Morocco

The rough start to our Morocco trip (arrived at airport only to find our 2:30 a.m. flight to Casablanca was canceled, had to wait 24 hours till the next flight out) by no means reflected the rest of our trip. Morocco did not disappoint! The colors, the architecture, the crafts, the beach! It was all so amazing.

Marrakech

The first thing that immediately stood out to me arriving in Marrakech, was the architecture. The buildings are all relatively the same, reminding me of identical houses all lined up in American suburbs, but here the shapes and earth-tone colors are so beautiful. In both places where we stayed the 3-4 story riads were square shaped, the center area completely open without a roof and a garden area on the bottom floor. Both were located right in the Medinas.
In Burkina people wear bright colors. In Morocco, they sell them, the different hues reflected in the vendors’ stalls. Piles of red, yellow and green spices lined up on old barrels, multicolored lamps shining brightly, beautiful silk and stripped cotton scarves hanging down from the ceiling, and jewelry of all the colors you could imagine hung along the doors. Imagine all this showcased in long, narrow, alley-like streets, inundating you with all the colors of the rainbow. Quite a sight to see.



A stall in the souks; The Majorelle Gardens

In Marrakech mom and I visited many touristic sites including Ben Youssef Madrassa, the Majorelle Gardens and Djemaa El-Fna. It was fun but there were way too many nassarras for me! Because the city is so touristy, everything revolves around money. Compared to Burkina I found the locals unfriendly, rude, and not very accommodating. There were so many beautiful things/people I wanted to take pictures of but if anyone was in it, they would seem annoyed and would always demand money for it. The people and vendors were like vultures, grabbing your arms to bring you to their shops, literally standing in front of you and blocking your path so you wouldn’t leave. At a couple places the vendors were so rude, not even saying ‘thank you’ or ‘have a good day’ after we made a purchase. It reminded me how nice it is to be surrounded by friendly people in Burkina.


hiking to the waterfalls....or not!

One day we went into the mountains to see the waterfalls. I stubbornly refused a guide and ended up going the wrong day, hiking straight uphill for 1 1/2hrs before admitting I didn’t think we were headed in the right direction. The view from our little detour however was so beautiful that mom and I actually were happy to get lost.
Our days in Marrakech consisted of going out in the medina for some browsing and touring, always coming back to lounge around on our favorite roof top terrace sipping tea before going out to eat dinner. Could life get any better? Apparently, it could…

Doors in Morocco are so beautiful, whether it's a school, mosque or home!

Essaouira

Essaouira was, to put it simply, AMAZING. It is a much smaller fishing town right along the Atlantic Ocean. The OCEAN! I didn’t realize how much I have missed it until I saw it again. The first few days we were in Essaouira it was very foggy along the beach, yet the weather was still nice and warm. My mom and I kept saying how much it reminded us of Santa Cruz.
Essaouira was so much more relaxing and peaceful because it is not nearly as touristy as Marrakech. The people are friendlier and less aggressive with their hassling. The prices are cheaper too. Our days consisted of browsing, shopping, reading on the beach and eating out: such tough days!
Food in Morocco was honestly a bit disappointing. It wasn’t bad, but I thought it’d be better, more flavorful. I loved the meat with dried fruit tajine dishes and hope my non-culinary self will try it out when I get back home in the states. Every meal or drink we were served came with olives, which I happily gorged myself on the entire trip, at least 3 times a day. I hate olives, so that shows you how delicious they were in Morocco!

camel and horse along the foggy beach; Mom enjoying the water

On our last full day the owner of the riad where we stayed took us out on his boat! We took a short 1 hour ride around the coast and it was absolutely beautiful. It was wonderful to see Essaouira from a different view.
Now it’s back to Burkina but even after the luxurious of Morocco, Im happy to get back to village. I missed it, and I have a lot of work and activities to plan. Mom has left to return to Cali and once again I have to say how amazing she is and how wonderful it was to have her here. I am very lucky and grateful. Especially grateful, because I will be seeing more family shortly: my dad and step mom! They announced they have bought their tickets and will be arriving in December. This year, I’ll be celebrating Christmas with family!

