Site Announcement!

     This week has been extremely eventful. It all started on Monday when we went to Ouagadougou for our embassy visit. About 20 minutes into our drive we veered off the road and crashed into a cement ditch. The van and all 26 volunteers on board hit the side of the ditch and almost flipped over. We were extremely lucky that nobody was hurt. Peace corps is currently investigating the cause of the accident. Luckily, my week did get better!
     We visited the United States Embassy and met the Ambassador. He told us about the role of the embassy in Burkina and how the USA and Burkina work together. One interesting thing I learned was that Victoria Secret is a partner with some organic cotton fields in Burkina! While in Ouaga we also got to eat at an American restaurant that had milkshakes, burritos, taco salads, onion rings and burgers. Needless to say we were all super excited. On Tuesday night after our training sessions in Lèo they had a surprise for us. They said they would drive us to a nearby hotel to watch some of the election! Because of the time difference it was only about 1pm in the states so there wasn't much going on. It was still really cool to watch a tv and have some beers. On Wednesday morning at 4:30 am I got a text saying Obama had one. This great news was the beginning to a great day filled with more great news!
    Site announcement!!! On Wednesday all 26 of us found out where we will live for the next two years! They picked the names of our villages out of a hat, read a short description of the village and then had us all guess who they were sending to that village. The first village picked out of the hat wound up being mine!!
      I am going to the village of Komtoèga! It is in the south central/east area of Burkina Faso. The population/ ethnic group is Bissa. This is the description they provided of my village: "Welcome to the beautiful village of Komtoèga! It is located in the region of Tenkodogo and the health district of Garango. Both Garagno and Tenkodogo are easily accessible from your village where you will find such luxuries as internet, restaurants, a large market and fairly well stocked boutiques. Gardening is one of the occupations of many people so you will not have a hard time finding vegetables to meet your need. Your village is a fairly large village with electricity, a great market and lots of motivated partners. The health center is very well attended and will offer you many opportunities to work on a variety of topics. Your predecessor Anna(btw she went to the same high school as my dad) loved this village and is excited to see a third volunteer come to this village. Her head nurse is extremely motivated and is eager to work with you. Your closest Peace Corps neighbor is about 20k! Your house is within a big family compound , though it has its own small fenced-in courtyard. Your house is two-rooms, fully furnished, with a private latrine. The family is amazing and you will be inheriting a wonderful and affectionate dog. The local language is Bissa but Mooré and French are also well spoken. Nyasé and enjoy your stay in Komtoèga! You're going to have a fantastic two years!"  I definitely feel like I got lucky with my placement. I'm extremely excited and eager to start but it will be hard to leave my current family. 
     Last Saturday I went to the dance party in my village.  It was so fun.  Somehow, in the middle of Burkina, in the middle of some tiny village, they were able to get a generator to run.  There were huge speakers, a live band, and tons of dancing.  I went back around 11pm but the party lasted until 2:30am.  I danced with all the kids and learned some Burkina dances.  About halfway through the dance they decided to start charging people to enter.  After a while it was mostly men on the dance floor.  Outisde of the compound, however, was the entire village.  They could still hear the music and enjoy the party, without having to pay.  They didn't make any of us pay and luckily my host sisters were inside the compound to dance with. 
     One cool session that we had in Leo this week was on the different ethnic groups in Burkina.  I learned that there are over 60 ethnic groups in Burkina!  Most of these groups all speak different local languages.  They also have different customs, religions and beliefs.  For example, the Dagari people have a weird tradition when someone dies.  For three days they put the dead person on a chair and have a dance party around the chair.  They dance and cry and then eventually they bury the person.   The clothes that the dead person wears on the chair were specifically chosen by the dead person, before he died.  We also learned about the ethnic group Jula, which is located in the west and south of Burkina.  At this ethnic station I ate a cooked catterpillar, a favorite food of the Jula population! 
     Our group has been working on planning a Thanksgiving feast!  We are hopefully going to have turkey and stuffing.  If all goes as planned, we can stay overnight at a hotel or camp out at our training site.  I am still trying to figure out my plans for Christmas and New Years since I will have just gotten to my site.  It's crazy to think I only have 5 weeks of training left! Also, it takes forever for me to upload pictures on this blog so until I figure out a better method, here is a link to some photos from facebook that I have put up.  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3914047540627.2138059.1562580111&type=1&l=75718e8c53  Miss everyone!  N