exciting travelogue!!!

So, mostly all I ever think about here, besides Peace Corps-y things, is food. Like, all the time. So I'm going to share some of that with you, because like I said, it's all I ever think about.
I mentioned that I tried To and I didn't mind it. Well, let's explain that a little more. First, To is kind of like the staple food here- it's millet, I think, transformed into like very structured mashed potatoes. And the sauce my host dad likes is made from baobab trees. And that first time I only ate like a single bite. And then I had it for an entire dinner, and I think my family won't make me eat it ever again. Some volunteers love it, and end up eating it all the time. Not this kid.
Now for the good. Avocado sandwiches. Fresh vanilla yogurt. Sugar-covered peanuts. MANGOS. Coca. Bissap (a syrupy local drink made from hibiscus flowers, which, if you're lucky, might be frozen.) Jus de wata. Oh yeah, and frozen vanilla yogurt. These are the things dreams are made of, or at least MY dreams, when I'm not having crazy lucid malaria medication dreams. And I'm feeling very optimistic about this fake nutella that is currently calling to me from my bag.

What else can I tell. I'm honestly in love with the music I hear around here. This morning my dad put on Celine Dion, and I think I love her. And I really want to see Titanic again. And a couple of days ago we watched some Phil Collins music videos, and my host brother had me show him where in the crowd of white people I was. We've also been watching some football- Burkina lost to Cote d'Ivoire on Saturday, but then my family decided since I rooted for them they'd root for the US last night and we beat Spain! Everyone said that it was Wak, which apparently here means like witchcraft, because seriously, we should not have won that game. I really enjoyed learning that one, and plan to use it always. I tried to explain "whack" to them, but shockingly, couldn't quite pull it off.

boring work things

I apologize for the lack of pictures on this blog/at all. There are a few reasons: I still haven't quite figured out how to do the whole transfer-pictures-from-my-computer-to-the-internet-cafe-computer-without-getting-viruses thing, for one. But more to the truth of it: I'm still only in the second week here, and it's not really representative of what my life will be like at all in the future or probably Burkina in general, so I haven't been taking many pictures so far. I'll work on that soon, I promise, but for the time being I'm still working out more crucial things (like where to find the grocery store that sells knock-off nutella, for example.)

We've begun to learn some important things in technical sessions at school (I don't really know what else to call it, so, school!) For example, how to make lesson plans! Kind of key, especially since only like two of us have ever taught in any sort of formal capacity. I taught some ESL classes to help prepare for this, so I've "planned" lessons, but not in any sort of orgaized manner. Soon we'll start peer teaching, then peer teaching in french, then pulling kids off the street and teaching them things, then finally we'll have model school for a number of weeks. That's basically like a summer school for kids here where we'll each teach lessons and get feedback on our teaching techniques. I'm so relieved that we get this chance for critique before going off into the wild blue yonder to teach for real.

Tomorrow we have our site interviews where we talk to the placement director about what things we want for our future town and what we absolutely cannot live without. Then they take our input and possibly take it into account when they decide which school we're going to go to. I can't think of many things I must have. I kind of threw myself into this expecting any sort of conditions, so it's strange to now be thinking about bonus amenities I could get. I don't know that I'm reconsidering how I'd be willing to live if I have to, but I've decided it's not a particularly pressing need of mine to have the ultimate hard-core PC experience. Basically, I might be okay with electricity, is all I'm sayin.

