stay tuned, more (better) safari photos to come. hope everyone had as good of a christmas as we did.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Safari X-mas
Here are just a few photos (from my trusty iPhone) from our Safari at Nazinga. i cannot download all the really good ones yet (from a real camera), so will have to post those later. we had a fantastic time. saw tons of very large elephants (i guess African elephants are larger than their Asian relatives). also saw water buck, antelope - few different kinds, dik dik (miniature deer), wart hogs, baboons and other assorted monkeys, lots of birds. we had a great guide, did the whole trip in French. my French is still horrible, but progressing.
The drivers/guides have a healthy fear of the elephants. we generally went the opposite direction (and quickly) when we came up to them unexpectedly in the road.
As if letting Otto pet and feed crocodiles wasnt enough...this is how he took in the Safari one morning. Better view from the roof.
This was our bungalow at the safari park. very basic - had a toilet and shower, but no doors. good thing we are all dirt bag climbers at heart. The best part was we were all cold at night - it was refreshing.
This is our guide Timote - we taught him to play UNO. The people here are so great.
stay tuned, more (better) safari photos to come. hope everyone had as good of a christmas as we did.
stay tuned, more (better) safari photos to come. hope everyone had as good of a christmas as we did.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Happy Holiday Season to All
We are getting ready to go on our xmas safari tomorrow morning. We are going to a place called Ranch de Nazinga. We should at least be able to see elephants, and then your routine variety of land animals in Africa and some birds. not so sure about lions or giraffe. It will be great to be out in the busy, 'camping' in a bungaloo and trying to get by on our limited French.
It doesnt feel much like xmas here, being in the high-90's every day, but we are making efforts. Here is our xmas tree.
Last night we went to a very nice holiday reception at the Ambassador's residence. Tons of people there and lots of good food. even Santa showed up - and i finally convinced Otto to let me take his photo (may have had something to do with the snickers bars Santa was handing out). I am lucky with the ex-pat community here. so many very nice and interesting people.
I was also given the book for this coming month's book club - so i am very excited to hook up with a book group again. The only problem is that it is centered in the main part of town, and once again, i wont have a way to get to the meetings. I am thinking i may need to start my own Ouaga 2000 (the name of our neighborhood) book club, for those of us exiled out here.
Want to wish everyone a happy, restful, family filled holiday weekend. will hopefully have some good fotos to post next week of the Safari. My love to all.
It doesnt feel much like xmas here, being in the high-90's every day, but we are making efforts. Here is our xmas tree.
Last night we went to a very nice holiday reception at the Ambassador's residence. Tons of people there and lots of good food. even Santa showed up - and i finally convinced Otto to let me take his photo (may have had something to do with the snickers bars Santa was handing out). I am lucky with the ex-pat community here. so many very nice and interesting people.
I was also given the book for this coming month's book club - so i am very excited to hook up with a book group again. The only problem is that it is centered in the main part of town, and once again, i wont have a way to get to the meetings. I am thinking i may need to start my own Ouaga 2000 (the name of our neighborhood) book club, for those of us exiled out here.
Want to wish everyone a happy, restful, family filled holiday weekend. will hopefully have some good fotos to post next week of the Safari. My love to all.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
A weekend to remember
Finally we got out and about. Rented one of the embassy cars on Friday (we have a 1/2 day at work) and went to the 'Beach'. It was loads of fun - a place called Loumbila Beach. The Beach is a little get away about 45 minutes from town that is on the edge of huge reservoir. we took out a paddle boat and swam in the 'lake'. no sand...but no crocs or hippos either (thank goodness). One of the best parts for us was just the drive - we got to see some of Burkina Faso.
Yesterday (after significant pressure from moi), the Embassy let a large group of us newbies take the embassy bus on an adventure. We went to Bazoule - a sacred crocodile park. These crocs live side by side with the villagers - and do not eat them (the kids will even swim with them). The people believe they are sacred and brought water to the village long, long ago. when a croc dies, they give it a proper burial. there are just over a 100 in the area. well, no matter how 'safe' the crocs are, i still wasnt getting as close as Otto did.
Otto also fed them a chicken (from the end of a stick) and the video of this will be on his blog - there is a link for it on this blog.
Here are a few girls that we encountered on our way to see the crocs, who were out gathering fruit.
And did i mention there were LOTS of crocodiles!!
After the crocodile park, we went into town for lunch at a very good Lebanese restaurant. after that were were all pretty exhausted, but we still had the bus for a while longer, so we went to the Artisinal Village. I'm sure we all slept well last night. It was also very nice to spend some time out of work with my colleagues and their families.
Today was grocery shopping day. It was a true adventure today because we went to one of the main fruit and vegetable stands - normally we cheat ourselves out of the African experience and go to a single gal at a side market and that way we dont get swarmed by tons of produce vendors. I have to admit, it was fun to be in the midst of such high pressure sales. the great thing here is that people are honest and are not trying to rip you off (obscenely anyway, i am sure they make an extra 20-30 cents off of us). we also dont have to be overly worried about pick pockets and thieves.
We let Otto open his main xmas present from his father and I - we finally broke down and got him Lego Mindstorm. he is in heaven. we wanted him to have a chance to play with it while here with his dad and since he doesnt have school next week, they will need something to keep them occupied.
Yesterday (after significant pressure from moi), the Embassy let a large group of us newbies take the embassy bus on an adventure. We went to Bazoule - a sacred crocodile park. These crocs live side by side with the villagers - and do not eat them (the kids will even swim with them). The people believe they are sacred and brought water to the village long, long ago. when a croc dies, they give it a proper burial. there are just over a 100 in the area. well, no matter how 'safe' the crocs are, i still wasnt getting as close as Otto did.
