Burkina Faso musings ... or things that didn't warrant an entire blog post on their own

• Fabric softener is amazing – after washing my clothes they’re practically surf boards. Cherish your washing machines and trust me there’s no excuse to procrastinate. I have to use a big tub and 2 buckets. I wash my clothes with detergent in the big tub with a bar of soap too, then this is followed by two rinse “cycles” in the other buckets. The soap still remains in the clothes and my hands are not happy afterwards. Separate whites and colors? More like wash the really dirty stuff last so the water is somewhat clean for those things that are almost passable.
• Avez-vous la monnaie de 2,000/5,000/10,000 CFA? Small currency is hard to come by. Par exemple: bissap or jus de weda (better than bissap!) costs 50 CFA per sachet, yoghurt is 200 CFA and toilet paper 250 CFA for one roll. Try buying any of the three with a 10 mille note!
• Fanta, Coke or Sprite?
• Why can’t I get away from grey & white tabby cats? They are cute though...
• Franglais is necessary here (trust me) and I just noticed it’s starting to show up in my writing! I officially refuse to correct it – franglais will remain as it falls.
• I have a new house...long story! It has everything, but the kitchen sink (or a kitchen for that matter!). More in a few weeks with pictures.
• The Olympics started yesterday?
• Mauritania had a coup d’état?
• Fanta, Coke or Sprite?
• There’s another world out there besides training?
• Teaching in french isn’t so bad and teaching in BF is remarkably similar to the States. However the students here actually “boo” you when they disagree with test questions on reclamation day, the day the tests (devoirs) get handed back. Although to be fair to them it was a bad question, at least half of it anyway. They all got a point back making my average 8.9/20 with a high and low of 16.5 and 2.5, respectively.
• Let me qualify my test scores by saying the average grade in Burkina is a 50% (10/20 on tests)! (kinda like grad school, but un peu différent...) So my test was completely reasonable. Tough love is the norm here not just at school, poor kids. American students have it easy with averages of 70% and clean water!
• Dogs here are NOT cuddly! They chase me when I go running!! Some volunteers carry rocks to keep them away. Not a bad idea...
• By the time I leave Africa I will have read 10% of all books on Earth. (Really this is not an unrealistic goal. I’m on book #3 for the month of August!) I just started Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and I highly recommend it after only 20 pages. And no, I will not read the end of this book first. :)
• Fanta, Coke or Sprite?
• Mosquitoes love: heels, elbows, ankles, tops of feet, toes, knuckles and shoulder blades
• Flies love mosquito bites. Yuk! We have a few infected bites among the trainees right now (not me thank goodness, applying insect repellent over a wound is quite antiseptic even though it hurts more than...well many things.)
• Tuesday, I pick-up my Swear-in Ceremony complète. I’m so excited! Pictures to come...butterflies and roses are involved.
• News flash: “Kitten Steals Mouse from Mother” {see picture below}
• Telecenters here have gone the way of Kodak film – they exists, but barely. Cell phones are ubiquitous, even in villages. Do land-lines exist anymore? To top it off I’ve become a “texter” because it’s so much cheaper. This is very frightening to me.
• Even more frightening is listening to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” every night for ~ week ... on repeat! Well to be honest the tape was played over-and-over making it vers 3 to 4 times an evening. At least I’m not forced to watch Celine Dion music videos like Chris!
• Fanta, Coke or Sprite... wait Fanta Cocktail exists!
• Les crapauds are nice to fall asleep to, but roosters are decidedly not pleasant to wake-up to! It’s also not great falling asleep to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”...
• Keyboards: qwerty > qwerty-csa >> azerty and switching back and forth between all three is confusing!
• Mango Season is wrapping up. I’m not happy about this development! Hopefully a suitable replacement will come along... if not: Fanta, Coke or Sprite?
  

Snails are everywhere!

French verbs!

My first rainbow in BF

I love clouds!

Mushrooms

What is the world coming to when kittens steal mice from their mothers? (the mouse tail is just visible)