C'est l'Afrique; on a le temps

Hello loyal blog readers. I have been in Padema for a little over a week, and I thought I would have nothing to write because I felt so bored most of the time, but when I sat down to think of what to write, I realized that some of the stuff I am now pretty accustomed to, you all might gt a kick out of.... so without further ado... the title of this one translates to "It's Africa; we have time."

So after the ceremony and fun parties in Ouaga, we were whisked off to our villages, separated from each other to begin new chapters just like that! All of us were pretty sad to break up our 13-some, but them's the rules. I had to bring all of my belongings on the bus from Ouaga to Bobo, so they stowed my 7 pieces of luggage, plus my bike, under the bus .. BIG FUN!! I ended up sitting next to a guy for the 5 hour ride who had seen me on TV speaking at the ceremony. It was pretty funny.... he was like.... "Peace Corps, right??? I saw you on TV".... seriously, I can't escape the fame!!!
I got to Bobo and one of the PC drivers met me there to take me to the hotel. Much to my surprise there were actually some other volunteers at the hotel who were on vacation, so I got to spend a night out with them. Bobo is a really cute town, and there are really delicious meats, fruits and veggies everywhere; and the scenery is much prettier than the north.. many more trees and just generally much more green space. So I am pretty happy about having Bobo as my regional capital.

The next day the driver picked me up again, and he drove me the hour and a half it takes to get to Padema. It's really strange, because the last 3 mos have been extremely rigid and structured, and I have had American contact every day... then I get dumped off in some random village on the other side of the country, a "good luck" handshake, and I'm on my own. All alone. nothing in sight... At first I sort of started thinking what the hell am I going to eat, who do I talk to, what do I do here until school starts in October???????????? but by 5 pm there were future students already coming to visit, seeing if I needed them to draw me water from the well, etc.... they're all very sweet, and I have since had tons of visits from students, and also some other people I met in April during site visit. I am actually in Bobo right now to check email, buy stuff, etc, and I came with, an am staying with, a woman from my village. She offered me a ride to town and a place to stay. so nice!

My 2nd night in Padema I had my first spider encounter. Allow me to set the scene... it is just after dark, and I am in my new home, all alone, and preparing for bed by the light of my flashlight. Out of the corner of my eye I see something dart across the wall, down to the floor, right past my feet and back up the wall. Well wouldn't ya know, it was a HUGE, hairy brown spider welcoming me to the neighborhood. Great! I decided to be brave and not scream or run out of the house like it was on fire, so I carefully set down the flashlight, grab a shoe, and head for him.... but the smart little bugger positioned himself in the corner and above my desk. So it was an awful spot for killing, and when I finally took a whack, all i saw was it drop to the floor behind the desk. I fumble with the light and check under the desk, and he is nowhere in sight!! NOOOOOO!!!! By now I am sweating profusely and I can hear my heartbeat.... and the spider is lurking still somewhere in my small house... As I approach my bedroom, I spot him!! perched on the wall between the salon and my bdrm. I go in my room and find a better killing shoe, but keep one eye always on the enemy. After at least 5 countdowns of "1,2,3..." I finally did it!! When I shone the light on him I saw how hairy he was, an when he hit the floor there was actually a little thud, so he was big.... seriously, I am not being a baby... So I popped a Benadryl to get to sleep, because there was no way in hell I would fall asleep after that, and not surprisingly I had a wonderful dream about America that night. When I woke up, I was like "what the f--- am I still doing in Africa????

OK, now for some real stories.. I decided to find things for myself to do to pass the time, or create projects. So the kids that visit me I told to bring me some math stuff from the past year that they had trouble with, and I would tutor them and just do lots of examples. It has mostly been this one student who comes, but we are now on a schedule so that he comes in the morning to work on math, and in the afternoon he comes back to do some English. It will help us both, so I get used to explaining math in French, and so that it passes time.

In April, I had met a man who works at the local hospital, so I went to visit him, and ended up staying there for 2 hours, and we talked of me working there a few days a week to help out....like file papers, take blood pressures, clean out bugs from the rooms, etc...in the first 45 min I was there, and while he talked to me, he removed the IV of a lady who had malaria and discharged her, had 3 consultations with patients with me in the room (one of which ended with a guy getting a shot in the toosh), and confirmed a lady was pregnant (after a pregnancy test) so he could prescribe the right malaria meds for her to take. The hospital is nothing like anything you'd ever find in America, in that there is no running water, there is only one person on staff, there are only 3 rooms in the place, medical waste is placed in cardboard boxes, there are ants crawling all over the floor in the recovery/treatment room, etc... it was pretty sad to see the conditions, and the guy I know was telling me that for all the hours he works, which is a lot, he earns what works out to about $3 an hour. sad. There are an average of 50 cases of malaria every week! but it is very treatable, and the people that come in the early stages just have to take some medicine. Those who wait longer get an IV and some stronger stuff.

When I was walking around the market, I notcied a few funny t-shirt sayings I'd like to share with you:
UP YOURS!
Jesus to the Rescue!!
Osama is hero!
Most people have no idea what their shirts say, but it amuses me all the time to see the crappy shirts that end up here.

Last night, I was invited to the tailor's house for dinner after talking with him while he sewed a hole I had in my pants. It was very nice, and he has this cute 6 yr old daughter who was just sitting and staring at me for the longest time before finally asking her father, in local language, "For a person to become white, do they have to cut off the black from their skin???" we were hysterical! Then she changed it to ask "If I go to America, is there a river I have to go in that will change me to white???" she was so adorable, and I told her if she comes to America she has to stay exactly how she is because she's so pretty, and everyone should see her just how she is.

OK, i'm bored of typing, so I'm gonna go.. I'm staying here in Bobo a few days with my new friend, so I will email back those of you waiting for me to finally write you back. If i get the cell phone hooked up, I will post that number here on the blog.

More package suggestions for those of you asking and now that I have a better idea of what i want for my home:
sauce packets
cheese packets
easy cheese spray (i miss cheese!!)
bug spray for the home
cup o noodles
any of the stuff in the last blog entry


XXXXXOOOOOOOXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOXXXXXXOOOOOO