Back home!

Well, here we are, back in Burkina!  It almost seems like a dream, but one of those dreams where you aren't really sure what is the reality and what is the dream.  Is this the dream, what I'm seeing now, or am I remembering a dream of another world, a city buzzing with expensive cars and the gleam of tall glass-clad buildings?

In any case, or, as the Burkinabé say "en tout cas", we are back!  Hopefully you didn't miss us too much during the last 4 months.  Really, this blog is about our life in Burkina, not about life in San Francisco, so it didn't seem necessary to post anything while we were back working in the US of A.

We cut our time in Cali short by a little to be able to return in time for our CO visit, which was definitely worth it.  Really, jumping right back into our service routine made it seem like we never even left.  After only a week, we are back on schedule (having powered through jet lag... Maybe "power" is too strong a word.... More like struggled through it), and have re-established several studies.  It won't be long before our schedule is too full again!  What a nice problem to have.... too many visits and studies.

First though, our CO visit.  Our half of the country is served by an African brother with many many years in the truth.  He is a very lively brother who learned the truth in Côte d'Ivoire, quickly becoming a special pioneer and serving all over Burkina, before becoming a CO.  He has a very motivating manner of speaking, which we quite enjoy.  You might think this is normal when you see how lively conversations are between West Africans, but they often reel it in for public speaking, sometimes making it difficult beyond description for us to pay attention and force ourselves to follow along in French.  Lively talks by the CO were a great way to jump back into our congregation.  It also seemed like our congregation loved us even more because we actually came back.  Not that that was ever in doubt, but they seem to know what a difference it is for needgreaters in their home country versus here.  We really felt welcomed and appreciated by everyone, and they seemed to feel like we are now a permanent fixture since we came back again, knowing in full what we were coming to.

And what were we coming back to?  Above all else, dust.  Fortunately, the heat hasn't really started yet.  Our first week back, the highs were around 92, although it's creeping closer to triple digits this week.  (Since I spent a couple days editing this, I have to revise that.... It has hit triple digits now, and the hot season is definitely on its way in!)  Add to that, it hasn't rained in months.... so it's incredibly dusty!  If the roads weren't mostly dirt, it wouldn't be too bad.  But, during the "commute" hours, when there's lots of people on the road, there is a haze hanging everywhere over the city.  The evenings and early mornings are the worst, because the dust combines with the never-ending trash burning that takes place throughout Bobo every nightfall (why it is culturally dictated that trash must be burned at night I don't know.  Maybe we should just be glad that it is... There is no taboo to burning plastic here, so the smoke is literally toxic.  Passing by a trash fire in service can be enough to gag us.  Happily, they aren't too common during our normal preaching hours, that is to say, "daylight").  How happy we are to have a house where we can close all that out, and still stay at a comfortable temperature!  Truly, Jehovah blessed us by allowing us to move in here.  Of course, no matter how nice the house, we are depending on African infrastructure, and we received a reminder of that almost immediately with daily water outages.  It wouldn't have been so bad, except that the water went out just before we headed to take showers after service, and came back on around 10 pm.... meaning we took bucket showers but could have just waited a few hours and had a normal running water shower!  Not the end of the world, but an annoyance nonetheless.

Never forget "If everything worked right, it wouldn't be Africa."

This isn't to say that it's all suffering.  Getting back to the territory and our studies more than compensates for any discomfort we may feel.  We have both started back with a couple studies already, in addition to new calls from the door to door work during the CO visit.  Fortunately, we are much more prepared now than we were a year ago.  When someone listens to us, we don't automatically get all excited and promise to return every week til they get baptized.  Rather, we try to discern what their real level of interest is, and sometimes we just leave them something to read with no plan on ever returning.  If we don't do that, we will end up spending about 36 hours a day doing return visits.  You can probably see why that wouldn't work....  The challenge here is always determining who to invest our limited time in.

