Whats with all the rambling?

So I leave maybe in three days now. That means I could be getting out of Ouga on Friday. And there is a rumor that they are looking at putting a SED (Small Economic Development) or and Ag (if you need help to know this is Agriculture.. you are obviously not from Indiana) in Kaya with me. They are looking at it for site development. Right now this is just a rumor, but I would love for it to be true. Although being the only Nassara (white person in Moore) in a village will be fun.

I have shopping that I have to do, I have to buy a bed, and kitchen supplies and hope to find someplace to get Gas. Because you see the port near Burkina is apparently not bringing in enough gas and the whole country is on a gas shortage and it is near impossible to receive gas to cook your food. So some of my fellow volunteers are having to eat out or beg their neighbors to feed them until they can buy gas. I am hoping to be able to find some in Ouga, because I'm crafty like that. However, some people here in Ouga don't even have gas which is sad, because you can buy almost anything in Ouga. Who knew a gas shortage in Africa would happen.

My lessons have moved down this week from book work to just speaking French, which is awesome and I am happy with this. I don't mind the speaking it was the book work that was getting annoying. I really am starting to believe the phrase you never leave school. You hear that kids, you are stuck learning things the rest of your life. (Especially if you join the Peace Corps)

Also if you are ever planning on joining the Peace Corps I would definitely say do it. For as much as I complain, which I know I do alot. This really is a great experience and something you can do once in a lifetime that makes a world of difference not only in another countries life, but also yours. It is a chance to reinvent yourself and a chance to take risks. Now I'm not saying leave your three kids and husband to go to another country (Jennifer), but something to think about. We have people here 21-70 something. I don't know exactly her age, but she is in her 70's. So don't think this is just young people.

Ok now my shout outs section...

Angela- Thank you for my blog reads and of course I have not forgotten about you or anyone at the bank, except for that one girl... whats her name.. likes coach and Fox stuff.... can't quite remember her name...

Johnny- Be expecting something in the mail in about 2-3 weeks. Maybe sooner. I hope I picked out a style you would like. Nothing big, but think you will like them.

Brad- Same as johnny, if you don't like some get with him and trade. I won't really care.

Mom- I Love you.
Dad- I Love you. Win some games this soccer season in honor of your son... and if not I may be able to sneak you back some Burkinabe Children who are really good.

Well I hear a Donkey Braying like crazy, this could mean he is hurt, someone is hurting him, or he has gone crazy like what happened in my friends courtyard and they had to end up killing it. Either way I think that is a good close to this blog.

Trent

Bone Fete! or good party! Ramadan is over!!

So for you muslims, Congratulations, Ramadan is over. That means you can eat again in the light of day!!! That is for those of you muslims who did not cheat and just sleep all day and stay awake at night. That is not really the point of religious fasting. Anyway, Ramadan is over today, which means that I will no longer have the mosque across the street from my house blaring music at every hour of the night. I consider this a personal victory. Because as many times as I wanted to storm the mosque at three in the morning when they would blare music and figure out a way to burn down a stone building. I did not. I used the patience of God and showed my tolerance for other religions. Even if they did disturb my slumber the past two weeks. I think the church that decided to burn the Quaran should have taken a message from book. Anyway thats a personal opinion. Which this is my blog, so I can do.

I actually went to a party today with my friend nathan at his muslim fathers house (his host father). I ate many servings of Cous cous, beef, and cokes. This was amazing. They were listening to music and tomorrow apparently there is a dance party, but I will not be attending. I have more important things to do... like.. uhmm, well not go. I have had 3 host families and I don't need another one to get attached to with one week to go.

That is right. I go to site in kaya on saturday of next week. yes next week. I cannot wait!!!! I get to buy things for my house and make it all pretty. I think I may paint, (and no jade, Erin, and Katie; I will not do the paint job that I did at our second apartment). I am thinking I may make a mural though. I don't know, I will have to be inspired.

Well for those of you who don't know, I am 4 hours ahead of time from Indiana. So if you are ever wondering, look at indiana's time and add 4 hours.

