The Theory of Relativity

Hi everyone!!

I feel like it has been forever since I have been in touch with the world.. so much has happened since my last entry.
Let me start by saying that I am really, really happy!! My site placement is AWESOME!! I am currently in Bobo-Dioulasso (Bobo) as a stop-over on my way back to Ouaga. I have literally been all over Burkina this last week because I travelled from Gourcy in the north to a counterpart workshop in Ouaga, which is central, to Bobo which is in the southwest (towards Cote D'Ivoire), to my permanent site, which is north and west of Bobo. I met my counterpart in Ouaga last week, and I couldn't have asked for a better counterpart!! We had that workshop in Ouaga to get acquainted with them, and then he and I headed out to my site last Sunday, just the 2 of us... for the first time I was without other Americans, and I've spoken French 100 % of the time since then -- so I am glad to be writing in English!! Pardon any spelling or grammatical errors, though..

My counterpart is a 28 yr-old first year teacher named Jean-Luc. (Everyone just stop right now thinking he is my next boyfriend because he has a pregnant girlfriend who I met and who he lives with). He's so great, though, because he is not the typical Burkinabe man who sees women as inferior and should be treated poorly. He is super sweet with his woman, he is extremely thoughtful and careful with me, and he was just the biggest help throughout my site visit. I got to observe a couple of his classes, too, so that was a lot of fun and got me excited thinking about my classes next year.

I am replacing a girl named Takiyah, who is currently in Senegal having a tooth removed, so I didn't get to meet her, but I stayed in her place, which will be my place when I start up in June. It's a quaint little 1-bdrm on the lower west side of Burkina with a private outdoor shower and latrine and also an outdoor hangar (covered area with benches for sitting and entertaining). You lioke how I make it sound like an NYC apt.. but really, it is nice and I was glad to be doing things for myself to finally be able to test run how I will handle myself the next 2 yrs.

So Jean-Luc and I travelled from Ouaga to Bobo together on a 4 hr bus ride, we were met in Bobo by our school director/principal who is very nice, and then we took what is called a bush-taxi to my site. Oh my village is called Padema, pronounced like Panama but with a 'd'. The bush-taxi... ah, what an experience.... A ride that should have taken an hour or so took us another 4 hours because there were 20-30 people crammed in a vehicle the size of maybe a large pick-up truck, with all of our belongings strapped up top. 'Belongings' includes bikes, motos, other people, animals, luggage, etc.. so already this thing is unstable. Kick in an old engine and no AC and you have yourself a fun time.. we stopped a gajillion times to let people out or buy roadside foods or let people on, or because the engine was smoking, or because there was a flat tire or what.... good times.. anyway we made it and it was all good.

My site is so great because it is in the south of Burkina, which is cooler than the north, has fruits and veggies, is much larger than the village I currently live in with the chief, has more trees, has a river that runs through it, and just has a great vibe. And from what I observed so far, very few creepy crawlies... then again the rainy season starts soon so that may change. My colleagues are just awesome. I ate every meal with them every day, and they accompanied me everywhere and were just extremely welcoming and fun. There are 4 teachers at the secondary school where I'll be teaching, including me. My counterpart and I teach math, he also teaches sciences, there's a French teacher, and a history-geography teacher. We will all be teaching all grades, I think.. That means that for the 4 grades in the school, I will have about 200 students. yowza! It's cool, though.. not as intimimidating as I thought it would be, and teachers get a ridiculous amount of respect. The students greet us by crossing their arms, bending a little and saying 'Bonjour, Madame. Bonjour, Monsieur..' and if you are carrying something, they will immediately take it from you and walk it to your house for you. Crazy...

Being a female teacher I thought I might have difficulties, too.. but there is one other woman teacher in my school, I am replacing a female, AND the Prefect (pretty much like the mayor of the town) is a woman!! There are only 4 women in this Prefect position in the area I am in, and I get one of them! I met her yesterday and she's very nice and welcoming, too.

Let's see... what else.. oh, I named this blog Theory of Relativity because it's so funny how quickly things take on different meaning in relative terms.. For instance, I never thought I could utter these words, but I actually found myself saying "wow.. a washboard.. that will make doing laundry so much easier" and "oh, thank goodness they have pumps on their wells.. now I don't have to pull up the buckets 50 feet to get my water." And in Ouaga, we all went to a supermarket that was actually like a supermarket in the States. They actually had choices and fruits and veggies and boxed foods, and I really almost didn't know what to do with myself. If we didn't have dinner plans, I could have stayed all night and just stared at the shelves.

The stipend is the equivalent of maybe $3 a day, which is actually kind of living it up over here. A fancy meal in Ouaga goes for about $5 so imagine how far that $3 can buy in a little village. Everything is relative. And those jokes about buying me for a dollar a day.. honestly, now I see why that actually could be true. I bought some fabrics and had 2 skirts and a shirt tailor made for less than $10.

As far as language goes, I have been just fine in French and it turns out that the bits of Moore I picked up in Bassi are useful because Padema has a pretty good diversity of different ethnic groups and religions, so a lot of them speak Moore, too. I have to pick up the basics of Julah because it is the language more prominent in the south, but I am not as frustrated anymore about that whole thing.

I really don't feel like going back to Bassi, but I start practice teaching next week, so I have to :(

I am heading over to Ouaga all alone today, and my counterpart is sitting here waiting for me so I have to run. Oh, I am going to a Passover dinner in Ouaga tomorrow night that other volunteers have set up, so I hope you who are reading this are proud of me (this message is directed at my parents)

I love you, and thanks again for the emails and keep em coming!!! always make me laugh and cry. I miss you all soooooooooooo much!!!!!!!

p.s. I have been given 2 more African names in my new village.... Waramatu and Dibidia