Retrospective 01 - Getting to and from Burkina Faso

So, the first step in your Peace Corps Service (presuming you went through the whole application process and got invited) is leaving the magical land of America (Americaland fbfpcvs). This process involves a "Staging" where you meet your training group (stagemates fbfpcvs), with whom you spend the next 2-3 months during Pre-Service Training (PST or Stage fbfpcvs).

After a few days of formalities, my stagemates and I found ourselves being shipped in the lap of luxury (AirFrance) to Burkina Faso by way of an extended layover in Paris. While other Stages have been more adventurous, we spent the entire layover in the airport, spending our walk-around money, nervous and excited for the training to come.

Peace Corps pays for your trip to your country of service and your return trip home. Many people opt to take the cash equivalent of the plane ticket home. If you extend for at least another 13 months, the Peace Corps provides a free 30-day trip home (plus 2 days considered travel days) with walk-around money. As far as I know, you can't take cash in lieu of the extension trip. All other personal trips out of the country of service are your responsibility. Some go home at the end of their first year. Others prefer to travel in the surrounding area.

To get to/from Burkina Faso on your own, there are many options. However, the cheapest (especially one-way) is Royal Air Maroc. While many have gripes with this airline, myself included at first, let us keep in mind that this is a self-advertised 3-star airline. This means that you shouldn't expect the best food, our customer service. You should definitely have sturdy bags and not put (electronic, etc.) valuables in them if possible. Though they try their best to provide what they think is quality customer service. I think they do more than some airlines as long as your flying from RAM to RAM. If you have an extended layover (more than three hours), you will be brought to the Transit Lounge, which has nice toilets (compared to the regular terminals), comfy couches, outlets and free food and water. Of course, if you don't know this, you will be confused, and will complain until you leave this safe place, like many a disgruntled American to go to the terminal shops where you won't buy anything that you couldn't buy when you are finally bused the 50 m to the other side of the building with the terminal. If you have a really long layover (like the 19-hour ones on the way back from America), they will bring you to a hotel room and you will also be fed. The staff has also improved its customer service and was really great with kids this last time through. Sure, people's bags disappears or get destroyed. Sure, the airport is confusing and they don't explain their reasoning behind their policies. Sure, some flights they don't assign seats and if you board towards the end you don't get to sit in the best seat (it's like a taxi brousse fbfpcvs, but at most there is one person per seat). However, you get what you pay for, and what you pay for is a lot less than what is provided.

Other options, of course, include traveling to Ghana and then flying out from Accra on one of many American carriers. Traveling by AirFrance, though expensive one-way, only costs slightly more than Royal Air Maroc and other alternatives for round-trip tickets. There are also other inexpensive airlines like AirBurkina and Ethiopia Airways, but they may be more unreliable than Royal Air Maroc. Flying to America, Europe and Africa are relatively easy. Asia and Australia are slightly more complicated on a budget; its much cheaper to avoid Europe and fly through Ethiopia or Qatar (Doha).

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In other news... I thought I was done hand-washing my clothes (other than delicates and on occasional vacations). Alas! The washing machine broke... so I did laundry by hand in America. At least we have a bathtub!

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fbfpcvs = for Burkina Faso Peace Corps Volunteers

Amazing in Americaland: 3-ply toilet paper, snow, internet accessibility, domestic appliances

Undesirable in USA: cold, amount of trash produced and water wasted, laundry by hand

Better off without Burkina: dust, laundry by hand, littering

Fancying for Faso: friends, warmth, sunrises, sunsets, stars

my second-to-last sunrise - on a moto ride to koudougou

Retrospective 00 - Back in America

As we descended through the fluffy ether, a fantastic and wonderful winter land presented itself. One could have imagined that she was at Santa's North Pole (neither magnetic nor true north). However, when we finally landed, the coldness became apparent beyond the physical level, which is significant since I was wearing 6 pounds of clothing and still feeling the chill. As much as I detest the dirt and dust, I miss the gritty warmth of Africa, particularly Burkina. New York City itself used to be able to claim some grit to it, but it's seemingly sterile. It might just be the excessive snow, though.

