Other Blogs!

29 November – Koudougou, 12:15pm

Should you be interested, here are the other blogs from the people in my stage! The ones with the star live with me in Romongo, the rest are in Koudougou.

Kailey – www.kalailey.wordpress.com

*Anna – www.annainburkina.blogspot.com

Hayley D – www.hayleyinburkina.wordpress.com

Em – www.emilyinburkina.blogspot.com

Anne – www.anneisburkinabound.blogspot.com

Christie – www.peacecorpsburkina.wordpress.com

Cindy – www.cindyinburkina.blogspot.com

*Alicia – www.lishinburkina.blogspot.com

JK – www.peacesofburkinafaso.blogspot.com

Chad and Tana – www.mccoull.blogspot.com

Puja – www.bakrinasasu.blogspot.com

*Bridget – www.bridgetroby.wordpress.com

Laura – www.laurasadventure.wordpress.com

Hayley S – www.hayleysueoka.blogspot.com

Lindsy – www.ljtpcadventurer.blogspot.com

Scott – www.sworthy10.wordpress.com

Book Eating Termites, Hair Cut, Sunday Lunch

28 November – Romongo, 9:59pm

Damn it's late! Yesterday we had language, a feedback interview with our program trainers Hamado and Justan, a class on bike repair from Al and David, and a long lunch followed by an extra class on FGM. I also learned why books should not be put against or near a wall, as evidenced by my new book (The Dante Club) which has been eaten away by termites that live in those mysterious little mud trails on my walls. Thankfully they didn't get far, but I imagine that with another week or two they would have reached the text instead of just nibbling the margins.

Lunch was fun, at the gas station restaurant. Grace and I wanted to share a pizza but there was no cheese to be had, so we had a burger and fries instead. It was the first time I've been in a group without any Romongo people – weird. But clearly we had a lovely time, with Tana designing dresses for us, Scott showing off Thanksgiving photos, and Grace and I discussing lack of attachment to our hair and desire to cut it off. I returned back to AP alone where I was soon joined by Lindsy and Wendy. I was anxious to get the hair cutting finished before class and asked if they'd like to do it, but both demurred so I impatiently waited for someone else to return. Bridget was enthusiastic once I reassured her that there was absolutely no way to cut my head with the clippers and guard, and happily went to town. As more people returned it became more entertaining, although I flat out refused Rob's request to keep a mullet for a day. When we got home and my host family realized that I'd cut off my hair they were incredibly amused, and really seemed to like it. Then again, a shaved haircut on a woman is not at all unusual here – my oldest host sister has hair shorter than mine is now.

NB – I had been considering cutting my hair, which had gotten quite shaggy, when Daniel showed up with his clippers. Antoinette was brave and went first, and thus reassured I decided I should do mine. So now my hair is very very short, ¾ of an inch according to the clipper guard. I don't really see mirrors ever, so I don't really know how it looks, but it's fun and soft when I run my hand over it, doesn't itch the back of my neck, and drys really fast. If I get a chance I promise I'll get someone to take a photo that I can put up here – it's probably not that different in length from the one already up here, just less fancy and layered.

And today was Sunday fun day! Slept in until 6:20am (!) and leisurely got ready. Did my laundry. Mamu and the other very young kids kept trying to help but I was a little afraid that their concentrated scrubbing and pulling at one tiny corner of a shirt or skirt would result in it getting stretched out or ripped, and I was glad when my host dad came to put them to work. Salimata (my host sister) helped me and it was finished pretty quickly, even with a second rinse that got all the soap out! I hung everything up and set to cleaning my room, moving the table, knocking down termite tunnels, even washing the table and the shelf below. I rearranged all my books and paperwork on top of the table, and the food on the bottom shelf. I left the spiders alone, hoping they'll continue to leave me alone.