Mon francias est mellier. Je suis content avec mon niveau. Mon examination est le Jeudi.
( My french is better. I am content with my level. My exam is on thursday.)
(if you know I made mistakes by the way, I don't care, so don't post them. :)

Also one last note of business. My parents are not terrible people and I just spoke with them this evening. I was just kidding with my parents because the two times that I have not called them it ended with my mother calling the cops on me and the second time receiving a voicemail that said my father had died and I missed the funeral. Maybe I should call home everyone once and a while. So when they did not call me for a while, I decided to work my revenge on my blog, and I want to thank you all of my loyal followers for shaming them. It worked like a charm and my mother congratulated me on making them seem like awful parents. Thank you loyal followers I really could not have done it without you. I love my parents and appreciate there sense of humor.

Just like they appreciate my humor when they go out and get a 23 lbs cat named Fridge and say that they replaced me with it. That is what I am glad about, if we can't have Trent at least we can have a huge ass cat. (pardon my cursing grandma)

Thanks again for all your love and support
Trent.

I'm still not at my site....

So because my language level is only at inter low (at the last Language proficiency something (aka LPI) I had to stay in Ouga. I am hoping to get to my site by the 20th. I am already at least one level up. I just have one more level to go and I think I can make it by the time i need to leave.

Now ouga is it's own monster. I have to ride my bike around it was is most likely the moto capital of the world. I have already been clipped by one because I didn't stick my hand out to signal. I spent to much on food the past couple of meals. I'm going to start going cheaper.

So I had a quandry. At the end of the day, after i take my dirty shoes off and just sit in bed, I smell like something. I could not figure out what it was, but now I know. I smell like a wet dog. which both disgusts and intrigues me at the same time. I am wondering how I got this smell. I bathe daily and even shave and sometimes spritz with cologne. It just interests me.

I have also decided to write about books that I have read while i am here, seeing as how I am going to be reading alot and giving a very short review.

Blindman's Bluff by faye Kellerman- It was interesting and tons of plot twists. Not hard to follow, but fun to read. Murder mystery about a rich family that gets slaughtered. Good fun.

An idiot girl's christmas by Laurie Natoro- I enjoyed this book too much. Stories about someones family around christmas time is always great. I could see myself saying and doing alot of these things in this book. My poor mother. Yes, mom alot of inserts about the evil things that she does to her worrisome mother. Just promise me that you won't start watching dateline specials and we should be good. Anyway my favorite line from the book. (about a note)

"Laurie," it read. "We know that you don't have your keys, so knock when you get home. If you're still sober enough to read this, do NOT do your drunk dance on the door, and if you're on angel dust, the front window is not a liquid pane of glass as it may appear in your druggie state, so do not crash through it. You will be grounded."

Needless to say I had to cover my mouth in laughter through much of the book. Its a good one, that I would suggest. Its probably like a buck on amazon.. get it.

Other than working on language 8 hours a day, I have been catching up on movies and television that has been given to me. I am already caught up on season 2 of true blood and some of season three. Isn't africa just the greatest?

Now I know you people are expecting me to be all.. I rode a giraffe today, but I didn't. You can pretend I did and you can tell your friends that I did, I might even lie for you and say I did. I even have my own giraffe harness made for my giraffe night rides through the desert. Why not. But no, I have been studying french and watching movies in a town the size of indianapolis... kinda. Just not as many levels, or electricity.

If you are wanting me to tell you tales of grandeur... wait. I hope to have something soon. I did tell you about me nearly sitting on a crocodile. you people expect too much from me.
Ok thats it, now a few shout outs.

Dear Bank ladies that I know and love. I know and love you... hmm.. I think that covers it... oh and Whitney please post on my comments a countdown for your wedding day, because I'm sure that above your work station there is a ribbon that is held up by doves and each day you remove one the numbers and release a dove as you slowly approach that final date. LOL. I love you and miss you whit and I do get your emails. ;)

Dear Jenn- Please keep my brother out of trouble.
Dear Brad- Please keep my jennifer out of trouble.
Oh and thanks again for the scott pilgrim vs the world.