So, akia-blog was supposed to stand for AK In Africa. Luckily, this can be easily adjusted to AK In America. Apparently, I can live anywhere in the world except for Europe. Since I have ample time on my hands, I will be composing a multi-part blog post on my perspective (in retrospect) about the different aspects of being a PCV, particularly in Burkina Faso. I want to cover not only the general life cycle of a PCV (from PST to Swear-In to IST to MSC to COS to really COS'ing), but particularities about PCV life in Burkina Faso and travel in West Africa. I am self-absorbed enough to believe that this may be of particular interest to the recently invited Trainees leaving in May and June of 2011 and maybe my friends who want to know more about my service and other random tidbits about Burkina Faso and Africa.


Royal Air Maroc had a mildly long layover. They treated me well and all of my not-really-that-important worldly possessions apparently made it. More on overall travel to Africa in the first installment of my retrospective blog series, which may or may not include ranting, though not necessarily directed at RAM...

Anyway, you have been forewarned. I am currently exhausted from way too many good-byes, but once I catch on my sleep. Be ready for way too many blogs about things that may not interest you.

Freezing in America,

AK

Summer Preview

Dear Readers,

So here I am, nearing the end of my service (again). This time I really promise to COS though. I am ready to move on with my life to the next phase. As usual, I don't know where that will take me, but I'm trying not to think of the big things too much otherwise I get overwhelmed.

The library was well received and the final step is to catalog the books and form a solid committee to oversee its growth. Thanks again to all the support from family and friends. Without you, it would not have been possible to get the project funded and done as quickly as it was done. I will be doing that over the summer during my few weeks left in village as I will be training the new PCTs again. I am excited about training, much to the bafflement of second year volunteers. I guess I just enjoy helping people become great volunteers... or I'm a masochist, or both.

In addition, I hope to finally travel to other parts of Burkina and also other countries in the region, like Ghana. Something that I've been meaning to do since December 2007. Unfortunately, those plans were cancelled due to personal issues. My friend and I will be making this trip together, hopefully with some other PCVs.

One of my fellow PCVs soon-to-be RPCV will also be getting married over the summer. I missed Bryan's wedding last year unfortunately, but I plan on making it to Jill's.

After I finally COS in September (if all goes well), I will be around for a little while longer to appreciate Burkina from the other side as an RPCV. I will probably be hanging up my malaria prophylaxis hat in mid-to-late October.

For those who have asked lots of questions about my friend. There are obstacles to all good things in life. And I believe what we have is a good thing. Hopefully, we will be able to overcome all of our obstacles. But, once more, we're just taking things one day at a time.

Squash the Rumors

Well, since I haven't officially made the announcement yet, I might as well...

I am doing a third year! I am staying at my current site, and continuing to teach mathematics, and hopefully other subjects next year. Secondary projects in the works are:

• Making an awesome website which will the tell the world more about Peace Corps Burkina Faso and also enhance the PCV experience by making collaborative resources available;
• Building a school library to better French literacy, and thus, French grades, and indirectly all other school subject grades.

The end of the school year wrapped up well. My sixième (sixth grade) students finally started to understand my teaching style, and did really well this trimester on tests including tough topics such as relative numbers (positive and negative numbers), plotting points on a graph, ratios and orthogonal symetry in a plane. So, I felt really accomplished! The only down side is everyone thought that I had lowered the level of my tests, even though I hadn't (in this class)!!! They didn't seem to understand that the students really stepped it up a notch.

The other math teacher and I also had an Olympiad for our top students in each class to see who the best of the best were. The Olympiad was really challenging, but some of the kids did okay. It's my latest FB profile pic.

I am doing some summer school work with interested students... which isn't a lot right now, but I'm hoping the word will spread, and that others will jump on the bandwagon. The kids who are interested are super bright and motivated, so I am inspired!!!! :D

So, I got selected to be a trainer for the incoming Stage, which is an exciting opportunity to meet new volunteers and also my future neighbors. I will be getting three within a 50 km radius of my village, if all goes well. Also, I get to work and do one of my favorite things: Teaching. Yes, as much as I get frustrated with my indisciplined students and correcting tests in bad lighting, I love teaching.

It's been just darned hot these past few months, but the good news is the rainy sseason started early (compared to the last two years). So things are already green and it's only the beginning of June.

Other exciting news... because you all know how much I love to use certain types of punctuation!!! I will be back in America in July. So, clear your calendar folks because trouble is coming to town.