To finish off the CO visit, the congregation had a party Sunday night, in part for the CO but also as a goodbye to a family moving to a neighboring congregation and to an elder moving to a village for work.  Again, we were reminded that we are back in Africa, as there was a power outage in the entire neighborhood.  But, just as our COBE was announcing the reasons for the party, and how sad it was there wouldn't be any music for dancing, the power came back on!  It was almost like Jehovah answered all the prayers of those wanting to dance (would he really do that???).  So, we moved from moonlit conversation to bumpin beats and African dancing.  Our secretary was thrilled to be able to use his new laptop (donated by a brother in Cali) to play the music, and was surprisingly not at all inhibited by Windows being entirely in English.

That brings us up to this week, with Monday off per the traditional missionary schedule (which everyone follows here). Tuesday, back to service, complete with siesta which we hope will help us sustain a high level of activity through the rest of the year (100+ hours per month).  Not surprisingly, we have a pretty sizeable list of things we need to do with our days off, so we won't be getting bored anytime soon!

On a side note, we had a little sadness on returning to our house.  Some of you may know the story of how the French missionaries living next door helped us get this house, then helped us so much after we moved in.  Well, they got invited to the BSCC last summer (many French missionaries in West Africa never attended Gilead, they were sent directly from France).  Then, we left before they returned, meaning we wouldn't see each other for about 6 months.... or so we thought!  Turns out, they were re-assigned to France, and left the day before we got back home.  We were in Ouagadougou at the same time, but never had a chance to see them.  While we are of course very happy for them and know Jehovah will bless them, we are a little sad for ourselves, because we had hoped to learn a lot from them.  They are very effective teachers, with many local "letters of recommendation" to prove it.  Some of their former students are now pioneers and Bethelites.  Of course, not all is lost, as we had new neighbors move in within the week.  2 sisters (as in fleshly sisters) were re-assigned to here, at the same time moving from special pioneer status to missionary status. They are quite nice, and also very experienced in Burkina, having spent almost 20 years here, most of it in special full time service.  All we have to do is learn to keep up with their rapid-fire French, and we will once again have a font of knowledge right next door!

In summary, are we happy to be back?  Incredibly so!  The time spent in Cali was necessary, but not easy.  It may be a struggle to be here without a "real job" and what the world considers to be a secure future, but we can't think of anything we would rather do than expend ourselves in the preaching work, especially here!  In line with today's Watchtower, there is nothing in this world that even compares with the value of our message.  Really, spending 3 months back in the rat-race of this system helped remind us of how little value it actually has!  While there will always be things we miss in Cali (family and food, mostly), the 3 months we just spent there helped reinforce that Burkina is our home.  If we can finish out this system here, we will truly thank Jehovah!!!

Regional assembly 2014

<Spoiler Alert!>  In the unlikely event that you have not yet attended your 2014 Regional Convention, be aware that this blog post will make reference to said convention, and will almost certainly reveal some details regarding said convention. If you wish to remain blissfully ignorant of such details, you may wish to skip this post for now.

That being said, we just had the pleasure of attending our first regional assembly here in Bobo.  (Yes, I called it an assembly.  In French, conventions are called assemblées, so that's just what we are calling it now). This was possibly the smallest regional/ district assembly we have ever been to, with a peak attendance of 684.  Being in a nice rented amphitheater with A/C, nice seats, and modern looks, we could almost forget that we were in Africa.  At least, until the power went out!  Which seemed to happen regularly during the videos, including the drama.  As you can imagine, every time the power interrupted a video, there was a collective groan from the audience.  But, even worse, the brothers in charge of A/V had to go into frantic mode to determine if they could get the power back on, and, once they did, to reset every one of the 12 TVs placed throughout the facility.

2 newly baptized sisters with the only baptized deaf brother in Bobo

On the subject of videos, we have to mention our appreciation for the videos that were provided for ASL.  Here in Bobo we have a sign language group, and they had a section with their own TV at the assembly.  They averaged 35 in attendance, well over half being studies or visits.  We were able to see their TV during the whole program, and really enjoyed seeing how they had the whole program in sign language.  The local brothers only did a little bit of interpreting.  It was great for us, and we don't even understand ASL, can only imagine how it touched all of the deaf attendees!

