from the land of dust and flies

hello everyone. Sorry it has taken so long for me to write you all. I guess that will simply become a trend (infrequent posts). So what have i been doing, you are all wondering... Tomorrow's actually my first free day since i left Montrose two weeks ago! I am living in a small village 6 KM north of Ouahigouya called Sananga. I am living with a wonderful host family that insists on cooking for me and doing my laundry. Yeah, tough life :) I have become quite profficient at picking out the pieces of goat bones from my nightly meal. the most common meal ive had so far is Spaghetti w/ tomato sauce and goat meat. Like i said, boneless meat hasnt quite caught on here. But it is good stuff. It is much hotter here than in Ouagadougou. Yesterday, during my language class, my thermometer read 115. At night, my room periodically gets down to 90. Periodically. We all complain, and suffer, from the heat, but I also know that in time, Ill adjust. Apparently, in December, it is not uncommon to see the Burkinabé sporting Hooded jackets and mittens (afterall, it usually dips down to 70 in December).

I am slowly beginning to realize why they call Peace Corps "the toughest job you'll ever love". Its tough, and ive only been here two weeks. But fear not, im going to tough it out. No life threatening ilnesses (yet). One stagiere (thats what we're called here) already came down with e. coli (don't fret, its equated here with the common cold) but he's okay now. That, and the medical staff here are unbelievably thorough and caring :)

Havent seen any lions yet :) but ill keep you all posted on that. I will be in Ouahigouya/Sananga area for the next 10 weeks, whereupon i should have ready access to email (so long as i am not too busy to write). After that, no telling. It looks like im out of time, ill write more later. Take care everyone, say hello to Colorado for me, you have no idea how much i miss it right now. Oh, what id give for some snow :)

hello from Ouagadougou

bon soir mes amies et famille! i havent much time to write, let alone edit my work, as the french keyboard is much different...

We arrived last night. after negotiating immigration and customs (both largely prearranged by pc), we hopped into several white land rovers (in a distinctly UN peacekeeping envoy fashion) and departed for the SIL. for the 1st time since all my fellow trainees met, we were all eerily quiet as we drove down the dark streets of Ouagadougou: There was so much to take in.

We were met by most of our country staff at the aéroport. Most of today has consisted of logistical things; but during our breaks, we get to practice our français w/ our soon-to-be language instructors: The weather is quite hot and muggy, but relatively speaking, not too bad (75-80 at night, 95-100 day).

tomorrow we head north to Ouahigouya, where we will commence training. Unfortunately, i am now out of time :( i will write again as soon as i can and hopefully with pictures!!! plus in time, i will get used to the french keyboard, so i can type fqster...

until then, safe travels to all.

joel
--
"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do" -Jean-Paul Sartre

I guess it's about that time

Here's my luggage. And a pair of my chacos (for scale, of course). It's slightly worrisome that this is all I am taking with me. I'll keep you posted on whether or not I over or under-packed.

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I'll talk to you all when I arrive in Africa!! Be safe, all of you, with whatever path down which life takes you.

Peace (I mean it, now),

Joel