shut it down

Last week in Ouahigouya!! That's... kind of weird. I can't really think about it right now, because there are so many things I still have to do this coming week. But I'm pretty sure I'm ready to be done with training and get going with my actual Peace Corps service. I know this training is really important, and I've learned a lot, and it was good to be eased into the culture and life here in general, but it's felt very much like kindergarten. It will be so freeing to finally have control over my own life again, once I move to site.
As for this week: the end of model school! I don't really have any more lessons to teach, it's just test reviews then tests then handing back tests then calculating grades then having an end of school ceremony. Most of our other training sessions have been finishing up, too- cross culture, safety and security, education, even language is pretty much over. Next weekend we leave our host families, hang out all together at a hostel here in Ouahigouya for a night, then go to Ouaga!! To swear in as official Volunteers at the American embassy and have wild and crazy parties. Also, to eat genuine American style food (or even chinese food- that you can have delivered. Ouaga is a magical place.) Then to do our shopping for affectation (moving to site.) I am planning to seriously exceed my budget.

bagre: a photo essay

The quarry near my (future) house! I will not be swimming there, due to the alleged crocodiles therein.
Jack!! My new badass African cat, on my future front porch.
My future school! Note the bull just hanging out.
My new house!!!! Fancy fonctionnaire style.

more!!

This was our fourth of July party game. Oh Obama.
Site announcement! We were blindfolded and led to our sites on a giant map on the ground.
Dust storm before the rain! (The sky is actually that color. I'm distressed.)

pictures!!!!!!

This is my host family's courtyard
This is their front porch
This is me in my room!

sugar sugar

One thing that's nice here is the fact that all drinks are sweet, and there is no shame whatsoever about filling your coffee cup halfway up with sweetened condensed milk before adding a teaspoon of instant coffee in the morning. Or drinking hot chocolate for breakfast, or just a cup of tea with tablespoons of powdered milk and cane sugar. I used to drink coffee black, and now I'm going to go home at the end of this and pour unbelievable (and way culturally unacceptable) amounts of sugar and cream into my coffee without even a hint of embarassment. It's going to be awesome.

boo serious

Okay, here's my issue. I'm trying to write interesting things, but the problem is that things that may seem remarkable back at home are usually completely unremarkable here. And I feel as though if I write about them I'm being culturally insensitive and making a show out of Burkina. Like, it would seem like I was being all shocked and amazed at a perfectly normal way of life for the people here. I know that that's not necessarily the case, but I think there's a line there that I'm trying to figure out. So if I'm not writing about the fact that, oh, there are no flush toilets, or... I don't even know now. The fact that there are roosters in my yard that crow most of the night? The fact that there are donkey carts competing with overloaded trucks competing with me on my bike on the main road? The complete lack of cheese in this country? The children (and occasionally adults) that are constantly yelling "Nassara" (foreigner) at me?
We all talk about these things here sometimes, just because we've been thrown into this new environment all together, but as time goes on we've started talking about them differently. Like, how clean are the latrines at this restaurant? Or, what do you do if you have bats living in yours? Or, so will I be able to hire a donkey cart to move my furniture to my house next month?
I know that one of the goals (maybe the main goal) of the Peace Corps is cultural exchange. And I don't want to be too hesitant about sharing my perspective of this culture, coming from an American background. But if I'm not telling all of the colorful details of my life here, it's because I want to understand it better before spouting off some random judgments about the country, especially when there's so much misinformation about Africa in general already.
Not that I'm trying to be all deep on this random blog that basically just exists so I can stay in contact with people at home. But I feel a little better about having this disclaimer about what I write.

ah, memories

I apologize- I have been so remiss in my blogging duties lately. But it's kind of become a trend to go out for a drink in the evenings after classes, then hurry home for dinner, then write lesson plans while watching my Brazilian soap opera, Au Coeur du Peche, then go to bed. That's right, I said lesson plans! I used to be kind of skeptical of my elementary education friends in college, with all of their "lesson planning" and "early mornings," but now I know. These are real things, that must be done. Because we started model school! It's a summer course for kids who want to get ahead in the coming school year (or whose parents want them to get ahead in the coming school year) and we're just finishing up our second week of teaching. I've been teaching the 6ème SVT (sciences de la vie et de la terre) class, which is about the equivalent of sixth grade biology, and I've actually been having some good fun with it. Tomorrow we're dissecting peanuts. And it's certainly making me feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of being in charge of entire classes on my own. But it's also pretty tiring, and I'm looking forward to being done in two more weeks.
So now for fun things. Uh, wait. Okay. I told you I was tired. I remember now. We've been having a ton of birthdays lately (birthday season!) and doing cute things for those, and for Lorena's birthday I baked a cake! It was all chocolatey and frenchy and stuff, and it was delightful. Or I think it was- there wasn't quite enough for me to have a piece- but it was so nice to get to bake. I don't remember if I've written this before, but my plan for the first month at site, before school starts, is to spend all of my time in my house, baking and listening to music and painting the walls and lesson planning. I'm very excited about this.
What else. A couple of my friends who are in GEE came over to my house and we hung out and had a sleepover and watched The Office on my laptop, which was totally fun. Except that watching it made me crave sandwiches. You know, I don't know that product placement ever really affected me that much at home, but it's amazing what it does to you once you know you can never have any of the placed products, ever. Or, in the forseeable future. Or, right now. For this, I hate Subway. I tried eating a "meat" sandwich today and was just not satisfied.