Well, that's all I got for now... I will hammer out flight details soon, so you all can be ready. :)

Best and love,

AK

The Tao of Pooh

So, I spent/am spending this "Spring Break" in the hot hot heat of... Bagre, Beguedo and Ouaga. I am on the final leg of this trip. In visiting Liz and An, I got to see amazing things like delicious food, electrified villages bigger than the "cities" by me, rice paddies, fish farming, GliderPro on a Mac, gigantic pigs that were propre and Taiwanese people.

All in all, it's been REALLY HOT, but I've been eating well and relaxing and thus, able to perform important functions for my COS/extension tests. BF RPCVs you know what I am talking about.

Here's me and Liz hanging out in some rice fields. Ignore the date, my camera is on crack and refuses to register the AA batteries half the time and resets the date randomly. I will try to post more pics later as I will be in town for most of the rest of the week doing some work .

What I Did During My Vacances (or, How many times can I say "cool" in one post?)

Where are the pictures? On FB (see links at right) and Picasa. BTW, Finally got B's pictures from March uploaded online.

Well, I haven't really been doing that many exciting things over the summer. One of the toughest things for PCVs in medium-to-tiny villages is the rainy season. Once the rainy season really gets under way, almost everyone is out working in the fields farming (cultivating, which as I have discovered, really just boils down to weeding by hand after the seeds have sprouted). It makes it hard to do cool things like girls' camps or other things without lots of planning ahead of time and also being located in a more "urban" area, where people aren't all out in the fields. So, as you all know, I travelled a little bit, saw Dori, and got sick.

Happily, I got selected to attend an HIV/AIDS/Life Skills workshop in Koudougou. It was a three-day intense workshop. A lot of the information and resources shared with our counterparts was really useful/interesting/eye-opening for them, and seeing other PCVs was great because we got to exchange stories and ideas. I think the most important thing I got out of the workshop, is keeping in mind the milieu. Some things might work great in certain regions, but in others they won't work at all because of the cultural differences from province to province. Heck, village to village. Other than that, my counterpart and I formulated some game plans (well, technically, action plans, but game plans sounds way more exciting) for the upcoming school year. More importantly, we discussed what we would need to do to motivate the school director to get on board and also chip in a little bit of elbow grease.

What else was cool about Koudougou? Well, of course seeing a lot of the teachers from my village, who vacation there with their families. More exciting though: TAIWANESE people!!! I got to meet the Taiwanese people who work at the hospital. Military service is required for all of-age men in Taiwan, and often in lieu of the service people with medical training opt for a year of volunteer service in a country with need. Burkina Faso being one of the few countries that has diplomatic ties with Taiwan indeed has Taiwanese people. They took me on a tour of the hospital in Koudougou, which I think is pretty nice, but then again I am comparing it to the "hospital" in my village. On top of doing regular doctoring things, there is also acupuncture and a training program for local majors on malaria and HIV/AIDS. So, it looks like they are doing good work, and maybe I can work with them in the future to get some projects done. There are several of them that get shipped out every October/November, so this current "class" is leaving soon, but I plan on at least visiting them for a weekend because they have a basketball court (with a bad ball) and I have a good ball (with no players or basketball court nearby). I can definitely see how this will work out amazingly!

So, after Koudougou, I went back to village and relaxed for a little bit. Cleaned my house for the first time since December, and reorganized... pictures next time I am in village for sure. I finally figured out a way to hang up all the pictures and letters that everyone has been sending me (because you all are wonderful people of course!). Also, I acquired stuff from CLM because she left me (she COS'd, CONGRATS!!)... so, I had lots of fun rearranging and throwing out papers and other trash that I didn't really need at all. I'm very sad that CLM is gone because having a neighbor is/was nice. Though, Marty is moving up near me, and there is always Bryan. My nearest neighbor is now in the 65-70 km region. Bikeable in a day, but aller retour in a day will be tough physically.

Right now, I am in America. And, I am very happily getting fat. Today I leave for California, but in a little bit more than a week, I will be back in Burkina. After I get all settled in, I want to do a pre-school year warm up session with the new 6th graders. Just so they get used to hearing French, more importantly my way of speaking French. AND get reminded on how to do things like add, subtract, MULTIPLY and DIVIDE. Plus, if there's time (or if I can sucker the English teacher to come back early), I want to give them a head-start on English, and get them really excited about that. Of course, this depends on how my director is doing on advertising for this, but even if only a few kids show up, I will be really happy. If no one shows up, I'll probably just paint another mural, I'm thinking number lines this time around!

