from Tofu with love

10/31/2011 So today Halloween! Me and the other trainees are going to go to one of the 2 restaurants in Sapone and have a Halloween party. This past weekend was very interesting. Another trainee ETed (early terminated) on Friday. That’s the third one thus far. Our group is starting to make a bad name for ourselves.  Other than that the weekend was pretty fun. Me and some of the other trainees had a night full of dancing, beer and American music. The bar owner let us plug in one of our ipods to the system and we turned that place out! Just when I thought the night couldn’t get any more interesting we bar hopped to the other bar (Belle Vie) and turned that place out too. Just imagine, 7 intoxicated foreigners dancing in the middle of the dance floor alone. I’m sure it was a weird site to see. For all of you wondering, there are some cuties in my stage (group). I think I’ll just leave it at that lol. The next morning (10/30/11) we caught the tail end of the tour...

10/15/11 Today (my first real day) I went to stage (training) and I had a lot of fun. We had culture/peace corps training and we rode our bicycles all around the city. I was feeling dizzy for most of today so they told me to drink this sodium potassium mixture to restore my electrolytes. When I rode my bike home I pulled out a notebook, pen, and French/English dictionary on my ipod. I sat down with Alice (my HS mom) and we communicated en francais. It was great! I feel like I can learn fast here. We understand each other a lot better now. She is a banker and he is a nurse. When Isaka (my HS dad) came home they were going to try to make me eat dinner alone but I told them that I wanted to eat as a family…so we did! This is the family dynamic: I have a mom and dad and a little 2year old brother named Farid ( he is super spoiled. They also have a little girl who is basically their servant. I feel bad for her sometimes. She does everything. I tutor my little neighbor boy, Papi (steve)...

10/14/11 The beginning of this entry was meant to be my first Burkina post so some of it might be a repeat of the last post. What can I even say about today? It was amazing! We had the usual classes then we drove to Sapone, a city outside of Ouaga. When we got there we had a small celebration, then our host families adopted us. After the ceremony, while everyone else was struggling to put their luggage on top of their bikes my host mom takes me to a van where some other trainees (Gerard and Kelsey) are standing. I thought she was one of three wives but she is not. Gerard, Kelsey, and I get to ride in style to our separate homes. I only met my host dad once and it was for a short time. They told us to expect really modest conditions but I think that my host family is pretty well off. We actually have a tv and a refrigerator. This is VERY rare.  (tv and fridge but no running water—how interesting) Sidenote: I didn’t realize how bad my French was until I tried to co...

I already had a pre-written post for my first in country update but of course I do not have my flash drive to laptop with me. So here we go I arrived in Ouaga with 24 other volunteers. We stayed at this weird missionary/youth hostel/summer camp place for days and days of orientation, vaccines, and ice breakers. I took my language placement interview and realized that my french SUCKS. I tested into novice mid (novice low-mid-high, inter low-mid-high etc) A trainee must be inter-mid in order go to actual site. After this me and the other volunteers traveled to Sapone where we were adopted by out host families. They held a little ceremony full of heavy dancing and strong armpit aroma. Deodorant is def optional in this country. My home stay family is great, they cook me vegan food. I have a mother Alice, father Issaka, and a little 2yr old brother Farid. My family is very educated in comparison to the other families. Issaka is a nurse and Alice works at a bank. They probably thin...

I finally gave into my OCD tendencies and started/finished packing today! We are allowed 2 checked bags (no more than 80lbs combined) and one carry on. My big checked bag is 40lbs and my smaller one is 30lbs. HELLLOOOO!!, 10lbs to spare!!! the before packing storm I received my final itinerary last night and it is so real now. I'll be in Philadelphia on Sunday 10/9 then I will travel with my PC counterparts to Ouagadougou  (Wah-gah-doo-goo) or Ouaga in Burkina Faso. After two days of orientation and lengthy procedures we will travel to Sapone for the real in service training (IST). During this we will be "adopted" by a home stay family (yay, new burkinabe mama)! Then language/cultural training will commence. don don don donnnnnnn. Parlez vous francais? I won't have any internet/phone access for a while, so if you don't hear from me don't call the Police Nationale du Burkina Faso until next time =]