Hello, Goodbye!

Well, I did it! As of today, I officially became a Peace Corps Volunteer!

That means...

- I leave tommorrow for Koudougou, my home for the next two years.

- I get to start meeting my neighbors and co-workers, make new friends, and decide on what work I'll commit to for the coming semester and beyond.

- I get to cook for myself every day, and hopefully make some new furniture as a side project!

- I get a payraise! I can afford to send letters now!

Speaking of which, I really appreciate everything that you guys have been sending me. I was a bit sick last week, so getting mail really made my day. I'm looking forward to writing back once I get settled in.

But until then, a few stories since last I wrote...


Model School

That finished well, albeit not ideally. Nearly everyone finished out the class on a great note, but me being sick on the day of the exam, and the disappearance of two of the computers in the lab kept us from finishing the resumé/excel project. I'm glad we tried, and I hope that some of them will try again at a cibercafe. I hope also that they catch the computer thief. As for my health, suffice to say I'm doing better now. I'd simply lost a lot of weight, and my body wasn't taking it so well. Meals were doubled: doctor's orders. I'll have to write another post about this in the future.





Eid


I was familiar with Ramadan before coming to Burkina Faso, and I knew there was a holiday at the end, but the name always escaped me. Well, that holiday is Eid, or as people call it here "la fete" (the holiday/party).

First, what is Ramadan?

Ramadan is a month of sunup to sundown fasting observed by Muslims. My family did not eat from 5:00 AM to about 6:40 PM everyday (exceptions made for young kids, sickness, and important work days-- my brother ate on the day of his final exam). Of course, they were still happy to serve me food during the day. Had I observed Ramadan with them, I have no doubt that I would weigh 120 lbs. right now.

So as you might guess, Eid is all about eating! Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar, and it's over when the new moon has eclipsed, and you see a sliver of a crescent-- hence the crescent as a symbol of Islam. This can vary depending on where you are in the world, and here in Burkina, it wasn't certain whether Eid would be observed on Saturday or Sunday. Apparently, one could see the crescent on Friday night in Mecca, but it wasn't seen until Saturday here, so we had to wait. My youngest brother couldn't do it, so we joked that he could see the moon, but no one else could, with our old, dull eyes.

Back to eating and partying! Here's how we celebrated Eid-- there was a big gathering in the mornng for prayers that we went to, and arrived fashionably late. Muslim prayer isn't quite like Christian church. It's 30 minutes at most, but can be shortened to 5, which is what we did, so my dad could take pictures of everyone. He has one of the nicest cameras in village, so he was the unofficial photographer. Then we went back home where we had prepared 5 chickens, 2 whole sheep, and lots of snack food for all of our friends and neighbors. It was almost like Halloween: visitors would come by to greet us, sit for a half hour and eat, and then move on to the next party.

Looking back on the day, one thing that I noticed was the mutual respect between religions. Christians and Muslims alike were truly equally welcome at our party. The nightly news (yes, we have a little TV) featured friendly dialogue and well-wishes between bishops and imams. No controversy. No equivalent of "The War on Christmas" debate. Just a genuinely good time had by all. My family slept in that next morning. Normally, everyone is awake before 5 (except me!). That day, I was the only one up before 6.


Moving

(Pictures to come...)

I'm writing this post from a cibercafe in Ouagadougou. Most of my things are packed. I left Saponé on Monday, where I said goodbye to my brothers and sisters.

My parents came up today for the swearing-in ceremony at the ambassador's house, and I treated them to lunch at the American restaurant down the street.

These were tough goodbyes, and there'll be more tomorow as all of us newly-minted volunteers part ways. But we'll all reconvene in December for in-service-training. So in the end, I'm excited. I'm happy to settle down for a couple of years to work on projects that will challenge me in unexpected ways. I have big shoes to fill. (Link goes to the blog of the volunteers who I'm replacing) But it'll be fun. It sure has been so far.

Work and Play in Burkina Faso

 Finally, captions to go with these pictures!

Voila, our computer lab. In my last post, I mentioned model school. This is where it happens, and we just finished our second week of class! Hard to believe-- time is flying here. There are four of us IT teacher trainees, and we each have our own class of beginners for 6-8 hours a week, and we share an intermediate group.

My beginning group has been great. The pace of the class has been fast. Many of them hadn't ever used a computer before, and I just gave them their first exam on OpenOffice Writer (open-source MS word). I had them enter some formatted text (so they had to use bold, italics, alignment, correct spacing, accents, etc.)-- the first part of the Wikipedia article on Bill Gates, actually. For a beginning group, I was worried that it was too difficult, but they did very well. Not perfect, mind you, but the potential is definitely there. I met with each of the students individually today to go over their score.

