Week 20: Mon, Jan 26th – Fri, Jan 30th

A new UofOttawa student got here today for a 2.5 month coop. She brought me a bunch of stuff from my friends in Ottawa which was cool. Ange and Charlotte sent me a bunch of stuff including some much wanted workout and pilates videos woot! Physical activity!

School was funny today. I stayed after it had ended to go through a bag of outdoor games that the school had received from tourist visiting; half of which they didn’t know what it was. So I taught them what a Frisbee was (they thought they were plastic plates), how baseball worked (by drawing them a little diagram) and a bunch of other stuff like yo-yos and bouncy balls. It was cute.

The cold season is officially over. Yep, 2 weeks after its beginning. And I was holding off from buying hot cocoa since I thought it wouldn’t last and after caving in 2 days ago, it got hot again! Boo. I tell the locals that 2 weeks of cold weather cannot be considered a ‘season’. Seasons last months, but I guess it was good while it lasted!

Benoit also signed a new contract with a Canadian mining company (yep, Canada owns gold mines over here, 7 to be exact). So they just signed another 2 years of their lives in Africa, but the offer was too good to pass up, so they went for it. Besides with today’s economic slum, it’s an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

Our organization had a conference today which was a report of a volunteer’s work in analyzing volunteer contributions within all partner organizations in the last 5 years. It was interesting. Turns out 10% of volunteers who come end their contracts early! 10%! It seems high, but since I’ve seen more then 10% of people decide to leave early since I’ve been here, I guess the statistics aren’t as off as they first appeared. The conference results were interesting and did trigger some thesis potential, so I’ll be looking into that. At night since everyone was in town for the conference, we headed to the Verdoyant, a great restaurant (with good pizzas and ice cream!) I ate way too much, but it was so good I couldn’t resist.

Made a deal with a friend for the next day (he doesn’t speak any French, so a solo expedition to the post office would be less then amusing for him). The deal: I drive him to the Post office and in exchange I get to use his internet (he’s got internet at home!) So we internetted for a while, then I took him there (where he proceeded to lick a ridiculous amount of stamps instead of using the wet sponge, which made the clerk laugh). We then stopped on our way back to a store, which I always pass and was curious to see. It’s a kind of department store, you can get anything and everything there (well not Everything, but it’s probably the most selection of goods found in one building I’ve seen so far here, so that’s got to count for something!)

Weekend 20

This weekend was the school director’s daughter’s wedding. So as it is customary to invite friends, families, neighbours and cousins twiced removed, I was invited too. I went to the place where the wedding ceremony was happening, and I stood outside with a crowd of people waiting to notice someone I knew. But no one. I waited 1.5hrs in the sun looking around for anybody who would signify that I was in the right place. I watched a total of 3 weddings pass through the hall (one finishes, they leave, the crowd waiting outside move into the hall, a new couple go in, get married, and it happens all over again with a new crowd of people and new couple). It’s like a drive through wedding haha.
After too long under the sun, I recognized one of the staff from the school next to ours and went to say hi. Turns out we were at the right wedding and that the director was not there, neither were any of the other teachers I work with since they were at her house preparing food. They didn’t even go to their own daughter’s wedding because they were making sure that food was ready for the guests! Ayayay. We left there and headed to the reception where they sat me at the VIP table in front of everybody (even though I insisted sitting hidden within the crowd). We ate a bit then headed to the director’s house for more food.

By early afternoon I was tired and hot and headed home. I called a friend and we met at the pool for a swim and lemonade, yum! Later went to her house for supper, then headed home tired and ready for bed.

Week 21: Mon, Feb 2nd – Fri, Feb 6th

Started working on computer program workshops I’ll be giving at my partner organization. I’ll be doing workshops on Word, Paint, PowerPoint, Excel, and Photoshop. But I’ve been working a lot on them and it’s getting really redundant.

Took out the pancake mix I brought from Canada to make pancakes for supper. The first time I’ve opened it. (Still have my Kraft Dinner and chicken noodle soup reserve ). Our friend is over tonight. She has been having problems with her landlord. She is leaving her mandate early because has done over 2.5 yrs of volunteer work and needs a break. The landlord is saying that she owes him money because he paid the taxes on the rental for the entire year, and now since she is leaving early, he paid taxes on months pointlessly, and is telling her to pay the difference (he even threatened to sew her and our organization if she didn’t). To cheer her up, we went out for a drink at our favourite maquis. But because we were 3 girls alone, guys kept coming up to us to say hi and ask to sit with us. I guess when we rejected the one, his buddies never got the hint that when we said we were having a ‘ladies night’ that that meant we didn’t want any boys to sit with us haha.

