsea, her daughter who is in 6th grade, and I wait outside for her.

Note I sat up front for the whole trip. I asked Chelsea where she wanted to sit and she said she preferred the back. That was fine with me. I had some very nice conversations with Pam and the hours seemed to go by rather quickly. However, I was pretty tired from my lack of sleep the night before and would have liked at least a short nap. But, hey, who really needs to sleep anyway… We finally arrive at the meeting center and crowd is assembling inside. We wait about another half hour and then a procession of people, including Pam, enter and sit at the very nice half moon shaped table. Very official looking. Everyone has to acknowledge the special guests and give some sort of opening speech. When this finishes they all file out. I sit there thinking, was that it? It kinda seemed like a meeting, but it was surprisingly short. But oh no no. That was just the opening and the important people had just stepped outside to get their photo taken. Myself being an aspiring photographer I stepped outside as well and snapped some photos. Then the real meeting started. Several people gave PowerPoint presentations which were all pretty succinct and well put together. They should have been darn it, it was US State Department sponsoring it… After the powerpoints they have a question and answer session. The funny thing about Q and A in Africa is sometimes people stand up and talk for literally 15 minutes as the “question” but by the end you are left thinking and what was the question again? The content of the meeting was interesting, informing people how to export goods to the US. The thing that kept me awake though was that I decided I would be the official unofficial photographer. So I walked around and took pictures while people were talking, ect. I got some nice shots and it will be nice to give them to Pam.

The meeting ended about 12:45ish. We didn’t leave the center until 1:15 and from there we weren’t headed to Bobo yet, instead we were going to get lunch with the group. I can’t complain though. I was pretty hungry and I knew the food will be free… So we go and have lunch. I get to talk in French which is fun and rewarding, and the food is, well, African food, well prepared but lacking variety. Lunch wrapped up quicker than I thought possible and we were on the road to Bobo by 2:30. This sounds good except that Koudougou isn’t exactly on the road to Bobo. There is a shortcut, but we decided to stick to the paved roads which meant back tracking 30 minutes to get to the fork in the road. Up until this point we were still following the Embassy driver, but at the fork we split off. Then we were really on our own. We have just under 300km to go, but it is still a bit worrisome. We reached the halfway point at 4:15ish, with 178km to go I wonder if we will make it before nightfall which is obviously the goal. Thankfully, the road for the second half of the journey is really nice and Pam can go a bit faster. We got to Bobo at 6:15 just as it was getting to be dusk. Talk about just making it! I would like to mention that as we were driving to Bobo it rained. Really rained! It was amazing ;)

Once in Bobo, we went straight to our hotel, L’Auberge and checked in. We left for dinner pretty soon after, not wanting to be out too late. At first we thought we would just walk around and find a place, but that clearly wasn’t going to work, so I racked my brain remembering what was on the map in the guide book. I got us to a place L’eau Vive, that I went to the last time I was there, but being Easter weekend and given the place is run by Nun’s, needless to say it was closed. I did, however, think to ask the guard to direct us to a place called Le Mande I read about and knew was close by. He introduces us to a young punk kid who says he will take us there. A bit iffy, but still nothing to worry about. We start walking and I know we have to go over one more block and he leads us across a smaller side street. Obviously the most direct route, but I must admit I was a bit nervous. There were a bunch of people around in any case. We are almost to the end and Pam starts saying if it isn’t like right here she wants to turn around. I agree with her, and ask our guide how much farther it is. He points just to the right and I see the sign for the restaurant. Saved! Once there I insist on him taking 200CFA for payment. He doesn’t want to take it and I know it is because he wants to get us to go to a dance club after wards and wants to be a friend rather than a guide. Well, we didn’t want a friend so I paid him.

All I can say is the food was excellent and worth the intrepid journey there. I also knew in my head how to go back and noted a well light street one block up. On our way back that is how we went. For dinner I ordered a salad which turned out to be very good indeed. For dessert Pam ordered a yogurt and I was like yeah whatever, but when they brought it out we learned it wasn’t just any yogurt but awesome yogurt. We vowed to return the next day for dessert again! On the way back to the hotel I notice we are just blocks away from the bakery that the guide book raves about, making a mental resolve to go there for breakfast in the morning. Back at the hotel I read for a while and then fell asleep pretty effortlessly, even though my room was a bit hot in spite of my leaving the A/C on. I guess the unit just doesn’t work that well.

We said we would try to leave the hotel at 7:00, go get breakfast and head out. Well I knock on Pam and Chelsea’s door at 7:00 and they are both in their PJs still. Pam had a crazy night and couldn’t get up. I guess the sister of someone who was at the meeting we went to wanted to meet with Pam. They had called during dinner, but never showed up. Well, long story short Pam gets confused into thinking another woman is the one she is looking for and then only discovers it is not her when the lady who she is really supposed to meet calls her on her cell phone. Talk about freaky! Anyway, Pam ends up having to sit and talk with family until like midnight… After hearing about the craziness of her night I say I will just go down by the pool and read while I wait for them. Which is what I did. For breakfast we went to the great bakery which has a restaurant attached to it too. I ordered an omelet and had them serve it on a baguette like Susan had it in Ouaga. My oh my was it wonderful. It really hit the spot. Sidenote, all over Burkina you signs for this new brand of fruit juice made in Burkina. It is nicely packaged and apparently tastes great. However, I read the label and see it is only 25% real fruit juice to which I think to myself, how can you still call it fruit juice! As a result of my disgust for this low percentage of real fruit juice, I have decided to boycott the new brand. No pulling the wool over my eyes. After breakfast I swing by the local Marina Market and get some cheese and ham pate to have on two baguettes for lunch. We pulled out of Bobo at 8:30. The 85 km trip took us about an hour and a half. It really makes we wish we weren’t staying in Bobo on Saturday night. The back and forth two days in a row seemed a bit taxing for me as a passenger; I can’t imagine driving it. But Pam wanted to stay in Bobo at the same hotel all three nights and she was the driver. I must admit it was a very nice hotel though. The biggest plus was they had wifi. But at 20,000CFA + a night they had better have wireless.

Once in Banfora we stopped at the hotel called La Canne a Sucre where we picked up a guide. The road to the Sindou Peaks is a dirt road and we aren’t sure we will be able to find it. However, it turns out it is really simple to get to, but it was still nice to have a guide. For not having arranged for anything beforehand I was pretty impressed with our ability to show up and within 10 minutes have a guide in our car ready to direct us to our destination.

We stopped along the way and saw these basket weaving ladies who sit and weave in deep holes hollowed out of the ground. The dampness and humidity keep the reeds from snapping. I was able to climb down which was cool. I bought two baskets; one, because they were dirt cheap and two because I saw how they were made and met the women who made the baskets which makes them more significant somehow. The Peaks were another 50km from Banfora. We made good time getting there, but as we were driving I am definitely questioning in my head if these rock formations were worth the drive.

The landscape is pretty basic African plains, but with much more green than in Ouagadougou. Being to the south of the country, Bobo and Banfora get much more rain a have lusher scenery. So we were driving along and then out of now where this rock formation cropped up. The peaks were amazing. They seem kind of other worldly really. They were these spindly sand formations that rise up a good 40 to 50 ft into the air. You first ascend a rather defined step pathway and from there, once you are at the top, there are endless paths to explore. Chelsea really liked looking around. More than the peaks themselves though I think I was more enchanted by the view. Overlooking the plains from high above, seeing the barren fields dotted with palm trees, the green rice paddies lining the river banks, and livestock rooming free just tiny specks of color; the green canopy meeting the sky creating a breathtaking horizon. As I stand looking out I think “This is Africa”. This is the Africa I picture in my mind and it is beautiful. We hiked around a bit taking it all in. I could sense I guide wanted to leave, but whatever. He had been there over 50 times this was our one and probably only chance to soak it all in. So we stayed until we had our fill ;)

