I had a great last couple of days in Ouaga. On Thursday I got together with Jason to work on our presentation for The Gambia. We worked together the morning and then we out to lunch together. It was fun and we got it all done. I called Issaka because he had told me to come by while we were both in Ouaga and I wanted to spend time with him before leaving for the conference. I headed over to his house. I got there and greeted all of his family. I'd missed them. We sat around listening to music and watching t.v. We had dinner and then watched the Italy v.s. Germany soccer game. I was rooting for Italy, Issaka was for Germany (he thinks that I decided to support Italy just because he wanted Germany to win, really though I just think Italy plays better). I fell asleep during the second half because I was so tired and my arm was hurting. Issaka told me to go to sleep but it was only 2100 so I knew it was too early. We watched t.v. some more and I fell asleep again so then it was really time to go to bed. He wakes up at the crack of dawn to pray (he's Muslim) and I slept in til 0630. I showered and we ate rice for breakfast. Around 0800 we went over to the corner boutique to hang out with Alain and his other friends. I love those guys. They always make me feel like part of the guys. They were all chatting in Moore so I felt dumb just sitting there not saying anything. Alain understood my awkwardness because he said he feels the same way when people speak in different languages around him. I was trying to get back to work so I told Issaka that I was ready to go. Before I went we went over to Rosalie's house so that I say hi to her and her family. I love Rosalie and her family. I love spending the night at their house. There was a new baby there, a little boy. I went in to pick him up and Issaka was like "Who picked that baby up for you? I didn't know that you knew how to pick up babies!"...Dumb. As if because I'm American, 23 and unmarried doesn't make me unable to pick up children. He just laughed and we went off to visit his brother. His brother was super cool, it was the first time that I met him. Then I got in a taxi and said bye to Issaka. 

My babies!

I headed back to the bureau to get some stuff down and Ishmael called me. He told me that my babies (the kids of our friends; twin boys and a girl) were moving to Cote d'Ivoire. So he suggested that we go by and see them since I'm gonna be gone when they leave. He picked me up and we went out to lunch, then did some work for his mom, visited his family, and then we went to see the kids. I love visiting those kids, they all give me hugs and kisses and call me "ta-ta." They talk so much and run around and we play games and we took a lot of pictures. It was so much fun, I'm going to miss them. After that we went out to dinner and Ishmael's friend met up with us for a beer. After that I was so exhausted and had to get my stuff ready for the conference. So I went home. The day was amazing. When I got back to bureau I got to skype with my mom and with Brandon so I was really happy. That was the perfect ending to a great day.

So I'm not leaving in the med unit until I leave to Gambia on Saturday! Gaaaaaaaaah!

Today was a pretty good day. I woke up this morning and had a bagel lol. I got some work done at the bureau and scheduled a meeting with George for the afternoon. Issaka called and said that he wanted to see me today. I didn't put a whole lot of stock in that because he has been saying that all week. But I told him that if he wanted to come by around 12 he could. Guess what?! He actually did. It was fun. We chatted and he laughed at my arm and it was really a good time. He bought me some juice to make me feel better and we went out to lunch. He told me that I needed to come by his house soon because everyone there misses me. He had said that Rosalie (his sister) had wanted to come see me as well but he didn't bring her. After lunch we hung out for a bit more, but it was so hot and I was tired so I told him that I was going back to the bureau. He asked him he could borrow my IPod while I'm in Gambia so that he could listen to music. I told him that he was out of his freaken mind haha.

Back at the bureau Hugo called to come hang out with me. That was a lot of fun because we talked and watched "No Strings Attached." We laughed so hard. Then I had a meeting to get to with George about Gambia and Hugo had to go finish his med stuff. My meeting with George went really well. He's a really nice guy. We got stuff worked out for Gambia and we are meeting again tomorrow once Jason gets into town. So Gambia is all set for us to leave Saturday!!! Soooooo excited.

I called Saiiba and we talked forever. He told me that he had been super busy filling out reports and that he didn't want me to think that he forgot about me. I thought that was really funny because we talked the day before yesterday! That's how close we are, if we don't talk for a day it feels like forever. We talked about everything that's going on here and he asked when I was coming home. I told him that I'm leaving to Gambia Saturday and he couldn't believe it. I had told him a million times that I was going but I guess that he forgot because I ended up having to come to Ouaga a lot sooner than I had planned. He said that he is going to miss me so much! I told him that I would bring him back something nice from Gambia and he got really excited.

There's a stagiere that is doing his training right now who is in the med unit with me. We went out to dinner and I had a great time. We talked about what I've been doing for the past year and he told me what he hopes to do in his service. I told him about all my friends and how hard it is to leave them. It was nice to talk to him and just have someone to talk to. The med unit can get pretty lonely.

One thing I do love is the internet. I just finished skyping with Kim, Kelby and Ms. JoAnn. I miss them all so much. My baby Kelby is growing up so much. That's pretty much how my entire day went. I'll probably mess around on facebook, see if I can't skype more, watch GLEE and go to bed!

So as it turns out I will be in the med unit until at least Wednesday because of my arm. The boredom might be the death of me. There are only so many books I can read and naps that I can take it one day. I've never been good at sitting still for long periods of time. 