Now, back to the hearing section.... the visiting speaker was a member of the branch committee in Benin (our branch).  We actually got to have dinner with him, a very nice and humble brother.  He can also give a little encouragement to all of us who are learning a language:  he and his wife have been in Benin for 18 years and still haven't mastered French, and don't speak a word of the local language Fon.  Clearly, they weren't sent here because of their fluency in the local languages (speaking English and German before), rather because of their spiritual qualities.  That's a nice reminder anytime we feel like we just aren't managing the language; while language is important, it's not the most important thing!

True, we could "almost" forget that we were in Africa... but there were always small reminders.  Things like the stage brothers sometimes forgetting to adjust mics, and the hand painted signs for the Friday drama.  Mostly, just a reflection of the different culture here: a laid-back attitude, and not worrying about every little thing.  The thought is "it will work out", and it usually does.  Of course, we are coming from a very detail oriented culture, so it's impossible for us to be so laid-back.  But, at the end of the day, who do you think is less stressed?  Again, a nice lesson, not everything has to be done exactly how we are accustomed to!

Finally, the exciting part!  We were very privileged to have 9 invitees attend!  One was Alisa's study who was there all 3 days, the others were mostly studies who came for just one session, and even 1 guy that we had just met on Wednesday and told about the assembly, and he came for 2 sessions.  Interestingly, 4 out 5 were of Muslim background, and several were practicing Muslims.  Even though they usually are slow to change, they are coming into the truth too.  The fields truly are white for harvesting!!!

Once the assembly was all over, we got to enjoy the new video... in French!  Of course, none of the releases were available here in English.  So, we have watched the video twice in French, and so far not once in English.  Even still, it's the best video yet!  While the publications in French aren't ideal for us, they are already benefitting those in the territory.  One of our studies is a father and husband, and appreciated the counsel in the Good News brochure that he is responsible for teaching his family.  So, I made sure to get him the new family brochure, and he has already started reading it together with his wife!

Issouf, who walked an hour to attend the assembly

Edith was there all 3 days

Charles is a Liberian refugee who loves the Bible

Orokia rode her bicycle to the assembly 2 days

Zekaria happens to also be our tailor (he made the orange and the blue suits)

Deneba is also a tailor, and seems ready to accept the truth (her little girl is also really cute)

Campaigns, campaigns

So here we are counting down to the final week of the JW tract campaign, and how is it going?  Well, for us, it's over.  What?? Why is it over early in this part of the world?? Well, when we ran out of tracts, it was over, pretty simple.  The few thousand tracts we received didn't last very long.  After the first 2 weeks, they were mostly gone.  Originally, it was thought that we would roll from the JW tract right into our assembly invitation work... Well, a little more on that later.

But, how did the tract work go while they lasted?  At first, we were a little skeptical.  After all, we are offering a tract that focuses on the internet, mostly to people who don't have access to the internet.  How is this going to turn out?  Also, very few publishers have smartphones, and it seems like we might be the only ones who have actually connected our phones to the internet (mobile internet is quite cheap here, compared to an unlimited plan in the US, but is still an unimaginable luxury for most people.  Even those who start trying it usually only buy a few mega-bytes at a time, not enough to really do much with).  So, showing the householder the website is mostly out of the question.  However, we were able to focus on the younger ones in the territory as the best potential readers of the tract.  While ones under 20 years old typically can't afford their own smart phone, the large majority of them have some awareness of the internet, and are likely to use it at some point.  (Did we ever mention that cyber-cafés are still big business here?  They are all over, using 10+ year old towers, a spotty cellular connection, and are ALWAYS, ALWAYS full)  However, the age group from 20-30, especially university students, are quite likely to have a connected phone, or even tablet, with them.  We had a lot of good responses from ones in this age range, a few even taking a look at the site right away.  Also, we found lots of success, when talking to parents, by focusing on how the website can help their kids.  After all, the world is changing, and it's only a matter of time before the kids are surfing the web just like we do!  So, while there were probably a lot more spectacular experiences in the more connected parts of the world (anywhere not Africa), we were able to feel like the campaign was a success here.  It will be very exciting to hear how much the traffic on the site increased during August!

On a side note, when we ask the question on the front and ask for their choice between the 3 sources of answers, the response was 99.9% "the Bible".  That's one reason that we love it here, you don't have to convince anyone to talk about spiritual things.  They already see the value of them.