On the way back to Banfora we stopped at The Lake of Sacred Hippos. I was skeptical but agreed to go. As long as were coming back to see the waterfalls the next day I didn’t care. However, I have to say I ended up really enjoying the Hippo Lake. First off when we got there we decided to have lunch before striking out on the water in the little pirogue. As we were sitting getting things together, there was all of the sudden a big commotion. I quickly gathered from what they were saying that a cow had fallen into a hole. At first I tried to act uninterested. But really, have you ever seem a cow in a hole. I thought they meant like a large foundation size type hole. Oh no. It was a hole about 3 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep. It was actually the pit dug out for a pit latrine the owner was planning to build. So my curiosity gets the better of me and I head over to look at the spectacle. Sure enough there is this huge ox, really, crumpled up at the bottom of this well. Pam decides she needs to try and help and offers to let them tie a rope to her car and she will try and pull it out. Mind you this cow weighs probably close to a half ton. I am doubtful, but supportive. Pam tries it, but no luck. I can’t say I’m surprised at this. She tries again and after getting her engine smoking but good, she stops and offers her apologies for not being more helpful. The village people are really nice about it and are actually very touched she offered to help. Later the villagers all got together and pulled the cow out. They did what the car couldn’t do…

After the cow in the well incident we finally finished up lunch and went for our boat ride. The paddle guide was really a nice kid and we saw two hippos. We got close enough to see them quite clearly, but not too close that I felt in any danger. According to the guide there are not aggressive unless they have a baby they want to protect. Thankfully these hippos were sans children. As we are out on the lake I hear thunder which is an unfamiliar sound for me here, but a wonderful reminder of the promise of rain in Ouaga when the rainy season comes.

When we finally have enough of the Hippo Lake and turn down a chance to see a Sacred Baobob, we head for Banfora to drop off our guide and then it was off for Bobo. We had to leave between 4:00 and 4:30 at the latest to get back to Bobo before dark. We made it back in much less time than it took to get there. I even had time to jump in the pool and swim a bit before we went to dinner. Dinner on Saturday was at the Watinoma; a restaurant that François, the Embassy assistant, recommended. I track down directions and lead us there as the declared trip navigator. I like navigating actually and love maps. I have a good sense of direction and can draw out paths in my head. This is a very useful skill to have, especially in places where there are no street names. For dinner we order two pizzas, one of which is a special order ham and pineapple one. It wasn’t on the menu and we only described to them what we wanted, so weren’t sure what we would end up with. However, I am happy to report they did a great job with the pizzas. Not anything to write home about, errr…well I guess it was as I am writing about it now, but still good. Afterwards, true to our word we went back to Le Mande for a yogurt dessert. Luckily it was right around the corner from the Watinoma.

The yogurt was so good! Like frozen yogurt almost, just softer and not quite as cold. I can only imagine how much sugar it contained… I read for a while on Saturday night before going to sleep. The book I was reading called Water for Elephants is really very good and I wasn’t too tired to read so I stayed up.

Sunday morning did not feel like Easter at all. I had to keep reminding myself that this is the day we celebrate Christ’s triumph over death. We got up and left the hotel at 7:00 as planned. This time we went to a different place for breakfast; a place the guide book suggests has really good yogurt (different place than Le Mande, our first yogurt score). The yogurt here is much cheaper and even better in than the other place. Unlike most of the yogurt you get here in Ouaga this stuff was really thick and creamy. Yum! I also ordered a slice of the “Diplomate” pie looking thing. They couldn’t explain to me what is was but it looked good. So feeling adventurous, I bought it. It turns out is was bread pudding and went great with the yogurt. Score two for Sara and good breakfasts. After breakfast we went and picked up another girl who is the daughter of an Embassy worker. While she and Chelsea aren’t really friends per say we thought it would be nice to invite her, otherwise she would be stuck at her hotel all day. So after picking her up we made tracks to Bobo again. This time the drive goes faster. It also helps that the Domes and Waterfalls we want to see are close to the town unlike the peaks which were another hour away.

