2010

Happy (belated) New Year! Aaron and I brought in the new year like most 20-somethings with functioning livers: we were sitting on a couch watching "UP" with some other volunteers who were also too tired to party. It seems that New Years is the biggest party of the year in Burkina. I'm not sure if it's because it is the one holiday that Christians and Muslims can celebrate together or if the Burkinabe just like a good countdown, but they definitely love New Year's.

After the new year, the next time you see friends, before anything else, you are supposed to greet each other with a 4-step head tap manuever. While tapping temples, you wish each other good health, happiness, prosperity...the teachers at our school just cut to the chase and we wished each other "everything good". I'm honestly not very good at the head-tapping yet; my efforts to show sincerity have resulted in more than a few head butts and I always run out of stuff to say so then there's an eternal awkward silence while our faces are really close together.

I didn't make any new year's resolutions this year. I normally don't keep them anyway; who needs the disappointment? Speaking of disappointment and failure, after two failed attempts to grow our own garden, we've handed our seeds over to the professionals. Someone in town offered to give us some of his land, prepare the soil, plant the seeds, and water them along with his plants. In other words, there's no way we can mess this up. All we have to do is eat (and as my mom's been telling everyone, that's something we are good at). They also planted us a few rows of potatoes so maybe we can get ourselves a booth at the potato festival.

School is about the same. I try to remind myself that this is our last 6 months of teaching here so we can make the most of it, but the kids don't always make that easy. These days, after particulary dumb questions I find myself just quietly walking away. Our neighbor, David, always has the best examples of these irritating questions. Last week in David's math class, he had just finished working a homework problem on the board when student asked: "Mr if you found the answer was 1/2 but I have 1/5 on my paper, is that okay?" Just walk away.

I did have a bizarre surge of motivation last month and decided to do a song competition between the 4 6e classes. I taught each class The Happy Song and we spent two weeks outside of class rehearsing a preparing routines that Aaron and the other English teachers would judge and decide on a winner. It turns our that in French, or maybe in Moore, The Happy Song translates to "let's go crazy". Rehearsals were about 20% constructive work and 80% madness. I swear the other day there was a kid with both arms out, head tossed back, eyes closed and yelling. Just yelling for no reason. He got a big shock when his yelling was suddenly muffling by the big piece of paper I shoved in his mouth. I think after the initial shock of doing something that doesn't involve copying from the board in silence wore off, practices went better and all the classes ended up doing pretty well. I took a video of each group so if I find myself with decent internet, I'll put it online. Despite the good result, I'm not sure if I have the patience to do it again unless the other teachers want to help out.

The other, bigger, news at school is that we'll be recieving 30 laptops in the next month! Aaron's dad arranged for us to get 30 used laptops that are ready to be used at school. Since our school doesn't have electricity and isn't likely to get it in the next year, the administration is going to rent a house in town where there is power and we can set up a computer lab for teachers, students, and (in the future) paying people from town. There will be a lot of work required in order to train people and make sure they have a good system set up and the computers don't just disappear to the homes and families of various school employees, but this will be a really exciting thing for our school and can help us out a lot. Keith, you're amazing! Thanks so much.

Since we arrived in Titao 17 months ago, and even before, during our site visit, we have been told of a previous volunteer named Tom who was in Titao and taught at our school in 1999. Everyone knows Tom. Everyone loves Tom. He has a small shrine in the school office complete with hand-drawn photos and a poem. Well, brace yourself for this, last weekend we met Tom!! He was in Burkina for a conference (he's still living and working in Africa) and came up to visit Titao for a day. After 10 years, he still speaks better Mooré than I'll ever speak. It was fun to finally see and meet the man himself. I have accepted the fact that Aaron and I will probably never reach the Tom-level of remembrance on our own, so I am thinking of launching a campaign over the next few months where I'll be distributing my own hand-drawn photos of us and sonnets proclaiming our great deeds and incredible good looks throughout the region. Since we are now entering the uncomfortable transition month before the heat arrives, I'm about to have a lot of time on my hands so it would be a good way to fill those long hours spent under a tree, trying to limit any movements.

Tour du Faso

After all the fuss of the holidays has died down, do you find yourself bored, changing channels between CSI: Miami to CSI: Las Vegas to CSI: New York? (What's that, all reruns.) Are you tired of knowing you car, bus, or bike will arrive in working order and on time at your destination? Ever wanted to see a new place and eat new foods with unknown digestive consequences? If you answered yes, maybe, or even a small grunt (we're not picky) to any of these questions, you should follow my parents' example and embark on a 10-day tour de force of Burkina Faso.

We'll start the tour with 3 days in our quaint village of Titao. Think we'll be relaxing and enjoying the simple life? Think again. Titao is a little-known tourist haven with lots of activities to make those 3 (actually 2 1/2 after the car ride) days fly by. After strolling through original dirt pathways leading to town, you can visit the "marché ladies". With a big smile, open arms in case babies come your way, and a lack of preference for what they decide your name is that day, the marche will be lots of fun. After the market, relax at "the garage" and sample one of Burkina's 6 (count 'em, 6!) beer options. Once we arrive back at the house, don't get too comfortable in those chairs, folks, because you'll be treated to a steady flow of visitors dropping by to say hi and offer tastes of the local cuisine.