Otto also fed them a chicken (from the end of a stick) and the video of this will be on his blog - there is a link for it on this blog.
Here are a few girls that we encountered on our way to see the crocs, who were out gathering fruit.
After the crocodile park, we went into town for lunch at a very good Lebanese restaurant. after that were were all pretty exhausted, but we still had the bus for a while longer, so we went to the Artisinal Village. I'm sure we all slept well last night. It was also very nice to spend some time out of work with my colleagues and their families.
Today was grocery shopping day. It was a true adventure today because we went to one of the main fruit and vegetable stands - normally we cheat ourselves out of the African experience and go to a single gal at a side market and that way we dont get swarmed by tons of produce vendors. I have to admit, it was fun to be in the midst of such high pressure sales. the great thing here is that people are honest and are not trying to rip you off (obscenely anyway, i am sure they make an extra 20-30 cents off of us). we also dont have to be overly worried about pick pockets and thieves.
We let Otto open his main xmas present from his father and I - we finally broke down and got him Lego Mindstorm. he is in heaven. we wanted him to have a chance to play with it while here with his dad and since he doesnt have school next week, they will need something to keep them occupied.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
What was I thinking!?!?!
What did we all do before internet? We finally got internet at home. very slow (no Stewart/Colbert for me), and VERY expensive, but at least i can check email and most of the time read the NY times.
Work is going fairly well. not exactly what i expected. i have a lot to do to get the health unit functioning (to the level i would like it to be at to conform to US standards). There are no systems in place (at least not any that increase efficiency and patient satisfaction). as it turns out, many of the US families are getting their health care needs taken care of outside the Embassy. As i previously mentioned, i am the first US health care provider at this post. The availability of basic health care in town is quite good. Over the next year, i hope to increase confidence in the clinic and to turn this around.
My other big issue at the moment is our 'imprisonment in a palace'. We live in this amazingly gorgeous house (picture below), but we are stuck out of town with no vehicle and we are not supposed to use any public transport. The Embassy only provides rides to and from work and we get a ride to do shopping one day a week. it is a major drag and not that great for morale. there are a couple of restaurants in the neighborhood, but the closest ones are a 20 min walk away. all social activities happen in the town center (where many Embassy families live) - but at this time, we have no way to participate. i have been reading a ton and we have watched a lot of mediocre movies. but i figure a couple of months after my car arrives and i will have likely forgotten this part of my time here.
Some photos of our house. Did I mention we have 6 bathrooms (not counting the one extra for the guard outside). Three large bedrooms. An outside laundry room (which i will also eventually use as my exercise room once the elliptical arrives).
Last weekend was the Holiday Fair at Otto's school. Some of the students did a dance performance (Indian style, but it is an 'international' school). There were arts and crafts and TONS of ex-pats. Even Santa showed up, but i couldnt get Otto to stand by him for a photo. Made me realize we are not so alone here in Burkina Faso. There are many, many embassies, about 150 Peace Corp volunteers, lots of US and other aid agencies. White people where ever you look.
and of course, i must add a few classic Africa pictures (so you dont think i am just hiding out in Las Vegas climbing at Red Rocks). These were taken just down the street from my house and are a common sight (goats more than the cattle).
hope this will keep everyone interested for the time being. Otto's dad just arrived a couple of days ago and we have plans to rent a car (also very expensive) and see some of the sights out of town. that will be a welcome relief.
miss everyone, as well as our not so large and ornate house, good beer, a little cold weather, a well functioning clinic and good public transport.
Work is going fairly well. not exactly what i expected. i have a lot to do to get the health unit functioning (to the level i would like it to be at to conform to US standards). There are no systems in place (at least not any that increase efficiency and patient satisfaction). as it turns out, many of the US families are getting their health care needs taken care of outside the Embassy. As i previously mentioned, i am the first US health care provider at this post. The availability of basic health care in town is quite good. Over the next year, i hope to increase confidence in the clinic and to turn this around.
My other big issue at the moment is our 'imprisonment in a palace'. We live in this amazingly gorgeous house (picture below), but we are stuck out of town with no vehicle and we are not supposed to use any public transport. The Embassy only provides rides to and from work and we get a ride to do shopping one day a week. it is a major drag and not that great for morale. there are a couple of restaurants in the neighborhood, but the closest ones are a 20 min walk away. all social activities happen in the town center (where many Embassy families live) - but at this time, we have no way to participate. i have been reading a ton and we have watched a lot of mediocre movies. but i figure a couple of months after my car arrives and i will have likely forgotten this part of my time here.
Some photos of our house. Did I mention we have 6 bathrooms (not counting the one extra for the guard outside). Three large bedrooms. An outside laundry room (which i will also eventually use as my exercise room once the elliptical arrives).
Last weekend was the Holiday Fair at Otto's school. Some of the students did a dance performance (Indian style, but it is an 'international' school). There were arts and crafts and TONS of ex-pats. Even Santa showed up, but i couldnt get Otto to stand by him for a photo. Made me realize we are not so alone here in Burkina Faso. There are many, many embassies, about 150 Peace Corp volunteers, lots of US and other aid agencies. White people where ever you look.
and of course, i must add a few classic Africa pictures (so you dont think i am just hiding out in Las Vegas climbing at Red Rocks). These were taken just down the street from my house and are a common sight (goats more than the cattle).
hope this will keep everyone interested for the time being. Otto's dad just arrived a couple of days ago and we have plans to rent a car (also very expensive) and see some of the sights out of town. that will be a welcome relief.
miss everyone, as well as our not so large and ornate house, good beer, a little cold weather, a well functioning clinic and good public transport.
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