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Thanks for all your posts and emails! Great to hear from you guys. I'm not super excited about posting pictures of myself on a public Internet site but I'll add some to my facebook page when I get a chance. Here are some more specifics about what's happening here. There are several different types of volunteers in Burkina. Some are health workers, some work in women's empowerment (the hardest but in my opinion the most needed), some work in small business development, and others are teachers. I'm teaching Math. In French! To gigantic classes with 120 unruly students! Most students come from surrounding villages because few families can afford to pay the $60 annual school fees.The kids ages range from 12 to 25 and are learning the equivalent of 7th to 10th grade math. Communication is tough because my french is not spectacular. My science friends will understand me when I say I speak French slightly better than a Chinese postdoc speaks English. To compound the issue, the kids are still learning French themselves. Discipline is the bigger problem, particularly in my classes with younger students who seem to be perpetually on the verge of a riot. Nevertheless, I'm having a good time with it. Kids say and do the silliest things which is fun to be around.

I live in a village with about 3000 people spread out over several square kilometers. It's a beautiful village chalk full of mango trees and freindly, laid back people. Unfortunately, there are few French speakers and no English speakers. Even the English teacher doesn't speak English. The predominant language is Dioula (pronounced Jula). I don't speak much Dioula so communication problems can make the experience feel very isolating at times. Nonetheless, I have managed to find enough francophone friends.

My biggest challenge has been living "en brousse". I live in a house made of mud bricks covered in cement with a tin roof. Have I complained about the lack of electricity and running water yet? My shower is a bucket full of water which I ladle over my head. Bucket baths under the stars on a warm night are pretty spectacular. I have a outdoor latrine. Latrine is a fancy word for hole in the ground. Believe it or not, a latrine is better than a flushing toilet in those moments of gastrointestinal distress. These moments come around pretty often in Burkina. Buzz kill fact: dysentery, not malaria, is the number one killer of children under 5 in west Africa. No running water equals poor hygiene equals disease.

For roommates I have and army of crickets, mice, geckos, all varieties of bugs and spiders, and the occasional scorpion (ACK!). The other day I found a snake in my latrine. Hard to panic when squatting so I calmly watched it slither away while my life flashed before my eyes. for all you herpetologists out there, I`m not sure if it was poisonous but it looked like an argyle sock. I have a dog, who is completely ineffective as far as critter management goes so I am going to add a cat to the mix. I need a predator to bring some balance back to the ecosystem.

Transportation is my biggest headache. A former volunteer described the road to my village as the second worst in Burkina Faso. Anyone who has travelled in West Africa knows that this is a bold statement. I live about 75 km from a "larger" town which has electricity, Internet, hot showers and cold beer. I can take a bush taxi to get from chez moi to these wondrous luxuries. A bush taxi is exactly what it sounds like. Old cars stuffed with poor people. Its not so bad during the dry season but during the rainy season the trip can take up to 7 hours. All this stuff can be frustrating at times but I've learned to approach them with patience and a sense of humor. I'm learning a lot (about myself mostly) and having lots of fun. Keep writing me people! I live for your letters! BTW the pics above are some random kids, a mosque in Mali where I went on vacation earlier this summer, my living room, and my village.