....

Living here, I ususally have an attitude of adventure. This fact is evidenced by the title of this blog, and... every post I've ever written. I think of my time here as exciting and different and very... other. My PC friends and I joke a lot about being in the Peace Corps in Burkina versus "real life" at home, and there's certainly merit to that. There are things about the culture we've grown up in that are so different from here, and since we've only been here a short while and will only be here for a year or two longer, obviously the states seem more normal than Burkina. It's easy to live in a sort of temporary mindset. And the adventure attitude helps me deal with a lot of crazy, frustrating stuff that comes up every day, like the disasters that are bush taxis or the frequency of stomach problems or the unbelievable heat of March and April. It can be an extremely useful tactic.

Unfortunately, things can happen that show you exactly how real-life this experience is. My Proviseur (high school principal) passed away last week, and while I wasn't super-close to him, I'm quite close to his wife, kids, and niece. The family lives next door to me, and has been a sort of surrogate family this past year. They're incredibly lovely and generous people, and this has devastated their lives. (This was totally unexpected- a freak illness. He was 49.) I went back to village to see them when I found out, and it was absolutely heartbreaking. I'm glad I went, though, because they are moving away and may not be there when I go back again tomorrow.

I'm not looking for sympathy for myself- I'm doing fine. And sorry to put up such a bummer of a post. But this is what has been going on with me, and it's a pretty major thing. I don't know exactly how it will change the next year or so of my life, but it absolutely will. In a very practical way, it will change my neighborhood and the people in my life. In a less tangible way, I think I'll be taking this next year somewhat more seriously. Not that I didn't take this past year seriously, just... more so. Or view my time here more soberly? I'm not exactly sure what I mean. But I do have a better understanding now of the "realness" of my time in Burkina. Just like anywhere else, maybe even more so here, life is very real, and it can suck unbelievably.