After the ease and success of Saturday’s expedition we decided we didn’t need to get a guide on Sunday. Besides these places are much closer, how hard can they be to find? Wrong. Unlike the road to the peaks which was a treelined colonial route, the domes and the falls are hidden pretty well. We kept driving and driving, occassionally stopping and asking people to point us in the right direction. We drove in the general direction of the mountain which seemed like a good idea. As we were driving though we realized we were smack in the middle of a sugar cane plantation. Nice. We were all still pretty calm, but I could tell we were all wishing we knew where to go. Then finally we happened across a tree lined road… so we took that road and thankfully found a sign pointing us to the domes and the falls.

We came across the domes first. So we stopped paid our entrance fee and hiked up the short path to the plateau. At first I wasn’t all that impressed, but the longer we stayed and more adventurous we got climbing up the domes the cooler they became. They weren’t quite as other worldy as the peaks, but they still seemed quite out of place. From the domes we ask the guy to point us in the direction of the falls. He gives us instructions and this time we are able to locate them. I still don’t know how we found these places, and I don’t know if I could find them again any easier if I went back a second time.

The falls were beautiful. We parked the car and hiked up a trail again. We got to the main area and had a nice little picnic of bread and cheese, a lovely pastry and some mangos we picked up from the lady selling them there. The only thing about the place was that it was terribly littered! You couldn’t take a step without encountering a discarded plastic bag or sardine can. Pam and I are pretty appalled by this and decide we will start cleaning it up. The other tourists there and guides are at first dumbstruck by what we were doing. Then they started to thank us and then others joined in. Pretty soon there were 5 people picking up garbage and when we were done the place looked great. What a difference it makes to do something and not just complain. The guides who helped us said they would talk to the people who run the place about getting a garbage can up there and cleaning up the rest of the stuff we missed. It just seems unbelievable that people have such disregard for nature. I think part of the problem was also that there was so much garbage already it didn’t seem like a big deal to add to it… it’s the mentality of “Well everybody else has done it, why shouldn’t I?”

After lunch and the trash pick up we went and played under the water falls. I didn’t think it was a great idea what with the risk of possible parasites and such, but my logic was forced to take a backseat to fantasy of playing under the waterfalls in Africa. It was great fun and the water was so refreshing. I wasn’t in for a long time and I hope nothing comes of it, but there is always a risk. We ended up staying at the falls for like 3 hours. We met a nice European couple who work Niger with the European Union. It turned out the guy is in charge of their water projects. I gave him my email and I hope to stay in touch with him. He seemed like he really knew what was going on. We actually ended up following them out back to Banfora. They had a guide and we decided it was better to follow them than try and find our own way back. The prospect of getting lost and not making it back to Bobo in time was not all that appealing. The road they took was crazy! It was truly offroading and it put the shocks and Pam’s driving to the test. It went well though. She did a great job and it was great to have someone to follow.

Once we got back to the main road in Banfora we started the final return trip to Bobo. We got back before dark, always a good thing. I went and found directions to the restaurant I had been really wanting to go to called Le Zion. It is on the outskirts of town and hard to find, but I saw a poster advertising some concerts they were hosting and there were directions at the bottom. So after I showered and before I was supposed to meet Pam and Chelsea I walked down to the bakery to have a good look at the sign and write down the directions and phone number. We set off in search of Zion, but couldn’t find it. We found the water tower in the directions mention, but that was it. So I called the number to the place and in French, thank you very much, arranged to meet the owner by the water tower to follow her back to the place. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but her vehicle was impossible to miss; it was a big van painted all over with pictures and words promoting the Le Zion.

