"The Land of the Upright People"

Hello Everyone!

It's my last night in Ouagadougou! Tomorrow we leave for our training site in Leo. So far everything has been going really well! In Philadelphia we had orientation and I got to meet all 27 of the volunteers. Our group is awesome and everyone has an interesting and diverse background. Monday morning we left from JFK and flew to Brussels. On our night flight the captain made an announcement to look out the left window so we could see the Aurora Borealis, which is the Northern Lights. It was amazing and off in the distance the sky was green! I recommend googling it to get the full effect! Eventually, on Tuesday afternoon, we arrived to Ouagadougou where some of the Peace Corps staff were waiting for us! I was so happy because all of our groups luggage made it safe to Burkina! Somehow we piled all of our luggage into two small vans and we were off! Burkina Faso is completely different then anywhere I have been before. The parts of the city that we have seen so far are crazy! It's basically all dirt roads and doesn't look like a city at all. There are no tall buildings and its very crowded with people walking, biking or motorcycling. Our hotel has been really nice and we have been lucky enough to get wifi, a room with a/c, a private bathroom with toilet and shower, and a small restaurant that serves yummy food! We have spent most of the time in the hotel getting shots, having introduction meetings, hanging out with volunteers, and meeting the incredible Peace Corps Burkina staff. The staff is a mixture if locals and Americans and they are really supportive and helpful. Last night we finally got to explore a bit more! First went to our Country Director's house and had dinner with all of the volunteers and staff. We had couscous with chicken and it was delicious! After, one of the current volunteers took us out for some beers. We went to a great little outdoor bar/dance area with fun music and really cheap beers( $1.20ish). We had a fun dance party while all the locals looked at us like we were crazy. I even got to meet another current volunteer who went to UW-Madison!! Today we had sessions about our host families because tomorrow we will travel about 3 hours south to Leo. In Leo we will have an adoption ceremony and I will be matched to my new Burkinabe family. I will live with them for the next three months! We also had some much needed language sessions. My family will only speak French and this is the first time they have ever hosted an American! I'm really excited but super nervous about the communication part. It will definitely be rough at first but hopefully by the end of the 3 months I will be able to communicate pretty well with them. We will have about 6 hours a day of language training and they split us into groups of 3-5 people. Lets hope the training is as good as they say it is. I have to test out of intermediate-mid in French to be sworn in on December 14th. For now, I'm I enjoying my last night with A/C, wifi and a toilet! Hope to write again soon. XOXO N