P.S My mom is going to kill me for announcing this embarrassing (for her) news but it must be said: I beat my mom at scrabble for the first time ever…in French! A memorable milestone for me, but a shameful night for my mother that she'd love to forget!

Spectacular September

(mom drinking her 3 cups of tea with Hamidou in Pobe)

With my mom here in Burkina, the entire month of September has been amazing. We've toured village libraries in the south of Burkina, bought lots of great art souvenirs, eaten at nice restaurants, visited parks and met a lot of interesting people. For most of this month my mom has been working hard with the students of the SCU study abroad program in Ouaga, but for 3 weekends in a row she came to Pobe, the first time by herself and the following 2 with students. Each time, the weekend was a blast. The people of Pobe accepted my mom like she was their own. EVERYONE stopped by my home to meet and greet her, calling her "maman." They were so genuinely excited to have her in Pobe. Everyday it seemed someone new arrived with a gift for her, everything from beautiful art crafts, woven scarves, eggs, corn, watermelon and even a big bag full of charcoal (a gift from my 10-year old friend). One evening a group of women came and officially welcomed her by singing and dancing for her. My mom told me she’s never felt so welcome anywhere in her life! It made me love Pobe and its people more than ever. I also think my mom enjoyed Pobe so much simply because it offered total peace and relaxation compared to the craziness of Ouaga life (traffic, being hassled downtown, working so much with little downtime)
The students who came to Pobe enjoyed themselves a lot too, as Sita and I ensured their weekend was packed with different activities and outings, like visiting Adama’s museum, holding the Mamyou, weaving cloth pagnes, and riding bareback on horses.

(pictures SCU student Brian took while visiting Ibrahim's family)

By far the most fun outing was a visit with my mom and students to the family of my Tuareg friend Ibrahim, 8K outside of Pobe. The Tuareg are a Berber nomadic people who originate from North Africa. Think of those world magazine photos of Arab men completely wrapped up with loose, solid colored cloth and turban headdress, riding camels in the middle of the dessert. Ibrahim and his family live under sparse, thatched-roof "houses" covered with plastic to prevent the rain from entering. The Tuareg typically raise animals, and Ibrahim’s family raises camels! We knew which dwelling was theirs because of the 20 camels sitting around it! Even though only Ibrahim spoke French, his family was so accommodating, sitting us down on mats with cushions, making us tea and answering any questions we had about their life and culture. We also got to milk and ride the camels! Milking was interesting; harder and more awkward than I expected. I think I got more milk on myself than in the bowl. When we left they gave us a large bottle of the fresh camel milk. It is very rich, which made for a delicious hot cocoa when we returned.

My mom has been here for a month now, but the craziness of Ouaga didnt take long to show itself. She has had to share and cram into a 20-year old taxi cab with 7 strangers, been yelled at by a taxi man, and has had to walk 20 minutes to the main road to find a taxi at 4:30 a.m. She has also taken a 7 hr transport bus BY HERSELF, getting splashed by mud water the whole trip because the windows were busted out AND the bus broke down while en brousse out in the middle of nowhere. She has encountered what we thought was a 'dead' man sprawled out on a secluded dirt road, only to find the guy was just passed out, high outta his mind. She's had to wait while a transport car is repaired because the entire muffler had fallen off, and by repairing I mean the muffler was retied to the car with old rope. She’s been caught in a record breaking rain storm that caused massive flooding and left 150,000 homeless. And all this happened just during her first FIVE days in Burkina.

Unfortunately, I have realized that many of these "experiences" she’s had have been partly my fault. Because I am a Peace Corps volunteer and make $8 a day, I have become, well...extremely cheap! For example, I’ve made my mom wait anxiously on the side of a very busy road after turning down countless taxis because I was being told to pay the "nassarra price." Later I realized that the difference I was arguing for was equivalent to less than $1. Though I can be damn sure she has not embraced my being cheap here, I do think it is very fair to say that my mom is just amazing, having yet to complain about anything.
Example:
Imagine you are on a bus that’s about 25 years old. Parts are missing, holes in the floor, seats are nearly gone, and the suspension non existent. Speeding over the pot holes on the 115K long dirt road, flying out of your seat ever 2 minutes, getting splashed by mud water thats most likely contaminated with God knows what. Despite this my mom, sitting in the window seat, her face and clothes splattered with mud, her hair wild and flying all over the place because the bus's windows are missing, manages to joke: "Well a least it has air conditioning!"

