The busiest week ever

Ok, maybe it wasn't the busiest week ever, but it was certainly close. First, a numerical overview of this week, in no particular order: 4 cities, thousands of CFA, 30 stressed new volunteers,7 bags, and 1 puppy. And now for the explanations.

Leaving Koudougou

Monday was our last night with our host families! We had a thank you ceremony at the training center, and then all headed home to pack. And since I am a messy person who often procrastinates, I had a ton of stuff to put away that evening. I also took pictures with my host family that night, minus my host dad, since he was away on a business trip. I had taken a picture with him in the morning, and if I really want a full group photo, I can always give photoshop a shot.

We all headed to the Center on Tuesday morning, followed by our stuff that was brought by PC vehicles. After the most relaxed day of training ever (mostly a free day except for about half an hour of activities), we had time to use the cyber, eat a last dinner in KDG, and prepare for our talent show! For our last night all together at the Center, we wanted to do something special, and a talent show was the perfect answer. There was quite a range of talents, from musical numbers to balancing various things/people. My talent was taking pictures of the performers. Depending on internet speed, I'll try to post a photo of each performance. But if that doesn't work, here's the line-up:

-CM and DS's composition of “Koudougou” to the tune of the song “Fuck You” with back up singers

-CG (Not me. This whole initial thing might get kind of confusing) and her martial arts moves

-SW juggling oranges in various ways

-Ramongo: the musical

-KtA and DS giving a SNL Weekend Update-like routine, which was hilarious

-JK reciting some cool slam poetry

-AK, TM and EE's interpretive music/dance ode to diarrhea

-SS performing a story from his chair (forensics people know what i'm talking about, lol)

-RH balancing chairs on his nose, and then DT on his knees

Onward to Ouaga

Wednesday morning, we left KDG and drove the 1.5 hours to the capital. After checking into the hotel and utilizing the free wifi for a bit, we had a session to get all the details for affectation, which was when we would be sent to our sites. And though it was nice to finally have a concrete plan of what was happening, the meeting also caused a lot of stress when we found out that most of us would be leaving the day after swear-in, bright and early. That meant only about 1 day (Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning) to go around and buy necessities. And for the people who were moving into brand new houses, that was not a lot of time. This was made even more difficult by the fact that there were problems with our bank accounts. PCVs replacing someone where supposed to get 100,000 CFA and PCVs going to a new site got 200,000 CFA for a move in allowance. Various reimbursements and half of our December stipend was also supposed to be in our account by Wednesday. However, when a huge group of almost all 30 of us arrived at the post office to withdraw our money, we discovered that only about 75,000 CFA was in there. Confusion and panic ensued. But we tried to make the best of it and withdrew the money that we could, and headed off to Marina Market, a store full of Western goodies. I proceeded to blow most of my move-in allowance there, splurging on a purchase of an electric water kettle.

Becoming actual PCVs

The next day was our Swear in ceremony. We had the morning to go shopping again, and I returned downtown along with some others. Marina Market has legit cheese, and for lunch, I split a ¼ kg of chedder and some crackers with a friend. Probably the last time I'll be able to eat chedder for a while! Sad.

In the early afternoon, we all boarded the vans to head over to the US Ambassador's house for the ceremony. As you can see from the pictures that hopefully will be able to post, we all had matching pagnes (cloth), made into various different styles of outfits. Yay for group solidarity! Anyway, we had a while until the ceremony began, so we mingled with the PC staff, current PCVs, and various other guests before taking our seats at the front of the lawn. First, the MC and our Country Director spoke. Next up were the thank you speeches in local languages. There were 8 different languages, including French, and a representative of each gave a 2-minute speech. I gave the speech in Gulmancema. After that, the Ambassador gave a short speech and also swore us in as volunteers! Apparently we take the same oath that all other government officials, including the President, do before taking office. Then the Minister of Youth Employment of Burkina Faso talked for a while. A few PCVs will be working under him in various regional capitals. That was basically the conclusion of the ceremony. All of the new PCVs filed out and shook the hands of the important people sitting in the front row of the audience, including the Mayor of Ouaga.

We were provided with refreshments and tasty hors d'oeuvres at the Ambassador's house and hung out there for a while after the ceremony. My host dad had come to Ouaga from his business trip to attend swear in, so it was nice to see him and chat a bit. And then we headed downtown to celebrate becoming volunteers!

Affectation to site

The day after swear in, most of us got up early to head off or say bye to people who were leaving. My group included 2 other PCVs, and we were scheduled to leave Ouaga at 7 am. After all of the shopping, I had about 7 bags of stuff in total, and also a bike and water filter. We managed to load everything into and onto the car, and then we were off! The first stop was in F (site names will be abbreviated by their first letter), where my 2 closest neighbors from this group will be working. We first went to SW's house, which was brand new and very nice. It even has a running water shower! Then we headed over to meet up with LC's counterpart, who is also my boss. I got to see the main office of the organization I'll be working with in D. LC's house is also pretty nice. He's replacing a volunteer so there was a lot of stuff in there already.

After saying our goodbyes, the driver and I continued on for another 3.5 hours or so to my home for the next 2 years. We met up with my counterpart and the counterpart of the PCV I'm replacing. I was also left a lot of stuff in my house, which definitely makes furnishing and organizing a lot easier. I'm living in a compound with 4 neighbors, and my next door neighbor has a 1 year old boy! Who surprisingly, isn't scared of me and doesn't call me “nassara,” but that could be because he doesn't really talk yet. Though actually, I feel like I'm not as much the center of attention here as I was in KDG or Ouaga. There aren't really screaming hordes of children shouting “nassara” or “la blanche” every time I walk past, which is definitely a nice change. My counterpart has been showing me around and helping me set up my house, and I've been able to walk around the town a bit and meet people. A woman who owns a small yogurt shop nearby was friends with the last PCV and brought me to church today. It was nice to go there and meet more people, but not sure if that'll become a weekly occurrence. And hopefully on Monday I'll be able to do some errands, like getting electricity and opening up a post office box!