Writing my last mass update has taken up the time I has normally used to write this update, that is why is coming so late. Since there is much to go over I am sure I will have to do this into three parts. So here is what I am thinking for the divisions.
1. Bianca’s Village Trip
2. Weekend
3. Work Week
So, here goes:
1. The trip to visit Bianca was altogether awesome. There were many challenges we faced along the way, but we maintained a good attitude toward things and instead of making the trip the miserable they made the trip memorable.
Before leaving on Wednesday, the rest of my day on Tuesday was crazy. I was thankfully able to submit my Columbia application without a problem after I got the corrections back from my Mom. However, my Stanford application which I turned in on Sunday was posing a bit more of a problem. 48 hours after submitting the actual application I had to access my account again and upload a plain text version of my essay and a copy of my transcript. Because of the large volume of applications, mine hadn’t been processed yet, so I couldn’t add the information. BUT knowing I was leaving the next day I wasn’t sure what to do because I would definitely miss the deadline if I didn’t do it before I left. I emailed the program coordinator and left the office not sure what would happen, but sure I would be going back to my office later that night to finish it up.
Dinner Tuesday night ended up being really fun. Since it was Marcia’s last night in Burkina, Marcia, Susan and I all went to Gondwana’s for dinner. I got the mustard steak which was very very good. Oh, quick aside. I was planning on just eating dinner at the café, but I went and they were out of food! One of the students I am friends with was there as well and so he offered that we could walk to go buy some bread. I was like, okay sounds good. Just bread for dinner is a bit odd, but ok. I am still not quite sure how this all came about really, but we walked to this little kiosk at the main university. I bought half a loaf of bread, plain, and I was waiting for him to buy something. Then he tells me that wants head out to some other restaurant. I was not up for eating out with him, so I went back to 2iE and he continued on. It was bizarre, lack of communication for sure. But at least I had some bread for breakfast the next morning.
Back to Gondwana’s. After the meal we walked back which was not my preferred mode of transportation, but it got us back. After returning to 2iE I went to my office to once and for all finish the Stanford essay. But no luck. I waited until 10:30 for an email allowing me to access my account and it didn’t come and I did not want to keep waiting my office that late at night. So I did a little math in my head and realized if I got up at 5:30 the next morning it would still be before midnight in California. I would have to be at the bus station by 6:30 anyway so it wasn’t too much earlier. So I left my office and went back and packed for my trip. I was really easy to pack since Bianca has all the everyday type things I would need… like food, soap, a mosquito net, ect :)
I hit the hay at midnight-ish, and let me tell you 5:30 came really quickly. I got up alright but what I hadn’t anticipated was it still being dark outside. Creepy. But I went to my office and everything worked out swimmingly. I got to the bus station on time and found Bianca without a problem.
The bus station was a small lot packed with 8 buses. We bought our tickets and then joined the huddle of people around the bus. Bianca made sure my bike got packed in the bus storage. They just smash stuff in, more stuff than you would ever imagine. And my favorite part was the guy who came around with masking tape numbering the items. Like that is going to stop someone from taking my bike…
The bus left pretty much on time and drove through Ouaga to second station to pick up more passengers. No problems here. We also had to watch that my bike stayed on the bus because they have been known to trade out items if you aren’t watching. Leaving Ouaga it seemed like it would be fun and fancy free, yet very full bus ride to Bapla, Bianca’s village. Boy were we wrong. After passing the toll booth to leave Ouaga the bus stopped. At first we though there was an accident because there were a lot of vehicles stopped. BUT no. It was a papers control. Essentially the government shut down the roads to all commercial vehicles who did not have the right papers. Some bus companies had the papers, ours did not. You would think it wouldn’t take too long for someone from TSR, our company to bring us the papers, it didn’t take us too long to get here… so, what’s the problem right? The problem is this is Africa. We waited 5 hours at the papers control. It was insane, but I was in surprisingly good spirits. Aside from arriving at night and missing the market day it wasn’t that bad. But considering I only had 3 days with Bianca and we lost one on transport, I was a bit sad.
One cool thing about the trip was at the bus stops people come up to bus and try to sell things. This might sound annoying at first, but it was really pretty cool. Like a Burkina style drive through. You could buy water, coke, sprite, apples, bread, peanuts, ect…
When we got off the bus at Bianca’s village it was SO dark. Well naturally because there are no lights. Standing by the bus waiting for them to get our stuff out these kids came up and wanted to help me with my bike and bags. Bianca was around the other side and I was like, uh what do I do? BUT turns out those were her courtyard kids, or her family here essentially. phew. Entering Bianca’s courtyard I met her family which was fun. She has her own little hut within the compound area. She also has her own latrine. These are Peace Corps regulations. The inside of her house is painted blue and there is a kitchen/living room and then a second room for her bed. She has a very nice set up considering there is no electricity and no running water. I really liked roughing it. I felt like I was really in Africa :) We made a quick pasta side dish that her parents had sent in a care package for dinner and then went out and sat with the dad of the household and drank some dolo. Dolo is the local brew made out of various different grains. It’s like their beer. I have decided it is an acquired taste that I haven’t quite acquired yet. I should also explain that the family is polygamous. Which is pretty weird, and not really something I agree with. But, it was interesting to learn from Bianca how it all works. So the first marriage was arranged and that is the first wife who is the boss. The second marriage was not arranged and the man of house and the second wife have stayed together. So it’s not like a simultaneous marriage. It is almost like he divorced the first wife for the second wife but keeps her around to run the household.
How the kids are raised is also kind of interesting. Even though there are multiple adults around, mothers, aunts, fathers, uncles, ect. the kids don’t differentiate. The kids call all the women Mom and all the men Dad. Some of the kids in the courtyard are the grandkids of the first wife. Their parents have gone to city to work and left the kids to be raised in the village. Don’t ask me. I don’t get it either. All I know is I now understand the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
I slept soundly the first night. It was nice to go to bed so early. Without lights to trick your body into staying awake you get tired very early. We got up and made oatmeal for breakfast. Bianca gave me a tour of her courtyard in the daylight and we walked to the reservoir and through the mango grove her papa owns. After this exploration we got our bikes and rode about 30 minutes down the road to where a women’s group Bianca has been working with was supposed to be meeting. Surprise. No one was there. So instead we rode pretty far off the main road into the bush to find one of Bianca’s friend’s house. She wasn’t home either. Sad. On the way back we stopped by this little shack that was advertising Coca-cola, but it was closed too! This is Africa. I would also like to mention that on the bus trip to Bianca’s the bus company really smashed my bike in tight and bent the back wheel. We stopped at bike repair corner and the guy worked on it, but it still isn’t fixed. I was planning on getting it looked at back in Ouaga, but haven’t had the chance.
For lunch we made another instant side, some garlic pasta stuff which was kind of runny. We also mixed some tuna with mayonnaise, which they don’t refrigerate here…, and seasoned salt. We put this on some very stale bread we had, which when sliced and topped with tuna actually tasted like a great cracker. It was the closest to gourmet cooking we were going to get. In the afternoon we took a nap and then watched Luci do Io’s hair. Io is a local girl who the family pays to help work at the house. Adolf was kicking around a bunch of plastic bags made into a ball with another kid. After they were done we invited the kids that live in Bianca’s courtyard to help decorate for Christmas. There are three young kids, Adolf 6, Luci 9, and Remi 13. Bianca has a mini tree and a bunch of ornaments, a crèche, and other nick-nacks. The kids had a blast :) And afterwards Adolf got to color. Bianca also got this card sent to her that plays music. It plays the Chris Tomlin Indescribable song and the kids call it the radio and will play it over and over and over. The cutest thing is Adolf likes to try to sing the song too, and he actually gets pretty close!
For dinner we had “to” to eat pronounced toe like the little things on your feet. It is a very tasteless dish, basically grain that is mixed with water to make a think paste they let sit to congeal. The “to” however takes on the favor of the sauce that goes with it. Lucky for us the sauce was good. We ate with our hands as is the custom. I didn’t mind except the sauce was really hot and my fingers kept getting burned. Normally everyone eats out of the same bowl, but for sanitary reasons only Bianca and I ate out of our own bowl. I luckily avoided having anymore dolo that night and Bianca and I watched Hook on her computer. Sitting in the dark room watching the glow of the computer made it seem like we could have been anywhere, like in my house in Crete.
The next morning, Saturday, we got up and made pancakes for breakfast. Yummy. We also made syrup from boiling sugar and water with some apples into. It made a great topping. After breakfast we rode down the road to visit Bianca’s friend Beldine. Seeing her courtyard, it was clear that Bianca’s family, while her papa is not the chief of the village, is still very well off comparatively. After meeting Beldine we all traveled to another women’s house named Jean. I offered to take their pictures and they were so funny. They went and changed clothes and found matching pagnas, or skirts. You’ll have to see it in the pictures. Jean also gave me a bag of peanuts as a present. Not sure what the heck I would do with them I was like, uh ok thanks! We rode back to Beldine’s and I took pictures of her and her mother. She was very regal looking. They added to the peanuts Jean had given me so now I had many many peanuts. One other thing. At Jean’s house there were some children around, as usual. But one little girl had what looked like a softball in her little pink full body sleeper thing kids used to wear all the time in the states. You know the full body jumper things with the zippers from the toe to the neck. Anyway, turns out was belly button problem. I looked it up when I got back and essentially what happens is there is a weakness in the muscle wall near where the belly button is and it herniates allowing some of the intestines to push through. It likely won’t kill you, and most cases heal during childhood, but others don’t heal and can cause problems later in life. When we asked the women about it they said was where the “to” went when she ate it and laughed. I was like, HUH? Are you kidding. They just don’t have any conception of medicine and ailments needing attention.
Getting back to Bianca’s we quickly packed up and left for Diebougou to catch the bus. We got there early to go to the post office, visit the forest for all of 5 minutes, get lunch and visit the market. Bianca got three letters in the mail which I thought was impressive. The forest was cool, literally in the shade. Lunch was nice. We went to this place that is supposedly a hotel, but we didn’t see any rooms anywhere. I ate couscous. After lunch we scoped out the market. I was looking for a pagna. They are cheaper to buy in the village. I found one I liked and paid 1500CFA for it with the help of a little bargaining. The pagnas can be used as towels as well which is why I wanted one. That is what I used when I showered at Bianca’s. Which I should note, the showers at Bianca’s house were none existent because there was no running water. So I had to “bucket bath” where you have a bucket of water and a smaller cup and scoop up the water and then pour it over yourself to wash. At first I was a little skeptical, but after trying it it was super fun. Way more fun than a regular shower. This actually makes you feel like you have accomplished something when you are done.
Back to Diebougou. From the market we rode to the bus station, bought our tickets and waited. The bus was supposed to come at 3:00, but it came at 4:30 instead. Nice. The bus was packed as usual and Bianca had to sit next to this women who was eating nasty dried fish out of a bucket. You had to laugh to stop yourself from getting mad or sick from the smell. As we went along, instead of people getting off at each stop like on the way to the village, people kept getting on! There were at least 7 people standing in the aisle for a like 4 hour bus ride. Can you imagine? We were also stopped twice for paper controls on the way back, but they were quick stops since this time our driver had the papers. We didn’t get back to Ouaga until 9:45. At this point, Bianca was headed to the Peace Corps hostel and I was going back to 2iE. Bianca didn’t have her bike with her, but it wasn’t far to walk. I walked with her part of the way and then we split and I rode like the wind back to 2iE. I went along the main rode. There plenty of people out and I was fine, but I don’t like to out at night by myself. I was riding SO FAST. It is amazing how you don’t feel tired when you have a ton of adrenaline pumping. I got back fine, I showered to get all the grime off and fell sound asleep.
The last thing I want to write about the village trip is a reflection on my work in Africa. Living in a village, while even only for 3 days, really opened my eyes to how much the problems of drinking water and sanitation are deeply rooted into the culture. The people don’t use pit latrines. They go pee on concrete slabs where the pee drains out a little hole on side just onto the ground. If they need to go number two they go out to the woods and go. Just a question, where do they think all that is going to go when it rains. Well I’ll tell you. Right into the supply of water stored in the barrage that they for many things. They don’t get that the stuff that comes out of your body is what makes you sick with diarrhea. It’s all linked. Even if they have clean water, if their hands are dirty when they are drinking it what’s the point. There needs to be a change in mind set, an understanding of how hygiene is important.
Other random village stuff:
The family has a white dog they called, la blanche, or the white. When Bianca first moved in she thought they were calling her all the time, instead of the dog.
There are chickens everywhere and they many look cool, but in the morning the roosters are annoying and they poop all over the place. Not cool.
At night we went up on a roof to look at the stars. They were SO pretty.
The bike trip to Deibougou was like 40 minutes. This is what Bianca has to do everytime she wants to use the internet or charge her phone or computer. Crazy.
2. My weekend after the village trip was awesome. Truly awesome. I went to the holiday fair at the ISO school. It started at 8:00. I got there about 8:30 and found Bianca. She had a meeting in the morning so wanted to do her shopping before she had to go to that. It was like an American style craft fair, but with all African handicrafts. They booths were setup under tents. I made a list before I came so I knew what I was looking for. I was able to get everything on my list and a few other things as well. I spent what felt like a lot of money, but was really only like $45, and I bought some things I saw at the village artisinal that I had eventually wanted to buy. You know before I left, and I figured why wait until I’m about to leave if, I buy it now I will enjoy it longer. I got a really neat ring, a stone crèche, candle holders and these really neat shish-cabob sticks with these gold African figurines on the back. I figure they will make a great conversation piece at future dinner parties I am already planning for when I get home :)
After Bianca left I ran into my friend Maggie and went around with her to all different tables. Then Leanna had a break from working at the snow cone station she was helping run to raise money for the prom, so I walked with her as well. I was out of money having only brought a few thousand CFA with me. So I rode to the bank at 11:45 thinking it would close at noon. Wrong. It closed at 11:00. BUT I’m standing there writing down the hours so I know in the future when to come and a guy opens the doors and asks me what I want. I tell him I want to make a withdrawl and he lets me in. I get my money and wouldn’t you know they ask me for my phone number. I tell them I don’t have a cell phone, silently praying for the phone in my bag not to ring at this exact moment and tell them instead to give me there number. This works fine and I promptly deposit in the number in my waste basket the place where the many numbers I have gotten here have ended up. I mean really. Do they think I am going to call them?
After the bank incident I head back to ISO to pick up one last thing and run into Maryellen. It was so nice to see her and so of course I went around to the tables again this time with her. By now I was an expert and finding things and knowing prices. We also stopped and got some lunch which consisted of spring rolls basically, and two snowcones. Can you blame me? It was hot outside and they had raspberry lemonade flavoring!
I finally left at 2:00pm. I went back to my house and admired all my purchases :) I then packed up my bag and headed out to Orca. Orca is the closest thing to a Walmart here. It was first time at Orca and I wanted to check out the prices of hairdryers. I have been wearing my hair in a pony tail for 2 months straight and it is driving me crazy. I like my hair, and want to wear it down. I saw one at Marina Market for like 7500CFA but wanted to check Orca before I bought anything. The ones at Orca started at 12500CFA, so I crossed my fingers and headed to Marina hoping they still had some left. Who was I kidding of course they had some left. Who buys a hair dryer in West Africa where is it super humid? While I didn’t buy anything at Orca I was glad I went to get an idea of what they have and the prices. At Marina I picked up a couple other items including Christmas window stickies. I used them to decorate my front door which is half window and my mirrors. Nice little Christmas touches.
After Marina I headed to the rec center and ran 6 miles. I felt awesome. I was also super excited and looking forward to blow drying my hair after I showered. All together an awesome workout. I rushed home and showered because Leanna was coming to get me to hang out and decorate her place for Christmas. I did, however, stop to buy some fruit which was great; 2 bananas, a papaya and an orange. Leanna came to get me a little early so she waited while I dried my hair with my new dryer. This was fine except I was super disappointed because my hairdryer wasn’t working very well at all. It was pretty weak and not very hot and then it started smelling like it was burning. I was so MAD. There are no return policies here so I figured I was out $15. I learned never to buy electronics without first testing them out. At Leanna’s, Ben, Will, Tyler, Maggie, Bianca, Leanna and I turned the house into a Christmas wonderland. She has a full size tree with tons of ornaments, all sorts of garland and wall hangings for the house it is pretty darn incredible. We also had pizza for dinner yum! And then we watched a movie. We watched Ratatoulli which I really enjoy, but I could tell not everyone liked it. Oh well. I laughed a lot. But in retrospect I can see why the whole rat thing can be kind of gross after a while. ALSO, it was my Dad’s Birthday so I called him on the computer to wish him a Happy Birthday and tell him I ran the 6 miles that day in his honor. It was a perfect day, minus the hairdryer let down. Perfect, EXCEPT I realized at like 11pm that night that I left my ipod shuffle in the cup holder of the treadmill, just like I did my phone, but I didn’t realize it in time to get it back.