Took up the school’s programming again this morning. This is something I did at the beginning of the year, but that the director is just now questioning. So although it is redoing work that has already been done, I’m happy since it shows an interest and that whatever we do will more likely be used in future years. After school, I headed to the university to join the club in a discussion of how to cut a budget for a conference we are hosting this weekend. But agreeing on what is important and what could be cut out for the sake of cost was not as easy as it seemed. They requested funding from their organization but only received half of it, so they had to cut somewhere. But apparently cutting a $75 1-time use poster was not in their plans. So it was a bit frustrating because I come from the Canadian perspective (the ones giving the funding) and they from the local perspective. But agreeing on what was important was not happening.

A couple volunteers are heading back to Canada this week. One today and another moved into our house to spend her last couple days before heading out this weekend.

Headed to the school again today and suggested getting armoires and a shelf made in order to organize the supplies and toys that they have (which now sit in boxes), so that we can evaluate what is missing and integrate what they have into the lesson plans and activities. After asking for a price analysis, I learned that to make 2 armoires and 1 shelf, it would cost $500! Ayayay. Way too much. So I’ll have to do some serious negotiating with the partner organization to show them the value of getting these items. I also brought the Magic Bullet to school today (see mom and dad, I’m spreading the joy!). I made them mango, banana smoothies. Mmmm. They liked!

Came home to a powerless house, which has been happening a lot lately. Because it’s getting hotter, people are using more electricity, which is resulting in daily power outages, and under this heat, it is not cool (excuse the pun).

I headed out to an electronics store to see if they could fix my cooling pad for my laptop since it’s been heating up a lot faster lately. The owner of the store (an older Lebanese guy) said that it would do nothing since my laptop was full of dust, but he offered to clean it out for free woot! So I was nice and sat through a complete description of all the products in his store, a sampler of the speaker systems he sells, a private drumming session, etc. I was trying to get out of there, but considering he was going to fix and clean my laptop, I toughed it out. Finally I managed to escape and on my way home took a wrong turn which led to 20 minutes of being completely lost. And my attempts to backtrack just led me deeper into the dirt roads of Ouaga. I was just praying that eventually I’d hit a paved road which would ring a bell and lead me home, which I did, thank god!

Spent the night trying to call people back home (unsuccessfully) and playing UNO, which Ange had sent me through Sandra.

Went to work again this morning and on my way was following a truck which was carrying a couple barrels of oil in the back. But they didn’t have lids, so oil was splashing all over the place, even hitting me, when following meters behind it. Went to the office that afternoon and Anna in her boredom at work (she’s on a coop in Honduras) developed a list of 50 themed parties to consider for next year haha. Oh themed parties! She even planned for a ‘party planning party’ haha. This list went on and continued to develop among a couple of my friends, so hopefully we’ll be implementing some of those ideas next year when we’re all back in T.O. (I’m especially looking forward to the dip and Magic Bullet party ).

I met up with Damaris to discuss once and for all if we are serious about finding a place together. She wants to find a place for $85 per month unfurnished. Hopefully we can find something that is decent, but I think we’ll have to up the price a bit if we don’t want to live in a hole. Later that night, the guy from the electronics store called to see what I was doing (he got my number from the repair form). Ayayay. Headed to le Gigot a la Ficelle as my friend’s last dinner in Burkina, before having a bonfire and wishing her off to Canada.

Weekend 21

Electronic store guy called at 6am this morning! What is he thinking. I had to stop by and pick up my cooling pad and hopefully get my laptop cleaned. He said that the cable was broken and that it would have to be re-wired with a cellphone charger cable in order to work (which he said he just so happened to have an extra one at home which he’d give me). He kept me there 45min before I made an escape. But before I did, he showed me his house which is under construction (and near the store), gave me the complete history of the store’s construction, asked if I was single (which I said no so that he might get the hint) and asked me to stay and have lunch with him. Luckily I was meeting some friends at the hotel pool, so was able to get out of there.
I met up with the German crew at one of Ouaga’s swankiest hotels (well before the new ‘rich’ part of town was constructed. So going there was nice, but cost me $7.50 just for using the pool! Yikes. Left there unwillingly and headed to the campus to set up for the conference which is tomorrow. I spent an hour wiping down desks and chairs that had been sitting unattended for 6 months (because the university has been on a strike). Items which had also been exposed to open windows, which made them ridiculously dusty. As if I didn’t breathe enough dust outside on a daily basis.
Got a txt message from the electronics guy saying he was thinking of me and to come by for him to play me a song on his drums. I didn’t answer. Maybe eventually he’ll stop trying. Even after telling him I had a boyfriend, not to mention he’s my dad’s age (no offence dad, but I’m no Celine Dion).

