So things are still ca va allering over here as i continue to press on with my work in french and crosscultural adjustment. There is still tons of work to be done with french, if someone is good with french I basically can articulate 70 percent of the ideas i have in my head to them. However, if the person is not so good with french (as many burkinabé are) then the proposition becomes a lot trickier. In other news I have joined the Salle de Musclulisation (sp?) which is the only gym in ouhigouya and also probably the shadiest weight room in the world. Its basically in two rooms of an appartment complex and is filled with a mixture of soviet era weight machines and giant posters of schwarzenegger circa 1970. So needless to say the place has a lot of charecter. Also I might add that for the 3 us dollars a week I pay I also get a personal trainer which means someone clap along to every set I do and then applaud wildely when I finish something (its really quite complimentary). Seriously this guy is like the burkina faso luke carleson on speed he is so goddamn enthusiastic. In addition I have taken up the role of local rancher by feeding the goat that our peace corps group was given as a gift by the cheif of Ouhigouya. It took me a long time to figure out what to feed him but basically he prefers the shell of millet that has been pounded into oblivion ( called cardcoudaga in mooré) and also random green things. Im trying to fatten him up for for our 4th of july extravaganza. This whole thing has made me very excited to have a ranch of my own when I get to site. Im planning on buying a couple of my own animals and raising some livestock. Ive found out here pretty quick that nothing makes a party like an entire animal being eaten. Anyways Ive got a wish list up and running so if anyone is feeling generous I totally would be in your debt.
By the way allemagne is my host dads team so it really exciting around the Meda houshold right now.

So with my illness kicked to the curb I am totally loving it here. During the phase I'm in right, now called stage, we basically are going through language and cross culture boot camp. I have 5 hours of language lessons (plus of course the 24/7 education of living in a french speaking country) plus a couple other miscellaneous classes on health education (ie malaria prevention, water filtration) or cultural quirks each day. It can be really frustrating and slow moving work at times (in 40+ degree heat in a land without shade anything can be frustrating) but for the most part I'm happy with my progress. My host family is continuously astounding me with their grace and hospitality. I tried 'toe' last night which is essentially pulverized and re congealed gelatinous rice with sauce. I liked it but i preferred watching the turkey Croatia game with my host dad and drinking brakina beer. Imight also add that they haven't let me help at all with the house work yet. c'est dommage.

settled in

So I finally have begun the peace corps stage ( think agoge) experience. I really have to say that this experience so far has been simply amazing. Two nights ago I moved in with my host family that i will be stayingwith for the next three months. I cant emphasize enough how much xenophilia they have shown me. They fed me and made sure I was well attended the whole time, plus they were also very engaging and it was easy for me to express myself en francais to them. This might have been in part because they were both teachers and used to dealing with neophytes. My host dad teaches french and english and loves german football. In fact, the first conversation i had with him spanned two hours and consisted of nothing but beer and football (soccer). I thought I could have had that conversation in the states just as easily har har. Anyway food was great but in my zeal to be an appreciative guest i ate way too much and made myself sick. The word for to vomit in french is vomitir by the way. but anyway i really do like it (did i mention my fellow trainies are awesome?) our host familly also has a cat which I nicknamed Ahab for the way he stalks the geckos that infest burkina faso. I have seen him wall jump time attempting to grab those bastards but alas they elude him. sorry for spelling on this one by the way keyboards still a prob

bonjour!
so this is my first blogpost from burkina and the french keyboard might be messing me up a little so bear with me. This country (or at least what ive seen of it) has been amazing; the food is fantastic and the people are gracious. Later today i take off for ouahigouya (wah+hi+goo+ya) where i will begin my training. I am really anxious to begin as i still have a lot of work to do= it may not supprise you guys that i feel more comfortable studying/doing work than lounging about. anyways ill try to write again soon

Just came back from my yellow fever vaccination and I'm getting ready to quit this hotel. My bags are packed and je suis tres impatient pour voyager en france, et apres ca, Burkina. The next 25-30 hours are sure to be hectic (i might have to serenade my co-volunteers with a little impromptu mandolin during our 8 hour layover at the Charles du Galle airport) but I'm still excited.

By the way a note for Ben: we talked a ton about definitions of 'development' yesterday and I really wanted to hear the Mac IS definition. There are quite a few anthro majors here by the by.

Also a note for Sam: The only other person from Minnesota here is actually a math major. The only book he brought was a book titled "MATHEMATICAL LOGIC" - I felt as though that's about as hard-core academia as you can get.

Anyway, I should be in burkina by 7 on Wednesday (local time, which is also GM time +O, So Rozi and I will be on the same schedule) so I might have a chance to post something on Thursday.
Till then...

Flight etc

I lack the emoticon for how exciting this day has been. The first step on my travels is complete and I am writing from Philadelphia- effectively navigating an airline system that has proven to be less than hospitable to me in the past :/ Anyway! I've begun to meet my coworkers and they all seem extremely personable and all bring their own very interesting characteristics to bear. My roommate is a half-swiss biology student that is going over to teach IT. He just got back from his term of obligatory service in the Swiss-Army (no joke that is a real organization) and ran right into service in Burkina. Everyone else has extremely colorful pasts as well, not to mention accents. I seem to be the only person with a generic "US City" accent- it seems as though it's all Bostonians and Montana natives. Our first day of orientation went really well; it was a little dry and I was a little exhausted but it was still fantastic. Philly is also a nice bridge to Burkina in that it is the perfect mugginess to get used to wearing pants in. I really like the focus on sustainability that the Peace Corps takes; the focus on creating programs that the country can maintain without foreign help is really commendable. Also, I found out a factoid regarding the Peace Corps- the budget is around 300 million. For those of you keeping score at home that's less that one B2 bomber (737 million to 2.2 billion). At first I was really disheartened by that but they explained that the Peace Corps does not rely on financial sprees to accomplish their goals and in fact other non-profit organization rely to heavily on temporary flushes of unsustainable cash. Filling an environment with an influx of temporary wealth does nothing to solve the real problems associated with these countries. Instead, the Peace Corps chooses to field determined (albeit poorly funded) volunteers to use local resources to accomplish the goals. All in all the day was very good and I'll try to have more soon on the specifics of what I'll be doing.

Bien venu tout le monde et bonjour! This is my first post of what will hopefully be a long and fruitful blogging experience. I'm still state-side at the moment and going through the last few hectic checks of my bags before heading off tomorrow at 7am for philly (and then for ouaga 3 days later). Thanks to everyone for all the last minute well-wishing- I had quite the time in 'merica during my last few weeks. Anyway check back for hopefully more colorful posts.