Today's topic- the bizarre.
Put on your aluminum foil helmets folks- doesn't hurt to stay protected. Especially when there's clearly alien activity happening in your neighborhood. Or just reaaaally weird religious practices. I... I just can't explain what's going on!
So, around the corner from my house is a crossroads of sorts, formed by two dirt roads. Sometimes I can find the most odd collection of items assembled in the middle of the intersection. For example, today there was a nest-shaped collection of dried parsley surrounded by a shattered pot. The other day, there was a large shell with an egg lying in side of it. Before that there was a ring of chicken feathers on the ground. 10 Mattbucks to whoever can come up with some sort of commonality between the three! And believe me, Mattbucks are in high demand.
Secondly, today I found out that last night, Monday night, the Federal Government declared no school for the rest of the week in order to prepare for the upcoming election day on Sunday. They closed school. For a week. With no notice. For an election which doesn't affect the kids. They can't even vote! I don't understand!!! All that that accomplished is messing with my travel schedule. I was supposed to give my final trimester test today and leave for Ouaga tomorrow, but... I couldn't give the test since no one showed up. This is going to be interesting... The school will administer the test, send the tests on a bus to me in Ouaga for me to grade, then I will calculate the averages for the trimester and send it back. Phew.
Finally, here's a little excerpt that my friend in another town shared with me. It comes from a pamphlet used in schools to teach English through difficult questions and scenarios. This questioned is labeled "Are Men and Women Equal?" What follows is the content of that pamphlet:
-- Equality between men and women is a topical subject. Men claim to be different from women and even more important than women who are always dependant. Women claim to be equal to men because without them, life would not be possible. So it is what we call feminism. That is true because in many African countries, women work.
[MEN AND WOMEN ARE EQUAL]
-Biologically they are the same creatures
-Both are created by God
-Both have the ability to think, to work, and to do anything else
-Women are as educated as men
-They are enrolled in the building of society
[MEN AND WOMEN ARE NOT EQUAL]
-Women give beautiful babies to men and take care of their household
-Men are stroner than women. Men are the image of God but women are created to be a help of men
-Men are more courageous than women
-Naturally, women are very weak than men
-Women speak a lot of and can't keep a secret for a long time.
In conclusion, we can say that the equality between men and women should not be debated, because every women knows that man is head of the family. Woman is consider as second responsible of the family. Instead of talking about the equality between men and women, isn't it good to talk about complementary life? --
This... is crazy... I mean the 2nd and 4th points for the con argument are basically the same!
No, in all seriousness, woah. I like how the marker of equality is the ability to not tell a secret. So I guess Benedict Arnold was a girl according to whoever wrote this. My friend here says that it was sold to the school by a private businessman and many teachers and students simply bought these before they could read them. However, unfortunately, this does reflect many mindsets here in Burkina Faso (and some mindsets in the US still!) That's why one of the top 5 goals here, the High 5 if you will, is to promote the equality of girls. So desperately needed...
And that concludes are voyage into the bizarre. Tune in next time!
(Note: You'll feel like an idiot if you ever try to translate a rap song into another language. Trust me.)
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Let's talk turkey.
Ok. This is what my December looks like.
I have three days of classes left at my school, giving a test on Tuesday and Wednesday. Immediately after the Wednesday exam, I leave to start my trek to Ouaga for a crazy period of formations. First, my camp GLOW training complete with breakfast at the director's house. Then, on December 1st, the first wave of volunteers from my group will arrive for our 2-week training on how to implement projects, teach sensibilizations, etc. During this time period, I'm correcting my 175 tests and I have a 3-day IT committee meeting. Also, I'm hoping to win our Ouaga poker showcase at least once. It's my time. Finally after that, I want to see the new group of volunteers swear in and meet my new site-neighbor.
Now, after that I return to my site for one week of school meetings and then it's vacation! No one will be wanting to do any work. Plus, other volunteers may be coming down to visit my site. So I'm pretty much done with this year! Hopefully, I'll be able to help put my association together in time... That's right. Some really motivated people in my community heard I wanted to do sensibilizations and decided to simply petition to create an organization to do the health trainings with the town. Good going guys!
