More pictures!

Here are pictures from:

Coastal Kenya

Rwanda and Tanzania

Dubai

Pictures! Finally!

I'm home!

I'll write more later, but I've spent most of the day trying to organize and whittle down my photo collection. There are more to come, but here's what I got so far:

Best of Uganda

Safari in Masai Mara, Kenya

Rwanda: Challenging Churchill

Winston Churchill may have been correct in branding Uganda as "The Pearl of Africa"...or maybe he wasn't. Rwanda, a tiny country with a nasty past is the home of volcanoes, mountain gorillas, rain forests, mountains, lakes, and the most pleasant capital city I have yet visited. What would Winston have thought?

After leaving Lake Bunyonyi in southwestern Uganda, my Dutch travel friend and I took a long bumpy road to Kisoro. Absolutely gorgeous scenery made up for the sore rear end. As did a no-fee visa for US citizens. Score! After a semi-quick trip in a bush taxi (one flat tire...there's always something) I found myself in Ruhengeri, a large town in northwestern Rwanda. Bumming around I stumbled into a tourism office and met up with a Finnish guy planning on hiking Mt. Bisoke, a 3700m volcano in the Virunga Mountain Range. The hike up the mountain passed through dense rain forest and was one of the most difficult hikes I've ever done- muddy, steep, thick brush, prickly vines. But once we got to the top...pure beauty. The volcano had a lake in the middle, and the low clouds made for pretty spectacular viewing. Unfortunately, the clouds meant we couldn't see the other direction into the valley below. And it was freaking freezing.

I took another long, bumpy bush taxi ride south to Kibuye, a town on the shores of Lake Kivu. It was absolutely gorgeous, but not much to do aside from look at the scenery, so I made my way to Kigali, Rwanda's capital the next day. Kigali was a very pleasant surprise. Spread out amongst a bunch of hills, it was initially confusing to navigate, but after a quick walk I had identified several landmarks. Not only was the weather warm (finally!) but it was just plain nice. There was no one bugging me to buy crap, no car horns wailing, no mini-buses just about trampling my toes...just nice.

Not all carefree, though. We spent one afternoon at the Kigali Memorial Center. I don't know what to say. I remember hearing news stories of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, but reading the displays, seeing the pictures, listening to the audio tour...absolutely nonsensical. Downstairs were exhibits reflecting on the periods before, during, and after the genocide. The most chilling part were the three rooms displaying remains found-bones, clothing, personal artifacts. Cases of skulls with bullet holes and smashed foreheads. Piles of femurs. Clothing displayed as though a ghost were wearing it. Upstairs were exhibits commemorating several different genocides of the 20th century- from Armenia to Bosnia. The toughest part of all, however, was the blown up images of a dozen or so kids who had been killed. There was a little blurb about each one, and it just struck me how normal they all were- favorite foods, toys, friends. At several points in the Memorial the point was made that after each genocide the world stepped in too late and belatedly said "Never again". We've had to say that far too many times.

Moving on from Kigali, I decided to cheat on my overland trip. The bus ride to Arusha, Tanzania was going to take a minimum of 30 hours, plus three border crossings, Nairobi traffic, and who knows what else. So I flew. Quick flights to Nairobi then to Kilimanjaro International Airport. I knew I had made the right decision the moment we saw the snowy peak of Kilimanjaro poking up above the clouds. Pictures and more soon...hopefully.

Churchill's Pearl

Winston Churchill once said that Uganda is the "Pearl of Africa". While I haven't seen the entire continent (yet), I can't think of any reason to correct him.

My first stop in Uganda was Jinja, home of the source of the Nile River. And some of the best white-water rafting in the world. I must admit, I was terrified. One girl I talked to said that her boyfriend had done it the previous day and that he hated several "fights for his life". My rafting friend Daniel and I looked at each-other, and I seriously contemplated wussing out. But no. Ten minutes in the truck, and we put in just past the dam on Lake Victoria. Our guide, Jamie, taught us what to do when the boat flips, and after a warm-up swim through a Class II rapid, we were ready for our first big one. We had four Class V rapids of the day, and I ended up getting thrown out of the boat during three of them. The longest swim was on a rapid called "Silverback" (after the gorillas...see below...and the froth); lots of water in the lungs. The craziest "what-did-I-just-do" moment came after we went sideways over a 15-foot waterfall. So much fun; the pictures barely do the day justice. I would definitely go again.

Over the weekend I went on a gorilla tracking safari in Bwindi National Park, in southwestern Uganda. The ride there from Kampala was an incredibly long ten hours, the last three of which were over the bumpiest dirt road I have ever been down. Or up. But the views were worth it- Uganda's Switzerland. Rolling hills, rain forest, villages, farms. So beautiful. Sunday morning we got up early for our a briefing by the park rangers. I was assigned to track Group H, made up of 18 individuals including a Silverback ("the boss"), three blackbacks (other large males), and several females, juveniles, and babies. Back into the cars for a bit. Then we had a 4 hour hike through the jungle: up and down hills, our guides were literally hacking our way through the jungle with their machetes.

