Getting into the flow of things...

First, I must apologize for the lack of correspondence. I realized it had been 3 weeks since my last entry, and I’m definitely due for another, so here it is. You may want to print this one out and keep it on your night table as a week’s worth of bedtime reading!

Week 4

Fri, Oct 3^rd

Off to Bobo (Burkina’s second largest town, about 5 hours away) for the weekend today! Super pumped because I get to visit some friends I made during my travels here and see the progress on their rice processing plant construction.

Took the bus down which was a very comfortable ride. Comfy seats, TV movies, AC and all. We got to the station at 1h55 and although they could fit the two of us (Charlotte and I) on the bus, they couldn’t fit my moto, which I was bringing down with us for easy travel when we arrived. So we waited for the 3pm bus. At 2h40 a man came up to us and began talking to our friend who was waiting with us till we got on the bus and told him (in the local language) that they couldn’t fit our moto on the 3pm bus and that it would have to be sent on a bus 2 hours later. We got up and started discussing with the bus guys that they had told us to wait for the 3pm bus to fit our moto, otherwise we would of left it with our friend and taken the earlier bus and scrapped having it for the weekend. After 20 min of discussing, one guy managed to put it on the bus (there was totally room for it!) so we gave him a small compensation for his efforts and were off to Bobo.

If sleeping was your initial goal for the bus ride, you were mistaken. They blare not only the AC but the volume on the movies they play, which are always a confusing humour. They always involve some kind of romance, but an awkward high school type romance. I could seldom determine what is going on with all the subplots happening, but it’s as entertaining to watch the locals watching the movie because they get really into it.

By the end of the 5 hour ride both Charlotte and I were getting cold under the AC. Charlotte: “Do you want a sweater, I’ve got one if you’re cold”. Me: “Ya, I’ve got a scarf in my bag, but we’re the only non-Africans on this bus, we can’t be the only ones to pull out a sweater; we’re Canadian, we’ve got to tough it out”. She agreed, so we sat, a little chilled for the last hour until we escaped into the heat wave of the outside world.

Sevrine and her family were kind enough to let us stay over their place that night. We got there a bit late and by 9pm we were in bed. We didn’t get much sleep though as a nation wide wind storm nearly toppled everything around us. Well not literally, but windows smashed closed, branches fell outside and the noise was ridiculous even through my earplugs!

Weekend

Today we were off to Banfora, a town about 1.5hrs from Bobo where there are some scenic must-see falls. Sevrine has her version of Alassane, a taxi man that she uses daily and so we negotiated with him to take us for the day. Negotiating a price with him though was one of the most frustrating things in the world. He would tell us a price, we’d suggest another, hoping to find some sort of happy medium, and he would just sit there and not talk. Then would say “lets just go”. But we insisted on negotiating before we left (so that there weren’t any unwanted surprises). After a solid 20min of a lack of negotiating, we told him a price and were off.

The ride there was beautiful. Bobo gets a lot more rain then Ouaga, so there is a lot more greenery to enjoy. Once arrived in Banfora, I called ‘Mohammed le Magnifique’, a guide that I had contacted earlier to take us around and show us the falls (which was very worthwhile since the falls are in the boonies and through unmarked territory). Pretty sure the only way you’d be able to find it on your own would be by flying a plane overhead.

The guide was really good, knew the area and although didn’t speak much, could answer any questions we had about the random plants or bugs we found on the ground. He was very young though, I’d pin him at 17yrs old.

The walk to the falls (from the ‘parking lot’) was even more beautiful. I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings, tall luscious trees growing on either side of a dirt path shading us from the burning sun. All along too were termite houses which were tall sand-castle looking structures that stood over 5 feet tall. The falls were just as amazing. We climbed up a rock side and went to the top of the falls and continued to follow the river upstream to a series of other falls further up. We stopped at one of them for a ‘African Message’ as our guide put it. After our swim, we continued upstream and through a path to the Domes, a series of naturally carved ‘bumps’ rising hundreds of metres in the air. Unfortunately though it was getting late and we wanted to be back before dark, so we didn’t have a chance to walk down to them and check out the view from above. We merely saw them from a distance, but the landscape below was incredible. I’m definitely planning on going back and hopefully spending a full day at the falls and checking out the area.

Coming back to Bobo, we were heading to Bama, another 30min away where the gang of engineering students I traveled here with are staying. It was so great to see them. They live in a small villa, 3 houses with 2 bedrooms, a living space and a shower room in each (they are 6 in all). They set it up so that each ‘living space’ serves as a different purpose (a living room, another a kitchen and the last an office). Outside in the court is a water pump (where they get their water to do laundry, dishes, and bathe) and a series of hole toilets. It was actually my first experience of hole toilets in Africa (by that I mean a cement floor with a hole in it, so you better hope your aim is good). I had already had the pleasure of using those style bathrooms in Italy (of all places), but I must say that my attempts here were pretty good and using them wasn’t bad at all. The only thing is at night, when you’ve got your headlight on, and open the door to the toilette to spray the area before you pee, just in case any roaches or other crawling things decide to interrupt the process.

A few of us stayed up late that night talking. But sleeping that night was another story. By 6am I was getting bored of trying to fall back asleep, so I got up and grabbed a book and my mp3 and sat outside reading. As I sat, numerous people kept trying to unlock their gate door. Some once they saw me would run away, but a few others succeeded and came in and grabbed some materials (they keep all their construction materials in their court to avoid theft). I was really hoping they weren’t robbers stealing their equipment, but didn’t really know what to say. The guy came and said hi to me though, so I figured a thief wouldn’t really allow someone to get a closer look of their face…or would they, so that you wouldn’t think they were a thief…reverse psychology? Turns out they are workers on the project and were getting a start on the day.

After breakfast, Simon took myself and Charlotte to the market, which is a 1min walk from their house. It was a nice change from the big city market. Instead of harassing us to buy things, people would say hi. It was a very pleasant change. And I’m sure if I were to buy something that I wouldn’t pay the ‘nasara (white) price’ for it either. The more remote you get, the more honest people seem to be. They live in a small village and are the only white people there, so they are well known.