Speaking of grades... that's an interesting subject here. Scores are out of 20, but anything above 18 is considered truly impressive-- questions here are harder, and students aren't expected to answer every question correctly. 80% (16/20) is considered quite good. A rough translation below:

18-20: "Excellent" (A+)

16-17,9: "Tres Bien" (A/A-)

14-15,9: "Bien" (B/B+)

12-13,9: "Assez Bien" (C+/B-)

10-12,9: "Passable" (C-/C)

7-9,9: "Insuffisant" (D)

6-6,9: "Tres Insuffisant" (D-)

3-5,9: "Faible" (F)

0-2,9: "Tres Faible" (F-)

In the tradition of one of my favorite teachers, I put this list on the board at the start of class today, and presented the number of people with each score. Some of my students were genuinely concerned that there was someone in each category. Fortunately, there was only one person who didn't make at least "Passable". Of course, it was sort of a letdown that no one made "Excellent". But those are hard to come by here.

What's more exciting than the test though, is what's on the docket for next week. Instead of a second exam, I'm assigning a project that the students get to choose. Some of the older students who are about to enter the job market are opting for writing a resume. The younger kids, and the ones interested in starting their own businesses are going to do some accounting. Lastly, there are two elementary school teachers in my class, so they'll each do another "Excel" activity related to grades, as well as prepare an exam using "Word" (Quotes signify our open-source environment here). It's going to be a challenge to divide my time between the three groups, but ideally, it will give everybody some independent time to learn and explore each of the softwares on their own. In the end, it's an experiment! We'll see how it goes.

What comes after teaching IT class? Training sessions! Pictured above is my old language class. It involved making a lot of jokes in French. Now, were a bit bigger, but we don't meet quite as often as before, because our mornings are taken up by model school and our afternoons are full of tech training sessions. Some of the ones we had this week: malaria, tree planting, and teaching critical thinking. In some ways, a crash course on how to teach, plus how to do the five other "High Five" projects we are expected to undertake during our service.

In one of our earlier sessions, we covered how many years of specialized education are required here in Burkina Faso to become a teacher. It is at least 3, but often more. We are going to be entrusted with the same responsibilities and more after 11 weeks of training, a good part of which is dedicated to other topics, such as going from a novice to a passable level in French, and the "High Five" subjects as mentioned. Yes, we are all coming in with a college education, but many did not study teaching specifically, and don't have teaching experience. So how do we do it? Well, there's a cynical explanation with respect to the 3+ years, but I'll save that for another day. I focus on the positive: the bar for us is set high, but it's made exciting with the opportunities we have, and with support (Profuse thanks to the medical staff here!), we succeed. That's the same mentality that I try to bring to the IT class, and I think it works with the Burkinabe students just as well.

I mentioned the "High Five". What is that? The Peace Corps, in cooperation with the Burkinabe government came up with a program a little over a year ago to help overcome some of the biggest challenges here:

• Malaria Prevention
• HIV/AIDS Prevention
• Tree Planting
• Girls Empowerment and Education
• Small Business Development

As volunteers, we'll be expected to come up with a project related to each of these, on top of our 10-12 hours of teaching per week. This is a big shift from the previous project plan, where education (including IT) volunteers normally taught up to 30 hours a week. I forsee some transition period, where I'll spend more teaching at first, but hopefully, by the end, I'll be down to a negligible amount of teaching at the end (this is expected-- I'm the last volunteer at my site, as I think I mentioned last time). Thus, my routine will be lopsided, with my "High Five" projects coming more towards the end. I'm particularly interested in the small business development side of things, and there are a lot of possibilities in Koudougou especially in linking IT teaching to business, as computer access/literacy is expanding rapidly here. I have ideas, but those too will have to wait.

Ah, housework. I am thankful for having washing machines in the US, because doing laundry by hand here will consume your Sunday mornings. It's stressful sometimes, because we have class/training sessions six days per week, so it's hard to give up even more free time. I try to do my laundry on weekdays whenever the opportunity presents itself, because then my Sundays are free to do fun stuff!

Cleaning the room is another popular chore here. Sweeping has to be done more often, because our courtyard, like most, is dirt, and that gets tracked in despite best efforts to kick shoes off before entering. Organizing stuff isn't too hard-- I don't have many possessions to keep track of!

Since I'm starting to get more used to life here, and don't need 9-10 hours of sleep a night like I used to, I just took on a new chore: cooking for the family on Tuesdays! On the menu this past week: fried spaghetti with a tomato and goat meat sauce. It was very good-- everyone agreed with one exception-- the objection was that I didn't add salt. But salt is in everything here--I needed a break!