When we finally came upon the gorillas, they were resting in a thick briar, so the pictures didn't turn out very well. But we were crazy close and got to see eleven gorillas. So beautiful. They were mostly just lounging around. Eating some leaves. The baby kept jumping up and down pounding his chest. At one point one of the younger males decided to remind us whose house we were in and came charging right up to us; he literally passed three feet in front of my face. And let me tell you, getting thrown in the Nile is nothing compared to being charged by several hundred pounds of showing off gorilla. I almost peed my pants. Not really. But I really did almost ran away, which is the worst thing I could have done- making him want to chase me. Good thing our guide reminded told us to freeze on the spot. Later on, though we couldn't see it, one of the other males tried to make a pass on one of the females; this pissed off the silverback (the only male allowed to mate), so he went lumbering over there and started scolding the youngester. Two gorillas fighting 10 yards away is another scary sound, especially when all you can see is bushes falling by the wayside.

What a day. What a country.

With which animal would you least like to play cards?

A cheetah! (Ba-dum ching.)

Over the weekend I did a three-day safari in Masai Mara, Kenya. It was incredible. We left Nairobi on Saturday morning and drove out to the Mara. I must say, these Kenyans certainly have the tourism thing figured out: lunch at an all you can eat buffet; budget camping with beds, blankets, electricity, and toilets; and plush seats in the safari van. I feel like I'm cheating.

Our game drives were fantastic. We got to see just about everything we wanted to- lions, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, zebras, buffalo, wildebeest... It was pretty neat. And we got up nice and close to almost all of them. The first evening out we came across a small family of lions munching down on a zebra. We watched them from literally ten feet away. So big and powerful. And the cubs were off playing on the side. The next day we came across a group who was just about finished eating- already the jakals and vultures were beginning to move in. As the pride left, the three females, one male, and six cubs walked right in front of the van. I could have reached out and petted them. Or not. We also managed to get a great sighting of a mother cheetah and her little cubs. Unfortunately she didn't run for us. I think my favorite, though, were the giraffes we saw silhouetted at the top of a hill against the twilight sky. So cool.

Yes, there were tons of vans, all with drivers trying to get their clients in for the best photo op. And I did feel a bit ridiculous knowing that my camera was just as eager as everyone else's. And it's unfortunate that the animals are all so used to humans that they barely even flinch when the vans drive up. But it's way better than a zoo, and so, so cool to see them all in their natural environments.

Next stop: rafting the Nile in Uganda!

Karibu Kenya

Greetings from Mombasa. After spending three days in the bustle of Nairobi, I'm now in Mombasa, on my way to the beaches of the Indian Ocean. Cars, tall buildings, people, matatus, and surprisingly few (in fact, barely any) motos...Kenya has already started to grow on me. If only it weren't so cold.

I got my first taste of the cold in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. My flight had an overnight layover, so the airlines put me up in a hotel. Nice. But my room's windows were all open, and there was no heater. I had to turn on the hot shower for ten minutes to let the steam heat up the room. Then I huddled under the blankets to sleep. It was probably 65 degrees.

I got to Nairobi around noon on Thursday. The lodge I'm staying at sent a taxi for me, and I met the driver after going through customs. The ride to the lodge was probably less than 15 miles, but it took just over an hour because of...traffic! Nairobi has mad amounts of cars. I couldn't believe it. And narrow, windy streets made it impossible to move at times. Also, they drive on the left side of the road (which threw me off while crossing the street on more than one occasion). But the craziest thing is that there are no motorcycles. We're not in Ouaga anymore.

Friday morning I went over to the National Museum. They had several neat exhibits, but my favorite was the hall of mammals. A stuffed elephant, zebra, and giraffe were the main display. All around them the animals were grouped by eating habits. They had everything from a lion to a flying squirrel, all nicely annotated and explained. And the bathrooms were crazy clean. I spent the rest of Friday afternoon wandering around central Nairobi. I saw the House of Parliment, the National Arhives, the Vice President's office. I just could not get over the number of people, all well-dressed and rushing around on their lunch break.

Saturday I hung out with Patrick, a friend of my brother Nick's. Patrick works with a group that helps AIDS-affected children stay in school, and on Saturdays they have group activities. I spent the afternoon reading books, playing frisbee, and tossing a football. Lots of fun. We then had a birthday party for one of his co-workers. Grilled goat...yum! Just like Burkina.

And now I'm in Mombasa. I took a seven-hour ride on one of the "not so nice" buses yesterday. It was actually pretty nice. No AC, but we got Kenyan music videos for about half of the trip, and the rest stop at the halfway point was clean and had several restaurants with no hawkers. It's pretty clear that tourism is an important part of the Kenyan economy.

Hope all is well. Pictures soon...hopefully. Viva Espana!

Niger

For the first leg of my COS (Close of Service) trip, my friend Elsa and I spent five days in Niamey, the capital city of Niger. Niger is Burkina's neighbor to the east, and we immediately noticed both the differences and the similarities between people, culture, and resources in the two countries. See the pictures here.

Our first day was spent traveling. I got on the bus in Ouaga at 6am, and we got off the bus in Niamey around 7pm. Good times. But the taxi driver didn't rip us off too badly, and we made it to the PC's Niamey hostel sap sap. Food. Showers. Sleep. Best part: their hostel has a huge roof, perfect for sleeping. And that was good because, it was quite hot, despite this being the rainy season. And since it was the rainy season, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised to be woken up at 2am to a thunder storm. Back inside with the mattress. At least the temperature was pretty moderate the rest of the trip.

