April heat...again.

What this blog entry is really about is a hodgepodge mix of photos from April...I'll just narrate after each photo. Enjoy!

Jon cooking at Daniel's house in Gaoua.

Brenda, the master chef of our Southwest family, cooking...empanadas! And they're damn good. With limited resources!

Hercules on my porch with the poster I made in the background...it's for my CEP Exam Jeopardy Review Game. One of the activities I've been working on is preparing my CM2 students for their CEP exam, with the hope that they'll be able to continue to the middle school level. Fun times! And using Jeopardy as a review exercise is great. I also created the 'CEP Exam Jeopardy Review Guide for Peace Corps Volunteers', which will hopefully help for PCV generations to come!

Grace getting henna-style tattooing done. A really big thing among women here in Burkina Faso, they use natural products.

Another simple but delicious meal made by Brenda at my house. Dude, it's garlic bread. In Burkina Faso!

Madame Constance also getting the temporary traditional tattooing done by Aicha.

One of the many ways that Hercules is found asleep in my house. So cute!

A bunch of us in the Southwest exploring the "municipal forest" in Diebougou.

Inside the caves in Diebougou which used to be used by the French army over 50 years ago...I think.

Traditional Easter pictures with the Ouattara family!

Madame Ouattara: like my extended, really cool aunt here in Burkina Faso!

Me and my Burkina Faso family.

...and another sleeping picture of Hercules to hold you over until the next time I blog about him. Seriously, he makes my day! haha

Club d'Anglais and a US/BF letter exchange.

Club d'Anglais. An English Club. It's funny how I've been wanting to do this since the beginning of my service at the end of 2009, but it's only during the last few months at site that I've finally got one up and running...even for a little bit.

So the idea for me was to get it up and running, then have the volunteer that replaces me continue the work in collaboration with the elected officers of the English Club. So far, so good! I'm working with the new middle school at my site, and their grade level is 5eme (equivalent in the US is around 8th/9th grade).

We've had a few meetings and our first activity was to start a United States/Burkina Faso letter exchange with my high school French teacher's French 5-6 class that I've been corresponding with since the beginning of my service. Exciting! Subsequent activities were getting the students to practice their oral skills in English since they aren't given that opportunity as much. I've tried to ask questions to the class and have them respond with different answers, writing them on the board and hopefully expanding their English vocabulary at the same time.

Our last meeting, we elected President, Vice-President and Secretary to continue the club and hopefully help my replacement volunteer with starting it up again for the next school year. Exciting stuff as well!

Me with the new elected officers of the English Club (Bernadette [Secretary], Abdoulaye [Vice-President], Sylvain [President]) and a guest appearance by Hercules! Yeah, he followed me all the way to the school.

A snapshot of the chalkboard.

As I was leaving the school, this was the view of the clouds and such. Rainy season is upon us!

Girls' Soccer Match...gone wrong...

International Women's Day. March 8.

It's a day that's celebrated around the world and has particular meaning to me since I work primarly with girls at the school level. So I thought to myself, what activity could I do to promote girls, show the community something a little new and have fun at the same time? Of course, a Girls' Soccer Match!

Thanks to my Dad and his gift of some really nice soccer balls, I decided to add a little competitive edge as well to get the girls (and all the students, for that matter) motivated and excited. The idea was to give the winning class a brand new soccer ball, but I decided to also give the 'losing' class another soccer ball as well, so everyone wins.

The CM2 girls were in my Girls' Club last year and thanks to Ali, know a little bit about the rules and how to play (cultural side note: here in Burkina Faso, soccer is a predominantly male sport. Rarely, if ever, do you see women, let alone girls, play soccer). And my CM1 girls were currently learning the ins-and-outs of soccer at our weekly Girls' Club meetings.

Because of everything that's been going on in Burkina Faso, the soccer match had to be pushed back to April 12. Not a problem! Ali served as the referee and everything seemed to be set. The day arrived, school ended and all the kids were getting excited. The girls were even wearing jerseys that the school somehow had, stashed away in the closet!

It was absolutely exhilarating and exciting to watch these girls play, and certainly showed the community their ability to do anything. Seriously! Until things took a turn for the worse...