Here's my house (at left)! Note the panoramic photo. I've taken lots of those here, ever since I discovered that my camera had that option. I will upload the rest someday.

Did I mention I have fun here too? This picture was taken when some of us went off to climb this huge baobob tree. A group of about 10 kids followed us, and they climbed as well, in ways we didn't think were possible. One kid did acrobatics on a branch 40 feet off the ground. We were terrified.

Biking is huge here, among Burkinabe, and Peace Corps Volunteers alike. We were all given bikes in our first week here, and use them every day to get to class, and go on baobob-tree-climbing adventures. Sometimes, we bike for biking's sake, and sometimes, the bikes break. Here, I have cleverly attached another (broken) bike to the rear of my own. Note: 400 meters down the road, my chain jammed, and we had to stop this foolishness.

The brousse beckons! This is what the Burkinabe countryside looks like at the end of the dry season. The monsoons have since come, so the land is much greener. I hope to make it out for another voyage this weekend, if it the roads aren't rained out like before!

A New Home

Hello world!

Well, it's been a couple of weeks-- time for an update again!

The visit to Koudougou went very well. I'll start off with a correction from last time: while the computer lab that I'll be working at used to have ony 9 computers, it is currently in the process of expanding to 55! The volunteer who I'm replacing has done some amazing work in her time here, including some successful grant-writing which made this possible. In the work that I'll be doing over the next two years, I will be standing on some impressive shoulders.

And while I did spend lots of time in the new lab-- and even helped set up some computers that had been moved around, I did lots of other stuff too. Let's break what follows into subheadings, as usual.

Travel

Pretty uneventful, actually. Which isn't what you'd expect in the Peace Corps. Many of my fellow stagieres live in rural villages, which involves a bus ride to a larger city (like mine) and then a "taxi brousse" ride with 15 people in an 8-person van from 1971, complete with screaming goats and chickens strapped to the roof. I just had a 90 minute ride on a full (but not overly full) bus. Air-conditioned bus on the way back (for the same price)! I did get to ride my bike in downtown Ouagadougou traffic, though, as I was following my homologue on his motorcycle. Exhilarating.

Food

Thumbs up: Ice Cream

Our Peace Corps living allowance is generous enough to permit a fair amount of beer-drinking. Beer, while cheap by US standards here ($1.50ish for 2/3 of a liter), is still about twice the price of an average meal. I, however have never been known to be a big fan of the stuff, and I like it even less here. This is a good thing, because it allows me to afford ice cream (which is similarly priced). And the ice cream in Koudougou is fantastic. You even get a cookie and sprinkles with each scoop! OK, so it might sound unimpressive to you... but after a couple of months in Burkina Faso, ice cream was a godsend. I could get it every day, even though I shouldn't.

Thumbs in-between: Shawarma

When I was in Granada a few years ago, I had the best shawarmas. So when I saw it on a menu here, I jumped at the chance. It was OK-- unfortunately less greasy than it's European cousins. Healthier... but I did eat it just as I started feeling ill. Perhaps my memory skews my opinion of this. Will have to try it again.

Thumbs down: Hamburger

Shocker! How un-American is it, to thumbs-down the hamburger? Picture this scenario: you're sick for an evening (puking, diarrhea, fever, etc.), but make a quick recovery. You're looking for a good old-fashioned American meal that your stomach will take. Hamburger? Sold!

And then the patty turns out to be slimy, black mystery meat...

The House

My new house! It's kind of like a condo. It's small (common room, bed and bath), in a complex shared with other young (urban) professionals, complete with tiled floors, a flush toilet and an indoor shower. "Everything but a kitchen sink" is how I'd sum it up, because it's true. Not what you'd pictured a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso living in, huh? I'm looking forward to calling it home, and welcoming volunteers who come in from more rustic places seeking amenities.

The People

Last Thursday, I met many of the important people, as promised:

Monsieur le Proviseur: Principal of the high school (my new boss)

Monsieur le Censeur: Academic Dean of the high school

Monsieur le Surveillant: Disciplinarian (I sent late/troublesome students to him)

Madame la Directrice: Headmistress of the elementary school (I'll be co-teaching there part-tim, it seems)

Monsieur le S.G. de la Mairie: Secretary General of the Mayor

It was a full morning of somewhat awkward exchanges, but on the whole, everything went well. I got to see a lot of them again at the current volunteers' going-away party, which was really a lot of fun. The one thing that was missed: I didn't get to see the elementary school's computer lab, because the teacher of that class was doing some work at the regional office. But I'm excited to see the setup when I get ready to start work in September. After showing my host brother (who's going into "CM1" or 4th grade) some math games on the computer, I think that there's huge potential here with that age group.

