A mere 26 months left...

I am back in Gourcy again, but just until tomorrow - when I depart for Ouaga (the capital). Tomorrow we all find out our permanent sites, meaning where we will all be living and working for the next 2 yrs!!! scaaary!! Today was a poor attitude day for me. I was not thrilled with my last couple of days in Bassi, just due to minor frustrations in communicaions with family. My family has the least number of French speakers out of all of us in Bassi, so I have been trying extra hard in my free time to learn as much Moore as possible. Today, however, I found out that I will be going to a site that speaks a DIFFERENT language called Julah. Great... so now I am beginning to learn a 4th language so I can survive among the non-speakers of whatever Julah-speaking village I will end up in. bah!

So the last week has been relatively uneventful... it was sooooooo hot over the weekend, and then it rained a little bit Monday night and Tuesday. I was so thrilled with the rain that I just kept sleeping outside and went back to sleep on the wet mattress. Not so comfortable, but also not hot.

So instead of going on and on about everything, and since the fountain of limericks in my head has run dry, I decided to do a little "day in the life of..." for all of you to better comprehend the village life.

5h30 - Wake up on my outdoor cot to the sounds of either donkey screams, roosters, or my mother clanking pans because she's starting to prepare breakfast.

5h30-6h45 - Go to my bedroom to try and squeeze in another hour or so of sleep. Wake up in a pool of sweat.

7h00 - 8h00 - Bucket bathe, greet everyone good morning, get dressed, receive tea or coffee and some fried dough balls for breakfast. Begin sweating profusely.

8h00-12h30 - Bike to classes somewhere in village or at someone's house. Classes for 1.5 hour blocks with break in the middle, and learn some language or culture. Get called Nassara by people passing by at least 20 times. Sweat profusely.

12h30-14h00 - Eat lunch with group, amuse random kids by saying our African names, singing a song, dancing, etc.. Rest, maybe nap, listen to music, play cards, make fun of each other, sweat profusely some more....

14h00-17h30 - More classes, more sweating.... motivation fading... heat causing fatigue...

17h30-18h30 - Hang out with volunteers at local "pub" where they may or may not have a soda or a beer that may or may not be cold, depending on if the solar powered fridge is working, or if it's hooked up to the car battery for power.... still sweating...

18h30-19h30 - Return home, take another bucket bath, sit outside on a mat and wait for dinner. Write in journal, play with my little brother or sister, ineffectively communicate with the old ladies in the courtyard who get a kick out of screaming "Fatimata!!" at me in shrill, high-pitched voices. Get stared at by kids who come in to watch the Nassara clip her toenails, pick her nose, write in her journal.. It doesn't matter how trivial it is, whatever Nassar is doing is interesting. Sweating at a minimum, but still a problem.

19h30-20h30 - Light the lantern. Eat dinner at some point (alone), continue writing in journal or doing whatever i can to pass some time (perhaps formulate limericks if the moment should seize me).

20h30-22h00 - Kids start showing up and await entertainment from the Nassara. Start singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or some other tune in English, write some phrases in English for them, practice some Moore with them, whatever.. or occassionally get together with other volunteers at the "pub" to play cards or talk or complain.

22h00 - Bed time. Sweaty bed time.

A few notable remarks about where I live. I think we all thought that by living with the Chief I'd be hooked up with accommodations - or maybe hot men fanning me and feeding me grapes or something??? heck no! I have the worst set up. My bedroom is in the back of a building used to store food and construction supplies and often I get to share the space with spiders, mice, roaches, and flies. Twice when I went to bucket bathe, there were blood smears and feathers all over the ground of the shower area.. I guess we had chicken that night?? The latrine I don't even care to explain, but since the cockroach incident of them jumping on me and swarming out of a hole in the wall one night, I vowed to never use it again at night.

The women in my courtyard are numerous.. don't know if they are sisters ,wives, daughters, nieces, cousins or whatever of the Chief, but they just LOVE yelling my name whenever I come home and then continue to carry on conversations with me in Moore that I don't understand. I have one "aunt" or whoever who is always stumbling around, has a huge mole on her face, and gives me bulging eyes when she screams "Fatimata!!".. I think I had some nightmares about that one...

I do have a very cute Yaaba (grandmother) who reminds me of my Nana, just because she is the old woman there and she is everyone's Yaaba. She let me paint her nails on her left hand with pink nailpolish that I had brought with me. The right hand is for cooking and eating, and the left hand is for "wiping" and other stuff, so she only wanted one hand painted.

I'm fairly sure my mother thinks I am just a weak, white princess who is here just to add work to her already rigorous day of work. Women have it very rough.. their daily routine consists of waking up, drawing water from a 50-ft well, preparing breakfast for everyone, eating when she can, bathing, preparing lunch for everyone, resting, collecting wood from wherever she can find it for fires for cooking, cooking dinner for everyone, and going to bed... EVERY DAY!!! and each meal takes at least an hour to prepare... lots of work to be done.. but they at the same thing for 3 meals a day every day!
I won't get into how poor the people are because it is heartbreaking and something hard to convey in a blog. But it is sometimes difficult to comprehend why things are the way they are, but then you realize.. they really don't have any choice.

OK, I am out of time here, so I have to run. I should be back on email in 10 days or so again here in Gourcy... or maybe sooner in Ouaga.. don't really know yet.

Big hugs and kisses to everyone - thanks for the emails, and keep em coming!!! I love hearing from you all. Oh and check the Adam's blog site (it's in my last entry) because he said he posted more pics.

Happy Birthday to Nana (94th) and Sandra!!!! Sorry I am not there to celebrate with you!!! :(