last month of stàge

hello!!! i am still alive but thinner or in french maigré (i think). i have gotten several letters and am so happy!!! thanks to everyone and i will try very hard to get back to you. it is kind of chère (expensive) to send letters so i am trying to wait for someone going to the the u.s. to mail them there.

so i have been getting along very well lately. burkina faso is really growing on me. we found a place to get cold milk!! and i am a marché junkie. it is so great; you can find anything!!! i got a lord of the rings shirt, a teapot, a belt, and tons of other treasures! it is like a thrift-store DREAM.

jon and i have been going to yoga and that has been great; although last nite a blister beetle crawled in my pants and stung my butt about five times!! we also got to spend a few days in ouagadougou and that was amazing. the food there is other-worldly compared to village food, although i LOVE LOVE LOVE benga (aka: beans and rice).

well i better go, but i have two little funny things to say 1. i heard a new version of sting's song "i'm an englishman in new york." it is reggae and it goes "i'm a rasta-man from ouaga." dad, you would have died!
2. there is a city close to pissila ( aka piss-town) and it is cqlled poutanga! that is for you, brian!!

love to everyone and stay in touch! you can also leave comments on this blog and i will feel special!! i'll mail some letters soon!!!!

Yeah!! I am on the internet!!

Hey everyone! I have been in Burkina Faso for almost a month now...sorry this is my first post. It has been a fun-filled couple of weeks. I live with a family in a village called Bogoya F. My new name that everyone in village calls me is Fatimata. It is HOT here; that is for SURE. Sleeping outside is my favorite thing here...under the African sky. ahhhhhh.
Also, I have a cell phone!! My # is 011 226 767 93 192. If you get an international calling card it is only 11 cents a min! It is amazing to be able to talk to mommy or daddy anytime.

There has been way too much going on for me to stay in touch too well this last month, but I will do better after stàge (aka: training). I am slowly learning french...I do speak fluent franglais, though (a delightful combo of english and french). Hopefully I can post some pictures soon of my host family. They couldn't be sweeter or more accomodating. I adore my 15 yr-old sister Balkeesa. She's my new pal and we talk a lot. All in all, things are going really well; we found out where our site will be (Pissilla- a big village in the middle of the country- 2hrs N. of the capitol), we both got sick and it lived through it, and we've met some spectacular and exceptional people. I'd say everything is peachy.

Love to everyone!!! Keep in touch!!