We spent most of our first day exploring Niamey. Got to check out the grand mosque and the grander marche. Both were quite impressive. The mosque was built courtesy of a 500 million CFA donation from Libya. Located away from the heart of town, its matching green-topped minaret and dome were pretty snazzy. We then checked out the grand marche downtown, and spent sufficient time wandering around, getting lost, asking directions, and being led to the "best place for..." (fill in the blank with just about anything you can think of). Niamey is noticeably smaller than Ouaga, the people speak much less French, and there is a stronger Arabic influence, but all in all, Niamey definitely has the same feel as Ouaga.

The next day we decided to check out the Niger National Zoo. First stop: two giant hyenas behind some iron bars that seemed much too weak to do the job. I never knew how huge hyenas were. And we were only a couple feet away. We also saw a hippo (very fat), some baboons, an ostrich, and five lions! All within touching distance; a little scary. Interesting: one of the Niger PCVs works at the zoo. I asked her about feeding the lions. She said that they cut up animals and throw the pieces at the cage bars; the lions reach out and swipe in the meat. The tricky part is that the zoo worker doing the feeding is standing right next to the cage as well. Better hope the dead donkey looks more appetizing than you.

The highlight of the entire trip was definitely the giraffes. Niger is home to the last herd of wild giraffes, and the government has done an impressively good job of preserving their environment while still allowing tourist access. We rented a car to get us out to Koure, about 50km from Niamey, where we picked up a guide. Within five minutes, our guide had us in the midst of a family of four or five giraffes. And we just followed them around on foot for about an hour. They're completely harmless and seemed just as curious about us as we were about them. Did you know giraffes aren't yellow and black? They were brown and light brown. Also, they immediately reminded me of long-legged goats: similar eating habits, same environment, and movements. Turns out they are distantly related to the mountain goat. Cool.

Aside from a quick pirogue ride on the Niger river, that pretty much does it for our trip. A couple of PCVs invited us out to their sites, but that involved another 14 hour bus ride to the east- opposite the direction to Ouaga- so we had to decline. Someday I want to go back, though. Check out the rest of the country. And if security ever improves in the north, I have heard Agadez- home of Tuaregs, camels, and the gateway to the Sahara- is well-worth a visit.

Happy Fourth of July!

Lists

Being the organizationally-excitable person that I am (and acting on the advice of my mom), I’ve decided to keep a couple of lists while I am in Burkina. Enjoy.

Books I have read (any recommendations?):
66. What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
65. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
64. Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
63. The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson
62. The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
61. Beloved by Toni Morrison
60. Contact by Carl Sagan
59. Davy Crockett by Lee Bishop
58. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
57. The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton
56. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
55. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
54. The Mission Song by John le Carre
53. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
52. Supreme Conflict by Jan Crawford Greenburg
51. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
50. The Final Days by Alex Chance
49. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
48. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
47. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
46. Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45. The Golden Age by Gore Vidal
44. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
43. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
42. Broken Prey by John Sandford
41. Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama
40. Sankara le Rebelle by Sennen Andriamirado
39. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
38. Un, Deux, Trois by Agatha Christie
37. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
36. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling
35. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
34. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
33. Hary Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
32. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
31. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
30. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
29. The Simple Truth by David Baldacci
28. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
27. You Shall Know our Velocity by Dave Eggers
26. The Innocent Man by John Grisham
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter and the Sourcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
23. White Fang by Jack London
22. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
21. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
20. The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
19. Youth by Joseph Conrad
18. Glory Road by Don Haskins and Dan Wetzel
17. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
16. Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
15. The Rainmaker by John Grisham
14. The Famished Road by Ben Okri
13. Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
12. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
11. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
10. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
9. Holidays in Hell by P.J. O’Rourke
8. The Kennedys: Dynasty and Disaster 1848-1984 by John H. Davis
7. Hiroshima by John Hessey
6. Paradise“by Toni Morrison
5. The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
3. The Shining by Stephen King
2. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

Things I have seen people carry on their bike/moto:
-five skinned goats
-ten live chickens (tied upside down to the handle bars)
-20L jug of cooking oil
-groceries
-dead (but not skinned) sheep
-car tire
-full-sized mattress
-one small child
-two small children
-family of three
-goat in lap
-goat in cage
-sacks of various leaves
-wheelbarrow
-full-grown pig, dead, wrapped in burlap sacks, headed towards the slaughterhouse

Things I have seen people carry/sell on their head:
-my new refrigerator (don’t get too excited, it’s just a cannery)
-notebooks, pencils, protractors
-clothes
-food
-water (30L basin)
-Fruit: mangoes, bananas, apples, avocados
-firewood
-peanuts
-laundry baskets with mirrors, combs, and toothbrushes
-kitchen table
-kitchen chair
-sack of rice/millet
-50kg bag of dry cement (this didn’t make it very far)

...On the Move!

My final day as a Peace Corps Volunteer has arrived! It has been a fantastic ride, but I'm excited for a change. But before I decide what that change entails, I'm going on the move. A friend and I are doing a quick trip to Niger over the weekend, then I have a week or so bumming around Burkina- I can't leave without seeing my host family in Ouahigouya. And then the big trip...East Africa! I have five weeks to explore Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. I can't wait! Animals, beaches, mountains, new foods, new people. Never fear (for those few of you still with me who are not my gandmother): there will be blogs and pictures. I arrive back in the US in mid-August.