We decided to head into town to go out to a restaurant that had a pool, so we boarded a ‘bush taxi’ to head to town. That was quite an experience. The taxi has 8 seats, but how many Africans do you think we could fit in a small car? Seventeen! Yep, there were 17 people inside the car, plus at least 2 on the roof of the car (I only saw the 2 people who kept hoping off the roof to push start the car every time we stopped), but who knows how many more people were up there. Plus not to mention the I don’t know how many hundreds of kilos of bagged rice that were on the roof of the car (which at least doubled the height of the vehicle). The 30min ride out of town ended up being over 1.5hrs long. With the initial rice loading delay, the random taxi break down/push starts, the getting pulled over by the police, and the general weight of the load didn’t exactly help the speed. I was really not bothered by it though. I was finding it quite funny and I was happy that we were all together in the car (otherwise I’m sure I would have been frustrated if I was on my way to meet someone).

Unfortunately by the time we got into town, Charlotte and I had to get to the bus station to reserve our seats, so we didn’t get to chill with the crew at the pool. We were both beat for the ride home, but the extremely loud movie/African music playing kind of hindered our napping. Not to mention the relentless honking of the horn. People honk a lot here to tell people to push over to the side of the road when they’re passing, but this driver was honking, no joke, every 1min20sec. He would honk when we were approaching any moving object (car, bike, livestock) when he could see it from far away and continue to honk incessantly until we passed it. But since there are no stretches of road that are free of those three things, the honking was like 5 hours of unnecessary noise.

Approaching the last hour of our ride back to Ouaga, they began playing some classic American/Canadian romance songs. It is so funny what you hear around here in random places. Stuff like Brian Adams, Phil Collins, Mariah Carrey, All for One, the classics. We found it so funny that I wanted to capture the moment with my video camera. But as I didn’t want to pull it out and make a scene, I tried to be subtle and hide it under my scarf and point it up to us, where we could sing along. It wasn’t very successful, but none the less, the videos (although not much visually) nicely captured the audio, which was the inspiration to start filming in the first place.

We made it back safely, but the sun was going down, and as we want to avoid night travel (due to random road blocks by thieves) we were pretty antsy when the bus pulled over and the driver got out (and we couldn’t see anything outside that was going on). Luckily though, there was a lady with her baby 2 seats ahead of us who had a large shot gun under her seat. So although that would make most people feel uncomfortable, it kind of made us feel more secure haha.

Randoms of the Week

-Budgets have been a large topic of conversation amongst the cooperatives lately. The just of it is that living costs have rose so much in recent years (and even months) that the living allocations have not seemed to suffice for living here. This has not only been a problem for Burkina, but many African countries, where food prices are soaring and wages are not. There has been a lot of discussion and the volunteers have even put in an official claim to try to get our salaries raised as our allocations are based on a price analysis done in 2005. To give you an example, the price of a bag of rice 3 months ago was 11,000f ($27.50). Today it’s 20,000f ($50). And with the economic situation in the world today, the Canadian dollar has continued to fall against the franc (the franc is pinned to the Euro, so when the Euro gains so does the franc, and thus the Canadian dollar falls in comparison). When I got here, I could get 460f for $1, today I can get 398f. Therefore my purchasing power in the past 1.5 months has decreased by 15%.

-Some of you may be interested in seeing what my day consists of, so here is a typical day in my life:

6:00am – wake up, eat breakfast, get ready for work

6:45am – picked up by Alassane (taximan) to head to work

7:30-11:30am – work at the kindergarten

11:30am – picked up by Alassane to head home

12:15 – eat lunch

1-3pm – relax time (everything shuts down during these hours), boil and bottle

water, do stuff around the house

3-6pm – take my moto to the main organization’s office to do some work (in the

morning I’m with the partner organization in a different town)

6:30pm – eat dinner

7pm – do one of: chill at home, go out with friends, go check out a local event,

watch a movie…

10pm – shower and bed

I go out at night (for a drink at the maquis or out for dinner with friends) I’d say about 2 times a week.

During weekends my mornings and afternoons consist of running errands, going to the market, catching up on last week’s unfinished work, going to the pool, and visiting friends

And voila, my day!

-Now, some of you I’m sure are worried about whether or not I am eating well, and you don’t have to worry at all, because I am eating super and just as much (if not more) then I eat when I’m in Canada. In fact I eat way more desert here as my sweet tooth seems to have evolved since my arrival. We have a super good cook who is here 4 days a week who makes us European/Canadian food and the other 3 days either (usually) myself or Benoit cooks. Here is an idea of what I usually eat:

Breakfast: toast, cereal, fruits, crepes, omelets, oatmeal

Lunch: rice/couscous with sauce, ragout, meat and potatoes, salad, tabulah,bread

Dinner: pasta, meat (usually beef), soup, bread, leftover lunch

Desert: there is always a cake or fruit loaf on the table to finish off your meal

Drink: litres of H2O

Week 5:

Mon-Tue, Oct 6-7^th

The excitement of the weekend was over and it was back to work. I was super tired, so didn’t do too much except try to function at work and later recover from my lack of sleep.

Wed-Fri, Oct 8-10^th

Wednesday to Friday was our organization’s annual sectoral meetings. Essentially all the partners of the organization with all the volunteers were invited to share their projects and results with the rest. It was a long week but none the less interesting to hear about their work as well as get a better understanding of how each volunteer is contributing.

The biggest highlight of these days was that nearly everyone was down from their towns for the 3 day conference, including Charlotte and 2 (Simon and Karine) of the engineers from Bama that I had just hung out with a few days earlier.

Thursday night we took a bunch of them to the local maquis (outdoor bar) that we really like, which has cheap food and classic tunes (a random mix of music from Akon to the Village People). All together we had sheep, beef kabobs, bread, beer and fanta for 1,000f each (about $2.50). I love cheap meals!