My mom is definitely a trooper for coming out to Burkina and I have been amazed at how well she is doing here, how open she is to trying new things even if their are gross/unsafe/unsanitary. It has simply been amazing to have her here with me in Burkina and to have her love Burkina (especially Pobe) just as much as I do.

Between our visits to village libraries, her visits to Pobe and our time in Ouaga, time has been flying by. In just over a week the two of us are heading to Morrocco! I can't wait for the beautiful scenery, the delicious food and, so i hear, the beautiful men!

(mom, never without a smile, in a millet field in Pobe)

Mom is here!

Summer continues and it is going great! Even after Pobe's Girls Camp, things have been very busy and fun. I helped with our final Girls Camp of the summer in Djibo. Well, helped is not exactly the best word. More like, I went to Djibo but just laid around taking advantage of Sara's electricity, computer and fan. Why, you might ask? Well, after biking into Djibo I went straight to the post office to pick up mail and fainted. Yes, fainted.....again! I seem to always choose public and embaressing places to do this. If you read this blog you'll remember that I fainted a few months ago while teaching in front of my 110+ students (who, thinking I was possessed by some genie, screamed, stampeded and trampled eachother out of the room, leaving me sprawled on the floor!)

Well this time it happened in the Djibo post office when it was, of course, packed with people. I remember feeling a little dizzy. Next I knew random men were surrounding me, one throwing water on my face to revive me. After they saw that I was awake, the men promptly returned to work or to their seats, leaving me dazed, confused and embarrassed on the floor. Needless to say I wasn't much help for the Djibo camp. (No worries. During my Mid Service Conference, which included a dentist appointment and physical exam, all tests turned out fine. The only thing bruised was my ego.)

With the rain we've been getting recently Pobe has transformed into a sea of green! Even my garden is coming along, corn, tomatoes and eggplants growing, flowers blooming! The end of August has meant the beginning of Ramadan, where Muslims fast for an entire month, only eating at night and before the sun rises in the morning. Thank goodness I'm not Muslim because in all honesty, there is no way in hell I could do this. In fact, I wouldnt even be able to go longer than 1 hour 38 minutes. I know this because, it has been proven.

A couple friends in village decided to tattoo my feet (its like henna, temporary) before I left for Ouaga to meet my mom. This is a long process that should be started at night before going to bed because your feet are wrapped in plastic sachets and you can't walk at all. In the morning the last of the dye is put on. Well, because the decision to do this was so impromptu we did it during the day for just a few hours. After the first part was done I was left to sit outside for 5 hours, with strict orders NOT TO WALK. I thought I'd be fine but this proved impossible. After just 7 minutes I started thinking about food, after 46 minutes I began seriously considering getting up to cook something and after 1 hour 38 minutes I actually did (During this time I also constantly stared at my watch). So this proves that not only am I incapable of staying still but the idea of me ever attempting to fast during Ramadan is ridiculous. (note: the end result of the tattoo is actually supposed to be dark black but because I didn't leave it on long enough it ended up being light brown)

Family reunion: Harouna (host family brother), Charlie and I; Representing the Hard Corps North: Thomas, me, Sara and Charlie

The swear in ceremony of the new GEE and SE volunteers occurred Aug. 25 at the ambassador's house. Great excuse for me to dress up for once and actually feel like a woman again. Also a great excuse for free drinks and food! Can't believe the stagaires are now volunteers! Out of the 32 new PCVs only one is located near the Djibo area. Charlie is replacing Christina (who is doing a 3rd year in Togo) in the village of Belehede. Welcome Charlie!

My most exciting news? My MOM is here!! Yep, after months of anxiously waiting my mother has finally arrived in Burkina. Her visit is going to be so exciting because she'll be here for over a month! She is working with Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL), whose director teaches at Santa Clara University, where my mom also works as a librarian. Michael (the director) is bringing several students to Burkina for a study abroad program. Knowing that my mom both speaks and has taught French, and knowing I'm in Burkina, Michael asked her to come and work with the Burkinabes that will be teaching French to the American students. While she will be busy in Ouaga during the week, on weekends she'll come visit me in Pobe, each time bringing a few students to experience "village life." After being gone 15 months, Im so thrilled to finally see her and be able to show and share my life here with her. After her work with FAVL is over we will be heading to Morocco for vacation before she heads back home!!