How many exclamation points did I use in this post?!

Hello World

I am back online until the 18th! Will post a longer post soon with pictures and whatnot and an update on what I have been doing. Afterwards, I will be heading home for a short vacation. I hope to go to California, but that depends on if I can good cheap plane tickets.

Fun tidbits:

Number of people who should be in the car to Ouaga: 25
Number of people who were in the car to Ouaga: 50
Number of goats on the car: 8
Number of goats that fell off the car: 1
Number of spam messages since the last time I checked email: 1748
Number of hours to travel 70 km: 2.5
Number of hours to travel 100 km: 1
Number of hours to travel 10 km: 0.75
Number of hours to bike 5 km: 0.25
Total continuous travel time: 4.5 hours
Number of days till taking off: 7 point something...

In Yako

I am in Yako for the day. Came in with hopes of internet only to discover that the power was out until about 1 pm and the place doesn't open until 4 pm. Got them to open an hour early so I could get in some time before the bus leaves for village. My new strategy to deal with my students: pop quizzes. They are afeared. Put up new photos of kids (see link from last post). Forgot to take a picture of my actual students though; so, that will have to wait until next update. Things have been busy and getting hotter and dustier. When I get more time I will post photos of my wars against dust and flies. The bats are still there. Overall, life has not much improved. Recent rioting (rise in costs of living but no rise in pay rates - most necesseties have nearly doubled in price) has kept me in village as opposed to going to internet (was hoping to come last week).

Layover Laughs (or The Lariam Delirium, not sure which)

[Casablanca, MORROCO @ 1731 GMT]

I am no stranger to nonsensical flight plans or long layovers. Once upon a time I actually flew from Indianapolis to Las Vegas to Los Angeles to Newark. There was a 20-or-so hour layover in Los Angeles. Not advised by the way.

So, here I find myself deliriously tired in Casablanca (as you all may have seen from my previous posts). After my time ran out, I managed to fight my way to the front of the transfer desks... twice. You see, in normal airports, there are things like signs, staff, lines. In Casablanca, such organization does not exist. [Heck, signs point all over the place to things and then when there is a crucial turn right before the stairs to the final destination, there is no sign. Maybe my exhaustion has blinded me and they don't usually see people who have been on three flights before arriving in Casablanca for yet another flight.] So, the frustrating thing about arriving to the front of the transfer desk is because once you are in front, that does not necessarily mean you will be helped. They really need a new supervisor or something in this airport to whip these guys into shape.

I can understand that my layover is ridiculously long and such, while others have a quick turnaround. The problem here is that there is a serious lack of organization. I noticed this the last time around, but miraculously made it through with about 15 minutes to spare before my next flight (I had a three hour layover). Heck, I got to the front of the line before people who were leaving in twenty minutes (twice) and I already had my boarding pass (thank you, HKI efficiency!!!)!!!! So, why was I at the transfer desk? Because I wanted to know what gate to go to... logical question right? Also, apparently if you have a transfer from Royal Air Maroc to Royal Air Maroc you can get a voucher for a restuarant in the airport (fat chance you'll find it though since it is not well labelled to get there). Unfortunately, since I was switching airlines. I did not qualify. Even though other staff members told me I was eligible for this and possibly some place to pass out that was not the floor or a cold uncomfortable airport chair (this is was one of another reasons I was at the transfer desk). I also wanted to make sure my luggage got checked okay. The guy didn't even look at my stubs and said it was fine even though there was a typo. I don't know what to say other than I hope my luggage gets there (not that you won't find out at the end of this post if I don't). All this was after wandering in and out of the "gates" area several times because I didn't know where to go (since I didn't know my gate number). The guards were ever so helpful (as in not at all). All of the staff kept pointing me back to the overcrowded transfer desk. Add all this to a mix of French, English and Arabic and shoving and shouting from many people (not me, I was too tired). So, just in general frustratingly tiring. And really, I am too tired to be frustrated, just vague shadows of frustration.

