Saturday, June 25, 2011

Yes, I Am Alive...

Yes, I am in fact, alive and well.  I've been in Burkina for about 2 weeks now, and I have tons to say about it!  But unfortunately a lack of Internet and computer/electricty access has made it difficult to communicate with those of you back home.  When I get the chance, I'll actually post some updates about what I've all been doing in Africa so far, but for now, rest asssured that I'm alive and healthy. 

Feel free to call/text me!  Or write me or mail a package full of goodies, if you really want to spoil me!

226-77-27-02-93   (you might have to dial 110 or something like that to call out of the US, but some of my friends have said that their family can call them without dialing anything special before their number...)  I'd suggest going through Skype or Rebtel for lower long distance calling rates, unless you already have a ood plan.   All incoming calls/texts are free for me!!!  But for me to call you, it costs a lot...

Mailing Address: 
Elizabeth Hauth
US Peace Corps - Corps de la Paix Americain
01 BP 6031 Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso (West Africa)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

T-minus 1 Day!

I have less than 24 hours to get everything done before I leave earlllllllly tomorrow morning to catch my flight out of Minneapolis.  Oh dear.  I knew it'd come down to this last-minute chaos, and it's pretty much my own fault.  But hopefully my all-niter tonight (should it come down to that) will be successful and I won't forget to pack anything important.

I believe I have all my necessities already, so it's just filling my suitcase with odds and ends now. A bottle of nail polish? Sure. I don't know if people if Africa paint their toenails, but a bottle of pretty pink polish just might come in handy sometime. And how 'bout some handmade hot pot mitts, sewed by my grandma?  Of course.  They'll make for a good present to the host family I'll be living with for the first couple months.  The Mozart Clarinet Concerto or Poulenc's Sonata for Clarinet?  Well, that's easy. Both, duh!  [I've probably spent the majority of my time the last few days going through my music and scanning everything into the computer so it's all digital.  Thus, I can access it and print a copy of Stravinsky, Brahms, etc. while in Africa...and should my sheet music happen to go missing and/or be destroyed by my siblings by the time I come home, I'll still have a copy and won't be utterly devastated.  Angry, yes, but not devastated.]

I've also realized I have a little more room in my suitcase than I originally planned on, and so now, one of the hardest things is deciding what additional items (mainly clothing) to take: the yellow t-shirt...or would I prefer blue?  Can't have both...just one. Or maybe I should forgo the t-shirts altogether and bring an extra pair of tennis shoes?  Decisions, decisions.

In other last minute preparations, I have officially paid off my student loans! How many recent college grads can say that?!?  They don't even technically start until later this summer -- you get 6 months after you graduate before interest accumulates & payments kick in -- but I figured that as long as I have the money, I might as well just write out one big check and be done with it, so that I don't have to worry about anything while in Africa.  Thus, I am completely debt-free!  ...I'm also broke and my bank account is near empty, but at least I don't owe anyone anything.  Not even a penny.

I also bought bug spray.  Jeesh, you would not believe how hard it was to find bug spray in Minnesota this past weekend.  Ridiculous.  The shelves in both Target and Kmart were cleared off with only those weird clip-on things left.  Stupid Minnesotan gnats and mosquitoes -- they've been awful!  My friends said the swarm of bugs we've had here recently is just preparing me for the craziness of bugs in Africa.  But really, I'm not sure Africa could be any worse.  I already can't walk outside without having a slew of bugs attack me...

And finally, before I get back to work running around the house like crazy trying to find things I want to pack and then maybe/probably spend the afternoon (which is supposed to be 100ish degrees aka Africa weather) at the pool with my little sister where all my young students say "Hi Miss Hauth! Do a flip off the diving board!" and the high school kids just shoot massive water guns at me, I'd like to mention that our house has five baby kittens.  Their eyes are open and they're finally old enough to pick up and pet and cuddle and determine what gender they are, and my sister has taken the liberty of naming two of them already.  Meet Burkina and Fasa.  Awww.

The Kitties: Burkina (on the left, held by me) and Fasa (on the right, held by Katelyn).  Both are girls, hence the name of "Fasa" rather than "Faso."



