Shannon's Birthday at my site!

What better way to spend your birthday with your loving, creative friends, right? Well, let's just say we decided to give Shannon a birthday surprise with an interesting twist...Mexican! With a pinata (made by Brenda and Jane) and some empanadas for dinner. Yum! And instead of doing it Gaoua, everyone decided to come to my house. Sweet. Enjoy the pictures below!

Brenda and I piecing together the pinata. I tell you, folks -- in Burkina Faso, this takes intense creativity to find the materials necessary to build this!

Getting ready to surprise Shannon!

Helping to hoister up the pinata...

Of course, our trusted rock-climber Jon climbs the tree with ease and hangs our pinata for us. I wonder to this day if he wasn't there...how we would have done it.

YES. It was THAT exciting!

Chillin' on my porch...

I swear, every day here is some new, random adventure...even if I'm just at my house with a few friends, celebrating a birthday. Oh, Burkina. =)

Visiting Colette's site!

I'll start by saying that we've been talking about visiting each other since training in July 2009. It is now June 2011, two years later, and it just now happened because we're about to leave Burkina Faso. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get things done, right?!

I'll let the pictures illustrate the couple of days I spent at Colette's site on the other side of the Southwest of Burkina. I played paparazzi, haha. Seriously though, her side of the Southwest of BF reminded me more of the Philippines -- rice fields that seemed to go on for forever, sugar cane plantations, etc. And mangoes everywhere! The dried mangoes were sooo good. Okay, enjoy!

Pancakes for breakfast with jelly. Yum yum!

As many of you know, I'm a planner-person and list-making person...so naturally, we're copying each other's planners to finalize our trip to Paris and Amsterdam after we COS!

Took a bike ride to Colette's high school and got this picture of her and her World Map. Absolutely beautiful!

Burkina Faso, baby!

Sushi time! Anything's possible in this country with a little creativity...and a care package from the US with seaweed paper.

Colette hitting the fields! This picture screams Peace Corps...

With her best friend at site, Balkissa.

At the market/marché.

The mayor of her town gave us a chicken. Such a nice guy!

Yours truly with our beloved chicken...who would soon be cooked and eaten after this photo was taken!

These pictures best illustrate how this chicken wanted to escape...and how Colette won! Haha! First, we overheard the bike fall over. Colette picks it up with the chicken hanging between the handlebars. Then it tries to run away with its legs tied together and at last, we capture it after it hobbles away from Lord knows how long. Oh boy!

Enjoying our chicken and beer. Mmmm!

Colette and another one of her closest friends at site, Irene.

I made Colette take this picture before I left! Fast forward to two years ago in 2009 when Colette, Devin and I were going shopping for things in downtown Ouaga. There's this artisanal store that sells lots of really cool stuff. Colette and I wanted the same "Afrique" wall decoration that you see in the picture...fortunately, there were two! Coincidentally, both of our "Afrique" wall decorations are hanging above our stoves in our own houses. Neat stuff!

Alphabet project done...and lots of rain. Finally!

As the school year comes to a close, so do most of my work projects...like one that I've doing for the longest time with the CP2 (1st grade level) students at two primary schools in my town: the Alphabet and Literacy Project! I love working with kids. <3

Aaaand on another note, rainy season is sure upon us. One day, it rained SO hard and for so long that it flooded my courtyard. See the pictures below to what it was like!

Passing the proverbial torch: PSDN training

Can somebody please say "full circle" again?! This Peace Corps thing does it to you, and I feel like this won't be the last time I say I'm coming full circle, haha.

Immediately after the MAP Conference/visiting the host family in Komsilga, I headed straight into new PSDN training. PSDN stands for Peer Support and Diversity Network -- essentially, a group of selected Peace Corps Volunteers that provide emotional and mental support to fellow volunteers.

Sadly, Bovard (my fellow Co-Chair) and Mike (Training Manger) couldn't make it, so it was Stephanie and I that were leading the group of new blood, so to speak! Lots of work but also lots of fun, and I'm very confident in the newest batch of PSDN members for Peace Corps/Burkina Faso. Good luck!

This woman is amazing! <3

Visiting the host family one last time in Komsilga!

Because I was in Ouahigouya for the MAP Conference already, I decided to take a trip to visit my host family in Komsilga one last time. Coincidentally, all of us that lived in Komsilga (our host village) during training two years ago (Marita, Coleman, Charley and I) were all in Ouahigouya at the same time and decided it would be best if we all biked together!