Happy summer!

Forever-ever

I ate all my food, went to my last market day, said my goodbyes...and just like that three years in Tcheriba were over. I'm not sure where the time went, but I loved my job and life there. Someday I hope to be back, and even though my students will be grown up, new boutiques will be built, and the road will be paved (OK, that may be pushing it...), I hope it will still feel at least a little like the home it has become.

My last ten days in village were absolutely wonderful. I had plenty of time to do all my "lasts" and see all my friends. I visited two of my students in their village about 15km from Tcheriba; their village is off the main road and one of the smallest villages I've been to. It's also very green this time of year and quite nice. The following day I went out en brousse to visit one of my students in the field. As there hadn't been much rain yet, I found him hanging out under a tree "watching the fields". A little like watching paint dry. Hopefully the rains will come soon. We took a little bike trip together along my favorite path- there are lots of trees for shade, and the path passes through my favorite village. Good memories. I also got to do my last market day- pictures with the old guys, last time at my friend's mom's restaurant, one more visit to my favorite gateau lady. And of course, I played many last rounds of the card game whose rules seem to change on a minute-by-minute basis.

My last full day in village was spent going through all the stuff that has accumulated in my house. I've tried to be good, but I have a habit of amassing large quantities of crap. Luckily, two students spent most of the day with me. My crap turned into their treasure- especially popular were a big blue plastic poncho, a singing Halloween ghost toy, and blow-up punching balloons. I'm not exaggerating, we literally spent all day in my house digging through stuff. At least I know it's being put to good use. That evening the school administration and staff threw me a little party. Speeches, gifts, and chicken and beer- the traditional Burkinabe school function dinner. Delicious. I'm going to miss it.

When the day to leave finally came...man, it was tough. I had a committee of about 15 or 20 students who came over to the house around 6:30am. I know I'm not supposed to have "favorites", but I was glad that all my favorite students were able to be there. What I want more than anything is to hear from some of them. One year, five years, twenty years. I just want to know what happens to them, what they go on to do in life. I'm gong to miss them a ton.

Somehow- gifts, mainly- the two bags that I had managed to cram all of my stuff into ballooned into four bags, two boxes, branches of fruit, bags of peanuts, and a live chicken. So I was glad I had help getting to the bus station. I gave my keys to my landlord, and suddenly, way to quickly, the bus appeared chugging down the road. And that was it. A few tears, the last handshakes, and I was off.

Life in village was not luxurious. It was not comfortable. It was not convenient. It didn't come packaged in shiny plastic or served in ready-to-eat boxes. It was dusty. It was lonely. It was full of friends. It was hot. It was busy but there was always time to chat with the neighbors. It was morning classes, afternoon soccer matches, and weekend study sessions. It was Uno, Dominoes, and Connect Four. Solitary bike rides; crowded classrooms. Sunrises. Goats. Students. It was beautiful. And I wouldn't have wanted to change a day.

Got Books?

Quick update on the library situation. Our money from the Peace Corps Partnership came in, and I've purchased almost 200 books for our new library. The three French teachers at our school came up with a list with titles ranging from "Le Petit Prince" (come on, you've heard of that, right?) to "Candide" (that too, right?). Ouaga has two nice bookstores- think Barnes and Noble, but the scale of a 7/11. The more interesting of the two is located next to the large National Cathedral and is, appropriately enough, run by nuns. The have an enormous selection of religious titles...but also plenty of other books. One of the sisters helped me out with my order, and a couple of hours later I walked away with two big boxes of books. Though we did purchase a some foreign works, the vast majority of the books are African novels, and mostly West African at that! A partial title list is below.

Though school is out for the summer, all the students have been informed about the library, and they are very excited to be able to read books beginning in the fall.

Thank you, thank you, thank you again for supporting our library. It can't yet compete with the Library of Congress, but I have every confidence that we have started something that will continue well into the future.

Titles purchased include:

-Les contes d'Amadou Komba by Birago Dirop

-Maimouna by Abdoulaye Sadji

-Le monde s'effondre by Chinua Achibe

-Sous l'orage by Seydou Badian

-L'enfant de la guerre

-L'etranger by Albert Camus

PS No, the picture above has nothing to do with the library...but I forgot my camera at the house, and this is the most interesting picture I could find at the moment. And I know you like pictures.

Koudougou Computer Camp

Pictures of the weekend are here!

As my final secondary project in Tcheriba, I decided to do something a little challenging and out of the normal. After talking to my school headmaster and Vincent, a PCV friend who teaches IT in Koudougou, I invited 16 of our best 8th grade students to a weekend computer camp at the high school in Koudougou. I was a little nervous about bringing so many students so far from home, but I was confident that we had chosen the best students and that after three years in Burkina, I would have the skills and resources to make the trip a success. And what a trip it was!

To set the stage: Of the 16 students, at least 12 had never been outside the immediate vicinity of our village: no paved roads, no bus rides, no running water, no electricity, no large markets, no rows upon rows of boutiques. They had never seen the river about 30km away, and ours was the biggest school they had ever seen. When we asked them what a computer is, the answers ranged from "something like a TV" to "a calculator that folds up". What I'm trying to say is that the excitement level was beyond belief. The morning we left the first kid showed up at my house over an hour early worried that we were already late for the bus. The boys had all shaved their heads, and the girls were in their best clothes. Several of the students from surrounding villages left their bikes in my house. I knew it would be an interesting weekend when one of them asked me to show him how my gas stovetop worked.

