SWEARING IN

Okay so I am now officially a volunteer of the Peace Corps! YAY!

I am going to my site this week and will be spending the next three months working on language and integrating into the community. I am really excited and nervous!

The actual ceremony was pretty official and included the first lady of Burkina. So there was a lot of press and pictures. It also took place at the new US embassy which was truly like walking onto American soil.

Okay well my next post will include details of my house and life in village. So here are some pictures to keep all you readers on the edge of your seats....

They are pictures of homestay, swear in, and some extras...

love to all

THECOUNTDOWNBEGINS!!

Life is really speeding up now...ONE WEEK and I will be dropped off in my village... alone ... with all my stuff...and expected to communicate with others. The village I am going to be spending the next two years speaks mostly moore which is one of the local languages here spoken by the Moosi people. The village has two schools and is about 4500 people.
I am excited-to have freedom and time to myself-scared- to enter a new town knowing only one person in the village and a little sad too- leaving friends and my host family.
It is actually hard to believe that we will be leaving our village and it makes me wonder about what i missed out on (host family relationships) be leaving our 1st host family in Oula.
Our second host family has been great though now that I am starting feel comfortable and building friendships we leave...

Well such is life and now I am going to start to make new friendships and build a life in my village.

Lastly, as I mentioned in an earlier paragraph, I have met someone from my village. She is the woman that owns the house I will be living in and she seems AWESOME!!!

Site Announcement

Okay so the day we... or I have been waiting for has arrived and pasted! The announcement was done buy having trainees put their name on a map and guess who was the VERY last. Good thing years of alphabetical order had prepared me!! I will be living in the “north” between Ouaga and Ouahigouya. I am replacing a volunteer that we medically separated after only a few months of service and the village is wanting a ‘mature’ volunteer. Hopefully I will fulfill these requirements. :) There are also a few CBOs (community based organizations) one of which is a woman’s group I can work with.
Also I will have a stand alone house which I AM SO happy about. YAY! Also there is a good market in my village which was the other thing (besides the stand alone house) that I requested.
Lastly, I am near the main paved road between Ouaga and Ouahigouya and will just have to bike 12 Km to get to get to a bus. SO... as of now I am planning on keeping my ‘training’ address which can be found on Facebook or I will give it to you via email.
Mail and packages are encouraged and welcomed. :)
Well, we only have two weeks left of training and it is hard to believe that we are coming to an end. One would think time flies when you are busy but NO... it has been going by slowly however the month of August has been flying by and we are swearing in as a volunteer on the 27th of August in Ouaga.
It is crazy to think that I will be at my site in just a few short weeks.
Finally I promise to get pictures from my home stay and training up in the next posting.PROMISE.