Sunday was the conference to discuss the clubs’ plans and strategies for the coming year. It included members from the clubs of all 3 universities. My attempt to save them money resulted in me making homemade flower pots with mayonnaise jars, coloured foil paper and ribbon (and random plants I cut from our garden). They were amazed. ‘We could sell these on the streets!’ they kept saying to one another haha. It was funny, but I think a good tip learned for future needs .
The conference ended late, 7pm (after a 6am start to the day). So I got into my pjs as soon as I got home. And who else comes knocking at our door, but my friend who insists that there is something between us, which he can tell when he ‘looks into my eyes’ (oh brother). Just what I needed after a long day. So I went outside and talked to him for a bit, all the while with my other friend (the guard of the house across the street) standing right beside us, arms crossed the entire 20 minutes he was there, as if looking out to make sure I was okay. It was funny. My ‘friend’ didn’t have too much to say. Kind of just stood there, trying to convince me to go out for a drink with him (he didn’t care that I was in my pjs). Eventually I told him I was gonna go back inside and he left. I spent that night unbraiding my hair with the help of Anne and another cooperant who was staying over our place after having dropped off her mom at the airport.

Week 22: Mon, Feb 9th – Fri, Feb 13th

Worked on these never ending workshops. Got the info from the conference that analyzed volunteer contributions from my boss to analyze it for thesis potential. Since I unbraided my hair last night, it’s super crimpy today and I feel like a diva haha. Later that night I brushed it out (yes, I know you are all asking yourself how much hair I lost. Let’s just say a sink full haha, but I have so much hair in the first place, you can barely tell I lost any). But the weight off my head was relieving. And brushing it out, woof! What a fro haha. It was fun. I washed it good that night and spent the rest of the night designing a logo for an event I did advertising for last year on campus. Grrrlfest, a conference centered around women’s issues and interests is going on again this year at my campus back home and this year’s coordinator asked me to help design this year’s logo. So I came up with a couple ideas and emailed them out the next day.

The workshops started today! I decided to do one-on-one workshops. Letting people reserve a time in the days I’ll be spending at the office to have sessions on any computer program that they want. I realize that doing it this way (with 12 employees, averaging about 2-4 hrs per program, per person), it will last months. But I figured this way, they are more likely to retain the information then if I were to do a powerpoint style group presentation. So hopefully my assumptions will turn out correct!

Benoit got back today from spending the first 10 days in the desert at his new job. It really is out in the middle of nowhere, full of sand and scorpions and he sleeps in a container (at least it has AC!). The 3 of us are sick though. Glad to see that he was also sick since I would of wanted no responsibility in transferring my sickness to him upon his return haha. He also got a satellite installed to offer Anne some sort of entertainment while he would be away for 10 days at a time. And maybe we’d be able to get the news.

The more I live here, the more I feel guilty that I’m living so luxuriously though. And it’s convincing me that moving out with Damaris is the right thing to do. I just feel like I was happy to get away from a materialistic environment in Canada just to find one here in Africa.

Electronics guy txted me again. Eventually I’ll have to go back and get my cooling pad, but I’m avoiding all contact until then! That night met up with a friend to go check out a concert. It was interesting. The guy was like the James Brown of Africa in the way that he dance (don’t worry, I captured it on film!) And the band was a dozen piece band complete with trumpets and sax.

Called the rents later on and mentioned that I had just hit my half way mark this week. My mom was cute, she said that she knew I was at that point and could actually tell me that I had exactly 25 weeks and 2 days left haha. I figured she had a general countdown going, but to the day, impressive!

Next day, I asked Benoit to accompany me to the electronics store, assuming arriving with a guy would make for a much quicker escape. It did help. We were in and out there within 5 minutes! But my cooling pad wasn’t even touched. The guy was like ‘if I knew you were coming, I would have fixed it for you’. Ugh, I told you I’d be back to pick it up between Monday and Friday. It is now Friday (the last possible day) and it’s still not fixed. And there was no way I was going to go back there another time (especially because I couldn’t always count on a guy to accompany me hihi). So I told him to just give it to me broken and I’d deal with it. So I wasted 3 weeks on having it there and got nothing out of it but personal drumming serenades, historical descriptions of both his house and company, and a request to have a Canadian contact send me a Canadian made cymbal for his drum set. (Upon his original request, I was going to contact you Allan, but didn’t want to get any friendlier with this guy, so decided not to bother).

Weekend 22

Today is February 14th, Valentine’s Day. Usually I am opposed to VDay just because it is a Hallmark holiday and places so much emphasis in telling someone your appreciation for them through jacked up prices. I was happy to have escaped the commercialization of the holiday by coming to Africa, but it’s a big deal here! There’s even people and companies that will do events to celebrate Valentine’s Week!!! An entire week! Ayayay.