Once we got to the bus station, however, the complications began to arise. Quickly. The night before, a large lorry had been traveling on our road. His load was so large that he collapsed the tiny bridge over the creek about 20km from us. Consequence: no transportion that day. None. OK, plan B: the bus station chef in village would call the bus company to see if they were taking another route that would still run them past us. Problem: two of the three cell phone companies in Burkina had failed to renew their government operation licenses by midnight the previous day. As of Friday morning (our travel day) all phones on those services, including all the mobile numbers of all transport workers on all four of the transport companies on our road, were inoperable. So we couldn't talk to anyone. Plan C: Call someone with a bush taxi in Boromo and have them come up to get us. Nope: that guy was traveling. Plan D: I ended up calling Vincent in Koudougou and sending him to find us a bush taxi in Koudougou. Despite being deathly ill, Vincent made it into town, negotiated us a bush taxi, and saw the driver off. Score! Two hours and a plate of meat for 17 people later, the bush taxi showed up in Tcheriba. Half an hour later, after arguing over the already clearly agreed upon price, we were off. No windows on one side, three tries to get the door to stay shut, and lots of dust. But we were off. Images of my Mom shoveling the driveway at 5am after an all-night snow storm the day we were supposed to leave for Orlando flashed through my head. We WOULD make it to Koudougou.

From that point on, however, the trip was wonderful. We got to Koudougou in time for dinner and a quick tour of the market. We had two classrooms for sleeping at school (I was nextdoor in the computer lab), and we stayed up the rest of the evening playing cards and lounging around. Really not doing much. Everyone was pretty tired after a day of waiting by the side of the road for transport. Saturday morning was spent in the classroom. We talked about what exactly a computer is, what it can do, how people use them. We also discussed how people tell a computer what to do: via the mouse and keyboard. All this stuff was completely new to them. It took me a bit to get used to the fact that I had to explain EVERYTHING, but luckily Vincent's IT experience made for a productive and informative class.

The students were dying to use the computers, though, so Saturday afternoon was the much-anticipated moment. First thing: learning to move the mouse by drawing pictures in MS Paint. We started with squiggles and lines, and progressed to complicated shapes like circles. Several kids actually emitted squeals of excitement when they learned how to fill in shapes with colors. We also had a contest to see who could draw the best Burkinabe flag. Several were quite good, though there were many interesting interpretations of the tricky gold star in the middle of the flag. After they got the mouse down, we did some basic typing lessons with BlocNote. No one quite got to the point of typing 100 words a minute with their eyes closed, but they at least all figured out how to write in capital letters. Saturday night was dinner in town and movies on the computers at schoo- another new experience! (Though I couldn't get them to branch out from their Jackie Chan, kung-fu genre movie preferences.)

We had a similar schedule on Sunday, though this time we were ONLINE! The tough thing about teaching the internet was getting them to understand that they could find absolutely ANYTHING online. And once they got their heads around that idea, they had a little trouble coming up with useful things to look for. I vaguely remember that feeling from the first time I tried to figure out the internet: I remember thinking, "OK, so what's the point? I don't need information about everything in the world." I came up with some questions- kind of a scavenger hunt, and that seemed to work much better. Sunday afternoon we taught them how to use e-mail. I had given all the students my e-mail address, so they were eager to be able to keep in touch with me next year. (Nevermind that there's no internet in Tcheriba.)

Sunday evening I invited everyone out for Cokes and Fantas at a nearby restaurant. I can't even begin to explain how high their moods were. They were absolutely on cloud nine. Joking about learning how to drink out of glass glasses (a rarity in village), how they should wait for the drinks to warm up, telling a few city students that we were from "down the road, in the little corner of America where Barack Obama grew up". It was just fantastic. Sunday night we sat up watching more bad kung-fu movies until the wee hours of the morning. And Monday we went back home (they had repaired the bridge by felling a few trees to drive over so there was transport now).

Fantastic trip, and an excellent way to end my service.

Thank you!

To all of you who donated to our library...Thank you very much! Everyone at school is very excited. The project has been fully funded, and we will be purchasing the books soon. Our French teachers have come up with a list of African novelists that we will use to stock the library. The books won't be here in time for this school year (...already pretty much over), but the kids have been asking about them, and I am positive they will be eagerly read come October.

Yes, school is pretty much over. I've given my last lessons, corrected my last tests, and all that remains is calculating GPAs one last time. I'll see my 8th and 6th graders on Monday and Tuesday, but I "officially" said goodbye to my 7th graders this past week. Not an easy thing to do. My planned motivational, good luck next year, work hard, live life fully speech turned into a few quick sentences as I choked back tears. It's hard to imagine my life without my students, my village, or Burkina. That mysterious, scary place called West Africa somehow became home in the past three years, and while I'm definitely looking forward to spending time in my other homes- Minnesota and California- this one is going to be hard to leave.

