April 3
When I landed yesterday, I think I kind of forgot what I was getting myself into. When I talked to Fatou (my advisor in Burkina) we discuss how IRD (where she works and where I will find some internet) is a international corporation but what I am forgetting is that THIS IS STILL AFRIKA. Or as you say when sometime goes wrong, or slowly TIA, this is afrika. When I landed I went through customs, if you can call it that, and grabbed my bag to see three lovely women holding a sign with my name. The first girl will be my translator her name is Mirabelle, she is a grad student at the university of Ouaga in Anthropology. The second was Bérénice who is a good friend of Sten (my advisor in Sweden) as well as the head of communications at IRD. The third woman was a friend who owned a car! I have yet to see a paved road in Burkina minus the airport landing strip, so I must say its nothing like Nairobi…but safer apparently. I met a man on the plane from Spokane actually and he brings a group of high schools here every year for two weeks and says they run around the city and there has been a single problem in 7 years. I’m taking that as a good time because in Nairobi or as they call it Nirobery in Kenya that would not be the case. The woman brought me to my little complex, which is quite similar to the home stay I did in Nairobi but again in a safer place, I can walk alone here. There is a front get and I have three neighbors who are connected apartments to mine. My apartment is cute, little with a kitchen and tiny living space and a bedroom and bathroom. There is a shower, but it doesn’t work so I’ve already started my tradition of bucket showers. Bérénice says she showers four times a day, and that most people in Burkina do too. I don’t know how she finds the time, it takes me an hour to bucket shower (if I was my hair and at least 30 mins with just the body) so I’m not going to be showering four times, maybe three. Showering however was the only way I could sleep last night. It was 98 degrees in my bedroom, or 35 degrees Celsius. Even after I had showered I dried off in two seconds so when I tried to sleep either I was freezing or hot again. I then proceed to wet the tshirt I was sleeping in hoping it stayed wet long than my body. I was given a cell phone last night.
My number is +226 74 46 90 51. I think that if you call that from the US it should work, if you feel like spending some money and calling me I would love it.
After reaching my apartment we had to go and buy some water for me, since I cannot drink out of the tap. I took a motorcycle/mopped thing to the store with Mirabelle. One of the biggest differences I notice between West and East Afrika is the motorcycles and bikes. Everyone here has a motorcycle. Cars are few and far in between but the bikes are everywhere. Bérénice is getting me a helmet today in case I want to buy a bike for the time that I am here. I’m thinking about it, but it was stressful enough being behind Mirabelle on that bike, not to mention driving. Mirabelle is a very nice girl she is helping me understand a lot of what is going on and I will be working with her closely when I start to do field research. She laughed at me yesterday because when we got into the car I put my seatbelt on and she said ‘in afrika we have bigger problems than seatbelts.’ She right, but if could see the drivers you’d beg for a seatbelt too.
I meat two other people last night Martin and Eric. Eric is the boyfriend of the girl whose apartment I am staying in right now. He has such a sweet face, kind of jolly and round. He is just across the street and said call him day or night he is here to help. He is also extremely well mannered. He helped me put a bug spray thing together but refused to go into my bedroom (I had only just put my bags down) because men should not enter a woman’s room unless he is her husband. Speaking of my bedroom….the girl who lives here is extremely religious, and I know this because there are statues of virgin Mary and Jesus everywhere. I had to put some away and turn these 15 inches statues by the bed to face the wall. In the dark I could feel them staring at me. Anyways Eric also brought me some mango jam and a baguette this morning for breakfast, too bad I cant open the jam, but the baguette is just like it would be in paris! everyone has to help me out with money now since apparently euros do not work, like the bank said, so I have to wait till Monday to have something. The final person I met was Martin. He is the brother of the girl who lives here, the girl by the way is in France studying for a semester. Martin is here to help me pay my bills and electricity. He also bought me some chicken for dinner but refused to eat with me because I am a girl. After everyone left, and I learn how to lock my door, I was a bit afraid. This was my first time EVER living alone, and im doing it in Burkina. Even though I think I asked about 100 times last night, it is safe right? It is safe? And everyone said yes no one will hurt you, but everyone is poor of you do not lock your door you will wake up and be fine but all your stuff will be gone. Which obviously makes sense. After getting over my fear and locking three doors between me and someone who could come in (fire hazard) I might not do that again. I slept with my knife next to the bed, and tossed and turned trying to get the heat off of me. I even frozen one water bottle and cuddled with it for a bit. I think I might stick a towel in the freezer for tonight. There is a wonderful group of women living next to me, Its Sunday so people are going to church but the women are outside washing clothes hanging and drying them. I too joined them this morning. Bjorn you will be so proud! I went outside and did the dishes in buckets. I’m pretty sure they are less clean now than before however. But it’s a start. I have a gas stove in my apartment but the though of cooking makes my skin burn. It is so hot here that things that haven’t been touched in a while are hot. The pillows on my bed are hot, not warm, hot. The toilet seat is constantly warm like someone was taking a 2 hour crap. Household items become a source of heat. There are two buckets of water by my front door (in case the water goes out, which happens) they are huge jugs of water and when you scoop some up its like taking a hot shower. The worst part is the refrigerator conducts a lot of heat and the tiles around the edge of it are so warm it burns my feet, I genuinely think I can cook eggs on the ground next to it, I wont, but I think its possible. Also in case I don’t find a job after graduate school I am become such a master at toilets because of Africa I think plumber is the next best thing. Last night the toilet wasn’t working so I took the whole thing apart and placed it back together to get once flush, then feeling pretty stupid I realized I just had turned the water on so of course it didn’t flush…but now the inner working of my toilet and I have met so incase there is another time I will be ready.
Its 10 am right now in Burkina I am two hours behind where I was in Stockholm so only 7 hours difference from my parents now. Currently it is 94/34 degrees in my bedroom I have two fans, one over top and one floor fan but basically all they do is push around hot air which isn’t so helpful.
Im trying to get internet at my home, but I have to wait till I find a good solution for it. I don’t know how easy it is going to be to connect to people this trip, but its been rather difficult at least on the weekends.
Bugs, so if you read my blog about Kenya you’ll know that my favorite things to talk about are poop and bugs and since I already told you about my toilet ill tell you about bugs. THANK GOD I HAVENT SEEN ANY SCARY ONES IN MY HOUSE. There are friendly little ants, which honestly don’t bother me, source of extra protein. But there are no large crickets or lizards…or things that make me scream in the night. Just little ants who want my bread and I’m okay sharing.
I need to go find some mangoes…….
xx
n
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