Worst 10 Things To Do During A 15-Hour Casablanca Layover
10. Sleep. Physically impossible, it is too shiny.
9. Try to use the mysterious Wifi advertised on every darned wall in the airport. (Have to pay for it and can't even get to the pay page anyway!!)
8. Try to understand the language people are speaking to you while you stare blankly at them.
7. Pay exorbitant money for nourishing substances.
6. Try to find an outlet in the airport for quickly decharging laptop.
5. Try to figure out how to get to the other side of the glassed off area where people are lounging semi-uncomfortably (as opposed to uncomfortably).
4. Pay exorbitant money for internet time.
3. Go to the restroom.
2. Drink tap water from the restroom. (NB: I didn't actually do this, but was strictly warned by one of my new acquaintances that I should not drink it... besides the fact that it smelled quite... unpotable.)
1. Go to the transfer/transit desk. Yes, I am pretty sure the frustration is not worth it. Don't go if you don't have to!

Top 10 Things To Do During A 15-Hour Casablanca Layover
10. Strike up a conversation with someone who had to run to the restroom while waiting in the crowd by the transfer desk. Alternatively, give bad directions in French. Alternatively, give away your plastic bottle collection (from all the other layovers).
9. Watch the cleaning people wash the windows and wonder why the airport is so clean every where except the restrooms.
8. Figure out exactly how you can spend the change you got in dirhams so that you don't have anymore and also that you are no longer hungry or thirsty.
7. Try to find anything in the airport (AKA window shopping/wandering around dazed). Whoever designed this airport must have been loonier than the guy who designed the South Houses. At least there, I can understand the old numbering scheme, not the new one though.
6. Watch the escalators as they mysteriously change speed from fast to slow to fast again. (I thought I was delusional, but really all of the escalators slow down and speed up again. I think it has something to do with solar power.)
5. Go through security. Multiple times. Explaining that you are American and not name-that-Asian-nationality.
4. Change socks and discover that the new socks are unmatched.
3. Consume nourishing substances, multiple times, preferably things you saved from previous flights. Warning: this causes the second worst thing to do during a 15-hour Casablanca layover!
2. Pay exorbitant money for internet time.
1. Watch a guy carrying the giant raw leg of cow that will be your next schawerma sandwich. Mmmm...

Well, here's hoping that the next 5 or so hours are as wonderful as the last 10 have been!

[Ouagadougou, BURKINA FASO]

Well, I intermittently slept uncomfortably. Where I really mean, I would fall asleep for about five minutes and then wake up hoping that I had slept longer when I really hadn't, darn that shininess!

Around 8 PM, all of the flights that showed up on the board were flashing that they were boarding. This was not the case, nor were gates announced on the board. Luckily, by this time through a combination of nagging and wandering I had found out that my gate was at gate 22. Chatted with a couple of Guineans in my butchered sleep-deprived French. Smiled at some kids. Felt exhausted.

Anyway, to top off my Casablanca experience, as everyone was preparing to board the plane, a nice neat line was automatically formed by the people who wanted to get on the plane without instruction. When they finally started boarding, airport staff actually told people about halfway down the line to move to the front. Most people thought they would open up both boarding machines and have two nice neat lines. What did they really want? They wanted us to crowd around the one open boarding machine and squeeze our way through regardless of who was there first. Completely and utterly inane. That and the fact that people were switching seats like crazy on the plane and some guy didn't have a seat for a short while. The staff was generally rude e.g. telling a guy with a small child that said small child did not have a seat when his small child in fact did have a paid-for seat. They made him get his ticket out and everything. Also, some other guy was being told by two staff people back and forth different information right in front of us about some misplaced items from his previous flight. Yeah, no applause for Royal Air Maroc.

I am still in love with Qatar Airways service and food. On top of it all, last time around I am pretty sure I was really in economy (since my seating and food type arrangements were the same), the boarding passes were on business class paper because the staff at Casablanca is again incompetent. Either way, Qatar Airways rocks. Royal Air Maroc not so much.

Amazingly, my luggage made it safely all the way from Taipei. Well, sort of, one of the locks was mysteriously opened but at least it didn't look like anything was missing. I mean who really wants to steal a 3-pound jar of peanut butter or spandex?

Conclusions:
1. Don't fly through Casablanca again unless absolutely necessary!
2. Get enough sleep and figure out what to do in Casablanca before getting to said city if yet another ridiculously long layover ensues. Alternatively, be rich enough for business class so that one can sit in the nice comfy lounges.
3. Try not to take four consecutive flights ever again.
4. Using a bathroom while carrying all of your carry-ons since there are no hooks and the floor is wet and you haven't made any nice friends in the airport yet is rather difficult, but doable.
5. Find another way to take Qatar Airways again that doesn't involve Casablanca.

