Arrival in Burkina Faso…

Note: Sorry for the delayed updates about my arrival in Burkina Faso.

For the first several days, our group was not able to access the

internet, and now that we have started our intensive classes, we have

had little free time. In addition, excuse my poor English grammar; my

days are spent entirely thinking/reading/trying to understand French,

and Franglish is my new language of choice!!!

I officially arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on Thursday, October

14th, in the mid-afternoon. The hot, dry African air we stagieres

(French word for Peace Corps Trainees) felt when we disembarked from

the plane was a sure sign that we were no longer in the midst of a

temperate American autumn! Instead, a desolate looking airport

greeted us, as did several of the Peace Corps Burkina Faso staff.

Eventually, we all got our bags sorted out, and the Peace Corps took

them off to Koudougou, where we are living for the two months of

training. However, for the first two nights, we PCTs stayed in

Ouagadougou, at a hostel that had the distinctive vibe of a summer

camp. 

 While we were there, we had our language test, medical and

technical interviews, and many introductions to staff and directors.

For the language test, I placed at the Novice High level in French.

In order to officially swear in as a PC Volunteer in mid-December,

after training, we must reach the Intermediate Mid level. I am only

two levels away, and I am confident that I should be able to surpass

the benchmark. After only a week in country, I feel like my French

has increased exponentially; in addition, the Burkinabe are extremely

understanding and patient with our language difficulties!

Ouagadougou was a nice two day introduction to Burkina Faso, but we

were all excited to move to Koudougou on Saturday morning. With our

ever-increasing baggage (we received a medical kit, as well as MANY

papers), the stagieres loaded onto the Peace Corps bus and set out for

Koudougou, a large town about two hours away. Along the way, we were

able to truly see Burkina; the countryside is very beautiful! At

Koudougou, our bus was greeted by the Burkinabe Peace Corps staff, who

offered us all a symbolic drink of the welcome water (filtered water

for us, of course)! 

 Our first several nights in Kougoudou we stayed

at the Centre Abipierre. The Centre Abipierre is a sort of "hotel"

(in a VERY loose sense), with lodging as well as separate buildings

with conference rooms (also a very loose term; very different from

conference centers in the U.S.) We stayed in shared rooms, but we did

have to use the latrine and the basic shower for the first time in

country! Thankfully, there is actually a Western style bathroom on

the premises too; however, we did not discover it for a couple of

days! Our first night at the Centre, there was a welcome ceremony of

sorts, and traditional Burkinabe dancers performed to a distinctly

African band comprised mainly of drums and flutes. It was fantastic

to see, and by the end, all of us had joined in too!

On Sunday morning, we received our detailed schedules for the

following nine weeks, and our intense training officially began. The

first several days flew by, and every night, we all retired dead-tired

to our bug tents in the courtyard, as we soon realized that the rooms

were way too stuffy to sleep in. Every morning we awoke to begin our

class sessions again, but soon we all were all ready to move in with

our host family and develop a daily routine.

In order to explain clearly my different experiences (and because I

have not been very good with keeping daily entries of my days here in

Burkina), I am going write separate entries about my family, my

training, etc. Enjoy!