6 Dec. 2012 and 7 Dec. 2012         

This post in Clip Art:

Been a while since I’ve posted in this thing. I apologize, but considering I have Internet about as often as most of you have… cuscus, it is extremely challenging to get to it. Also, I think the amount may considerably cut down after next Friday.  I officially move to site next Saturday. I don’t know whether to be excited or nervous. I guess I’m little bit of both. I’m definitely ready to be with training. People have started getting really testy around each other, which is totally understandable after over two months of seeing the same people everyday for multiple hours a day. Still, we will all miss each other immensely once we hit the true isolation of being at site. It will be strange to no longer hear any English, and if I cannot communicate a point, I should as hell better have my French-English dictionary nearby.

I have received a couple care packages from mom, and apparently have two waiting for me in the bureau in Ouagadougou when we go there next week for swearing-in. Thank goodness too, because if I didn’t have some beef jerky I was going to go crazy. It’s amazing how things you totally take for granted are so amazing when they are in front of you again. I got beef jerky, Slim Jims, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, and non-food items like a mirror. I needed the last one, but probably could have gone without it in retrospect. Almost two months of not shaving and never looking in a mirror do strange things to a man. I am excited to have an electric razor again when I get these next two packages, which will inevitably be useless soon after getting it when it runs out battery. I have not yet figured out how I am going to finagle electricity yet. I think I will buy a car battery and solar panel strong enough to power my phone, computer, and maybe a light. That means I can easily charge my razor on it once a…year? Most importantly though are the phone and computer. We are now on the flotte, which is the interconnected Peace Corps calling system. We can all call each other for free, which is absolutely awesome. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go for texting, and it doesn’t pay for anything interaction-wise with people in America. Oh well, at least I can call a fellow trainee when I’ve had a rough day. Apparently the full electricity (solar electricity that is) deal will cost me around 100,000 CFA, which is equal to $200.00. Fortunately, I get 270,000 CFA (200,000 move-in, 70,000 living allowance) and may be able to get that going almost immediately. I will definitely buy a stove for roughly 30,000 CFA, and probably a mattress for 10,000-20,000. After that, the money will go to eating amazing American meals in Ouaga and drinking beer most likely.

I also received a package from Morgan that was pretty awesome. It had lots of newspaper articles that I am saving for when I arrive at site, as there will be absolutely nothing to do, alongside a DVD with the Louisville vs. Pitt football game on it, which was awesome. With the game, the DVD had a couple episodes of South Park, and a couple episodes of Modern Family. It was a pretty badass little gift I must say. I must make note, I put in a previous blog post that I need a big hard drive. My mother is sending me one, so please do not send me a hard drive, unless you really want to, or really never want me to run out of space. Those of you that have written me or sent me stuff, your letter is definitely on the way; it is just very difficult to actually mail stuff from here, especially when you have no idea what the hell you are doing ¾ of the time.

Money here seems like Monopoly money. Living in the US for so long completely screws you up when it comes to international money. I mean seriously, 10,000 CFA is only $20? How can anybody take that seriously? Giving me 270,000 CFA is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life, though it actually is a significant amount of money that I better make last. Ouagadougou is actually pretty darn expensive as well. I was there from Sunday-Wednesday for my counterpart workshop, which I will get to in a minute here. The first night, I actually had the cheapest meal I’ve had since I’ve been in the country, but that is because it was at a little crappy hole in the wall. I got acheke, which I thought was cuscus but is actually finely cut ignam, or the African big-ass potato, with cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions on top. I hated tomatoes for my entire life until I got here and have been since deprived of all vegetables and especially of fruits. Considering tomatoes are considered both, both of those were appropriate. Don’t believe me? Wikipedia it. Anyways, it was incredible, and it only cost 250 CFA, or fifty cents. I got a second one because it was cheap, and then proceeded to blow another almost 4,000 (or $8.00) on beer. That isn’t that challenging because beer is 650, so it adds up… In retrospect, that is still a lot of beer. I then returned to the hotel across the street and conked out in my glorious bed with air conditioning and a fan. I awoke at 4 am and checked the Internet in the hotel, which was awesome. It was the fastest connection I’ve had since I’ve been here, and that is because everybody was asleep, which is completely reasonable at 4 o’clock in the morning. I checked what was going on the sports world and then went to sleep. By the way, since then I learned Louisville is going to the Sugar Bowl (awesome) and the Redskins beat the Giants and actually look damn good.

The next day I met my counterpart, who was very shy. His name is Pima Bawar, though here it is the other way around. We had a lot of trouble communicating at first, but things got better with time. After the initial conversation it was a lot easier, but the language barrier has officially reappeared for me. That night, we went to a place called Bar-K. Pronounce the K as “ka” so the name is Barka. That is how you say thank you in Mooré, the most spoken language in the country alongside French. It is an excellent play on words. Tricky Burkinabé. Anyways, to get there we did something that seems ludicrous, but seems to be extremely common in this country. We crammed eight people (and the driver) in a four-passenger car. We stuffed two in the front, three in the back, and three across our laps in the back. It was horribly uncomfortable and for the first time in my life, I felt extremely claustrophobic. The ride sure was cheap though.

When we got there after what seemed like forever but was actually like ten minutes, I got a freaking cheeseburger and a draft beer. It was unbelievable. I was with a large group, and we proceeded to get a few draft beers. When everything you drink comes from a bottle, it is amazing how good anything on draft tastes. You could bring me out cold moose piss; if it were on tap, I’d drink it . That was a damn expensive night, totaling like 13,000 CFA, or roughly $26. We concluded by jamming ten people in a car this time… I sat in the trunk… sorry Mom. I’ll try not to do that again.  

