The adventures continues...in Niger?

You all might be wondering why I'm able to update my blog so often (as of now). Well, let's just say I'm in a hotel when I'm supposed to be in Ouagadougou (capital of Burkina Faso)...let me explain:

Wednesday early evening, our flight, although a little late, departed from Philly for Paris. When we arrived, we ended up waiting an additional hour or so before heading to Burkina Faso. On the way to Burkina Faso, we needed to stop at Niger (country to the east of BF) for fuel, then head to Ouagadougou (pronounced wah-gah-doo-goo).

After waiting for almost 2-3 hours in Niger, they told us that we would need to wait for the next plane the following day due to motor problems with our current plane. Fortunately on our flight was a current Peace Corps Volunteer in Burkina Faso, Joanna, and she pretty much called everyone we needed to to let them know that we were safe and would be staying at a hotel overnight, provided by Air France. Getting out of the airport reminded me a lot of the smaller airports in the provinces in the Philippines...and made me miss the Philippines for a second! Except it wasn't humid here in Niger.

So as of now, I'm sitting in the hotel lobby, using up the free WiFi for as long as I can. This has to be one of the nicest hotels (if not the nicest in Niger) and the Peace Corps Country Director for Mali even came by to visit and check that wee were doing okay.

What strikes me as most amazing is the amount of French you need to communicate...of course in Paris but most especially in West Africa. I wish my conversational skills were a little more up to par, but I know that they'll improve once I immerse myself in Burkinabè life. This is my first time going to a Francophone country/area (I know, it's been a long time coming, right?) so my French NEEDS to clean up if I want to communicate more effectively with everyone.

So once tomorrow hits, we're finally heading to Burkina Faso and going to begin our Pre-Service Training! It's about damn time...I'm so excited to get this started. Let's DO it!