We appreciate all of the Thanksgiving and Christmas emails, packages, and calls that we received. Its difficult to describe how much it means to see “Call 1” ring in on our cell phones (the code for USA), see mail in our inbox that isn’t from Iowa student loan, or see our neighbor the postman grin as he tells us a package has arrived. The thought and time you invest is very much appreciated. This was my first time spending either of those holidays away from family, and Jessi’s first time away from family on Christmas. We missed the traditions and anticipation and most of all the people that we shared them with. We managed to celebrate each in our own little way, having a chicken dinner for Thanksgiving, and a Christmas dinner of tortillas with Velveta-Rotel sauce (I’ll go more into our Christmas in a bit).
Two weeks after Thanksgiving was one of Burkina’s two independence days (they declared independence in August 49 years ago, and people were too busy working in the fields to celebrate, so they postponed the celebration to December. Just another reason to party it up I suppose). This year the national celebration was in Ouahigouya, where we had our training. We met up with some other Peace Corps volunteers and marched in the parade. The concept of parade is very different here than at home. No candy or waving or floats, not even ones pulled by donkey carts. Each group in the parade had to dress alike and march, yes, march, the parade route. By march I mean swinging arms up to head, military like marching, and no smiling allowed (we were repeatedly reminded of this one, which was really hard to digest). It all sounded ridiculous to me at the time, and still does, but it did look kind of cool on TV. The president of Burkina waved at our group, so I guess we did an ok job. We also got to see our host families from training again, and some fireworks, but nothing else noteworthy, just a warmly welcomed long weekend. Next year is the 50th anniversary so we look forward to a huge celebration.
I arrived back home after the long weekend to discover that classes were canceled for Monday and Tuesday. No, not because of waist high snow or even subzero windchills. The students hold a protest every year in memory of a journalist that was murdered a few years back. There’s never been resolution to the case, so the students protest (more or less peacefully) each year. All it really meant for me was two extra days to grade tests and calculate grades, both of which take unbelievable amounts of time. After filling out 375 report cards I am glad that the first trimester is over, though like most first year teachers I now realize how much I really need to change before next trimester.
After the Independence Day celebration Jessi headed to Ouaga for a four day in-service training with her fellow GEE volunteers. She really enjoyed the chance to share work ideas and hang out with volunteer friends (not to mention the Chinese and Indian food that went along with hanging-out). According to Jessi, the week really rejuvenated her and made her all the more excited for her work this year.
Jessi was greeted with various Christmas packages when she arrived back in Tougan, and we read Luke 2 and had a gift opening together on December 23rd. Jessi managed to find a Christmas tree with lights in Ouaga, and we received assorted Christmassy decorations (including a window-cling manger scene) in our packages, so the evening felt festive. On Christmas Eve we set out to meet up with some other volunteers in the southwest of Burkina to celebrate Christmas together and see some of the sights. Due to the bus leaving 90 minutes late and breaking down twice on the 120 mile trip, we didn’t actually make it to our destination in one day. When we finally did arrive, we were warmly greeted by fellow volunteers, a miniature Christmas tree, and homemade pizza for our Christmas day meal. We did a white elephant gift exchange (no coconut monkey this year) and went around the neighborhood singing Christmas carols in English.
The day after Christmas we discovered how out of shape we truly are, with a 40k bike ride to see the sights and sounds of the southwest. The southwest of Burkina is an entirely different world. It is much wetter and thus greener, and we enjoyed the fresh oranges, bananas, sugar cane, papayas and freshly roasted cashews. Some highlights included an informal tour of a sugar processing factory by a friend of a friend, seeing the waterfalls and domes of Karfiguela, spotting five hippos on our boat tour at Tengrela, being gifted drinks in a village because we are from Tougan and spoke a few words of Jula (the local language), and joining in a village’s celebration for their volunteer’s one year anniversary. We met a few PCV families along our trip, including two Luther College alumni that live in the Twin Cities.
After returning to Tougan from our trip to the South, we brought in the New Year with the Yaro family, which included lots of dancing and a midnight dinner complete with fried chicken, green beans, fried plantains and Coca Cola.
I’m not sure how it happened, but our kitty Patience has turned into a cat. He does a good job of keeping us company, and entertained. His favorite hobbies include climbing up the wall of our house onto the screen window next to our bedroom at 6AM and meowing until we let him in, ripping open bags of cashews and other goodies we would never expect a cat to eat, and keeping our insect population in check.
The weather here has changed quite a bit. We haven’t seen rain since early October, and will only see it once in April before the rainy season begins in June again. The land up here is very dry and dusty, which can wreak havoc on the sinuses when it’s windy. No rain means we need to water our plants this time of year. Our courtyard is looking surprisingly green, and we now have trees that are taller than I am, and some trees that I started from seeds only three months ago that are waist high. The ecologist in me is not happy to water our plants everyday, but hopefully next dry season everything will be big enough to survive on its own. We’ve been enjoying cooler temperatures in the evenings, though our house is still about 90 degrees during the day. One night on our southwest trip we slept outside in our mosquito tent with sleeping bags and just shivered most of the night. In Tougan we haven’t yet experience nighttime shivering, but we do find it necessary to heat our bath water. It is comical to see Burkinabé wearing heavy winter coats (most of which probably arrived from countries like the US during clothing drives), complete with thick winter hats and furry hoods, though the temperature is never lower than 65 up here. We try telling them about ice and snow back in the states (pointing out pictures from the photo books of Colorado and Iowa that Grandpa George sent us for Christmas) and they tell us they could never survive it there. We’ll see how we do with the local heat in April.
Thank you again for all the packages, emails, letters, and phone calls. We absolutely love hearing from you and think of you all constantly. We hope that everyone was rejuvenated by the Holidays and that God bless you all with a very happy and excellent New Year!
Tyler chillin' with Bovard, friend and fellow Volunteer in nearby town of Toma
Christmas present opening: Lots of goodies and pictures from Jessi's family (this is just one of many we received - Thank you everyone!)
Photo books, movies, pictures, and snacks from Cresco (also note window clings that Vern sent in background, hanging on wall instead of non-exsistent glass windows :)
Christmas in Orodara at Leah's place (Leah is smily, amazing woman wearing white). Other Volunteers joining in pizza feast: Bridget, Isy, Mike, Carolyn, Tyler and Steph
Christmas caroling for Leah's neighbors. Yes it was as absurd as it sounds, but lots of fun!
Boat search for Hippos: Jessi, Tyler, Aruna, Carolyn, Leah, Bridget and Steph
1 of 5 hippos we got to see - really cool!
Jessi on top of one of the Karfiguela Domes
Tyler conversely below the Karfiguela Domes
No matter where we go, John Deere finds us. Tyler poses with several loads of sugar cane before it is washed and processed inside Susuco factory
Group in front of Susuco sugar factory in Beregedougou. Back row: Carolyn, Steph, Leah, Aruna, and one of Aruna's family who gave us tour inside factory and also put us up for the night
Tyler under the most amazing and vast mangoe trees we have ever seen! Yes, those giants produce mangoes!
The waterfalls at Karfiguela, popular tourist retreat for foreigners and Burkinabé alike
Tyler with book, Patience, and newly shaved head