Sandra is down, the UofO student, to spend the weekend in the big city. So I took her out grocery shopping and we headed to the hotel to do some internet. I spent 4 hours skyping friends back home who were online and giving me all the latest gossip on the crew. It was great to talk to them. I haven’t had the chance to do so since I got here really.

That night the girls (Anne, Sandra and I) headed for a romantic dinner at a new Italian restaurant. It wasn’t bad. Cleanest bathrooms I’ve seen in Africa thus far. They even have individual towels to dry your hands! Heck, I’m happy if there’s even a toilet bowl to sit on! But towelettes…too much! We left with roses from the restaurant’s owner and Sandra and I headed to see a boxing match (no better way to celebrate VDay then by a showcase of violence haha). It was cool. I had never been to a boxing match, but the locals were really into it. Especially when it was a white Algerian guy against their national champ (who ended up winning). Everyone upon his victory started and revved their engines to celebrate.

Worked again on the workshops this morning and wished Sandra off back to the village. Went back to the hotel to Skype with the rents. After 30 min some woman came up to me saying ‘excuse me, but you are talking really loudly and I cannot work. Really, it is really rude what you are doing. You’re talking 5x the normal volume’. I was frankly taken aback. I told her that I was sorry and that she should of just came up and asked me if I could be quieter or move. Like chill woman. Her reaction was really unnecessary and unappreciated.
I realized then how quickly someone could change your mood here. Just because you’re having a bad day doesn’t mean you’ve got to take it out on everyone around you. But luckily I was talking to my parents, so my mood changed quickly back and I was fine. I moved to the other side of the area and faced my back to her so that my 5x too loud voice wouldn’t project in her direction. But I was constantly on the lookout for the hotel birds which tend to approach people (and they’re evil, so I feared an attack). My parents were quite amused by my paranoia.

Week 23: Mon, Feb 16th – Fri, Feb 20th

A cooperative is in Ouaga (he’s been coming almost every weekend for a couple months, constantly at the doctors, trying to figure out why he’s always sick). They finally found out that he had a parasite that had created a mass on his liver from bad fish he ate. (Don’t worry mom, he eats a lot of sketchy street food, so it was bound to happen). But it’s nothing major and with the meds, it’ll go away on its own.

Did a MicrosoftWord workshop today. Oh man, it was like teaching my grandma how to use a computer (which I told her after she was very frustrated with lack of understanding. She didn’t really seem to appreciate the comparison though lol. I tried to explain that I wasn’t calling her old, but rather the lack of experience and growing up with the computer. By the end she was laughing, so hopefully no damage done).

It rained today!!!!!!!!! The first I’ve seen in 5 months! Ok, so it was just a drizzle, but still, it’s the first thing to fall from the sky besides dust! At school today, Madia, a 3 year old girl was watching me drink juice and turns to me asking ‘What are you drinking?’ I said ‘Teodo’ (a white opaque locally made juice). She asks ‘Is that what makes your skin white?’ It was too cute.

I have the biggest hamburger craving these days. But my cravings were not met since I was heading out to meet a friend to go check out a Magic System concert. It was sold out by the time we got there (first time I go to see something and it’s sold out, big hit). So we went out for a drink instead and were going to go check out the concert tomorrow, which they had added at the last minute due to popular demand.

Next day at the partner organizations office, I spoke to the director to remind him of the workshops I was giving, and he wants me to teach the workshops at the college. Ay. I have so many things that I still want to do with the school, not to mention finish up the workshops at the office, which will take me months, I don’t know if I’ll have the time. But I told him the least I could do was to give him the documents once they were finalized since I made them to be a workshop in itself (explanations and activities for each section). So someone with basic computer knowledge shouldn’t have too much trouble following them. These workshops are making me tired though. I do a couple per day, so about 4 hours the days I’m there, but it’s redundant and sometimes frustrating because it’s difficult to simplify something which you already find so simple. But although it is a lot of work and fatigue, I feel as though I’m being useful, so I don’t mind.

Left the office and my hamburger craving has not ceased. So I met my friend (who got the tickets for tonight’s show) at the American pool for a burger and fries mmmm. We headed to the concert early to make sure we wouldn’t have any problems, and the concert ended up starting 3.5 hours late! So we hung out, mostly in line waiting. Sometimes I wonder the level of patience in people. In theory, I am used to things being on time, so naturally I should be the one frustrated when things go over the time they’re supposed to happen. But it seems as though the locals get frustrated faster, even though they are used to waiting around. Maybe it’s because I’m just really patient. And even more so now. It will be ridiculous when I get back. The concert was good though. A bunch of acts (not Magic System because they had to fly out for a show in France). But I wasn’t disappointed. It was pretty gangster though, rappers and reggae were the main themes. But the best, and probably the most interesting act I’ve seen thus far in Burkina (and trust me, I’ve seen some interesting things) was an African dressed as a cowboy (I know, already there…but wait it gets better…) rapping the song ‘Quanta la mela’. It was too much. I couldn’t stop laughing while attempting to capture it on video, because opportunities like this cannot be passed up. I must spread the joy to my friends and family.

