A Long Expected Party

I am now a volunteer!!! HOORAY!

Things have been going great, but let me get down to business first. Updated information follows:

We swore in on August 24th. It was awesome, a beautiful ceremony with great speakers and entertainment. Five trainee-turning-volunteers gave speeches in local languages and that was really great. There was a traditional band/ dance group which played/ danced as we arrived, in the middle of the ceremony, and when we ate. Everyone got traditional Burkinabe outfits tailor made for the occasion. I wore a green and blue top and long skirt. The ceremony was in Ouahigouya and we traveled directly from it to Ouagadougou, the capital. Our time in Ouaga was great - we celebrated our new status as volunteers and enjoyed some last moments together for potentially a long time.

I have not had access to the internet since the second to last week in August. There is no cell phone service in my site. To check my text messages on my phone I have to walk or bike 2K to climb a hill which might or might not work. So far, two out of four or five trips to the hill worked. If I want to make an outgoing call. I can use a telecenter (landline) phone right next to my house. My regional capital is a great city 40K away, Djibo, which I have biked to twice. I am hoping to do this once every week around market day (Wednesday). Unfortunately there is virtually NO internet access. Although there is an alleged cyber-cafe, I have not seen it open and functioning yet. This means updates on the blog will be far-between.

Today I am in Ouagadougou, the capitol, which I will visit from time to time. I am here on Peace Corps business because I was elected as a new volunteer representative to the administration. I had remarkable timing getting this job since Ron Tschetter, the Director of Peace Corps, visited Burkina this week! Apparently it is the first time a Peace Corps Director has visited the country in longer than any of our administration can remember. Yesterday afternoon we met and had lunch with the Director and last night we attended an cocktail hour at the US Ambassador's house! Glamour stops here and will not appear again on this blog for the next two years.

My house is great, big, and private but I had a LOT of cleaning to do and am still working out how I am going to battle the constant termites, mosquitoes, crickets, and roaches that plague mine (and I think most) volunteer sites. I have no electricity or running water, obviously. My house, though, is much different than my previous hut. I have a tin roof, supported by rotting wood beems. There are three rooms: kitchen, bedroom, and living room which is twice the size of the two former. I have a large courtyard with a metal door. I also have a hangar under which I will sit and entertain outside. The house has large cracks in most of the walls and needs a lot of work. Nonetheless, this living sitution is a HUGE step up from my previous, straw and mud hut. There is actually cement in sight. lol.

Otherwise, my moral has been very good! Happily I have great PC neighbors near and within the region of my site. When I was just starting to stay inside a little too much, my 50K away friend Mac suprised me and showed up at my site! Its great having guests with whom you can explore the village, chat, doo crossword puzzles, decompress, and cook. I am discovering that most people in my village speak Koranfe, a completely new local language. However, I will continue to study Fulfulde as it is the most prevalent language in the region. Also the former volunteer at my site recommened I study that because "everyone understands Fulfulde". Still, I am already getting significant pressure from villagers who speak to me in Koranfe even when they can also communicate in Fulfulde or French. The former volunteer learned this language and it appears that I will continue to be reminded of that fact for a while.

The one very sad bit of news is that two more awesome, awesome GEE volunteers left Burkina and decided to go home. Beth and Katherine, I know you did what is best for you but we miss you! Hugs and kisses and good luck. We were 29, now we are 22. GEE was 12/29, now we are 7/22.

Well, that seems like a decent amount of information for now. My next post will be a story about transport in Burkina, which I am discovering to be a crazy crapshoot absolutely no matter what. Thank you for reading my blog and contributing such awesome and encouraging posts. I miss you guys and send my love.

Christina