Sunday I got up very early to go to the rec center to look for my ipod, but no luck. I made up a sign to post asking for who ever took it to please return it. I went to church at the International Church Ouagadougou. The service was in English which was a nice change in pace. It went very long though. I did get back in time for lunch at the cafeteria. I spent the afternoon talking with my parents and writing my December update. At 5:00 Drew came over to use my oven to bake a cake for his fiancé whose Birthday it was on Monday. The oven in his house doesn’t work, so I offered mine. I was glad to see it put to good use. He made a carrot cake which only cooked for like 30 minutes before it was convincingly done. I was surprised since carrot cakes usually cook for a long time, but this one was thinner so I am guessing that is why it cooked faster. I left with Susan at 6:30 and we rode our bikes to the Embassy for a short concert of gospel music. It was excellent. Funny enough I had met some of the singers in church that morning! It is a small world in Burkina Faso. After the concert Susan came with me to the rec center to help me put up my poster. We talked to the workers and were able to recover the head phones, but not the device itself. It’s a start. I keep hoping it will show up. I plan to offer a reward, but every time I have gone to the center the manager is gone and I want to talk to him before I do anything about it.
3. My work week was, in one word, exhausting. I don’t want to go through each day in detail, but I will do a quick summary. This week started my actual lab work. Finally! I get mad if I think about the fact it 2 months for them to get this far. On Monday, I worked on making up a sampling schedule which was a good exercise, but frustrating because after I made it Konate tells me all this stuff about the experiments which I wish I had known when I was coming up with the schedule because the schedule I made up is virtually impossible. My French lesson on Monday went well. We are doing more reading which is really helping me. I am glad I talked to my teacher about changing the style of the lessons. Monday during lunch I saw Pascal who had sent me two slightly worrisome text messages saying he missed me while I was gone. I didn’t reply to them and when he asked about them I said I was very busy. I haven’t heard from since so I think he got the message. It is sad because I want to be his friend, but here sometimes you can’t even be friends because they just don’t get that concept.
So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night of this week I watched Grey’s Anatomy. On Monday night I also cutout snowflakes and cut papers for Christmas cards. I wanted to buy African Christmas cards, but hadn’t been able to find them. A girl named Colleen, also in the Peace Corps, who Bianca and I ran into on the bus to Bapla is going home for Christmas and offered to bring my cards for me and send them in the states when she gets back. So that is my plan.
Tuesday during the day I decorated my office with fabric, snowflakes and other things on the bulletin boards. I finally got a bunch of office supplies from the supply guy. Tuesday was great in that I stopped waiting for other people and starting doing things myself. Tuesday I met Maryellen for lunch. Yeah! She really enjoyed eating at the cafeteria and I liked having her there. It took the attention off of me for once. I wish she could move into my house. She really wants to so I need to find out who to talk to about this. It would be nice to have a roommate. I tend to make more positive life choices with other people around. Like this past week on Thursday I stayed up until 2am finishing Season 2 of Grey’s Anatomy. I also ate a ton a ton of peanut butter. This was not my finest moment. But there is nobody here for me to be considerate of so I just do whatever. I really miss Marcia and having someone else to keep me company in this big house.
Wednesday, I took some water samples by myself and even ran some microbiology tests on the samples. Testing for Fecal Coliform, E.Coli, ect. It was a good exercise. I also set up a meeting with Nicolas from Helvetas for December 17. I am looking forward to this meeting and I am excited because his office is very close to 2iE so collaboration will be easy.
Thursday I learned how to do a chlorine demand test. I was also, however, getting very very aggravated with Konate because he kept on not telling me everything. He thinks he is being a good teacher, showing me things and having me find out that way and then going from there. But to me it’s a waste of time. I’m not stupid. I’m actually quite far from stupid, and want to know exactly what I am doing and why. We had a little chat about this. I don’t know if will make a difference, but it was nice to let him know how I feel. I was also very sick of listening to him speak English. He speaks ok. His English is admittedly better than my French, but my French is coming along very very well and I will soon pass him by. And he has been studying English for several years, me with French = less than 2 months. He also sometimes does this thing where he makes other people feel stupid by saying “We speak English here” making them feel like they all need to know English too, and it makes me mad. He did this to the secretary once and I was about to go off. But I held it in and am planning to sit down and talk to him. In the lab on Friday, he was saying as he always does that when I leave he will know English better and if he is bad at English he will say it was because I didn’t correct him. I promptly told him in French, that teaching him English was NOT my job here. So clearly we need to discuss this more because if that is what he thinks I am supposed to be doing he is dead wrong.
Short digression: The box of instant oatmeal I have came with 12 packets. Each has a trivia question. You would think they could find twelve different quiz questions to put on them, but NO. I just pulled out two with the same question. I am disappointed about this lack of trivia integrity. If you are going to do something a little extra, do it well.
Thursday evening before my marathon of Grey’s, I helped at youth group. I was really fun. I taught a lesson on how using the gifts God has given us is a way to bring him honor. The scripture was Mathew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents. I also tied into Christmas. We had a reenactment of the parable in modern times, read the story in groups and had a fun discussion to end. I think they got something out it :)
I also need to let you in on some not such great news. Actually, the news is quite terrible really. Shelly, a short term missionary who had arrived in Ouaga about a month ago, very suddenly died Wednesday morning. I didn’t know Shelly that well, but she was at Thanksgiving with us and it is just weird to think someone I was talking to about her Apple computer is no longer with us. She had severe chest pains the night before, woke in the morning unable to breathe and died. She was only 35. Your prayers for her family, friends and the missionary community in Ouagadougou would be greatly appreciated. Just makes me thankful for everyday I have and makes me miss my family. The one thing we do have to be thankful for is the fact that she is with Jesus now. She was confident in her faith and while we are sad to not her anymore I am sure she is enjoying her new and eternal life with Christ.
In spite of such bad news, I did have a wonderful day on Friday. I left work at 10:30 to go fabric shopping with Maryellen. I had talked to Natalie and found out the best fabric market was the Marche St. Camille. I rode my bike to Maryellen’s house and we took a taxi from there since we weren’t sure about how to get there. It is a well known market so the taxi driver knew where to go. At the market I found the perfect fabric for a dress I had been envisioning. It is a black and olive green color which looks great with my skin tone. I also found a very sheer fabric I want to make a layered top out of, and neat green embroidered material to make a skirt out of. I knew what I was looking for going into it and knew what I wanted to spend so I had a great and very successful day. After the market we went for lunch at a restaurant called Paradiso’s. They have great pizza, or so we had heard. I didn’t have much time because of my French lesson, but I texted Moumini and told him I would be late. We asked the waiter how quickly we could get the pizza and he said 20 minutes would be told problem as I explained my need to leave for my French lesson. After 25 minutes I began kicking myself thinking why, oh why did I believe him. This is Africa of course it is going to take forever and of course they will tell you 10 minutes… BUT the next minute the pizza was there. It was great! We ordered the veggie pizza and each ate half. The meal cost $3 each. Small price to pay for sure!
My French lesson went great and in the afternoon having a break from Konate and work in general I was able to get to things and make some solutions to use for the test we running on Monday. Alright! I left work at 6:15 and headed to the US Embassy for the Peace Corps Volunteer swearing in ceremony. It was really cool. Maryellen invited me, she was invited by someone else as well. I’m sure I was even supposed to be there, but I don’t think anyone cared. I was debating whether or not to go knowing I would have a very busy weekend. But I really wanted to meet the ambassador and I knew she would be there. I met her and she is really nice. AND dig this. She had heard about me. How cool is that. She had a meeting with the director of the school and apparently I came up in the conversation. Anyway, it was a cool moment. After the ceremony they had a time for socializing as well as drinks, food catered by Paradiso’s and cake. I guess Paradiso’s twice in one day is hard to beat :) I met a few new volunteers who all seemed really nice. It is funny because they all came here about when I did, so it is interesting to see how there experience has differed from mine here. Drew was also there, so I said chatted with him a bit. I walked back to 2iE with Susan, who happened to be there as well. I had been meaning to ask her all day if she was going but got too busy.
Yesterday was a lovely Saturday. I went to Toastmasters in the morning and then had lunch at the Burgs with the whole Burg family, Leanna, and the two Neilsen girls. Amy and Keri Nielsen are staying with Leanna for the week while their parents are at a conference in Dakar, Senegal. I was actually supposed to stay with the Burg girls at their house while their parents went to the conference, but because of the recent death they decided not to go anymore. They still want me to come over and spend some time with their family. After lunch when I said I was going back to get some stuff done Mrs. Burg (Nancy) seemed genuinely sad I wasn’t going to stay. It is nice to feel wanted :) I plan to spend Monday and Tuesday night at their house to get off campus for a bit. Tuesday is the Burkina equivalent of the 4th of July and there will be a big parade and other festivities. I prefer to be with an American family while all that is going down. After lunch which consisted of tuna casserole, salad, watermelon and apple crisp, I worked on helping Jordan edit his essays for college.
That is partly why this update is a day later than planned. I used my time to help him instead of write this. I think it was a noble cause. I had originally planned on going to Leanna’s for popcorn stringing and movie night, but she canceled which was fine with me. I was looking forward to a quite evening. However, when Susan invited me over for a movie at her place I couldn’t resist. It was really fun. We watched Failure to Launch and had popcorn, yum. I was ready to go to bed after that but it was only 9:30 so we started watching Spanglish. Susan fell asleep part way through, but I finished the movie. Susan has a projector she bought to use for her lessons, but since it is her own equipment she uses to watch movies as well. It also just so happens that the walls here are all white so it works out perfect. It is also really nice hanging out at Susan’s because she is right next door so getting home takes like 10 seconds :) Today I also cleaned up my stuff which I had been leaving in the living room and also rearranged the furniture in my bedroom. I like this set-up better. It just makes more sense.
Sunday today, what a day. I got up to go biking with Eugene from the US Embassy. I met Eugene through Maryellen. He wants to start a bike club and on Friday at the Peace Corps ceremony we said Sunday morning at 7:30am. I figured this way I would still have time for church. I didn’t get his contact info to confirm, but showed up anyway. He, however, did not. After waiting for 20 minutes, I went to the rec center and ran 5 miles instead. It was a nice feeling. I like working out in the mornings. I got back, showered and took a nice 2 hour nap. For lunch I went to the cafeteria because I am really really out of food. I need to go shopping, but haven’t wanted to. I also haven’t wanted to do the dishes, so I haven’t.
After lunch I debated and debated and decided to go back to the rec center to 1 see if Alfred the manager was back to hang up my reward poster for my ipod and 2 watch the afternoon movie which was supposed to be the Nanny Diaries. Well, Alfred wasn’t there, and at 2:00 I asked the guy at the door about the movie, and he hands me a tape and it is Home Alone 2! I am like, this isn’t the movie. And he says it is what they gave him. He was acting like a real jerk, like kind of mad I woke him up or something. Well, buddy its your job! So anyway, I left kinda of mad. On the ride back I calmed myself down and used the afternoon to write this 11 page update. At 5:00 Leanna picked me up for the Edge Christmas Service. I didn’t go to church this morning because of the service this evening. I guess Tyler went to the International Church this week, where I would have gone, and it went really long. I’m glad I didn’t go! The Edge service was interesting it almost seemed like more of a Christmas talent show with various people playing songs and singing. I would have liked a little more of a church feel, but the Christmas Carols were really nice. The best part was afterwards there was a huge spread of food. Like real food (pizza, quiche, chips) and then desserts. Yum! I hadn’t had dinner, mainly because as I said I am out of food, so I was pleased to be fed. That’s all I’ve got right now.
Oh I keep on remembering things I forgot to mention so instead of going back and inserting them into the update I am going to but all of them together right here.
1. I have a pretty white lab coat I wear in the lab. It is funny but it makes me feel like super women, like I am special and can do whatever I need to do.
2. On Thursday I went to the bank because I knew I wanted to go shopping with Maryellen on Friday. I left work at 4:30 to go. The bank had this system where you take a number like at a deli and it is ridiculous I waited 30 minutes to be helped. My plan was to then workout. Well, I get to the rec center and guess what I forgot to bring with me. SHOES! so no treadmill for me. Luckily I brought my swim suit to take a dip after my workout, so instead I just did a pool workout. Surprisingly, that night I was wiped out. I guess it was a good workout.
3. So the hair dryer fiasco. I had accepted that I was ripped off and had decided to buy a converter so I could use the one I brought instead of buying a new one that would be probably be bad as well. Well, on Friday I was ironing my skirt and I start smelling the same thing like I did before with the hair dryer. My first thought is: These stupid third world electronics, none of them work! But then on Saturday as I was rearranging my room I plugged in the refrigerator in my room for the first time. Funny enough after a few minutes I start smelling the same thing. Then it hits me, its not the electronics, it is the voltage regulator that’s bad! So I remove the regulator, plug in my hair dryer and yeah! Wouldn’t you know it works GREAT!. Praise the Lord. I am so happy to 1. have a hair dryer and 2. not have lost my money on a crummy hair dryer. AWESOME. So you can imagine I have be enjoying my hair again.
4. This week since I was running out of food, I had to be very creative. So I took a whole onion, cut it up and browned it in a frying pan. I took some tuna cut up some olives, added just a touch of olive oil and a bit of salt mixed them up in a bowl then put the hot onions on top. It was excellent. I used only half the can of tuna so I repeated the meal again two days later :) I was very proud of my cooking from nothing skills…
5. I submitted my Duke application for graduate school. I only have MIT to go. I want to finish that one by Thursday of this week. I hope that’s possible?!
6. I feel like I constantly have this very comical commentary running through my head. I wish I could write it all down and share it all with you so you can laugh as at my everyday mishaps, revelations, and just plain bizarre moments. Even though I write a ton in this blog it is only half of what is going through my mind on a daily basis.
7. Things I am looking forward to this week. Going with Bianca to try and find a mini Christmas tree tomorrow. Bianca is back in Ouaga for the week for her mid-service medical exam. Tuesday no work! Thursday teaching junior high at Wired again. Tonight Lizbet asked if I was teaching again. When I said yes, she was so exited! Friday there is a Christmas party that the Ambassador is hosting. Saturday night is the Wired Christmas Banquet at the Chinese Restaurant. I have more of a social life here than I did in the States!
And all God’s people said, AMEN.
Sara
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Volta River Basin, Thanksgiving 2x, and Complete Frustration.
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed with the stuff you have to do, want to do that you end up doing nothing at all. That is how I feel right now.
Ever felt like you are so busy all the time, but never have anything to show for it. That is how I have felt for two months now.
I think it is just something about hitting the two month mark. After two months, the newness starts to wear off and you start to realize how hard life is here. I’m not saying the sense of adventure is gone. Oh no, I all I need to do is walk down the street if I need a reminder I’m not in Kansas anymore. But you kinda of wish you had your own washer, that you had brought a few more outfits than you did, that you could print whatever you want whenever you want. It’s the little things like a stove that lights without a match or lighter, having bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and where is the Disney Channel when you need a good dose of pick me up?
Anyway, you are probably catching at not the best time for positive reflections, but I am leaving tomorrow to visit Bianca’s village for three days tomorrow, so if I don’t get caught up today, chances are I will never write and you will be left wondering how little Sara spent her Thanksgiving. Well, we can’t have that now can we. Oh, by the way Bianca is a Peace Corps Volunteer who I met via Leanna and Tyler. She is really fun and I am looking forward to the upcoming sleep over in her hut. We are planning on bringing a DVD to watch on her computer, gotta love technology :)
SO, I believe I left off last week with Leanna coming to get me for football on Saturday night, not Sunday night as is the usual. Ohio State was playing Michigan which I learned was a huge and bitter rivalry. There were a bunch of Peace Corps volunteers that showed up to watch the game. One girl made Buckeyes, the peanut butter and chocolate treats. This girl also had a buckeye necklace. Leanna is from Ohio and and huge Ohio State fan. I was so happy they won because I don’t think I would have up for consoling such a passionate football aficionado. Watching the game reminded me of my Aunt Lynn, Uncle Jerry, cousins Alex and Andrea, who are from Ohio. Andrea went to Law School at Ohio State so again I had reason to be happy when they won.
Since I hadn’t had a chance to workout yet that day I went to workout room during the 2nd quarter to put on a few miles on the treadmill. It was quite a nice stress release indeed. I wanted to run 5 miles, but the time limit is 30 minutes. So being the nice person I am I gave up my machine after 41 minutes (that was as far as I could stretch things) to some lady who proceeded to walk on the treadmill. I mean really. Come on.
So I had made plans to Skype with my Mom after the football game since we hadn’t been able to talk really all week because of the bad connections. However, since the game was over nine we agreed that the night was still young and we wanted to watch a movie. So we called up Tyler who has Transformers and we went to Leanna’s to watch it. Luckily for me I was able to use Leanna’s computer to talk to my Mom. Yeah! It was so nice to have a good connection and ample time to figure things out. I ended up missing the first half-plus of the movie, but I didn’t mind. I got back much later than I had anticipated and set my alarm for church in the morning.
Sunday: I had planned to go to Pascal’s church again, but he called and said he was sick and was not going, so instead I slept in. I had lunch at the cafeteria and went to play ultimate Frisbee at 3:30. Frisbee was pretty bad this week because it was a poor turnout and most of the kids were really little and couldn’t catch or throw which makes the games a bit more challenging. I decided not to go to football again that night and instead vowed to write my Stanford essay. I am not kidding when I say writing these essays takes some sort of divine inspiration. Well, I finally got it on Sunday and wrote an essay I am very proud of. I watched another episode of Grey’s as a reward and went to sleep.
Monday was day one of the 5 day conference that Marcia had been planning. It was very interesting and I was happy to have gotten a chance to sit in and learn so much. There were translators there which was cool because I could listen in French or English or both and I think it really helped me a lot. Marcia told me I would have a name tag because she had officially added me to the conference attendees list. However, when I got there to my surprise there was no name tag for me. Konate was in charge of them, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit slighted. He made some lame excuse and I jokingly exclaimed how I couldn’t believe he forgot me. I think he got the picture. The first three days in the morning there were three different presentations. These were for the most part good. The only problem was the topic wasn’t exactly in my field so it was a bit out of my interest realm, but I always enjoy learning new things. The topic was small reservoirs in the Volta River Basin. Apparently, the Volta River Basin is one of the latest ones to develop an international authority for management. So it has a ways to go to catch up. But the director of this Volta Basin Authority was present which I guess is a really big deal.