Mom- I love you!
Dad- I love you!

To both my parents- WHY HAVENT YOU CALLED ME!!!!! I AM WORRIED SICK!! HOW DO I KNOW YOU ARENT DYING IN A DITCH BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD... THAT DOES HAPPEN YOU KNOW...

To my grandma- Thank you for keeping me updated that my parents aren't dead. Love your emails.

To anyone else still reading- thank you for putting up with my absent minded rambling.
I am going to eat now.
I love and miss you all.
TRENT

p.s. see no french this time jenn. Just for you.

Live from Swearing in...

So tomorrow is swear in. I will be moving from a lowly stagiare to a real volunteer in the Corps de le paix. I am very excited about this, however; I have to stay in Ouga for three weeks and work on my french, because I am not at level. I am at inter low and I need to be at inter high. but I am ok with this. I really think I could maybe be at inter mid, so we will have to see. I am going to be living with another host family. This puts me up to three. Ca va allez.

I am going to be enjoying eating some pizza in Ouga though and I can't wait to see Marina market. I hear i can get real soft serve ice cream. SO SWEET! I am also going to be given my moving in allowance and going to be able to buy the stuff for my house. That includes my fridge that I am planning on buying. Nothing big, just a little dorm fridge. But that is a premier luxury item here. I am going to be able to buy real cheese at marina market and take it and have it at my site as long as I can cooler it to Kaya. Two hour bus ride and cheese.. hmmm.

I am all excited and my swear in outfits are amazing. If I can find someone to take a picture of my five shirts and me you guys will think they are uber gaudy, however they are very in fashion over her. Well Swear in will consist of me going to the embassy and saying the same pledge the president takes, which is cool to think that Barack Obama and I have to take the same pledge, then I will smooze with the VIP's at the party. Leave the embassy and then go out and celebrate. We then get one free day in ouga to do whatever we want, then its AFFECTATION!!!

Affectation is where they move 70 some people all to different sites. Its crazy.

Well thats all for now. I need some love and comments, be sure to give me some.

Love all you beautiful readers!!

P.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER!!!! Your getting old just like me. MWAHAHAH!!! Love you.

Finally an update. I'm a terrible person.. that or busy. You pick.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been busy with work and stuff and have not made it to a cyber.

Quick update. So my roommate and I were coming home from the boite de nuit (The night club) and a guy came out of the bushes(nothing dangerous) but scared him so we went to take off. I took off and he followed and his tire hit my tire and he fell and dislocated his arm. Now, he is doing fine, but I got to see the Burkina Hospital system. I am glad that I have a PCMO. He is fine now, but he got sent to South Africa. He will be returning this week. So par de problem and ca va alley.

I have swear in next week and I am uber excited because I will finally be a volunteer. YAY!!!!! Now the bad news. Because I have hepatitis... I will not be able to drink for the next few months. :(
It is frowned upon at least. SO yes trent will be drying out for the next couple of months sadly. But it is going to make that first gin and tonic that much more enjoyable.

Ok someone said they want the day in the life of the trenton taylor. So here it is.

5 am: *cockadoodle doooooo* trent wakes up... ((@)#%&@#$ rooster and goes back to sleep.

515 *cockadoodle doooooo* trent wakes up... ((@)#%&@#$ rooster and goes back to sleep.

600: braying donkey trent wakes up.... *!%*()!@$%( Donkey and goes back to sleep.

630: trents phone goes off to wake him up. He hits the snooze.

645 trent wakes up but stays in bed.

700: my host sister bangs on the door. I get out of bed and go take a bucket bath. Get dressed.

715: I eat eggs on a miche of bread with alot of oil. An amazing breakfast. I take my malaria pill and my centrum.

730: Leave for school on my bike.

8:00-12:00 Arrive at the school and I either teach a class or work on my lessons for class or maybe talk and play cards. I maybe drink some bissap.