____________________________about 12 hours later _____________________

So I lied.... I do not have room for anything extra.  In fact, I might not even have room for some of my "necessities."  It's come down to getting rid of things that, well, I really don't think I should have to part with.  Thoughts of, "Maybe I can leave my sunscreen --- no, no, I need that.  Well then I won't take my tennis shoes--- wait, those have got to stay, too," are going through my mind as I try to figure out how to lighten up my suitcase(s).  The problem isn't actually having "room" -- I have plenty of ROOM...for nail polish and additional clothes.  The problem is meeting the weight limit.  Both so that it's sensible for me to carry a ways, and so that it meets airplane requirements (which are very narrow...and pricey, by the way).  Just when I thought I was actually doing a good job finishing up my packing process, I may have to practically start all over and prioritize my items (again) and see what doesn't make the final cut. Urgh.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

T-minus 7 days...

Seven days.  Exactly one week.  And then I'll be on my way. 

Here's the plan:

I was supposed to leave early June 9 from Minnesota to get to Philadelphia by noon, but because I have family on the east cost who I'd like to see, I was able to use my excellent persuasion skills and convince the Peace Corps to issue my plane ticket for one day earlier and to New Jersey, rather than Philadelphia.  Thus, I'll be departing on Wednesday, June 8 at 9:55am from Minneapolis and flying to Newark, New Jersey where my uncle will pick me up -- ironically, he also was in the Peace Corps and served in Africa, though it was a long time ago and he was in southern Africa (the country of Swaziland).  I'll be spending the rest of the day with my aunt, uncle, and 2 younger cousins, and staying overnight at their house.  Hopefully this allows me to get a good night's sleep!  But I won't be surprised if it doesn't.  I might be too nervous/excited to sleep.  And my uncle might talk a lot...

The next morning, my uncle will drive me to Philadelphia (just a few hours away) and I will commence staging, or orientation, at noon with all the other new Peace Corps Volunteers at the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West Hotel.  We spend the night at the hotel, but rise bright and early to load a bus that will take us to a clinic in New York where we get tons of vaccinations and other shots.  We depart from JFK airport in New York that evening, flying to Brussels, Belgium -- an 8 hour plane ride. After a brief layover, we then fly south to  Burkina Faso's capital city, Ouagadougou -- another 6 hour plane trip.  From there we begin our approximately 3 months of training (focused on developing cultural understanding and language skills), while living in Ouagadougou with a host family and 2-4 other volunteers.

I've been paying attention to the weather in Burkina lately and have mixed emotions.  First of all, WHOOO!!!  Sunshine and temperatures above freezing, yes please!  I'm getting sick of Minnesota's weather, which still seems to be in winter mode, besides the ONE day it got above 75 degrees.  And when the temperatures are remotely decent here in MN (i.e. I don't need a sweatshirt and our house doesn't have the heat turned on), it's either raining or blowing 40mph winds.  Or both.  Enough of that.  I will welcome Burkina's weather with open arms!  And by wearing a tank top.  However, on the other hand, Burkina's temperatures are warm.  And by warm, I mean REALLY warm.  Like above 95 degrees every day.  Eww.  That'll require a lot of deodorant -- you now know what to send me in my care packages!  Night time isn't any better: if I'm lucky, temperatures will drop to, oh, maybe 85 degrees.  Not exactly the most pleasant sleeping conditions...

In other news, I recently found out that there will be at least 15 other new volunteers going to Burkina with me!  I figured all along it wasn't just me headed to Burkina, but then again, the Peace Corps never really said there'd be others...I just assumed.  And it's not uncommon for me to assume wrong.  But this time, I was right.  I still have no idea who the others are, or even how many of us there will be, as the Peace Corps has not released that information to us, but we get to meet everyone at staging in Philadelphia, and that's only a week away!  By the way, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to know that there's at least 15 of us...perhaps it's highly classified top secret information like Area 51...but it's not my fault I know: the person in charge of our arrival in Burkina has been trying to coordinate mountain bikes for each of us in our proper sizes, and sent an email bluntly stating, "The 15 of you have not yet turned in bike sizes need to do so ASAP."  Thus, there's at least 15.  Maybe (probably) more.  I hope they're all cool people.  And not weird.  But if they are weird, I hope they're at least entertaining.  Long plane rides (and electricity-free villages in the middle of nowhere) are so much more enjoyable when you're surrounded with entertaining people, right?  Let's hope so.