Living in the present

Hello everyone! Once again, it’s been almost three months since my last post. Time flies!

Well, I love Burkina Faso. Not hopelessly, or overwhelmingly, or unconditionally or anything like that. It's not like I won't want to come home when it’s all done. I will! But I do love it here right now. I love Peace Corps service. Maybe this is interesting - for me, being a Peace Corps Volunteer is like having two present and active lives. My third life is the life at home in America. Yes, here in Burkina I live two separate and not quite equal lives. Most of the time (when you're not hearing from me) I am in or around my village removed from electricity, running water, toilets, cold drinks, bananas, vegetables, and most other fruits. (Although right now Béléhédé has mangos and guavas!) I present myself differently; I wear different clothes, I speak adjusted French and some local language. I've got my friends and my habits which include sitting around drinking small shot glasses of foamy, strong, green tea with sugar; working on local language in a (honestly) filthy, fly-ridden mud hut on a worn, ripped-up straw mat; playing volleyball most nights barefoot in dirty, (sometimes punishing) sand; interacting with some school children and all their teachers; and often walking around village trying to track down meetings that never happened or information that is somehow, perpetually just a bit further away. I eat with someone's family almost every day and sometimes twice a day. In people's courtyards we are surrounded by chickens, goats, sheep, guinea fowl, sometimes ducks or even bunnies, and always children. I respond to a local name, or several names to foreign ears, although I know that they are all the same thing. I use my right hand for everything. I often use only my hand to eat.

When I'm with Americans, it’s different. We dress in pants and tank tops. We complain in English (whereas Burkinabé complain in French, n'est ce pas?) We do not say hello to EVERY single person along the road or in the street. We do not stop to shake hands with strangers or even greet each individual friend when we enter a room. We do not invite strangers to eat. We drink beer, we hug, and we touch. We talk on our cell phones for extended periods of time and we receive enormous, gratuitous packages. We laugh, a lot. We talk about where we want to travel, next. The Peace Corps community is vibrant, mostly young, fresh... Sometimes, with some special friends, you can mix your two lives as a Peace Corps Volunteer. When you are integrated into your community, sometimes you'll act similarly when you are out of it. But in Ouaga with other Americans you are compelled to make a choice. Some volunteers won't ever invite you or strangers to eat; some won't greet people on the street. This is the city, for goodness sake. The other white people don't do that. Volunteers in a group speak ENGLISH. There's no two ways about that. Unless, of course, you're with an American who doesn't speak English as a first language… My friends Yaneth and Kim are Columbian-American. One even received her citizenship just before joining Peace Corps. Volunteers like these learn the host country culture AND the American culture all at once! I'm personally learning more about Americans, in this diverse but very American group, than ever before.

Well the point is, I guess, that sometimes, I think about my two faces. In village - here are some of the things my community thinks - Adjara is sporty and likes to do sports. For example she runs and plays volleyball. She is not married (or is she?). She does not have children but wants them one day. She wants a husband one day too (for those who really "know" me!) Adjara likes to debate. She does not speak "our language." Adjara does not drink or go out at night. She can dance well but we have only seen her do it once or twice. She comes from America and is therefore rich. She is white - our white person. She likes children and gives them empty bottles, cans, or cartons at her house. She is here to help girls and maybe women. She smiles a lot and likes to travel in and out of village. She is not Muslim but also does not go to church. She does not believe in genies. (Actually only the teachers know that and they are still trying to convince me of the facts of black magic.) She walks around village but when she leaves she rides a bike. She is courageuse (courageous) because she came all the way to Africa from America with no one and moved into the bush and lives alone. I haven't heard them say it yet but they probably think I am crazy too.

Peace Corps Volunteers are crazy. And they are diverse. They come from all over the country and from all different backgrounds, orientations, age groups, religions, and experiences. African-American volunteers in Burkina are called "white person". Latino-Americans experience the same thing. Asian-Americans are called Bruce Lee and Chinese. Married women are called by their husband's first or last name. Homosexual volunteers are advised not to reveal their sexuality to any locals lest they endanger their safety and security. Outside of Peace Corps meetings, I have never heard any Burkinabé even breach the subject of homosexuality. They do not believe it even exists.

This was supposed to be an "update post" but it turned into a tangent about my lifestyles. I will type an update tomorrow. To finish this up though, for now, I'll tell you what I did today and what I did days ago. Today and yesterday I ordered food to the transit house, ate a salad and humus and beer out last night, I watched part of a movie, and sat and sleep in front of standing fans on a real bed, drank water from a freezer that had turned to ice. A few days ago, I held a life skills discussion on assertiveness in a French/Koranfe literacy class; I ate rice with beans and oil sauce; I played volleyball with a bunch of men whose single or multiple wives were home cooking for them while breast-feeding their babies; I walked around village fanning myself with a ever-present hand fan (it's my third arm), and fleeing from brutal sun; I drank warm water; I went to bed not long after the sun. Right now in front of me seven friends are sitting in front of a standing fan and a laptop, on a couch, watching The Office. We just got wireless internet in our Ouagadougou transit house. I can smell someone cooking something in the kitchen. I can see two other people reading an American gossip magazine and Newsweek respectively. I am personally listening to Lauren Hill, Norah Jones, the Cranberries, and Radiohead on my ipod after about 4 or 5 months without music (seriously) because the ipod temporarily broke. This is borrowed music since all mine got erased. A few days ago I would have listened to the BBC news on my (broken) shortwave radio. Often I listen to World Have Your Say and Focus on Africa while cooking or sometimes doing yoga.

The food in the kitchen was popcorn and thankfully, most volunteers do share.