...I guess I should first start with soccer being not just a sport, but almost a way of life. Especially for Burkinabè. They take it very, very seriously, and losing is no easy thing to take.

Because it's been so long, I don't remember the exact details but the CM2 girls were losing and their CM2 teacher instantly got angry at Ali, the referee, for an alleged unfair call. The CM1 girls made a penalty kick and won, but the CM2 teacher wouldn't take it...so he stormed off the field and took all of his kids with him. Talk about bad sportsmanship, right?

At the time, I didn't quite understand what was going on until Madame Ouattara, my neighbor and CM1 teacher, explained. Crap! So now I felt awkwardly wedged between all of this confusion.

Long story short, I made certain that everyone knew that the school actually gained two soccer balls and that the community knew that girls can play soccer. And that's the essential message from all of this.

The girls in action, with Ali as referee.

Madame Ouattara leading all of her students.

Probably the picture that best describes all the chaos at the end...the two teachers on the left complaining and Ali in the middle of it all. Haha!

The winning class...CM1! Congrats!

COS Conference...24 months in the making!

I realize that I'm WAY behind in blogging. But things have been so crazy and overwhelming and everything all combined in one that I haven't had the chance to sit down and write a blog...or enough time to upload pictures for that matter.

Anyway, at the end of March was the last of my training group's conferences...our COS (Close Of Service) Conference. Which essentially signified the beginning of the end of our Peace Corps tour here in Burkina Faso. And, bittersweetly, the last time our whole training group would get together in Burkina Faso.

The COS Conference was led by Ellie, an RPCV from Turkey, and it was so well organized. Most of it was focusing on the future -- getting back into the job market, how to concisely explain your Peace Corps experience, résumé and cover letter prep, grad school options, etc. All of it was extremely helpful and put me in the right transitional mindset.

After our three day conference, we had our COS Party which was equally amazing! Good food, good music, good company. Got a guest appearance from Floby (kind of like the Justin Timberlake of Burkina Faso...okay, maybe that's a horrible comparison but just to give you all an idea) and just danced the night away!

Floby, himself! Making an appearance at our COS Party before flying to Morocco that same night for some concert.

Our Southwest family! The people I see pretty much every weekend in Gaoua. Will miss you all!

The four from Special K a.k.a. Komsilga. We roughed it through training together in 2009 and still managed to not kill each other, haha! But seriously, lots of love in the picture.

On a sentimental and pensive note, it's amazing to think that I met these 31 strangers in early June 2009, not knowing anyone and none of us really knowing what we'd get ourselves in to. Two years and three months later, I would have never thought these group of people would be my biggest support network here in Burkina Faso. We've really grown to be a family of sorts, and while we may all have our little cliques amongst our group, when it comes down to it, we're always there for each other. Call us the 'Kumbaya stage' (training group), if you will. Because we are!

Favorite kids, foutou and first rain of the season (I think...).

Things here in Burkina Faso have been both crazy and calm at the same time...long story short, an incident that happened in Koudougou (the third largest city in BF) involving a police officer and student in high school have created mass demonstrations in Ouaga, Bobo and other parts of the country. Because of that, school (from the pre-school level all the way up to the university level) has been canceled to prevent students (particularly high school and university students) from mobilizing and creating mass demonstrations throughout the country. School has been canceled since pretty much the beginning of March (maybe even a little earlier -- my sense of time has now been completely thrown off since school hasn't been in session).

Fortunately, it doesn't affect the villages (where most PCVs are placed) so all seems well. And since the beginning of March (or whenever this started), things have seemed to calm down a bit. In the meantime, I've been working on my CEP Jeopardy Review Guide (the CEP is the exam primary school students need to pass in order to continue to the middle school level)...more on that later!!

Anyway, here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Grace, Yesi and I. They're so freakin' cute!

Grace and Yesi again! SO cute! (I realize I use the word 'cute' too much...)

Foutou...by far one of my most favorite dishes in Burkina Faso. It's kind of like a thick, thick version of mashed potatoes made out of yams that are boiled and pounded. The sauce that my neighbors make (with tomatoes, eggplant, onions, spices, fish/meat) is absolutely delicious. This night, my neighbors made it because they know I absolutely LOVE it. Mmmm...

