Biking and Biotech

So in an effort to save 2500cfa (5 US dollars) I opted to ride my bike to my site from Ouahigoya. The ride was a glorious 135k of sun bleached gravel punctuated only by the occasional mosque. It it totally depressing to see that much of the burkinabé country side in one day as you begin to realize that it all looks the same. The landscape is composed of 3 main ingredients at this time of year: dehydrated vegetation, dust and sun. However, the good news is I found perhaps the best bread and coffee in all of burkina faso. Located at kiembara, a town about 45k from ouahigouya, one can find absolutely divine café au lait and the BON pain which feed the body and nourish the soul. The people in that village however spoke samo so I can't comment so much on the make up of the town. It's still amazing to me what barriers language present in this country. Even though I speak french decently and djula passably there is still a large portion of the country that I am entirely incapable of communicating with, not to mention the problems that exist across boarders. For instance, a random American would have an easier time getting around in Ghana (an anglophone country) than the vast majority of burkinabé even though burkina shares a boarder with Ghana. It is no wonder languages such as french and Swahili are expanding so much in africa, it is so convenient to have a common tongue.

Forgot to mention that when I was in Ouahigouya I started looking into grad schools. I'm pretty sure I'm going right back into the fray upon my return to the states but not quite sure what program. I want to work french into my degree somehow but it seems as though it might be a bit too ambitious (read: suicidal) to try to pull off a french major and a microbial engineering masters. There is still some time left to decide though.