hellooooo from Burkina Faso!!!

there are so many things for me to say, yet i don't have much time at this cyber cafe and the French-style keyboard is not facilitating speedy typing!

first of all, it is soooo hot here. i knew that before i came, but only until you really experience it do you fully comprehend what 95F degrees means at 10pm. on the plus side, i get to sleep outside under a beautiful, starry sky and my mosquito net catches every breeze.

training takes up the first three months of the Peace Corps. we are in villages near Ouahigouya, which is a small city in the north. my village is very very small. it isn't even on the map! it is an hour's bike ride from Ouahigouya. the bike ride is definitely whooping my butt, but i just focus on how fit i'll be when i get back to NY. I live with a very large family: 4 wives and 30 children in a compound arrangement. i have not figured out everyone in the family and i only know a handful of names. i have my own living space, which is really great.

Living in villages is part of our language and cultural immersion. i am learning Moore and Fulfulde - in French! So, technically, i am learning three languages because my French is operatinal (at best). Moore is the language of the Mossi people, who are the dominant group of Burkina Faso. Fulfulde is spoken by the Fulani (or Puel) people, who are a nomadic group of the northern and eastern parts of Burkina. Fulfulde is more widely spoken in West Africa than Moore. The two are not at all related and have nothing in common with French or English.

My village is made of both Moore and Fulani people. Apparently, i look like the Peul people because they are tall and thin and seem to have high cheekbones, so people ask me if i am Peul. Honestly, I see no similarities, but, when i can speak more fulfulde, I'll work the resemblance if I can!

we also have technical training for the Girls Education and Empowerment program. So far, we went to observe class at the local school and also had a discussion with a few teachers about the obstacles girls face in school and in their communities. Mostly, it seems that pressures outside of school are what keeps girls from continuing their education, such as poverty, early pregnancy and forced marriage. Our program director is amazing. She is focused and intelligent and is really excited about this program. the downside of the GEE program is that it is very vague and new. we are only the second group of volunteers to work on this project. in contrast, the secondary education volunteers know that they will be standing in front of a classroom teaching. we have to figure out the needs of the community and what are the resources. still, it's exciting!

this post is probably really scattered, but it is my first report of Peace Corps in Burkina Faso. hopefully, i'll get better with practice. keep writing me emails!!!!

wow, it's been a crazy month. a lot has happened and there's more to come before the week is out.

here's the update: i leave on Sunday and not a goddamn thing is packed yet. mind you, it's all laid out and there. I just need to buy a few more things and I'll be all ready to start packing for real. Right now, spread out across the living room, it doesn't look like much, but we'll see how quickly it turns to 80 lbs.

I've schooled myself on shortwave radios, camping mattress pads, Tevas, cotton clothes and many other things. I'm sure when I get there, though, half of all this worry won't even matter and everything will work out fine. What I should be doing is working on my French. Yikes. A dear friend of mine was kind enough to record some stuff in French for me because my ear for French has deteriorated (and actually never really existed in the first place). Oh well, it's gonna have to ressurect itself in a few days!

I gotta keep up with this hectic week, so I'll end this post here.


P.S. have you seen Akeelah and the Bee? Awesome.

So, here I am, preparing for a trip I've dreamed about for the last five years. I found out about the Peace Corps at a career fair for "post-high school alternatives". I picked up info about the Peace Corps and about a theatre group offering one-year stints to travel the world. I was really excited about the theatre group back then, but somehow my enthusiam dissolved, unnoticed. I really just wanted to get on with college - get out of NYC and my life there.

The Peace Corps wasn't yet a clear part of my future, but it seemed like a great idea. In the end, I went straight to college and I am glad that I did. How useless I would have been if I had gone to the Peace Corps as only a high school graduate? All of the qualifications I have that make me eligible for this assignment are from opportunities I sought out during college. I probably wouldn't have been selected or I would've gotten the crappiest assignment. Either way, it doesn't matter, because I've come to this adventure now.

I am so excited to go. This experience means so much to me (and I'm not even there yet!). I know I'll be leaving so much behind and, only now, five weeks before I leave, has that thought struck a nervous chord. There is so much to sort out here and hold on to for when I'm gone. But, on the other hand, I know that I am going to grow, learn and absorb so much in the next two years.

I just have to pace myself and enjoy my fleeting time here at home. Remeber to breathe and take it all in, because when I get to Burkina Faso, it's gonna be a long time before I have my feet on the ground again. A long time with a lot of learning and patience.

Baby steps.