Brenda and I standing outside after what seemed like the first rain of the season. Of course, it's not BUT it was great to think that for a little bit.

In a couple of weeks, I have a few big things going on: come March 28-30, it'll be my COS (close-of-service) Conference in Ouaga where my training group will meet for the last time in country before all of us part ways. We still have a bit to go until our actual COS date (in August) but this COS Conference is more for a way for everyone in my training group to discuss our experiences together and how we can move forward and bring them back to the US. Exciting! Immediately after, I'll be participating in a workshop at the American Language Center -- it'll be a crash course on how to Teach English as a Foreign Language which I'm also really excited about. Afterward is the MAP (Men As Partners) Conference with one of my good friends at site, Nazaire (who coincidentally is the President of the parent's association at my primary school + a very involved community member at my site). It'll be hosted by the GAD (Gender and Development Committee) for Peace Corps (Jon's committee) and we'll be discussing ways that we can implicate women and girls in community activities, and educate men and boys on the importance to involve women and girls as well. Lots to look forward to!

Loropeni...a third time!

This was my THIRD time visiting the Loropeni Ruins, the only UNESCO World Heritage in Burkina Faso and lucky for me, only 20km from my house!

Jon had never been; neither had his counterpart Papa so they invited me to come along with a few of their other friends.

The past two times I just kind of wandered in there and went in with the information I've read in guidebooks. But I'm glad we got a guide this time around to really explain the mystery behind these ruins. They also had all these signs that made it better organized...overall, a really great time!





A little blurb again about the Loropeni Ruins again from Wikipedia:

The Loropéni ruins were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009. The ruins are the country's first World Heritage inscription. Surrounded by mystery, the 11,130m2 property is made up of an array of stone walls. Loropéni is the best preserved example of a type of fortified settlement in a wide part of West Africa, linked to the tradition of gold mining, which seems to have persisted through at least seven centuries. Loropéni, given its size and scope reflects a type of structure quite different from the walled towns of what is now Nigeria, or the cities of the upper reaches of the river Niger which flourished as part of the Empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai. It thus can be seen as an exceptional testimony to the settlement response generated by the gold trade.

L'amour-propre. Self-esteem.

When you literally translate the words l'amour-propre, it's 'love for yourself.' But the best translation is self-esteem.

For the past few weeks in my CM1 Girls' Club, my Life Skills lesson has focused on self-esteem and my final activity was where each girl writes her name on the top of each page, tapes it to her back and each person writes something positive about her.

To help them out, in past meetings, I told stories that I created that asked the girls to describe the girl with with certain, positive adjectives (ex: courageous, strong, intelligent, etc.) and it culminated with making a list of these on the board.

Good thing I brought my camera -- my girls are absolutely hilarious!

By the way, I finally went to the hair salon in Ouaga and she ended up annihilating my faux-hawk. It's back to my haircut circa high school days...Ali randomly took this picture. I feel like because of this hot season, I've been losing weight because all I do is drink water and sweat. Hah!

February heat.

I don't know if I mentioned this already, but the hot season is officially here! Gone are the days of shutting all my windows before going to bed, warming up my bucket bath water every night and sleeping with a blanket/long-sleeved shirt...

I'm so happy Jon and I decided to do our Weekend Girls' Camp in January because we would've been hot messses had we done it at the end of February!

Below are just a few pictures of my life here since the Girls' Camp...

In the morning and throughout the first half of the day, the sun shines on my porch which makes it perfect for drying things. One day, my neighbors Clémence and Pélagé + Grace came by and were drying chives. CHIVES. It instantly reminded me of baked potatoes with sour cream, butter and bacon bits. Mmmmmm...my mouth salivates just thinking of it!

It is also potato and lettuce season here in Burkina Faso. I love it! Gotta enjoy it while it lasts.

Hercules never ceases to entertain me. Look at the way he sleeps sometimes! I could probably create a photo album of all the strange ways Hercules sleeps, haha.

HAHA! He keeps me sane when the sun tries to fry my brain.

Remember the school garden I helped Jean, my counterpart, with a few months ago? Look at how much it's grown. In this picture are cucumbers.

PSDN (Peer Support and Diversity Network) heading out to a nice dinner...sadly, this February's meeting was our second to last one. =/