Last Day and Traveling

I wish I was writing that I caught a tropical disease and needed to be quarantined, that I lost my passport, or that I accepted a marriage proposal from a Burkinabe and was planning for my wedding next weekend—causing me to regretfully inform my friends and family that I will not be returning to the States on the 4^th.   But instead, I am writing about my last day in Ouaga and my travels back to the United States.

This morning, Alice and the kids dropped Kirsten, Sarah, Jess and me off at EAC.  Pascal from the clinic was waiting for us by the gate (we told him on Friday that we would see him at church).  He walked us in, but we parted ways because the men sit on one side of the church and the women on the other.  We sat about halfwat from the front.

Worship at EAC

The worship was great this morning.  I am going to miss praising God in Jula, More, French, and dance.  To just sing out to Gos in an unfamiliar language is such an incredible feeling.  At EAC, they put the words up on a screen—which is very helpful.  My French lessons with Mark Hoover during the spring semester made reading and pronouncing the words so much easier.  Sometimes I know what I am singing, but other times I am simply making a joyful noise to the Lord.

Pastor Thomas Traore preached today.  He talked about choosing the right path and avoiding temptation from Satan.  His main passage was 1 Kings 13—where a prophet took the wrong path.  He is such a powerful and passionate speaker.  Sarah translated some of the message for me.  Afterward she told me that it was the best message she had heard since coming to Ouagadougou nine months ago.  When the service ended, I went up to talk to Pastor Thomas.  I gave him a photo from my dad’s graduation and told him that I enjoyed his sermon.  He apologized for not having me over for dinner.  A church wife died yesterday when he was planning to call and he had to do the funeral today.

EAC Youth

After the service we went outside the church and were mauled by small children.  I found out that my friend Ami was out of town.  I talked a lot with John. He showed me his English bible that Emily Shaver sent with Jackie Reich for him.  He told me that he really enjoys reading English books.  I also talked with Jonas Kabore, Francis, and another youth that I worked with.    Francis introduced me to Michelle, a 22 year old Burkinabe girl who had some gifts for the Appleton team.  He said that they would stop by our house in the afternoon.   Jasmeet came over to see us. She gave us a formal goodbye (4 taps of the forehead—alternating between the right and left side) and a big hug.

One of our favorites from the clinic!

She was wearing the necklace that we gave her.  She is such a beautiful young lady.  She is so joyful and fun loving. We took a few pictures and said our goodbyes.  It was so hard to say goodbye because they asked me to tell them when I would be returning.  I have been given instructions from some of the EAC youth to learn French for the next time that I return.  They promised me that they would learn more English.

Alice picked us up and we drove to the Rec.  Kirsten and I had a photo shoot with Sammy and Charity in the back seat of land cruiser.  Some of the pictures are priceless…especially one of Kirsten and me kissing Sammy on the cheeks.

Kisses for Sammy!

Charity--what a playah

Kirsten and I struggled over what our last meal from the Rec should be.  In the end, we both got our favorite chicken sandwiches (mine being the Chicken Club and Kirsten’s being the California Chicken) and we shared an order of the DELICIOUS french toast.   I also ordered a glass bottle of orange Fanta…I am going to miss those.  They just don’t taste the same back in the States.  Kirsten, Alice, and I went over finances from the trip (well, it was mostly Kirsten and Alice since my financial skills are lacking).  My phone rang during lunch, and someone jokingly asked which of my Burkina boyfriends was calling…when I picked up and said Bonjour Francis…the whole table started laughing at me.  Francis and Michelle were at our house and wanted to see when we would be back.  We set up a time for them to come back to the house after lunch.

As we left, the Wyoming team was coming to the Rec—they had gone to church out at the LAC.  I got to meet a few of them and say my goodbyes to Andrew, Abby and Larry.

After lunch, we went back to the Hub and did some more packing.

After lunch, we went back to the Hub and did some more packing. Jess, Kirsten, and I had a photo shoot in our matching outfits made by Mark!  Susan did all of the photo taking.  It was tons of fun!