I continue to meet new people each day. Somebody from the Mayor's office is going to start teaching me the local language Jula when I return from my formations. Plans are in the works to create a garden at my school and plant trees all along the border. An English club just started and maaaaybe I'll get involved. Wasn't quite in the loop about that. But! I'm excited.
I need to get ready and join up with the nurses from my local hospital for another day of rounding up random kids in the market and giving them polio vaccines, vitamin A, and measles vaccines. You know how it is. So! I'll write soon,
I have three days of classes left at my school, giving a test on Tuesday and Wednesday. Immediately after the Wednesday exam, I leave to start my trek to Ouaga for a crazy period of formations. First, my camp GLOW training complete with breakfast at the director's house. Then, on December 1st, the first wave of volunteers from my group will arrive for our 2-week training on how to implement projects, teach sensibilizations, etc. During this time period, I'm correcting my 175 tests and I have a 3-day IT committee meeting. Also, I'm hoping to win our Ouaga poker showcase at least once. It's my time. Finally after that, I want to see the new group of volunteers swear in and meet my new site-neighbor.
Now, after that I return to my site for one week of school meetings and then it's vacation! No one will be wanting to do any work. Plus, other volunteers may be coming down to visit my site. So I'm pretty much done with this year! Hopefully, I'll be able to help put my association together in time... That's right. Some really motivated people in my community heard I wanted to do sensibilizations and decided to simply petition to create an organization to do the health trainings with the town. Good going guys!
I continue to meet new people each day. Somebody from the Mayor's office is going to start teaching me the local language Jula when I return from my formations. Plans are in the works to create a garden at my school and plant trees all along the border. An English club just started and maaaaybe I'll get involved. Wasn't quite in the loop about that. But! I'm excited.
I need to get ready and join up with the nurses from my local hospital for another day of rounding up random kids in the market and giving them polio vaccines, vitamin A, and measles vaccines. You know how it is. So! I'll write soon,
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Formations
Camp G2LOW is a program put on throughout many
Peace Corps countries. It stands for Girls and Guys Leading Our World. Here in
sunny Burkina Faso, the upcoming summer will host the third round of these
excellent opportunities for the youth to come and be empowered. This is kind of
my thing. Thus, I’ll be financial director for this week-long camp taking place
in my regional capital. Good thing I’ve had a bit of experience with managing
donations and file-keeping! (Shout out to Prattsville, NY here. I hope you all
weathered Sandy…)
Each volunteer in the region works with their village to send 5-6 + kids to this camp. I think at ours, we would like to host 70 all-together. It’s necessary to provide lodging and food for the students during this time. During the camp, we put on sensibilizations, teach songs, play sports, and do all that good, old-fashioned campy stuff. Really, the main focus is promoting the girls to be more confident and engaged in their community. Burkina Faso has made it a priority to change long-standing attitudes and ideas about women that keeps them from reaching their full potential. Also, we teach the guys to accept and promote the girls in their village as well. It is crucial for the men to be involved in this process if there will, indeed, be a change.
Each volunteer in the region works with their village to send 5-6 + kids to this camp. I think at ours, we would like to host 70 all-together. It’s necessary to provide lodging and food for the students during this time. During the camp, we put on sensibilizations, teach songs, play sports, and do all that good, old-fashioned campy stuff. Really, the main focus is promoting the girls to be more confident and engaged in their community. Burkina Faso has made it a priority to change long-standing attitudes and ideas about women that keeps them from reaching their full potential. Also, we teach the guys to accept and promote the girls in their village as well. It is crucial for the men to be involved in this process if there will, indeed, be a change.
I will be at a formation for planning this camp, a formation
for my IT committee, and a 2-week training for my group of new volunteers all
in December. Goodbye site- I’ll miss you... Basically, December gone be CRAY.
Of course, after that I’ll be submitting grades (yeah, my students basically
get a 2 week reprieve from Math class) and then celebrating Christmas with my
community and New Years with the Americans. Hopefully I’ll be able to host some
other volunteers who will be passing through during winter break to visit!