After cleaning I did some laundry and waiting for Emily to come by so we could continue on to Alicia's house. Salimata kept telling me to go outside to greet the cheif/Imam/important person who had come to speak across from our house, but I felt really awkward interrupting a very large meeting just to greet someone so I sat and watched the crowd grow from my seat in our side courtyard. Emily and I left my house, met up with Alicia, and finally found Bridget who took us to her house where Steve joined us. We made grilled sandwiches on local bread, spread with VQR and Italian spices and stuffed with sauteed cucumbers and onions seasoned with garlic salt. Delicious! We sat on mats under her tree and played UNO with her host dad and cousin, who are 24 and 17 respectively, and ate rice with a peanut sauce made by her host mom. We drank some dolo with the old men, and hung around talking until 4ish before heading our separate ways. I really enjoy our Romongo lunches, and I think that's one thing I'm going to miss most about going to site. Lucky for me 4 of our 6 Village People live within 100k of each other, and 2 are within a day's bike ride from me!

Thanksgiving, Burkina Style

26 November – Romongo, 8:38pm

We had already argued our way out of afternoon classes, so getting them to drop our lunch-time language hour wasn't too hard since we were all eager to start cooking. Antoinette, Em and I headed over to the market to buy supplies, then biked over to Antoinette's house. It was really nice, with multiple latrines and showers, electricity, a television, a bike room, and a gas stove. Interesting, what it takes to impress me these days! Our rice and couscous with yellow onions, green onions, garlic, salt and pepper were both delicious, albeit a little odd on texture, especially with the couscous being quite thick and sticky (too much water? Not enough time cooking?). Still, we ate some of each with a little VQR and I would be very content to make both again at site or for my family. The TV was on while we cooked, so we got to see the reading of the election results by district and candidate. I can't believe people could just sit there and listen to lists of numbers – it was horribly boring, although we were surprised to note that there was a small screen in the corner showing a man signing the results for deaf viewers. We talked and played gin rummy while waiting for the car to come get our food, and I'm glad I got the chance to hang out with two people that I don't often spend time with.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! The food was abundant and absolutely incredible. I ate way way way too much, as is proper on Thanksgiving. We had quite the spread – traditional baked turkey with carrots, patates (a starchy purple-skinned root, kind of like a yam), and oranges (incredible!), fried turkey, fried chicken, fried barbeque chicken, orange chicken, pasta salad, rice and couscous, fruit salad, guacamole and salsa with homemade tortilla chips, salad, stuffing, green beans, crepes with banana filling, garlic bread, mashed patates and drinks – beer, liquor, soda, and bissap (iced hibiscus tea with mint and sugar). It was not only delicious in terms of a great meal, but doubly satisfying because all of it (with few exceptions like the bissap) was made from scratch by ourselves, even the tortillas that became the tortilla chips for the fresh made salsa. I'll admit, I was totally impressed and proud, and would have appreciated it all more if I had eaten less and thus felt less ill. I guess my stomach was unused to so much rich food!

By knowing vaguely how to carve a chicken, I was ordered to the kitchen to carve up the turkey, which I now know is nothing like carving up a chicken. For one thing, the drumstick was as long as the chicken that had been stuffed into and baked with our turkey! But we made it work, and the pass though window into the room with the rest of the food and people was nice so that we could still be part of the action while working in the kitchen. Plus when you control access to picking off the bones, suddenly you become very popular! ;)

We drew hand turkeys on a big piece of paper (vampire turkeys, to be specific, not sure why), danced, talked, laughed, ate, and generally had a fantastic time. Our LCFs and staff joined us for dinner, but left us to our dancing and carrying on after. The French tourists staying at Abbe-Pierre popped over for a bit to say hello, although I didn't get to talk to them. After a while I went and set up my tent so that it would be ready for later, joining the growing collection of tents accumulating next to the gazebo. Yay Bug Huts! The night was lovely - it was cold and I slept soundly, wrapped in my sleep sack and crew jacket.

Today we woke up, cleaned up while eating leftovers for breakfast (where did the turkey go?), drove to Romongo, and did a little language before going to watch the women at the Catholic Mission CREN make bouillie. The one with the sugar and dried fish was admittedly not a favorite, but the one with moringa and sugar tasted a bit like green tea and I bet moringa in green tea would be pretty tasty. After we left the CREN, Aaron and Rob biked back to Koudougou while the rest of us returned to the CSPS for an awesome session with Gwen on IGAs (Income Generating Activities)/Moringa (the wonder tree)/Credit Clubs, then another language class where we played 99 again, but in Moore!