The going-away party was, as I mentioned before, a really neat experience, because it was also my first real networking opportunity in Burkina. I spent some time with the other teachers, a lot of whom hang out in the computer lab after-hours, and also chatted a bit with the proviseur and censeur. I also talked for a while with some university students who lead an English club. They are super-active-- they have debates, put on plays and do all sorts of activities in English, and have helped the past volunteers out with their projects. Alas, I may not forget my own English here either!

Model School

I've been back in Sapone since Monday, where I've been gearing up for model school-- a four week short course. Details have just come out about that: I'll be teaching a beginner computer class for 2 hours a day, 4 days a week-- jumping right in. On top of that, there's an intermediate class that all of us IT teachers-in-training are going to share, so each of us get about 2 hours a week of that as well. Adding to the learning experience, we'll be teaching off (Peace Corps official) Ubuntu machines. Nice thing is that there's some decent educational software that comes with that package.

And now for a change of subject...

I do have to admit it's been tough at times. I fell quite ill last week-- and lost 75% of my appetite. Over my time here, I've shed the freshman 15: I'm now as light as I've been since high school. And while I'm recovering steadily, Friday morning was a big test for me: between the weight loss, appetite loss, general queasiness, and the reality of having to prepare for work ahead, I had a panic attack. I ended up going back to bed and sleeping it off. But something that I learned from this: stay in better touch with home! The guilt from not getting back to your e-mails was weighing on me significantly. Tonight I will catch up! But in the future, I hope that you'll be able to text me: +226 66 20 16 52! I get internet access every 2 weeks or so, but my phone is always with me (Peace Corps requirement)!

The final word: 

"Food!"

You may be able to tell that I am hungry as I write this. It's true. I'm looking forward to getting some "soupe de poulet" (chicken soup) tonight, which is a common high-end meal here (chicken here is one of the most expensive meats). But what is the food really like here? I feel like I may have given you all an erroneous impression with the ice cream, shawarma and burger shpiel. That's American-ish fare that we crave after a few weeks here, and that can only be found in a big city. I'll list a few dishes below that I think well represent Burkina Faso:

Benga

One of my favorite quotes: "Je mange le benga, tu mange le pizza. C'est le Corps de la Paix". Benga is made primarily with black beans and a medley of vegetables, maybe a little rice. It's a hearty dish, which I'd give a solid thumbs up.

To

To is (in my opinion) the other side of the coin where it comes to Burkinabe cooking. It's like farina, except with millet flour, and isn't really flavored with anything, only served with a "gumbo" sauce. Not my cup of tea, ut definitely a local favorite.

Riz sauce

This is the most common, and cheapest dish you can find here. My host mom sells it for 100 CFA (20 cents) a plate at the Grande Marche. It's very simple: rice, with a vegetable sauce, usually canned-tomato-based. Not bad stuff. Can come with meat for an extra charge.

Brochettes

Skewers of pure MEAT! These are (usually) delicious. Where does the meat come from? Sheep (mouton), goat (chevre), and occasionally pig (porc). Any part of the animal... hence the (usually) in the description. 50 CFA apiece at the Grande Marche, not a bad deal. I have been known to buy 10... and eat them all on better days...

OK, I think that I have demystified food well enough for now here... until next time! I'm off to catch up on e-mails and finish off lesson plans!

- ETH

Bonjour from Burkina!

Puusgo (Greetings) from Burkina Faso!

It's been over a month since I last posted (for a variety of reasons). Sorry! Have two posts to make up for it!

Post #1: The Past

The trip here went well. We passed through Manhattan on the way from Philly to JFK International and arrived in Belgium under cloudy skies the next morning. It stands to memory that our first flight over was pretty relaxed, but the second was much more eventful. The flight attendants humored our attempts at speaking French. The clouds lifted once we got to the Mediterranean, and we had stunning views of Mallorca, the coast and mountains of Algeria, and the northern part of the Sahara. We descended into a cloud of dust, and got our first glimpse of Burkina Faso from 2000 feet.

My first thoughts after stepping off the plane?

It's hot here, but I'm loving it!

Then began the first busy month of stage. We met our CD (Country Director), passed through customs, and were warmly welcomed by the staff. We jumped into a couple of vans that looked exactly what you'd expect offical Peace Corps vehicles in Africa to look like, and saw life in the streets of Ouagadougou. Boy, was a lot going on there. Motos rushing past cyclists dodging trucks (and our entourage) swerving to avoid donkey carts. People lining the streets selling everything from mangoes to  cell phone minutes to furniture. Garbage (unfortunately) everywhere. I'm not writing in complete sentences anymore. Anyhow, we got to see a taste of it all before heading into a compound to rest and orientate for the next few days.