Saturday everyone was leaving, so we took the group out Friday night to the restaurant ‘Gigot a la ficelle’ (which I had not yet tried myself). The restaurant’s servers glide around on roller blades while you eat your meal and enjoy random acrobatic and musical performances. The name of the restaurant is that of their signature dish, ‘gigot’ which is the thigh. And ‘a la ficelle’ represents the cooking method; the thigh is hung on a string and cooked over an open flame. At 11pm, we had eaten well and were off to a club, ‘la casa’, which Nathalie had told me was one of her favourite dance spots (as they play more American songs). There were maybe 3 other people there when we arrived, and not many more when we left at around 1:30am. But since there were 14 of us, we got the party started and had a great time. It was like our own mini dance party, as the dj would play our requests right after we had asked for them. It reminded me (except for the speed of the requests) of a much smaller version of a Toronto club. Definitely a good place to go when I need a little dose of a T.O. club.

Weekend

By 6:30am, the crew was gone (3 of them were staying at our place), and I was kind of bummed to see them go. The quiet weekend did give me a good chance to relax and catch up on some much needed sleep though. When they left I went back to bed and didn’t get up until 11am, the latest I’ve slept in since I’ve been here.

After lunch Anne and I went to the large market to check out some pagnes (the traditional colourful African fabric that people get clothing made out of). I saw a beautiful pagne and tried to bargain the price, unsuccessfully, so I left empty handed. But I will eventually get one and get myself an outfit made (everyone here buys fabrics and gets tailors to make them clothing).

That afternoon we all played Settlers of Catane, a German game where you try to gain points by building up villages and trading resources (such as wood, clay and sheep).

That night I was looking forward to calling the family as everyone would be over matante Celines and mononcle Daniel’s house for Thanksigivng dinner. Chantal answered the phone and was super surprised to hear me. It was funny. My parents knew I was going to try to call, but hadn’t told them, which was a good way to surprise them. It was nice to talk to all of them and hear the random voices in the background. It’s unfortunate that I can’t call more often, and individually to each of my relatives, but the cost of calling from here is ridiculous. Just to give you an idea, calling locally costs me 62c per minute, so imagine long distance! Even with an international calling card, it’s not much cheaper. So I apologize in advance to all of you who I’d love to call and talk to, and find out what you’ve all been up to, but the costs is just too much, so emailing is the best way to get a hold of me and keep me posted on life. This blog is I think a great way to keep you all informed on what I’ve been up to. And although these entries are really long, I’ve decided to keep them as such as I know some of you appreciate the detail.

Sunday I spent most of the day in my pjs which was nice. That night we had our makeshift thanksgiving dinner. A small chicken (which came with the head and feet still attached), attempted stuffing (which was more like soggy, seasoned bread, but tasted just the same) and mashed potatoes. It was really good. After dinner, I tried calling the other side of the family at matante Marianne’s cottage for the Rodrigue Thanksgiving dinner, but numerous failed attempts made it unsuccessful.

The rest of the night was pretty low key. Anne and I watched a Quebec tv series called ‘Fortier’, which is about a clumsy psychologist cop working with some special task force.

Randoms of the Week

-learned the other day that the guard across the street (who Benoit often goes to chill and have a drink with) wants to marry me. I’ve been considering more lately whether I should start wearing a ring on my wedding finger to get people off my back (more so just to prevent guys who only come and talk to me because they want a relationship with a foreigner) from doing so if that’s their intention. We had a good laugh about it that night and Benoit concluded that I need a tall boyfriend because he says that I’m a giant. Pretty sure he’s 5’7 (I’m 5’8), but it was funny that he associates me with being a giant haha.

-had a super delicious salad this week at the conference. Best salad I think I have ever eaten, or maybe had in a while, so it was that much more amazing. It had lettuce, papaya, avocado, grapefruit and a cream dressing, yum!

Week 6

Mon, Oct 13^th

Back to school today. I have to say that the kids are pretty violent here. They are constantly hitting each other, and my attempts to hold them to calm them down and make it clear that it is not acceptable goes in vain as they pitch a fit and flail their arms relentlessly for 10min until I let them go. I could always resort to smacking them in the head, which I have seen some of the teachers do, but I can’t bring my hand to make that motion, so for now I’ll stick to my method and hope it’ll result in some positive change.

Tue, Oct 14^th

Today I decided to start some serious thesis research. I’ve been toying with a lot of ideas lately so took today to find some articles online and save them onto my computer so that I can solidify a topic.

The last of my organization’s volunteers for the year arrived today. It is a family from Quebec (I’m the only non-Quebec volunteer here, woot represent!). We took them out to a local restaurant that we found the other day. Since they are staying at the hotel, they only know of few nearby restaurants which are pretty expensive, so we invited them out. ‘Nun Dunia’ I think it’s called is a restaurant that supports and is run by an organization that helps street kids get off the streets and learning new skills to make a living. The servers, cooks, etc. are all participants in the program. The food is European (they even have lasagna) and not that expensive. We will definitely go there more often to support the good cause.

Tonight was the start of ‘Waga HipHop’, Burkina’s hip hop festival, which I had been looking forward to checking out. But none of my Burkinabe friends wanted to go, and they all laughed at me when I said I wanted to check it out. I guess my only gangsta friends will always remain in Scarborough. Anne, Benoit, Marie-Helene and I ended up going though, and I was able to convince our friend Issiaka to meet us there to check out a beatboxing concert titled ‘Doctor Swing’. The concert had a bunch of components. It opened with a fashion show (which was bizarre to watch). There was some pretty gangster looks and poses I must say. And then there was this one white guy in the mix, which was pretty funny. After that there were a bit of beatboxing, slow breakdancing and spoken word performances. The second last performance was the contemporary breakdancing, which was good, but 1 hour long was a bit much. We almost left, but we were totally glad we didn’t because the closing act was the second place world beatboxing champion. He was Belgium (all the beatboxing acts were white lol) and it was amazing! I’ve tried to upload some clips of the concert, but have been unsuccessful, so you’ll just all have to wait to see them.

Overall I was loving the concert. It was 4 hours long, but I felt totally in my element. People in the audience were really into it too and some were even brraaaappping (for my family who might not get that, its when you raise your hand in the air like a gun and say ‘brappp’), something done in gangster places like Scarborough.

