Three weeks from today, I climb on a plane for Burkina Faso. Bizarre! I’ve been saying all year that I’m dying to go to Africa but I’m dreading it because it marks the end of the program, and the end is upon us. Case in point-I started the initial phases of packing a couple of days ago. All my books are in a stack, split between the couple that are coming with me to Burkina and then on the plane home, and the vast majority that are getting mailed, which is happening early next week. Yesterday I went through all my school papers, yanked out the really important ones, made a pile of ones that have some french thing i want to copy into my little moleskine notebook, and threw out all the rest.
I have my Burkinabe visa–which for unknown reasons says that I am on a humanitarian mission, rather than a educational trip like all the others–and my yellow fever vaccination card. I double-checked that I still have my anti-marial meds (whew, still right where I put them), started stacking Africa things in my red suitcase, and read the CIA Factbook page for Burkina. I am really going there!! Next friday afternoon is our pre-departure meeting at Kevin’s house. The typical stuff–don’t drink the water, don’t flash money around, etc. Blonds get attention, Kevin told me with an evil grin. My host father has been half-jokingly telling me for weeks that I should dye my hair before I go. I had been thinking that it would be funny to get off the bus in Racine and shock my parents with bright pink hair, but that’s probably not what he meant. I could be wrong, but that would probably attract more attention in Burkina than the blondness.
Three weeks left at the institut, lots of work to do this weekend, lots more organization, and maybe a bit of jogging. Living in a family that 1. cooks very well, 2. furnishes enormous quantities of food, and 3. wants you to take thirds of everything does not do wonders for one’s figure. I do miss the Rec, I haven’t seen an elliptical machine since April 2007.
Starting to mentally plan for the summer. I’ll be working at the library, which will be MUCH better than the waitressing life. Days, not nights. No fridays, the library is closed. It’s in walking distance. It’s not waitressing. It pays more than $3/hour. It’s where I’d be spending most of my time anyway. That’s where they keep the BOOKS.
Theoretically, I shouldn’t have library fines this summer. Since I’ll be there several days a week. But we’ll see about that. Spending several days a week at the library has never stopped me from incurring fines before.