The nice thing about conference like these is that you get nice lunches. However, I was kind of sad about not eating with the students in the café, but I figured I got enough French practice at the meetings. The afternoons were largely discussion or workshop style groups. Part of the conference goals was to help applicants to the IFS grant program write a successful grant proposal. This activity was the focus for Thursday and Friday. Ceclia the women from the IFS and Marcia did the presenting in for this portion. It was really interesting finding out the detailed methodology for creating a research proposal. I kind of wish I had had the workshop before submitting my NSF application. I think the biggest thing is doing a literature review and what I learned at the conference is how difficult it is to access information. At Princeton we had subscriptions to basically everything you could think of. Here the opposite is true. There is a platform called PERI which supports access to resources for developing countries and I have decided to make it my mission to get 2iE connected to this platform and using it before I leave.
Monday evening I think Susan, Marica and I cooked dinner of pasta. I can’t really remember anything super significant happening, so we’ll just move on. Tuesday night was a dinner put on by the conference. It was held at the Palm Beach Hotel which is right in the center of Ouaga and is really pretty nice. The food was good and I got to sit by Lydie. Lydie is a PhD student at 2iE in my department. I hadn’t had much contact with her before so it was great to make that connection. Another person I met was Natalie who is a French girl working with the Volta-HYCOS project which is housed at 2iE. Again, a really nice girl who I am happy to have met. I plan to have an evening get together with Lydie, Natalie, and Susan at my house sometime soon. One of Lydie’s favorite actresses is Sandra Bullock and while she has seen Miss Congeniality she hasn’t seen Miss Congeniality 2. Well, I just happened to find it in Leanna’s DVD collection so I borrowed and plan to show that as the nights entertainment. Also, before heading to dinner the tailor came to have us try on our outfits. I really like mine except he needed to take it in a bit, which is what I told him. He will bring them back on Saturday.
Oh, yes and very significant news is that I was accepted to Oxford. YEAH! I was so excited when I got that email. Wow. It was one of my top choices too. Even though I am super excited about this I still have to finish my others applications. Blah.
So Wednesday morning I was very inspired and got up early and went to the gym before going to the conference. I planned my time just right. However, I hadn’t planned on leaving my cell phone in the cup holder of the treadmill. This would have been bad if I did at Dillon Gym, but it bordering nightmare in Ouaga. I thought for sure I had just lost my $200 phone. But, Susan helped me get Alfred’s number, the guy who runs the rec center and I called and asked him to please get and keep it for me until I came back. So later that day, when I convinced Konate to take me the bank to pick up my ATM card, on the way back we stopped at the rec center so I could get my phone. As a side to this, When I opened my account they said my card would be ready in 3 weeks. After fours weeks when we went back they said there was a problem with the company supplying the cards and they didn’t have it. That is Africa my friend. So I made a sizable withdrawl to hold me over for a long time. I should mention that for the last 5 days I had been essentially out of cash. Not a good boat to be in. Next time I am not waiting for the ATM card. Now that I have some experience with the bank I feel confident going whenever I need to.
Wednesday night I had dinner in the café and then talked briefly with my family. I polished my Stanford essay and started writing my essay for Duke. I got about three-fourths of the way done and decided that was all the writing I could handle for one night. So I watched Grey’s. The problem was I watched Grey’s a little long. Episode after episode, It was really addicting. And bottom line was I stayed up til 3:00 AM watching the shows. This was a bad choice. I recognize that. I even knew it as I continued to watch the shows. But I figured hey tomorrow is Thanksgiving, what the heck. This would have probably worked fine last year, but this year I paid dearly as I struggled to stay awake during the conference sessions. Never again will I do that! I would also like to point out I haven’t watched Grey’s since…
All day Thursday I was so excited it was Thanksgiving, but also super tired and pretty sick of hearing about the Volta River Basin. I cut out early from the last session, planning to get some work of my own done, but alas that didn’t happen. I decided things would be better if I took a nap, which I did. Lorinda picked me up for the CMA thanksgiving dinner at 6:00pm. What a blessing that evening was. Good food a crowd of 30 people happy to celebrating an American holiday. There wasn’t much more to ask for. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. I’m only in one because I am taking the pictures! But at least you can see who I hang out with :)
Friday was definitely a TGIF day. But I was feeling major pressure because I said I would do the stuffing for the meal Leanna was putting together and I hadn’t gotten the ingredients yet. I also was supposed to give my first speech, the ice breaker at Toastmasters tomorrow morning, Saturday and I hadn’t even started! That night I made a tough, but very choice and refused an invitation to Leanna’s for dinner with Bianca and Tyler. Instead, I made some pasta for myself and wrote my speech. I also watched the new Pride and Prejudice which really just made my day and made me want to go to Oxford. The English countryside is really so very enchanting, the manor houses and the accents. What’s not to love? Oh, I should also like to mention that I got to talk to my Grandparents and Katha over GoogleTalk while they were in Chicago for Thanksgiving. It was such a treat to hear their voices. We will have to set up something for Christmas as well :) I only wish I had had more time to talk to them, but with the conference going on I had little control over my schedule.
My Saturday was scheduled very tightly. I would get up at 7:15 workout for 30 minutes. Hop my bike and ride to the market to get the ingredients for the stuffing. I had to be back at my house by 8:45 to get the bread from the baker. In 30 minutes I would have to cut the bread up and set it out to stale, shower and make sure my speech was ready. Oye. But it went like clockwork. My speech was great. I think toastmasters will be very helpful for me. I used to like speaking in public and then I went to school and somehow that confidence was slowly chipped away at. I think toastmasters is just what I need to rebuild my confidence and since most the people are native French speakers they are happy to have me there as a native English speaker. After the meeting I rapidly made the stuffing which turned out surprisingly well considering it was the first time I have ever made it, and I was making it in a 3rd world country where everything is more difficult than it should be. I was walking out to get a taxi to Leanna’s when I saw Susan who was going with Natalie to buy fabric. They gave me a ride which was really nice. At Leanna’s I helped cook and basically just had an altogether fun time with my friends. We cut out snowflakes and then I made a Chinese lantern. At which point Bianca thought it would be a splendid idea to make a mini one for each person as a name card and put them around the glasses. So that is exactly what we did. There were 10 people at this second Thanksgiving: Me, Leanna, Bianca, Tyler C, Tyler B, Ben, Will, Magdalena, Tobin, and Shelly. It was so much fun. And the food was incredible, even better than the meal on Thursday. Leanna made a pumpkin pie from scratch which was out of this world good. Which is hard to do without the pumpkin from a can!
After dinner we played Catch Phrase, guys versus girls and the guys surprisingly beat the girls… After 5 rounds of Catch Phrase we indulged in dessert followed by a viewing of the ever popular Christmas movie Elf. After the movie was over we spent another hour playing with the extra features of the DVD. You might not know it, but the Elf DVD has interactive games that when you win give you a number in a code to unlock an elevator which has 22 floors of surprises! It was pretty entertaining :) After Elf we had round two of dessert and played an ink blot game with the cutouts from the snowflake making extravaganza. The night was rounded out by an episode of Criminal Minds which I could have done without. Leanna drove Magdalena, Shelly and I home and I fell sound asleep until 11:30 Sunday Morning. I had planned to getup at 9:00 for church, but that didn’t happen. This is second week in a row I haven’t made it to church, I need to make sure this doesn’t become a habit. Oh before I fell sound asleep I tried on my dress from the tailor which is really cute. I think I may ask him to adjust the neckline a little bit, but I’m still debating.
When I got up on Sunday I was greeted by a note from Marcia saying she and Susan were having pancakes at Susan’s house. I put on some clothes and headed over. What fun! After the brunch of pancakes the three of us donned our bags and headed out for the village artisanal which is exactly what it sounds like. It is really a year around artisan fair. I bought a beautiful necklace an elephant key chain which I really need to use, and a batique which is a painted panel of fabric. It was great to go to the shops so early in my stay because now I can be thinking about what I want to bring back for people and what reasonable prices are for things, ect. Marcia bought a bunch of necklaces as presents for her friends in Sri Lanka.
When we got back, we all shared a snack of smoked salmon, cheese, walnuts, and bread. It was quite lovely, and afterwards I went to the office and submitted by Stanford Application. Phew. I am glad that is out of the way. I emailed a Professor in the department and it seems like my chances of getting into the IPER program I applied to are very slim due to the fact that I don’t have a Master’s Degree, but I also checked the box allowing my application to be considered for a Master’s Degree or different department if necessary. So I am not going to worry about it. I also just got into Oxford, so whatever.
Leanna picked me up for football and I brought my workout clothes again which is turning out be a nice compromise. I go with and watch some football and get to workout as well. After football I hit the hay, but had a tough time falling asleep and an even tougher time waking up. It must be the malaria medication I am taking. Yuck.
Monday started out as any other day. However, I requested to take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as vacation days so I could go with Bianca. We were originally planning to go Thursday through Sunday, but she has to be back in Ouaga for meetings on Saturday so we had to adjust a bit. I considered bailing, but I am glad to go and didn’t want to put it off for fear it would never happen then. Konate and Maiga were a bit skeptical of my leaving, mentioning that other interns have come and spent too much traveling and didn’t anything accomplished. This kind of made me mad. I don’t feel like I have been very productive, but I fell like most of that has been out of my control. I think they should have been congratulating me on the chance to go see other parts of Burkina and get out of Ouaga because they certainly aren’t helping get out at all. During the day I made a list of things to do and went right on down. I finally got a sign printed for my office door and rearranged the furniture. I don’t think it is quite perfect yet but it is good. I also sent an email to Nicolas about the filters and sent an update to Professor Soboyejo. His response was prompt and very encouraging!
I am really looking forward to this little vacation because I need a break from my office and my piles of nothing to do yet feeling guilty. I got the chance to talk to my Mom for an hour and a half last night which was awesome. With Thanksgiving this week there wasn’t much time to talk. The conversation was really good and helped me fell better about life in general. This is always a good thing. Coming back I had to write my Columbia application essay which is due Saturday. BUT, if I am going to Bianca’s until Friday I didn’t want to risk not getting back in time to submit it.
So I went back to my house thinking I would cook a quick pasta dinner and get to work. Well Marcia and Susan were here and already into a nice bottle of wine. So I joined in their conversation of the day and the meal. It was really nice. We made tri-color pasta with a zucchini and tomato sauce. We also cut up the rest of the smoked salmon and put that on top. It was delicious. After dinner we got into a very long and interesting conversation about religion. It was awesome. I am normally kind of uncomfortable talking about religion, especially with people with differing beliefs, thinking there is some sort of animosity thing going on. But it was really interesting. It was great debating different topics and having to come up with answers to really tough questions, really getting down to knowing what you believe and why. And in the end it wasn’t like there was a winner and loser, and it wasn’t that we were trying to change each others beliefs. From the Christian perspective I see these conversations as a chance to share my faith, and from there God can work in lives as he sees fit. It is like planting the seed for faith that Jesus talks about. It might or might not grow, but it is our job to take the opportunities when presented to plant and water them. And it also made me think about some things that I really do have questions about. The key is to not let the questions fade away, but really search God’s word for answers. For me Christianity is not about knowing everything, but trusting that God does and that if we seek him out he will be found.
So after this long long dinner I got to work on my Columbia essay. I was up until 1:15am working on it, but I got it done. Today at work I polished it up and sent it to my Mom to check over. I need to get back to the office now, so I must go. You can expect another update on Sunday. I should again have many pictures to share and stories from the village with Bianca. Wish me luck and a safe 5 hour bus trip, each way Oye!
XOXO,
Sara
Ever felt like you are so busy all the time, but never have anything to show for it. That is how I have felt for two months now.
I think it is just something about hitting the two month mark. After two months, the newness starts to wear off and you start to realize how hard life is here. I’m not saying the sense of adventure is gone. Oh no, I all I need to do is walk down the street if I need a reminder I’m not in Kansas anymore. But you kinda of wish you had your own washer, that you had brought a few more outfits than you did, that you could print whatever you want whenever you want. It’s the little things like a stove that lights without a match or lighter, having bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and where is the Disney Channel when you need a good dose of pick me up?
Anyway, you are probably catching at not the best time for positive reflections, but I am leaving tomorrow to visit Bianca’s village for three days tomorrow, so if I don’t get caught up today, chances are I will never write and you will be left wondering how little Sara spent her Thanksgiving. Well, we can’t have that now can we. Oh, by the way Bianca is a Peace Corps Volunteer who I met via Leanna and Tyler. She is really fun and I am looking forward to the upcoming sleep over in her hut. We are planning on bringing a DVD to watch on her computer, gotta love technology :)
SO, I believe I left off last week with Leanna coming to get me for football on Saturday night, not Sunday night as is the usual. Ohio State was playing Michigan which I learned was a huge and bitter rivalry. There were a bunch of Peace Corps volunteers that showed up to watch the game. One girl made Buckeyes, the peanut butter and chocolate treats. This girl also had a buckeye necklace. Leanna is from Ohio and and huge Ohio State fan. I was so happy they won because I don’t think I would have up for consoling such a passionate football aficionado. Watching the game reminded me of my Aunt Lynn, Uncle Jerry, cousins Alex and Andrea, who are from Ohio. Andrea went to Law School at Ohio State so again I had reason to be happy when they won.
Since I hadn’t had a chance to workout yet that day I went to workout room during the 2nd quarter to put on a few miles on the treadmill. It was quite a nice stress release indeed. I wanted to run 5 miles, but the time limit is 30 minutes. So being the nice person I am I gave up my machine after 41 minutes (that was as far as I could stretch things) to some lady who proceeded to walk on the treadmill. I mean really. Come on.
So I had made plans to Skype with my Mom after the football game since we hadn’t been able to talk really all week because of the bad connections. However, since the game was over nine we agreed that the night was still young and we wanted to watch a movie. So we called up Tyler who has Transformers and we went to Leanna’s to watch it. Luckily for me I was able to use Leanna’s computer to talk to my Mom. Yeah! It was so nice to have a good connection and ample time to figure things out. I ended up missing the first half-plus of the movie, but I didn’t mind. I got back much later than I had anticipated and set my alarm for church in the morning.
Sunday: I had planned to go to Pascal’s church again, but he called and said he was sick and was not going, so instead I slept in. I had lunch at the cafeteria and went to play ultimate Frisbee at 3:30. Frisbee was pretty bad this week because it was a poor turnout and most of the kids were really little and couldn’t catch or throw which makes the games a bit more challenging. I decided not to go to football again that night and instead vowed to write my Stanford essay. I am not kidding when I say writing these essays takes some sort of divine inspiration. Well, I finally got it on Sunday and wrote an essay I am very proud of. I watched another episode of Grey’s as a reward and went to sleep.
Monday was day one of the 5 day conference that Marcia had been planning. It was very interesting and I was happy to have gotten a chance to sit in and learn so much. There were translators there which was cool because I could listen in French or English or both and I think it really helped me a lot. Marcia told me I would have a name tag because she had officially added me to the conference attendees list. However, when I got there to my surprise there was no name tag for me. Konate was in charge of them, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit slighted. He made some lame excuse and I jokingly exclaimed how I couldn’t believe he forgot me. I think he got the picture. The first three days in the morning there were three different presentations. These were for the most part good. The only problem was the topic wasn’t exactly in my field so it was a bit out of my interest realm, but I always enjoy learning new things. The topic was small reservoirs in the Volta River Basin. Apparently, the Volta River Basin is one of the latest ones to develop an international authority for management. So it has a ways to go to catch up. But the director of this Volta Basin Authority was present which I guess is a really big deal.
The nice thing about conference like these is that you get nice lunches. However, I was kind of sad about not eating with the students in the café, but I figured I got enough French practice at the meetings. The afternoons were largely discussion or workshop style groups. Part of the conference goals was to help applicants to the IFS grant program write a successful grant proposal. This activity was the focus for Thursday and Friday. Ceclia the women from the IFS and Marcia did the presenting in for this portion. It was really interesting finding out the detailed methodology for creating a research proposal. I kind of wish I had had the workshop before submitting my NSF application. I think the biggest thing is doing a literature review and what I learned at the conference is how difficult it is to access information. At Princeton we had subscriptions to basically everything you could think of. Here the opposite is true. There is a platform called PERI which supports access to resources for developing countries and I have decided to make it my mission to get 2iE connected to this platform and using it before I leave.
Monday evening I think Susan, Marica and I cooked dinner of pasta. I can’t really remember anything super significant happening, so we’ll just move on. Tuesday night was a dinner put on by the conference. It was held at the Palm Beach Hotel which is right in the center of Ouaga and is really pretty nice. The food was good and I got to sit by Lydie. Lydie is a PhD student at 2iE in my department. I hadn’t had much contact with her before so it was great to make that connection. Another person I met was Natalie who is a French girl working with the Volta-HYCOS project which is housed at 2iE. Again, a really nice girl who I am happy to have met. I plan to have an evening get together with Lydie, Natalie, and Susan at my house sometime soon. One of Lydie’s favorite actresses is Sandra Bullock and while she has seen Miss Congeniality she hasn’t seen Miss Congeniality 2. Well, I just happened to find it in Leanna’s DVD collection so I borrowed and plan to show that as the nights entertainment. Also, before heading to dinner the tailor came to have us try on our outfits. I really like mine except he needed to take it in a bit, which is what I told him. He will bring them back on Saturday.
