Organization

Most days at the CSPS, they ask me what the date is. I always have to look at my watch because I find it nearly impossible to keep track of the days here. Villagers will come in with an appointment scheduled and if they are there on the wrong day, the nurses act annoyed. This blows my mind how they honestly expect people who are spending their days cultivating or doing some other kind of work that requires no calendar to keep track of the days. Especially when they have to ask me what day it is on a regular basis.

My Medical Expertise

I have recently been learing how to fill out charts while the nurses conduct the checkup. Even though I am very slow and need lots of repetition and help, I feel a little bit useful. In addition, I am allowed anywhere in the CSPS including consultations and such. However, this gives people the false impression that I am in some way knowledgeable about medical things. I even had someone come to my house and ask what their medicine was for and how they were supposed to take it because they forgot. I actually have no idea.

Burkinabe Conversation

At first, I thought people thought I was really stupid. I had filled out a baby's chart and the
woman I was working with said "The baby gained weight. Look he was 5kg now he is 5.5. And look he got taller too. He used to be 62cm and now he is 64cm. He got bigger."
Another day, people were talking in Jula and I was trying to understand. I caught on that they were talking about the price of couscous. About 5 minutes later, I assumed they had moved on to a different subject.
However, you have to admit that the price of couscous is truly facsinating stuff. They think so too because they were still talking about it.
Many conversations follow this pattern where someone says something very clear and repeats it multiple times. It is an art.

Dance Party

A few girls were over at my house one eventing and I had my iPod playing. Rodrigo y Gabriella came on and we broke out into a dance party that mostly consisted of them copying my crazy moves.Then Pirates of the Caribbean came on. I attempted to explain that I used to pretend to conduct to this music with my friends but it was pretty impossible to explain an orchestra and the personwho leads them...so now they think that waving hands around to music is a dance move that Americans really like.

Let's do the Time Warp Again...

Life here is so weird. I am definitely still enjoying village, but when I get to the end of a day and attempt to write about what I did that day in my journal or a letter, I realize I didn't do much. My days consist of going to the CSPS and hanging out in the morning then hanging out and studying Jula or something in the afternoon. Sometimes (especially on Christmas and New Years but other days as well) I just go to someone's house and sit awkwardly in their courtyard while they cook or try to feed me fish sauce or something...then I leave. I am pretty certain I will be a master of awkward situations at the end of this-I won't even know when something is awkward.
Also it is crazy to believe I have been here 3 months. I can't decide if it feels like a lifetime ago or only a couple weeks since I got to Burkina. My days generally feel very long (not in a bad way just long) but my weeks go by very quickly.
If there are details about my weirdly fun, crazy, boring daily life you want to know about definitely ask!

On a side note, I made Christmas letters for a lot of people. However, this was right as my thumb became giant and painful and they did not get sent. I tried to send them today but there was an issue at the post office. Just a heads up-many of you will be getting Christmas letters in July or something...

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!