All Better

Well don't worry everyone, I'm better. Cipro really is magic, and withing several hours of taking it my fver was already on the way out. I feel just fine now, and aside from a sore throat, I think I'm doing just fine.

Yesterday was the day of good meat. I really do enjoy meat in the US and it was so frustrating to find that, like in Kenya, most of the meat you get here with meals is very different from the meat at home. There's a lot of bones and cartillage and stuff like that with meat in there too, but not much. Chicken is usually really good and fish is hit or miss but always very boney. But my LCF told me about a place in town you can get some really good pork and sure enough, it was excellent. Then later I had some Brochettes (think small hunks of meat on a stick) which were also excellent and then late at night the teenagers in my house took me out to have chicken which was really excellent. Gotta make sure you ask for fillet on the brochettes though because you might end up with liver or something and I'm not ready for that yet.

Last night was a trip. My parents are out of town this weekend in Ouagadougou for the second stage of the funearl ceremonies for whoever in the family died about 40 days ago. Apparently there's a long mass that starts at 9 pm and goes really late (m LCF said people usually don't sleep) and then there is a closing ceremony in the morning. I was all set to go but I didn't finish my atibiotics till yesterday morning so the PC wasn't down with me going out of town and maybe relapsing so I stayed here. Totally fine by me - we all need as much R&R as we can get. But I was told that I was going to go out dancing with Usmann and Fati at 9 and that I could bring a friend. I invited another trainee, Jamie, and we met at my house and then the when and where and why or everything to really confusing. After about an hour I realized it was so needlessly confusing because no one really knew what time it was.

We went several blocks down the road to a dance hall but there wasn't anyone there. Fati asked me what time it was and I told her it was 8 - but it wasn't 8 - I had just converted to military time wrong. She tells me that that must be why no one is there since it starts at 9. Realizing my mistake I tell her it's actually 10 and she tells me that it must be going to start soon then. No one here wears watches really. 8, 10, what's the diff, right? lol

So we go across the street where my host aunt is selling things and sit with her. My little brother, Abass, and Usmann find us, somehow, and Usmann tells me that the dance hall would normally be packed, but tonight it was too cold and people probably didn't want to go out. "Too cold???" I asked him, a few times. How could it be too cold? Because it was approaching the high 70s instead of the mid 80s?? But I wiped the disblief off my face and nodded in aggrement, as if that made total sense to me. We ended up going somewhere else where people were eating and had some amazing chicken, grilled outside with onions and spices. Got home and Usmann took Jamie home, which is normal here - if you're a girl it's OK to be out at night like that in a group but a guy needs to accompany you home.

This week we learned something really interesting about Burkinabé culture, which is that it is appropriate in your personal affairs or all kinds to often use a third person. This is because the Burkinabé are very concerned with not losing face and allowing others to also save face. This could be appropriate if, for example as my mom did to me this past week, you are inviting someone somewhere but you want to give them room to say no then you could send the invitation though a third person, in my case through my LCF. So she sat there on the couch with us both and told Patrice, my LCF, about the thing this weekend and all that, but in Mooré so I couldn't understand, and then the next day, Patrice told me about it, and then I was able to talk to him about it, he got back to my mom, and my mom and I never exchanged any words about it.

This also holds for situations where there is an argument or fight. Instead of being confontational, one of the fighting parties will go to a third neutral party and talk it out and then the third neutral party will talk to the other fighting person and a resolution and appology and pardon will probably be found that way. I find that so interesting to be in a culture where you also have to go to the market and bargin hard for good prices and it is totally normal to tell a shopkeeper his price isn't fair or that you could get it cheaper elsewhere. Seems like you feel like you end up questioning the seller's integrity - but it's more of just a process and doesn't really mean that much, I know.

Last Friday we did our first peer teaching in French and everyone did a great job and on Monday we'll do a similar teaching except to real students.

On Wednesday we'll hear where each of our sites will be. Very exciting - so stay tuned. That is also July 4th and later that night we'll be going out to the village Bogoya F for a BBQ, complete with hamburgers and potato salad and stuff. Pricy to pull off here but totally going to be worth it. That's all for now though - I'll put up more pics real soon. Can't wait to get that first care package - I know it's on it's way!