We shall see.
We shall see.
Things which are normal for me now…
Eating
sauce with my hands
Goats and pigs on my porch
Abandoning all thought of the absolutely complex idea of queuing
Speaking only in French for weeks at a time
Being given babies to hold in my lap because there’s not enough space in the van to fit everyone
Taking 4 hours to prepare afternoon tea
Clicking my tongue to signal affirmation
Being able to tell random kids to do errands for me whenever I want
… and so much more! I just can’t remember what is bizarre for Americans right now…
Goats and pigs on my porch
Abandoning all thought of the absolutely complex idea of queuing
Speaking only in French for weeks at a time
Being given babies to hold in my lap because there’s not enough space in the van to fit everyone
Taking 4 hours to prepare afternoon tea
Clicking my tongue to signal affirmation
Being able to tell random kids to do errands for me whenever I want
… and so much more! I just can’t remember what is bizarre for Americans right now…
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Triumverates
It's time to start doing projects. I suppose. Today I will be meeting with my homologue and a nurse at the hospital to talk about our plan for helping my ville's hygiene. I'm running a little bit late to get back to town after working in my regional capital a bit though... oh well! C'est la vie. Anywho, I'm trying to set up point people for different projects in different sectors. For example, a group of me and two Burkinabé to work on the promotion of girls in the community, planting trees, health sensibilizations, and income generating activities. Basically, I'm forming triumverates. Should not have read Julius Caesar so much...
What would you all like to know about now? I just gave my first test to my students this past week. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to grade them. Here, a passing grade is a 10 out of 20. And they try to make the test average for the class be about an 11. Thus, things are a bit difficult. One of the major goals here is to encourage critical thinking. Often in primary school, the students are taught only to strictly follow directions and not think outside the box. The culture as a whole does not really align itself with critical thinking. I heard one story this weekend that when a section of forest was cleared out for a future road, the villagers continued to follow the old path- even though it twisted and turned in the now cleared field, the people twisted and turned along with it, declining to simply walk a new path. It serves the people well enough, but, of course, I'd like to help my students achieve their full potential. I'm excited to see who solved my critical thinking problems correctly.
Big news! There is a small village next to mine which is getting a new volunteer. Sadly, the two years has come to an end for the current volunteer... Bon voyage Lyndsay! Thus, the new volunteer will, for all intents and purposes, be my site mate for my remaining time here. After all, I've got the best marketplace around! Hopefully we can collaborate a bit on projects.
Anywho, I'm done eating my papaya and I'm frankly exhausted from this weekend's activities. If you have anything specific you would like to hear more about, let me know! I am but your humble servant, here to cater to your every literary craving. Or something like that. Will write soon! Promise.
What would you all like to know about now? I just gave my first test to my students this past week. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to grade them. Here, a passing grade is a 10 out of 20. And they try to make the test average for the class be about an 11. Thus, things are a bit difficult. One of the major goals here is to encourage critical thinking. Often in primary school, the students are taught only to strictly follow directions and not think outside the box. The culture as a whole does not really align itself with critical thinking. I heard one story this weekend that when a section of forest was cleared out for a future road, the villagers continued to follow the old path- even though it twisted and turned in the now cleared field, the people twisted and turned along with it, declining to simply walk a new path. It serves the people well enough, but, of course, I'd like to help my students achieve their full potential. I'm excited to see who solved my critical thinking problems correctly.
Big news! There is a small village next to mine which is getting a new volunteer. Sadly, the two years has come to an end for the current volunteer... Bon voyage Lyndsay! Thus, the new volunteer will, for all intents and purposes, be my site mate for my remaining time here. After all, I've got the best marketplace around! Hopefully we can collaborate a bit on projects.
Anywho, I'm done eating my papaya and I'm frankly exhausted from this weekend's activities. If you have anything specific you would like to hear more about, let me know! I am but your humble servant, here to cater to your every literary craving. Or something like that. Will write soon! Promise.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
La Grève
Ok. It's been some time, no? Let's cut to the brass tacks.