Cooking Day, 99, Mind Over Water

24 November – Abbe Pierre, 1:11pm

Today we showed up, did some Moore (frustrating, but useful), and then went to our cooking session! We had grand ambitions to make breakfast burritos, fried cheese balls, and coffee cookies, but our flour was somehow not right so our dough for the tortillas just wasn't working very well – either too runny or too chalky, never sticky or doughy. So we gave up and made scrambled eggs and used the dough for the cheese balls. They were good, but definitely were lacking something. The eggs were very tasty, not overly fried like they tend to be prepared here, and with nice crisp onions, green peppers, and tomatoes, and a little bit of VQR. The cookies from the dutch oven were pretty good if a little dry, and the frosting was kind of like coffee ice cream. We fried the rest of the dough which was absolutely a horrible idea and just absorbed all of the oil. Ergh. Overall, an awesome session, learned a lot, and who doesn't like a class that involves making and eating food?

Romongo – 8:50pm

Our French class, which I wasn't looking forward to all that much, turned out to be quite fun! We played 99, a game of Miriam's. The goal is to get rid of all of your cards first, dealer goes first and each person in turn puts down a card, counting up the total of cards played as they go, but the total cannot exceed 99. Kings are worth 4, Queens 3, Jacks 2, and Aces 1 or 11 as you like. 8's and 4's are worth zero, so you save them until the end to play when the pile is at 99, and 8's reverse the order of play. 10's take off 10 points from the pile and are also useful at the end for allowing everyone to play one more round. The rest are worth their face value. If someone is unable to play they take last place for the round and the remaining players continue. The first person to go out is the winner, but play continues until the rest of the players determine their order, with going out earning you the subsequent places, or being unable to play earning you places ascending from the lowest. Ex: If player 1 of 4 is unable to play, s/he takes 4^th place and players 2-4 continue. Player 3 goes out and takes 1^st place, and players 2 and 4 continue. Player 2 is unable to play and takes 3^rd, so player 4 takes 2^nd place, regardless of his/her ability to play.

After we got the hang of it, Miriam instituted a new rule – winner gets to ask the group a question. We started with fairly simple things: if you could go to anyplace in the world, where would you go. Miriam said to Spain – apparently in addition to French, Moore, and English she also speaks Spanish! I said Scotland for family, tea, and curry. The next was mine – if you were on a deserted island, who or what would you take? I took the easy answer – Jean-Luc, because we'd talked about it earlier and he's both funny and useful as a doctor. Miriam said her granddaughter who is 9 months old. Alicia and Emily debated the relative merits of various family members. The third soft question was a favorite food. I had tea on the mind and all the memories of family, Scotland, and college friends connected to it. Alicia described a delicious burrito that had my mouth watering, and Miriam wanted chocolate mousse. By the end of class we were all very hungry!

Just finished reading: Mind Over Water – Life Lessons from the Art of Rowing. I wish I had read this while I was in college, although I made a point to avoid reading about rowing and just try and enjoy the sport for what it was. Although it explains the rowing terms that it uses and might be of interest to non-rowers, I'd really recommend it for rowers or perhaps people who know a little about rowing through a friend/relative/etc. Although it's a little more philosophical than I typically look for in a book, it really does have a lot of good points and the rowing metaphors and examples are something I can clearly connect with. His writing style is very engaging and you can hear the cox giving the commands, feel his inner turmoil during a hard workout in a single, recall the sound of the crowd at Head of the Charles and the tension of sitting at the catch at CRASH-B's. I think that's why I liked it so much – even though he only coxed for Harvard for a semester his first year, he still describes the sights, sounds, and memories I have of being a collegiate rower in New England. I've had the privileges of rowing the Charles, of participating in CRASH-B's, of traveling to many regattas and experiencing the things he's describing. It of course also conjured up plenty of bittersweet crew memories, the celebratory highs, working through the difficult lows, being surrounded by a group of fun and diverse teammates who always kept things interesting, to say the least. I believe that being a member of the crew team stands to date one of my best life decisions, and one of the things I've done in my life that I'm the most proud of. And I'm kind of glad that I brought along a book that spells out some of the things that I had internalized from my particular rowing “tribe” as a reminder that in this new challenge I have the skills and experience and personal drive to be successful. Pretty nifty. (can you tell it's late at night? I seem to get philosophical the later it gets)

Looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow! We're all staying the night at Abbe-Pierre, so no drunken peddling back home, and we have time to just chill and unwind together now that we all know each other a bit better. I'm sure it will be a good night with good food and better company. Plus dancing! It might not feel like fall or the start of the holiday season, but we're going to do our best to celebrate in style.

CREN and Malnutrition

22 November – Romongo, 8:57pm

Had an interesting, productive day, with the field trip to the CREN (a center for rehabilitating malnourished children) kicking off two sessions on the topic of malnutrition. I was surprised that we only saw one severely underweight infant, but in our session after we talked about health markers (weight for height, height or weight for age, arm circumference) and a type of protein deficiency that actually results in edema of the limbs, so the baby looks fat but is actually dying of malnutrition. Whudda thunk? It was really interesting and enlightening to learn about different types and signs of malnutrition and deficiencies that we might encounter, and how to treat them. While we were at the CREN we also leaned how they make enriched bouillie, a flour porridge of boiled corn, millet, peanut, bean, and rice flour, mixed with sugar. Bouillie is a common staple food for most families, but by adding different flours you can make it significantly more nutritious along with warm and filling. We also learned about Plumpy Nut, a Nestle product that is essentially enriched peanut butter that makes malnourished kids gain weight like crazy, but has a lot of issues with distribution and reaching the target audience for various reasons.

Language was a bit frustrating, but as Miriam pointed out, her goal isn't to get us to speak Moore, it's to give us the rules so that when we get to site and have to speak it we have the rules to refer to as we learn. That made me feel a bit better – right now I practically have to spend 5 minutes planning every single sentence I want to say unless it's a greeting or responding to a greeting or blessing.

New Puppy, Sunday Lunch, Election Day

21 November – Romongo, 8:44pm

We have a puppy! So much cuteness! I was sitting outside after dinner when a man rode up on his bike and my host dad paid him for the little bundle of shivering fur he was carrying under one arm. Poor thing was obviously terrified, so I went over to pet it. He was initially pretty hesitant and didn't want anything to do with any of us, and was crying and fighting against the leash tethering him to the chair (his first experience being tied up). I went over and started to pet him when he wasn't struggling, letting him fight it for a moment before pushing him towards the chair a little and resuming my petting. After a while he fell asleep and I curled up near him on a mat, dozing in the cold in order to stay next to this dirty little pup who just seemed to embody how lost and out of place I felt at first, complete with the kids laughing at his struggle against the collar and leash. I wanted to take him to my room but didn't want to make him bond with me first when I'll be leaving, so I left him asleep on the mat, bid my host father goodnight and went to my room. I was dozing when I heard a howling over the television in the house across the street, and went outside to find the pup crying next to my father's room. I asked if I could take him for the night, and happily carried him into my room.

I wrapped him in my sheet, mindful of the likelihood of bugs. He seemed good for a little while, but then got antsy and started to wander. I tried to confine him to one side of the bed, but after falling off twice I just put him on the ground, tethering him to my bedpost to stop him from wandering too far, and giving him the extra sheet to sleep on. He proceeded to pee in his water, pee on my floor, and howl and whine all night, waking me every 30 minutes or so. I was not a happy camper, especially because I'd gone to bed quite late as well. This morning he at least waited to poop until he was past my door frame, but I vowed that, cute as he was, he would not be sleeping with me again. He clearly feels comfortable around me though, and escaped the kids playing with him to curl up on my flip-flops in front of my door that I'd closed to force him to make new friends.

