Well, things are winding down here. My December of trainings and travel has ended and in two days, I will be fixed at my site for good. You can ask anyone here- I am quite tired.
But! Let's recap what happened after the end of my official Peace Corps training in Ouagadougou:
There are new volunteers! Four of them (agriculture/business and health) were coming down to my region so I brought them down to Bobo and Banfora, showing them some sites, making sure their shoes were tied tight, that sort of theing. After many complications with travel, we arrived, I crashed at Hotel Aceves in Banfora (seriously folks, a bargain!), and continued on to my site the next day.
I had produced a test for my math students while I was gone and I had to come back and correct them with my classes. Then, I had to fix any errors in grading and take care of a lot of school-related responsibilities. Entering everyone's grades and comments manually into giant triplicate sheets. With 175 students, it took a bit but not incredibly too much time. We had our final meeting to discuss the results and averages from the first trimester on December 22nd. Afterwards, the school bought half chickens and 2 beers/drinks for each teacher. Not. Too. Shabby.
Then off to celebrate the holidays! I had just come back from Ouaga and I was soon leaving again for a place past Ouaga, by the name of Sapone. Vigilant readers will recognize this was where my training was held for my first three months in country. So! I traveled out to celebrate Christmas with my host family and others in town. It seems as though my family has replaced me with a dog, a place to store grains, and a giant shady hangar structure to sit under. I think they're doing well! I left on Christmas to travel with about 25 other young adults, late teenagers to go door to door, eating rice and porc and drinking zoom-koom, a local drink specialty. By the end of the day I thought I would explode.
Hung out with other volunteers after Christmas for a couple of days (looking at you Andrews and Meyer!)
Traveled down with Andrews and another couple to Po, which is close to Ghana and home to a well-known animal park. Here, we hired a driver for the day and went to the park to drive around looking for elephants. We certainly saw them and how! There were probably about 25 out and about, in groups or alone, eating branches, taking baths, waving hey... It was simply fantastic. We also saw cool birds and went way too close to a massive croc. After the animal park, we went out to another town to tour some old architecture. There are semi-subterranean houses with intricate decorations which have been preserved forever. It was great to hear why the houses were built for defense and what each symbol on a house might represent. Thus, a little bit of pleasure, a little bit of history that day.
This brings me to New Years! We were in Bobo with a group of volunteers. The night involved statues, parrots, a junkyard and very awkward dancing. So you KNOW it's good. Seriously a blast.
Alright! I'm going to prepare to get back to site and start a new semester with my students. I'm very much looking forward to reestablishing a new routine again. Next post will be about the school system here! Maybe. It could be random history nuggets. Who really knows... Peace!