Wed, Oct 15^th

Today I wanted to call Grandma and Grandpa Rodrigue as I hadn’t been able to reach the Rodrigue family for thanksgiving. And although I couldn’t call everyone from that side (it was a bummer I couldn’t reach them when they were all together), I at least wanted to say hi to the grandparents and see how they were doing. So I decided to test out Skype and bought $14 of credit, which I think is going to last me quite a while. I called my grandma and after a second attempt (grandpa couldn’t hear me the first time, so I had to call back), my grandma was surprised to hear my voice. It was surprisingly very clear and a lot cheaper then calling cards.

I was so excited with the success and cheapness of my call that I wanted to call someone else, so I called my mom at work. She was obviously very surprised to hear me on the other end of the line and it was nice to talk to her. But unfortunately as my dad is never in one place for long, I didn’t reach him in his office, so I spoke to my mom for a while and continued with my day.

Although Skype made my day, it is only convenient during a few hours of the day as it is the only time the office is open and I have access to the net. Otherwise I could use it at the internet café at a more convenient time, but they always have a ‘hush hush’ policy so I’m not sure I want to tread those waters just yet and try my luck being the only one speaking out loud over my computer. A lot of people at cyber cafes use web cams, but merely for the visual. They look through the camera and type at the same time.

That night I also called Ange. But it took me 4 attempts until she figured out that the delay was not a telemarketer but a legitimate delay from calling from another continent haha. It was great to talk to her. She’s my best friend and we used to talk and email each other about 20 times a day at school, so it was good to hear her voice over the phone. She has been back in Ottawa from her placement in Guatemala because of medical reasons, but she is hoping they will soon figure out what’s wrong and she can get back and finish her placement soon.

Today was full of communication. Lastly I got to talk to Eric a bunch on msn who was in Banff for a conference. He seemed to be enjoying his time there, but I was asking him what he was waiting for to go check out the hot tub. I hope you eventually did Eric!

Thur, Oct 16^th

Today was full of good news too. Why you ask. Because a Halloween party in Bobo was confirmed and as it is my favourite holiday and I am super stoked for it!!! We would of made one here in Ouaga, but I’m very happy it’s in Bobo since the engineering gang works 6 days a week and wouldn’t be able to make the trip to Ouaga to join the party. But seeing as though it is in their hood, they will definitely be able to come out.

That night, it was Anne and Benoit’s anniversary. They have been together 10 years, so they went out for dinner together. I went to another Waga HipHop event and saw the movie ‘Steppin’ which is actually a movie I wanted to see in Canada but hadn’t gotten the chance.

Fri, Oct 17^th

Tonight was the last night of Waga HipHop. So Anne, Benoit and myself went to check out the last of the movie showcase which turned out to be ‘You Got Served’ in French. I nearly died laughing. This is a movie I have seen a bunch of times at university with my friends merely to mock the ridiculousness of it, especially the classic quotes we have extracted from it such as ‘fo sho fo sho’ and ‘no matter what happens in this battle, what’s important is that in the end we all be friends’. Classic! Although the French version wasn’t as funny, I was reminiscing the good times of watching and mocking the English version with friends and it made me happy.

After the movie, we were off to the restaurant ‘Chez Simon’ for the new volunteer family’s ‘welcome dinner’. During the dinner, Angele (the regional coordinator for my organization) was finding it quite funny of my life advice, which we later coined ‘Tiana’s guide, tips and tricks on how to survive’. We figured that these survival mechanisms had developed through my years on residence and it was suggested that I should give workshops on ‘how to survive Burkina’. The following were the reasons for this discussion:

Tip #1: Drink fast to avoid infected ice cubes from melting. This came about as

Charlotte (who came down for the weekend) got a fanta with a glass of ice on the side. She asked the waiter if the ice was safe to drink (as you should avoid restaurant ice cubes because they are often made from tap water which is the best way to inhale a virus). Angele said that it was ‘Chez Simon’ and that they have good standards. But I suggested that as long as you drank fast enough, the ice wouldn’t have time to melt and it would be safe, a comment for which Angele nearly died lauhing.

Tip #2: To prolong the life and freshness of your foods, put them in the freezer.

This has been a habbit of mine that has faced much ridicule and commenting from my friends even in university, but it works! To give one solid example, I had brought corn nuts from Canada and after a few weeks they had gone stale, so I put them in the freezer to slow the process. And after 2 more weeks in the freezer I ate some and they were like new! Like the freezer had reversed the staling process. My housemates here have even found it weird on how many things I freeze, including Kracks (fake Pringles). Freezing them not only kept them crispier, but it actually faded the bad after taste they had previously. See, the marvels of the freezer never cease.

Tip #3: Combine foods to create new things. I didn’t think that this was rocket science, but my friends here were just as amazed as Ange was in Toronto when I combined flour and water to make pizza dough. Yes, you are pretty much making dough out of the same stuff you used to make glue with as a kid, but I’m telling you it works! You just got to get creative.

Stay tuned for more survival tips as they come up!

Weekend

This weekend was fabric shopping for our Halloween costumes. So Charlotte, Anne and myself checked out the local market, downtown shops and even the ‘pagne cemetary’ which a guy led us to through a dark alley (Charlotte was like ‘Tiana, don’t follow him in there, where is he taking u?) haha. But don’t worry, I could see the other side, so I knew it was safe. In the end, Anne found some fabrics for her and Benoit’s costumes (they are going to get Kimonos made), but I was less lucky in my search.

As it was super hot and we were all feeling a little out of it (3 of us weren’t feeling so hot, so we thought maybe it was last night’s restaurant, but we all ate different things, so couldn’t pin point why we were all feeling crappy).

After a quick lunch, we headed to the American Embassy where we spent the afternoon swimming to relieve our bodies from the heat and drank delicious lemonade.

That night Charlotte left to go back to Gourcy and we had planned to go check out a football game at the local stadium (our friend had even ‘soccer mom’ made us peanutbutter and jam sandwhiches for the game) but the game was cancelled. So we took the night pretty easy. Anne had Lorena McKennit on her computer (awww dad J) so we listened to that and I did some water painting (for the first time in 4 years!).

