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Published: January 11th 2008
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Gondwana Restaurant
Since they were deprived with good food, I took them to the Gondwana Restaurant, a pearl in itself that cost a lot of money, but it's just so worth it! The start of the holidays started on Saturday the 22nd, when the girls from Ghana arrived, Courtney and Renee, 2 other WUSC volunteers. It was so much fun to have them here and to actually be able to celebrate the holidays with people you know and like. I showed them town a little bit. We got to eat amazing food and spend a good evening at the Gondwana Restaurant, where we had amazing shrimp fondue as an appetizer. Really, in a sense, I felt like good food for me is not a problem I am dealing with. There are a bunch of really good restaurant in town and I can always get something nice to eat whenever I want. It seemed like the girls were having issues with that and were missing the good North American taste of things.
On the Sunday night, we went out to a “Maquis”, literally a bar, to dance. I’ve been to that place a bunch of times, but never actually got the courage to dance. Being the only white girl in there, with only African music I don’t really how to dance on. So my friends always wanted me to dance when we would
go. I told them I would one day, after I would drink a couple of Tuborg, a beer at 7,5% alcohol. So, for the night I was there with the girls, I did. I got pretty tipsy if I could say. The girls had more courage than I did. They went on the dancefloor before me, which kinda put pressure on me. So I went! Got an amazing time! The girls would tell you that after that, it was hard to get me out of there. I can’t wait to go back. I will probably go again this Saturday.
On the morning of the 24th, we were having a really nice breakfast, which consist of omelette and bread ahaha . Some neighboring kids came and play and it was really just a nice moment. Nothing better for them and to be in company of 3 nassaras! Then, we all sat down and tried to prepare our trip to Mali and start to figure out the itinerary and time frame, when all of a sudden, the door bell rings. There was a camel at the door. Pretty sweet deal in my opinion! We all got to sit on it and
take pictures. It was pretty cool in a sense, because we wanted to travel in the desert before but we eventually changed our plans. So, even though we didn’t head up to Gorom or Tombouctou, we still got to see a camel!!
During that day, we were shopping around like crazy, buying mats, bus tickets, going to the bank etc. It was in preparation for our trip since on the 25th, everything would be closed. We continued our trip to the Director’s house, a Canadian woman, where we had an amazing time. Food was more than incredible, beers flowing around, gift exchange and Santa! We also went to swim.. which is pretty weird for a Christmas activity! Ahha
The next day was now, my party! I received a bunch of friends at home, got a sound system, played some music and ate. The evening was alright. The best time was close to the end when I started to show them a drinking game we used to do on residence. The people left got pretty hammered and ended up sleeping at my house. It was lots of fun. It was also great for an African Christmas experience, to
have neighbors sending me food. They just come and knock at the door with a big plate of food. Food sharing is at the heart of the Burkina culture. And of course, I didn’t know it really. So got a last minute plan, bought a 5 KG of macaroni and Djeneba made food for the neighboors, along with some meat and pop drinks. I really wanted to go and bring it to the neighbours myself cause there are some of them I haven’t really met yet. But I got a bit tipsy too fast.. so.. Dieubeni ended up going instead of me. I will go and meet them this Sunday, just to wish them a happy new year, since I was not there during the holidays.
And then, the morning of the 26th arrived, day of our departure. We struggled like crazy to find a bus company that would get us to Mali. We took a cab 3 times, to switch companies. We ended up finding one that would go from Ouagadougou to Mopti, where we could have get off in Bankass, where we wanted to go to start our visit of the Dogon Country. But adventures started and
Waken up by camel!
On the morning of the 25th, got a Toureg knocking on my door on a camel! Pretty sweet deal in my opinion! Had to give him money in exchange though, but who cares? Who gets a camel at their door anyway? really, it was not like planed.. But that’s for the next blog entry to come soon! Ahaha
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