4th time's a charm

I have to get used to the fact that the internet does not always work here.

Almost three weeks in Burkina! I went to the marche a few days ago with my French class and I had this pastry with a custard filling. Not usually a big fan of creme fillings (unless it’s chocolate of course), but this was delicious! That seems to be a pattern here: In the U.S. I never used to like mangos, crème-filled pastries, etc. But here on the rare occasions that I do eat something sweet, it tastes so good. I ran out of my stash of dark chocolate M&M’s this week, so feel free to send me more!

This next week all of the Peace Corps Trainees will be planning a 4th of July party for this upcoming Saturday. I’m not entirely sure what we’ll have because there’s no way we could make burgers. Can we even get ground beef here? I haven’t seen a single cow in Burkina. No bad cow puns, cow dung flung, or cows with guns. But there are chickens in choppers. Plenty of roosters, donkeys and pigs wandering around the streets seemingly unattended. I really do enjoy watching donkeys pulling wagons, though. Well, we might have a bit of goat here or some fish or scraps of beef there, but I’m guessing it’ll be some kind of rice or pasta. Last year all of the trainees got sick off their 4th of July meal—apparently some major gastro-intestinal problems that lasted for a month for some. At least all of the trainees this year were told about this incident because now we’ll all make sure that the meat is cooked well enough and any fruits or vegetables are washed with PC-standard filtered water. I’m going to miss fireworks this year.

Speaking of bright lights, the stars here are remarkable. They’re so much brighter and larger, not to mention you can see more of them here than in the U.S. I watch them through my mosquito net at night, and they serve as a good source of light when I have to use the latrine. By the way, I’m getting better at using the latrines. They’re still a little gross and sometimes my aim is no bueno, but I shoo away the cockroaches and they wait patiently until I’m finished using the latrine before they resurface. But I love sleeping outside because it’s about 20 degrees cooler outside than in my room. I’m starting to get accustomed to the ruckus the roosters make (starting around 4 am), and I can sometimes sleep through the bells that ring at 4 signaling the time for prayer for the Muslim community.

I don’t believe my host family is very religious at all. Since we’re in a larger city I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising. But we’re in Mossi country here up north where the majority of the people are Muslim. My family sleeps outside with me and I’ve never seen them get up at 4 to go to the mosque or pray. My host mom did ask me if I’m Catholic though, so maybe they’re non-practicing Catholics or they go to church or pray when I’m not around. I’ll make sure I ask them before my training is over, but I want to make sure I can use proper French before engaging in a discussion about religion. It was kind of weird the other day when I was talking to my host mom about marriage and kids. I told her I have no intention of doing either things and 1. She was shocked; 2. She asked me if I liked black men or if I would want to marry a white person. I told her that I’m partial to all colors of the rainbow. She laughed at me and seemed genuinely surprised that I’d even consider a relationship with a person who wasn’t white. Tres interresant.

I heard that Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died last week. Most of the Burkinabe I’ve met know who Michael Jackson was, so they gave me their condolences when they heard about his death. I was watching a news special about it with my host mom, and she turned to me in the middle of it and said “Il ressemble une femme.” She thinks he looks like a woman, whereas I think he just looks rather creepy and skeletal. It was painful watching one of his music videos that the news station aired. But I still like his music quite a bit, so Michael Jackson will live on.

What else has been happening? Let’s see, the secondary education trainees start peer teaching next week. As of now I’m training to be a Physique et Chemie teacher, but apparently that could change or I may have to add a new subject, like Math or English. It all depends on how many students enroll at the school and how many teachers there are. In about 3 weeks we’ll have Model School where the trainees will teach a real Burkinabe class, in French. Holy crapola. I do believe that my French comprehension has improved, but my speaking is still atrocious. I still have to think in English about what I want to say in French, so it takes a long time to have a conversation. But my host family says that I’ve been improving, so yay for me!

I was very excited a fez nights ago because my host mom made me jus de weda. It tastes amazing. It’s a fruit juice that’s splendidly citrusy and sweet, and you can get it cold, almost frozen. The weda fruit is actually quite sour, it sort of reminded me od Sour Patch Kids I’ve never appreciated the luxury of cold drinks as much as I do here. Last week the family in our courtyard had a party because it was their daughter’s birthday—and I had cold bissap. It’s a cranberry-colored juice that’s not as good as jus de weda, but still pretty darn tasty. That was the night of the USA vs Spain game, and the U.S. won! Unfortunately they lost in the final to Brazil. Dommage. I like the TV schedule here—lots of soccer games, almost every day that start around 6 PM so that I can enjoy them when it’s cool outside and when I’m not in class. My host dad is a fan of soccer, so that works in my favor too.

All of the trainees are invited to a wedding this Thursday morning. One of the third year volunteers here in Burkina is going to marry a Burkinabe woman, and I am very excited to see what a traditional Burkinabe wedding is like. All of the trainees are chipping in 100 to 300 CFA (less than a dollar) so that we can buy them one large cadeau (gift). Mom, I guess I am going to have to wear the one skirt that I brought with me.

So I am still trying to maneuver my way around the Burkinabe culture. Apparently it is rude to flat out tell someone `No`here. Instead you have to figure out a way to say no without actually doing it. For example, my host mom made me cucumber salad two nights in a row (delicious, by the way). The first night she left the mayonnaise dressing on the side, but the second night she drenched all of the cucumbers and tomatoes in mayonnaise. And though I tried, I could not eat it all. So my host mom (Abiba) asked me if I did not like the dressing. Instead of saying no (like I normally would, because those of you who know my tastes really well know I despise mayonnaise), I instead said, 'I liked it, BUT I prefer the salad without the mayonnaise. Problem solved, but I am not used to such an indirect approach to dealing with these kinds of things.

I also cannot eat with my left hand, because here the left hand is used for when you go to the bathroom, so it is considered very rude if you eat with your left hand. It's different no doubt, and I'm sure it'll take a long time to get used to, but the Burkinabe have their customs and traditions for a reason. We're told that part of being a volunteer is to learn, respect and abide by their culture.

Well I think I’ll stop here for now. I’m going to try to write an entry every week or so, so please come back to see what I’m up to. And don’t forget to write!

À bientot