Oh, yes and very significant news is that I was accepted to Oxford. YEAH! I was so excited when I got that email. Wow. It was one of my top choices too. Even though I am super excited about this I still have to finish my others applications. Blah.
So Wednesday morning I was very inspired and got up early and went to the gym before going to the conference. I planned my time just right. However, I hadn’t planned on leaving my cell phone in the cup holder of the treadmill. This would have been bad if I did at Dillon Gym, but it bordering nightmare in Ouaga. I thought for sure I had just lost my $200 phone. But, Susan helped me get Alfred’s number, the guy who runs the rec center and I called and asked him to please get and keep it for me until I came back. So later that day, when I convinced Konate to take me the bank to pick up my ATM card, on the way back we stopped at the rec center so I could get my phone. As a side to this, When I opened my account they said my card would be ready in 3 weeks. After fours weeks when we went back they said there was a problem with the company supplying the cards and they didn’t have it. That is Africa my friend. So I made a sizable withdrawl to hold me over for a long time. I should mention that for the last 5 days I had been essentially out of cash. Not a good boat to be in. Next time I am not waiting for the ATM card. Now that I have some experience with the bank I feel confident going whenever I need to.
Wednesday night I had dinner in the café and then talked briefly with my family. I polished my Stanford essay and started writing my essay for Duke. I got about three-fourths of the way done and decided that was all the writing I could handle for one night. So I watched Grey’s. The problem was I watched Grey’s a little long. Episode after episode, It was really addicting. And bottom line was I stayed up til 3:00 AM watching the shows. This was a bad choice. I recognize that. I even knew it as I continued to watch the shows. But I figured hey tomorrow is Thanksgiving, what the heck. This would have probably worked fine last year, but this year I paid dearly as I struggled to stay awake during the conference sessions. Never again will I do that! I would also like to point out I haven’t watched Grey’s since…
All day Thursday I was so excited it was Thanksgiving, but also super tired and pretty sick of hearing about the Volta River Basin. I cut out early from the last session, planning to get some work of my own done, but alas that didn’t happen. I decided things would be better if I took a nap, which I did. Lorinda picked me up for the CMA thanksgiving dinner at 6:00pm. What a blessing that evening was. Good food a crowd of 30 people happy to celebrating an American holiday. There wasn’t much more to ask for. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. I’m only in one because I am taking the pictures! But at least you can see who I hang out with :)
Friday was definitely a TGIF day. But I was feeling major pressure because I said I would do the stuffing for the meal Leanna was putting together and I hadn’t gotten the ingredients yet. I also was supposed to give my first speech, the ice breaker at Toastmasters tomorrow morning, Saturday and I hadn’t even started! That night I made a tough, but very choice and refused an invitation to Leanna’s for dinner with Bianca and Tyler. Instead, I made some pasta for myself and wrote my speech. I also watched the new Pride and Prejudice which really just made my day and made me want to go to Oxford. The English countryside is really so very enchanting, the manor houses and the accents. What’s not to love? Oh, I should also like to mention that I got to talk to my Grandparents and Katha over GoogleTalk while they were in Chicago for Thanksgiving. It was such a treat to hear their voices. We will have to set up something for Christmas as well :) I only wish I had had more time to talk to them, but with the conference going on I had little control over my schedule.
My Saturday was scheduled very tightly. I would get up at 7:15 workout for 30 minutes. Hop my bike and ride to the market to get the ingredients for the stuffing. I had to be back at my house by 8:45 to get the bread from the baker. In 30 minutes I would have to cut the bread up and set it out to stale, shower and make sure my speech was ready. Oye. But it went like clockwork. My speech was great. I think toastmasters will be very helpful for me. I used to like speaking in public and then I went to school and somehow that confidence was slowly chipped away at. I think toastmasters is just what I need to rebuild my confidence and since most the people are native French speakers they are happy to have me there as a native English speaker. After the meeting I rapidly made the stuffing which turned out surprisingly well considering it was the first time I have ever made it, and I was making it in a 3rd world country where everything is more difficult than it should be. I was walking out to get a taxi to Leanna’s when I saw Susan who was going with Natalie to buy fabric. They gave me a ride which was really nice. At Leanna’s I helped cook and basically just had an altogether fun time with my friends. We cut out snowflakes and then I made a Chinese lantern. At which point Bianca thought it would be a splendid idea to make a mini one for each person as a name card and put them around the glasses. So that is exactly what we did. There were 10 people at this second Thanksgiving: Me, Leanna, Bianca, Tyler C, Tyler B, Ben, Will, Magdalena, Tobin, and Shelly. It was so much fun. And the food was incredible, even better than the meal on Thursday. Leanna made a pumpkin pie from scratch which was out of this world good. Which is hard to do without the pumpkin from a can!
After dinner we played Catch Phrase, guys versus girls and the guys surprisingly beat the girls… After 5 rounds of Catch Phrase we indulged in dessert followed by a viewing of the ever popular Christmas movie Elf. After the movie was over we spent another hour playing with the extra features of the DVD. You might not know it, but the Elf DVD has interactive games that when you win give you a number in a code to unlock an elevator which has 22 floors of surprises! It was pretty entertaining :) After Elf we had round two of dessert and played an ink blot game with the cutouts from the snowflake making extravaganza. The night was rounded out by an episode of Criminal Minds which I could have done without. Leanna drove Magdalena, Shelly and I home and I fell sound asleep until 11:30 Sunday Morning. I had planned to getup at 9:00 for church, but that didn’t happen. This is second week in a row I haven’t made it to church, I need to make sure this doesn’t become a habit. Oh before I fell sound asleep I tried on my dress from the tailor which is really cute. I think I may ask him to adjust the neckline a little bit, but I’m still debating.
When I got up on Sunday I was greeted by a note from Marcia saying she and Susan were having pancakes at Susan’s house. I put on some clothes and headed over. What fun! After the brunch of pancakes the three of us donned our bags and headed out for the village artisanal which is exactly what it sounds like. It is really a year around artisan fair. I bought a beautiful necklace an elephant key chain which I really need to use, and a batique which is a painted panel of fabric. It was great to go to the shops so early in my stay because now I can be thinking about what I want to bring back for people and what reasonable prices are for things, ect. Marcia bought a bunch of necklaces as presents for her friends in Sri Lanka.
When we got back, we all shared a snack of smoked salmon, cheese, walnuts, and bread. It was quite lovely, and afterwards I went to the office and submitted by Stanford Application. Phew. I am glad that is out of the way. I emailed a Professor in the department and it seems like my chances of getting into the IPER program I applied to are very slim due to the fact that I don’t have a Master’s Degree, but I also checked the box allowing my application to be considered for a Master’s Degree or different department if necessary. So I am not going to worry about it. I also just got into Oxford, so whatever.
Leanna picked me up for football and I brought my workout clothes again which is turning out be a nice compromise. I go with and watch some football and get to workout as well. After football I hit the hay, but had a tough time falling asleep and an even tougher time waking up. It must be the malaria medication I am taking. Yuck.
Monday started out as any other day. However, I requested to take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as vacation days so I could go with Bianca. We were originally planning to go Thursday through Sunday, but she has to be back in Ouaga for meetings on Saturday so we had to adjust a bit. I considered bailing, but I am glad to go and didn’t want to put it off for fear it would never happen then. Konate and Maiga were a bit skeptical of my leaving, mentioning that other interns have come and spent too much traveling and didn’t anything accomplished. This kind of made me mad. I don’t feel like I have been very productive, but I fell like most of that has been out of my control. I think they should have been congratulating me on the chance to go see other parts of Burkina and get out of Ouaga because they certainly aren’t helping get out at all. During the day I made a list of things to do and went right on down. I finally got a sign printed for my office door and rearranged the furniture. I don’t think it is quite perfect yet but it is good. I also sent an email to Nicolas about the filters and sent an update to Professor Soboyejo. His response was prompt and very encouraging!
I am really looking forward to this little vacation because I need a break from my office and my piles of nothing to do yet feeling guilty. I got the chance to talk to my Mom for an hour and a half last night which was awesome. With Thanksgiving this week there wasn’t much time to talk. The conversation was really good and helped me fell better about life in general. This is always a good thing. Coming back I had to write my Columbia application essay which is due Saturday. BUT, if I am going to Bianca’s until Friday I didn’t want to risk not getting back in time to submit it.
So I went back to my house thinking I would cook a quick pasta dinner and get to work. Well Marcia and Susan were here and already into a nice bottle of wine. So I joined in their conversation of the day and the meal. It was really nice. We made tri-color pasta with a zucchini and tomato sauce. We also cut up the rest of the smoked salmon and put that on top. It was delicious. After dinner we got into a very long and interesting conversation about religion. It was awesome. I am normally kind of uncomfortable talking about religion, especially with people with differing beliefs, thinking there is some sort of animosity thing going on. But it was really interesting. It was great debating different topics and having to come up with answers to really tough questions, really getting down to knowing what you believe and why. And in the end it wasn’t like there was a winner and loser, and it wasn’t that we were trying to change each others beliefs. From the Christian perspective I see these conversations as a chance to share my faith, and from there God can work in lives as he sees fit. It is like planting the seed for faith that Jesus talks about. It might or might not grow, but it is our job to take the opportunities when presented to plant and water them. And it also made me think about some things that I really do have questions about. The key is to not let the questions fade away, but really search God’s word for answers. For me Christianity is not about knowing everything, but trusting that God does and that if we seek him out he will be found.
So after this long long dinner I got to work on my Columbia essay. I was up until 1:15am working on it, but I got it done. Today at work I polished it up and sent it to my Mom to check over. I need to get back to the office now, so I must go. You can expect another update on Sunday. I should again have many pictures to share and stories from the village with Bianca. Wish me luck and a safe 5 hour bus trip, each way Oye!
XOXO,
Sara
Saturday, November 17, 2007
ECOWAS, Make your own tacos, and Grey's Grey's and more Grey's
I am determined it is best to stop apologizing for my only once a week a blog updates since that is what seems to be all I can manage these days. This past week has been, well, interesting. You know you are starting to feel settled somewhere when the days start flying by… I really can’t believe it has been over a week since I last wrote. The only not so great thing about this week is that the Skype and Google Talk connections have been very bad lately. Also, with daylight savings time the ideal time to talk to my family in the morning before they go to school now falls right during my lunch time which I actually really enjoy taking with the students. It is tough and I hope to be able to connect this weekend. Oh yes, and the other not so great thing is that my back has started hurting. Pretty bad actually. It is my upper back, right between my shoulder blades. It feels like someone is pinching me and there is one vertebra in particular which is sore to touch. I don’t really get it… It hurts to work at my desk and using my laptop. I have come up with a system of not using my desk and propping my feet up on a stool and putting my computer on my legs. This works pretty well for a while, but I constantly having to shift positions because of this pain in back. I have found that lying down is the best pain alleviation. Today I started taking Alieve and plan to take it consistently to help with what I am guessing is some sort of swelling causing the problem. If it doesn’t go away in a week or so I am going to try and locate a doctor who can help me. There is a Belgium missionary doctor here and I know the family quite well, but I am not sure how much he will be able to help with back pain. Anyway, I will let you know what happens…
If my memory serves me correctly, I let you waiting to know how my bank transaction turned out. Well, it went great! I deposited my first paycheck and made a withdrawl. The checks I needed to pick up where unfortunately located at the central branch of the bank so I had to wait on getting those. After the bank I headed back to 2iE and made it back in time for the Toastmaster’s Club meeting. I am going to join the club and brush up my public speaking skills. This club is in English and is intended to help the staff and students of 2iE and the surrounding community with there professional English speaking skills. They were very happy to have another native English speaker join them The meetings are every other Saturday which I think will work well. There is also a French Toastmaster’s group in Ouagadougou and I plan to go to some of their meetings eventually as well. Saturday afternoon I talked to my parents, worked out and did some other random tasks like cleaning my room. I had lunch with my friend Moulaye Gaouad from Mauritania which was nice because I see him around a lot but hadn’t had a chance to talk to him to find out how his courses are going. Saturday night was the Edge. Leanna picked me up as usual and then we got Tyler. The service was nice and Amy Neilsen shared her story from when they were in Cote I’voire during their civil war. The lesson was on forgiveness and she shared how one night her family was out at dinner and she was kidnapped. It was pretty intense and freaked me out sufficiently, but she was so good with how she told it and how she used it teach on the power and necessity of forgiveness. After the Edge, a whole big group, Leanna, Tyler, Tyler, Ben, Maggie, and myself all headed back to Leanna’s for some strawberry milkshakes. Leanna finally got the blender piece she had been missing! I was skeptical since no ice cream was involved, but the strawberries were frozen and like they were really good. I found out strawberry season is in Jan-Feb which rocks since that is when my birthday is and I LOVE STRAWBERRIES!
Okay, since I went to the Edge the night before I decided not to go to church again on Sunday. Instead, I had been feeling a bit under the weather so decided to sleep all day. Literally. I got up at 10:30, did my bible lesson grabbed some food and went back to sleep. Woke up about 1:00pm read a little, went back to sleep got up at 4:00 and then decided to watch some more Grey’s. Leanna came and got me at 5:45 for the football game. I decided to join the rec center for this month. If I am going to climb Kilimanjaro or run a marathon I need to be training. We’ll see how much I use my membership and I can decide each month to renew or not. The Browns were playing the Steelers and it was an awesome game. Leanna was sad the Browns lost, but I was relieved that the Steelers won. A loss to the Browns would have been pretty bad for them. I got bed early after watching more Grey’s. I also started reading a book because I couldn’t fall asleep. I started reading the Federalist Papers which seems lie it would be boring, which it kind of is, but it still very interesting. You see I want to know what America was founded on, what makes it so great beyond the obvious. I am worried about the future of my country and want to know more about its formation so I can help work towards its successful continuation.
Monday I had a terrible day. Not quite sure what was up, but was just feeling blah. My work was not going well and I was stressed out about my grad school apps. I am still a bit stressed out, but have resolved to have them all done by the end of the month. My French lesson went poorly. No details needed except that I was able to talk to my teacher about how I would like to do things differently next time. Everyday, I have such a problem waking up. I am getting 8 hours of sleep, but it just doesn’t seem like enough. I think it is the heat. Anyway, I left work early and worked out in my room. I then proceeded to make myself a pasta dinner and watched none less than 4 episodes of Grey’s. It has really become an addiction… but I love getting caught up on the earlier seasons. I was about to go to bed and had the incredible desire to draw something. As I mentioned I hadn’t been feeling like to doing much all day and then feeling guilty for doing nothing all, so I decided what the heck. I pulled out a mirror and did a self-portrait. I worked for an hour and a half and then result is not bad. It’s not great, but considerably better than the one I did in high school. I like this whole drawing from life. It is way cooler than copying other pictures.
Tuesday, I got to work early because I was supposed to be helping in the lab with the Bachelor-1 students. The lab was from 7-10am. Oye! That is early to be alert and listening to lab instructions. Anyway, it was not run so well which I guess not that much of a surprise. The instructor talked forever about directions, going really slowly. However, they told me the kids were supposed to get through 4 experiments. I’m in the corner going, now way that is going to happen. Well, they finally let the kids start and the problem is the lab books they are given have very vague directions. So they have to ask all the time if they are doing things correctly. And then there is a lot of waiting for the instructors to come around. One time Kokou came by and started asking why the group hadn’t started the next section. Well, buddy its because you never told them too. So they started and within 5 minutes the other teacher comes and asks why they started already! It was a bit confusing and in the end they barely got through one acid-base titration. I did that in high school, but this was the first time these students were learning this stuff. How easily we take things for granted! I worked through the rest time so I could go to bible study. The study was good and I planned to go to the bank and the market afterwards, but to my surprise the bank was closed! I need to figure out the hours. I did stop at the Shopette which is a small grocery store not far from me. I bought another package of my favorite biscuits, but again a different brand. And again it was disappointing. Nothing compares to the Bisca brand. I will have to go back to the central Marina Market sometime to restock with the good ones! Tuesday night Marcia and I decided to go for a swim a the rec center. We had both had long days and could use a little night swim. Great Idea! We rode our bikes over together and I did a short circuit in the weight room while Marcia swam and then hopped in the pool to swim a few laps. I ended up using a kickboard and going back and forth getting a great leg workout. After the pool, instead of eating the rec center food which is mediocre to the say the least we decided to try this place we passed on the way called Café Belko. It was SO good. I got the peppered steak and mashed potatoes, or puree de pomme de terre en francias. It was incredible food! Marcia and I had a fun time talking. I am going to participate in the conference she is coordinating. Officially, like I will have a name badge. Rock on! Of course I finished off my night with an episode of Grey’s.
