Aug. 1st, 2018 - Aug. 5th, 2018

Hello readers!

I thought my current trip to Burkina Faso might be a good time to revive this journal.

Officially, this trip is for continuing my research on the Viemo language, but because my wife lives in Burkina, I also get to spend time with her! I expect this to be an exciting year for us and I will try to share it with you as I am able. I promise to be as sarcastic as always.

Let's start with the first few days.

I suspect that I might have new readers this time, so I will give quick introductions to names you will see in this and future posts. The order below reflects the order in which I met these folks.

Laura: Professor at Dartmouth who works on Seenku (among other interests) and the person who is responsible for bringing me into the project.

Jeff: Professor at U Michigan and prolific scholar (especially on Dogon languages). He financed my first trip to BF. He is the head of the conglomerated Dogon, Mande, Gur, etc. project.

Zaky: Chauffer and all around assistant. His wife's name is Mariam.

Oumar (retired, alumnus): Assistant to all project members.

Minkailou: Jeff's assistant.

Valentine: Cooking and cleaning.

Bakary: My Viemo consultant and sometimes assistant to other project members.

Kate: U Michigan graduate student who works on the Bobo language.

Anthony: Nearly matriculated student at U Michigan.

Ouaga pressé!

First up, I couldn't help but notice that every flight to Ouaga (usually from a European airport) is significantly late. I asked a Burkinabé next to me if this always happens. He said that he didn't want to say anything but this is his experience as well. I vaguely recall Laura mentioning something similar a while ago. Additionally the boarding seems to always take place in some seemingly understaffed/slightly disused wing of the airport. On past trips, I saw many flights going to or coming from places such Johannesburg, Casablanca, Bamako, Nairobi, Abidjan, and Niamey in the same suspicious section of the airport. I'm sure that's all just a gigantic coincidence (sarcasm intended).

As per usual my baggage did not seem to arrive with me. This is my fourth time traveling here and this is the third trip where my baggage has been delayed. For a silver lining, I got to spend a couple days with my wife (just the two of us), which has been great for us. Last summer when we got married, we had 10 days to see everyone and it was exhausting. We did not get a single day alone. Perhaps the baggage delay was more of a blessing this time. This gave us time to discuss a potential honeymoon for our one year anniversary (the 12th of this month), but we haven't settled on a plan yet.

In true Nate form I apparently forgot my sunglasses in Istanbul. Good thing I brought two more pairs (in my suitcase) anticipating my breaking or losing sunglasses. However, I needed a pair and a hat with a brim immediately (the sun and dusty wind is a bit much without eye/face/neck protection), so I went to the market the morning after my arrival. I dropped (and cracked) them about 4 hours later. Apparently my daily quota for tripping and breaking stuff had yet to be met and the universe wouldn't let me get away with that.

Speaking of the market, going to the market in Burkina as a white person is a bit of an experience. The number of people who attempt get your attention you to buy their stuff borders on harassment. To be fair, were I in their shoes, I think I might be tempted to get the attention of people I think might be (comparatively) wealthy. This day, I ended up with a shirt and a necklace for me and some cloth for Kissa, none of which we intended to buy at the outset. If I may make an admittedly rough comparison, it feels a bit like going to Target on a Saturday afternoon, if it were even more crowded with people asking you to buy stuff every few meters. The next day when Kissa needed something for at the market, she asked me if I would be okay with staying at the hotel because she doesn't always have the energy to deal with it (I don't speak Mòòré, so it often falls on her to deflect for me). It was not hard to empathize.

It's not all bad though, sometimes interactions are more like one I had that day (the morning after my arrival). The person from whom I bought the hat also tried to get my to buy a pair of print fabric pants, despite my saying that I never wear pants in Burkina (I wear shorts, but pants are terrible anyways).

Him:    "Mon ami, ce pantalon est joli, hein?"

            "My friend, these pants are nice/pretty, eh?"

Me:     "Ouais, très joli même!"

            "Yeah, very nice even (meaning: intensification)!"

Him:    "Vous ne voulez pas portez un pantalon burkinabé? Vous ne pouvez pas trouver

            ça chez vous. Il est climatisé!"

            "You don't want (to wear) burkinabe pants? You can't find those where you are

            from." (he's not wrong) "They're air-conditioned."   

Me:     "Climatisé hein? Où est le moteur?"

            "Air-conditioned, huh? Where is the motor?"

Him:    "C'est automatique!"

            "It's automatic!"

Me:     ...

Me:     <<laughs>>

Him:    "D'accord, en partant vous allez acheter des pantalons. Il fait plus frais chez          vous."

            "Okay, (upon/when) leaving, you (will) buy some pants. It is cooler where you     are from." (correct again)

I guess the air-conditioning won't be a problem in the cooler air.

Bobo pressé!

My baggage did arrive on the next flight a couple days later and the next we took the most efficient bus route we could find for the bus ride to Bobo Dioulasso. We found one from a newish provider which goes to a new station practically next door linguist houses (we have two now) in Bobo Dioulasso, which is considerably easier than previous arrangements.

Upon arrival in Bobo yesterday, Zaky, Bakary, and Anthony (who I just met) greeted Kissa and me at the bus station. Shortly thereafter, I got to see Valentine again. The reunions were nice but short as Kissa had to head home quickly to help out with family matters and I needed to start making lodging arrangement and purchases for the house in Bobo Dioulasso as well as in Karangasso-Vigue (the village where the language with which I work is spoken). Bakary loved his new computer I bought him. Zaky appreciated the Jack Daniels I got him and Valenine of coarse love her new Pagne (printed fabric). I also got to hang with Cecilia (Zaky's daughter) again who has gotten just so big (she's almost 5)! She is still as cute and even more energetic than ever! Zaky and Mariam have a new son who was born shortly after I left last summer. He is a bit shy around me but I plan to win him over the same way I did his older sister: candy. They might call me "uncle" but I behave like a stereotypical grandmother.

Until next time.