Burkina Faso tidbits

I've been putting the drops in my eye and hopefully it's getting better. Still painful and red and very sensitive to light (which is not convenient in a country where the sun shines all the time). I can see out of it, which is good:)
I'm going swimming today with some volunteers who are currently in the capital for mid-service physicals, then we will watch a movie, then I think we will have pizza:) wooohoooo! I know I've only been here for 11 days and I act like I haven't had American food for 1,000 years, but 11 straight days of rice with vegetables feels like a lot longer. I don't just eat rice, there is also to (pronounced "toe") - which I can take or leave, or couscous or pasta to go wtih the vegetables or leaf sauce or peanut sauce (my fav). And I have bananas and watermelon and grapefruit for breakfast or dessert. And my host mom prepares a salad made up of tomatoes and cucumbers with my own special oil and vinegar - the rest of my fam eats dressing made with mayo, but I'm avoiding mayo for now. And I have baguettes with honey and milk (powdered mixed with boiled water) with sugar to drink for breakfast sometimes too. My host mom has given me chicken and goat, neither of which I'm loving, but that may change after some time. So, food has been good so far, in large part because of my very sweet and generous host family.

So the rest of this post is dedicated to some descriptions of some things that are common here:
1. Dirt - everything is dirty, by my old standards. If someone from home came to visit me, they would think it's really dirty here. I don't see it as bad, just common here.
2. Dirt roads - paved roads are a luxury and not common in most of this country. And the dirt here (at least in the capital and between the capital and my training city) is reddish, not so brown.
3. Bicycles and mopeds - the vast majority of transportation here is by bike and moped. They are everywhere. Cars are not driven by most.
4. Animals - animals are everywhere. Goats, chickens, dogs (and they are all the same kind of dog - a pretty average-looking mutt with short reddish-brown hair...the same color as the dirt:), cows, ox (big ones live down the street from me - on the street), and donkeys. I see these animals all over the place. I have yet to see anything exciting like monkeys or giraffes or elephants.
5. Women carrying babies wrapped to their backs - the babies are so beautiful.

That's all for now. Anyone sending a care package soon can include AA batteries and individual packets of powerade and nutella if you want. I don't need them today, but if I get it one day that would make me happy!! Love you all!
Nette