Ended the week at the school doing data entry for the director (since she was suffering, from malaria, which we found out a few days later). I managed to contact both grandparents this week. Finally. The phone lines aren’t the most reliable, especially since I don’t have much access to the internet, so limiting the time for which I can attempt calling (since I use Skype to avoid a ridiculous phone bill).

Since Sandra wanted to go out last weekend but I was sick, I took her out this week since she is back in Ouaga. So we headed to a concert (to avoid falling asleep before going out) and then headed to a club and sat drinking a coca cola outside (since the place doesn’t start moving until past 1-2am). I had invited a bunch of other friends to join us, but here, if you invite someone, you are supposed to pay for them for the night, which I really didn’t get. I was just mentioning that I’d be there, so if they wanted to dance, to meet us there. So that led to a bunch of misunderstandings and minor insults after I told a few friends that I couldn’t afford to pay for all of them (since the club we went to is expensive and I was only planning on buying one drink for myself then dance). So it was ladies night and just the 2 of us, which turned out good. We had a lot of fun and ended up meeting a couple of really nice Lebanese guys who danced with us and later invited us for lunch the next day.

Weekend 23

We got home late and headed straight to bed. But by 8am I couldn’t sleep anymore (after having gone to bed at 4h30!) So I was tired. We headed to internet at the hotel and as I attempted a nap, the guys from last night called us to say that they had finished work and were heading home for lunch. So I got up tired, and we headed over.
They get together every Saturday after work to have lunch and swim at the one guys house. So there were about 5 people there and a buffet of Lebanese food. We ate then swam and hung out by the pool for the afternoon. These guys are so funny. They love love songs and the one guy put on ‘My Love’ by Westlife. Lol. I used to be in love with Westlife when I was 13yrs old and haven’t heard from them since. It was funny because they’d play love songs and know all the words to them. Quite entertaining. We had a lot of fun though. They reminded me a lot of my Canadian friends. The same attitude and humour, which was fun to be around.
At 7pm, we headed home for a much needed nap before planning to head out that night. One of them picked us up and we headed over to a restaurant called ‘Apalooza’, which was like walking into a whole other world. It had a Boston Pizza kind of feel. The place was packed with foreigners, it was a restaurant with booths aligned along the walls, a nice bar, a mini dance floor (with the best dj and music I’ve heard in 6 months!). We just hung out and had a drink and watched the old foreigners get up and dance traditional Lebanese songs. It was fun. After that we headed to a club to dance a bit before heading home after another late night. I haven’t gone out in 2 months, then this weekend, 4 late nights in a row. It felt good though and was a much needed stress relief.

The next day, I met up with a friend in a forest for a walk. He was asking me a bunch of questions trying to analyze me, saying that I seemed as though I was reserved. I told him of course I was, I don’t know how people take me, so of course I’ll be more careful what I say and do, to not send out the wrong message. He finds my opinions really interesting though, so we talked openly about religion and politics and my intentions and reasons for having come to Africa. We left there and headed to one of his friends’ house to have tea and sit chatting. But by 9pm I was so exhausted from the weekend that I headed home and straight to bed.

Week 24: Mon, Feb 23rd – Fri, Feb 27th

Received a notice that I got a package in the mail. Thinking it may be from my aunts and grandma (which my mom keeps asking me if I got yet). But turned out it was from Ange, a package she had sent me 3.5 months ago. I had to open it in front of the customs guy (like always, ruining the surprise) and lifted the first item out of the box, which were wooden spoons, well ‘spoontulas’ to be exact (a cross between a wooden spoon and a spatula). The guy just looked at me and said ‘you know you can buy these here eh’. Lol. I tried to explain my love for wooden spoons and that my friend probably saw them and thought they were cool and thought of me. I think he got it. She also sent me the newest Nickleback cd (a band who she personally dislikes haha). But Ange, let it be known that when Sandra saw the cd, she was very happy to see it and copied it to her computer for her listening pleasure. So you see, you’re spreading the Nickleback joy to more people then you thought. I even got an Xmas card. It’s like Xmas all year round here. Because the post is so unconsistent, I get an Xmas card almost every month haha.