Another side note, are you using the videos from JW.org in service?  We love them!  Although we started using them before the campaign, it was a pretty logical step to show people content from the site when offering the tract.  At this point, the videos "why study the bible", "what happens on a study", and "what happens at meetings" are all available in the major languages of Burkina.  You should see the face of someone who is expecting the "colonial language", French, and instead hears their native language!

Now, as I promised earlier, a little bit about our convention invitation program.  The convention will begin 2 weeks from today... however we haven't begun our invitation work yet.  Why not?  Well, we aren't even sure yet where the convention will be!  Although it was initially announced as being at a conference hall near our house, there seem to have been difficulties getting a contract signed.  For the moment, our congregation has a supply of invitations, but doesn't know what location to print on them!  We are really hoping that it will be the hall close to our house.  It would be nice for us, but the best part would be the benefits for our territory.  If it's close to us, it will be very easy for everyone in our territory to find and attend.  We will be sure to post a few pictures and an update after the convention, no matter where it ends up being!

Languages

Ok so it's not a video... But this is how you count to 10 in Jula!

Why is language such a big deal here?  Mostly because there are so many, and not everyone speaks the same one.  Growing up in the United States, that can be a little hard to grasp, because we are used to nearly all of the other 300 million people around us speaking English as a native language.  Of course, there are many exceptions, most notably the millions and millions of Spanish speakers, many living in areas that, not too long ago, were owned by a Spanish speaking country.  But, for some reason, that doesn't seem to penetrate the collective thinking that says "everybody speaks English".  While this is good for Europeans who want to poke fun at American tourists who can't even say hello, it's not so good for us Americans who want to understand another culture.

So, here goes our short lesson on languages in Burkina!  If you want lots of technical info, you will have to Google it, we aren't doing this to bore everyone with the details of the languages.  This is more to give you an idea how the languages affect our preaching here.

English: virtually non-existent.  Aside from a few foreigners, the only English speakers here are emigrants from Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria.  Our guess is that they total maybe 100.  There is an English congregation in the capitol, but we haven't had a chance to visit them

French: the dominant language.  This is the language we preach in and that all our meetings are in.  However, this isn't exactly the same French that you may have studied in high school... First there is the accent.  Burkina French can be hard for us to understand, and our French is hard for them to understand.  Even the French sisters that are here are told that they have a funny accent, so it's not just us.  Part of the problem is that Burkinabé often slur their words and don't pronounce the whole word.  We first realized how big a problem this could be when we offended a guy who had said a price of 70 but we heard 110!  (Soixante-dix, cent-dix, see the difference?)  It adds a new element of complexity to shopping in a country where almost no stores have the price posted and you need to understand what the vendor just told you.  There is another side as well: far from 100% of the population speak French fluently.  Sure, every single person can greet you in French and maybe say a phrase or 2, but for many that's the end of it.  What do we do for them?  Often, our service partner will jump in and take over in that case.  But, if we don't have someone to bail us out, we sometimes end up using nearby children as translators.  As you can imagine, this isn't a totally effective way to communicate....  Now for the big question: if they don't speak English or French, what do they speak?

Moore: this is the regional/ ethnic language of about half of Burkina (pronounced Mo-ray).  Even though it's not the half we live in, there are still a lot of people who have moved here whose mother tongue is Moore.  Most of them speak French by necessity, so we can easily preach to them.  In Ouaga, there are lots of Moore congregations, and they even have current magazines available for them.