Our orientation was just as you might expect, if you have taken into account jet lag, excitement, and the fact that most of us had not gotten any sleep in the past week. Those three days felt like two weeks! But at some point in time, we moved onto Sapone, which is a town that you will not find on Google maps.

If Google refuses to tell you about Sapone, I will. It's a small town of 6,000-ish, depending on what you count as town. It's centered around a Grand Marche (market), and has a solid community center, which is where we go everyday (except the occasional Sunday) for our classes. Us stagieres live all around town with host families, with some folks living in a more rural village. There is electricity at some houses (including mine), and running water and sewage lines were just installed in the main part of town two weeks ago (literally). There are animals everywhere. I could write a whole post about that, and certainly will in good time.

Instead, I'll leave you all with a few half-stories for now, as promised. These all happened to me in the first 48 hours in village... so you can guess that there are more to come. I hope you can forgive me for my untimely post, and understand why it was so darn difficult to write this:

1.                  My family has two cats. I witnessed one of them accomplish an impressive feat.

2.                  I had my first experience as a teacher in a Burkinabe classroom.

3.                  How about discovering that you're allergic to something rather inconvient?

4.                  Or perhaps discovering some African wildlife with your host brother?

5.                  Nope, I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this whole Peace Corps thing. Hey, wait a minute...

I look forward to recounting these stories in more detail!

One thing that I should also mention in this post: I've used the word “we” a lot. I just wanted to clarify who that is included in that: all of my fantastic stage-mates! I love how we all look out for each other and step up when it's our turn. Let's keep doing this, team!

Post #2: Present and Future

I was going to start off with a joke about conjugations in French, but then I realized that I'm terrible at spelling out French verb conjugations. The name of this blog is misconjugated, for Pete's sake! Oh well. I'm most concerned with being able to speak well first. And Les oeuvres saute =  Les oeuvres sautent, if you're actually speaking. Silly French.  I'll work on my writing in good time.

But a good chunk of my time here is spent working on language. I placed into the “Novice-High” level at the start, and just took another test on Saturday to reassess. I might find out tomorrow, but my guess is “Intermediate-High”, which is the minimum level that us education stagieres need to be at to be sworn in as volunteers. I have my fingers crossed-- but if it doesn't happen yet, I have six more weeks. Ça va aller. The language classes here are very effective. I'm in a class of two, and both of us share the same philosphy with respect to language learning: tell lots of jokes, maintain the conversation, and keep the formal workbook excercises to a minimum (still do some). It's going really well, and we've been (for the most part) extremely comfortable using the language with our host families and out on the street.

So, it was a challenge we were prepared for today, when we had our first formal info session almost entirely en Francais. But even more importantly we got to meet our homologues (work partners for the next two years), following our site announcement, which happened last week. Which brings us into the future: starting in late August, I'll be living in Koudougou!

Wait, what's a Koudougou?

Koudougou is the “Chicago” of Burkina Faso-- AKA Burkina's third largest city. The population is about 110,000, and according to our country director, it's most famous for its juices. It's also about 90 minutes away from Ouagadougou (the capital) by bus. Beyond that, I don't know too much about the city, but I will find out on Wednesday, when I get to visit!

I do know more about my work situation, after meeting my homologue and talking to the volunteer that I'm replacing. It's really exciting! I'm teaching computer class to the equivalent of HS sophomores and juniors, and the computer lab is almost quadrupling in size. Last year, there were only 10 computers, but 28 more are arriving over the summer, which means that over half of the kids will be able to take “Introduction a l'informatique”. Even more interesting: I get to work in a really experimental situation. All of the computers in the lab should be equipped with internet, making my school the only public one in the country that has full internet access. Something that will be incorporated later on: computer classes at a public elementary school. This is also a unique situation in Burkina Faso, and I feel very much honored to have been invited to work here.

Whereas a few weeks ago, I might have found myself doubting my readiness for this challenge, going through Peace Corps training myself has made me a real believer in their process. I've been taking notes-- the training itself is an excellent way of seeing how people  really learn, and then go out to do things they never before thought were possible. It starts with vision-- our committed group of volunteers who have all been given fantastic opportunities-- and gets fed with constant encouragement and a few rules. Is it perfect? Of course not. But everyone makes mistakes, and we all still have a good time in the end. Les oeuvres saute.