Randoms of the Week

-I have adapted fairly well to the things I see on a daily basis. Things such as the town crazy. Well I don’t know if he really is a town crazy, but more like a town nude. There’s this one guy who is always walking around naked through the busy streets. Seeing him and others do the same doesn’t phase me. The lack of hygiene at the school (which is also common in the streets) has also become ‘just another thing’. For example, although we have hole toilets in the yard, kids who need to urinate just pull out their willies or squat wherever they are standing (even if it is inches from us or another kid) and pee in place. Then since the kids are mostly walking around barefoot, they are stepping in the wet puddles and wouldn’t know the difference. Not to mention that there is no hand washing going on (except for before they eat their snack). I must say though that we have been getting the kids to use the designated toilets more often to do their business, so things are getting better. But it is something done by all kids. It is not unusual to come out of my house and see kids squatting across the street doing their business.

Week 7

Mon, Oct 20^th

Courses finally started today at the school. They had been waiting for the minister of education to give them some workbooks and the okay to start classes (I don’t really know why they have to really wait), but up to now, the kids were just playing and such for the period of the school day.

So for the next 3 days, I spent one day in each of the 3 classes just observing how the day generally works and the types of lessons and presentations used. Over the three days the classes discussed politeness, the sun’s position in the sky and the concept of ‘on/under’. It wasn’t too intensive to say the least, but it is the first week of classes and some of our kids are as young as 2, so you can’t really expect them to be learning physics just yet.

That afternoon, I rode with Anne to the office as she had just bought herself a used P50, a moped like mine, and since the roads are a bit hectic was a bit afraid to go on her own, so I offered to follow ahead of her. It was funny because she was having a hard time starting her moped and sometimes she’d start it and it would shut off, so she’d have to peddle again to get it going. And at one point we were on the street and our neighbour (a young woman with her baby on her back) ran behind her to help her push start it. It was too funny and I wish I had my camera on me to capture the moment.

Tue, Oct 21^st

Today I was pumped to go check out another fabric store (a store that had more than just pagnes, they’re nice and all, but not the look I’m really going for for my Halloween costume). On the way there, I made to take a left turn (as the store was at the left corner) in order to park my moto, but it turns out that that’s a one way street (things are marked here very poorly, so who knew). So of course there was a police standing there and they took my moto and I had to go to the side with them. They were very nice though, I gave them my proof of purchase and passport picture and he said that he’d decrease the 12,000f fine to 6,000f (which is the actual price, I found out later). I didn’t argue with them and paid them out. I didn’t negotiate a decrease in fine either, although I could of. I figured they knew I was going into the fabric store, so I couldn’t really say that I only had 4,000f or something then walk out of the store with a purchase. He even explained to me the best way to slip him the money (put it into my proof of purchase, which he would slide into his pocket to let the money fall in). It’s so obvious, I don’t know why they even bother. A simple handshake transfer would be more subtle. They were nice enough though to offer to watch my bike while I went into the store so that I didn’t have to pay for parking there lol.

The store was like a small version of Fabric Land and I found the perfect material for my costume, which I am pumped about! The sales people kept following me around which was funny and the Lebanese owners kept calling them over to the other end of the store to stop the conversations. What was funnier was that when the guy was cutting out my fabric, one of the Lebanese guys was standing right in front of him, no doubt making sure he didn’t give me a little bonus fabric.

That night we went back to the local maquis with some friends to eat sheep. As we were leaving they began to play the Eagles CD. It made me think of my parents J. Oh classic tunes.

After the maquis, Anne and I went to the tailor to put in our Halloween costume orders. Just picture this with me for a second. Halloween is a very North American thing, however some parts of the world appreciate and partake in costume parties of various sorts. Not Africa. The very notion of wanting to dress up in a costume of anything that resembles something out of the norm is unheard of, and they think it’s very strange. Now imagine going to the tailor and explaining to him why you want a mermaid costume made. They don’t even know what a mermaid is. If they can’t understand why people would want to dress up in another decade (say for example an 80s party, which is at least somewhat normal clothes), imagine his thoughts when I showed him a picture of a half human, half fish and requested a duplicate. Lol. He handled it pretty well, but I think I prepared him well saying ‘now you can’t laugh at me when I show you this, you’re going to think I’m crazy, but this is a Canadian tradition’. He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face, but besides that he didn’t burst out laughing or anything. I’m sure he reacted a little more when we left. Needless to say, I am going to be a mermaid, and I can’t wait to see how the costume turns out. If it looks anything like the picture I showed him as an example, it’s going to be awesome!

Wed, Oct 22^nd

Today was not that eventful. Went back to the tailor to confirm what we wanted and give him coloured copies of our costumes (the black and white really wasn’t helping in explaining what we wanted).

That night we started watching the series ‘Heroes’, and watched 4 episodes. I had never gotten into it, but had many people (including my parents) who said it was really good. I had gotten 3 seasons off of our friend Ronnie, so we’re set for a while.

Thur, Oct 23^rd

Last night had a terrible sleep. I slept not more than 1-2 hours tops, so I was pretty tired at work. Today I started working on my plan of action, which describes how I plan on implementing the things that are in my mandate.

At the office that afternoon, I met a professor from the university of Sherbrook that had come to visit the Bama gang and their project. It was good to hear him talk about how they were all doing well and tell us of the amazing progress they had made in the construction phase.

That night I realized that I hadn’t updated my blog in 3 weeks and so I began working on it when I got home.

Fri, Oct 24^th

Woot it’s Friday. This week has been particularly long. I think it’s because I cannot wait until next weekend to go to Bobo and for the Halloween celebrations. All of the students my age (8 of them) are leaving in a few months time, so I always like to get together with them when I can, and I’ll be bummed when they leave.

I bought a papaya tree today. Haha. Growing (or attempting to grow) fruit trees in our yard would be sweet if it succeeded. I gave the tree to our gardener (who comes twice a week to make sure our trees don’t die) made me discover many trees I didn’t know we had. I knew we had a mango tree (but when I arrived the season was done, so I’ll have to wait a while before I can enjoy some). We’ll also have a papaya tree and he had planted a banana tree, which he says should produce in 3 months! Things grow super fast here since it’s always sunny. So as long as we water it lots, we’ll be able to start our own fruit market in a few months, or just eat tons more fresh fruits. Yum!