Pobe's Girls Camp

Pobe's ¨Camp des Filles Modeles¨ is officially over and it went....GREAT! The camp was amazing, the girls were amazing and so far I truly believe it's been the most fulfilling activity I have done so far in village.

I don’t think anyone, villagers or girls, were expecting much from the camp or had any idea how it would go. But everyone, including myself, were impressed and had so much fun. Even other volunteers that came to help me out, those who had been doing camps for a second year, were impressed. The girls were fun, respectful, easy-going, active and participated in all sessions.

Like the previous camps I helped out with, mornings were reserved for educational sessions with a half hour break and snacks (peanuts or crackers) at 10. At noon they would go home to eat and rest before returning after the repos at 3 for a more fun, leisurely session.

The schedule for the week looked something like this:

Day 1: opening ceremony in the evening. Register and welcome girls, go over schedule and rules of camp

Day 2: Sessions on Self confidence/self esteem; Your Goals and steps to achieving them; Art in the evening (Origami and colored ‘stained glass’ designs to decorate)

Day 3: Sessions on Gender Roles; The history and preservation of Korumba culture (led by my expert friend in village Adama); Music (learned about notes, sang and learned a song in English)

Day 4: Revenue Generating Activity (how to be good/successful merchants); Intro to theatre; Soccer (led by Sita)

Day 5: HIV/AIDS (led by nurse from Pobe's health clinic), theatre; kickboxing

Day 6: HIV/AIDS prevention including condom demonstration; theatre; kickboxing (the girls begged for another session!)

Day 7: practice theatre skits and kickboxing routine in the a.m., closing ceremony in front of parents and Pobe’s civil authorities in afternoon

Christina leading the popular kickboxing sessions

Of all the leisurely afternoon sessions, kickboxing was the biggest hit, so much so that we did a second session the following evening AND the girls created a routine to perform during the closing ceremony! (I even got it on video but unfortunately my camera doesn’t record sound!)

The girls loved theatre and created 4 incredible skits showing how to overcome peer pressure situations (like drinking or sex , for example) which they also performed during the closing.

Playing the Glove Game during the HIV/AIDS prevention session

I was alittle worried about the more educational sessions and whether or not the girls would understand, pay attention or participate; issues we dealt with at the two previous camps. But not only were the girls respectful but they actively participated, took notes and even asked questions. Even during the condom demonstration, led by yours truly. There were obviously some nervous giggles and laughter (even from me) but during an evaluation at the end the girls said they were grateful to actually be able to SEE how a condom was put on.

Another hit was the session on Korumba culture. While a vast majority of the girls are Korumba, few actually knew anything about their language and culture. After the session Adama even took them to his home, where he keeps hundreds of old and incredible artefacts found in the surrounding areas that his family has been collecting for hundreds of years.

While the camp itself was great and I knew the girls were having a blast, it was the closing ceremony that really sealed the deal. It started with stress, of course. The ceremony was supposed to start at 3 p.m and by 4 not a single person (besides the girls) had shown up. The first person didnt arrive until nearly 4:20! Lateness....its the Burkinabe way! After that people started trickling in. While not as many guests as I would have hoped for showed up, it was still a good crowd, a nice mix of functionaries, village authorities and parents. We went over what the girls did and learned at the camp and then they performed their skits and cardio kickboxing routine. It was obvious everyone was impressed. The Prefect stood up and made a speech about how great the camp was. Villagers asked if the camp could happen next year, if they could help run/organize it (sustainability!!!) and even recommended other educational sessions to add for next year. The closing ended with a feast of zoom koom and riz gras. The girls also received certificates of participation, which, honestly if we were back in the States no one would really care about. But here the girls were so excited and proud to receive this certificate, since most had never received anything like it.