A couple of weeks ago, we taught our first class. Actually, we taught it three times. First, we had a practice session just amongst ourselves in English. Two days later, we did the same thing, but in French. The third time was one day after that, but we had actual students. And the process was a huge confidence-booster. Surprisingly (or maybe not), the toughest one for me was the first: in English. I tripped over my words. My composure was rocky. I cringe when I see myself the video (Thanks for filming, Natalya!). The second time, in French, I fared better. My composure was better, and while I didn't get as far into the material, I also didn't over-explain things-- I spoke more slowly, and clearly. I feel pretty good about the video (Thanks, Steve!) Then, in front of the actual students, I felt very good. The French came to me more easily, and I only had to refer to my notes once to get through the entire lesson. Just two things more to improve: board use and comprehension checks. I'm very enthused about continuing to work on these presentation skills I've never before worked on in any serious way.

What was the lesson on, you might ask?

Well, we didn't have computers, so we had to stick to theory. I planned a “History of IT” class. We first broke down what IT/Informatique means (hint: Information and Technology), and then did a few activities demonstrating how various inventions, like simple calculators, the printing press, and writing itself has contributed how we share information more efficiently today. Someday, when I have access to a fast internet connection, I'll upload a video of one of my lessons.

That brings me to another topic: the internet. I have to admit: I bought a pricey USB internet key (works off the low-speed 2G network here), had brief access to it last week before renting it out to offset the cost, and then promptly broke my computer trying to install Linux. Don't worry, it's (hopefully) nothing permanent. I'm just waiting on a Windows 7 install disk that's coming in a month with another IT volunteer's care package (he broke his computer in a similar way). Why Linux? That's a subject for another day, folks... In the meantime, I'm borrowing someone else's computer, which I've promised to take good care of and not attempt another Linux install...

OK, enough with the computer drama. Back to the future! I visit Koudougou this week, and when I return to Sapone next week... model school! I'll be teaching a short course (4 weeks) for 10 students in preparation for my class of 38 that awaits me at site. Speaking of which, I'll be meeting with all of the important school officials on Thursday, potentially even Monsieur le Maire (the Mayor of Koudogou). The potential for stories and half-stories in next post is huge. Looking forward to next time!

- ETH

Post #2

Flash forward! I've officially started the Peace Corps! I'm in Philadelphia right now, staging with the other incoming Burkina Faso volunteers. It's hard to believe that I'm already here. Not to mention that I already feel a few blog posts behind... I've had so many fun and intense experiences right here in the USA.

So how has life been since my last post?

A mile a minute and full of packing and goodbyes. I spent a couple of weeks working as staff at Shadowcliff in Colorado, where I got my last taste of snow and ice until 2014. I have many good friends there to thank for a killer experience there that really helped me gear up for the Peace Corps.

But I think that Saturday sums up life in my last week here in the USA. I stumbled out of bed around 9:00, still tired from Tuesday's 20-mile run in the mountains, 22-hour train ride, writing more e-mails than ever before, and biking around the city sharing good times with friends and family. But there wasn't a moment to spare. I had hardly started packing, and had also planned a going-away party at the lake. I have my family to thank for pulling it all off. Miraculously, we worked together making a small feast, I got all of my shopping finished and things assembled some five hours later.

Of course, it wouldn't have been a real party without all of the fantastic family and friends who showed up! It was a real treat to see you guys on my last day in Chicago. Thank you for your words of love and encouragement! And your assistance in our attempts to fend off the feral ducks and newlyweds... 

But the evening of fun led to a night of agonizing debate. What to take with? Here are two questions that I tussled with for a good part of the night, as I searched for a certain important document that went missing (found at 4 AM!).

#1: Paints, or No Paints?

Every once in a blue moon, I paint. I did 2.5 paintings last year. But the optimist in me thinks that I'll have lots of time and creative energy to paint in Burkina Faso dilemma. Do I overrule the optimist?

Setting the tone for the night, I settled on a compromise. No acrylics. No fancy tube water colors. Just ink, a watercolor palette (like the one you might have used as a kid, but a cut fancier). I also have plenty of sketchbooks, pencils and pens, with some to spare. Pen and pencil is my bread and butter, even if coloring sketches in on the computer involves some creativity while in Africa, it's still what I'm most likely to do. But perhaps most importantly, I'm excited to see what Burkina Faso offers to the aspiring amateur artist. I'm all for experimenting with new mediums. We'll see what comes up!

#2: How many books?