12"30-14:00: Lunch break. I eat at a restaurant or at the centre and play cards. 500 it is similar to euchre and alot of fun. I love having Michigan people to play euchre with, although we both claim we invented the game.


14- I go to sessions, whether this be a lesson on Girls Education, on Relations with Burkinabe, or Language or some other "fun" activity that they decided to come up with.

17:00 Class is over and we go have drinks at the plague. One of our favorite places. I drink cokes or sprites. Most people have beer, either Sobre Bra or Brakina.

19: Ride my bike home

19:15: Arrive home talk with the family for a minute. Then I eat. Some good, some bad. They quit serving me to(toe) but last night i had spaghettie with fish. So hit or miss.

20:00 I get done with my meal and will pull out my labtop and listen to music and play the card games on it. Or I watch on tv "Mots de Maths" or "Trois Femmes une village" Which Is one of my favorite shows here. Think an african Sitcom. It is nice.

2100: I complete whatever homework i have or work i need to do and I go to ssleep by 22-2230.

There you have it. A day in the life of Trenton Taylor. It sounds exciting doesn't it.

OH I FORGOT!!!!

I went to Sabou. It is village near Koudougou and they have kimen which are a type of Crocodile and they are kinda wild, kinda tame. They feed them chickens on a rope to get them to come. lol.

Anyway, I basically all but Sat on a crocodile. It was amazing!!! Also very Dangerous. lol. But yeah, there is a picture somewhere in stage of me doing this. I will let you know if I find it. That has been my adventures. thus far.

Anything else you want to know? Let me know... and thanks for all the love about my health and stuff. I greatly appreciate it!!! Love you all!

Trent Continues down the Rabbit Hole of his health.

Ok, so my last post said that I was now healthy and doing well and this was true... mostly. I was feel so much better and continued to feel better. However, I then woke on Friday and went to teach my classes and then one of my fellow stagiares pointed out something odd. I was yellow. Now, I had not seen a mirror so I was thinking maybe I had like a pale tint to me. This would be incorrect. I was actually yellow. My eyes were yellow and my skin was yellow. So I go, "aw crap, I'm jaundice. This is not good." So I call the PCMO (Peace Coure Medical Officer) and he says well lets see what happens and we may bring you back to Ouga if you continue to be yellow. I am ok with this answer, because I felt amazing.

The afternoon rolls around and I go to go the bathroom and it looks like that I may have been peeing blood. It looked red. I was like, "well damn." I call the PCMO again and he says, "Yeah, lets go ahead and bring you to Ouga". So I hop a car to Ouga. We have done blood work and urine tests and organ scans and chest x-rays.

First off, I am no longer yellow that went away (mostly) by sunday. I just had a little in my eyes. That is gone now and my pee is clearing up. Now on to the results.

It turns out that I had Hepatitis A. Now how you get Hepatitis A is through oral-fecal means. Now, this just means someone did not wash thier hands with my food sometime and I go it. Even with the vaccine it is only 80% effective. I am doing better and we are looking for the virus to be out of my system in the next few weeks.

One side effect is that my liver is shot. Thus why I was turning yellow. My liver was totally shot on Fri, but this is actually not a bad thing. you see the liver actually heals itself. If it was another organ I would have not been so lucky. My liver is actually 70% better in 3 days. We got results today that showed my numbers have made amazing improvements. So there is nothing to worry about. I am actually going to be leaving Ouga and back to training in the next day or two. I thank you all for your thoughts and your prayers.

None of you need to worry about my health anymore (well as much at least). I want you to know I get care over hear that you could only wish you could have. It is the best care in the world with people who have been doing tropical medicine for 15 years. I am safe and looking forward to going back to training and making it through training and getting to site.

I love you all!!

oh p.s I am at around 200lbs here. So that is like 25 off from when everyone last saw me. I am skinny and fabulous. lol. You have to look at the benefits.

Thinking of you all,
Trent

Burkina Bike Tour

There is a Burkina Bike tour that is traveling through the country and you should probably read about it all my blog followers.

www.burkinabiketour.blogspot.com