7 days till Halloween!!!

And here is a link to my pictures, loading them on here hasn't been too successful, so this link should work. I post all my pictures on here, so if you check them out, you won't be missing a thing :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2438058&l=88600&id=28123092

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2448038&l=1273c&id=28123092

Hugs to all***

Tiana

Moving, Working, Sweating...

It’s been a while, I know, so let me recap some of the things that have happened over the last couple of weeks…it seems so long ago that I’ve done all these things, and so much has happened, yet it hasn’t even been 2 weeks.

Week 2:

Wed, Sept 17th
I moved out today. Everything worked out with Benoit and Anne, so I moved in with them, which makes me very happy. I am completely satisfied with my decision to move in here, and although it is a bit of a bubble to live in such a nice house, I think that for my mental and physical health, it will be much better as it will put me in a better state to be productive and useful at work and around the community. Not to mention the fact that we are in town and fairly close to lots of things like theatres and community centers, which I am hoping to take full advantage of.

That night they introduced me to a Korean television series called ‘Jewel in the Palace’. It is the story of a young cook who works in the king’s palace. It’s all in Korean, but we watch it with very badly translated English subtitles, which makes it that much funnier. The facial expressions are also always exaggerated, so all in all, it is good entertainment.

I set up my mosquito net tonight for the first time. It’s great. There are lots of mosquitoes, but besides that, it is a nice mental relief to know that there is a barrier between you and any critters that may want to crawl into your bed while you’re trying to sleep.

Thur, Sept 18th
Took my moto to the office today for the first time, which also meant the need to fill up my tank. Apparently not all gas stations have the mix needed for motos, so after stopping to ask 4 random people along my way I eventually tanked up and was on my way.

I don’t quite understand the rules of the road here (mom, don’t freak out). If my parents ever came, I’d want to give them (especially my mom) a ride on my moto because I know she’d freak out haha. Id describe the traffic here as ‘organized chaos’, I’m still learning how the streets work, especially because there are 3 street lights geared towards 3 different classifications of vehicles (cars, large motos and small motos- which get their own lane). My strategy at this point is just to stay behind other motos and follow traffic. So far it has worked out nicely.

Going home, I got lost. The lack of street names and unique buildings along the way make is so that I have no idea where I am. Describing the route to my house is to remember that we are so many streets (called ‘6 metres’, bc in theory they are 6m wide) from the main road, but that doesn’t always work out… I just circled around until I found my way (good thing I was on a motorized bike and not pedaling bc I’d die of heat exhaustion).

Later that night, we were madly craving hamburgers and tried to find ‘Happy Ronalds Hamburger Place’, which we found in a tourist book, but that didn’t work out because the taxi drivers don’t really know where anything is. It was really funny hearing Benoit, with a strong French accent repeating the name of the restaurant to the taxi driver. In the end, we settled for another restaurant called ‘Chez Simon’ where we had hamburgers and crepes. They were delish! Benoit also order a 1L mug of beer, which cost him a whopping $3.75.

Fri, Sept 19th
Today I met up with Djeneba, Nathalie’s old cook to give her some stuff that Nathalie had left with me. It took a while to find her, even though I met her in her own neighbourhood), I knew more street names and main buildings then she did (after having been here for only 2 weeks, and she’s lived here for years! The sense of direction is pretty much the same for the large majority of the Burkinabe population.

That night, I kept getting calls from a private number and didn’t want to pick it up. The girl that I had met at the picture store has been excessively calling me (at one point 8 times within a 15min period!) so I haven’t been answering. And because I deleted her number, I didn’t want to pick up in case it was her. She could be completely innocent, and I understand that here, people will often call you just to say hi or wish you a good night, but I thought that she was being a little excessive. At 10pm, I decided to pick up the phone with an English accent and it turns out it was my parents (which is what I was afraid of, not that it was them, but that I hadn’t been picking up while they’ve been trying to reach me). But I explained the whole story on how I haven’t been answering calls from private numbers and they seemed to be catching my drift.

Sleeping these nights hasn’t been so bad. I have luckily 3 cooling methods available to me, a ground fan (which I have been opting for), a ceiling fan, which is super great and refreshing, but sounds like an airplane, and an air conditioner, which leaks. I’ve only slept with the AC once as I’m trying to avoid it (trying to acclimatize myself). But when I did, I had to sleep with earplugs to muffle the sound of the Chinese drip water torture from the leak, which was also splashing off the wall and onto my bed. But as I have done in the past, I tried to come up with some random contraption, complete with a towel, plastic container, bucket and sewing pins to catch most of the drip and prevent the splashing.

Weekend
Finally checked out the internet café across the street and managed to talk to the parents on msn. I got the recipes for tarte a sucre and sucre a crème, but the only ‘brown sugar’ they have here is like coarse yellow sugar, so not sure if I’ll get the same results. Nonetheless, I’ll try it out and keep you posted.

The organization I am here with has network groups in a lot of universities across Canada as well as 2 clubs in universities in developing countries. It just so happens that one of those is at the University of Ouagadougou, so I have gotten a hold of the president of the club and am hoping to partake in their meetings and events. It would be very interesting to see what the same kind of club we have in Canada does within a developing country context.

Went to the National Museum and the Museum of Masks, which was opened for us as we arrived (I guess it’s not that big of a hot spot). So we got a personal tour of the museum (and the one exhibition they had, that depicted the artifacts found in a site in the northern part of Burkina). The masks were really cool though as they each had an important role and significance.

Next we went to the Centre D’Artisanat (we were taking our friend’s girlfriend out for the day as he was at work and she is just visiting). The village had a bunch of vendors who make and sell their artwork. There were some really beautiful pieces. All I kept thinking of was ‘how many of these things can I fit in my luggage’. I’m holding off though until the end of October when there is a national artisan fair, so that I can hopefully get some better deals and pick up a few souvenirs. I did buy one thing though, a lizard key chain as a reminder of my first night in Burkina.