The next day was another sort of awkward one, but I did get to draw out a map of what my community is going to look like, though it is an extremely rough estimation of space. I also was able to talk to my counterpart more extensively about the community, the groupement (organization) he works with and leads and what goes on activity-wise in the community. Hopefully I can hit the ground running because many of the things I’ve learned are not done in this community. For example, I can teach them how to make hard soap. They know how to make liquid soap, but not the other way around. I think cheese could really take off in this country, as it is so unbelievably hard to come across, yet so easy to make. Neme Cream is a natural mosquito repellant, necessary in a country where Malaria is the biggest health concern. None of these things are being done, and I think they would be an excellent way to build credibility, as well as actually getting something done.

The next night we went to a restaurant called… Verdevoyen? That is most likely wrong. Anyways, the owner is Italian and makes his pizzas as such. I actually ate a pepperoni pizza that tasted like it was straight out of Italy. I got more beer on tap, which was again glorious, and spoke to my brother who told me that my fantasy team will unfortunately not be in the playoffs this year. How horrible. Oh well, I have bigger fish to fry at this point. That same night afterwards, we took a cab, in comfortable fashion, to a bar called Tip Top. It was the same bar we went to the first time in Ouaga after being in the country for about 40 hours. It was fun. Somebody took the liberty to invite my counterpart to the bar. I was not very appreciative of this as I enjoy drinking and did not want to make a bad impression. By the way, I should note that when I say bar, I mean outdoor, horribly dimly lit, with a dance floor of about 15’ x 15’… with mirrors, that Burkinabé dance in front of… They really enjoy watching themselves; it’s hilarious as an American. We stayed there until they shut it down, and I went back and went to sleep.

The next day was standard. We had two sessions, ate lunch, and headed back to Léo, and on to Zoro. We did stop for ice cream before we departed Ouaga, which was nice, and not expensive at 600 CFA for one scoop. That’s another thing I didn’t eat in the states but absolutely appreciate now that it is few and far between. Fast forward through yesterday when I began this blog post, and onward to today. We began the day with more sessions…whatever. After lunch, we biked back in the midday African sun (yeah, thanks Peace Corps) and met with the people that we’ve been working with for much of stage. The man that my group worked with is named Ouadraugo Adama. He’s a farmer that honestly really has it together. He farms basically every crop you can think of, but we were assigned to help him with his honey production, and really with his retailing. The thing is, he really does have it all together. What we were able to do was show him how to keep a simple, and yet effective book of what his expenses and revenues are. W=Burkinabé have a knack for not writing things down, and also never taking into account their own labor costs. He works his ass off, day and night, and never takes this into account when he makes his pricing. Another thing he didn’t take into account was his cost of travel. The company he sells to covers his one night in Koudougou and his transportation costs, but ignores if he is forced to stay another night, and whatever meals he incurs when he is stuck in a city like Ouaga.

It was really nice to feel like he was very receptive of the idea. We went through how to do it, and wrote an example page for this month. He understood the idea, and said that he will do it. We made sure that he understands the point of this is to see when is an appropriate time for him to pay off more, or less, of the debts he owes the company he buys modern beehives from. Once he pays off all of these, he will be able to either buy more, or sell his honey when the price is its highest, the season we are in right now. In March, prices drop significantly as everybody will be harvesting their honey. Right now, the price is through the roof. He can’t even keep it in stock long enough to get more before he sells out, and this is the best time for him to be paying off his debt. Whatever, the moral is, it is nice to finally have a positive interaction where it seems like we may have actually helped somebody in the long run. Whether or not he uses it consistently is to be seen. If we come back to Léo for IST (In-Service Training), we will check up on Mr. Ouadraugo and see how his honey books are looking. Hopefully things will be going just swimmingly.

Anyways, I’m ready to go back to Ouagadougou. I’m ready to move to site, and I’m ready to get this whole adventure really rocking. Thanks again Peace Corps for forgetting that Monday and Tuesday are holidays and it is impossible to get our money. Oh, and yeah its totally rational for all of us to go to the bank at the same time, when we don’t have ATM cards, to try and get 200,000 CFA. Then we can go shopping, because there will totally be enough time for that after four hours in the bank. We totally appreciate it. Oh, in case you couldn’t tell, that was sarcasm, because apparently we’re saying when we’re doing that now (line from Archer). No, but seriously, they really dropped the ball on this one… which I am totally used to by now. At least on Tuesday I will be able to sleep, and sleep, and sleep. After that, I will watch a movie, on a projector, in an air-conditioned room, and I will love every second of it. Meanwhile, its freaking freezing in the US, and you are cold. But, at least you have a way of constantly regulating temperature…lucky.

Oh, I should definitely mention that it has seriously cooled down here. Its still like 90+ in the day, but at night it is actually pretty chilly. I have switched over to wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt to bed. It is absolutely glorious. It also makes it damn near impossible to get up in the morning, but it’s worth it considering I don’t wake up 400x each night from sweating and wanting to die. I still don’t sleep under a sheet or anything, it hasn’t gotten that bad; but it will be comfortable all the way until apparently late February, which is amazing. Then it will get hot… hotter than I can actually imagine. When I was on demyst, as I posted about weeks ago, my host told me his thermometer read 138°F. Oh well, maybe by that point I’ll just melt and die. At least I have something to look forward to.