If receiving visitors isn't your thing, Titao also offeres an all-inclusive 5-hr school and garden tour. This package comes complete with a full lycée tour, a planting demonstration at the town garden, warm beers at the nearest buvette, and free lycée t-shirts at the end for all visitors. In the evening, enjoy a nice stroll through town on your way to dinner at our friend Bernard's house: tô, mmmm mmmm. Keep those forks at home folks, we'll be eating this mean a la main.
In case you are worried about missing anything by sleeping in, Titao (and I suspect most of Africa) comes with complimentary roosters, donkeys, women pounding millet, and calls to prayer available every morning to drag you into the day. It's so loud, you'll swear they're actually outside your window! Market day is not to be missed. If you're like my parents, sometimes you get so tired of all this personal space and just need to get squeezed in an impossibly small space with strangers. The Titao market is the perfect place to toss that "body bubble" aside while parusing local fabrics, cookware, vegetables, mystery pills, and jewelry. Need those flip-flops repaired? We can do that too.

What's that? You're looking for a party! Well, look no further than chez nous. Bernard and the men will kill, clean, and grill the chickens while the women can whip up pumpkin pies in the kitchen (mom, that pie mix was heavenly!). I know what you're thinking, "what's a party without music?". Don't worry, our neighbor, David, has all the greatest beats for any occassion (NSync's Christmas album, oh yeah!).

And already our time in Titao has flown by. It's now time to head south: land of rainfall, trees, and non-domesticated animals. There is an all-paved route from Ouahigouya to Bobo, in the southwest, but you drive on paved roads everyday, right? My parents felt the same way so we took the shorter, dirt road south that leaves you with a healthy coat of Africa on your clothes and respiratory system. Bobo, what a town! You'll know you've hit the big time when you have a fender-bender just trying to drive by the market. Bobo has lots of friendly people offering to organize tours for you, but I'm guessing you'll want a more local experience: enter our fellow volunteer and Bobo resident, Micheal. Though he's still waiting on his official guide badge, Micheal knows his stuff. He'll show you the Grande Mosque and take you on a tour of the old quartier, all while fending off faux types with his banging Jula and his own brand of faux typiness. The old quartier is the oldest neighborhood in town and home to the "sacred catfish". Catfish that can live in a trash-lined stream where local women do their washing - there's got to be some kind of divine intervention involved! Micheal can also lead you to his friend's shop in the market for your one-stop souvenir shopping.

Had enough of the big city life? Let's get a little more rustic with a trip further south to Banfora. After all the shopping and hustle of busy Bobo, I'l guessing you will need a drink. My parents did. Welcome to Canne a Sucre. A nice-looking (we didn't stay here because they were booked) hotel with a great restaraunt serving homeade rum. I recomend getting the rum sampler. The four different flavors will tickle your tastebuds and send you off to a peaceful slumber.

At this point, you're saying, "Enough mosques, markets, and weird meals. Let's see some animals." A short drive from Banfora we'll find oursevles as Tengrela Lake, home to hippos, crocodiles, and the occassional monkey. This boat trip isn't for the faint of heart so leave your fears and any expensive camera equipment in the car as you climb into canoes in search of hippos. Leaks are optional, but you know my parents, they want the full experience; we went for it. Once the thrill of paddling by hippos in a canoe with a steady intake of water is over, it's time to unwind with a picnic lunch next to Karfiguela Waterfall. What, you say, waterfalls in Burkina Faso?! Oh yes, my friend, but don't let that cool crisp water tempt you into taking a dip unless you're looking to take home some more souvenirs of parasitic origin. Before leaving the Banfora region, we'll stop and visit the domes for some quick rock climbing. Again, I understand your surprise: rock climbing and hills do exist in Burkina. Man, this trip just keeps getting better.

On our way back to Ouaga, we'll make a quick stop to see some sacred crocodiles. What's so sacred about them? They're not even tempted to eat the live chicken we brought as a gift until it's practically placed in their mouths. The guides will offer to let you touch the crocodiles but my parents had some bizarre attachment to their limbs, so we passed this time.

Before heading back home to those comfortable beds and temperature-controlled cars and homes, there's one more must-see stop to make: Nazenga Park. A quick trip south of Ouaga towards the Ghana border, will bring you to Nazenga where you'll sleep in individual huts and eat meals overlooking a lake (supposedly, you can spot elephants swimming in the lake sometimes). Nazenga offers driving safaris through the park twice a day, but you're just as likely to spot elephants, wild pigs, and various deer-ish animals driving in and out of the park. Bring along the goal of seeing "at least one" animal, no need for electricity before 6pm, something to keep you occupied while you wait on meals and you won't be dissapointed.

Sadly, our trip is coming to a close. Before leaving, there is one thing on our to-do list: dinner at Gondwana. This chiche restaraunt is also an art gallery displaying African art from different ethnic groups. It's a classy place. It also has delicious food so go ahead and stuff your face with everything from the pre-dinner rolls to the after-meal tea and liquer. A final note for making your trip to Burkina a success, follow my parents courteous example, and refrain from getting sick until returning to America, so as to not inconvenience anyone during the trip. (Just kidding, mom. I'm glad you're feeling better.)

More sincerely, a huge thanks to everyone who stuffed my parents suitcases with cards, cookies, and other assorted gifts for us. You are fantastic and we really appreciate it! Thanks to my parents for being such troopers during their trip despite a few hiccups. We had a really great Christmas and hope you all did too.