Strikes. If you all know me as well as I think you may or may not know me, you would know that I don't know how I feel about strikes. Did you all follow that? Good. I admire when people take a stand to combat injustices and, to quote Holden Caulfield (shudder), I really do. However, I'm not a fan if innocents get hurt in the process. But let us move forward objectively.
Here, if something happens that gains national notoriety, from time to time the students from university level down to junior high will go on strike. This involves simply not going to school for two days. Yesterday, I was teaching one class when suddenly the class exploded into yelling and people trying to look outside the classroom. I was surprised- this particular class was normally very well behaved. Eventually I was told to let the class out into the courtyard and that I should just hang out with the other teachers and have some coffee. Apparently, some students from another school showed up and got some of our students to simply leave. Eventually an official representative of a university came to explain to the students the reason for the strike, classes were canceled, and everyone went home.
Nothing else is done during the strike- no protests, etc. Somehow the idea got out that the best way of combating injustice was to limit one's education. And that's what I'll say about that.
Strikes. If you all know me as well as I think you may or may not know me, you would know that I don't know how I feel about strikes. Did you all follow that? Good. I admire when people take a stand to combat injustices and, to quote Holden Caulfield (shudder), I really do. However, I'm not a fan if innocents get hurt in the process. But let us move forward objectively.
Here, if something happens that gains national notoriety, from time to time the students from university level down to junior high will go on strike. This involves simply not going to school for two days. Yesterday, I was teaching one class when suddenly the class exploded into yelling and people trying to look outside the classroom. I was surprised- this particular class was normally very well behaved. Eventually I was told to let the class out into the courtyard and that I should just hang out with the other teachers and have some coffee. Apparently, some students from another school showed up and got some of our students to simply leave. Eventually an official representative of a university came to explain to the students the reason for the strike, classes were canceled, and everyone went home.
Nothing else is done during the strike- no protests, etc. Somehow the idea got out that the best way of combating injustice was to limit one's education. And that's what I'll say about that.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Potential
Alright folks. It's here. The computer. So! I hope I might get posts up once a week- fairly reasonable if the internet decides to work all the time. But, what, am I my internet's keeper? I can't answer for what it might do!
Anyways, important stuff- NEW RESTAURANT IN TOWN WITH A PICTURE OF A HAMBURGER AND AN ICE CREAM ON IT. Checking that out stat. Hope it's not a trap for Americans... Because it would totally work.
Less important stuff- school started! Finishing chapter 1 on Friday. Man it took much too long to do that... It's been pretty tiring if you couldn't tell by my plethora of sentence fragments. Can't. Even. Type. Full. Sentences. Although, on second thought, non-surprisingly, that actually takes more effort.
Permit me to give you an anecdote of my time as a teacher thus far:
I tell one class that I'll come in during their 3-hour long lunch break/siesta to give extra help if needed or desired. The kids protested a little bit saying that that's not a great time. But I stuck to my guns, figuring I could at least do some lesson planning if no one shows up. I get to the school and work for the hour, and sure enough, no one comes to the big teachers work room/building thing for extra help. I pack up my things and hit the road, firing my bike on all 0 cylinders.
I run into some of my students who ask me, incredulously, where I was going! Everyone's at the classroom! I turn back and sure enough- 40 kids who had been just sitting in a hot classroom waiting for me. They saw me but figured it would be impolite to interrupt my work in the teacher's room! Soooo they ended up not having a night class and I ended up teaching them for two hours. But still- oops? It was slightly embarrassing telling the other teachers there at the time that no one showed up (to which they said duh! It's the break!), leaving, and then coming straight back to find my kids..
Currently, I'm excited for potential projects coming up. I'll be meeting soon with the public high school and discussing how I can start working there non-formally. A teacher/businessman at my high school wants to start a business-themed English club. Absolutely PERFECT for practicing income-generating activities disguised as opportunities for using English to buy, sell, trade... all that jazz. If I can talk with the local women's organization, I might be able to bring a few people to Ouaga for a conference on how to manufacture and sell Shea butter here to raise funds and improve, well, the quality of life! One can never have too much Shea butter. Right?
