Bonsoir (even though it's afternoon).
It's like clockwork. Bad clockwork. As soon as it strikes noon here it is the evening. There's no "good afternoon," no "good morning." Just bonjour and bonsoir evenly dividing the day. That being said, what the Burkinabe lack in temporal greetings they make up for with a wide and creative array of different situation-specific well-wishes. For example, I've heard "bon arriver" upon arrival and "bon digestion" after finishing a meal, along with their classic counterparts "bon voyage" and "bon appetit." Interesting. Anyway...
We are fast approaching our one month mark here in the land of the uprights. We will be marking the occasion on Thursday when we learn where we will be living for the next two years and with which organisation we will be spending most of our time and efforts. This is huge and very exciting. The Mrs. and I already know that we will be working with separate groups to best utilize our individual gifts and ensure our continued sanity as a couple. We will be speaking Moore which doesn't really mean anything as the Mossi are fairly widespread across the country, but in general could imply a more central location. It has also been hinted that we will be living in a larger city than most people which potentially means electricity, internet and running water (now I'm dreaming). We will make the big announcement as soon as we can. AHHH!
Training is getting mildly better with the bulk of the administrative sessions behind us. Lately we have been applying small business development philosophy to a number of hypothetical situations and have been really digging into the French. Next week we actually get to apply what we've learned to a business here in Sapone. I am very excited and somewhat nervous. Soon, we will also start splitting our language time between French and local lang. I'm getting tired of all of these ridiculous tenses. Tech Week is coming up and we will be learning how to make preserves, a mud oven, liquid and hard soap, cheese, tofu, neme cream (a natural and widely available mosquito repellent) and much more. Naturally, this is going to be the best week of my life.
Well, the Mrs. is biting me. I think I should go.
Love,
Mr. San
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