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.

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.

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.

Settling in

Hello All!!

sorry for the long delay - and no photos yet.  I dont have internet at home (hope to get it installed this week). then i can download photos and put them on the blog. We cannot download outside data on government computers, so although I have internet I am a bit restricted in its use.

Otto and I made it safely to Ouagadougou (via London). We are getting settled.  We have a lovely house. Great swimming pool - which Otto lives in. Work is BUSY.  Otto really likes his school. It is hot here, but pleasant.

We are a bit isolated where we live - close to the Embassy, but about 20 minutes from the center of town. Things will improve once we get our car - but that will be a few months.  Otto's dad is coming for a visit next week, and we will try to rent a car and get out of town.

Everyone has been great and very welcoming to us.  We have had lots of invites for dinner and events.  We had a very nice Thanksgiving with a family who lives just down the street from us.  We have neighbors across the street with 2 boys (5 and 6 yo, Otto said it is just like at home with our neighbors Rhys and Kai).

Pictures soon and Otto will update his blog as soon as we have home internet. And then we can start skyping as well.

Outta Here!!

We are spending our last couple of hours in our hotel room, waiting to go to the airport. in the end everything did fall into place.  except one of my colleagues who was supposed to fly with us tonight; didnt get his visa at the last minute (but then did, long story, true to our new life in the foreign service). And i havent had a good night sleep in days.

speaking of my colleagues.  we are now all going our separate way after an intense 8 weeks together. we are not sure how we will all survive without each other to help fill in the blanks. We were like a group of orphans put on an island together and we had to figure out how to survive and flourish.

These are some of my beloved colleagues. just as crazy as i would hope. much like many of my colleagues in the past. ;)

i am so happy to be heading out.  Otto arrived on Saturday and we had a nice weekend. not too busy except for some final packing. had time to catch a movie and see some of the historic sites.

From here on out I hope things will get much more interesting. better pictures and better stories.  thanks for hanging in there during these dull 8 weeks of training.  Let the adventure begin...

Riding on the Sidewalk

I do love DC, but 8 weeks is about enough. The weather here rivals the good old PNW.  but i have to admit, there are a few things that make me a little nutty. so i thought I would share:

lots of people smoke - in public, where i am walking.

people bicycle on the side walks!! and dont wear helmuts!! this could be my next public health mission.

the traffic is like nothing i have seen before (1.5 hours to go about 12 miles the other evening)

the lines at the grocery stores are like nothing i have seen before.  at the Trader Joe's across the street sometimes the line is about 1/8 mile long, esp on Sundays. I am not joking, it snakes the entire store and out the door.  i tried to take a photo, but it didnt work.

People are way too fancy - coats, shoes, suits, hair, blah, blah, blah. less money to spend on gear.

no IPA on tap. i have to walk over a mile to get any decent beer  (but the Whole Foods does carry my fav Caldera IPA in cans).

I finally found a cafe that sells good coffee (stumptown, cafe intelligensia), only to end up paying $2.50 for a 12 oz americano and 14 bucks for 12 oz of beans. and I got a bit of attitude from the barista (dude, i live in PDX).

Portland food ROCKS. there are some want-to-be's here, but they are few and far between (and expensive).

bottom line.  Portland has it all and we are very lucky...those of us who live there.

having ranted a bit, this is my last weekend here and i will enjoy it to the fullest!!

Big Weekend - The Rally and Halloween

Otto and I did go to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear last weekend. The best parts were the hilarious signs and costumes.

This is a photo of us in the metro...which we did not take because it was so packed. I overheard someone  say this week that it was a record number of riders on the day of the Rally.

We couldn't see or hear anything, so it was a bit of a let down. Otto was bored. but for me the most amazing thing was being around that many people all at once. living in the PNW, i dont think we have that opportunity because there just aren't that many people.  i think it was good for Otto to experience an event  like this.

there are people in the trees!!

Hard to capture this on the iphone (my only camera), but 7th street was completely taken over by rally goers and the mass of people seemed to go on forever.

As for Halloween. Otto and I went to the kid-friendly neighborhood of a friend's. Otto got way too much candy (that is my opinion, certainly not his) with very little effort. he also got to give out candy by way of a chute from the top of the stairs at our friend's house, that then shot the candy out of the devil's tongue (see below).  very cool, the kids just went nuts over it.

The very scary and convincing Otto as Death. maybe not the best costume for such a family friendly neighborhood. he had to take of the hood a number of times to reassure small children dressed as princesses and super heroes.