o while I have been on standfast and not been teaching, I have been thinking about my life and the things that I want to do with it. Here are my two Ideas.
1. I come back to the United States and go to grad school for Mental Health Counseling and become a mental health counselor. I like listening to peoples problems and the whole subject of counseling and psychology really appeal to me. I would be able to help youth with thier problems, drug addicts, alchoholics, GLBT issues, and so much more. I really think that this is what I should do with my life. Downfalls would be that I would have to go back to school, which while I was pretty good at school; I do not know how I would deal in a learning environment again. That and I have to find a grad school that takes the approach to counseling that I agree with, and I have to figure out how I am going to pay for the thing.
2. I come back to the United states and become a trophy wife. Now this is a position I think for which I am well qualified. I can cook, plan parties, join committees, clean the house, decorate the house, go shopping, and just wait until you see my bedroom skills... pillow fluffing and bed making I mean. Keep your mind out of the gutter. The only downsides are that I would have to workout and who knows if this means that I would have to raise a litter of brats. OH that and finding someone who is rich enough and deserving of my services.
ok, so as you can see; I have a wide variety of options for my future in July of 2012. But for the not so distant future, I applied to be on PSDN, which is the Peer Support and Diversity Network here in Burkina Faso. You listen to volunteers problems and help them make decisions. Almost like a counselor. This would be great to have on my resume and I think it would be a good experience to see if this is something that I really want to do. Kinda like, now I know that under no circumstances in my life would I really want to be a teacher. I leave that to my father, who has had 24 years in putting up with my ridiculousness and is thus a very patient man. I have not yet developed this patience or love of children. So if I get on PSDN then I have a training for that in May.
SO everything above this line of text was written the night before I got consolidated. It was written and I was just doing my final touches when the guns started. So yay!! Its a little late to be update, but I have changed the parts that have changed and deleted some stuff.
Now I want to talk about my life since I have been back to site. So I get back to site and I decide to go back to school on thursday. I open my lab and talk with students and am feeling good about my new system of opening the lab on certian days and having people come in and help them with stuff. This is a system I am much more comfortable with than teaching. Although, I have already had a teacher ask me to open the lab on saturday (aka today) so he could do some research on Encarta. I told him about lab hours and he complained worse than the students. I'm writing this at 945 on friday night. He wants me to be there at 8am If he does not show up, I will cut him. That would be very Burkinabe of him. So on thursday some of the professers ask me if I will play in a soccer game. It is students versus professers. I politely tell them that I am a fat American and I don't play football. They generally accepted this. I get told by my homologue, Natalie, that there is a traditional clothing contest tomorrow and that I need to dress up. I don't have any traditional Burkinabe clothes yet, so I go out to buy a boo boo. A boo boo is a long shirt that goes down to your knees, pants that match, and a matching hat. You where this with white leather shoes. If you can't wait to see it, just wait. I plan to wear it in the states to give a few speeches about Burkina Faso. It will be magical. I go out to buy my boo boo and I can't find where I can buy them at. So I keep looking and finally I find a shop, but the boo boos are ugly and I don't want them. So the guy says he will take me to a traditional fabric booth. I show up and there is one adult boo boo and it is nice, but it is black and white. It is just boring. I needed something flashier. Soooo.... the bring me a bright green boo boo with gold stiching and intricate embroidery. NOW WE ARE TALKING!~!! I buy it and then buy my leather shoes. All in all it ran me about 50 American dollars. I looked at it as an investment.
So I get a call from Natalie and she tells me to come to the lycee (school) because the game is starting. This is of course 1 hour late. I make my way there and they are just starting as I arrive. It is fun to watch the kids play soccer and more fun to watch the professers. The professers score the first goal about 30 mins into the game. Maybe less. Two minutes later, the referree calls the game and the professers win. The kids say it isn't fair. lol. The important thing is that the professers won. lol. I leave and go and visit my friends Biba and David a little ways from my house and show them my boo boo. They tell me how pretty it is and that I am a real Burkinabe now. They were loving it. Biba is definitely my mother in this country. She tries to feed me, but I tell her I need to cook because I have meat in my bag, so she makes me promise to come over on Sunday and spend some time with her and David. I tell her I will and I go home and get some rest for my big day the next day.
I get up and make it to the lycee by 9 and the contest and dancing is supposed to start at nine. I find out Emma P. is visiting and she comes and to see me and the traditional garb. The APE (parent leader, think of it kinda like the leader of the parents committee in the states; except they are really active and respected here) sees me and grabs my wrist and starts showing me around to everyone. The APE loves me and I like him. He is really nice and loves the fact that I am here. One thing though, he is really grabby with me and likes to show me off. Its like I am his white man prize. His school is better because they have a white teacher. Its funny, but literally today he would not let me go until I met with everyone he wanted me to meet with. So after that was done Emma came and about had a heart attack at how ridiculous I looked. I am hoping to get a picture of myself from someone. I had enough pictures of me taken today and the Burkinabe love to give you pictures they get printed of you. So we go over to sit down to start the ceremony at 1045. It was supposed to start at 9. Its that West African International Time... or WAIT. So during the ceremony they brought out all the professers that dressed up, we got to see dancers from 3 different lycees come and do traditional dances. It was alot of fun, but really hot. There was a prize competition for best dressed and in the male category... I got 3rd. Hear that!! I am a winner!!! or the second loser depending on how you look at it. But it was nice to be put into it. I had alot of kids stop me and ask for pictures. Then when everything was over I turn around and there was Biba!! She said she wanted to come see me in my boo boo and that I looked really pretty!! It is nice to have people here at site who care. I almost didn't want to come back because I didn't think anyone would care, but I have had literally 1/4 of the town ask me where I was and they missed me. It is a good feeling, maybe I am more integre than I thought...
Love,
Trent
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