Again, I am beyond pleased with how the camp went. In such a short time span I was able to see the girls' positive development. They were able to learn new things and ask questions in a comfortable and safe environment. I literally saw shy, quiet girls become confident and outgoing. For example, one girl was very young and small and barely said a word at first. But once the theatre started she went on stage and totally transformed, literally becoming her character with the most powerful booming voice! It was incredible. Another girl was shy and too scared to participate in the skits during the closing. I told her Id like her to participate in the skit but wouldn’t force her. But at the end she found the courage and, despite her nerves, performed in the skit. I love my girls!!!!

Chistina, myself and the girls during closing ceremony

As wonderful as I am feeling about the Girls Camp, it's bittersweet. I recently found out my grandfather passed away from cancer. Because the death was so sudden making travel plans to attend the funeral in Montreal dont make sense. Its hard to go through, being so far away from my family. I just wish so much to be with them now. But on a positive note my mother visit is just days away. Shell be arriving in Bukina at the end of August and I just cant wait to see her, I've missed her so much!

Papa Gilles, tu me manques. Je t'aime pour toujours. Je pense a toi XOX

Summer Days

Pobe's crocodiles

For a lot of volunteers, summers can be long and tough. Most of the teachers have left for their homes in the city. Nearly all the villagers--husbands, wives, children--head out to their fields (which sometimes can be up to 5K away) to cultivate. In other words, villages become ghost towns.

For fear of boredom creeping up on me I made sure that my summer was busy. I'm helping out as a Peace Corps Volunteer Facilitator for the new group of trainees that arrived in Burkina in June. Basically I come to Ouahigouya for a couple weeks to help run training sessions, answer any questions they have and help them adjust to life in BF. It's been fun yet strange at the same time. I'm "experienced" now. I'm able to answer the trainees' questions on language/culture/life in Burkina and share my experiences. I see the curious, shocked and confused looks on their faces and it feels like just yesterday that that was me! It has truly made me realize how much I've learned and how much I've adjusted to life here.

Another summer activity I'm involved in is Girls' Camps. Three other volunteers and myself are running girls camps in each of our villages. So far we've run two camps in both Christina and David's villages which are within 40K of Djibo. Helping run the camps were a lot of fun. Basically about 25 to 30 female students are invited to participate for the week-long camp. Mornings are for educational sessions on issues like self esteem, hygiene, HIV/AIDS, etc. Afternoons involve theater or other fun activities like soccer, music and art. Being apart of both David's and Christina's camps has given me a lot of tips and ideas for my own upcoming girls' camp that starts July 24th. Im really excited about it and will write all about how the camp goes on my next posting!

When you see this......RUN! ....or you'll be eating sand for lunch.

The rainy season has finally arrived up North, which is obviously a great thing. The villagers are completely dependent on the rain, otherwise crops don't grow and there is nothing to eat! The people of Pobe are woried, however, because it seems like every year there is less and less rain. Every year more crops dry up because of lack of water. On days when it finally does rain, the children shriek with excitement and jump about in puddles. The men sit calmly on a bench outside, but you can see the relief and happiness in their faces too.

Storms here are something else; I've never experienced anything like it. It starts with huge dark clouds of dust and rain that you can see coming at you. When you see this you drop whatever you got, run your butt inside and close all the shutters. I learned this the hard way...twice. The first time I had just spent an entire morning cleaning and scrubbing everything in my house. Then the storm came and literally left about 2 inches of sand and dust everywhere! I couldn't even see or breath in my own house it was so bad. The second time I went to get water at the pump. There were several other women there and after a while we all saw that large dark cloud coming at us from the ground. Most of the women quickly grabbed their bidons and ran for home. Me, thinking I was tough and it was just a rain cloud, stupidly stayed, determined to fill up my water bidon. Within minutes wind and sand were blowing everywhere. I couldn't even see my own hand in front of me. By the time I finally made it home I was covered head to toe in sand and dirt. The poor white t-shirt I was wearing will never be the same.

The rainy season is obviously a wonderful thing, except for one area: transport. Rain storms and dirt roads are not a fun combination. Transportation has become a nightmare! A couple weeks ago I was heading back to Pobe from Ouahigouya, usually a 2 1/2 hr bus ride. It took 20 hours! After a long rain storm, part of the road had literally turned into a river. After hours of waiting they realized there really would be no way for the bus to cross. I ended up having to stay the night at the closest village and wait until the next morning. Luckily I was with another volunteer so it wasn't too bad. But this was at the START of the rainy season, I cant even imagine what it will be like during the next couple months.

