Wow it's been a big week. Last week model school started, which means I'm teaching 1 hour lessons 4 days a week to real Burkinabe students in real French. Whoa. Terrifying. But not really, it's actually kind of fun. The kids I teach are the equivalent of 6th grade, so they like to talk a lot and correct me every time I get anything wrong in French, but in Burkina you can yell at the kids and even tell them to shut up, and it's culturally acceptable! So, I yell a little, but I'm a horrible disciplinarian, so sometimes when I yell and they listen, I start to laugh and have to turn around to the board and start writing so they don't see me giggle. I'm really bad at this. The first day I taught I kept asking my class "tout le monde est fini?" I was trying to ask if everyone had finished writing what was on the board. But, the way I said it I was actually asking if all the class is dead, it's kind of like the difference in is everyone finished versus has everyone finished. Now that I've got that straight... Today, I had to teach about sexual reproduction of flowers. To 6th graders. In French. And, 6th graders are 6th graders all over the world, so there was plenty of giggling every time I said sexual reproduction, or bisexual flowers, or anything like that. Quel désastre.
This week I also ate a ridiculous amount of meat. We found a pork place, which I ate at several times. Then, Saturday, I ordered a steak (think much smaller than a real steak, with onions and a lot of oil), and after I ate the steak I decided I wanted another. So, I split another with someone. That night, I ate half of a chicken out of a bag. Mmmmm. So my body right now is on protein overload, which means I pooped all day yesterday. C'est la vie.
Yesterday morning, I was out doing my laundry (which takes about 2 hours). As I was scrubbing my hands raw cleaning a pair of pants, my 3 year old host brother came out, brought his potty chair right next to me, looked at me and said "je fais le caca." Which means, I am pooping. Then, he proceeded to sit right next to me and poop for about 25 minutes (I am amazed at his patience, I don't think my nephews at home could sit on the toilet for 25 minutes), occasionally telling me that he was pooping, and asking me what I was doing. I love his portable potty chair, and how he keeps me company as he goes.
I have posted some pictures on the web, if you go to photobucket.com and type in my username which is ashleyinburkina, you can view all the pictures I have posted so far. It takes quite a while to post, so there aren't a ton, but I'll be adding occasionally throughout my stay. I'll try to list it on this blog every time I add pictures.
I am learning Jula, and we have this great Jula book that is full of wonderfully entertaining proverbs and benedictions and "useful phrases", so I thought I would include a few of my favorites.
An ka kolonji nyanaman min. Let's drink clean well water!
Ala ka saga muso d'i ma. May God give you a wife like a sheep.
A ye nyamogoya dabila. Avoid promiscuity (A "useful phrase" in any language, haha)
N'i ma gere boo ra, i nuun t'a suma men. If you don't approach excrement, you won't smell it.
I fari bi gwan wa? Is your body hot? (i can't wait to ask somebody that.)

Fun stuff, the book is full of interesting conversations, about how to politely turn down marriage proposals and stuff like that. Anyway, I'll try to get some more pics up in the next couple of weeks, there's not too many right now. This week I get to give my first exam, which I have to write, so we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow's some kind of holiday, something like a Burkina independence day, so no school for the students, but of course I still have classes. I can't wait for training to be over!