photo time

Some pictures finally!

Here are some pictures of my host family and area. It got kind of mixed up when uploading, but ça marche. I haven't taken many pictures at all so far but enjoy these few. My camera seems to be broken (not entirely sure yet) so this might be it for a while. I actually left my host family a couple days ago. They have often been my source of strength and joy through this whole process and I am going to miss them terribly.
I passed all my tests and got recommended for swear-in today, so we are all just waiting for tuesday when we become official volunteers! I move to my site thursday, which I am excited and nervous about; it's going to be a big transition again, but if the people in Bilanga are anything like the people in Bogoya, then it should be fantastic.

Anyways, the photos....


Here is this adorable girl who I enjoyed quite frequently. She was scared of me at the begining but by the end she was running up to me and sitting in my lap.

Here are some of my favorite girls ever! The one on the far left is my younger sister, the girl in the middle is my cousin and one of the most amazing young ladies ever, and the other is a friend who came over a lot.

Some more of my favorite kids/cousins. They are all wearing the same pagne because there awas a ceremony at the school that day. I played a lot of cards with these ones.

My sister and friend posing for the photos, too fantastic to not include.

Here's me with them again. Love love these kids.

Here's a bunch of people in my host family. My older sister is on the left holding her daughter (asleep). And the rest are some of my cousins, I had 10 in my courtyard, and actually 2 of these kids are just some neighbors.

So, this is called lalu, or hena or in reality hair dye. Normally it lasts one to two months but I got the cheap kind so it only lasted 2 weeks. Usually people do this when they go to a wedding or something but some of the kids were pretty excited to do it to my feet, and I actually ended up really liking it. And just in case you didn't notice, it says my name on the side.

Here is my courtyard, and my bike in the back. The red chair is basically mine and this is also where I hang out with everyone, play cards and everything. And my house is on the right and the latrine is to the right of that.

Here is my Baba, host dad. Wonderful man who really took care of me. He's had such an interesting life and lived in other countries for a while. Helped my out a lot, I'm so grateful.

Bucket bath on the left and latrine on the rightµ. It's actually pretty nice and I really enjoyed taking my bath outside each morning and each evening, quite relaxing.

Got to go, hope you enjoyed!