Only 10 Days Left

Hello Everyone!  

I wanted to write my first blog entry to make sure I know how to work this thing and to make sure you guys know how to follow me! I leave for Burkina Faso in 10 days! For those of you still confused, Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in Western Africa.  It is a French speaking country, about the size of Colorado.  It will be my new home for the next 27 months, where I will be working as a Community Health Development Worker.  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone since I received my placement in the mail.  I am really excited and anxious.  I'm just about done with the shopping and it's finally time for me to start packing.  Luckily I have been able to communicate with other Peace Corps volunteers currently in Burkina to have a better sense of what to pack.  I am also in communication with the 30 volunteers that are travelling to Burkina Faso with me and we have been able to ask questions and figure out what everyone is bringing.  I even met 6 of the volunteers for dinner and drinks in Arlington, which was really nice.  Just recently we got our travel plans and the whole group will fly out of JFK on Monday, October 8th.  My plans are to travel Sunday morning by train to Philadelphia.  There, I will meet all 30 of the volunteers in my group.  We have orientation in Philly and then bus the next day to JFK.  From there, we fly to Brussels and then to Ouagadougou, the capitol of Burkina.  Crazy name, I know.  It's pronounced Wog-a-doo-goo, or Woga for short.  Upon arriving in country we will move south to a town called Léo.   Léo  is close to the border of Ghana and it will be our home for the next three months.  During these months I am hoping to really learn French!  We will have language training, culture training, health and safety training and a few other sessions during the months in  Léo .  If all goes as planned, after the training, each volunteer will be placed somewhere in Burkina to begin their 2 year Peace Corps journey.  I'm not sure what my village will be like, but there is a really good chance it will not have running water or electricity.  Because of this it might take me a while to update the blog or respond to emails.  I'll do my best!  Anyway, for now I need to get back to packing, saying goodbyes, and eating at all my favorite restaurants.  Hope to write again soon! Nat