A car crossing the "river" (It made it across but obviously the car wouldnt start after)

Summer is here and its been one year!

School is over and summer vacation is here, woo hoo! I survived the school year. One question: teachers, how do you do it??!! The experience of teaching was fun, exciting and fulfulling but also so challenging and tough! Many times I would leave the classroom angry and frustrated. But while there were some students I wanted to strangle at times, others continued to amaze me. I had a student, 13-year old Awa, who frequently comes over to hang out at my house. On a Saturday she found out her mother, who went to the local health clinic with a sore throat, had died. Her death, although completely unexpected, seemed so casual and normal to people.No one understood or questioned why she died but it was just accepted, "her destiny" they said. There was an English test that Monday and I told Awa not to come to class and not to worry about the test. Awa not only came to school that Monday but took my test. I was shocked. But here, death is truly just a fact of everyday life.

the (numerous) students of my 6eme 1 class

Frustrated with my utter lack of ability to speak Moore, I've started taking Moore lessons from one of my friends in village. Slowly but surely I'm improving. Moore is fine grammatically, verbs and tenses are fairly easy to comprehend. My problem is vocab. For one, in English and French to make a noun plural you typically just add "s" but in Moore it will be a completely different word. Also, one word can have multiple meanings, all depending on HOW you say it and where you put the stress. For example, the word "saaga" can mean either rain or diarrea. No matter how many times it's repeated to me I just cant hear the difference, let alone speak it. So when I greet people and talk about how nice it is to finally have some rain...I just hope Im saying it right!

On May 27th I celebrated by 24th birthday! The day of my actual birthday was pretty calm, I hung out with my village friends, listened to music and I even baked a cake which, despite my non existant cooking skills, actually turned out pretty good! My b day surprises occured on the eve and day AFTER my birthday. On the evening of the 26th I was prepping for bed when Sita calls for me to come out, he has an early birthday surprise for me. When I come out I see him holding up...a dead goat (what else!) Aparently he and his friend were walking back from playing soccer when they witnessed a crocodile attack and kill the adult goat. They both quickly grabbed it before the crocodile had a chance to eat it. That night I watched them skin, gut and cut away the dead goat right outside my house. It amazed yet repulsed me at the same time. Watching them work reminded me of dissecting frogs in high school Biology....except this was obviously 100 times bigger and better!

The day after my birthday I was heading to the marche when Sita approaches me...riding on the back of a camel with a Twareg man. Sita had run into the owner at the marchee and asked to come to my house. The man was so nice and let me climb and ride the camel and take plenty of photos, it was soooo fun! So I had wonderful birthday surprises in village :)

I also finally got to see the famous Mamyo in Pobe. Mamyo is a fertility statue thats been an important part of the anamist culture in vilalge. In the late 1990s the status was stolen and sold to a German collector. After relizing this, the statue was finally returned years later. A German NGO helped create a museum for the village to keep the Mamyo safe, as well as other artifacts of the Korumfe culture. However, the villagers dont trust that the statue will be safe so it is kept hidden within the village compounds.

In June I will have been in Burkina for one year!! Time is flying by, I cant beleive how fast. I now truly feel comfortable and happy in Pobe. Nearly everyone knows me in village. Instead of hearing 'Nassarra' yelled out they actually use my real name (and some even use my village name). During the summer months I will be busy cultivating in a small field given to me, running several girls camps with the help of other volunteers and also working as a facilitator for the new group of volunteers arriving in June.