Jula: this is where it starts to get tricky (pronounced Jew-lah).  Jula is the regional language of the other half of Burkina (the half where we live), but also part of Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, and much of Mali.  However, in Mali it is called Bambara, and is viewed as a totally different language, even having separate Society translation teams.  In reality, they are still mostly the same language, though.  The important thing is that Jula isn't really an ethic language, it's a commerce language.  That means that everyone in the region learned it to be able to communicate (so they could sell stuff), but it's not their mother tongue.  So 99.9% of the population here speak it, but almost always as a 2nd language.  What is their first language?  Their family or tribe language, of which there are many.  So, we have a Jula congregation and a Jula group here in Bobo, because it's a language closer to the hearts of many than French, even if it's not truly the language of their hearts.  We should mention that, although it's mostly a spoken language, there are some schools in our new territory that are teaching kids to read and write Jula, sometimes alongside French, sometimes instead of French.  This is a good thing for preaching, of course.  Want to guess who is teaching them and opening up the field for us?  Protestant churches!  They probably won't be happy when they see their members learning what the Bible really says by reading it for themselves like the church taught them to!  In some territories, it is about 80% Jula and 20% French.  That can make it pretty difficult for us to preach, however we are trying to learn a little.  Is it easy?  Not even!!!  For example, we started with the numbers.  1-10 is pretty easy, but once you hit 100, things get really weird.  There is a word for 100 and a word for 500, but they switch places depending whether you mean a quantity or money.  Basically, there are 2 sets of numbers, one for money, one for counting.... As if it wasn't hard enough already!  Then there is the detail that the number system is based off of 5, not 10 like we are used to.  So, when we think we understand how to say a number, for example 200, our teacher says "no, that's 125!"  This is not going to get any easier....  In any case, people in the territory love it when a foreigner can at least greet them in Jula, even if we can't do anything more. 

Bobo: one of the dominant ethnic languages in our area (pronounced Boh-boh).  There are villages south of us where everyone speaks Bobo, and the oldest part of the city is almost 100% Bobo.  Of course, in the city, they also speak Jula.  We have a brother in the congregation and a study's family who have tried to teach us the greetings, but it's a little hard to keep it all straight.  As far as we know, the brother is the only Bobo witness here, although his wife will likely get baptized soon and become the 2nd.  So anytime I work with him, he will preach in Bobo if we meet someone.  Since it's only a spoken language, it doesn't seem likely that we will see any publications in Bobo anytime soon.

Arabic:  in theory, learned by most Muslims.  There are many Koranic schools that teach reading and, to some degree, speaking.  However, the Arabic in the Koran is not the same as the Arabic used by the Society for publications.  So, we are often told "yes I read Arabic", only to have a baffled look appear on their face when we give them a tract and they can't read even a single word.  The exceptions to this are the Lebanese and Syrian businessmen who run many of the larger stores here.  They aren't even all Muslim.  One of our calls is an Orthodox Catholic from Lebanon, and yes, he can read the publications with no problem.

We haven't even ventured into the dozens of other ethnic languages that exist here.  In most cases, people only use those with their immediate family, so we won't likely have the need or opportunity to learn any of them.  But, you can see how there are layers upon layers of languages here.  It definitely adds a complexity that doesn't exist in other parts of the world.  It also adds a depth that doesn't always exist in the USA.  The people who speak these diverse languages can trace their history back for centuries, sometimes 1000 years, in part because of the language.  Of course, the most exciting language here is the one we are trying to help people of all backgrounds learn: the pure language!

Pics

A few pics of our Kingdom Hall:

The Jula group has their Bible study outside on these benches

Our view every meeting

Some of the friends in Bobo, not necessarily all in our current congregation:

Yes, in Africa you can go 3 to a motorcycle

Some sights from field service:

Patient sisters

Making candy

This was once a road.  We now call it "the great rift valley"

Our new home: Sarfalao

So, you may have heard: we moved!  It wasn't a terribly long move, just across town.  Although it's somewhat old news now, we are finally getting a few pics and some info about the new place up here for your reading enjoyment.  But first, why did we move?  Well, the house that the congregation arranged for us was nice, but wasn't what we would really like long-term, especially after we got a chance to look around here and see what else was available.  We didn't exactly go out looking for this new house, though.  Once we decided to move, we were just casually looking around at new houses being built, and happened to have dinner with 2 missionary couples from different congregations.  At dinner, they both said that the C.O. has been saying for years how much need there is in the Sarfalao Congregation, and how nobody seems willing to move there.  So, with that encouragement, we called the C.O. and explained that we were going to look for a new house, and asked him if we should try looking in the Sarfalao territory.  He very emphatically said yes.  Just in case that wasn't clear enough direction for us, 3 days later the missionary (where we had dinner) called and said the house next to them was available, and it's solidly in Sarfalao territory.  It's a mirror image of theirs, which we loved.  Needless to say, a little discussion and some prayers later, we rented the house next to them!