But before that...books and computers! Along with one of my PCV friends, I've organized a weekend computer camp for 16 of Tcheriba's brightest 8th graders. We're going to spend next Saturday and Sunday in Koudougou learning everything there is to know about computers- or at least how to use a keyboard and mouse. With a little luck we'll even get online. I'm quite curious to see their reactions- most of them, especially the six girls, have never been out of Tcheriba, to say nothing of using a computer. How to explain a file? a folder? a double-click? the internet? One student told me he wanted to bring his notebook so he could write down all the information he could find about his biology class essay topic- he's going to need quite a few notebooks is my guess.

A Library in Tchériba!

Big news from Tchériba this month!

Last fall the English teacher at my school and I attended a workshop hosted by the Peace Corps about opening a resource room and library in our community. We were quite impressed with the workshop and had lots of ideas that we wanted to try to implement in Tchériba. Once we got back to school in October, we spoke with the school headmaster and the other teaching staff. Everyone was equally excited, and the headmaster told us that he had been working an idea along similar lines for a couple of years. The current "library" at our school consists of a single shelf in the accoutant's office. As you can imagine, for a school of 600 students, this system has proved quite inconvienant and in practice means that no one uses it.

Fast forward a bit. After several months of negotiating with the Mayor of Tchériba, the Parents' Associtaion and the school administration, the Mayor has agreed to completely fund the construction of a new library. Not a new shelf...but a whole new building! Once the agreement was made construction was completely finished in less than a week. (The photo above was taken last Wednesday; by Friday afternoon the door, window and roof were in place, and the inside and outside had been painted.) Everyone is very excited.

The Parents' Associaiton has set aside some money to buy new books, and though this is a very important start, showing their commitment to the project, they don't have enough money to form a selection significant enough for this entire new building. That's where you come in. I've submitted an application to the Peace Corps Partnership Program (same program we used for the project at the elementary school last year) to raise funds to help us buy books. That will hopefully soon be approved and online, and any help you can give us would be immensely appreciated. Most of our students have never read a book for pleasure, and I hope you will agree that magic of Dr. Seuss or Harry Potter is something no one should have to miss. All donations go directly to me, and 100% of your gift will go towards the purchase of new books.

I'll be sure to post the link when the project gets online. Thanks in advance for your help.

In other news, my friend Mimi arrived yesterday for a weeklong visit. We hung out in Ouaga today, and (assuming her luggage arrives tonight with Air France) we'll be heading to village tomorrow. Good times!

Masks and More

Welcome to the new home of my blog.

A few weeks ago a bunch of friends and I went to an international mask and artisans' festival in Dedougou, my regional capital. There were about 20 of us, and we had a great time. We saw masks from all over West Africa- including Burkina, Togo, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and Mali. "Masks" doesn't really do justice to the get-ups worn by the performers. They are more like full body costumes made from dried and live plants and elaborately painted. I have no idea how the performers got into the costumes, or for that matter how they survived on what was undoubtedly one of the hottest weekends of the year so far. You'll have to check out the pictures. It is also kind of amazing how so many people from around the continent could manage to arrive in Dedougou, a small and difficult-to-get-to city in Burkina. A few of the gang stayed at my place on Thursday night before the festival, and we were treated to a soccer match between the 6th and 8th graders as well as some delicious chicken.

We're on spring break right now, and last week a few friends and I took a little trip down south to check out Sindou Peaks. The peaks are a series of neat rock formations, and we spent a few days camping, biking and hiking. According to our guide, the Peaks are part of the same rock formations that run up Cote d'Ivoire, through Burkina Faso, and into Mali's Dogon Country. It's unbelievable how different the landscape is in southern Burkina: trees and greenery everywhere, hills...and cool weather. I woke up one morning around 4am too cold to sleep. (You don't want to know what temperature it was. What am I going to do next winter in Minnesota?) It was quite a good trip, despite a 2 hour bike-ride up the hills on the wrong road. Oops. Guess we'll have to come back another time to see Addy's village.

The second trimester at school finished well, though the students may not have thought so. All the teachers were really tough on them, so the grades were pretty low. It's OK though; we'll let up a bit the third trimester, and everyone will be happy at the end of the year. Which is in five or six weeks. Every year it amazes me how short the third trimester is- this year five and a half weeks. Yikes! Then I'm done with Peace Corps. My last day as a volunteer in June 24. After that I hope to travel around West Africa a bit and be back in America sometime in August or September. Anyone know of any good jobs opening up? Haha.

Hope all is well. Happy Easter!

Still Kickin'

One of my PCV friends just told me that monthly updates is more more than adequate for a Peace Corps blog, so I guess I don’t feel too bad that I’m pushing two months.

At the beginning of the trimester I had all of my students write me letters. The 6th graders wrote about what they had done over the trimester break, and the older kids wrote about what they wanted to be when they grow up and their goals for the new year. A lot of soccer playing, dancing on New Years, and dreams of being a teacher or a nurse. It got me thinking about their futures and hoping that someday one of them- I’m only asking for one- will somehow contact me and let me know what he or she is up to. The absolute highlight of the letter writing was one of my sixth graders. He told me that over the break he had gone to America, had dinner with Barack Obama and played soccer with all the white kids. In the midst of reading (and brieftly responding to) three hundred letters that were all quite similar, I laughed out loud when I got to his. (The neighbors gave me a sideways glance.) Love the creativity.