Where is the cold season? I miss it. It’s getting hotter and hotter everyday now. Today, a balmy 46*. I take day showers just to cool off. And I don’t know if the weather has anything to do with it, but there has been a recent upsurge in the number of cockroaches appearing in my bathroom and room. I kill about 3-4 per night. Yes, they are gross, but I’m getting used to them, so it’s not so bad (I can feel you guys shuttering as I write this hihi). But what’s best is that they sleep on their backs (or maybe they are just pretending to be dead). Whichever, it works for me, that way it’s easy for me to squish them with my shoe without them trying to run away.

Dropped by my friends house to say hi, but he wasn’t home. I did see the monkey he had told me that his neighbour had. I don’t know why I pictured a cute friendly monkey when he had mentioned it, but this one was tied by its tail to the tree and did not look friendly one bit. I wasn’t going to approach it, that’s for sure.

Sandra is back. She just can’t get enough of Ouaga haha. Did a house search this morning looking at potential places to move. At night, some Canadian volunteers from another organization had organized a meeting at a restaurant to meet other Canadians (which he had sent out by email). It was like being at a Quebec family reunion. But quite enjoyable. They were loud and funny. Situations like this always remind me of my grandparent R’s 50th wedding anniversary, where half of Quebec had come down. We headed home afterwards and started a fire as we had invited some friends for a bonfire. No marshmallows though, I guess merguezs (tiny sausages) will have to do. Later that night, a friend of one of my friends from UofT came by. He is here for Fespaco, an international film festival, and had gotten my contact through her.

Weekend 24

Slept in till 9h40! That’s a record. Sandra and I headed to Air Ivoire, since she’s got an aunt there she’d like to visit. The tickets to fly to the neighbouring country are $500! Ayayay. We headed the guys’ house for lunch and a swim. After coming home I badly wanted a nap, but Sandra convinced me otherwise so we watched a movie before heading to see a reggae concert that was supposedly happening in an outdoor location. But when we got there, we couldn’t find the reggae. There were bands, but nothing like reggae. We stayed there until midnight then decided to finish our night on a positive note and headed to the club to go dancing. The place was full of tourists who are here for the film festival, so naturally the music was good. Already this club is one of few that plays some Western music, but even then, maybe 25%. But this night, it was maybe 40% which was great. We had a great time.

Sunday, I avoided my phone all day. I’m getting tired of always doing stuff. I just want to spend time by myself. And all my local friends want to always do something at the same time, but always different things, so trying to balance seeing all of them is making me tired. So I spent today away from communications and some much appreciated solo time.

Week 25: Mon, March 2nd – Fri, March 6th

Today at school, another little girl asked me another question about my whiteness haha. Déo, a 5yr old asked me ‘How did you get your skin so white?’. I introduced the concept of genetics and told her it was because my parents had white skin, and that she had brown skin because her parents have brown skin. Not sure if I lost her in the explanation.

Because of the film festival, there are tons of road blockages, which are making the usual rush hour traffic ridiculous. Especially because the detours are in small back alley roads (who thought that up?).

I emailed the Canadian travel doctor a pic of a hardening red patch growing around a cut I got a couple months ago. I always email him with my ailments since it saves me a trip to the doctors, and is faster (believe it or not). I don’t know if he carries a Blackberry or something that advises him when he receives an email, but he usually responds to my emails within an hour! He suggested that it may be exheema, nothing a little hydrating cream shouldn’t fix.

On my way home through the detours, I narrowly missed smashing right into a 4 meter pole that some passenger on a moto was holding over his shoulder. Was it marked you asked? Yep. There was a red bag tagged to the end, but that bag was covered by a black bag over top. What is this guy thinking? I’m sure he whacked a few people in the face with it, especially while turning through those detoured side streets. Some people are just very hazardous. Like seriously!

Finally got a Fespaco program. Yep, 2 days after the festival started, it has come available online. But it’s slightly confusing, and only states the name of the film, the country in which it was made and the director. No synopsis, which makes picking a film to go check out a little annoying. I headed that night with a friend to the big market they had set up for the festival. It was very cool. The ambiance was like being at a Canadian art or food festival, with booths set up all over the place selling various goods.

Got a txt msg last night at 2am with broken English saying stuff like ‘sweety lips, sweet dreams, kisses’ lol. It was random and came from a random number which would be like the Canadian equivalent of 123-456-7890 (I’m thinking a number purposefully hidden). There are few people who I know speak English, and even fewer that would write me that kind of message. My best guess would be the electronics store guy, who maybe hid his number hopping I’d respond asking who it was (which would show him that I was actually getting his msgs and ignoring them haha). So naturally, I didn’t answer. Later that afternoon, I got another msg from the same number saying ‘will you be hungry tonight’. Ummm, no, actually I wasn’t planning on being hungry tonight tonight. Is that even a question? Of course I’m going to be hungry tonight lol. I didn’t answer anyways.