Lastly, I am working on a project to get a library in Pobe! Its a great project that the villagers are so excited about and are helping me with. Please look at the link for more information how how to help and donate!

http://pobemengaolibrary.blogspot.com/

April Days

Marche day in Pobe

Updates from Pobe: its hot hot HOT!
During the day, especially during the repos, everyone just sits or lays outside in the shade to talk or sleep. The inside of my home, which I still find cooler in the midday than outside, transforms into a sauna. Just sitting in my chair, sweat pours off me. Teaching in the hot crowded classrooms is a nightmare. Much more sweating occurs. In mid-April Pobe received its first rain all year….wonderful, cool, hard rain. I was so ecstatic. “So this means the rainy season has come early?” I ask. The response: laughter. “No no. The rainy season wont start for another two months. This is just a small rain to tease us. It only means the hot season is just beginning.” Damn!
A highlight of the month and definitely a first for me was…a luch date with missionaries! Steve and his wife Charlie are absolutely wonderful, kind and generous people, both from England. Steve has been living in Djibo for about 9 years and speaks fluent Fulfulde! The lunch was delicious: green beans, a meat Shepard’s pie, and a mango tart/pastry for dessert. I have to say that in my ignorance, I was quite surprised. I imagined all missionaries to be an old, conservative, non-humorous bunch who speak only of loving God 24-7. This was not the case. Asides from a short prayer before eating, there was no mention of God. In fact I was the one asking them all the God questions, wanting to know more about the life of a missionary and what their day to day life is like here. The whole afternoon was fun and interesting.
At times I complain about the slow pace of life here and that boredom often creeps up on me. While this remains true, there is always some occurrence that will end the dullness of the day. Example? It was evening and I had just returned from school to find Sita, Hamidou and a neighbor grilling something over charcoal. They had two small little grills going. On one grill: a chicken. Normal. On the second: the testicles of a sheep. Not so normal. As well as the entire head of the sheep. Just plain gross. Of course, I arrived “right on time for dinner” and was invited to feast on these West African delicacies. While, luckily, the sheep’s head wasn’t quite ready, I can now add sheep testicles to my food repertoire. I won’t go so far as to say it was bad, but it definitely wasn’t good, although just the fact that I KNEW I was eating testicles ruined the taste quite a bit.
Another new discovery I made in Pobe: a cine club! Using solar panels, a few functionaries, like my homologue, have old televisions in their house. Ive been over while the family watches some popular Spanish soap opera dubbed in French. The image on the black and white TV is so bad that its impossible to see anything and with the awful sound system, even harder to hear. I heard months ago there was a cine club in Pobe but never though it was worth it. How wrong I was. A man has set up a small cinema style seating area in his courtyard. Using a gas powered motor he connects his decent sized color tv up, and pops a film into a DVD player! The image and sound is like any normal tv! The only problem is that the only dvds are all horrible, Chinese action Kung fu movies dating from the 70s. Not exactly my style of movie.

Amy and I at the Hard Corps party

In mid April the Hard Corps Party was also held in Djibo. The party was run by volunteers in the north who invite volunteers from other areas to come visit and see the hot, dry, desert north. Although, its really just an excuse for a party. The night was full of good food, drink and music with about 30 volunteers from around the area.
Finally, I leave you with yet another funny cross cultural exchange experience involving myself and of course the much beloved Hamidou. Hamidou and I frequently play dominos in the courtyard and on this particular day we had just settled down to begin playing. Immediately I noticed something particular that made me freeze in shock. Before I say what it is, let me briefly describe Hamidou. Hes a man in his early 40s. Hes slim but extremely fit and muscular, with muscles most men in their early 20s spend hours at the gym for. Hamidou is also an extremely honest and hardworking man. His large hands are rough like sandpaper and calloused after years and years of working and cultivating in the fields. So you can understand my surprise when I see the nail on his pinky finger painted with bright red nail polish. When I say bright red I mean like the kind of red you would see a hooker wear walking down the street. It was so red that if he were in a city, cars would have screeched to a stop after he lifted his finger to scratch his head. Not the kind of thing I could ignore.
“Hamidou, pourquoi tu as ca?” (Why do you have that ?)
“Bon. J ai vu ca et j ai trouve que ca sentais bon donc j'ai decide de le metre!” (I saw it and I thought it smelled good so I put it on)

Fair enough, but I tried so hard not to laugh. And playing dominos with this fit, muscular man, head resting on hand, his forhead wrinkled as he contemplated his next move, his hooker-red fingernail staring me straight in the eye, it was just too hard to take him seriously.

Laundry day (the little doll is part of a Flat Stanley project from an elementary school in Oakland where students are learning geography)