THE close of service conference

NOTE: This is in a village near Ouagadougou where they do weaving... They make some GREAT stuff!

Well folks it is time to wrap things up, can you believe it? We just had our close of service conference where we talked about THE FUTURE and life after Peace Corps, which is often hard to believe exists…
During the conference we talked about everything from grad school options, jobs, interviews, networking, resumes, administrative junk (what we have to turn into the Peace Corps, when we are leaving and the medical process that goes with it!!), how to say good-bye to village and how to adjust back in to life in America. Overall it was a really good conference… exhausting, thought provoking, and scary.

I have less then 4 months left and I am still working on wrapping up projects and planning new ones. That being said I also have one foot out the door already. I am working on my resume and thinking about jobs when I get back and therefore I am thinking about WHAT kind of job I will be looking for and where I will be looking for it. My mind continues to stay busy and often it works overtime and interrupts my sleep… but it is exciting to think about the future. I am hoping it is a bright one but for that to happen I need to work hard and continue taking risks.

Work at site my last final ‘big’ project is a hand washing stations at the schools. We will be making 17 and they will be placed in and around the community of Toeghin. I hope the project moves along quickly because soon it will be rainy season and everyone will be out in their fields.

That brings be to the weather…. Hot season. It’s hot but at night things are not unbearable… I am not sure if that is due to the fact that I am now in my second year so I have adjusted or because simply the weather is less extreme. Either way I am glad that I am able to sleep at night.

Also it was recently Easter… what did I do you may ask… I didn’t eat hardboiled eggs if that is what you think…. At this moment eggs are out of season. I made a riz gras and killed a chicken. On of my neighbors, Kady, she came over to help me prepare it was really nice to hang out with her… Here’s a photo…. She is just SO tiny!! I love her she is great.

I am not sure how many more blogs I will be posting… not sure if this will make my priority list so I will only promises one more before I leave… Wish me luck folks I will be home before you all know it!!

Finally here is the open ceremony for the youth center!!

Long over due

Well, this has been, as the title put it, long over due but I am finally writing again.

What has happened...well, I am sure most of you know that I recently was home for the holidays. But I h

ave made it back and I am SURE you all want to know what I have been up to.

Cold season is coming to an end and to be honest so is my service. I am feeling pulled in two different directions...I am wanting to continue my work here but at the same time I want to start figuring out my life... Well that is enough about my feelings... I bet you want to know what I have been up too after my mom's visit and after coming back from America.

HARD SOAP. We did a hard soap training. The women really like the training and they have already started selling it and gave samples to the authority figures in my village.

I also was able to visit a new site when I got back. I saw a great talk about excision and we visited a pre-school SO here is a picture is the cuties!

Well we got our funding for the Maison Des Jeunes so we finally had a small ceremony to give the stuff to the community. I had to speak and that always scares me but I did it and it can only get easier from here.

LASTLY, it is funeral season again! :)

Okay readers I am not sure how much I will be writing on here but I am going to try!