Matchy Matchy

Around 3:30, Francis and Michelle came over.  Michelle and her mother had made necklaces for all of the Appleton team members as well as Kirsten and me.  She wanted us to bring them back to Appleton with us. The necklaces were so cool!  Michelle was a beautiful and funloving girl!  She speaks English fairly well.  We introduced her to Jess—I hope that they will form a friendship and hangout since Jess will be here until December.  Francis said that he had to drop off Michelle and go home quick…but he would be back to pick us up for the EAC soccer game…so Kirsten and I went to get ready.

He came back with his cousin and we rode on their motos to the soccer field.  We talked for a little bit initially—Francis explained to me that his cousin is a Muslim—but he thinks that the Lord will come for him soon.  Since we were running late (45 min late) Francis and I did very little talking on the way.  It was a blast because he drove really fast on the major roads…he did slow once to ask me if I was afraid…and when I told him that I wasn’t afraid and enjoyed going fast…we took off again!  When we got to the field, all of the tops of the walls that surrounded it were filled with men waiting to watch the game.  Francis and his cousin drove us into the “arena” on the motos and circled around the outside of the field—it was like being in a parade!  The teams had actually waited to start the game until Francis arrived!!  We ended up not playing in the game at all—we opted to watch when we saw how intense the other team was.  We went to go get water bags for the team with Rosalie.  We walked down to the corner store to buy them with her.  It was 10 CFA per water bag.  Kirsten and Rosalie carried the bucket of water bags back together.   The game was played on a dirt field—7 on 7.   I was glad that I wasn’t playing—it was pretty fast paced and there was a lot of rough play going on. Francis was kept pretty busy tending to the goal.

Soccer game

The other team ended up winning 1 to 0.  After the game, I noticed that one of the youth from EAC gave Francis’ cousin a Bible—he put it away in the seat of his moto.  I hope that he will have a curiosity for reading that Bible because of his interactions with the youth at EAC.  I rode home with Francis’ cousin.  When we got back to the Hub, Kirsten and I tried to give Francis some money for gas—but he would not take it.  He told us that it was his gift to us.  It was sad to see them drive off.  I will be praying for him a lot—his work at Compassion, his search for a wife, and the concert that he is planning for the 26^th of September.

Kirsten and I went over to the Brokopps house to give them some things—mosquito repellant to keep malaria away, Pringles, Kool-aid packets, and a fishing game for Charity and Sammy.  They really like the game—we played one round together.  Alice gave us a card to read at the airport and a mini Taureg knives as gifts.  She made me feel so good about our time spent with her family—sometimes I worried that we intruded on family time—but she told us how much she appreciated our time with her and the kids.

We returned back to the Hub—and I think that I ate coconut pie for dinner!!  Sarah, Jess, Kirsten and I danced to a Rockin Body video for the last time—we did Booty Time—the same one that we did the first time we danced.  After showering and making sure all was packed—I took a quick 30 minute nap before Pete came to pick us up at 12:30 am.

Since the last day blended into the travel home…I am going to write about them in the same post.

Pete drove us to the airport. It was great because he has a badge that gives him access to a lot of things at the airport.  He got our luggage checked all the way through to Chicago—so we wouldn’t have to lug them around London!  Everything went pretty smoothly—Kirsten’s backpack was searched…but that was it.  We spent the next few hours waiting in the airport…our flight didn’t board until after it was supposed to leave (classic Burkina style).  I don’t remember the first flight at all.  I fell asleep and didn’t even wake up for the meal that came around.  The first flight was from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Casablanca, Morocco.

In Casablanca, Kirsten and I walked around a lot.  We stopped in this AWESOME store called Zara.  Kirsten and I both tried on skinny jeans and tops.  I tried on a pair of pale pink jeans with a brown shirt and a white/gray vest.  I really liked the outfit but the vest (which was my favorite part) was too big—so I didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to try them on!  Kirsten really liked the black jeans she tried on too.  Maybe we were over excited about them because we hadn’t had jeans on in over 6 weeks…

Business Class!

On the plane ride from Casablanca to London, Kirsten and I got bumped up to business class!  The seats were bigger and we were served a fantastic meal.  We geeked out a bit and took pictures of all of the courses of the meal.  It all tasted so good!

Round 1

First we were given a fruit spread and cheese dish.  The cheese was really good (something that was not readily available in Burkina).

