been a long time, been a long time

So here I am at the internet in lovely ol' Kongoussi again. It's been a while because in all honesty the internet really stresses me out a little. I had sort of planned to write something wonderful ahead of time so that when I finally eventully went online again you would all be guarenteed a substantial Burkina Faso read; however, things did not work out this way, so what you get is what you get...rambling, probably misspelled thoughts as they come into my head and get tapped onto this heavy keyboard.

Today was quite a different and productive day! I've been spending a lot of my time hanging out chez moi up on the hill with the nuns and the students and the cuisinaires. Little by little I'm forming real relationships, having deep conversations, becoming more comfortable with people who are becoming more comfortable with me. It's nice. I've also chilled out a bit about American time and have recently spent some quality moments visiting and being visited by Peace Corps volunteers near and bike-ably far. TODAY was nose my way into important organizations day. Despite a sudden and obnoxious boogary cold that I blame on a combination of lack of sleep (which itself can be blamed on a combination of things, including one particular dog that I am growing to despise) and a classroom full of coughing and sneezing teenagers for whom I was proctoring an exam, I got up and ready at a reasonable hour and bouged myself into Kongoussi. No, this reasonable hour was not 5h, which I have decided is one of my two favorite hours here (17h, or the other 5:00 being the other), but I think my body was very happy for the extra sleep it got.

Anyhow. I biked into town to pay a visit to the office of my school's APE (Association de Parents des Eleves) president. We chatted for a while about his work travelling to the villages surrounding Kongoussi to do education sensibilizations with families, philosophies of development, lots of good stuff. After a bit he took me over to the Action Sociale bureau, which is a social service agency here in Burkina/Kongoussi. I chatted with a bunch of the people who work there and was extended a very warm and very enthusastic welcome to come by again any time. So I will. There are some good conections that can happen between this org and my school je pense. Then my APE President friend and I went to visit a friend of his nearby who works with microfinance and petit enterprises for women...groups of women go to her organization to take out tiny loans which are paid back with minimal interest, and they use this money to start businesses, invest in livestock, quoi quoi quoi. Good stuff.

We went up the road a bit for lunch, where we sat with two other gentlemen and ate and had what was ALMOST an interesting and completely comfortable conversation that did not eventually turn into questions about my marital status and slightly impolite suggestions about how it can be changed. Almost.

I feel like I should have some sort of clever and overarching theme to this entry but I'm not sure that I do. I'm feeling pretty good about life and myself these days though. It's kind of nice to have gone through a couple of relatively crappy experiences in my late adolescence slash early adulthood because I have found here that I am remarkably good at keeping things in perspective. Not that I've been having to face any crappy experiences, really...but I'm totally able to go with the flow in a way that impresses myself. I'm good at this, what I'm doing here. The Peace Corps is good for me and I think I'm going to be good for it, and Burkina Faso is clearly where I was meant to be. I could see myself staying beyond the two years. There's lots of stuff here that's good for my soul.

...ok...I guess I'm going to submit and post a picture of my puppy. Yes, I have a puppy. Sort of. Well, yes I do. He showed up at the Foyer and quickly became the one and only dog that I have ever loved. Mam baaga biiga, my puppy dog, who I call either baaga biiga or puppy dog, which has become his name...PD. Puppy Dog. REGARD:

HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE THAT DOG? Impossible.

...and for your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of other things:

A view of the sky from my porch as huge clouds rolled in that ended up not unleashing any water onto us...the rainy season is probably over.












Sun shining through the clouds on the road to Kongoussi...I turned on my bike to take this photo of the Kongoussi sign as I was biking away because it looked so beautiful, but ended up getting this quick shot instead of something more artistic due to some people who were hanging out on the side of the road, watching me intently. I like to lay low with displays of wealth and touristic qctivities, especially in and near my town. But look! Pretty road, pretty sky.

Ok, with that I shall leave you because this internet is doing me in. I just dished out monthly internet dues to the lady here though, so I do have a little bit more of an economic incentive to come back.