Randoms of the Week:
-People on the streets sell pirated DVDs (which seldom work). But what gets me is the fact that each dvd has 30-70 ‘videos’ on them. By videos they mean halves or quarters of movies, but still, I can’t even manage to get 2 movies on a burnt DVD, how are they managing to put 30-70 on one single disc! Mysterious indeed!

-it is so hot here. Just today, it was 43* with humidity. Yurk! But if 45* is the hottest norm for the hot season, I’m pretty sure I can handle it. I’ve already gotten over the discomfort of having sweat dripping down my legs while sitting in place in the shade, yes it is that hot! Don’t let that scare you dad, there is a cold season ;)

Week 3

Mon, Sept 22nd
I started work today. Spent the whole day reading an annual report which gave me a little look into the other projects this organization has. Overall, I didn’t do too much. The concept of time and efficiency is very different in Africa then it is in Canada. People take a big importance in saying hi to everyone as they come into the office, even if it means interrupting a meeting to announce that you have arrived. Saluting people generally entails saying good morning/afternoon, shaking hands, asking how they are, how their family is, how their health is, how their activities are, etc. etc. As it was the first day at work, I opted to wear a short sleeve blazer, an idea I soon regretted as temperatures raised up to 40* by the afternoon.

The people I work with are super cool though. Everyone is really friendly and I have already taken to calling one of them, Oswald, ‘papa’ (as Nathalie did when she was here and this is how he was introduced to me) and another, Dimanche, insists (and continues to introduce me to people) as his second wife. Here, Muslims (which make up about half of the population) can have more than one wife.

Tue, Sept 23rd
Today my ride didn’t show up, so I stayed home. Spent the day working from home and that was as interesting as it got.

At night, we went to the Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) (it’s ‘Western Week’) where we watched ‘Rio Bravo’, an old American western film.

Wed, Sept 24th
Today I spoke to the director of the organization to try to figure out the hours I’ll be working, if I’ll be based out of the school, if they want me at the office so many times per week in the afternoons, etc. I also offered to give seminars on computer programs if people in the office were interested (to pass the time, since I’d have one more week there until I started at the school). So I sent around a letter to the 10 staff members, introducing myself and offering to provide these workshops. Learning how to use Excel seems to be a popular program, so I guess I’ll have to spiffy up my Excel skills in order to give them useful tips.

I also visited the schools today that are funded by the association. As I entered, all the kids would stand up and speak in unison ‘bonjour madame’. There were 3 schools in 2 separate areas that we checked out, one of which had a huge puddle of water in the court (or rather a breeding ground for mosquitoes).

That night, we went to the ‘Soiree des contes’. Its like a neighbourhood ‘story telling’ night, where local theatre group members prepare dialogues and perform them outdoor. It was pretty good, but they lost me on half of the stories. The thing I remember the most from them is the morals which were often ‘and that’s why we have oceans’, ‘and that’s why we have mice in our homes’. I wouldn’t try to understand that, just take it as it is, and keep reading on, there’s not much to get.

Thur, Sept 25th
Today the secretary asked me to make her an image that she could use for the title page of a report they were submitting. She wanted a picture of a father blessing a child (keep in mind this association is religious), so all day I spent photoshoping a picture of that. Sorry Ange, paint wasn’t going to cut it this time.

Tonight we went back to the CCF to check out a Burkinabe Western film. It was very entertaining. It was 30 minutes of stereotypical western shooting/fighting, donkey riding (they ran out of horses), sheep stealing, cowboy hat wearing, all around goodness.

Weekend
This weekend we were going to go to the store ‘Kastouprit’ which is like a random store with all kinds of stuff. On my way there, since Benoit and Anne ride on a more powerful motorbike, we are in different lanes and of course I got lost. I stopped a few times to call them, but we kept missing each other. As I was waiting on a street corner, some random guy came up to me and turned out to be pretty cool. He brought me to the store and waited with me until they got there.
Saturday night was 2 cooperants’ going away party (Antoine and Geraldine). So we went over to their place for a potluck dinner, where I met a lot of random and really nice people, including some of Sara’s old friends (another girl from our program who did her coop in Burkina). One of the guys was making a traditional Burkinabe tea, which a lot of people drink as a social thing. It consists of brewing extremely strong and sweet tea in 3 consecutive brews (which get continuously weaker) and sharing a shot-sized glass with friends. As I was poured a glass, I asked Didier, the guy beside me if I was supposed to drink it in one shot (it was, after all in a shot glass) and he said yes, so I drank it like a shot. But as soon as I did, Didier was like ‘no, don’t drink it too fast, you’re going to burn yourself’. Turns out you are supposed to sip it. Well I got that information a little too late haha. Needless to say all the people around me found it amusing, as did I.

Later that night, we headed to a club, where I was surprised to see more guys dancing then girls, and by themselves! It was a nice change of scenery from the creepy groping guys in some Canadian clubs. It was also curious to see that there were mirrors all around the dance floor, which people stood in front of to watch themselves dance. In total, they played 5 non African songs, which they played back to back. Starting with none other than Aqua’s Barbie Girl. Oh ya, you can surely picture me getting really into it on the dance floor haha. That was followed by Numa Numa, Boom Boom by the Venga Boys and some 50 cent song.

Last night I opted to sleep with the air conditioner. I set it at a nice 28*C, which you may think is hot, but actually kept me quite cool (I even got up in the middle of the night to put a sweater on, imagine that!). The only downfall to the AC is that it leaks, so it was dripping all night into a bucket that I had placed under the unit. I also got up and built a contraption that included a towel, a plastic object and some sewing pins to stop the dripping from bouncing off the wall and splashing me on the bed. Overall, the coolness was worth the hassle, the earplugs even muffled most of the Chinese torture sounds of dripping water.

Sunday, a friend that I met when I first arrived (Charlotte, who is here on a 3 month placement through the University of Ottawa) came down from Gourci, about 2 hours north from where I am, to visit for the day. We didn’t do too much except attempt bringing her to buy some fruits that are not easily found in her area. But as we got to the one street (where the store we wanted had closed) we opted to try to get some stuff from the street vendors. But as we stopped our motos, we were surrounded by a swarm of vendors (which supposedly is in the Burkina guide book as the most hassling place in Ouagadougou to go). In any case, they were very persistent and annoying and after 20min we had had enough and tried to escape with a pineapple and bag of cashews.