Did another tour of houses that afternoon. We’ve got some potentials which is good. Headed from the office to see the houses, then back to the other office to continue on with the day. So tired and hungry, so stopped at a gas station to pick up a lunch of champions, a bottle of Coke and cakes lol. (Don’t worry mom, this is not a usual meal). After work, Anne and I headed to Luc, Linda and Jerome’s (a cooperant family) house for dinner.

Been thinking a lot why I’ve been feeling like I want more time to be by myself and not hang out with people here. Talking about it with a bunch of people made me realize it’s the money that I spend when I go out with my local friends, which is not that much, but since I’m seen as the ‘white foreigner’ who has a lot of money (they think), I am expected to pay for everyone when we go out. And it’s getting on my nerves, even if I’m told that ‘that’s how it is in Africa’.

Been going out with a different friend every night this week. All my friends seem to want to do things around the same time, so when I came home Thursday night I was tired from being on the go all the time and got right into my pjs at 4h30. Spent the night doing nothing and watching Lost, which was great.

Friday, I met up with another friend and we went out for Senegalese food (so delicious!). He wants me to plan a trip to Senegal (where he’s originally from). It’s possible. I found out there’s a direct flight from Senegal to Toronto, which would be a cool stop over on my way back (instead of Morocco or France). We’ll see. After eating, we met up with another friend to check out a festival film that was playing at the open air theatre in my neighbourhood.

Weekend 25

Met up with Damaris to show her the nice house I had found earlier. After long consideration we decided to call up the landlord and seal the deal. But not thinking I said we were there for another 4 months, and he said he didn’t rent for less then 1 year. Bah! After we left, we plotted ways to convince him to let us have it (saying that we knew a bunch of other Canadians and Germans who were coming, so they could take over the house).

Came home and ate before heading off to check out the Fespaco’s closing ceremony. We called the mining dispatch, SUVs with air conditioning and leather seats! It’s fancy stuff. Since Benoit is an employee of the mine, him and Anne have access to a 24/7 dispatch service, which is awesome, especially when your moto breaks down. Got to the stadium and the seating area was just cement slabs, and they were hot! The people there were smart and had brought some fabric and stuff to sit on, and they were all nice enough to spread it out so that we could sit on it with them. But even then, the heat coming off of the cement was penetrating right through the layers of fabric. What was even smarter, where the young boys who had brought a bunch of broken boxes and were selling bits of cardboard to people to sit on. We bought some and it worked much better then the fabric, but we could still feel the heat.

The ceremony was pretty good. Scary masked people on stilts and bunch of performances, mostly dance and music numbers. There was even a group of 30ish muscular white men (out of the blue) who did gymnastics lol. It was so odd and out of place it was funny. But the crowd loved it and roared when they’d land tricky flips. We headed to the Verdoyant for pizza after and to the French Cultural Centre where they were showing one of the winning films.

Lazy day today, debating spending it at the pool when Damaris called me and asked if I wanted to go and spend the night in Kaya, a town known for their leather goods. So we met up at the pool and took the bus later that afternoon to Kaya, about 2 hours away. We stayed at some rooms rented out by the ministry of environment (despite my friend’s desire to sleep in some random place in nature…I wasn’t really up to sleeping on the ground in some unknown place, especially because I don’t know what could crawl or attack me during the night haha). We sat outside and talked about our experiences then headed to bed fairly early since we were super tired. But I did more sweating then sleeping that night, so I was even more tired the next day.

Week 26: Mon, March 9th – Fri, March 12th

It’s a long weekend so we got Monday off, and we spent it in Kaya. Checked out the leather goods, and shopped in some artisans booths. I didn’t expect to buy anything, but ended up picking up a few things. After shopping, we headed to the lake (water!) to sit and relax before taking the bus back. But on our way, we had a little collision with a donkey cart, not our fault! If the donkey cart was driving on the RIGHT side of the road, we wouldn’t have had this little incident. I was following a truck to my left and the cart decided to cut across the street right in front of the truck and cornering me between both. I couldn’t turn left (or else I would of hit the truck) and turning right would of rammed me more into the cart, so I had no choice but to squish my body as narrowly as possible to avoid hitting it, but the cart caught my pedal and started dragging us back. A bunch of people saw what happened and ran up to try to slow down the donkey since we were stuck. I hate it when people drive on the wrong side of the road, like really, if you’re going to drive dangerously, at least do it on your side of the road! We were fine though, just a few scrapes and a wolverine scratch looking burn on my leg from pressing my leg against the motor to avoid a major brush burn.