Some people have e-readers, and think that anything involving paper is a barbaric relic of the past. I tend to think this is true of boring stuff: academic papers, old tax returns and bills. But writing that is important enough to be a part of my 74 pounds of luggage (your final total here) has to have some heft to it. What was perhaps most important was my photo album and a set of family memoirs. People in Burkina Faso are very close to their families, and whenever I introduce myself to host families, I will be bringing more than myself along. These pictures and stories will help me tell where I come from, and in a small part, transport my family that a far corner of the world. I think it will be difficult, to relate to people who have not traveled far from home as a person from thousands of miles away, but this will be well worth the extra weight.

I also started a care package to myself, which includes two things so far: Switch: How to Change when Change is Hard., and selected letters that I've received over the years. Switch is one of the most inspirational and practical books that I've read, and explains concisely why people change, and what facilitates that. It is filled with real-life examples, many related to development, health and organizational change, all stories that I think will be relatable in some way to what I'm about to experience. As for the letters... I'm hoping that they'll arrive just as I'm hitting a low point in the culture-shock roller coaster. The care, and words of kindness that I have received from you all (especially my sister Margaret, and Grandma Marge) of the years is also inspiring, and I hope I can write two letters for every one I get in the mail. I will miss you. But connection is the blood that keeps us moving. If there's one lesson that the past year has taught me, it's that.

Related to that, I have an address! It is:

Ethan Heppner, PCT

s/c Corps de la Paix

01 B.P. 6031

Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso

My e-mail, in case you don't have it, is: heppnere@gmail.com

My Skype: zero.eth

Please feel welcome to add me!

This leads me to another point: the purpose of this blog. I intend to write half-stories. This means that I will intentionally obscure details, leave out critical pieces of information, and fudge facts (OK, I'm kidding here-- no untruths). Why?

It's too easy to have a false connection with people. You read their blogs, you have all of their stories, and you pass them on. You know an awkward amount about other people's lives. You write a “how are you doing?” e-mail, or give them a call, but you know perfectly well how they're doing. I hope to save you this confusion. So, you'll have an incomplete story, perhaps a couple of cliffhangers. You'll have to talk to me personally to get the rest (or talk to someone who did). E-mail me. Set up a Skype date. I'll be surprisingly accessible. I ought to have internet access at least once per week during staging, likely more often afterwards, since I'll be teaching IT in a country where internet access is rapidly expanding. And whether you are a close relative or friend, or an “FPCV” checking out the story of some current Burkina Faso volunteer, I do intend to get back to you, as my internet access and level of energy permit.

One last shout-out! The day that I leave for Burkina Faso (tomorrow), my Mom and Uncle Tom also depart for Ireland to do an incredible bike trip. I'm so excited for them!

OK, that's enough for now. No dramatic exit, but this will be my last post in the United States. I'll catch you on the flipside, where yes, the oeuvres will continue to saute.

A la prochaine: (ETA 1-2 weeks): Post on Stage, Arrival and Training!

ETH

Les oeuvres commencent!

Welcome!

If you're checking this out, you might already know that I'll be going to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps in June. And since I finally thought up of a decent title, a theme, if you will, for the next two-odd years, I've started this blog to commemorate the experience.

First, you might ask: what's a Burkina Faso? Burkina Faso is a small country in Central-West Africa, landlocked and completely surrounded by other countries you might have vaguely heard of: Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Niger. It's famous for the annual Pan-African Film Festival, the bi-annual International Arts and Crafts Fair, and former President Thomas Sankara, who gave the country its modern name. Burkina: "Men of Integrity" (in Móoré) Faso: "Father's House" (in Dioula)

What might you ask next? Depends on who you are.

 

 

If you are/were an econ major: 

"What's the economy like there?"

Here are few interesting numbers:

550 - Burkina's income per capita. This makes it one of the poorer countries of the world-- GDP rankings put it close to Nepal, Bangladesh and neighboring Mali.

85 - The percentage of Burkinabé who work in agriculture. Popular crops include sorghum, corn, black-eyed peas, soybeans and groundnut. Cotton and gold are the biggest exports.

5 - Percentage of Burkina's exports that go to China. As strange as it seems coming from the US, China is actually the biggest importer of Burkinabé goods.

If you want to make small talk: 

"What's the weather like there?"

Hot and fairly dry. The average day in the hot season (March-May) will top out over 100º F. Nightly lows in theory will average in the 80s, but current volunteer blogs suggest otherwise...

During the "cool" season (December-February), temps usually get into the 90s during the day and drop into the 60s at night. Apparently, this will come to feel downright frigid.

Rain is seasonal-- most of it falls between June and September. The north is more arid, the south more humid.

I'll find out for myself soon enough, but I'd like to think this quote from the incoming volunteer Facebook page sums up the weather in a nutshell:

there has been a request from current pcvs that you bring super soakers or other water guns. hot season is here...