After starting working with the hospital and health clinics, myself, my counterpart, and the doctor have been thinking of health projects. Mainly sanitation of food cooked by street vendors and of the vegetables covering the ground and being sold at the market. I'll figure that out I guess... I also met with a group who does sensibilizations for AIDS/HIV awareness, family planning, nutrition, and more. Hopefully, I'll be able to work alongside them when they come back into town!
There are fields to improve, trees to plant, spelling bees to organize... Plenty to keep me occupied if I can stay focused and determined. Of course I never mentioned anything about my committee or the various summer camps during, you guessed it, summer. BREATHE.
There's just so much I could say about my time here and I don't know what to share! Maybe next week I'll do something about the various social rules and norms as understood by an American 5 months in. Things can be... interesting here. Example- the general public do NOT know what waiting in line is. Ugh...
So! Hang in there folks. Stay strong. Fight the power. All that jazz. Have fun voting and watching Anna Karenina and all those hip things going on across the Atlantic. Do it... for me. (By the way, just read Anna Karenina on my new Kindle [thanks again man!] and boy was that depressing. I think you can sum up the novel with "Don't trust jockeys". Solid life advice.)
Anyways, important stuff- NEW RESTAURANT IN TOWN WITH A PICTURE OF A HAMBURGER AND AN ICE CREAM ON IT. Checking that out stat. Hope it's not a trap for Americans... Because it would totally work.
Less important stuff- school started! Finishing chapter 1 on Friday. Man it took much too long to do that... It's been pretty tiring if you couldn't tell by my plethora of sentence fragments. Can't. Even. Type. Full. Sentences. Although, on second thought, non-surprisingly, that actually takes more effort.
Permit me to give you an anecdote of my time as a teacher thus far:
I tell one class that I'll come in during their 3-hour long lunch break/siesta to give extra help if needed or desired. The kids protested a little bit saying that that's not a great time. But I stuck to my guns, figuring I could at least do some lesson planning if no one shows up. I get to the school and work for the hour, and sure enough, no one comes to the big teachers work room/building thing for extra help. I pack up my things and hit the road, firing my bike on all 0 cylinders.
I run into some of my students who ask me, incredulously, where I was going! Everyone's at the classroom! I turn back and sure enough- 40 kids who had been just sitting in a hot classroom waiting for me. They saw me but figured it would be impolite to interrupt my work in the teacher's room! Soooo they ended up not having a night class and I ended up teaching them for two hours. But still- oops? It was slightly embarrassing telling the other teachers there at the time that no one showed up (to which they said duh! It's the break!), leaving, and then coming straight back to find my kids..
Currently, I'm excited for potential projects coming up. I'll be meeting soon with the public high school and discussing how I can start working there non-formally. A teacher/businessman at my high school wants to start a business-themed English club. Absolutely PERFECT for practicing income-generating activities disguised as opportunities for using English to buy, sell, trade... all that jazz. If I can talk with the local women's organization, I might be able to bring a few people to Ouaga for a conference on how to manufacture and sell Shea butter here to raise funds and improve, well, the quality of life! One can never have too much Shea butter. Right?
After starting working with the hospital and health clinics, myself, my counterpart, and the doctor have been thinking of health projects. Mainly sanitation of food cooked by street vendors and of the vegetables covering the ground and being sold at the market. I'll figure that out I guess... I also met with a group who does sensibilizations for AIDS/HIV awareness, family planning, nutrition, and more. Hopefully, I'll be able to work alongside them when they come back into town!
There are fields to improve, trees to plant, spelling bees to organize... Plenty to keep me occupied if I can stay focused and determined. Of course I never mentioned anything about my committee or the various summer camps during, you guessed it, summer. BREATHE.
There's just so much I could say about my time here and I don't know what to share! Maybe next week I'll do something about the various social rules and norms as understood by an American 5 months in. Things can be... interesting here. Example- the general public do NOT know what waiting in line is. Ugh...