Wednesday morning I chatted with Carolyn online which was quite the treat. I also talked to Shelly. Right on! We are still making plans for my visit to see her :) At 9:30 I left with Konate to go to the bank to get my checks. He said he had a meeting to go to afterwards and that I could just wait with him and go back when it was over. He said it would be short. Word of Advice: Never believe an African when they something will be quick. The meeting lasted 4 HOURS! I missed my French lesson which was not good form at all, but fortunately people are more forgiving of that sort of thing here. Anyway, Konate had been going to these meetings all week. It was an ECOWAS meeting to prepare an international framework agreement on Integrated Water Resource Management. ECOWAS is an economic community of West African states. Unbeknownst to me this was a pretty big deal. I would have dressed up more if I would have known. All the men were in suits and aside from one other lady who came and went randomly I was the only white person, only female, and only person under 40 in the room! It was pretty awesome. They had those sweet microphones and headsets at the tables and there was translator in a back cubby space. Anyway, as a result of this conference 2iE was recognized as a center of excellence which is great for the school. Since I missed my lesson anyway we stayed for lunch after the meeting concluded. You have to love the free meals. The meeting was cool to observe but frustrating at times. They were painstaking going over every paragraph of a summary of what the seminar had accomplished and then were going over the agreement documents page by page as well. Very time consuming, it seemed like they very nitpicking unimportant details. But then I realized that they weren’t unimportant. In an international agreement the wording has to be just right and everyone has to agree AND if it needs to be in two different languages both must express exactly the intended idea. This is surprisingly more difficult to achieve in practice than one would imagine. Anyway, I learned a ton and getting to listen to French debates is always entertaining. It is kind of cool going to these because I am a rarity there people like to come talk to me. I think Konate should bring me along just because it gets people attention, and is great publicity for the school when they me what I do, ect. Anyway. The last thing to note about the conference was that the delegate from Guinea was talking to me a bit about what I do with water resources research and wanted to talk with me some more. So I gave him my contact info giving it a 50-50 chance I would hear from him. You’ll see later what happens. It is pretty stinking cool. After the conference I went back and worked on my new experiment design for a bit. At 3:30 I decided to head to rec center to go running. I just needed a break or something! It was so nice. I went 5 miles which is admirable. On my way over I was feeling adventurous That night just as I sat down to start one of my essays Marcia texted me about going to the market to buy fabric. This was not an opportunity I wanted to pass up so I said the essay could wait. Susan joined us and it was good fun. We didn’t go until later and I was glad to be with other people. I bought some fabric to have a simple two piece dress made. It is red with squiggly lines and flowers. I have really wanted to have a dinner party, so Marcia and I made plans to have Susan and Maryellen over on Friday. Susan suggested we invite the tailor to come to take our measurements and get started on our orders. So that was the plan, then I just had to decide what we were going to have to eat. Then it came to me, probably because Leanna had mentioned it before, but I decided on make your own tacos. You’ll see how it all turns out on Friday. We got back from the market about 6:55 and I was planning on getting dinner at the café. BUT the students were currently boycotting the café because they thought the price was too high, and they closed early that night. So instead Marcia cooked up some pasta with veggies for dinner. I also finally brought myself to write my MIT essay which is definitely a start. After I wrote it, I rewarded myself with an episode of Grey’s. See, addiction.
Thursday was good. I was busy busy with Grad school apps. ALL DAY! I filled them all out and set the requests to my teachers to fill out the recommendations. This is always a huge thing for me. But I have to get over it. They don’t mind. I just don’t like asking people who I know are already incredibly busy to do something else. At lunch I saw Pascal which was nice because I hadn’t been at meals much to catch up with what was going on. I got to speak in French and another student joined us in our conversation which was nice to talk to another student in French as well. That afternoon I went back to the photographers to have my picture retaken. On Wednesday on my way to the rec center I was feeling more adventurous so I stopped at the corner of the road 2iE is on to have my photo taken. I needed a photo for my ID card at the rec center and here they don’t take your picture you have to supply your own. So I bought 4. Problem was when Marcia, Susan and I were leaving for the market the photo guy told me the camera had opened and I needed to retake my picture. I went back after lunch with Pascal which was helpful. I got picture taken and would pick them up on Friday. I also bought 2 bananas from this lady on the road. I have seen her many times before and she always talks to me but I can’t understand what says 90% of the time. This is a small problem. Whatever. Thursday afternoon was more of the same applications stuff. I am not sure who to have write my recommendation fro Stanford. I am debating between a professor in my department who knows me really well, or a professor in a different department who is really well known. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the program I thought the other guy would be better, but I only did so-so in his class and I’m had said he was willing to write a supportive letter, but I’m just not sure. I want to talk to my Mom before I decide. On Friday I emailed Stanford to clarify some instructions and also asked about submitting 4 instead of 3 recommendations. Their response was they prefer three , but would accept four. I just don’t want to seem like I am over compensating. My gut is to go with the first one who knows me better and let me essay speak for my interdisciplinary strengths. Wow, I think I just worked out my problem by writing this entry. Who’d a thought? So later on Thursday I get this call on my cell phone. It was from the guy from the conference wanting to know if I am free tomorrow to meet with him. Of course I was free, and since I was pretty keen on talking with the guy I agreed to meet him at the hotel where the conference was held at 11:00am on Friday. After I agreed and while I was on the phone with him I am trying to analyze the situation for anything fishy or dangerous. After running this through my mental filters and agreeing I mentioned to Konate my plan and he thought it would be fine. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to talk to me, but whatever. I also ran it by Marcia who agreed that at that time of the day I should have nothing to worry about and I was planning on only meeting with him in the lobby area so my plans were set for Friday. After work I raced home heated up some canned beans for dinner scarffed those down and Leanna picked me up so I could help at WIRED. It was a crazy youth group that night. There was CMA team in town who taught the lesson and 9 adults came to help out which was overkill and made it seem like there were a ton more people there, which there was… The good news is I got a jar of peanut butter, instant oatmeal and soup which were leftovers from things the team brought for the missionaries. After WIRED I watched my nightly Grey’s episode and ate peanut butter crackers… yum…
Friday again started out like someone hit me in the face with a 2x4. I also have a bad canker sore in the mouth which is not fun. In the morning I started putting together and official proposal for the experiment I want to do and really drawing out the designs so the shop can make the materials and outlining the goals, background information and supporting papers, ect. At 10:00 I went to pick up pictures which were ready and at 10:35 left on my bike to go to the hotel and meet this guy from Guinea. It didn’t take long to get there, but it was by far the farthest I have biked. It felt good and I was happy with myself for having the guts to go. At the hotel I met with who turned out to be the Director of Water Resources for the whole country. We talked about possibly doing some research into some of their management problems. They don’t have money to do the projects, but need to research options so that they can apply for aid funds. Anyway, he gave me a document outlining more about their water issues and I planned to meet again between 3:00 and 4:00 after I had a chance to read it over. p.s. it was in French, but I understood it all. Go me. On my way back I stopped at the rec center to drop off my picture, reserve the TV for Saturday night, and look for a towel I left there on Wednesday. It was still there! So, I take this paper with me have it photocopied and come up with a basic plan of how I would approach looking at Guinea’s water problems. Also, side note, I originally thought the guy was from Guinea-Bissau, but no Guinea. Opps. I went back at 3:30 after a much improved French lesson with Moumini who seemed okay with Wednesday’s mishap. So basically, this director wants me to work with him to conduct research on Guinea’s water resources. Like a consultant. I made it clear that I was under contract with 2iE and could not start until that was up. Unfortunately, I have an exclusivity of employment clause in my contract which means I can’t do anything like side consulting work. Bummer. But he was okay with staying in contact starting to think about possible projects, starting work in his office and then in June of 2008 possibly working up an agreement to have me come and visit to survey the issues and then work from grad school on the project. Cool right. Come on that is awesome. BUT even though I am excited about it I am still very hesitant and will be following the political situation closely and learning more about how researchers interact with government and how this whole thing works. Anyway, I think it is really cool that my skills are in demand and that I might actually be able to do something helpful like formulate an integrated water resources management plan for a developing country. Talk about being the right place at the right time and having the people skills to make the contacts you need. Finally, one last note is he mentioned that I wasn’t at the document signature ceremony thing on Thursday and wanted to know why not because he had been hoping to introduce me to their minister of the environment. Great. No one told me about this event! You see they do need to take me along because I am great PR for 2iE…
Phew that was long, but my Friday is far from over. After that meeting I rode my bike to the central Marina Market to pick up some stuff from the nights make your taco extravaganza. Turns out Maryellen couldn’t come so it was just Marcia, Susan and I. It was still an awesome evening. At the market it was getting chickpeas for protein instead of meat, olives, sugar for Susan, and tortilla chips and lettuce. This was first time doing this sort of thing alone in the center village. Very intimidating, but I managed okay. I am also very much out of cash and haven’t had a chance to get to the bank. grrr… When I got back to my office after the errands Konate mentioned Prof Maiga came looking for me today and that we he had sent me email about meeting him at 11:30 that day. Well, I hardly ever get emails at my 2iE address so I rarely check it, and felt terrible. But he would in his office Saturday morning so I planned to meet him then. The conference Marcia is planning starts on Monday so there was a flurry of activity going on trying to set up the room. I came in and helped them come up with a working configuration for the tables, and then realized it was getting close to the time when the tailor would be coming. So we quickly finished and went home. After breaking the corkscrew trying to open a her bottle of wine the night before Marcia enlisted my engineering ingenuity to open it. After quite a struggle, my Leatherman, two key rings I got it open and we had some red wine with dinner. Lovely. The tailor came and took our measurements. I drew him a picture of what I wanted. I wanted something simple. I am skeptical of how it will turn out, but he is only charging like 8 dollars to make this outfit for me, so whatever right? The fabric costs more than the actual tailoring. After the tailoring consult we started on dinner. I cut up the toppings, Marcia made some Spanish rice and Susan made tortilla’s. Made tortillas They were awesome. We also had some guacamole. It was so much fun. We ate our Mexican meal and chatted until 10:30. Of course, I couldn’t go to sleep without watching the next episode of Grey’s so I did that and then instead of going to sleep I felt inspired to start brainstorming for my Stanford essay which I want to finish by next Friday. I fell asleep at 1:15ish and got up at 8:30 to in and meet with Maiga.
The meeting this morning went well. The school is going to cover 75% of my French lesson costs which I think is reasonable, and the experiment I want to do seems like it will become a reality. Hopefully by mid December. After this I rode over to the Kids Club that Tyler and Kate run each Saturday for Fulani kids, who are basically beggars by trade. It was so cool to see. Most of the little ones speak only fufani a tribal language, but the older ones have picked up French after being Ouaga for so long. There were about 40 kids. They play sports at the beginning then review last weeks lesson, learn a new lesson via tape and pictures in the fufani language. Then they got necklaces of sorts and were feed a good meal of rice. Tyler asked me to come to see what it was like. They use water for the kids to wash and give them water to drink, but they aren’t treating it beforehand. They want to work with me to first see if the water needs filtering via some tests and then see about getting some of those ceramic water filters form Nicolas and testing out with this program. I will be working on making that happen this coming week. After riding my bike back in the heat heat of the day I made some lunch out of the leftovers from last night and watched, you guessed it. Grey’s. BUT it was the last one in the first season so now I have to move on to Season 2. Crazy! Leanna is coming to get me in 30 minutes so I am going to leave my room and head to my office to post this epic retelling of my week.
One parting thought. On Monday when I was feeling bad I decided I need to hang up th pictures of friends and family that I brought with me. Well with no frames and not wanting to have the edges curl I cam up with a picture quilt idea. I laid the pictures all out in a 4x4 array and put a piece of duct tape on the back at every place where four corners came together. I then put a piece and the seam along the edges. AND Voila! It was easy to hang and my picture aren’t bending. I do love to look at it and see all the people I care so much about.
Oh yes, and on Thursday Liesbeth one of the youth group girls asked if I would lead a girls bible study, which I am genuinely excited leading. Pray for me this endeavor.
Cheers to all from your 7 week veteran of Burkina Faso,
Sara A. Piaskowy
If my memory serves me correctly, I let you waiting to know how my bank transaction turned out. Well, it went great! I deposited my first paycheck and made a withdrawl. The checks I needed to pick up where unfortunately located at the central branch of the bank so I had to wait on getting those. After the bank I headed back to 2iE and made it back in time for the Toastmaster’s Club meeting. I am going to join the club and brush up my public speaking skills. This club is in English and is intended to help the staff and students of 2iE and the surrounding community with there professional English speaking skills. They were very happy to have another native English speaker join them The meetings are every other Saturday which I think will work well. There is also a French Toastmaster’s group in Ouagadougou and I plan to go to some of their meetings eventually as well. Saturday afternoon I talked to my parents, worked out and did some other random tasks like cleaning my room. I had lunch with my friend Moulaye Gaouad from Mauritania which was nice because I see him around a lot but hadn’t had a chance to talk to him to find out how his courses are going. Saturday night was the Edge. Leanna picked me up as usual and then we got Tyler. The service was nice and Amy Neilsen shared her story from when they were in Cote I’voire during their civil war. The lesson was on forgiveness and she shared how one night her family was out at dinner and she was kidnapped. It was pretty intense and freaked me out sufficiently, but she was so good with how she told it and how she used it teach on the power and necessity of forgiveness. After the Edge, a whole big group, Leanna, Tyler, Tyler, Ben, Maggie, and myself all headed back to Leanna’s for some strawberry milkshakes. Leanna finally got the blender piece she had been missing! I was skeptical since no ice cream was involved, but the strawberries were frozen and like they were really good. I found out strawberry season is in Jan-Feb which rocks since that is when my birthday is and I LOVE STRAWBERRIES!
Okay, since I went to the Edge the night before I decided not to go to church again on Sunday. Instead, I had been feeling a bit under the weather so decided to sleep all day. Literally. I got up at 10:30, did my bible lesson grabbed some food and went back to sleep. Woke up about 1:00pm read a little, went back to sleep got up at 4:00 and then decided to watch some more Grey’s. Leanna came and got me at 5:45 for the football game. I decided to join the rec center for this month. If I am going to climb Kilimanjaro or run a marathon I need to be training. We’ll see how much I use my membership and I can decide each month to renew or not. The Browns were playing the Steelers and it was an awesome game. Leanna was sad the Browns lost, but I was relieved that the Steelers won. A loss to the Browns would have been pretty bad for them. I got bed early after watching more Grey’s. I also started reading a book because I couldn’t fall asleep. I started reading the Federalist Papers which seems lie it would be boring, which it kind of is, but it still very interesting. You see I want to know what America was founded on, what makes it so great beyond the obvious. I am worried about the future of my country and want to know more about its formation so I can help work towards its successful continuation.
Monday I had a terrible day. Not quite sure what was up, but was just feeling blah. My work was not going well and I was stressed out about my grad school apps. I am still a bit stressed out, but have resolved to have them all done by the end of the month. My French lesson went poorly. No details needed except that I was able to talk to my teacher about how I would like to do things differently next time. Everyday, I have such a problem waking up. I am getting 8 hours of sleep, but it just doesn’t seem like enough. I think it is the heat. Anyway, I left work early and worked out in my room. I then proceeded to make myself a pasta dinner and watched none less than 4 episodes of Grey’s. It has really become an addiction… but I love getting caught up on the earlier seasons. I was about to go to bed and had the incredible desire to draw something. As I mentioned I hadn’t been feeling like to doing much all day and then feeling guilty for doing nothing all, so I decided what the heck. I pulled out a mirror and did a self-portrait. I worked for an hour and a half and then result is not bad. It’s not great, but considerably better than the one I did in high school. I like this whole drawing from life. It is way cooler than copying other pictures.
Tuesday, I got to work early because I was supposed to be helping in the lab with the Bachelor-1 students. The lab was from 7-10am. Oye! That is early to be alert and listening to lab instructions. Anyway, it was not run so well which I guess not that much of a surprise. The instructor talked forever about directions, going really slowly. However, they told me the kids were supposed to get through 4 experiments. I’m in the corner going, now way that is going to happen. Well, they finally let the kids start and the problem is the lab books they are given have very vague directions. So they have to ask all the time if they are doing things correctly. And then there is a lot of waiting for the instructors to come around. One time Kokou came by and started asking why the group hadn’t started the next section. Well, buddy its because you never told them too. So they started and within 5 minutes the other teacher comes and asks why they started already! It was a bit confusing and in the end they barely got through one acid-base titration. I did that in high school, but this was the first time these students were learning this stuff. How easily we take things for granted! I worked through the rest time so I could go to bible study. The study was good and I planned to go to the bank and the market afterwards, but to my surprise the bank was closed! I need to figure out the hours. I did stop at the Shopette which is a small grocery store not far from me. I bought another package of my favorite biscuits, but again a different brand. And again it was disappointing. Nothing compares to the Bisca brand. I will have to go back to the central Marina Market sometime to restock with the good ones! Tuesday night Marcia and I decided to go for a swim a the rec center. We had both had long days and could use a little night swim. Great Idea! We rode our bikes over together and I did a short circuit in the weight room while Marcia swam and then hopped in the pool to swim a few laps. I ended up using a kickboard and going back and forth getting a great leg workout. After the pool, instead of eating the rec center food which is mediocre to the say the least we decided to try this place we passed on the way called Café Belko. It was SO good. I got the peppered steak and mashed potatoes, or puree de pomme de terre en francias. It was incredible food! Marcia and I had a fun time talking. I am going to participate in the conference she is coordinating. Officially, like I will have a name badge. Rock on! Of course I finished off my night with an episode of Grey’s.