Things at the elementary school are going really well. I forgot my camera in village, but the kitchen and latrine are built, and the garden is planted. Cucumbers, lettuce and onions have even pushed up (that doesn’t sound right in English, what do we say…sprouted? budded?) from the ground, and some tomatoes are in a nursery at one of the big gardens in village. The kitchen building has an overhang to protect the front porch area from the sun, and inside there are three places for modern stoves called “foyer ameliore”. Traditionally women cook with a pot balanced on three stones above the wood, but this lets most of the heat escape and is very inefficient. Recently there has been a big push to put mud around the stones, basically creating a chiminey that brings a much larger percent of the energy to the cooking. Our kitchen building has three such fire pits enclosed by cement. High tech indeed.

Fractions in sixth grade, exponents in seventh grade, and vectors in eighth grade. I’m also going to try a small group test in eighth grade. I’m kind of nervous about trying something so new, but hopefully it will be a learning experience for us all. I’ve been with these same kids for three years now, so they’ve gotten used to the fact that I’m not quite like their other teachers.

95 and sunny here. Hope all is well wherever you’re reading this from. And that you East coasters are digging out all right. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Holidays from Burkina

Pictures from my friend’s wedding are here.

Uh, wow. It’s been a while since I’ve written, huh? I’ve been spending most of my time in village this fall, so I guess that explains it. Electricity is coming to a village 60km from me sometime next year (supposedly), so maybe we’re next.

I had a wonderful Christmas (though sadly less snowy than Minnesota’s Christmas). Christmas Eve I was in my friend’s village. Four or five of us PCVs living “nearby” got together for an afternoon spent in his market making friends. Transport was interesting- two full buses passed us by, but I was assured that there would be a third. No problem. Uh, well, the third bus showed up on the back of a flatbed. I thought they were going to have us all pile into the bus and ride in the bus on the flatbed all the way to town. Nope. Instead, they piled us all into the cabin of the truck. 4 adults, 3 students, 2 kids, 1 infant…and a partridge in a pear tree. However, we made a delicious pork stew for dinner on Christmas Eve, so all the mediocre transport (I say mediocre because though crowded it was the first time I haven’t had to stand for the ride to town in about three months) was quickly forgotten. Then Ryan and Sonia’s host family brought us dinner #2, then the family called us over for music, dancing…and dinner #3. We stayed up celebrating until around 1am (WAY past village bedtime), but the family was out until at least 4am. Good times had by all.

I was in Ouaga on Christmas Day, and again we feasted: this time turkey, beef, mashed potatoes, wine, stuffing, and apple crumb cake. Delicious. I must admit, however, that despite all the good food, it was the bread with REAL BUTTER that disappeared from the table the quickest.

The day after Christmas I went north to Kongussi. One of my colleagues got married, and since I’ve never been to a traditional wedding, I figured what the heck. Nothing like an American wedding. The groom and all his friends and family gathered in the morning (late morning…Africa time). We started off by all going over to the bride’s family compound and speaking with her father. The groom’s friends spoke on his behalf and asked for the girl’s hand in marriage. He consented (this was all arranged months ago), and so we went over to the bride’s mother’s family’s compound. We spoke with the bride’s grandmother and her friends, mother and sisters, female relatives, and another group of women. Each time, the groom’s posse gave a little money and kola nuts and spoke highly of the groom. At the end, we all had a big feast. Everyone feasted except the bride and groom- they kind of played socializing roles, making sure people had what they needed/wanted and even serving a little bit. Once the feast was over and guests got up to leave, the bride’s friends blocked the doorway. Much arguing pursued, and in the end we were all forced (especially the groom) to pay to leave. A nice little trick to make sure the groom and his friends appreciated the feast.

I think the most interesting aspect of the wedding was how little a role the bride and groom played. I asked about that, and I was told the bride didn’t even need to be there. I pushed on that issue a bit, and then I was told that really, the groom didn’t need to be there either. The ceremony seemed to be more of an agreement between the family and friends of the groom and the family of the bride. I guess everyone knows the bride and groom already like each-other, so it’s more important to make sure the families involved have given their approval. No wedding vows or anything. I think I only even saw the bride and groom together once in the whole afternoon. A family affair.

Happy holidays to all, and all the best for 2010.

Cantine Scolaire Update

Happy November! A lot has been happening in village, and time is flying; I can hardly believe it’s already the middle of the first trimester at school. I’m teaching four math classes- one sixth grade, two seventh grades, and one eighth grade. My days are basically full of teaching, lesson planning, helping students with homework, and doing stuff around the house. Not exactly a dull life.

Things have been moving pretty quickly at the elementary school. (More pictures here…it won’t let me upload again in this post…technology…) The kitchen was built in about two weeks and is almost finished. The walls are up, and the rooftop is on. We have a locking door, and a small wall, forming a bit of a courtyard where the women will be able to prepare meals with minimal disturbances from passing goats, donkeys, and cows. It looks great, and everyone is excited to start using it. The hole has been dug for the staff latrine, and as soon as the harvest is in, gardening season will start, so we’ll be able to plant our garden. The school got a new headmaster over the summer- with the Burkinabe system of assigning and reassigning civil servants such as teachers, it’s common for a person (like our former headmaster) to get moved around every few years- and he is thrilled to have such a positive project going. Everyone expresses their thanks to our gracious donors.