So! Hang in there folks. Stay strong. Fight the power. All that jazz. Have fun voting and watching Anna Karenina and all those hip things going on across the Atlantic. Do it... for me. (By the way, just read Anna Karenina on my new Kindle [thanks again man!] and boy was that depressing. I think you can sum up the novel with "Don't trust jockeys". Solid life advice.)
Friday, September 14, 2012
Site! (This one's a doozy)
Alright folks, it's been a while, hasn't it? I promised many times that I would have internet once I got to my site in the Cascades region. Well, I do have internet, but my trusty laptop stopped being trusthworthy and fried as soon as I arrived. You think you know a computer...
But do not fear! I'm receiving a new one (THANK YOU FAMILY!), one that's not 7 years old, so I can continue my work here as well as keep you posted on each exciting new development here in BF. (Of which there are multuous!) For example, coconuts and avocados have hit the scene in my town! It's a good time to be me, my friends. I have no idea what I'll do with any of them but it's new! It's exciting. Wow. Last night I was totes cadaeuxed an avocado so I made some salsa with it, garlic, lime, peppers, cumin, tomatoes and onions, fried up some garic bread and ate that ensemble. Not too shabby. The other day I made crepes with homemade syrup and onion rings. That was even less shabby. Seriously, I'm eating pretty darn well for Burkina standards. This week I'm trying tamale pie. And maybe a quiche. Why? BECAUSE I CAN!
Ok, ok, you're right. I shouldn't yell at you. It's just, after three months of eating only rice, it does the body good to mix it up a bit; cook on one's own, burn a pot of alfredo sauce... you know how it is. Mind you, the ingredients here aren't States quality but they do the trick. Cheese is expensive and unobtainable for me outside of Laughing Cow wedges. But enough about food!
New developments... let's see... I'm a member of the ICT committee which tracks and documents data and procedures for all the different pojects being done around the country; maintains a website, and produces media to help with our work here amongst some other stuff as well. Thus, I'll be making a quarterly trek to Ouaga for a weekend for these meetings and trainings. I'm especially excited and pumped and insert-your-own-adjective-here for working with monitoring and evaluating the success of our work here. I'm a numbers guy, in case my math major wasn't red-flag enough for you. Thus, we're going to be working hard to implement some new systems here to put a beurocratic spin on our work for the boys back home.
But let's talk ville. My site is not quite a town and not quite a village either. It's fairly small but we have a ton of merchandice and food that comes out of Cote D'Ivoire. A lot of houses have electricity (like mine) and even running water for taking showers (quite unlike mine)! However, there are many many folks without such luxuries. I'm living in a nice area which is not effectively reflective of the general life in town. As I explore the town more and more and become better integrated, I may develop a clearer idea of what I can do to assist the communal development.
Each day, I venture out and try to have a meangingful conversation with three new people/groups. It's tough. It's awkward. But I manage it. The marché is becoming much more intuitive now, and I can finally recognize
places to buy meals. Hey, street food involves a pot and a bench and that's it. It's very easy to overlook. This one lady has been hooking me up with free sweet potato fries every time I buy attieke from her. With some fish and onions... mmm mmm good. I talked for four hours once with a group of men at a little buvette (where you buy drinks), took tea with a group of students at the lycée I'll be teaching at, and talked development with some professionals in the town. I've started making a point of stopping to talk with and introduce myself to anyone who waves at me basically. It's not normal. But it's worth it. The people here are very nice and the culture dictates a person-first attitude to life. Most of my work in Burkina Faso really entails getting to know the people and helping them get to know the American way of life as well. Thus, I try to steal myself away from my house each day. (Although there's always another table to fix or exercise bench to build or cookbooks to peruse.)
I wake up at 5:30 and go to sleep at 10:30 generally. Not so bad. Although, last night I could hear yells and honking and craziness really late. When I came into town to catch the bus to Banfora, I noticed a soccer arena was constructed out of wood and wire and spotlights in the town square. I guess I missed that memo. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to take that guy up on his offer to play soccer with his crew and maybe break into that scene a little bit.