As you can see, we have a lot of greenery in the courtyard.  That makes it so much nicer to come home, and much more enjoyable to spend time at home!  In addition, even though the windows may not look too large by American standards, by Burkina standards they are HUGE, and let in tons of light, which was one of the things we really wanted.

We have our very own mango tree in the courtyard (and they are yummy!)

As for the house itself, it is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, and at least three times the size of our place in Alameda!  There is even a shed where we can store our bike at night so it doesn't have to sit in the living room. (Alisa is very happy)

Our bedroom with our new 3 place bed (turns out that's roughly king sized)

With the new place, we could start decorating, and getting all the furniture that we need.  It took a couple months, but we finally have a dining room table now!  The table is 9' long with matching benches to allow for entertaining large groups.  We have managed to cram 12 people around it so far.  And to feed them, we have an actual western kitchen!  Not only does it open directly on the dining room, unlike our old house (where you had to go out the back door to get to the kitchen), but it actually has built in cabinets!  Trust me, that's more exciting than you think.  Oh, and we now have a puppy to live in our new and improved courtyard.  The idea is that he will help guard against thieves... but he seems to love everybody, so he might not be a good guard!

Living room and dining room as seen from the front door

His name is Wolo (Wulu), which means Dog in the local Jula language.
All the brothers and sisters get a big kick out of our choice in names.

As you already read, along with the new location, we are in a new territory and a new congregation.  What is it like?  Well, the territory is a little different.  We no longer have the downtown commercial area, but we do have the full spectrum of residential.  At one end, near our house, is the hotel district, with a few very large hotels and a lot of very large houses.  Service in this area is still good, but not near as many people home and willing to talk.  At the other end, we have "non-loti", which is basically the slum.  People build houses anywhere they can in this area, and usually not too permanent, because someday the city will come in and establish roads etc.  If the house you built happens to be where the city wants a road, your house has to come down.  This is by far the poorer area, because land is so much cheaper there.  Obviously, with that land there are no city services to pay for as well.  And in the middle we have, well, the middle.  All those ranging between the super poor and the super rich.

Where non-loti meets farmland

A road through non-loti.  As you can see, small and simple houses, and bad roads.

As far as demographics, there are many more Catholics and Protestants in this territory, apparently due to a Catholic mission having been established here for many decades.  Yes, we even see nuns regularly.  For preaching, this has pluses and minuses.  It seems like the Catholics are actually more opposed to our work in many cases than the Muslims.  But, it also opens up opportunities because ones who accept the truth often already have a base with the Bible and so progress faster.  Also, the Protestant churches have started teaching people to read and write in the Jula language, so the message can touch their heart in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible.  Overall, the territory here is just as good as before, and we love it!

Our Kingdom Hall after a recent clean-up day

One of the main roads in Bobo, with the train station visible at the end of it.

One of our close neighbors.  This convention center is possibly the nicest building in all Bobo

Keep checking back, the next post will be all about the languages here, maybe it will even include some videos (if we can get some cooperative friends!)

Gecko wrangling and other African past-times

Let me begin by telling you about our visitor last week.  A gecko about 3 1/2" long had made it's way into our bathroom. Of course, when he saw someone coming, he tried to hide, as he had obviously forgotten to lock the door for privacy.  Well, he ended up getting cornered in the window, in plain sight. Now, I decided it would be good to encourage him to leave, as he's not really a welcome visitor.  True, there's a plus to having geckos around: they eat lots of bugs, which is another thing we would rather not have in the house.  However, geckos also come with a downside: they poop everywhere they go... And since they can go anywhere (the whole adhesive feet thing), that means they poop EVERYWHERE!  Needless to say, this little guy needed to leave, now.

