Lindsy and Sara and the Quest for the Magic Ring

Once upon a time, two Peace Corps Volunteers were serving in a land called Burkina Faso. One of them, Sara, had been there a long time and made lots of friends. One of these friends was brothers with a magic man who could make magical protection rings. Sara really wanted one, so the girls were sent on a quest to find the magic ingredients to make the secret potion of protection. They treked far and wide to find leaves of different trees-they had to be just the right leaves. After the 6 different leaves were found, the brothers led Lindsy and Sara to a mountain top where a cauldron sat on a fire, waiting to make magic. As the magic brother stirred in the leaves, lightning struck all around and the sound of thunder shook the rocks on the ground. The wind blew fiercly and with a crazy look in his eyes, the magic brother shouted incantations and waved his hands wildly over the bubbling cauldron. Finally, he reached into the cauldron and pulled out a ring that shined with protective powers. Sara was well protected for the rest of her days.

Okay, that is not EXACTLY how it happened, but we did get led around the bush this morning searching for JUST the right leaves. Which he boiled in water while we chilled in his yard and ate peanuts. It was kind of like kids playing potions or something; seriously I am pretty sure Lauren and I have done something similar at some point in life. But now Sara has a pretty silver ring that was boiled in a pot of leaves. So that was cool.
After, we went to the marché and I bought some dishes and house things and food that I can not wait to cook with. Nothing too foreign, mostly noodles and spices and veggies. Then I got a really pretty pagne (piece of fabric) that I proceeded to take to the tailor for a skirt.

Now I will rewind to my first night in village. I pulled up to my house and was very excited. There is a stone wall surrounding my courtyard and, while there is not a mango tree, there is a papaya tree-I can not wait until it is ripe. I have a little porch and you walk into my front door to a decently sized room with a couple tables. One I use to prepare food and the other I use to keep my stove on so this is kind of like my kitchen/living room. There is a doorway to my bedroom which is great because I have a dresser and bookshelf (which Sara left some books on!!) and of course my bed. I love my house.
So far, I have been meeting people at the CSPS and important people like the chief and police chief etc. In the afternoons Sara and I have worked on a project she started where she painted a huge mural of the world on the side of the elementary school. Only a little bit of painting is left and also writing the country names on. I LOVE it because I love maps and geography. Also, a LOT of people (even adults) don't know where anything is in the world - not even Burkina!! So it is really cool.
Today we biked about 8 miles to the closest town where we had our adventure and did some errands.
I LOVE it! It is such a cute village and most of the people are crazy nice (I do have one neighbor who has already hassled me but the others are very nice). I can't wait for all of you to come and visit me!!!!
Also, Lindsy is impossible for people here to say. Therefore my new name is...Aminata. Other less pretty choices were Dorma and Dorfa and things I could not say. You can still call me Lindsy though ;)

Weekend Update

First thing’s first…I’ll answer a couple questions! Yes, I do actually shave my legs here. Occasionally. But then again, I wasn’t always very consistent with that in the States either.
Also, while I could travel back to the USA, I am not planning on it. My vacation days will be spent exploring Burkina, the surrounding countries, and Europe! I figure I will spend enough time in the US during my life…I might as well spend less money to travel in this hemisphere!
What will I do with my downtime in village (if I have downtime)? Well, I will certainly have some downtime, as this is one of those great countries that believe in a midday siesta (called “repose” in French). With said downtime, I will definitely try and get to know people in my village. When I need alone time, I will read or write or find other hobbies I suppose.

So update time…I suppose I will do this chronologically.
Since the beginning of December, my thumb had a funny little dot on it that hurt. So I mentioned it to the PCMO (Peace Corps Med Officer) and was given some super-strength antibiotic ointment to put on it. Well, it only got worse and so I was given mild antibiotics. However, THOSE didn’t work and my thumb and hand were starting to look freaky swollen so I was shuttled to the infirmary, missing my last few days of training and saying goodbye to my host family, etc. I was put on extra strength antibiotics and it is much better now. I’ll spare you the details. (Though I will say, this is NOT a common occurrence…I am just lucky enough to have been infected by drug-resistant bacteria!)
Despite this I was still allowed to swear in on Thursday, becoming an official Peace Corps Volunteer!!! The ceremony was at the US ambassador to Burkina’s house. It was pretty fun and my host family came so I got to see them and say an official good bye! After the ceremony, we all went out to dinner and then some people went out dancing (yes, there is actually somewhat of a nightlife in Ouaga…). I was not one of the people who went out, so I can not tell you what the nightlife is like.
Yesterday, everyone started moving to their sites. Sadly, I have to stay in the infirmary for the next couple days and will be moving late. It is certainly better than getting to my village and not being fully healed but I am so impatient to move to my own house! Of course I am also nervous…being in a village where no one speaks English and half of the people might not even speak French! Also, I have been reading some books the PC gave us to help us work at site and it keeps talking about being a development worker and such and I just think “What? ME?! A development worker?!? That sounds so big and official!!” But I know it will be awesome, despite the overwhelmingness of it all!
So, as my thumb is healing marvelously, I will be moving Monday or Tuesday (depending on logistics). Once that happens my internet access will be very limited, but I will do my best to update.
If you want to read about the adventures of some of my friends, check out the tab at the top – I have posted links to their blogs!