I should mention the owner is a French woman who married a Burkinabe man. She is a French gourmet chef and he is a musician. So they have this great place called Le Zion where the food is superb and there is almost always live music at night. While it was hard to find, it was well worth the hassle. The food was great. I ordered the capitane lasagna. They also had strawberry juice, so I had to try that and a mango milkshake for dessert. So good.

A funny little sidenote is that there were two little kids hanging out there. You could tell they were, Camille, the owner’s sons. The little boy who was probably about 4 was so adorable. He came over and put his sunglasses on my face and then used our straws to make himself into an elephant using the straws as tusks :) The really amazing part was just as the music started going the kid falls asleep on some floor cushions spread out under the cabana. It was like the music lulled him to sleep. It was traditional African music, so I didn’t really get the lulling feel right away, but after a while I could see how it might put someone to sleep.

After dinner we went back to the hotel for the last night. We decided to start our day on Monday at 7:30, going to the same place for breakfast as Sunday; the one with the good yogurt. On the way I stop and get a pain au raisin from the good bakery. It looks amazing, but is actually a bit of a disappointment in flavor. Oh well. From here we walked around and looked at the Old Mosque. Frankly I wasn’t impressed. It was built in 1890, which isn’t even all that old. By 1890 there were skyscrapers in Chicago and here they were still building with mud brick, which they are still building with today. But whatever.

We paid our hotel bill and went off looking to enjoy some of the national cultural festival. We saw some traditional fighting, which seemed a lot like wrestling. We went in and found we were like the only women in the crowd and the only white people for that matter. But hey, what can you do? So we stayed for a bit, but then decided to try and find some other exhibits. We went to the French Cultural center and found a few book vendors, but this still wasn’t the main center of the festival. After asking like 5 people we finally figured out were we had to go. So, we drive across town…again. This time we found the main market area of the festival. I was expecting dancing and traditional music, but instead all we found were very pushy vendors and loud music played by cell phone promoters and banks. It was ridiculous. I did find some wooden salad tongs and ended up buying them. I probably paid more than I should have for them, but it was hot and I was flustered. Needless to say we didn’t stay long at the festival. After shaking off the last vendor we beelined it to the car and hit the road back to Ouaga. We left Bobo at 11:30ish. The drive back was without incident. I was able to read some of my book as well which was nice. We stopped in Boromo, the halfway point, for lunch. The stop took about an hour, but we needed the break. I was back at my house by 5:30 which is pretty good time considering the long stop as well.

I only had like 60 pages left in my book so when I got home I went into my living room sat down and finished it. Reading the book I got lost in the story, not even aware anymore that I was reading. Those are the best kinds of books. I was considering seeing Leanna that night, but didn’t feel like going out and she didn’t really want to come over so instead I went to my office and talked to my Mom. The trip was all in all fantastic. I was not so ready or happy about going back to work, but there isn’t much I can do about that. The only thing I am worried about is my face is kind of itchy. Around my chin was itchy starting on Saturday and I even noticed on Friday that the edge of my upper lip felt funny. Anyway, by Monday night my face was definitely reacting to something. I didn’t know what to do, so I didn’t do anything hoping it would clear up in the morning. At first I was afraid it was something from the waterfall waters, but then I remember the symptoms started showing up before then.

Monday morning I look in the mirror and my face is still reacting. But now it is even itchier. I go to work anyway and do my business as usual. I can’t help but notice though that my face feels really hot and going out in the sun make it worse. In the morning I wash out filter one, again, hoping it will help get the high coliform counts under control. I also measure the large sand filter flow rate and see that it dropped considerably. The prefilter level was up and somehow leaves got in the basin again. I planned to have Pierre clean it out in the afternoon, but I forgot about it as I was trying to get my MES test done and prepare the chemicals for the test I want to run today, Wednesday.