As I mentioned, school has been going well. I’m’ trying to do a lot more interesting activities this year, especially in 6th and 7th grades where I’m familiar with the curriculum. I’ve been doing lots of word problems in math class- this not only helps with students’ math skills, but also works on logic, critical thinking, and, most importantly, French comprehension. On that note, I even had my 7th graders write me a letter the first day of school telling me about their summer. I’ve also started giving a “study tip of the day” at the end of class. Things like making an outline, redoing homework problems, summarizing what they’ve learned in their own words…I’ve found that simple activities like these really go a long way in helping them out.

That’s pretty much it from me. November is typically the mini-hot season here, but this year hasn’t been too bad. A couple of evenings ago I noticed a cool nip in the air on my way home from school. Sure enough, I checked, and the thermometer had hit 85. Mornings are typically a chill 75 degrees; the cold season is just around the corner!

Go Time!

Howdy again.

Go Time has definitely summed up the past few weeks since I got back from America. It was very hard to leave the good life, but now that I’m back in the swing of things, all is good.

We’ve started school as of last week. They built a new classroom which opened only a few days late. It looks great, and writing on a new blackboard is quite an exciting experience (hey, small pleasures here). All the 8th graders are happy because it means that we have two classes of about 70 instead of one class of 130 as they had last year.

Things are going full speed ahead at the elementary school. We’ve gathered sand, bricks, and gravel. The Parents’ Association has traced out the outline for the new kitchen, and all appearances are that they’ll be able to start building this week. The Parents’ Association President is very motivated, and everyone wants to get things rolling soon. Next will be the latrine for the teachers. The garden will have to wait a couple of months as it’s not yet gardening season; they’ve used the land for growing corn and millet all summer.

As some of you may have heard, there was some terrible flooding in Ouaga at the beginning of September. 150,000 people lost their homes which were literally washed away with the rains. Mud brick houses don’t put up much of a fight. Many people are still living at temporary campsites.

On a more up-lifting note, there was recently a huge article in Newsweek about Burkina. Victoria’s Secret (yup, that Vicki’s) has made a deal to buy organic cotton from mostly female growers in the Southeast of the Country. The article talks about the huge strides Burkina is making in the areas of women’s rights. It was published a couple of months ago, but more recently, Pres; Compaore was named as the head mediator of a peace-making team in Guinee. Check out the Newsweek article here.

That’s all for now.

America: Soft, Shiny and Delicious!

After walking a half kilometer with a travel backpack and a plastic tote bag; hailing a cab; calmly waiting my way through check-in and security; sitting in a stuffy waiting room; and taking the 15-minute, 20-second airport bus ride from the terminal to the plane (15 minutes waiting, 20 seconds driving), I got off the airport bus and started up the stairs to the 747. Air conditioning rushed down the stairs to greet me. A little slice of Air France heaven that would only get richer as I got closer to and eventually landed in America.

First impressions from the airport in Minneapolis: the cars were all shiny and new. Mom and I had lunch in Edina, and I just couldn’t get over how clean and cute the neighborhoods were. Our waitress came over to our table about ten times to ask us how our food was. And once we got home: so soft! All the furniture and carpeting. I haven’t been that comfortable in two years. Added bonus- I wasn’t sweating. That night we went to dinner, and I ordered a steak. I sent it back because I thought it was undercooked and didn’t want to get sick my first night home. Turns out I was overly paranoid because the meat was so tender. I usually have to chew for five minutes to get it to go down and still end up spitting out a wad of fat.

Target is amazing. So many choices, and a little overwhelming. As was watching TV. My parents have a million channels, and you can download movies directly from Amazon or Netflix. You can also have a TV guide up while your watching TV. It made me a little nervous though, seeing all the options I was missing on other channels. Of course, I could TiVo it all and never miss a thing. And never have to move from that one spot on the couch.

Mom and I went down to Chicago on Friday. We saw a performance of “The Blue Man Group”. Hilarious. We also went to the top of the Sears (now Willis) Tower. They have a glass balcony so you can step out and look directly down over downtown Chicago. My students won’t even be able to comprehend the pictures.

Busy, busy. But everything is so fast in America. We made it from Chicago to Madison (without leaving before lunch…and we arrived clean and not sweaty) in time for dinner with Nick and his friends, then to the Badger football game the next day. They didn’t look too strong until the second overtime, but a win is a win. I also got to see my grandparents, aunt, and uncle in Racine then Dad, Nick and I went to Green Bay for the Packers’ game. Aaron Rodgers…Cal alum turned Green Bay hero.

Back in Minnesota we had perfect weather for boating on the St. Croix. I even braved the chill and water skied (though I must admit I bundled up for the late evening ride home). On Wednesday my friends showed up to explore the Twin Cities before the Cal football game against Minnesota. We had a BBQ, went on a dinner cruise, and spent a day water skiing. And to top it off, we got a solid win against a surprisingly strong Minnesota team in their beautiful new stadium. It was great to see everyone. Best part was that Josh played tour guide for the weekend, so we knew all the hot spots to hangout before and after the game.

Yes, America is pretty awesome. Huge vegetables, nice cars, friends, family, on demand electricity and running water, lakes, rivers, bright lights…but my neighbors just got four sheep, and I get to wake up to the music of baby goats at 2am. (I know, you’re jealous.) It was very hard to leave, but school starts in a couple of weeks, and I’m excited to get back in the classroom and see my students.