Dear Americans,

So life in an African village… Probably not quite as glamorous as you all were expecting.

Us volunteers (no longer trainees, now official) spent our Christmas together and a little over half of us took off the next morning at about 5:30am to catch our bus. Those of us who represent the dirty South spent about 10 hours in travel that day and finally reached the splendid city of Bobo. Bobo is one of the other major cities in Burkina Faso, is located in the South and is also the only other city in country that has a Peace Corps transit-house. It also has a wonderful pizza place, a quaint little burger shop and a much, much smaller version of a SuperTarget. I chose to spend my time there wisely and pretty much spent all of it in those three places…!

Before I knew it though, it was time to head off to the next two years of my life. They piled all my stuff and another guys into the same van and we took off towards the African bush. Now I think all of us volunteers have all heard stories and nervously joked about how the Peace Corps vehicle drops all of your stuff off and you… and then drives away. And then it’s just… you. It was exactly like that. I think it took about 20 minutes for all my stuff to get unloaded and before I knew it the driver and the other volunteer had pulled out of my courtyard and I was standing there wondering what in the world to do.

Well it’s been about three weeks now and I can’t say that thought has exactly gone away. We went from having structured classes from 8-5 almost every day out of the week for two months to having no agenda for the next two years. It is just about as opposite as you can get.

I’d say the first week was one of the hardest ones in Peace Corps thus far. Besides meeting all the high up people in the village, such as the Mayor, prefet, high commissioner, police, etc., your only other real job is battling all the cockroaches, spiders and potentially mice that have taken over your home. There was definitely a lot of down time and I probably read as many books as I normally get through in a year in that first week alone. A lot of time to sit and stare and contemplate your life…

However, each passing day got a little bit better. The ladies that live in my same courtyard are incredibly welcoming and wonderful. I enjoy sitting around with them and their families, attempting to help in any way I can and am also incredibly glad that they have a t.v. This of course means I get to continue watching Burkina Faso’s favorite soap opera. Probably incredibly similar Guiding Light. Or Lizzy McGuire.

Leaving the courtyard is an entirely new adjustment as well. Whenever I leave and walk down the road I can expect pretty much everyone to stop what there doing and stare at me. As flattering as it is, it takes quite a bit of concentration to not accidentally trip or get hit by a moto. Just like everything else here though, it seems to get easier with every day. Everyone is always willing to smile, wave and give the obligatory ‘how’s the family, the life, the activities, the day, the morning’ greeting questions. It’s almost like being back in the good ‘ol Midwest…

Probably my favorite thing about my village so far is that there are a lot of opportunities here. Which means I won’t be reading quite as much or staring at that same wall for the next two years, a definite plus. The past week I had a meeting with a group of women and got to ask them what they wanted for their village. The thing that surprised me the most is that they didn’t ask for money or brand new equipment, something I had thought for sure would be demanded of me. Instead they were interested in solving problems and coming up with new ideas concerning cultivation, exportation, marketing and the environment, the last one being something that I am grossly excited to work with!!

That about sums up life in the African village so far. Not as many elephants, giraffes, zebras and lions that I hoped for… But still pretty cool.

Much love.