Oh. My. Goodness. I wrote so much. Sorry! I'll close out by saying I'll learn what classes I'll teach and my weekly schedule tomorrow and I'll update you all eventually on that! Good ol Conseil des Professeurs tomorrow... Donc, in short; things are good, I'm eating well finally, I keep thinking goats are saying my name. Maaaaaa is basically Matt.
A plus!
-Matt
But do not fear! I'm receiving a new one (THANK YOU FAMILY!), one that's not 7 years old, so I can continue my work here as well as keep you posted on each exciting new development here in BF. (Of which there are multuous!) For example, coconuts and avocados have hit the scene in my town! It's a good time to be me, my friends. I have no idea what I'll do with any of them but it's new! It's exciting. Wow. Last night I was totes cadaeuxed an avocado so I made some salsa with it, garlic, lime, peppers, cumin, tomatoes and onions, fried up some garic bread and ate that ensemble. Not too shabby. The other day I made crepes with homemade syrup and onion rings. That was even less shabby. Seriously, I'm eating pretty darn well for Burkina standards. This week I'm trying tamale pie. And maybe a quiche. Why? BECAUSE I CAN!
Ok, ok, you're right. I shouldn't yell at you. It's just, after three months of eating only rice, it does the body good to mix it up a bit; cook on one's own, burn a pot of alfredo sauce... you know how it is. Mind you, the ingredients here aren't States quality but they do the trick. Cheese is expensive and unobtainable for me outside of Laughing Cow wedges. But enough about food!
New developments... let's see... I'm a member of the ICT committee which tracks and documents data and procedures for all the different pojects being done around the country; maintains a website, and produces media to help with our work here amongst some other stuff as well. Thus, I'll be making a quarterly trek to Ouaga for a weekend for these meetings and trainings. I'm especially excited and pumped and insert-your-own-adjective-here for working with monitoring and evaluating the success of our work here. I'm a numbers guy, in case my math major wasn't red-flag enough for you. Thus, we're going to be working hard to implement some new systems here to put a beurocratic spin on our work for the boys back home.
But let's talk ville. My site is not quite a town and not quite a village either. It's fairly small but we have a ton of merchandice and food that comes out of Cote D'Ivoire. A lot of houses have electricity (like mine) and even running water for taking showers (quite unlike mine)! However, there are many many folks without such luxuries. I'm living in a nice area which is not effectively reflective of the general life in town. As I explore the town more and more and become better integrated, I may develop a clearer idea of what I can do to assist the communal development.
Each day, I venture out and try to have a meangingful conversation with three new people/groups. It's tough. It's awkward. But I manage it. The marché is becoming much more intuitive now, and I can finally recognize
places to buy meals. Hey, street food involves a pot and a bench and that's it. It's very easy to overlook. This one lady has been hooking me up with free sweet potato fries every time I buy attieke from her. With some fish and onions... mmm mmm good. I talked for four hours once with a group of men at a little buvette (where you buy drinks), took tea with a group of students at the lycée I'll be teaching at, and talked development with some professionals in the town. I've started making a point of stopping to talk with and introduce myself to anyone who waves at me basically. It's not normal. But it's worth it. The people here are very nice and the culture dictates a person-first attitude to life. Most of my work in Burkina Faso really entails getting to know the people and helping them get to know the American way of life as well. Thus, I try to steal myself away from my house each day. (Although there's always another table to fix or exercise bench to build or cookbooks to peruse.)
I wake up at 5:30 and go to sleep at 10:30 generally. Not so bad. Although, last night I could hear yells and honking and craziness really late. When I came into town to catch the bus to Banfora, I noticed a soccer arena was constructed out of wood and wire and spotlights in the town square. I guess I missed that memo. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to take that guy up on his offer to play soccer with his crew and maybe break into that scene a little bit.
Oh. My. Goodness. I wrote so much. Sorry! I'll close out by saying I'll learn what classes I'll teach and my weekly schedule tomorrow and I'll update you all eventually on that! Good ol Conseil des Professeurs tomorrow... Donc, in short; things are good, I'm eating well finally, I keep thinking goats are saying my name. Maaaaaa is basically Matt.
A plus!
-Matt
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