Nasara Bye-Bye!

Okay,let me preface this post by saying that coming to Burkina Faso has taught me a lot and I'm very glad I came. So, it is VERY disppointing that it hasn't worked out for me. Yet I have decided that it is not best for me to stay. I have a number of health concerns and have found that this, in addition to other difficulties, has brought me to the conclusion that I need to leave Pissila. Donc, I will be on the next available flight for Paris.

Going along with this, and equally as sad for me, Jon and I feel that it's best he stay. He has not had the same difficulties and is also obligated to teach two classes until the end of the year. Eleanor also chosen to stay. She loves nasaras, but she doesn't want Jon to get lonely. So he gets to enjoy this wonderful climate sans moi.

I think it would be appropriate now to list some things I will miss about Burkina Faso so I will do it Top Ten style (since my dad likes Letterman):
10. benga (beans) for 25 cents
9. the marche and its array of thrifty treasures ( hello, i love my 'ok' belt and panda bag)
8. speaking french and being laughed at beaucoup
7. leopold sending me 12 blank text messages a day (leopold + cell phone= annoyed heather)
6. old men laughing at me when we're drinking dolo and i say animal names in moore
(donkey=buenga...not to be confused with benga)
5. little kids screaming "nasara BYE BYE" as I ride by on my bike (guess no one taught them
'hello')
4. my host sister Balkeesa clucking her tongue at me (and dying my feet black. who doesn't
love black toenails for two months?)
3. Africans wearing hats and winter coats when it's 85 degrees outside (sometimes mittens)
2. sleeping under the stars (with Sayka Sayka lulling me from my sweaty bed into dreamland)
1. great people (they've been the sweetest and nicest people and I am truly going to miss them!)

Here are the Top Ten things I can live without:
10. sweating at 10pm in my tent trying to fall asleep ( and Jon sleeping peacefully beside me..
..jerk)
9. beggar kids singing at the gate trying to make me get out of my tent'o'sweat and saying "Je
ne comprends pas. Je parle a Moore"(or the ones in ouaga who slap me)
8. biting into several small sand pebbles every time I get a loaf of bread (or a bowl of benga)
7. getting a bacterial infection when i eat 25 cent benga (and pooing my pants after said infection
on African public transportation)
6. cab drivers! (they either rip me off or try to kiss me, heather+scandalous driver+heat
= nasara tanrum... and a backpack might get dropped and kicked)
5. sweating, all day every day (and night too!)
4. LATRINES and their creepy inhabitants (who I might right a children's book about)
3. running out of toilet paper (and resorting to notebook paper)
2. having noodles, rice, and white baguettes every meal (sometimes with a side of... more
noodles!)
1. my Burkina BUTT RASH. (great for those long bike rides on my bike!)