Friday, June 24, 2011

SPOONS, TOE, AND SUNGLASSES

Other than being schooled by them in soccer (football) one day, I hadn’t spent much time with the school age kids. But, yesterday Kesley and I went to the village to buy a few things and several of the kids came with us. Even if we couldn’t understand most of what they said, they were a lot of fun. Afterwards, we played the card game spoons (with rocks instead of spoons) and we have been playing all today too. Someone went through our bags and pulled out the cameras and sunglasses and they became the new favorite thing. Everyone wanted to take pictures and have their pictures taken (they took 93 pictures this afternoon until my battery finally died) and wear the sunglasses (they thought they were really funny). Jonas, a six-year-old, heard Kelsey say someone looked cool when they were wearing the glasses and so thought the sunglasses were called cool. So for the rest of the day, he kept asking to wear the cool. Haha, oh Jonas. Also, I got to try Toe for the first time. For those of you who don’t know, Toe is pretty much all they eat here. I was nervous to try it but it actually was pretty good. Anyway it's late here so I should go to bed. Bon nuit!

ADOPTION AND RAINY SEASON

Bonjour! Ca va? Right now there is an Italian couple here to adopt one of the babies, Joel, so that has been really cool to watch them meet their son, and see Joel get a family. Kelsey and I have been in charge of all cooking (thank you, mom, for feeding me the past sixteen years). We’ve had to get creative and find things to make decent meals without cheese, milk, or a microwave. Dinner is always fun with people speaking English, French, Italian, and Morai. After a while, you get used to not understanding anything anyone’s saying. Other than cooking, I spend a lot of time with the babies and tanties (the ladies who take care of them). They’re adorable and have no problem with you not speaking French, so it’s great. It’s the rainy season right now and we’ve had a couple storms so far. For a little while, right after it rained, the temperature probably got down to about 85 degrees, which feels amazing when you don’t have any air conditioning. Not what I would call freezing, but all of sudden the Burkinabes are pulling out their winter coats and bundling up for the frigid African summer night. Hahaha I’m just imagining them in St. Louis in January.

HEADED TO YAKO

Bonjour! Ca va? Monday afternoon we left Ouaga after eating at the U.S. Embassy where I got to have my last burger and fries for a while. I came here prepared to eat cockroaches and frog eyes, but so far I’ve had Chinese, sub sandwiches, and better American food than in America. Before leaving for Yako, we visited a three-year-old blind boy named Samson at one of the other orphanages. Burkina Faso does not have many facilities for people with special needs, so a lot of handicapped people end up on the streets, abandoned by their family. Thankfully though, Samson is about to get adopted by a family in the United States.

We had to pay a toll for driving on the road between Ouagadougou and Yako, so when I got out of the car to pay, a man started talking to me in French. I took Spanish in school, so I had no idea what he was saying, so he eventually went over to Ruth. When I got back in the car, Ruth told me the man had asked if I could stay with him. Ha! So dad, Ruth wants to know how much you want for a bride price. We were thinking 10 cows was probably good. It was pretty funny… So anyway Yako is amazing and the people here are awesome. Everyone is very friendly and kind.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Finally in Ouagadougou!!!!

After spending over 24 hours in planes and airports, I finally made it to Burkina!! I just got here a couple hours ago so my brains still a little crazy but I'll try to put together some words that make sense. So first we flew to Chicago, where we had a 5 hour layover (and where I got to eat deep dish pizza for the first time), from there we had a looong flight to Brussels, Belgium. I'm not sure how long though because my phone turned off when I left the country. After a layover in Brussels, we got ready ready for another five hour flight to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

The airport was... different. A bus took us from the plane to the airport, which consists of I think a grand total of two rooms and was filled with people. As you walked out, there were crowds of people trying to sell you things, or get you to stay in their hotel, or wanting to carry your luggage. I am way impressed by the balancing skills of their ladies, who could walk around with big, full baskets on their heads. Also, I realized my french is terrible!

Driving is a scary thing. Someone that works for Ruth picked us up and many times I thought we were going to hit someone on a bike. Everyone rides bikes here, scooters, motorcycles, and regular bikes. There also didn't seem to be to many rules on the road you have to follow (like silly things like speed limits and lanes you have to stay in). 

We're staying here in Ouaga until Monday, which I'm really excited about because it seems to be a pretty awesome city. I was surprised at how full and busy it is. All along the streets people are selling things and they'll walk up to your car window to try to get you to buy it. We're staying in the SIM, another missionary organization, guest house until Monday when we'll head to Yako!

That's all I've got for today, just wanted to let you know I made it here ok, but will probably post again sometime after I'm in Yako. Burkina already seems amazing and I'm so excited to get to experience it! I love you all and will miss you like crazy!

Love,
Rebecca