Yeah, that marches.

So life in Burkina continues to go well. Days are starting to feel long with training and such but weeks go by in a snap (I don’t know how that happens!)
I went to the tailor last week to have some clothes made and I get to pick them up tomorrow!! I am pretty excited about THAT. So far I have just been wearing what I brought with me and I am looking forward to wearing legit Burkina clothes  I will post pictures. As usual at the tailor when I asked for a specific shirt style to be made my aunt laughed at me and said “What would you wear that with?! Pants?! No no that will not look pretty. Okay how about this…this is better.” So one of my shirts is going to be a surprise!
Girls are starting to buzz cut their hair because they are sick of dealing with it. I have NOT reached this point and am choosing to keep my long hair (even though all I do is tie it back)
Thanksgiving was awesome. In the morning we had training and even though I was really excited about our party, I was sad I wasn’t at home with my family watching the parade and hanging out making food. Once I became distracted cooking I felt much better. My friend David and I made green beans, stuffing, and gravy all from scratch and they were delicious. I remain impressed with myself. Once everyone cooked at different people’s houses, we all regrouped at the training center with looooong tables full of amazing delicious food. Everyone was beyond excited and we all filled our plates with plans for going back for seconds and thirds and fourths…
However, after only 6 weeks in Burkina, eating massive amounts of American food proved to be too much for our poor stomachs. No one could even finish their first plate, let alone get seconds. Some people even got sick to their stomachs, but it was worth it. Lol.
Everyone hung out and danced and played games and chatted all night long and it was a very cool very different Thanksgiving.
Comment if there are any specific things you want to hear more about!!
Peace out!

I wish I had a mango tree in my backyard...

On Monday we got our site announcements!! I don't think I am allowed to put the exact village on the internet but I can say that I will be just south of Banfora (google it!). It is supposed to be the greenest place in Burkina with waterfalls and lots of mango trees and fruit :) I am a happy camper. Plus the PCV who was there before me had a really active womens group that she worked with so it is nice to know I am headed to a place with active and motivated women.
Ever since we found out where we are going, I have been anxious to hit the ground running and be done with training. The only thing that I am NOT looking forward to is leaving all the other awesome people who are training with me! I do have quite a few people only a day trip away, though, so that is great.
Next week is obviously Thanksgiving and we have quite a feast planned. We broke up into groups and every group is cooking/baking something and we are all getting to spend the night at our training center. It is going to be so much fun and so delicious. Our program directors even bought us a present-two giant butterball turkeys!!! (turkey is really hard to find here).
Oh and my minor moto accident bumps and bruises are healing well. Basically life is great. And that is all for now.
Peace out!

Lessons learned the hard way...

First of all, I am learning that I need to be more confident with my French. The majority of the time I actually understand what people are saying I just THINK that I don't. A lot of times it is because things don't make sense to me even if they were in English. One example was yesterday when I walked out of my room and my little host sister said that I was well dressed. I was wearing dark green pants and a dark blue tshirt so surely, I thought, she has to be saying something else. "She is saying your clothes are pretty," my host mom said after seeing the confused look on my face.
Second lesson, and slightly more serious, is to always be absolutely sure there is not a motorbike coming before you turn. Yes, while on my bicycle I was hit by a motorbike. No worries because I just have some bumps, bruises, and road rash but it was not fun. So now I ride my bike like an old lady but better safe than hit by a moto...
Other than that incident I am still loving it here! I find out my site assignment on Monday, so I will keep everyone posted!!!

So much to say in so little time

Okay, here we go:
This weekend we visited current volunteers in their sites to get an idea of what things are really like. Ummm AWESOME. Being in the middle of nowhere is way cooler than being in a city. And we took a bush taxi and it was perfect. I will post pictures very soon of it. It broke down twice and the guy had to get out and whack the van with a wrench and push it while the other guy tried to start the ignition. Classic. Also the stars were like a planetariam and we saw a bunch of shooting stars. And the neighbor gave us a live chicken as a gift which we hqd for dinner. We did not cook it because the volunteer was a chicken (ha pun intended) and paid someone else to do it for us. Also we carved watermelon jack o lanterns that rock! Pics are coming
My host family is still cool. Someone has I believe I can Fly as their ringtone and they sing it every time it rings and every time I CRACK UP.
Doing laundry is really hard. My host mom told me that I am incapable of doing it and will just have to pay someone to do it for me when I get to village.
My host brother found my tampons and asked what they are for. When I said they were for girls and not to worry about it he said "For cooking? CLeaning? Laundry?" Hilarious. Kind of sad but hilarious.
Training is getting more interesting. We learned to make soap and other coolness. I start learning the local language of Jula tomorrow so I am very excited about that.
I am really starting to feel good here. Like I will be here for a long time and like it as opposed to feeling like I am in a totally unknown place and don't really know what to make of it.
Okay Peace out til next time!!!