It's weird how much I miss my village when I am not there. I talk to my best friend Saiiba practically everyday. He calls to tell me that he misses me and I tell him that when I see him I'm going to give him "Gros Bizou's" (big kisses) because I always miss him so much when I'm not there. I joke with him and tell him that if he could speak English he could pass for an American. He's so much different than the guys here. We can talk about everything, and we hang out all day everyday. We drink beer and tea and gossip and laugh. It's really quite amazing. He invited me to come to Bobo in August to visit his girlfriend and little daughter. I can't wait to go. He promised that we would go dancing and visit the waterfalls. We also plan to have a huge party for our birthday this year (His is November 28th and mine's the 24th) in Bobo. We are going to buy lots of chickens and beer haha. It's going to be amazing. I can even talk to him about relationships and love. I never thought I would have a friend like this here in Burkina. I wish I could pack him in my backpack and take him to America with me. He told me that he was going to come back with me and be my guard and not let dumb people talk to me. I have such close friends in this country I can't imagine what it will be like to leave them in a year. I wish that I could take them all with me. I've gotten so many calls from my village friends like Ada, Yago, Gabriel, Issaka and Saiiba asking how I'm doing. It's a really good feeling to know that they care for me the way I care for all of them. It's an amazing feeling to walk down the street and have all my babies run up to me to hold me hand. Just yesterday I was hanging out with my friend Ishmael here in Ouaga and we went to visit his cousin. His cousin has the most adorable kids ever! A girl and twin boys. I've meet the kids before and they all saw me and ran up to me saying "Ta-ta we missed you!" and they all gave me hugs and kisses. My favorite is the baby of the family, he was curious about my sling so I took it off for him to show him that I still have an arm. He crawled onto my lap and cuddled into me, sucking his thumb. It was such a perfect moment. I played angry birds with the kids on Ishmael's phone and they we all screaming "ta-ta knock down the house!!!" and when I did they would run to Ishmael and say "Ton-ton, Ta-ta knocked down the bird's house!!!" they were so happy and silly and precious. Now that school is almost over they are getting ready to move to Cote d'Ivoire. I need to get a picture with them before they go. 


My time here is going by so fast. I realized this right before I came in to Ouaga. Not only did I celebrate my one year anniversary here but something a little closer to home. When I first moved to village my friend Collette had a baby that was just a fat little infant. Now...he walks! That little boy is unstoppable and it made me realize that so much time has passed since I left. One year to go! To those of you who have pushed me, I thank you you gave me strength...but it is to those of you who thought I couldn't do it-- it is to you I thank the most because, without you I wouldn't have tried. 

Finally an Update

It's been almost 3 months since my last blog post! i've become such a slacker when it comes to updating this and even Facebook. I'll work on it...

So it's offically been one year that I've been in this country as of June 11th. Oh how time flies and how things have changed this past year. I'm not even going to attempt to recap the last 2.5 months in very much detail because that would take forever...but here are some highlights...

1.  Yoro first ever girl's soccer team!- My team consisted of the girls from the CM2 class. All that got started over me being a hot-head over the fact that I said any girl can play soccer with any guy. So, I was challenged to a bet. The bet was that I couldn't train a girl's soccer team to beat the boy's team. I hate to be told that I can't do something so I marched into the middle of Yago's class and asked the girls if they wanted to play soccer. All of them jumped up and wanted to play. The girl's had an amazing season. They could play on the condition that they studied hard and at the end of the year the top 7 girls in the class are all on my team. I watched them grow into confidant young ladies that are quick to jump up and brush the dirt off and get back out there. Man my girls could take a hit! I've never been more proud than I was of those girls. 

2. My first school year is now over. Yago called me to tell me that 31 of the 47 kids that took the CEP passed it! He did such an incredible job with those kids. Thats 31 kids that are now one step closer to finishing school. Lots of things to look forward to for next year... Like having 100% of Yoro's kids pass. 

3. The "Men as Partners" Conference that I attended in May was amazing. I took my village dad to it and that was an amazing decision. He learned a lot and actually engaged in all the activities. At the end of the conference he was given a frame that said that he is a partner to all the women in his life. He was so proud of that moment and when I got home I found that he had proudly hung it up for everyone to see. 

4. The end of my relationship is a pretty significant thing that has happened in the last 3 months. Not going to get into the specifics. Just sometimes things don't work out like you had planned or hoped for. In the end the distance won. Now I'll just treasure the good memories and leave the rest behind me. I wish Andrew the best and think of him often. 

5. Food Security Task Force update- I currently am vice president of the food security committee. I helped work on a project proposal for a HUGE grant that USAID gave Peace Corps Burkina Faso for food security related projects. Now volunteers will have the resources that they need to do any projects. Also there is a conference in a WEEK in THE GAMBIA that I get to attend with Jason and Nina. It's going to be so epic to be able to talk about Burkina’s projects and visit The Gambia. I'll definitely post about that trip.  

6.My messed up arm. Currently I am writing this laid up in the med unit.  A few days ago I was biking in Leo and Hugo's dog ran in front of me. I didn't have time to stop but I hit the brakes, clipped Plato and hit the ground. When I hoped up I wasn't bleeding except for a cut on my ankle but my arm was in a lot of pain and shaking like crazy. I thought it was just a shock but by afternoon it was unbearable. I called the PCMO who told me that I had to come in and get x-rays. Luckily there is no break but it's possible that I have a torn ligament. Still can't move it at all so I keep it in a sling. I'm hoping to be out of the med unit soon. As much as I like having air conditioning and bagels I can't deal with the loneliness of being the only person sleeping in here.  More updates on the arm to come.