We also found a Boulangerie (where the bagettes are made) that is owned by French people and that sells chocolate croissants! I love Ouagadougou! Haha. Chocolate croissants, can I ask for anything more?

Randoms of the Week
-Ange, you’ll be disgusted to hear that people eat dog here, mostly in the villages, but if one is killed by a car or something, people will surely take it home for dinner. I’ve been thinking if I’d ever taste it, since it is a specialty in some villages how Ange would kill me (she doesn’t eat pig because they have the same intelligence as dogs, imagine if she learned I ate dog!)

-random story, since we are on the animal topic. One cooperant was packing up to go on a trip and told her guard to prepare the cat while she went out to get some last minute things at the store. When she returned, she couldn’t find her cat, so she asked her guard where he was and he brought out a skewer with…well he prepared the cat alright :S

-the other day at work, in a period of boredom waiting for my ride, I picked up a phone book, where I tried to see how many people had the last name Ouédraogo, and more specifically which name was the most popular. After some browsing I found that Abama Ouédraogo is the most popular name in this city, with a total of 110 people holding the same first and last name.

Week 4

Mon, Sept 29th
Today I got to visit the clinic which is run by the Evangelist organization. It was in the poorest area of the region, which was definitely an eye opener, but something that I had been looking ‘forward’ to experiencing. Since I live in the capital, poverty is masked and a lot more hidden, so I definitely want to get out into the villages more and get a real feel of why this country is ranked 2nd last in the world on the Human Development Index.

Inside, I went into a room, where there were about 8 beds and 2 dozen people standing around. On the beds were children, the oldest of which was maybe 7yrs old, all on IVs. The director told me that this was the ‘malaria room’, where the cases were so severe that it surpassed the ability to treat the disease through oral medication. No one spoke, but just stood in silence and watched me. Driving back I was just thinking on how ‘this is the time to do something’ and I was looking forward to being able to come back and spend more time at the clinic in order to better understand how it functions and the difficulties faced in the region.

Tues Sept 30th
Today is Ramadan, which means the day off. This country is mostly populated by Christians and Muslims and you can find both religions within the same family, which is really great. Muslims celebrate Christian holidays as do Christians with Muslim traditions. We were invited to have a Ramadan meal with a friend, Moctar. So as we got there, it ended up being just Benoit and I with Moctar (with his wife and kid and his sister in law and her kid who were preparing the meal). We stayed inside to talk, but after a while I felt bad and went outside to offer my help. I ended up peeling potatoes…with my hands lol. All that kept flashing through my mind was the ‘Willy Waller 2006’ from ‘Tete a Claque’ and how I could have been a part of that demonstration where the nail peeling was put up against the willy waller peeler in a potato peeling challenge. Luckily I had nails, or else that bucket would have taken a lot more time!

Moctar’s wife kept giving Moctar’s sisters’ kid (who is just shy of one) chunks of onion to eat lol, which he seemed to like. Once he was satisfied with eating onion, he moved on to placing an entire clove of garlic in his mouth and chewing it like gum. Yumm…

When the meal was finished, we ate. It was a traditional Senagalian chicken (he’s from Senegal) with sauce and vegetables. It was all placed in a large bowl with a basket of bread to the side. The 3 of us sat around on the floor, washed our hands and dug in (eating with our hands, the traditional African way). Omg, it was soo good haha! It was really funny because Moctar was peeling chunks of chicken from the bone and putting it in front of me. I told him that I was okay and could pick it off myself, but he insisted on replenishing my supply every few minutes and telling me that I need to be well fed. At one point, I grabbed a carrot from the other side of the plate and he noticed and followed by grabbing all the other chunks of carrot in the plate and putting it in front of me (and asking his wife to bring me some more). It was pretty funny.

Wed Oct 1st
Today the office had planned a trip to Gourcy (a rural town in the northern portion of Burkina) where the association has other projects. So we went and visited the schools there. Supposedly because the kids come from pretty far to go to school, they are provided with a lunch. And although each kid is obligated to bring 3kilos of green beans at the beginning of the year to help provide for these lunches, they still spend a lot of money on rice (about $50/day) to provide for the 125 students or so that frequent the school. And this is over a 9 month period! Food prices are ridiculous here, especially relative to wages.

After the school, we visited a few villages in the boonies, and by that I mean, we drove through peanut and sesame fields to come across wheat fields with 1m wide spaces which was like a maze trying to navigate. I have no idea how we managed to find the 2 villages where we were paying our respects to a family with a recently deceased father and one of the workers’ old village. It was my first time in the village and I’m pretty sure it was their first time seeing a white foreigner lol. The kids especially were just staring at me like I was something from outer space. I got to test out a lot of my Moré though (the local language). I know about 6 words, but it was enough to get them to all think that I spoke fluently, which they found very impressive.

Thur Oct 2nd
Today was my first day at the school. The kids are so cute! Haha. School hasn’t officially started yet, it is pretty much just watching kids play in the court all day, giving them some bread, pouring them water, etc. On Monday they will start their courses. I think for now it is just to get them used to coming to school and getting into that routine, since these kids are as young as 3 years old and it is their first time away from their moms. But at times I am left alone to supervise over 40 kids outside between the ages of 3-5!
This afternoon I went to the WUSC office to use the internet, and I am here now trying to recap the last 2 weeks of being here so that I can finally give you all an update.

Overall, I have to say that I am really happy with my situation. I love living where I’m living, Anne and Benoit are great to live with, I have met and made a bunch of local friends, I have checked out a bunch of local street vendors, theatres and events. I am feeling really comfortable and at home here. At some points, as weird as this may sound, I feel less of a minority here then when I’m in Canada (even though I am stared at and called ‘nasara’- white foreigner- by all the children).

Tomorrow I am off to Bobo for the weekend with Charlotte. It is about 5hrs by bus and is the second largest town in Burkina. We are hoping for good weather to be able to check out some falls and to hang out with friends that we made during our travel from Canada.

Until next time…take care everyone.
Tiana