Newbies!!

Well after having very little to do for a couple of weeks, this past week was pretty fun! First of all, I travelled to Ouaga for a big party for the group of volunteers that are just about finished with their service (they are the COS-ers, for "Close Of Service" - ers). There were all but 8 volunteers in all of Burkina gathered in Ouaga for day long festivities. That meant that about 58 volunteers partied and shared the hostel, the one big house we call home... in Ouaga. The party was organized by Josh Y and Patrice, two of my buds from training, and they did an amazing job organizing it. And I got to be named head chef, in charge of all food-related matters for the day. The theme was 4th of July/Going to America, since it was just after the fourth, so we had a very American day with very American foods. We started off the afternoon with a kickball tournament on a dirt field. Sector vs Sector... like Health PCV's vs Education PCVs, Health PCVs vs Business PCVs and finally Business PCVs vs Education PCVs. This was a lot of fun, but would have been more fun if we weren't on an unshaded field in 100 degrees. Good thing the pool was right after. Yes, the pool, where we had a chicken fighting tournament. Again sector vs sector. I participated, but I had Tyler on MY shoulders, which was fun for a round or two. Then I almost drowned one round (thanks, Tyler), and the next day I was kicking myself for participating! Sore back and shoulders galore!! Anyway, we then went back to the hostel for a grand BBQ of burgers, hot dogs, and pasta salad, followed by delicious red white and blue desserts, including my Jell-o American flag! Finally we ended the evening at a BOWLING ALLEY (the only one in BF, and quite a modern one at that - no joke) and a club. It was all in all a great time and lots of fun to gather so many of us together in a time when so many of us have absolutely nothing to do. Plus, the new Education Trainees were in town for a seminar so we got to spend a good chunk of time hanging out with them and watching the World Cup Final together. Surprisingly, most Burkinabe seemed thrilled that Italy beat France, even though this is a Francophone country. Aside from Zidane, looks like they can't stand the French as much as a lot of Americans. So anyway, the new trainees seem like a great crew, and two of them came to my village for a site visit as part of their training. Hence the title - Newbies!!

I hate the word "newbie" actually, because when we were trainees, there were two wise-ass PCVs who were supposed to be helping with our training, and one night at like midnight, they were drunk and walking through our hotel area where we were trying to get some sleep in the oppressive heat yelling "Get up, Newbies!!! Time to drink!!." It was very fraternity-like, and since this is not college, we told them to F-off. So, I use the term "newbie" as a joke now.

Anyway, now that you have a random useless story thrown in there, I will go on... SO, as I was saying, 2 of the new trainees came to Padema to visit with me, and we had such a fun time. It made me realize how much I have changed, how much I have learned since being here, how jaded I have become, and how strong my body has become against (some) bacteria and its friends. When you arrive here for the first time as a new volunteer, you are full of optimism and it feels like a big adventure, and everything is new and somewhat interesting and exciting. And I guess I'm waaaaay past that phase, but it was really fun seeing their first impressions of everything. I had them eat with their hands in the Padema marché (market) for their first time, well water with me, wash clothes, and just live the slow, boring village life with me for a few days. Thankfully we all got along really well, and had great conversations. And not so surprisingly, in some of their questioning, I also realized how much I still have to learn after over a year. They lucked out, too, becuse it was so cool, temperature-wise, due to lots of rain. After taking their first transport ride in the back of one of our famous cars... no animals this time, though....we went to Bobo to party it up with some other volunteers before I sent them off back up north to continue training in the hot, hot desert. Sucks for them!

In other news, there are three extremely polite, respectful and helpful boys that live in my court who were always around to help me with around the house stuff... like getting water or killing large Enemies of God, etc... and who were students in the highest grade, troisieme, at the school I taught at. At the beginning of the school year I had promised them that if they passed the national exam, the BEPC, at the end of the year, I would take them to Bobo and treat them to a day or two around town because once you have the BEPC you can continue your education in a high school in Bobo (there are very few in villages) if you are granted entry into one of them. So these are kids who know a lot about Bobo only from their school books, and had only been there once or twice as kids to visit some family members, but never to just walk around and experience the city. So two out of three of them DID pass the test, and the third missed it by ONE point!!! And so as not to discourage him, I invited all three to come to Bobo this past Sunday, to stay until Monday. We slept in the family court of Haoua, the woman who came to America in March when I was home, too. And they got a whirlwind tour of a city that I, the tubabu, know better than them. They got to see the largest high school (that's where they are headed next year) in Bobo, all kinds of theatres and restaurants, I taught them how to use the internet, and we wrote an email together to the volunteer I replaced, who was their English teacher the two years before I arrived. All in all, it was a great success of an outing, and it was fun to watch their reactions to everything and breathe in a world that is so different from the village life they are accustomed to, even though they speak the same languages as those in Bobo. They were SO cute using the internet, and it was hard for me to put myself in the mindset of someone who had never touched a mouse or manipulated a keyboard. Hard, but very worth it, and they absolutely loved it. These are kids that are motivated and proud and really kids who represent what Burkina is capable of. Kids from small villages who work their way through school to make futures for themselves is not an easy task in this country, so I am thrilled that this outing seemed to motivate them even more to do their best if and when they get into high school in Bobo next year. To get an idea of the how many holes the school system has here, these are 18 or 19 yr olds, who just passed the BEPC, which is about the material we learn in 9th or 10th grade. Then again, I had one girl in the grade before the highest one that the boys just finished, and she was only 14. So she may get the BEPC at age 15. It's all kinds of screwy, I tell ya. I'm still struggling to understand its inner workings.

One of our outings in Bobo involved a trip to the GRANDE MARCHE (the big market). One of them told me that he wanted to look at bicycles, so that he'd have one for getting around next year when he is in Bobo. And I think his old one was kind of crappy. So I sort of left them alone with someone they had called, who they said was a brother, to search for bikes. Their "brother" could be anything from a casual acquaintance to an actual blood brother, but in any case, it wasn't a stranger. If I was with them, they'd be sure to get the Tubabu price, which means the real price times 2 or 3. So let me explain a little about the Grande Marché of Bobo. As a reference, in Padema we also have a marché that is once a week and involves merchants coming into the village to sell all kinds of goods, from fabrics to vegetables to pots and pans, to crazy T-shirts that are given to Burkinabe from salvation army-type stores from all over the world. In Padema, it is about the equivalent of one block long, and even though it is only once a week, and they are all used to seeing me, the lone white person of Padema, every single week, they still yell "Tubabu" at me and it is always an annoying, frustrating and tiring day. Now multipy all that by ten and you have what the Bobo Marché is. It is a 3 block by 3 block square of merchants doing the same thing. It’s like a big merchant machine that sucks in tourists and foreigners, whirls them around in fabrics, vegetables, meats, fish, home goods, and spits them out at the other end with less money, a very bad headache, and a huge dislike for the word “Tubabu.” SO, imagine my surprise when my village boys showed up at our meeting place an hour later with a brand new, shiny bicycle! I didn't realize they were actually going to BUY a bike that very day, but I guess I was wrong. And I don't think they got a bad price, so good for them! The one who bought it had come with money his Dad had given him to get that bike, but I didn't know that. Anyway, looks like they got the hang of Bobo rather quickly.

We were supposed to go back to village a few hours ago, but my "good" transport seems to have broken down. We waited at the station in vain for almost three and a half hours before we finally just decided to stay another night.
Not that any of us really mind.