bf is my bff

I made it- I'm in Burkina! So, I went to Philly approximately ten thousand years ago, and met 32 fabulous folks with whom I will be doing all of training. Half of us will be secondary school teachers (me!) and the other half will be doing girls' education and empowerment (amazing.) We did a couple pre-departure activities (shots,) and then flew far away. We had a bonus layover in Niger for a night, which was kind of nice because Air France put us up in a pretty swank hotel, and then we came to BF! We left Ouaga pretty quickly and came up here, further north, closer to the Sahel.
So now I'm here, actually starting to learn what the next couple of years will be like. Which is totally exciting. I mean seriously, I've been trying not to get too wrapped up in endless wondering about details for the past few months, and to finally be able to visualize what my life might soon look like is incredible. I'm coming up with all sorts of ideas for my new home and what I'll do in any free time that I may have (gardening, tutoring every subject imaginable, raising chickens, learning to make cheese, learning everything ever.) Yeah, I'm pretty optimistic that I can do all that. Don't tell me otherwise.
I'm also super-psyched about my french. I'm kind of getting back into it, and am planning on getting a Burkina french accent. I've been able to have some fabulous conversations with my host dad without too many comprehension issues, which is SO encouraging.
Speaking of which: host family!! I have kind of a small one compared to others' experiences, which is honestly great for me. I think I'd be overwhelmed with too many families in my compound! But I have a host dad, Ouseman (or "Euro,") a host mom, Alima, and a six year old brother and six month old sister. They're so welcoming and understanding and my dad fixed my water filter for me and we watch football and the news together and talk about everything. And I tried To last night for dinner and my brother laughed at me because no one else in the family likes it besides my dad. So it's really fun, and it's only been three days with them!
Alright, I'm going to wrap this up now. My life right now is: get up, bucket bath, breakfast, bike to the center, classes/sessions all morning, explore at lunch, classes all afternoon, home around 5:30, bucket bath, dinner at like 7:30, tv and conversation till like 9:30, bucket bath, bed.
There's way too much more to tell, so I'll try to write soon(ish)!

travelling

So far, I've made it to Philly. Tomorrow is when the real fun begins- all of us trainees finally get to meet each other for like a 24-hour conference in town. We do some pre-departure training, get some shots, and then we fly out the next evening. It'll then be a couple days of travelling, from here to Paris to Ouagadougou, and from then on I don't really know what the schedule will be.

I'm glad for this stopover tonight, in part because it means I did all of my crazy packing last night and this morning. I measured all my bags and weighed them twice, and I'm fairly confident that everything's regulation, but I have this really sad image in my mind of a lonely little pile of art supplies and books lying in a corner of the airport because my bags were overweight. I was initially going to go all basic, just the bare essentials- I'd love to be the really cool travel girl who just has a single duffel, or a framepack, for the entire two years. And it did start out that way. But it feels like I added one superfluous item and the floodgates opened, and now my luggage is overstuffed and it's a battle to close each zipper. Ah well. Be prepared?

hold up

I think I did this in the wrong order. Here it is: I joined the Peace Corps. It's a super-long application process, which I started over a year ago. And now, my departure date is coming up: I fly out June 10th! So I'm finally allowing myself to get my hopes up that no, I won't break my leg, or commit a felony, or do any accidental espionage- you know, anything that would prevent my going. Although I still have five days, so who knows.

My assignment is in Burkina Faso- teaching science (Science!) to secondary school students. Because of the French influence in the country, the public education system is in french. (I will therefore be teaching science in french. Interesting.) I'll also learn a local language, depending where I'm placed in the country.

For the first three months I will be doing some intense pre-service training. So I'll be a "trainee" until I've successfully completed those three months and make the final decision to be a Volunteer. This will be my address for that time- I'll let you know if I get a new one at my site later on:

Carolyn Glidden, PCT
S/c Corps de la Paix
01 B.P. 6031
Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso


If you feel so inclined, please feel free to send me things! Letters, pictures, magazines, packages (if you're feeling particularly ambitious,) all welcome! Of course, it takes a while. Letters and packages should be sent by airmail, and apparently they typically take three to four weeks to arrive. And packages sent by post incur customs charges, so don't send anything too big or anything valuable. (DHL is supposed to be even worse.)


I've heard some suggestions of what people ususally like to receive:

• granola
• dried fruit
• powdered drink mixes
• spice mixes (also, mac and cheese powder)
  

And some things that I can think of that I want!

• pretty pictures
• personal drawings
• magazines
• mix cd's
• stories
• candy (preferably non-melting)

Not that you have to send me anything- I promise I'll still like you. I've just had requests for information on this front, so I thought I'd oblige. And I'm sure I'll have a better idea once I'm there!

where in the world is....

post 1. This is where I'm going. According to my globe, it's French Sudan, but all the cool kids these days call it Burkina Faso. (I've also found it effective to describe it as "Upper Volta" to those of a certain generation.) At least the capital city is right: Ouagadougou. Which is what I'm pointing at.
That's the end of the geography lesson- good thing I'll be teaching science, right? I don't actually know where in the country I'll be, or exactly what subjects (I mean, "science" tells me... not enough) I will be teaching. That all comes at the end of my three-month training period in-country. Which starts next week! Hooray!!!! Also, oh boy.