Finally, keep bringing on the questions! It's amazing how quickly I forget what people who AREN'T in Africa want to know about!

Here's Looking at you, Scott

So, apparently my blog is a little on the boring side, so I will try to kick it up a notch ;)
First of all, in response to a comment from Laur (on that note, if anyone has questions, comment and I will answer them!) I will enlighten you on my new eating habits. For breakfast, there is always bread (yummy, baguette-type) and usually margerine/butter. Then depending on the day there is yogurt or jam or eggs. For lunch, I usually get rice and sauce (I'll explain the sauces in a sec) or brochettes (meat on a stick) or brochettes on a sandwich or spaghetti (in tomato-like sauce). Now dinner...varies from night to night. Sometimes my family will cook American-like foods (meatballs, fried potatos/fries, salad) and other nights we have ragout (my favorite BF food-yams in a tomato-based sauce) rice/couscous/to and sauce. Sauces are tomato/veggie based, peanut based, or tomato/unidentified meat/fish based. When I help make them, I recognize everything they put in-tomatoes, onions, peppers, cabbage, etc. So why on earth the sauces turn out so unidentifiable is beyond me. They still taste good though. And to is a millet-based food that is kind of like play-do that you make into spoon-like tools and scoop up the sauce.

After that longer-than-intended note on food, my next segment will focus on oddities. I will do this in list-form because lists are awesome.

Things that used to be odd but are now normal
-Drinking out of bags
-Franglish
-FraJuLish (french, Jula, Enlish combo)
-Dirt coming out when I blow my nose
-Riding my bike on Mars-like terrain
-Dirt in...everywhere
-Bugs in my room (that's what mosquito nets are for, after all!)
-Mice in my ceiling
-"Yet" on the end of weird sentences (examples: I haven't eaten bugs YET, I haven't crapped my pants YET)
-Daily diahrea
-Power randomly being cut
-Water being cut
-Being laughed at
-Burning trash everywhere (landfills are so overrated!)
-Eating unidentifiable meats/animal parts
-Bones in my food
-Weird mouth noises being integrated into daily language
-Being an uber-dork (if you think I was dorky in the states, you ain'y seen nothin yet!)
-Going to the bathroom in strange places
-Crazy colored, elaborate clothes
-Bodily functions being a form of daily meal conversations (significatly more than at home, family!!)
-Breasts being whipped out willy nilly at any time to feed children (seriously...ANY time!)
-Kids yelling "Nasara" at me (nasara=foreigner)
-Kids crying when they see me
-Not being a star language student
-Phrases like "AIDS banana" and "I am going to faga you up"
-Being a local camputer/tech genius

Things that used to be normal but are now odd
-Seeing leg above the knees
-Non-PCV nasaras
-Clean feet
-Coldness in any form
-Using left hands
-Being right on the first try
-Big houses (more than 2 rooms)
-Air conditioning
-Things running on time
-Things running quickly and efficiently
-Being understood the first time I say something
-Talking a lot (anyone here who thinks I talk a lot-just see me in the states with my sisters/family)
-Being alone (though I will get used to that VERY soon!)
-Knowing what is going on
-Hearing Enlish

Things that SHOULD be normal but I still find odd
-Kids beating each other up for fun
-Being tired all the time
-No dessert
-Creepy kissy noises made at me from creepy grown men
-Burkinabe jokes
-Avoiding looking important people in the eyes (its DISRESPECTFUL here)
-Bargaining (I am terrible at this)
-Being out of the loop (all of them...think of a loop and I am out of it)
-People not waiting in lines (I'm not aggressive so it is NEVER my turn at the post office!)
-Not enough hugs or cuddling
-Getting a faceful of dust everytime a car or truck passes me

So, I hope this post is an improvement from my others and can live up to the standards of some people (Ahem, Mr. Worthington).