Sports?!

Yeah, so I got my first taste in a very, very long time of American sports this week in Ouaga. I've been following the Africa Cup of Nations (that's soccer, my American friends) in my village with all the guys. It's been a good time. With only one TV in town that carries all of the matches, we have quite a crowd of rowdy African football hooligans (okay, they're not exactly hooligans, but don't you just love that word?). And even after seeing a great match like Morocco v. Egypt the other week, nothing... NOTHING beats a good game of college hoops. Hell, nothing beats an average game. So I can't tell you how giddy I was to be able to watch the Arkansas v. Kentucky game on Sunday with a few Missionaries in the American Embassy. Rock! It wasn't even a good game (except for about 4 minutes), but it seemed amazing to me. It's been almost a year since the last game I saw. **sniff** Go State.

And in other sports news, to give you a clue of just how out of the loop I am here in AfricaLand, I just realized today while surfing the net that the SuperBowl's in Detroit this year. The traffic in downtown's gonna be ri-goddamn-diculous! Now with that they've spruced up "the nice part of town" (AKA the one street block with the State and the Fox) by cramming all the nice new expensive buildings (including 2 stadiums) into a iddy biddy wee little area, traffic's just dumb. ( Oh yeah! I'm still bitter about that White Stripes show I was late to thanks to a Tigers game, can you tell?).

In other news, I found a cassette player with detachable speakers that I can use for my iPod, so now I'm back to living with much music. Yes! However, I'm not sure what my village family makes of my music taste, which even in America people seem puzzled at. Lately, it's been a lot of Carmen (the opera), Neil Young and Alela (thanks Tessa!,I'm addicted). I just found a tape at the PC Hostel here of Momus, which is an incredible find. Can't wait to pop it in. Of course, my tape player plays everything a little too fast due to the amazing technology found in third world village markets, so even old standbys sound new and fresh. (Now Michael Stipe somewhat resembles a cooler, more musically inclined Alvin).

Anyhoosy, I'm heading up to Kongoussi this afternoon and then back home to Bourzanga tomorrow to finish up the semestrial grades. Good times. Can't complain. I got my AmericaLand experience while in Ouaga (yesterday I had ice cream for lunch and pizza for dinner: when you're as deprived as me on a regular basis of these goodies, one tends to go a little overboard). Thanks Mom and Dad for the package, it finally came. The Cracklin' Oat Bran made me weak in the knees!

I think I'm Alone Now

Hey there, I'm in Ouaga, land of free internet (at the Bureau) and cell phone service!! Weee!! Communication is goooooood. So I'll be here until Tuesday I think, doing odds and ends as this will be my last chance to come here before Spring Break.

So it's official, I've finished my first semester here in the incredibly frustrating Burkina system of schools. But I'm still going. I finished my grades and went over them with the kids individually. And yet again, I did something very rote in this system differently and all my kids looked at me like I was an alien. And honestly, I don't even know how the other teachers "calculate the grades" with the kids so I just did it like my old middle school teachers did and I think it turned out okay, despite having to fail over half my math class (I don't want to talk about that, a sore spot). But my English and Science classes did very well, I'd say.

And now the true science nerd is showing her stuff as I start my Chemistry section in class. Wooooo!! Atoms and electrons and molecules, OH MY! My English class is quite amusing. My mother suggested teaching them "If You're Happy and You Know It" and I took that suggestion following the class on contractions with "to be" and they loved it. I also started having the kids pick a word of the day that they want to learn in English. Interestingly, they picked "God" and "peace" as the first two words. In America, we always want to learn the dirty words first (always), so I think that says something poignant about the culture here.

That's about it. It's kinda lonely here as I'm the only volunteer in the hostel. Kinda reminds me of being at Ag during vacations. So if you're in the mood to say you've called Africa, give me a ring on my cell and I'll be delighted.

2006 came in with a plop, lots of 'em

Happy New Year’s, belated at least. Despite getting a bad case of "food poisoning" and a cold, I had a nice time in Djibo with yet more new volunteers (I’m really started to get to know a few of ‘em). We made a big Mexican feast (on the first, after I'd recovered) and all slept in close quarters in Ami’s little house. It was rather cozy.

The weather here’s getting kinda cool, hoodie weather even. It’s dipped down to a frigid 62 degrees a few mornings, which here warrants parkas, scarfs and being an hour late to class, if you’re one of my students.

Last week, I went on a "field trip" to the gold-mining village 7km from my town. What a depressing place! My neighbor works on the machinery there, so he gave me the VIP tour. It’s extremely dirty work and there’s kids working there that are 7 years old. I don’t know, it’s not good but the people depend on the work for money, so they refuse to use the machines available. It’s frustrating to see and hard to communicate…. Much like the book I just finished, The Grapes of Wrath. Between that book and that visit, last week was pretty emotionally draining.

In village news, Bourzanga’s bumpin’ with the tastiest green beans ever. It’s my village’s main cash crop that they export all the way to France for the Frenchies to eat. I’ve been eating them two meals a day, except for the days when I take advantage of my new "benga lady" for lunch. "Benga" is black-eyed peas and rice with oil, salt and chili peppers and it’s oh-so-tasty! I’ve been complaining for the last 9 months that my village has no "benga lady" on the side of the road like every other town in the country and now my prayers have been answered! Life is good… And also on the food line of thought, I’ve been experimenting with stove-top baking because I refuse to make a dutch oven (heh heh…. Dutch oven…) because it’ll make my house 2 million degrees if I use it. So anyhoosy, I made my director some peanut butter cookies, which turned out surprisingly well, and now he won’t shut up with the word "cookie". I now address him as Cookie Monster, even at school.

At school, our first semester comes to a close on the 31st. I’m really behind schedule in my science class, but I’m doing okay in my math classes. (I can’t bear to make any kind of schedule for my English class because I started so late.) Our biology teacher quit at the winter break, but we luckily found a new one to pick up where he left. I was really quite concerned our kids wouldn’t have biology at all for a while.

That’s about it. I’ve been enjoying a little more communication lately because I can get cell phone reception on a hill in my town. So Chris actually got some warning before I came in this weekend, which I think is a nice thing. And now he’s super happy because we caught the mouse that’s been haunting his abode and pooping on everything in his house.

Guess that’s it for this time. Thanks to everyone who’s sent me letters lately. I’ve gotten a ton in the past month , most notably one from my cousin Joe who I literally hadn’t heard from in probably 6 years! Thanks dude!