Wednesday morning I chatted with Carolyn online which was quite the treat. I also talked to Shelly. Right on! We are still making plans for my visit to see her :) At 9:30 I left with Konate to go to the bank to get my checks. He said he had a meeting to go to afterwards and that I could just wait with him and go back when it was over. He said it would be short. Word of Advice: Never believe an African when they something will be quick. The meeting lasted 4 HOURS! I missed my French lesson which was not good form at all, but fortunately people are more forgiving of that sort of thing here. Anyway, Konate had been going to these meetings all week. It was an ECOWAS meeting to prepare an international framework agreement on Integrated Water Resource Management. ECOWAS is an economic community of West African states. Unbeknownst to me this was a pretty big deal. I would have dressed up more if I would have known. All the men were in suits and aside from one other lady who came and went randomly I was the only white person, only female, and only person under 40 in the room! It was pretty awesome. They had those sweet microphones and headsets at the tables and there was translator in a back cubby space. Anyway, as a result of this conference 2iE was recognized as a center of excellence which is great for the school. Since I missed my lesson anyway we stayed for lunch after the meeting concluded. You have to love the free meals. The meeting was cool to observe but frustrating at times. They were painstaking going over every paragraph of a summary of what the seminar had accomplished and then were going over the agreement documents page by page as well. Very time consuming, it seemed like they very nitpicking unimportant details. But then I realized that they weren’t unimportant. In an international agreement the wording has to be just right and everyone has to agree AND if it needs to be in two different languages both must express exactly the intended idea. This is surprisingly more difficult to achieve in practice than one would imagine. Anyway, I learned a ton and getting to listen to French debates is always entertaining. It is kind of cool going to these because I am a rarity there people like to come talk to me. I think Konate should bring me along just because it gets people attention, and is great publicity for the school when they me what I do, ect. Anyway. The last thing to note about the conference was that the delegate from Guinea was talking to me a bit about what I do with water resources research and wanted to talk with me some more. So I gave him my contact info giving it a 50-50 chance I would hear from him. You’ll see later what happens. It is pretty stinking cool. After the conference I went back and worked on my new experiment design for a bit. At 3:30 I decided to head to rec center to go running. I just needed a break or something! It was so nice. I went 5 miles which is admirable. On my way over I was feeling adventurous That night just as I sat down to start one of my essays Marcia texted me about going to the market to buy fabric. This was not an opportunity I wanted to pass up so I said the essay could wait. Susan joined us and it was good fun. We didn’t go until later and I was glad to be with other people. I bought some fabric to have a simple two piece dress made. It is red with squiggly lines and flowers. I have really wanted to have a dinner party, so Marcia and I made plans to have Susan and Maryellen over on Friday. Susan suggested we invite the tailor to come to take our measurements and get started on our orders. So that was the plan, then I just had to decide what we were going to have to eat. Then it came to me, probably because Leanna had mentioned it before, but I decided on make your own tacos. You’ll see how it all turns out on Friday. We got back from the market about 6:55 and I was planning on getting dinner at the café. BUT the students were currently boycotting the café because they thought the price was too high, and they closed early that night. So instead Marcia cooked up some pasta with veggies for dinner. I also finally brought myself to write my MIT essay which is definitely a start. After I wrote it, I rewarded myself with an episode of Grey’s. See, addiction.
Thursday was good. I was busy busy with Grad school apps. ALL DAY! I filled them all out and set the requests to my teachers to fill out the recommendations. This is always a huge thing for me. But I have to get over it. They don’t mind. I just don’t like asking people who I know are already incredibly busy to do something else. At lunch I saw Pascal which was nice because I hadn’t been at meals much to catch up with what was going on. I got to speak in French and another student joined us in our conversation which was nice to talk to another student in French as well. That afternoon I went back to the photographers to have my picture retaken. On Wednesday on my way to the rec center I was feeling more adventurous so I stopped at the corner of the road 2iE is on to have my photo taken. I needed a photo for my ID card at the rec center and here they don’t take your picture you have to supply your own. So I bought 4. Problem was when Marcia, Susan and I were leaving for the market the photo guy told me the camera had opened and I needed to retake my picture. I went back after lunch with Pascal which was helpful. I got picture taken and would pick them up on Friday. I also bought 2 bananas from this lady on the road. I have seen her many times before and she always talks to me but I can’t understand what says 90% of the time. This is a small problem. Whatever. Thursday afternoon was more of the same applications stuff. I am not sure who to have write my recommendation fro Stanford. I am debating between a professor in my department who knows me really well, or a professor in a different department who is really well known. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the program I thought the other guy would be better, but I only did so-so in his class and I’m had said he was willing to write a supportive letter, but I’m just not sure. I want to talk to my Mom before I decide. On Friday I emailed Stanford to clarify some instructions and also asked about submitting 4 instead of 3 recommendations. Their response was they prefer three , but would accept four. I just don’t want to seem like I am over compensating. My gut is to go with the first one who knows me better and let me essay speak for my interdisciplinary strengths. Wow, I think I just worked out my problem by writing this entry. Who’d a thought? So later on Thursday I get this call on my cell phone. It was from the guy from the conference wanting to know if I am free tomorrow to meet with him. Of course I was free, and since I was pretty keen on talking with the guy I agreed to meet him at the hotel where the conference was held at 11:00am on Friday. After I agreed and while I was on the phone with him I am trying to analyze the situation for anything fishy or dangerous. After running this through my mental filters and agreeing I mentioned to Konate my plan and he thought it would be fine. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to talk to me, but whatever. I also ran it by Marcia who agreed that at that time of the day I should have nothing to worry about and I was planning on only meeting with him in the lobby area so my plans were set for Friday. After work I raced home heated up some canned beans for dinner scarffed those down and Leanna picked me up so I could help at WIRED. It was a crazy youth group that night. There was CMA team in town who taught the lesson and 9 adults came to help out which was overkill and made it seem like there were a ton more people there, which there was… The good news is I got a jar of peanut butter, instant oatmeal and soup which were leftovers from things the team brought for the missionaries. After WIRED I watched my nightly Grey’s episode and ate peanut butter crackers… yum…
Friday again started out like someone hit me in the face with a 2x4. I also have a bad canker sore in the mouth which is not fun. In the morning I started putting together and official proposal for the experiment I want to do and really drawing out the designs so the shop can make the materials and outlining the goals, background information and supporting papers, ect. At 10:00 I went to pick up pictures which were ready and at 10:35 left on my bike to go to the hotel and meet this guy from Guinea. It didn’t take long to get there, but it was by far the farthest I have biked. It felt good and I was happy with myself for having the guts to go. At the hotel I met with who turned out to be the Director of Water Resources for the whole country. We talked about possibly doing some research into some of their management problems. They don’t have money to do the projects, but need to research options so that they can apply for aid funds. Anyway, he gave me a document outlining more about their water issues and I planned to meet again between 3:00 and 4:00 after I had a chance to read it over. p.s. it was in French, but I understood it all. Go me. On my way back I stopped at the rec center to drop off my picture, reserve the TV for Saturday night, and look for a towel I left there on Wednesday. It was still there! So, I take this paper with me have it photocopied and come up with a basic plan of how I would approach looking at Guinea’s water problems. Also, side note, I originally thought the guy was from Guinea-Bissau, but no Guinea. Opps. I went back at 3:30 after a much improved French lesson with Moumini who seemed okay with Wednesday’s mishap. So basically, this director wants me to work with him to conduct research on Guinea’s water resources. Like a consultant. I made it clear that I was under contract with 2iE and could not start until that was up. Unfortunately, I have an exclusivity of employment clause in my contract which means I can’t do anything like side consulting work. Bummer. But he was okay with staying in contact starting to think about possible projects, starting work in his office and then in June of 2008 possibly working up an agreement to have me come and visit to survey the issues and then work from grad school on the project. Cool right. Come on that is awesome. BUT even though I am excited about it I am still very hesitant and will be following the political situation closely and learning more about how researchers interact with government and how this whole thing works. Anyway, I think it is really cool that my skills are in demand and that I might actually be able to do something helpful like formulate an integrated water resources management plan for a developing country. Talk about being the right place at the right time and having the people skills to make the contacts you need. Finally, one last note is he mentioned that I wasn’t at the document signature ceremony thing on Thursday and wanted to know why not because he had been hoping to introduce me to their minister of the environment. Great. No one told me about this event! You see they do need to take me along because I am great PR for 2iE…
Phew that was long, but my Friday is far from over. After that meeting I rode my bike to the central Marina Market to pick up some stuff from the nights make your taco extravaganza. Turns out Maryellen couldn’t come so it was just Marcia, Susan and I. It was still an awesome evening. At the market it was getting chickpeas for protein instead of meat, olives, sugar for Susan, and tortilla chips and lettuce. This was first time doing this sort of thing alone in the center village. Very intimidating, but I managed okay. I am also very much out of cash and haven’t had a chance to get to the bank. grrr… When I got back to my office after the errands Konate mentioned Prof Maiga came looking for me today and that we he had sent me email about meeting him at 11:30 that day. Well, I hardly ever get emails at my 2iE address so I rarely check it, and felt terrible. But he would in his office Saturday morning so I planned to meet him then. The conference Marcia is planning starts on Monday so there was a flurry of activity going on trying to set up the room. I came in and helped them come up with a working configuration for the tables, and then realized it was getting close to the time when the tailor would be coming. So we quickly finished and went home. After breaking the corkscrew trying to open a her bottle of wine the night before Marcia enlisted my engineering ingenuity to open it. After quite a struggle, my Leatherman, two key rings I got it open and we had some red wine with dinner. Lovely. The tailor came and took our measurements. I drew him a picture of what I wanted. I wanted something simple. I am skeptical of how it will turn out, but he is only charging like 8 dollars to make this outfit for me, so whatever right? The fabric costs more than the actual tailoring. After the tailoring consult we started on dinner. I cut up the toppings, Marcia made some Spanish rice and Susan made tortilla’s. Made tortillas They were awesome. We also had some guacamole. It was so much fun. We ate our Mexican meal and chatted until 10:30. Of course, I couldn’t go to sleep without watching the next episode of Grey’s so I did that and then instead of going to sleep I felt inspired to start brainstorming for my Stanford essay which I want to finish by next Friday. I fell asleep at 1:15ish and got up at 8:30 to in and meet with Maiga.
The meeting this morning went well. The school is going to cover 75% of my French lesson costs which I think is reasonable, and the experiment I want to do seems like it will become a reality. Hopefully by mid December. After this I rode over to the Kids Club that Tyler and Kate run each Saturday for Fulani kids, who are basically beggars by trade. It was so cool to see. Most of the little ones speak only fufani a tribal language, but the older ones have picked up French after being Ouaga for so long. There were about 40 kids. They play sports at the beginning then review last weeks lesson, learn a new lesson via tape and pictures in the fufani language. Then they got necklaces of sorts and were feed a good meal of rice. Tyler asked me to come to see what it was like. They use water for the kids to wash and give them water to drink, but they aren’t treating it beforehand. They want to work with me to first see if the water needs filtering via some tests and then see about getting some of those ceramic water filters form Nicolas and testing out with this program. I will be working on making that happen this coming week. After riding my bike back in the heat heat of the day I made some lunch out of the leftovers from last night and watched, you guessed it. Grey’s. BUT it was the last one in the first season so now I have to move on to Season 2. Crazy! Leanna is coming to get me in 30 minutes so I am going to leave my room and head to my office to post this epic retelling of my week.
One parting thought. On Monday when I was feeling bad I decided I need to hang up th pictures of friends and family that I brought with me. Well with no frames and not wanting to have the edges curl I cam up with a picture quilt idea. I laid the pictures all out in a 4x4 array and put a piece of duct tape on the back at every place where four corners came together. I then put a piece and the seam along the edges. AND Voila! It was easy to hang and my picture aren’t bending. I do love to look at it and see all the people I care so much about.
Oh yes, and on Thursday Liesbeth one of the youth group girls asked if I would lead a girls bible study, which I am genuinely excited leading. Pray for me this endeavor.
Cheers to all from your 7 week veteran of Burkina Faso,
Sara A. Piaskowy
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Football! OpaleSup, and Le gigot
This update contains a quick recap of Saturday and Sunday, a summary of the rest of the week and then highlights from each day.
Saturday I slept in. I was luckily able to fall back asleep after being woken up at 8:30am by the house man who wanted to fix the toilet which was continually running. I got up and did my work out video. After lunch I went to the office and fiddled around with my computer. Pascal came to visit in the afternoon which I would have normally been happy about except I was anxiously praying for my brother who was running at his state Cross Country meet and just wanted to left alone. I think he got the picture and left. Later that night I did see him at dinner and was much better spirits after learning that Jordan took 18th place making him all state! I was so proud of him! Running in the state meet was something I always dreamed of and was never able to do. It is so wonderful and uplifting to see Jordan succeed in this way :) After dinner I went over to Leanna’s and she and Tyler and I carved a pumpkin. We asked to Pete to bring one back with him from Bobo. He did and we had a great time carving it. We even saved the guts to make a pie when Thanksgiving comes around. Which, might I add, I realized is coming very quickly!
Sunday I went to church with Lenna and Lorinda. They go to the Padua Alliance Church. It was women’s day so the ladies of the congregation run the service and afterwards they pass out snacks, ect. It was okay. I think I like the church from last weekend better. They really cool thing was there was a very new baby, 2 months old there. Lorinda knew the Mom so she was holding her and they passed her down to Leanna and then to me. You would have thought I would have been all like, “Oh, look a cute baby.” But I was freaked out afraid to hold her. When I was little I loved holding babies, but it has been so long I was afraid she was fall apart in arms. Anyway, it was awkward at first but I quickly got the hang of it… and she remained intact :) After church we went to the Marina Market. I spent $40 and didn’t feel like I bought anything that is actually useful. Oh well. I got breakfast for the month, more milk, bread, and juice. I have to add that they didn’t have the digestive crackers that I LOVE, so I tried a different brand and have been supremely disappointed. I had lunch at 2iE and spent the afternoon cleaning the kitchen, hanging up pictures, and otherwise organizing the house. There was a women scheduled to arrive who would be staying in the house here for a month and I wanted to make sure I had my space claimed and things the way I wanted them. I then took a nap and got to go play Ultimate Frisbee at ISO. It was great fun. Drew, Tyler, and Ben were all there along with a bunch of younger kids and some of their parents. After ultimate I raced home on my bike, showered and hopped in Leanna’s car and headed to the rec center for Sunday night football. The first game was pretty lame, but the second game was the Colts verus the Patriots which was an awesome game. We normally only stay for the first game, but this week we stayed for both. Leanna is a fan of the Browns and they were also playing in the second time slot. Needless to say I was out again until like 12:30 at night. Not a good way to start the week. The women staying at the house arrived as I was leaving for Frisbee. I stayed and talked for a minute and invited her to football. She readily accepted, happy to have something to do and a way to meet people. The women’s name is Marcia. She works for the IWMI, an international water management group. She is helping to organize a conference at 2iE at the end of November. She is very friendly, high spirited and nice to have as a housemate. I think we have a lot to offer each other as far as similar interests yet varied life experiences.
The week in Summary:
This week I felt like I was back at Princeton. Why? Because I was crazy busy. I wasn’t getting to bed until late and having to get up and go to classes. In summary, this week I attended a training course for new software called OpaleSup that 2iE is using to create distance learning courses. It allows you to make different modules, with chapters that have movable content. It then at the click of a button creates a web based presentation and a very professional looking document. It was quite fortuitous that I was able to participate. Konate asked me if I wanted to attend and I said yes not knowing it was a week long training thing. Normally, I would have complained because they went so slow, but I was happy to be with other people instead of alone in my office. Also, the course was taught in French which resulted in my having to focus very hard to follow what was going on. The teachers were both from France. The girl was actually originally from brazil and I could understand her French very easily. They guy on the other hand was a native Parisian and was a more difficult to get. Luckily the girl taught most of the classes. Basically, I didn’t get any of my work done. But, I did learn a lot of French and made some new friends and learned how to use a sweet new computer program probably better than anyone at 2iE.
Highlights:
Monday: Finally signed my contract.
Had to finish my French HW that morning which was like 30 sentences!
First OpaleSup training in the afternoon.
Had a chill night and watched Grey’s Anatomy. I have decided that is going to be my Monday night thing that I look forward to.
Tuesday: All morning was OpaleSup.
Got to talk to my family briefly before lunch.
Just enough time to say Congratulations and hear about the state meet!
More training in the afternoon.
Rode my bike over the Nehlsen’s to drop off a book for Amy and picked up my malaria meds from Karen.
Got back just in time to meet Drew for dinner.
I was so pumped because I felt like my French was getting so much better, then at diner the guy at the window acted like he didn’t understand me and that was super frustrating!
The good news is they lowered the price of the rice meals to 400CFA, so now it is less than a dollar to eat there. Really, what motivation is there for me to cook for myself when I can get food already made up for less than a dollar! It would cost me more in time and supplies to cook for myself, not to mention when I eat at home I don’t get to interact with anyone.
After dinner Drew and I headed over the rec center to watch Sahara. It is a movie with Matthew McConaughey that is set in Mali, a country that borders Burkina. Living here and watching the movie and seeing how things are portrayed totally inaccurately was pretty amusing.
The movie was great, but even more entertaining was the fact that Drew’s moto broke down as we were trying to leave. So we had to go on a night Ouaga adventure to find a mechanic who could fix it. Luckily in Ouaga there are mechanics on virtually every corner and they stay open pretty late. Sitting there waiting for them to fix the bike I had so much fun people watching and just taking everything in.
Really, my being here still seems SO surreal.
In Burkina you can buy cigarettes individually. Interesting.
I finally made it back to 2iE around 11 and hit the hay!
I wonder what the guards must think of me. It must seem like I am quite the party animal always out so late…
Wednesday:
OpaleSup in the AM and free time in the PM
I actually helped Konate with the some of the program and was helping him in French. Boo-yah!