My plan was simple: close the bathroom door so he can't escape and corner him, grab him, and toss him outside.  Unfortunately, I overestimated his girth as compared to the gap under the door....  He quickly saw my oversight and used it to leave me all alone in the bathroom.  After making his escape from the bathroom, he headed for our bedroom, where there are lots of great hiding spots.  My biggest fear was that he would make it into the open closet and use Alisa's dresses as camouflage.  Need I explain why that would be a bad thing?  Happily, I got to the closet door before him, and eliminated that possibility. However, he saw an option nearly as good: under our bed.  This bed only has about an inch gap at the sides, plus drawers built in under the mattress.  So he was able to slide right under the frame, and I couldn't possibly reach him.  So he thought.  As I lift up the mattress to get a clear view, I think "you're not so smart after all!"  That is, until I realize that my hands are too big to fit between the slats that the mattress rests on!  So I can see him, but still can't reach him.  Again thinking I've gotten the upper hand, I pull out the drawers and use a long handle to reach in and try to push him out.  Well, if I go to the left with the handle, he just sidesteps to the right under the frame, and if I go to the right, he sidesteps to the left, all the time giving me a look of disdain as only a gecko can.  It's clear to see that he realizes the advantageous position he is in, and has no intention of relinquishing it.  Again, I'm thwarted by an animal with a brain the size of a pea.  It's about this time that Alisa comes in to see what all the disturbance is.  Of course, she's not very pleased with his choice of hiding places either.  Did I mention that we were about to go to sleep in this very bed?  The idea of sharing our bed with a gecko isn't terribly appealing to either of us (remember how they poop everywhere?), so she joins in the chase.  Soon, the mattress has been removed and she is holding up the slats as I try to get a hand on our little friend.  Again, he escapes!  All told, he has been running me around for about 40 minutes before I finally get him outside the bed frame.  Finally he is in the open!  He makes a run for it, and I jump to follow.  Despite his speed and superior maneuverability, my greater size and determination finally prevail!  After all this, am I feeling very charitable with the little fellow?  Not at all, over the fence to the neighbor's yard he goes!

Needless to say, a lesson was learned that day.  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let a gecko run under the bed!!!

So the title of this post promised multiple past-times, but we don't have any other action packed stories like that for now.  Rather, we can share an experience that is normal in any "developing country", and definitely takes some getting used to.  We call it water conservation.

You know how, when you walk to the sink, you have complete faith that water will come out of the faucet?  That faith gets broken here.  True, by African standards, Burkina has an excellent water system.  They have water towers and meters and pipes all through the big cities, and the water is even safe to drink straight out of the tap (we still filter it, just to be safe).  However, what they don't seem to have is the capacity to keep all those towers and pipes full 100% of the time.  In our first neighborhood here, loss of pressure was a daily occurrence, lasting a couple hours each time.  Since moving, we have been rather spoiled to have water nearly non-stop.  Until 2 weeks ago.  On Wednesday morning the water was cut off.  Not a terribly noteworthy event, we didn't give it too much thought other than being disappointed that we had to use our water buckets to wash our hands.  As the day continued, the disappointment grew, especially as we again had to use the buckets to clean up before meeting.  It's amazing how much more enjoyable showers are with actual running water!  Anyways, not a big deal, as we have a 45 gallon can of water in our shed, just an inconvenience.  However, as Thursday moved into Friday, and still no water, the inconvenience grew.  We had people coming over for dinner Friday night, plus floor cleaning during the day, both of which use water.  You can likely guess, if the water had come back on, this wouldn't be much of a story... Of course, the water stayed off all day!  When our guests showed up, our reserves were at critical levels.  We had drinking water for the night (fortunately most everyone preferred beer!), but washing dishes was out of the question.  And, of course, practically every dish we owned was dirty!  Top it all off by having to take an ultra conservative bucket shower, and the knowledge that in the morning we would have to go out and search for someone selling water, Friday evening didn't end very well.  However, the story has a happy ending.... Saturday morning, we had water again!  So began the marathon dish-washing and water barrel filling session.

Once again, a lesson was learned: the following week we bought another water can, so our reserve is now over 100 gallons.  Not that we want to have another 3 day water shortage so we need that much!

Hopefully you have enjoyed this small taste of life here in Burkina!  As we have come to realize, there really isn't much here in the way of entertainment, so that's why you see us looking for excitement in these "non-conventional" areas.