3 weeks down......

I live in a village called Sissamba. It’s about 10k away from the big city of Ouahigouya. I have to ride my bike into the city about 3 times a week. I have French, job training and culture class all day everyday.

I have been here for 3 weeks and time is passing pretty fast. I live my host family; I have a million kids in my compound. I wake up everyday at 5am because its super nice out and because I have to go to bed when it gets dark at 6pm! I defiantly feel like an old person, eating at like 5pm and getting up super early. I go to this little catholic church on Sundays and the priest made me the reader, which I like because it gives me extra practice on reading French, but the actual mass is done in Moore (the local language) so I really don’t have any idea what is going on, I just follow the motions.

My demyst visit was to Badra, it is south west of the capital, and about 45 mins away from Bobo. I stayed with another volunteer named Lori. We spent all day on Wednesday traveling. Badra is about 7 hours away from Ouahigouya. Wednesday started at 5am on a hot and sweaty bus seats for 66 people but really about 80 people were on this bus. Lori lives in a really nice place, her house is nice, and she has someone to watch over her, but they aren’t in her space. On Thursday we toured the CSPS and met all the COGES members at the market. The market is a great way to spread the word about upcoming events (which we did). We shopped for food and just lounged around. Friday was a very eventful day; we got up early to do a sensabilization on family planning. We told people why it is important to family plan and to use birth control and condoms and the benefits of having a small number of kids as opposed to a lot of kids really close together. Then we went to a school and my group did a skit on hygiene, and since it was Halloween we gave out pumpkin tattoos to the kids. On Saturday we traveled back to Ouahigouya. It was a much better time because we caught the bus that has air conditioning and it even played a movie! We have interviews soon that will determine were we will be staying for the next 2 years. This visit is to give us some insight on what we will be doing and how we will be living.

Upcoming events:
I am going to the Capital (Ouagadougou) for the Artisan Fair and tour of the Peace Corps Building

In two weeks I will get my site placement

Thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments they defiantly make me miss home, but make my time here way more enjoyable!!!!!!