Unknown to me they provide lunch for the participants during the course days. I didn’t know this so I didn’t go with them on Tuesday. I did go today though and it was excellent. We ate at the little house next to the student café. I had wondered what that little place was used for. Now I know. It was a much nicer meal than the student ones, naturally it is more expensive, but the school paid for everything.
I was late to my French lesson, because of lunch. I was going to leave early but they insisted that I stay and my teacher could wait. At first I felt bad, but now I realize that is how things work here. That is simply Africa.
After work I went back to my room to finish my NSF fellowship application.
When I finished and left my room I was surprised to find a large TV, 3 small TVs, 3 mini-fridges, a new big fridge and new range in my house.
Marcia was funny and asked if I won a game show or something :)
I guess each bedroom is getting a TV and mini fridge. I think they want to make the house like a hotel. Anyway, I’m not complaining. I would like to figure out how to hook my computer up, or get a DVD player…
I quickly worked out for 30 minutes and got ready to go out, again.
Prof. Weithe and another faculty guy, Angel, had arranged for a group to go to dinner at this awesome restaurant called Le Gigot a la Frielle. Their specialty is gigot, or lamb thigh which is slow cooked over a wood fire hanging from a string. When you order they cut one down and slice it up for you. Also, the waiters are all on roller skates, AND there is a pavilion and every night local artists come and perform. There were 2 singers, 2 bands, 1 acrobatics group, 1 marionette performance and 1 costumed roller skater. Very cool! I also tried one of the local beers, Flag, which was actually quite refreshing. We left the restaurant at like 10:00 and I was ready to go to bed, but unbeknownst to me we weren’t heading back, but instead to another locale to order some drinks. Oye. By this time my interest in listening to rapid, rapidly spoken French had waned. I still enjoyed myself and Marcia, not my housemate, but the female teacher from France saved me and talked with me in English for a bit. End of story. I get back around 12 again! Have to be at the training again my 7:30 AM.
Thursday: Man was I tired trying to get up this morning!
I did however get up in time to get my dirty clothes to Namuro to wash. I was fresh out.
The training was a bit boring and I finished the exercise early so I was excused and went to my office.
I finished and submitted my NSF fellowship application!
Yahoo! Now I just have to finish the other school apps and I will be set. This is more exhausting that applying for undergraduate studies.
I went back to training around 11:00 and went with them to lunch which was not as good the first day. It was some mystery fish. Not salmon, I promise.
The afternoon training finished up without event. I started making a module all about me. It was kind of fun to divide up my life into different categories and subcategories, ect.
At 5:00 I went running with Drew at the parc. It was by far the longest run as of yet and very much appreciated. The run was followed by a fast shower and dinner in the café. I got to talk to Pascal who I hadn’t seen all week. He is making a program to help a local area school to manage all their student internet activity, which is pretty impressive. After dinner Leanna picked me up and we went to the ISO music recital. This was in place of the Wired Youth Group this week.
After the recital, the youth group went out to sweeties for ice cream. Fun times.
What a logistical nightmare though… all these kids having to get home, having to find rides, to not quite like the US in that sense.
Leanna dropped me off last and we ended up talking in the car for like over an hour. She had had a tough week at work and it was nice to be able to be there for her when she needed some one to talk to. I find it incredibly impressive, but not unbelievable how God has placed me here and put in contact with these people. This whole time has been such an exercise in trusting God. And the amazing thing is he comes though. I guess it shouldn’t be that amazing, I mean he is God. But still. There is a whole new level of dependence I feel here that I never felt in the US.
Friday: Today has seemed like a bit of a let down. I slept in until 8:30 because I was SO tired. It was a challenge though because all morning all I kept hearing was workers outside my house machete chopping braches off the trees…
Anyway, uneventful day. I rewatched part of Grey’s during lunch and finally went through the Koubri pictures so I can post them.
I had a meeting with the lady in charge of the house to ask about little things like a shower curtain, dish drying rack, ect. She was really nice and it seems like everything is being taken care and should be here by the end of the month. It just takes them a while to organize and register everything on the school’s system.
I also got paid today!
Hallelujah. Except now I have to go to the bank to deposit the check. Good night. I am going to go tomorrow morning right when they open so I can be frustrated and embarrassed without a bunch of people around. I will let you know how that all turns out.
For dinner they had macaroni which was awesome. That still costs 500CFA, but that is a small price to pay for such goodness.
Drew stopped by to get Season 4 episodes of Grey’s from me as well as the pictures from Koubri. He also dropped Grey’s Season 1 and 2 which I look forward to watching :)
And I have spent the rest of the night writing this epically long update. Such is life. You learn to deal.
Sending you smiles across miles and miles…
Much love from the West of Africa.
Sara
Saturday I slept in. I was luckily able to fall back asleep after being woken up at 8:30am by the house man who wanted to fix the toilet which was continually running. I got up and did my work out video. After lunch I went to the office and fiddled around with my computer. Pascal came to visit in the afternoon which I would have normally been happy about except I was anxiously praying for my brother who was running at his state Cross Country meet and just wanted to left alone. I think he got the picture and left. Later that night I did see him at dinner and was much better spirits after learning that Jordan took 18th place making him all state! I was so proud of him! Running in the state meet was something I always dreamed of and was never able to do. It is so wonderful and uplifting to see Jordan succeed in this way :) After dinner I went over to Leanna’s and she and Tyler and I carved a pumpkin. We asked to Pete to bring one back with him from Bobo. He did and we had a great time carving it. We even saved the guts to make a pie when Thanksgiving comes around. Which, might I add, I realized is coming very quickly!
Sunday I went to church with Lenna and Lorinda. They go to the Padua Alliance Church. It was women’s day so the ladies of the congregation run the service and afterwards they pass out snacks, ect. It was okay. I think I like the church from last weekend better. They really cool thing was there was a very new baby, 2 months old there. Lorinda knew the Mom so she was holding her and they passed her down to Leanna and then to me. You would have thought I would have been all like, “Oh, look a cute baby.” But I was freaked out afraid to hold her. When I was little I loved holding babies, but it has been so long I was afraid she was fall apart in arms. Anyway, it was awkward at first but I quickly got the hang of it… and she remained intact :) After church we went to the Marina Market. I spent $40 and didn’t feel like I bought anything that is actually useful. Oh well. I got breakfast for the month, more milk, bread, and juice. I have to add that they didn’t have the digestive crackers that I LOVE, so I tried a different brand and have been supremely disappointed. I had lunch at 2iE and spent the afternoon cleaning the kitchen, hanging up pictures, and otherwise organizing the house. There was a women scheduled to arrive who would be staying in the house here for a month and I wanted to make sure I had my space claimed and things the way I wanted them. I then took a nap and got to go play Ultimate Frisbee at ISO. It was great fun. Drew, Tyler, and Ben were all there along with a bunch of younger kids and some of their parents. After ultimate I raced home on my bike, showered and hopped in Leanna’s car and headed to the rec center for Sunday night football. The first game was pretty lame, but the second game was the Colts verus the Patriots which was an awesome game. We normally only stay for the first game, but this week we stayed for both. Leanna is a fan of the Browns and they were also playing in the second time slot. Needless to say I was out again until like 12:30 at night. Not a good way to start the week. The women staying at the house arrived as I was leaving for Frisbee. I stayed and talked for a minute and invited her to football. She readily accepted, happy to have something to do and a way to meet people. The women’s name is Marcia. She works for the IWMI, an international water management group. She is helping to organize a conference at 2iE at the end of November. She is very friendly, high spirited and nice to have as a housemate. I think we have a lot to offer each other as far as similar interests yet varied life experiences.
The week in Summary:
This week I felt like I was back at Princeton. Why? Because I was crazy busy. I wasn’t getting to bed until late and having to get up and go to classes. In summary, this week I attended a training course for new software called OpaleSup that 2iE is using to create distance learning courses. It allows you to make different modules, with chapters that have movable content. It then at the click of a button creates a web based presentation and a very professional looking document. It was quite fortuitous that I was able to participate. Konate asked me if I wanted to attend and I said yes not knowing it was a week long training thing. Normally, I would have complained because they went so slow, but I was happy to be with other people instead of alone in my office. Also, the course was taught in French which resulted in my having to focus very hard to follow what was going on. The teachers were both from France. The girl was actually originally from brazil and I could understand her French very easily. They guy on the other hand was a native Parisian and was a more difficult to get. Luckily the girl taught most of the classes. Basically, I didn’t get any of my work done. But, I did learn a lot of French and made some new friends and learned how to use a sweet new computer program probably better than anyone at 2iE.
Highlights:
Monday: Finally signed my contract.
Had to finish my French HW that morning which was like 30 sentences!
First OpaleSup training in the afternoon.
Had a chill night and watched Grey’s Anatomy. I have decided that is going to be my Monday night thing that I look forward to.
Tuesday: All morning was OpaleSup.
Got to talk to my family briefly before lunch.
Just enough time to say Congratulations and hear about the state meet!
More training in the afternoon.
Rode my bike over the Nehlsen’s to drop off a book for Amy and picked up my malaria meds from Karen.
Got back just in time to meet Drew for dinner.
I was so pumped because I felt like my French was getting so much better, then at diner the guy at the window acted like he didn’t understand me and that was super frustrating!
The good news is they lowered the price of the rice meals to 400CFA, so now it is less than a dollar to eat there. Really, what motivation is there for me to cook for myself when I can get food already made up for less than a dollar! It would cost me more in time and supplies to cook for myself, not to mention when I eat at home I don’t get to interact with anyone.
After dinner Drew and I headed over the rec center to watch Sahara. It is a movie with Matthew McConaughey that is set in Mali, a country that borders Burkina. Living here and watching the movie and seeing how things are portrayed totally inaccurately was pretty amusing.
The movie was great, but even more entertaining was the fact that Drew’s moto broke down as we were trying to leave. So we had to go on a night Ouaga adventure to find a mechanic who could fix it. Luckily in Ouaga there are mechanics on virtually every corner and they stay open pretty late. Sitting there waiting for them to fix the bike I had so much fun people watching and just taking everything in.
Really, my being here still seems SO surreal.
In Burkina you can buy cigarettes individually. Interesting.
I finally made it back to 2iE around 11 and hit the hay!
I wonder what the guards must think of me. It must seem like I am quite the party animal always out so late…
Wednesday:
OpaleSup in the AM and free time in the PM
I actually helped Konate with the some of the program and was helping him in French. Boo-yah!
Unknown to me they provide lunch for the participants during the course days. I didn’t know this so I didn’t go with them on Tuesday. I did go today though and it was excellent. We ate at the little house next to the student café. I had wondered what that little place was used for. Now I know. It was a much nicer meal than the student ones, naturally it is more expensive, but the school paid for everything.
I was late to my French lesson, because of lunch. I was going to leave early but they insisted that I stay and my teacher could wait. At first I felt bad, but now I realize that is how things work here. That is simply Africa.
After work I went back to my room to finish my NSF fellowship application.
When I finished and left my room I was surprised to find a large TV, 3 small TVs, 3 mini-fridges, a new big fridge and new range in my house.
Marcia was funny and asked if I won a game show or something :)
I guess each bedroom is getting a TV and mini fridge. I think they want to make the house like a hotel. Anyway, I’m not complaining. I would like to figure out how to hook my computer up, or get a DVD player…
I quickly worked out for 30 minutes and got ready to go out, again.
Prof. Weithe and another faculty guy, Angel, had arranged for a group to go to dinner at this awesome restaurant called Le Gigot a la Frielle. Their specialty is gigot, or lamb thigh which is slow cooked over a wood fire hanging from a string. When you order they cut one down and slice it up for you. Also, the waiters are all on roller skates, AND there is a pavilion and every night local artists come and perform. There were 2 singers, 2 bands, 1 acrobatics group, 1 marionette performance and 1 costumed roller skater. Very cool! I also tried one of the local beers, Flag, which was actually quite refreshing. We left the restaurant at like 10:00 and I was ready to go to bed, but unbeknownst to me we weren’t heading back, but instead to another locale to order some drinks. Oye. By this time my interest in listening to rapid, rapidly spoken French had waned. I still enjoyed myself and Marcia, not my housemate, but the female teacher from France saved me and talked with me in English for a bit. End of story. I get back around 12 again! Have to be at the training again my 7:30 AM.
Thursday: Man was I tired trying to get up this morning!
I did however get up in time to get my dirty clothes to Namuro to wash. I was fresh out.
The training was a bit boring and I finished the exercise early so I was excused and went to my office.
I finished and submitted my NSF fellowship application!
Yahoo! Now I just have to finish the other school apps and I will be set. This is more exhausting that applying for undergraduate studies.
I went back to training around 11:00 and went with them to lunch which was not as good the first day. It was some mystery fish. Not salmon, I promise.
The afternoon training finished up without event. I started making a module all about me. It was kind of fun to divide up my life into different categories and subcategories, ect.
At 5:00 I went running with Drew at the parc. It was by far the longest run as of yet and very much appreciated. The run was followed by a fast shower and dinner in the café. I got to talk to Pascal who I hadn’t seen all week. He is making a program to help a local area school to manage all their student internet activity, which is pretty impressive. After dinner Leanna picked me up and we went to the ISO music recital. This was in place of the Wired Youth Group this week.
After the recital, the youth group went out to sweeties for ice cream. Fun times.
What a logistical nightmare though… all these kids having to get home, having to find rides, to not quite like the US in that sense.
Leanna dropped me off last and we ended up talking in the car for like over an hour. She had had a tough week at work and it was nice to be able to be there for her when she needed some one to talk to. I find it incredibly impressive, but not unbelievable how God has placed me here and put in contact with these people. This whole time has been such an exercise in trusting God. And the amazing thing is he comes though. I guess it shouldn’t be that amazing, I mean he is God. But still. There is a whole new level of dependence I feel here that I never felt in the US.
Friday: Today has seemed like a bit of a let down. I slept in until 8:30 because I was SO tired. It was a challenge though because all morning all I kept hearing was workers outside my house machete chopping braches off the trees…
Anyway, uneventful day. I rewatched part of Grey’s during lunch and finally went through the Koubri pictures so I can post them.
I had a meeting with the lady in charge of the house to ask about little things like a shower curtain, dish drying rack, ect. She was really nice and it seems like everything is being taken care and should be here by the end of the month. It just takes them a while to organize and register everything on the school’s system.
I also got paid today!
Hallelujah. Except now I have to go to the bank to deposit the check. Good night. I am going to go tomorrow morning right when they open so I can be frustrated and embarrassed without a bunch of people around. I will let you know how that all turns out.
For dinner they had macaroni which was awesome. That still costs 500CFA, but that is a small price to pay for such goodness.
Drew stopped by to get Season 4 episodes of Grey’s from me as well as the pictures from Koubri. He also dropped Grey’s Season 1 and 2 which I look forward to watching :)
And I have spent the rest of the night writing this epically long update. Such is life. You learn to deal.
Sending you smiles across miles and miles…
Much love from the West of Africa.
Sara
The Village
First I must apologize for not keeping my word and posting pictures right away as I promised. I took so many pictures and wanted to write so much that the thought of actually sitting down and doing it was a bit overwhelming. But after an action packed week which you will soon hear about, I finally have some down time to update my entries. And now, as promised, I give you reflections and pictures of the village.
Koubri
Leaving Ouaga Drew and I headed southwest to a small town called Koubri. It is only 15km outside of Ouaga, but takes about an hour to get to via moto. We left around 7:00 after having to make a run back to 2iE so I could change out of my shorts into Capri pants. Drew had mentioned it would be very hot and there would be very little shade so I though shorts would be best even though they are somewhat of a rarity. Well, when Drew mentioned that I would draw even more attention in shorts, I decided to change. Best choice of the day. I can’t imagine how awkward I would have felt wearing shorts!
The back of Drew’s moto is less than comfortable. Imagine those old plastic crates they used to carry milk in. It is kind of like sitting on one of those, and you just brace yourself every time you see a bump coming up. The trip there was without event and we met up with Mari once we arrived at Koubri. Mari is Drew’s assistant who speaks the local language and acts as the interpreter and cultural mediator. Anyway, Mari had a moto with a much more comfortable back seat so I rode around with Mari the whole day.
From Koubri, which is a town that still has electricity, we drove another 30 minutes or so to some more remote villages. One village was called pissa, which means granite. Funny enough, while we were there I noticed some outcroppings of rocks and wondered what type they were. You guessed it, granite. These people are so clever at naming things :) So we are driving along and driving along, there are open fields everywhere. The landscape is a combination of yellows, oranges, and reds with a little green thrown in every once and a while. As we went, we would occasionally pass someone riding a pedal bike or pushing a cart full of who knows what. It became very obvious very quickly that my previous conception of remote was somewhat inaccurate. When you are out in the bush and there are no telephone lines, or electrical wires in sight you realize how different life can be than the experience you are used to. There were no paved roads once we left Koubri.
