I really have no business in the SED program. I don’t do numbers. Well, perhaps I do numbers, but I don’t like it and I must use silly equations to perform simple tasks. Converting kilometers into miles? Divide by three and then multiply by two. That will get you very close. Converting the dollar into Burkina’s CFA? Multiply by five and add some zeros . . . and I still get confused about the number of zeros, which is a rather important element, don’t you think? Taking CFA to dollars? Well, there’s the obvious division by five and removal of some zeros; but dividing by five is hard for me. I must have missed the division day in school. Thus, I multiply by two. Ten thousand CFA is 20 dollars U.S. I don’t know why this works but it does. In fact, my brain hurts trying to remember the elementary school reason that this works.

I was in Ouagadougou last Friday, wanting to go home to Pô. I said to Ashley that I was ready to go home, and she remarked on my calling Pô home. I’ve sometimes pondered the fact that I really do consider Pô home, but hearing Ashley’s observation really struck me. Pô is home. I just spent two weeks at home in the U.S., and I still think of Pô as home.

As ready as I was to go home, I overslept  in Ouaga (jet lag) and missed the 10h00 bus to Pô. And with the speed at which I was moving (or lack thereof), I was obviously going to miss the 12h30 bus, too. PCVs aren’t allowed to travel after dark, so the 16h00 bus was out of the question . . . or was it? Not being the poster-child for rule-follower, I called my favorite taxi driver [yes, I have a favorite taxi driver]. We made a quick stop at the PC HQ Bureau to pick-up the Barbie bike and then headed to the bus station. That’s when it occurred to me . . . why not have Seydou drive me to Pô? Drive me right to the door of my courtyard with the bike and over 100 pounds of luggage . . . luggage which would have taken me all weekend to lug home from the bus station.

Seydou looked at me as if to say, Hey Nassara, I really like you, but this is gonna cost you. I opened my wallet and literally handed him every CFA bill contained therein. Didn't even count it first . . . we counted it together; and with my stupendous math skills, I quickly realized I was paying $80. Eighty dollars versus 3,000 CFA via bus (hey, you do the math). I was so ready to go home to Pô that I would have paid anything. Anything!

So why was I in Ouaga and away from site for over four weeks? Can you say Dengue Fever? Well, indeed there was a brush with Dengue, but that didn’t keep me away for four weeks. Details to follow; thus soon I will not make you speculate. Better question: where are all the holiday gifts sent to me in Burkina before I realized that I’d be spending the holidays in the States? For this answer we can only speculate.