Challenge accepted.

If you are concerned about health:

This issue, the Peace Corps takes most seriously. In fact, the medical screening process is the most rigorous part of the application. I have to be thankful for my good health thusfar: I only had to take care of a cavity and get vaccinated against yellow fever (actually a requirement for anyone entering Burkina). I believe there is another round of vaccinations at staging (pre-service orientation), but I'll find out more about that soon.

I do know that taking an antimalarial will be part of my weekly regimen, with the possibility of teaching malaria prevention techniques to my host community: malaria prevention is one of the "High Five" goals of Peace Corps Burkina Faso. Here's an eye-opening post from a current volunteer about the epidemic, in observance of World Malaria Day (April 25th).

If you are struck by the title of this blog:

Les oeuvres saute is a grammatically incorrect way of saying "The works (of art) jump" in French. How is this relevant?

The official language of Burkina Faso is French*. I studied that language for a semester in college! Which is to say that my knowledge of it is un peu mauvais...


But in hopes saving myself from some embarrassment come arrival in-country this June, I've been going back to study. This has involved some textbook work, watching videos, writing some "journal entries" in French, but most importantly, it's involved going to French language meetup groups and of course, making embarrassing mistakes in conversation. Example:

We are discussing different ways of cooking in French, and someone mentions how the English word "sauté" comes from the French word, which has the exact same spelling and meaning. But "sauté" is very closely related to the word "saute", which means "jump". We puzzle over this for a minute and decide it makes sense. After all, French chefs flip their sautes with flair, as if the food is jumping out of the pan.

I take out my notebook, and draw a picture of a couple of eggs jumping out from a frying pan with a corresponding caption. Voila. Les oeuvres saute.

Except eggs = "oeufs". Wrong word. I find this out later, when a Burkinabé family comes to the table and I move over to join them. As I show them my notebook, everyone breaks out laughing. Embarrassing... but fun. I learn a few new words that I'm unlikely to forget anytime soon. And hopefully, just hopefully, I've learned to pay more attention to verb conjugations.

But the most important take-away from this experience is that for the next two years and three months, I'll likely get into countless similar situations, mixing up language, inadvertently doing the culturally inappropriate and generally dealing with the awkwardness of being an outsider. Making terrible puns. Failing and learning from it.

One question that may also come up:

So what exactly are you going to do there?

Fair question. The title of my position is Formal Education Volunteer, or more specifically, "IT teacher". While the details are still unclear, I'm likely to teach a high school computer class for about 10 hours per week, and then use the rest of my time to work with kids (and other teachers) outside of class. But here's a more immediate timetable:

I leave for Burkina this June (33 days and counting...), train for three months in Saponé with the other volunteers and then (hopefully) be sworn in and placed where I'll serve for the next two years. I actually don't know where this will be yet-- the Peace Corps will decide after a few weeks of training. When I arrive on-site in late August/early September, I will spend the next 2-3 months conducting an Etude de Milieu-- a feasibility study that will define the scope of my work for the last 21 months, after I go through one more month of in-service training.

This puts me at ~Jan. 2013, when the "real" Peace Corps experience begins. And while I can't be sure exactly what I'll be doing at that point from here (on top of teaching 10 hours/week), a few interesting options include:

• Sponsoring student clubs/spelling bees/science fairs. Possibly a school garden where students get to sell the produce? This is one of our guide's recommendations.
• Getting students involved with local businesses, and possibly even tech startups!
• Planting and managing 625 trees per year with the environment volunteers, to help fight desertification and erosion.
• Collaborating with the health and environment volunteers on Malaria, HIV/AIDS and hygiene workshops.

One thing to note: I don't have all too much experience with any of this. Most everything I'm set to do will be completely new to me. But somehow, I have been invited with a good-sized group of other Americans to facilitate "sustainable economic development" in a country I'd heard of once before this past November. Pretty cool, huh? But what does this "sustainable economic development" really mean? I've never been into formal definitions, but maybe I'll find out soon.

To conclude? I'm intimidated and excited at the same time. It's not unlike the feeling you get when you know you're about to do something great, but will have to work hard in order to do it right (as it should be!). It's similar to the feeling of a les oeuvres saute moment, where the pleasure is learning and then pain is making a fool of yourself. I can guarantee that I'll have a lot of those, and I'll share them here as my connection to the internet and will to write permits.

 À la prochaine!

ETH


* Just because French is the "official language" doesn't mean that everyone speaks it. So, I'll be learning one or two local languages (likely Móoré or Dioula) as well!