Boulsa!!!

September 4, 2009

So we have now been residents of Boulsa for ten days. Well I'm not really sure where is the best place to start. The first couple of days was really hard for me, but Tim seemed not to have too much of a problem. The first two days, we pretty much just laid around and napped. You would not believe how tired we were after three months of training. It was absolutely amazing to finally be able to sleep in late, 8 a.m.! Tim and I have made it a goal to go out into the community every day. That sounds like it wouldn't be too difficult, but when you don't know anyone in the city and you aren't comfortable speaking the language, it is very difficult. We have survived a couple of marché days now. There are so many people packed into a flee market setting, it is almost surreal then we both remember TIA. The vendors here seem to be rather honest which is a huge surprise! We really don't haggle too much over the prices here since the people are so honest. Usually if they are inflating the price because we are white, it isn't by a whole lot. I will admit that I do miss getting to make the vendors really mad with my stellar negotiation skills over prices. It seems so alien to leave a boutique and not have the vendor absolutely furious at me for getting a reasonable price, instead of the nasaara price, which is at least double if not triple the real price!
The people of Boulsa seem pretty nice. It is a little difficult to get a real feel for the city since so many people are intimidated by us and don't really want to talk to us a whole lot. I guess that is to be expected in a town that isn't used to having white people here. One of my favorite reactions when we greet people is their mouth pretty much hitting the floor. There are times that I have to ask Tim if I said the correct thing to the Burkinabé because I get absolutely no response and they just stare at me. Talk about breaking your confidence in a hurry. I am now rather hesitant to even say hello to people. I really can't explain what this feels like... So Tim and I pretty much live in a fishbowl here. Everyone is watching us because we are new to the town and we are also white. Add to that the fact that kids just come over to your house to stare at you because you are different. Then you also have everyone astounded that you can even greet them in French or Mooré and boy does that make a fantastic mixture. I've never had a problem being the center of attention before, but this is so unnerving. Tim isn't as creeped out by it as I am. However, he does find it hilarious when I try to attract as little attention to myself as possible and it just attracts more attention :(
Our house was, well for the OCD people out there like me, a disaster. I swept the floors three times in one day and was still getting piles of dirt. Not to mention the lovely color my snot turned. Have you every seen reddish brown snot before? Its weird! Let me tell you it did not benefit my cold or our allergies. Tim and I have done a lot of work to the courtyard. We are trying to get the trees to grow straighter, but it is difficult with all the wind that comes in right before a storm. Most of the trees have a slight tilt in the northernly direction.
The kids here are not all fluffy bunnies and rainbows. Thus far, the kids are constantly coming into the courtyard and demanding money, candy, toys, Tim's shoes, our bikes, basically anything that they see we have or can think of. Oh!!! They have even asked us for the keys to the school... Why they think we have those keys... Don't know.
STORY TIME:
Authored by Tim
This afternoon was going along pretty much as normal. I was taking a nap through the afternoon heat and Becky was reading a book to pass the time. Apparently a couple of kids had come into the courtyard without distracting Becky from her book. All I hear is Becky scream and turn to see two kids running from the back door. I get up and go outside to see where they are and what is going on. On the porch there is a pair of flip flops and at the front gate there are two kids one of which is asking if she can have her shoes back. Just to let you know running through our courtyard barefoot would have to suck a lot. There are enough thorns that it would stop the penguin army. Of course I was laughing my ass off as Becky denied the existence of any shoes in our courtyard. So Becky has officially scared a kid straight out of her shoes. :) She didn't even use the LOOK. I don't want to see her use the LOOK on some poor unfortunate soul. They will never be able to recover, and Becky will be admin sepped for child abuse without ever having touched them.