Zidane was over in my courtyard the other day. Often when I have a few
minutes I sit in my doorway and we color with the chalk on my patio.
This particular day I’d decided to work on addition with him. That
wasn’t getting anywhere because my gumalchamae skills are still
non-existent. So after much confusion on his part he decided to change
the subject and point out to me that he now has his first loose tooth
ever. I of course got super excited and ran inside to get floss. I
came back out and tied the tooth up. Before I yanked it, I decided
that I should probably wait and get a french speaker to translate to
him what I was about to do because my gestures were not registering
with him. So Zidane sat there quietly for several minutes with this
floss hanging out of his mouth despite his friends calling him,
whatever I was about to do was obviously going to be cooler than
playing with his friends, and cooler than the time I tried showing
them the yo-yo (anyone have any yo-yo tips, that one did not go over
too well). Eventually someone showed up and I had them translate what
I was doing. It was at this moment that I realized they never pull out
teeth, because none of their food is necessarily in the solid state,
and so chewing is not uncomfortable with a loose tooth.
When the poor kid figured out what I was up to he got a little more
worried. I looked in his mouth again and told him we’d try pulling it
again tomorrow as it wasn’t loose enough yet. The next day when I
found Zidane in the evening I asked first thing about his tooth. Still
wiggly, and so I go and try with the floss. There are other things
going on so I don’t get to it right away, and when I do get around to
it again, Zidane has amassed 30 of his little friends to come and
watch. This is definitely the coolest trick I have pulled thus far.
They’ve never seen a tooth pulled and think my story about some fairy
is bizar. I don’t end up pulling the tooth, still not loose enough.
And the following day I came here to Ouaga, so I’ll see tomorrow when
I get back if it’s still in. If it is, that sucker is definitely
coming out, I think at this point this would be more of a memorable
story of when the whitey lived with us, than painful.
Also on my list of recent accomplishments (terrorizing the kids in my
courtyard with dental floss counts, right?) was the construction of my
neighboring volunteer’s latrine wall. Yes, that’s right, yours truly
slapped together a mud and mud brick wall that to her current
knowledge has yet to succumb to the forces of gravity. It took us two
rounds of a couple of hours each, but with the help of some of her
kids who made the mud for us, we got that thing rolling. It was a very
messy experience, but all in all, I now feel like an accomplished
mason.
I also had a fun conversation with some Fulane women in my village.
They spoke to me in Fulfulde, I replied in Gumalchamae or moore, and
then with some english and french thrown in. Krista was with me and by
the end of it she was rolling. Despite the multiple languages used the
entirely of our actual communication was done non verbally. We were
discussing Shae butter (which is cheap, abundant, and easy to find
here) and so a lot of rubbing motions were made.
I’m in Ouaga now, it’s strawberry and broccoli season so I just had
the most amazing dinner I’ve had in a long time. Steamed broccoli. I
made it almost two years without broccoli, admittedly that’s weird
that I’m saying this, but having no vegetables five months out of the
year makes me appreciate them all that much more. (yes, I have had
dreams of produce sections).
The weather is agreeable here, but with the wind and the dust it’s
hard to get out and enjoy it. Teaching is miserable, but I’m getting
through it, and my students are making just enough progress to not
completely turn me off. I’m looking forward to Emily coming and
visiting for a while. I just got it cleared today to travel with her
when she comes. We’ll get to go down to this resort like place on a
river where herds of elephants pass through. People have reported days
where you have to stay inside because they get up into the hundreds of
elephants just roaming around. And then we also go to Kirsi to visit
my friends there, which will be my first time back since I left
abruptly. When the peace corps told me today that they would have no
problems letting me do that I nearly cried. I’m looking forward to
seeing everyone there.
So that’s Burkina, same old, same old. I can now count the number of
months until my return on one hand. And I feel like when it’s time for
me to go at the end here, I’m going to be ready. I’ve found a good
rhythm here, but when I found a can of ravioli today and the women in
the store next to me started laughing hysterically at my reaction to
it, I realized that I have been here for quite a length of time.
I wish the best for everyone! Keep me posted on your wanderings. Lots of love,
