I kicked off the year with a nice bike ride through the savannah with my host brother, Mohammad:
Then I joined a couple of other volunteers to treat ourselves to an entire day of American-style home-cooking in the capital!
After that, it was down to business. Classes started up again without too many of the usual interruptions (strikes, surprise holidays, etc.). It's been a routine of sorts, but with enough variety the Peace Corps values of patience and flexibility a necessity. I like it that way.
How else could...
...one celebrate Christmas in mid-January, when everyone's packages finally arrived!
... someone bring in a 14-year old laptop and expect you to fix it?
... you attempt to teach 30 teenagers how to use the internet on a 128 kbps connection (hardly enough to stream video/Skype for just one person)?
... find a good plate of beans for 100 FCFA ($0.20)
... or buy 600 fresh, organic tomatoes for 5000 FCFA ($10)
... and then stay up 'til midnight turning it all into tomato paste.
That's a project that's been keeping me from having days off... in-season tomatoes aren't going to wait for us! I'm finally giving myself a weekend this time around, so I have more time than I'm used to, to reflect (and sleep late).
I'm headed off the Bobo-Dioulasso this morning (Burkina's 2nd largest city), but will be back in time to Skype and fill you in on these and other stories tomorrow night!
zero.eth