For lunch I went to the cafeteria to say goodbye to Pascal. He was leaving for Bobo for two and a half months to do his memoir. I am actually quite happy about that. I thought he was already gone, but when I ran into him the night before I learned out I was mistaken. Anyway, the sauce on the rice at lunch was really good! It was some onion sauce that I don’t remember having before. Things were pretty uneventful and since Pascal was leaving on a two o’clock bus he couldn’t stay long which was fine. However, he brought with him some papers he had printed out. At first I didn’t think anything of it, but then he showed them to me and they were about me! He had googled my name… And apparently there is a lot of information about me online. Darn all those impressive awards I received. This was a bit concerning and somewhat stalker-ish so I tried to act somewhat unfriendly about it and shrugged the whole thing off. Ugh. Since I had seen him around very infrequently for the last few months I thought all this had passed, but I guess not. I think it is time to be frank and tell him to bugger off.

Anyway, continuing on with my day…in the afternoon I just finished with the chemical preparations and washing my bottles to have them sterilized when 5:00 o’clock rolled around and it was time for my French lesson. I like my lessons, but man I hate how I have to stop what I am doing for them… But as I said I just finished with things when my teacher showed up so that was good. It was actually during the lesson I realized I forgot about seeing Pierre about the prefilter. Doah! At that point there was nothing I could do and it would have to wait until tomorrow. I worked so hard and so long all day that I was wiped by the end.

Leanna came over to hang out around 6:45ish because we hadn’t had a chance to catch up for a whole week! We sat and chatted for a while and then decided to go grab dinner somewhere since I didn’t feel like cooking anything and I didn’t have much to work with at that. We originally planned to go to the Petites Delices but changed our minds and instead tried out the Austrian restaurant next door. It was good. Reasonable prices and air conditioning, what more could you want. And the food was great. I ordered a spinach strudel which I would highly recommend. It came with a spicy cucumber slaw that went great on the strudel.

I came home wrote the first half of this post then cashed in for the night. Praying my face would be fine the morning. Oh, two other points to note from Monday 1. I chatted online with Bonnie which was awesome. Great to hear from her… and 2. Katha put some pictures from Easter with family online which I got to see! Yeah!

I want to end the post here and get back to work, but I can’t leave you hanging. So I will just go ahead and keep typing. This morning when I woke up I knew there was something wrong with my face. My eyes felt puffy and my face stiff. Sure enough I look in the mirror and the face I see was not happy. My eyes were super puffy above and below. The eyelids created concentric half circles. I remained calm, but quickly went to my office and looked some stuff up online. Again, somewhat concerned it is something serious. However, instinctively I think it is an allergic reaction and not something like a parasite. It is a rash and a reaction of sorts. Anyway, I go to see the nurse. Ever been to a medical place in a foreign country and have to speak a foreign language with the nurse? Yeah. That’s what I thought. The great thing was the nurse was really nice. She wrote me a prescription for an antihistamine medication and crème to apply. She also did all the stuff with my insurance papers. I have coverage with my job which is great. I didn’t think I would ever need it but I guess you never know which is why it is good to have. Once I got the prescription I wasted no time in going over to the pharmacy. I paid roughly a dollar fifty for my medicine and headed home. At home I read everything carefully. Thankfully there was information in French and English! So I take the pill and apply the cream. It seems like it is working. I will keep you up to date. I cancelled my tennis lesson for today and stayed home this morning finishing this post and staying out of the sun.

Thinking back over the weekend there are so many possibilities of what could have caused it. Could have been the soap at the hotel, the pillow which seemed a bit odd, the sheets, I went swimming in the pool there as well. I used some of Pam’s sunscreen on my face, ate fish, many mangos and other foods… It is pretty much impossible to determine what has caused it and honestly I don’t care. I just want it to go away! Final note: my housemates are officially moving out this week. The exchange about that information went really well and I can tell our talk the week before was definitely beneficial.

Pictures of the trip coming tomorrow!

Over and Out.