All weekend, we ate only fruits. Because Damaris lives in a family, she cooks her own food, well not really cooks, more like prepares. But since she’s solo, she mainly eats fruits and veggies. But I was so hungry from the lack of sustenance haha, I went on a sandwich search (which vendors sell on the streets), but apparently sandwiches are only a ‘breakfast item’, so I ended up buying cakes (this seems to be a reoccurring theme…)

The bus on the way home was packed. People standing in the hall of the bus and in the stairs. Luckily I sat on the backwall, so the door was right beside me (and didn’t close) which provided a nice breeze when we were driving. Got back to Ouaga and my moto broke down twice on the way home, a problem with the oil mix. Broken down motos are annoying.

Starting to think that I’m allergic to tea tree oil, a natural anticeptic that I bought before coming to Africa. I thought at first the skin reaction was an infection, but since I’ve been cleaning my latest ‘wounds’ with it and been getting the same effect, I’m thinking it’s a reaction. Which is good to find out now, at least it’s not an infection.

We’ve got new guards now at home. The mine provides guards 24/7. And one just so happens to be a mechanic by day, so he took a look at my moto and fixed and replaced a bunch of parts. Did I mention I just got it back from the mechanic a couple days ago? Yep, and it’s worse now then when I brought it in.

Had to watch the big section of the school today because the teacher was absent. So the kids were set up with some activities, and I went around helping those that were sitting and separating the others that were up and fighting each other (the majority). There was even one girl who had a tight chocking grip on this one boy who I tried to loosen, not so successfully.

Sandra is back today for the weekend. She offered for me to go with her to the Ivory Coast. Sweet! I was supposed to travel with another UofT student who’s in Ghana and finishing up her coop, but she’s been MIA the past month, so I was glad at least I’d have other travel plans over the school’s March break. That night we tried a new restaurant for their burgers, not bad. Then we walked around the street and did some window shopping. I thought everything closed at 6pm, but there were a few boutiques for women’s clothing open, so we took a long walk and stopped in to some of the stores on our path. The clothes were expensive though. More so then I’d spend in Canada so I didn’t buy anything.

The next morning I met up with the house guy to try to convince him to rent us the house for 4 months. But when I spoke to the landlord, he said that both houses were taken! Bah! That sucks. It was the perfect location and house. Everything is going wrong this morning and I’m getting really sick of things, and the heat is not helping. But I kept it positive and headed to the office. I webcamed with my cousin and aunt for most of the afternoon and that night took another walk around with Sandra. The nights aren’t so bad, and seeing as though we are 2, we don’t get harassed as much which is nice. Some guy though, which caught me off guard yelled out to us as we passed “the Fespaco’s over, you can go home now”. I thought that was kind of rude, but I must admit it’s the first really rude thing I have heard someone say to whites, so I guess it was bound to happen at some point.

Weekend 26:

Saturday had lots of errans to run. Went to the fabric store, booked our plane tickets for next Friday to the Ivory Coast, scrambled to find a bank machine that would give us cash (4th times a charm) since the travel agent only took cash, got some ID pics taken for visa applications, and did some groceries. Left with the moto, but after 2 break downs and a mechanic, we came back in a taxi, frustrated. So when we got home, we put on some music to brighten our mood and I attempted to make mom’s ‘Eagle Bran Bars’. Not bad, they taste good, but are a little less hard then usual, so eating them with a spoon will have to suffice.

That afternoon, the guard worked on my moto and lent me his while we headed out to check out some necklaces for Sandra. I did not like his moto, the brakes hardly worked and he lacked mirrors. And thus why people are bad drivers in Ouaga. And this guy is a mechanic, umm…maybe pay a bit more attention to your own moto before fixing someone else’s eh. So I rode super slow, stopped way ahead of the lights and avoided ever taking his moto again the following days.

After supper, we headed to the hotel to Internet which was nice. Spoke to the rents before they were off to Brian and Mel’s stag (I hope it was successful!)

The next day, I met up with the girls to house search. We parked our motos and walked around the streets asking randoms if they knew of any places for rent lol. We did find a few, but nothing really good (one house did have a wood cutout of Santa Clause though, it could be Xmas all year round in that place!) By the end of our search, we were so exhausted and hot and frustrated, we headed to the pool for a swim and lemonade. I don’t think I’ve ever been more thirsty in my life! I headed home super tired and plotted myself on the couch to watch an episode of Lost under the fan before bed.



And so, there it is. My latest activities. I’ve got one week to move my butt and get lots of work done before heading off to the Ivory Coast (and the beach!) next Friday. I hope we get nice weather. It turns out it’s rainy season over there right now, but quite frankly I am so deprived of water that I will go to the beach rain or shine! Haha. So stay tuned for the next blog entry which will hopefully describe a great trip!

Take care everyone and Happy Early Easter!
xoxo,
Tiana