Main Course

Next was the main course—I had beef with veggies and Kirsten had chicken and rice.  The meal was served with either red wine or champagne.

yumm

Then the flight attendant came by with a basket of fruit…I picked out a pear (which was heavenly) and Kirsten took a peach (she though she grabbed an apple…but she did not regret getting the peach).  This portion of the meal was also served with cheese.  I told the flight attendant to give us her favorite one.  It was really good!!!  Then, it was time for the desert.  There were mini cakes on the tray—a chocolate one, a white one, and a little fruit pie with raspberries in it. We finished up with coffee.  It was wonderful!!  Both Kirsten and I decided that someone must have been praying for comfort on our trip home (maybe it was Alice).One of my favorite sights on this plane ride was the northern tip of Africa—it was beautiful!

Once we got to London—we had to go through customs because our flight didn’t leave until morning.  Once we got past where they check your card—I realized that I had left my camera in my seat (4D).  So we had to go ask at a desk if they could call the gate and get my camera back.  They found it but they were boarding a plane so it would be at least 30 minutes before they could send someone out to give it back to me.  We stayed and talked with the Indian man who helped us out.  He gave us tips about travel in London and told us that it would be impossible to experience London in only one night.  After getting my camera back we caught the free bus service to our hotel—Jurys Inn.  We dropped off our backpacks in the room and headed right back out to take the Tube to Piccadilly Circus.

The ride took about 40 minutes.  When we got to Piccadilly Circus—we just started walking around.  London is a really neat city—very full of life and things to do.  We walked by several theaters (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Thriller and others).  We had thought about catching a show…but it would have been tight.  I enjoyed just walking around and observing.  There were lots of young people out walking around.  We went into a few stores—but mostly everything was closed.  We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant.  The overall cost of our meal was more that we had paid to cook our own meals in Ouaga for the entire 6 weeks. I got a really awesome Pad Thai dish with tofu and Kirsten got a butternut squash chicken dish.  We split sautéed chicken.  It was delicious.  The cool thing about this restaurant was that you were seated at large square tables with lots of other people. There were no tables for 2 or 4 or 6…it was a big table with benches.  Each group was at different point in their meal.  It was a neat atmosphere—I’m not sure how receptive people would be to it in the States…but I really liked it.

After dinner we walked around some more—listened to some street drummers and sat at the foot of a statue in the middle of Piccadilly Circus.  There was such a huge contrast between the digital advertisements on the big screen and the old style architecture around it.  It was quite strange to see so many neon lights, stores, cars, etc.  I enjoyed my time in London—but I might enjoy it more when I haven’t recently spent time in a third world country—all of the glamour seems a bit pointless—although I noticed that I hadn’t lost my enjoyment of shopping.  I hope to go back to London some day and spend more time there.

We slept pretty well that night—in the morning I took my first HOT shower in 6 weeks.  It felt amazing! The pressure in the shower was really high and it felt so good to get sprayed with hot water at an angle rather than a straight down stream of cold water (although I didn’t mind cold showers while I was in Ouaga—they often felt wonderfully refreshing).  I even got to blow dry my hair afterwards.

We got to the airport with no problems and in plenty of time.  We wondered around the airport…looking at all the shops (soo many designer stores). On the plane we both had aisle seats.  I sat next to a man from Munich, Germany.  He is a biology and chemistry teacher at the high school level.  He was headed to the States to road trip on Route 66 from Chicago to Albuquerque.   When I told him that I was on my way home from Burkina Faso—he got really excited because he had been to Burkina Faso to build schools during his Christmas holiday about four years ago. We talked about Burkina for a little while and then I fell asleep.  Most of the trip was sleeping, reading, and watching movies.

We landed safely and got through customs with no problems.  We were eagerly greeted by our parents when we walked out of the terminal.  After big hugs all around—we headed toward the car.  4 hours later—we were back in Appleton.  I didn’t last much past 9:00 before needing to go to bed.  Erica was still at work—so when she got home she came in to say hello by flipping on my lights and saying welcome home.  It was great to see her but the light was blinding!

I’m home—safe and sound!  I may  continue to post for a couple of days—with reflections/adjustments back to life here in the US.  I am going to turn all of these posts from my trip into one of those books that you can make online—complete with a hard cover and pictures!

Well—thanks for reading!

-JK

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