On going back to life in the Faso... I have missed constant internet connection like nobody's business. That and cute shoes are probably two of my top picks for trivial things that I miss. At the same time though, I will be relieved to go back to my simple life of mangled French mathematics and Scrabble. Though I will be considerably more busy this term (already behind at school! though I did leave exercises for the first week. The poor suckers won't know what hit them if they didn't finish their exercises.), finish up the world maps at my school, and I am self-appointed PCV Asian Lunar New Year cook or something like that, so I hope to be back online again end of January/beginning of February. I also want to visit some cool people like my third nearest neighbor Babette and help her with her tree-planting project. 80 K bike ride sounds like fun! And, I want to check-out Koudougou possibly during spring break. Thoughts are out there, though plans are always bound to change. This time around, I really promise to try to take pictures though as I now have a normally functioning camera!



Me in the Doha airport. It is shiny, too. But not as offensively as CMN (which is actually quite pretty aside from the disorganization and restrooms, don't have any pictures though because I figured it would be weird for the strange 15-hour layover tired person to walk around taking pictures all over the airport).

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Tired in Casablanca

If I were a braver and less confused soul, I would probably be wandering around in the city. Unfortunately, I am even downright confused about which terminal I am in and the ground staff isn't being terribly helpful. I decided to shell out some big bucks for internet that I found here hidden in some remote corner of this mystery terminal. And after my time is up I am going to try the transfer counter again because I am just tired and confused and want to sit relatively near where I will be boarding for the next 14 or so hours.

From Doha, Qatar (Posted in Hong Kong)

22 December 2007 - 1855 GMT
Doha, QATAR

Early this morning, I left Ouagadougou for Casablanca, one fantastically named city for another made famous by the movie of the same name. I have only ever seen the last scene. This is the first time in more than six months that I have left the country. I wish it were under better circumstances. As I mentioned previously, my grandfather passed away two weeks ago. The news came as a shock because after almost six months of serious health problems, it looked like he was finally on the upswing. I actually found out several days after he died due to poor network coverage. On holidays and weekends in Burkina Faso, text messages are hit or miss. And unfortunately, they missed me for several days in a row.

Originally, I was planning to holiday in Ghana. My entire stage (training group) is going, with the exception of the ETers, a couple people, and myself. Also, my neighbor and a few other PCVs are heading down there as well. I was planning to spend Christmas on the beach, hike and river raft, and traverse the renowned canopy walk (this list is neither exhaustive or ordered). Also, HB is headed to Ghana to visit his family at conveniently the same time I had planned to be there. As fun as it is to think of might-have-beens, I decided that I need to be with my family.

Looking on the plus side, my grandfather lived a very long and successful life despite his penchant for smoking, drinking, and a rich diet (all three of which he gave up as the years went on). I did have a chance to see him back in March before his health started to give him problems again. I also will be with my family for an extended period of time, and I am very grateful for that. My colleagues (PCVs and HCNs) as well as the PC staff have been very supportive during this time, and I want to thank them for that. I have been distracted, distraught, and pretty much just doing what I need to get myself to Taiwan. I know, however, without the wonders of modern technology, I could in all possibility be finding out about this news even later than now. Or, alternatively, I could be trapped in an airport trying to pay my way between countries. Really, without the support of everyone, I would be a lot more worse for wear than I currently am (mild case of bronchitis). Being sick on top of it all, hasn't helped, but at the same time I think the being sick is related to the stress that I have been feeling. (Stress weakens the immune system after all.)

The flight from Ouaga to Casablanca was mostly a half-asleep blur to me. It left at 0330 after all, and I was exhausted (n.b. I typically wake up somewhere between 0400 and 0600). I am not as young as I used to be, nor have I been in the best health or sleeping well lately. I was not at the airport long before taking off for Doha, Qatar. I have to say that Royal Air Maroc had surprisingly spacious legroom, but the food left something to be desired. Qatar Airways had very tasty food and personal tvs. The flight was not full at all, so I sat back and caught up on some movies before dozing off. I am hanging out in the airport right now waiting for my flight gate to be announced. The layover is approximately five hours. I hope that the flight to Hong Kong is equally awesome, but I don't have my hopes up.