We headed out the day after the MAP Conference in the morning, buying little gifts for our host families in town (mangoes, bread, coffee, etc.) and took the less-than-an-hour-but-always-seems-longer-because-of-the-heat bike ride to Komsilga. Biking there was just like I remembered it -- but I felt like I completely different person biking there. Like I was truly coming full circle with my Peace Corps service.

Coming down the hill when you first arrive in Komsilga, it looks like this. Literally, in the middle of (seemingly) nowhere. Here's a good shot of Coleman and Marita biking in, with the Komsilga sign in the foreground and the new mosque in the background.

In Burkinabè culture, protocol is absolutely essential to follow. So we first said hi to the chief of the village, giving him kola nuts as is tradition, before visiting our host families. The chief said it meant a lot that all four of us returned, and he continued to give us benedictions of good health, that our families back home are doing well and that we continue to make this world a better place. I think when he said the last thing, I started to tear up...and it's funny because he was speaking in local language. And while I don't understand much Mooré or Jula, his facial and body expressions said it all. Powerful stuff!

We first went to visit Charley's host family because he had to leave a little earlier. Afterward, we visited Marita's and I swear, her host mom is so freakin' amazing!

Charley and his host family.

Marita with her host family.

Then it was my turn to visit 'home'...weird, because I was there almost a year ago when I was working PST as a PCVF/P. But to think I'm coming back for the last time to say goodbye to them was utterly surreal.

The great thing about my host family is that their compound is a little isolated from everyone elses. When you think stereotypical African village of huts and animals everywhere, this is it! And it's on its own little hill which makes it that much more picturesque.

My host family's compound. The hut I lived in during training in 2009 is the second from the left.

Marita and I chilling on my porch with my host dad, Mamadou, in the background.

Giving the host family some gifts -- mangoes, bread, coffee, etc.

My ever-growing host family and I!

With Charley, as this would be our last picture together in Burkina Faso before he heads off back to the U.S.

After Charley left and Coleman was still at his host family's place, Marita and I just relaxed at my host family's compound, taking a nap as if it were typical Sunday afternoon in Komsilga with no worries in the world.

We had been at my host family's for some time now, realized that the sun was setting quickly and needed to head back to Ouahigouya. So Marita and I dropped by Coleman's host family to say a quick hello before leaving.

Coleman and his multilingual host dad. Funny, funny man!

As we were biking up the little hill and heading down it to where we would no longer see Komsilga, it became bittersweet. Very bittersweet.

But I came to the realization that while it may be goodbye as a Peace Corps Volunteer, only God (or whatever greater being/force you believe in!) knows whether or not I'll return to West Africa, specifically Burkina Faso, in the future.

I'll leave you with this last photo of me in Komsilga with my host family's compound in the background...

Men As Partners (MAP) Conference

Do you ever have those moments where you tell yourself: "Man! If I only knew about this/had do this sooner, it would've made life a lot easier?"

Throughout the whole Men As Partners (MAP) Conference (in French, Hommes Comme Partenaires), I kept telling myself that. It would've been perhaps the most effective training I could have received as a male Girls' Education and Empowerment (GEE) Volunteer and it was bittersweet that I was getting this training at the end of my service.

In any case, I thought it would be good to bring an extremely motivated and engaged counterpart, my friend and the President of the Parents' Association at my primary school (called APE - Association des Parents d'Elèves), Nazaire. I decided that he would be the best counterpart for the volunteer that replaces me, and what better way to introduce him to Peace Corps, our approach to community development and gender equality than by bringing him to the MAP Conference!

In essence, the MAP Conference compiled about 10-12 Peace Corps Volunteers from various regions in Burkina Faso, and each was asked to bring one motivated, male counterpart from their communities to participate. It was led by the Gender and Development (GAD) Committee of Peace Corps/Burkina Faso, and was the first of its kind to be done here.

Overall, an absolutely amazing training! We talked about gender roles, did many activities that you can find in our Life Skills book and were able to put to practice many of the things we learned throughout our 3 days of training.

My hope is that my replacement volunteer will have an easier transition to site when he/she arrives in September, and will have a counterpart that better understands Peace Corps, the GEE program and can work well with the new volunteer to get projects and activities going faster!

Nazaire and I during the last day, handing certificates to our counterparts.

Group picture -- all the volunteers and our counterparts.

One of my Peace Corps favorites, Lorena! And our matching US/BF pagne outfits. <3

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