Independence Day

August 5, 2010

The past two days, we’ve had class out in a village outside the city of our training site. It’s about 30 or 45 minutes from the main part of the city. We had a rare block of “personal learning time” and a friend needed to go to the post office. I decided I wanted some exercise and would enjoy a nice bike ride. After biking 30 minutes into the city in the heat, we arrived at the post office gate which was chained. Today is Burkina’s Independence Day. They don’t celebrate it in August because it’s rainy season (meaning everyone is busy cultivating their fields, everything is based on the seasonal calendar here). They celebrate it in December with the rest of West Africa. So everyone else is busy in their fields, continuing daily tasks as usual, but the post office is closed. Ca va aller.

Upside to our seemingly pointless bike ride, we found the really awesome juice bar!! They have tons of different kinds of juice and a real espresso machine!!! Even though I was sweltering hot, I had some espresso. Not great, but good enough for here. We then got back on our bikes for the 30 minute bike ride back.

I was only in it for the bike ride, so worthwhile trip for me. Other than the fact that I forgot to put sunscreen on. When I got home that night, I said “Je suis rouge!” (I am red!), which was apparently hysterical.