It’s been quite the week or so since I left village. I’ve seen friends in several parts of the country, had a killer barbecue, did some biking, and am currently in town working with a PCV group organizing HIV/AIDS awareness activities.
My first stop was in Koudougou, the nearest big city to my site. I met up with some friends for lunch and surprisingly had the most delicious steak I’ve had since leaving Minnesota last spring. Luckily we knew that service at this restaurant is notoriously slow, so we ordered about an hour and a half before we wanted to eat, and the timing was perfect. I spoke with several friends who have recently attended an informational workshop regarding the Morenga tree. Morenga is kind of the magical, do-everything tree of Africa: its leaves are rich in nutrients, and powder from its seeds can even sanitize dirty village well water. I’m really excited about the possibility of doing a Morenga project in my village.
For the Fourth of July we ended up going out on the town in Ouaga. It was quite the night with dinner and dancing. We even lit sparklers and sang that “Proud to be an American” song that is a requirement of every fireworks display across the good old US of A. (Don’t worry, we sang at our house before leaving so as not to embarrass ourselves too much.) It was a fun evening, but the Fifth of July was the real party, though. We were completely intent on having a barbecue at our house; the only problem was the barbecue. Our guard tried to acquire a grill from one of his friends, but when that fell through, we had to “grill” the burgers on a frying pan on the stove top. Not quite the same, but still good. We had homemade french fries and even lemon bars. The only thing missing was beer-marinated brats. I guess I’ll have to tailgate in Madison when I get home next fall.
I took a trip out to see one of my friends in the East of Burkina for a few days after the Fourth. We went on a nice bike ride and helped his neighbors plant corn one day. Both were fun, but as the Burkinabe were quick to tell us, “We have no machines here! Planting makes your back hurt!” What do you know? They’re right! I did learn several interesting things though: it’s illegal to let your animals roam freely through village after planting starts because they’ll eat the crops; peanuts are planted about 10cm apart…making a large field a lot of work; and sesame seeds are so tiny and difficult to plant that people mix the seeds with 3 parts sand in order to spread out the seeds enough. And not a single tractor in sight! (Yes, I’m a wimp.)
I’m in Ouaga now, and between helping with the new group of trainees and teaching English here in August, I’ll be in large cities with internet the rest of the summer. I’ll try to update my blog more regularly. And hopefully I’ll get some pictures up soon. All the best!
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