CHUCK

No there's attention grabbing way to stat this post. We've managed however to make new friends. Turns out the Peace Corps transit house for Burkina Faso is a few blocks away from our house. We ran into a few of them at a restaurant the Friday night. They come and go taking some breaks here from their assigned villages. It's nice to hear their takes on what life is like here. Most have been here longer than we have, although a new batch are sworn in tomorrow night (I'll be there and let you know how it goes).

Any way one new friend's name is Brad but his friend Greg told me it was Chuck so after fifteen minutes of calling him Chuck, then switching to Bryan I finally arrived at Brad. His village is down in the south and he has been gracious in sharing some knowledge with us. It is really good hear some of the local customs explained in better detail that just my brain trying to piece things together is very useful. It's even better to hear that even the peace corps workers have plenty of time when they get board. I think at some point I will have to take some of these guys up on their offers to come out to the villages for a few days when I've got another break.

Other than that things are starting to move into routine mode. May not be the best thing but it's good for motivating me to want to work again. Dealing with the feeling of uselessness during this time off is eating at me. There is plenty of time spent trying to convince myself that the teaching I'm doing (when I'm doing it) is useful, sadly the benefits are not immediately visible, so I'll pray for patience and after 10 years what we're doing should hopefully show up in changes for the better. I envy doctors and people who distribute food, mostly anything where impact is immediately visible, even the trash donkey driver. But that was a lesson learned years ago and something we all need to work on. Almost nothing any of us do will be immediately visible and I think our culture needs a lesson in moving away from instant gratification.

On a lighter note, mango milkshakes are the bomb and the International School Recreation center serves a good breakfast and even has bacon. Our papaya tree has some good looking fruit on it and hopefully soon we will have fresh papaya form the back yard. I'll try and do something interesting in the next few days and then tell you all about it.

peace,
Ben