The first stop we made was in front of a tree where two young men were sitting. Much to my surprise we had arrived at the first village. You could hardly tell though… Each village has a counselor and the first thing to do when you arrive in the village to do some fieldwork is talk to the counselor. In this case, one of the two boys we found went and got the one of the village counselors for us. At first we thought he was the chief as he was looking pretty old, but we later found out he was actually the chief’s son. Oye, the chief must be old! The counselor accompanied us and brought us around to each of the wells and pumps in the village. This particular village had many water sources. And, they do in fact look like the kind you see on TV and in photographs. They are metal with some sort of handle. The people collect the water in these multi-colored jugs. They are so inventive as well as far as transporting the water back home with them. I saw people tying the water jugs onto there bikes like saddle bags and others with a push cart that could hold many jugs. We visited many wells. Drew and I laughed, and I was about stunned when I first saw the wells. I don’t think it would meet OSHA safety standards. Basically, they are giant holes in the ground. The well structure itself usually comes up to about waist high, but some were considerably shorter. One in particular which was right by a school, was especially troubling. I couldn’t help but imagine these little kids, livestock and other things falling into the well. Another thing that I witnessed was malfunctioning of equipment. Part of the problem with installing pumps and digging wells is that do not last for a long time. They can break or the well can dry up if it wasn’t dug deep enough. Depending on when you dig the well the water table level will be different. During the rainy season it rises because of the water infiltrating the soil. However, in the dry season without any rain, the water table falls again rendering the well useless. The pumps are a different story. Pumps use suction action to draw the water up. The problem is if the casing cracks or holes develop the suction no longer works. Instead of having someone come fix these wells, they just sit used. Each pump and well costs several thousand dollars to construct. This is why water development is so darn hard!
The day continued as much of the same. We went from village to village surveying pumps. I learned about four different types of pumps, ABI, India, Wheel, and Saudi Arabian (The government of Saudia Arabia gifted Burkina Faso with constructing many pumps in the 1980s-ish.)
It was always interesting to see who was at the wells. Often times it was children collecting water. Women were next and I did see a few men getting water, but not many. At each village we went to someone would guide us from place to place. When we were done in that village they would go with us until we got to the next and found someone else to help us. It was very cool.
Very few people in the villages have motos. If anything they have pedal bikes and not nice 18 speed schwin bicycles, but falling apart one speed, no breaks kind of bikes. I was just thinking how many bikes we have in our garage that we never use… Regardless as our little entourage passed through each area we attracted some attention. I had no idea, but Drew estimated our coming through would probably the most exciting thing to happen to these villages for months! What a thought.
So of course as you can imagine it was awesome seeing all the kids. I would describe them as heart wrenching. Some people say they are cute, but to me cute is not an appropriate word. The little girls are not wearing polka-dot dresses with white ribbons, that is cute. These boys are wearing shirts with so many holes it hardly constitutes a shirt. And the girls have on dresses that fall off their shoulders or just a piece of fabric wrapped in a special way. What was inspiring, however, was their curiosity. More than anything, they were simply curious to see white people. Imagine living you life never having seen a person who was green, you have heard of them, maybe even seen them driving past in a fancy vehicle. And then, all of the sudden two show up riding motos poking around in your wells and pumps. Well, what would you think! It was pretty funny because as we are standing around writing down the information Drew says "Want to see something funny?" and of course I am always up for a laugh... so all of the sudden he runs towards the kids surrounding us waving his arms around and making funny noises. I wish you could have seen it! It was awesome. The kids all scattered and were genuinely freaked out at first and then once they realized the joke, they all started laughing and laughing. It was amazing, indeed!
I brought my camera with me hoping to get some great pictures and help Drew document some of his work. At first I was a little intimidated and felt awkward, but by the end I had gotten over that. I didn’t want to take pictures to send to national geographic and I know people have seen the picture of poor children in Africa. So, why was I taking pictures? Why, because it was awe-inspiring. Not the poverty, like I said that was heart-wrenching, but the smiles these kids had; the lack of cares and true innocence. In the villages, they don’t have televisions and bloody video games. Of course they have their own terrors I am sure, but it is not the same. I wanted to capture that feeling. I also wanted to see and record first hand what water collection is like in the village.
There were two pumps we visited that were one school grounds. At these pumps it was virtual mayhem when we arrived. I felt like a celebrity, but pretty unworthy really. How was I any different than these kids? I had done nothing special that I should be born in the United States into a wonderfully loving family. It is times like these that I am so comforted to have faith in the living God. I can’t begin to answer questions like the ones I posed. It seems unfathomable and on the surface so unfair that poverty like this exists. But this is where faith comes into the picture. This is when I realize that God is the ultimate designer of the universe and although I don’t understand, there is a reason and a purpose which in the end will work out to his glory. I can’t explain it, but all day long I could not stop praising the Lord in my thoughts. Just for the people I saw, the way they lived. I realized there is a whole other way of living which is different from my own. Most of these people will never visit a large city. They may never own a new piece of clothing, ride in an airplane, or order a meal from a restaurant with air conditioning. But their life has a purpose and they are as important in God’s eyes as I am. What a thought, what a sobering way to drive home the point, that salvation through Jesus Christ is not about how much money we make, or what we can accomplish. It is about surrender and accepting the gift of God’s love.
In the United States, we turn our taps and don’t think twice about the water quality more over we never consider the water running out. Those are two real concerns to people here. Imagine having to carry every drop of water you use from a community well to your home. Also, imagine it is hot. Hotter than temperatures you think your body was ever intended to withstand. Imagine you work each day hand sowing fields of millet. I can tell you shade is rare. The water in the water bottle I brought was hot, not just warm like it gets after carrying it around Disneyworld for the day. Hot like I was looking for oatmeal to cook in it… That being said, I now realize the challenge of wanting to get people to treat their water. It is hot. You want to drink some water. You have already carried it home after having worked to get it out of the pump or worked even harder to pull it up out of a well 40m deep, the last thing want to do is spend more time treating it! This is something I don’t think I would have ever understood if I hadn’t come here and seen these things myself.
Lucky for us it was market day in pissa. This is where we had lunch which consisted of rice and coca-cola. I am not even surprised that Coke has made its way to Africa bush… The market was fun to walk through. I bought some Samsou which is fried bean batter. It looks like funnel cake and tastes like, well, fried dough… who can complain about that. We also bought a slice a watermelon, which was good but a bit warm… like everything else. The whole meal costs about 75 cents.
When we finally finished for the day we had surveyed 25 pumps and wells. On the way back to Koubri we passed a man on a bicycle and I heard what sounded like children wailing. Turns out it was a goat tied to the bicycle. You think I’m kidding, I’m not. That is how they transport them. Just tie their legs together and hang them on your bike… Anybody hungry yet?
At Koubri, before heading back to Ouaga we stopped at a mechanic because Drew’s moto was acting up. They fixed up his ride and we headed back to the city. I got to drive the moto back until we reached the city limits where the traffic was getting a little too heavy for my comfort level. It was first time I had driven a moto and it was pretty fun. I would also like to note, Mom and Dad, that I was wearing a helmet and I applied sunblock several times throughout the day and wore a hat. I am happy to report that I successfully avoided getting sunburned.
That night, after returning to my house I quickly showered and went to the rec center for what was supposed to be a Halloween Party. The shower floor was so dirty when I was done. The day in the village was SO dusty. My camera bag aged like 10 years in one day. My shoes are toast, and I could not imagine what it must feel like to be that gritty all the time. Drew met up with me at rec center for the party and it was funny because aside from one other lady and the employees we were the only ones there. But hey, whatever, they had free popcorn and shrimp chips for snacks so I was not complaining. I was fairly tired by this point so I was happy to go home early. I would also like to mention that they said on the invitations that costumes were encouraged, so myself, being the always willing participant that I am dressed up. I wore a pinkish shirt and pants and cleverly thought I would be the human incarnation of the dust that is everywhere! I thought it was quite clever, and maintain that it was. However, I was only person dressed up. My only saving grace was that my costume was really just regular clothes, so it really just looked like I didn’t know how to dress…
Thus ends my adventure to bush. There are pictures that go along with post. I hope you enjoy them. I am very happy I have my fancy camera, but also wish I had a smaller one that I could with more discretely. (ah, hem… Christmas present, maybe…)
Koubri
Leaving Ouaga Drew and I headed southwest to a small town called Koubri. It is only 15km outside of Ouaga, but takes about an hour to get to via moto. We left around 7:00 after having to make a run back to 2iE so I could change out of my shorts into Capri pants. Drew had mentioned it would be very hot and there would be very little shade so I though shorts would be best even though they are somewhat of a rarity. Well, when Drew mentioned that I would draw even more attention in shorts, I decided to change. Best choice of the day. I can’t imagine how awkward I would have felt wearing shorts!
The back of Drew’s moto is less than comfortable. Imagine those old plastic crates they used to carry milk in. It is kind of like sitting on one of those, and you just brace yourself every time you see a bump coming up. The trip there was without event and we met up with Mari once we arrived at Koubri. Mari is Drew’s assistant who speaks the local language and acts as the interpreter and cultural mediator. Anyway, Mari had a moto with a much more comfortable back seat so I rode around with Mari the whole day.
From Koubri, which is a town that still has electricity, we drove another 30 minutes or so to some more remote villages. One village was called pissa, which means granite. Funny enough, while we were there I noticed some outcroppings of rocks and wondered what type they were. You guessed it, granite. These people are so clever at naming things :) So we are driving along and driving along, there are open fields everywhere. The landscape is a combination of yellows, oranges, and reds with a little green thrown in every once and a while. As we went, we would occasionally pass someone riding a pedal bike or pushing a cart full of who knows what. It became very obvious very quickly that my previous conception of remote was somewhat inaccurate. When you are out in the bush and there are no telephone lines, or electrical wires in sight you realize how different life can be than the experience you are used to. There were no paved roads once we left Koubri.
The first stop we made was in front of a tree where two young men were sitting. Much to my surprise we had arrived at the first village. You could hardly tell though… Each village has a counselor and the first thing to do when you arrive in the village to do some fieldwork is talk to the counselor. In this case, one of the two boys we found went and got the one of the village counselors for us. At first we thought he was the chief as he was looking pretty old, but we later found out he was actually the chief’s son. Oye, the chief must be old! The counselor accompanied us and brought us around to each of the wells and pumps in the village. This particular village had many water sources. And, they do in fact look like the kind you see on TV and in photographs. They are metal with some sort of handle. The people collect the water in these multi-colored jugs. They are so inventive as well as far as transporting the water back home with them. I saw people tying the water jugs onto there bikes like saddle bags and others with a push cart that could hold many jugs. We visited many wells. Drew and I laughed, and I was about stunned when I first saw the wells. I don’t think it would meet OSHA safety standards. Basically, they are giant holes in the ground. The well structure itself usually comes up to about waist high, but some were considerably shorter. One in particular which was right by a school, was especially troubling. I couldn’t help but imagine these little kids, livestock and other things falling into the well. Another thing that I witnessed was malfunctioning of equipment. Part of the problem with installing pumps and digging wells is that do not last for a long time. They can break or the well can dry up if it wasn’t dug deep enough. Depending on when you dig the well the water table level will be different. During the rainy season it rises because of the water infiltrating the soil. However, in the dry season without any rain, the water table falls again rendering the well useless. The pumps are a different story. Pumps use suction action to draw the water up. The problem is if the casing cracks or holes develop the suction no longer works. Instead of having someone come fix these wells, they just sit used. Each pump and well costs several thousand dollars to construct. This is why water development is so darn hard!
The day continued as much of the same. We went from village to village surveying pumps. I learned about four different types of pumps, ABI, India, Wheel, and Saudi Arabian (The government of Saudia Arabia gifted Burkina Faso with constructing many pumps in the 1980s-ish.)
It was always interesting to see who was at the wells. Often times it was children collecting water. Women were next and I did see a few men getting water, but not many. At each village we went to someone would guide us from place to place. When we were done in that village they would go with us until we got to the next and found someone else to help us. It was very cool.
Very few people in the villages have motos. If anything they have pedal bikes and not nice 18 speed schwin bicycles, but falling apart one speed, no breaks kind of bikes. I was just thinking how many bikes we have in our garage that we never use… Regardless as our little entourage passed through each area we attracted some attention. I had no idea, but Drew estimated our coming through would probably the most exciting thing to happen to these villages for months! What a thought.
So of course as you can imagine it was awesome seeing all the kids. I would describe them as heart wrenching. Some people say they are cute, but to me cute is not an appropriate word. The little girls are not wearing polka-dot dresses with white ribbons, that is cute. These boys are wearing shirts with so many holes it hardly constitutes a shirt. And the girls have on dresses that fall off their shoulders or just a piece of fabric wrapped in a special way. What was inspiring, however, was their curiosity. More than anything, they were simply curious to see white people. Imagine living you life never having seen a person who was green, you have heard of them, maybe even seen them driving past in a fancy vehicle. And then, all of the sudden two show up riding motos poking around in your wells and pumps. Well, what would you think! It was pretty funny because as we are standing around writing down the information Drew says "Want to see something funny?" and of course I am always up for a laugh... so all of the sudden he runs towards the kids surrounding us waving his arms around and making funny noises. I wish you could have seen it! It was awesome. The kids all scattered and were genuinely freaked out at first and then once they realized the joke, they all started laughing and laughing. It was amazing, indeed!
I brought my camera with me hoping to get some great pictures and help Drew document some of his work. At first I was a little intimidated and felt awkward, but by the end I had gotten over that. I didn’t want to take pictures to send to national geographic and I know people have seen the picture of poor children in Africa. So, why was I taking pictures? Why, because it was awe-inspiring. Not the poverty, like I said that was heart-wrenching, but the smiles these kids had; the lack of cares and true innocence. In the villages, they don’t have televisions and bloody video games. Of course they have their own terrors I am sure, but it is not the same. I wanted to capture that feeling. I also wanted to see and record first hand what water collection is like in the village.
There were two pumps we visited that were one school grounds. At these pumps it was virtual mayhem when we arrived. I felt like a celebrity, but pretty unworthy really. How was I any different than these kids? I had done nothing special that I should be born in the United States into a wonderfully loving family. It is times like these that I am so comforted to have faith in the living God. I can’t begin to answer questions like the ones I posed. It seems unfathomable and on the surface so unfair that poverty like this exists. But this is where faith comes into the picture. This is when I realize that God is the ultimate designer of the universe and although I don’t understand, there is a reason and a purpose which in the end will work out to his glory. I can’t explain it, but all day long I could not stop praising the Lord in my thoughts. Just for the people I saw, the way they lived. I realized there is a whole other way of living which is different from my own. Most of these people will never visit a large city. They may never own a new piece of clothing, ride in an airplane, or order a meal from a restaurant with air conditioning. But their life has a purpose and they are as important in God’s eyes as I am. What a thought, what a sobering way to drive home the point, that salvation through Jesus Christ is not about how much money we make, or what we can accomplish. It is about surrender and accepting the gift of God’s love.
In the United States, we turn our taps and don’t think twice about the water quality more over we never consider the water running out. Those are two real concerns to people here. Imagine having to carry every drop of water you use from a community well to your home. Also, imagine it is hot. Hotter than temperatures you think your body was ever intended to withstand. Imagine you work each day hand sowing fields of millet. I can tell you shade is rare. The water in the water bottle I brought was hot, not just warm like it gets after carrying it around Disneyworld for the day. Hot like I was looking for oatmeal to cook in it… That being said, I now realize the challenge of wanting to get people to treat their water. It is hot. You want to drink some water. You have already carried it home after having worked to get it out of the pump or worked even harder to pull it up out of a well 40m deep, the last thing want to do is spend more time treating it! This is something I don’t think I would have ever understood if I hadn’t come here and seen these things myself.
Lucky for us it was market day in pissa. This is where we had lunch which consisted of rice and coca-cola. I am not even surprised that Coke has made its way to Africa bush… The market was fun to walk through. I bought some Samsou which is fried bean batter. It looks like funnel cake and tastes like, well, fried dough… who can complain about that. We also bought a slice a watermelon, which was good but a bit warm… like everything else. The whole meal costs about 75 cents.
When we finally finished for the day we had surveyed 25 pumps and wells. On the way back to Koubri we passed a man on a bicycle and I heard what sounded like children wailing. Turns out it was a goat tied to the bicycle. You think I’m kidding, I’m not. That is how they transport them. Just tie their legs together and hang them on your bike… Anybody hungry yet?
At Koubri, before heading back to Ouaga we stopped at a mechanic because Drew’s moto was acting up. They fixed up his ride and we headed back to the city. I got to drive the moto back until we reached the city limits where the traffic was getting a little too heavy for my comfort level. It was first time I had driven a moto and it was pretty fun. I would also like to note, Mom and Dad, that I was wearing a helmet and I applied sunblock several times throughout the day and wore a hat. I am happy to report that I successfully avoided getting sunburned.
That night, after returning to my house I quickly showered and went to the rec center for what was supposed to be a Halloween Party. The shower floor was so dirty when I was done. The day in the village was SO dusty. My camera bag aged like 10 years in one day. My shoes are toast, and I could not imagine what it must feel like to be that gritty all the time. Drew met up with me at rec center for the party and it was funny because aside from one other lady and the employees we were the only ones there. But hey, whatever, they had free popcorn and shrimp chips for snacks so I was not complaining. I was fairly tired by this point so I was happy to go home early. I would also like to mention that they said on the invitations that costumes were encouraged, so myself, being the always willing participant that I am dressed up. I wore a pinkish shirt and pants and cleverly thought I would be the human incarnation of the dust that is everywhere! I thought it was quite clever, and maintain that it was. However, I was only person dressed up. My only saving grace was that my costume was really just regular clothes, so it really just looked like I didn’t know how to dress…
Thus ends my adventure to bush. There are pictures that go along with post. I hope you enjoy them. I am very happy I have my fancy camera, but also wish I had a smaller one that I could with more discretely. (ah, hem… Christmas present, maybe…)
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