(This part written in HK.)

Flight from Doha to Hong Kong was not bad. Though I slept a lot again. I will be with my family soon. Will probably be online until my battery runs out as I am hanging out in the HK airport until my next (and last flight). Thanks to everyone for their support.

PS, One of the down sides to traveling alone is the lack of people to watch your stuff while you run to the bathroom.

A Little Delayed

I am actually getting to site tomorrow for the very second time. Yes, I am actually moving in, and no, I don't know what my new postal address will be, but as I said, the other one will work if you change the T to a V (and probably even if you don't). Once I know, I probably won't have internet access to tell you all, but I promise to write someone or bike 40+k to the nearest (unreliable?) internet source.

This past week has been really hectic, between moving out of my host parents house, and then the swear-in ceremony, and then the bus ride down to capital, and then shopping for all of the stuff for my house, and then... Yeah, basically I have been feeling overwhelmed.

I am excited to get to site though, and really get settled in. It will be good to make a home and to paint my house all sorts of pretty. Unfortunately, I hit a snafu when trying to buy a car battery today because the salesperson was concerned if I didn't buy the whole package deal with the (dry-cell) battery and the solar panel, I wouldn't be able to recharge my battery just any old place. Why dry-cell? Lower maintenance cost despite the higher price tag. Downside, I don't have the time or the understanding of electrical type things to know how much juice I need for my battery (obviously this affects the price). Also, I don't know if I can charge a dry-cell battery through normal means (i.e. not a solar panel). So, the nice thing was they didn't pressure me into buying anything, which I couldn't afford anyway. And then, I had a tasty dinner at the restaurant next door.

So, to all my readers out there:

• If I have a 12V dry-cell battery, what kind of wattage/amperage/some sort of electrical termage do I need to charge a laptop (without running it)?
  
• Do I absolutely need to charge from a solar panel or is it possible to do so from conventional battery recharging sources?
  
• Should I just buy a cheaper standard car battery (higher maintenance and doesn't like to be drained completely) and hope it doesn't fall apart on me.
  

If the responses could be compiled into a nice and neat presentation that takes little time for my french-fuddled brain to comprehend, that would be great!

Other things? Since TH posed the question, I am sure other people may be wondering, too. What am I doing for the next month before school starts (yes, it is a trimester system sort of like Tech)?

The answer is integrate. Mathematically and socially, of course. *zing* (blame TH)

So, I know that there is another stage coming in soon after me. If any of you future PCTs are reading this, I highly recommend:

• Packing an extra bag inside your other bags. What they don't tell you is that they give you lots and lots of books and other papers that are useful and also use up a lot of space that you had so carefully packed everything you thought you needed for two years. Also, you kind of acquire lots of stuff by accident.
  
• Also, really do bring a good frying pan and spatula.
  
• Tupperware and ziploc bags are awesome.
  
• Peanut butter is everywhere, but it is just not the same.
  
• You don't really need lots of clothes because you can have them made here (or shop in the marche aka the thrift store), but I do highly recommend at least one pair of jeans (I automatically feel 50x more American when I wear them).
  
• They take Visa here, not Mastercard or American Express (if you are thinking of bringing a credit or atm card). And, you can't use that plastic card for much more than atm machines that exist only in really large cities.
  
• Bring a camera and take lots of pictures (unlike me, I am now less camera-happy than during my yesteryears).
  
• I get to read Newsweek when I actually get my mail. The truth is, though, I sort of miss trashy American celebrity gossip, but only really just a tiny bit. I miss not having information readily available at my fingertips more.
  
• Tell your alumni association where you are going. Chances are they will actually send alumni newsletters and the like to you in BF. (Yes, Tech is really doing that!)
  
• Bring a good sense of humor because joking is key in this culture.
  
• Appreciate every last tasty morsel you eat before you get here because you will shed all those pounds you gain before Stage and more!

Okay, it is late by my time, and I am off to bed.

Moving Woes

So, I moved from California to New Jersey and since I own a lot of books, I shipped them media mail. Well, unfortunately two of the boxes never made it. I received two new boxes with a few things I've never seen before. Two of my newer yearbooks didn't make it. More unfortunate, one of my favorite paintings was in there.


I hope someone finds it and returns it to me.