VAC, OHG

June 7^th

I stayed in Ouaga for several days for our VAC meeting. We had dinner with Shannon to say goodbye as she gets ready to leave on her next adventure and we get ready to welcome a new Country Director in July. It was busy and hectic as usual, and I was glad to get out of Ouaga today, especially because I was going up north to visit Dave! Originally my VAC meeting had been planned for the 8^th-10^th, meaning I would have gone home after vacation for a few days and then had to turn around and leave again, so instead I proposed visiting OHG. Well, then the dates got changed and happened to be right when I was getting back to the country, but since I'd also promised Kerry I'd come help her with her world map on the 11^th, I decided to go ahead and visit anyway and go back to village as planned on the 15^th.

I woke up this morning nice and early and caught the 8am bus up so I could have lunch with Dave, Ebben, Bridget, James and Julie. Oh how I had missed a simple plate of riz-sauce. Everyone had places to go and work to do, so we said goodbye after lunch and biked to the big marche where we bought lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants, garlic, onions, and green peppers. Despite all of this vegetable variety being a little over 30km away from his village, Dave's marche currently only has onions and mangoes, meaning mine will also only have onions and mangoes. I guess it is that season again. We caught the camion to his village, went around and said hi to people, met Maurice (his counterpart in the village) for a beer, and then headed home to talk and make dinner. I love hanging out with Dave because we sometimes have a lot to say to each other and feel free to do so, and other times we just sit and it's ok if we're doing our own thing like reading or doing Sudoku puzzles.