I also gave him a bath, trying to remove the clumps of dirt on his ears especially. He shivered uncontrollably the whole time and I felt terrible, but it absolutely needed to be done. He slept in the sun while I did my laundry, then sat outside in the front yard doing TDAs and finishing a book. I also tried to de-tick him, but damn if the poor thing isn't infested. His gums were barely pink, and even after taking off so many little bugs there are enough left that I'm a little worried for him. He has a number of large ones deep in his ears, and I can't hold him steady enough to pull them out, but I got a number of the ones on his ears (the “dirt clumps”), between his toes, on the bottom of his feet, and scattered across his body (they look like skin spots until you realize they're not pigment). I must have taken off over 100, but there are still tons, mostly very small ones except in the ears where they're pretty large.

Around 12:30 people started coming over and we made a giant, delicious pot of mac and cheese! We sauteed some onion and tomato first in a little oil, then added water and pasta, draining it carefully before adding 6 VQR slices and some Nido, and lots of salt. Delicious! Followed up with some popcorn that we shared with the kids. Sat and talked to Emily and Anna for a good while and had a lot of good conversations on PC, training, health care, BF, politics, etc. I'd missed talking about science! After they left I started being harangued by two of my kids and their friend, all around 3 to 5 years old. Mostly just talking at me in Moore and laughing when I didn't understand, or demanding water or bonbons or cookies or popcorn. I hate language barriers – it's so frustrating some days! Even if I know the word in Moore or they know it in French I still don't know what they want me to do or understand about the word.

And after dinner (and helping fill the storage hut with millet) I immediately begged to go to bed. I even pawned off the puppy, although I did feel a little bad about forcing him to go with the kids. Time for real sleep! Oh, today was election day. No big hoo-haa, everyone voted and then went to the fields.

Mossi History and Nutrition

18 November – Romongo, 9:08pm

Days like today are hard to journal because nothing too extraordinary happened. I wasn't overwhelmed with emotion in any particular way out of the ordinary, but I guess it had it's moments worth remembering.

Classes were pretty good. I was disappointed that our cross-culture session on ethnic groups was only about the one where we would be living, but it was ok. I liked the story of Princess Yannenga, the warrior princess of the Mossi who was beloved by all (especially her father, the king) for always returning victorious from war. But one time on campaign her horse ran off and they became lost in the woods and her troops returned home to tell the king that she had disappeared. The horse led her to a house in the woods, and she stayed with the man (sorcerer?) there. As happens after a time together, they fell in love and she became pregnant. Their son they named after the horse who had brought them together – Ouedraogo. The eventually set out to visit her village. The king received them warmly and was so pleased with his new son-in-law and little grandson that he threw a huge fete. The family moved from Ghana to what is now south-central Burkina, and Ouedraogo and his descendents continued to conquer the land around them. The superiority of fighting on horseback was undeniable, and over the generations they eventually conquered all of the land that is now part of the Mossi kingdoms. Ouedraogo continues to be the most common family name among the Mossi, and although horses aren't used much anymore they continue to be a powerful symbol of the group. Cool, huh?

Our med session was one of those “break into groups and teach each other” but this time we had reference materials! It was pretty fun to look up all of the tropical diseases that we might be exposed to while in BF, and Sylvie did a very good job of explaining what we'd missed. It would have been easier to learn (I think) if she had taught it, but it truly was more interesting doing it for each other. Our second med was food! I was thrilled to get my cookbook “Where There Is No Microwave (or refrigerator)”, brought to us by the amazing Gwen, our PCVf who was there our first week and is now back for this week. We have a practical exam next week – our group is making breakfast burritos, fried cheese balls, and brownies – yum! We also had bissap mixed with citron (lemonade), cravettes, popcorn, dried mango and coconut, and peanuts.

The PCV relationship with food seems to be an interesting one. When you find food that you want to eat, you eat as much as you can, particularly if it's free. For men this somehow ends in their losing massive amounts of weight, to the point of malnutrition in John's case (but he's special). For women the carb-heavy diet seems to result in weight gain. And as Gwen pointed out, food is a comfort, something familiar in a place that is so different in many aspects. Eh, either losing or gaining weight, I'm just happy I now have a guide to delicious food that I can actually cook here! I won't have to live off of rice and sauce after all.