Since my last blog, I finished up the trachoma campaign, took a few days to nurse my body and bike tires, and started trying to get a handle on the health situation in Kolofata. I'm the first volunteer in the health program in my village, so assessment is really important. First I met with some different groups of people- the hospital staff, a women's group, and high school students, to discuss the problems and needs of the community. My next step is to go door to door with a survey, which should really help me get to know people in the village better, but I'm pretty nervous to do it alone!

I've been able to experience some festivals lately, both the Fete de Jeunesse (Youth Day) and the "jour d'amour" (Valentine's Day, sounds so much better in french). The Fete de Jeunesse on the 11th of February is a huge holiday here, with a parade, talent shows, soccer match, and a women's handball game. The talent shows are essentially lipsinking expositions in which members of the audience come to the stage and put money in the performers pockets. In the parade, each school in the district makes up their own song and marches across the soccer field singing it. The highlight of the parade was when the majorettes from a high school did their routine to Aqua's "Barbie Girl." What a funny place this is.

Something I've struggled with is not having anything like a regular schedule and finding myself with a lot of free time and limited entertainment options. There are two bars in town, my favorite of the two is where lots of children come to follow french-dubbed spanish soap operas and occasionally plays 90s toni braxton music videos. I've read twelve books and discovered a whole new world of entertainment with a shortwave radio. BBC news is fantasic, although the lengthy sports news segments mean that I will come home with far more knowledge of European club soccer than i ever wanted. I will never get sick of listening to cricket matches, however, because i will never be able to understand the game nor lose the humor in hearing "snoggelfarts is up 370 to 2 at the wicket between fourth snack and tea time." Other fun channels provide Chinese news in English, Japonese news in French, and a call in show called "Wake Up with the Bishop."

After a few weeks of a very open schedule, I started to feel a little restless and jumped into a few activities and now I'm thinking "What I've gotten myself into!". The high school hasn't had an English teacher for a few months, so I offered to help out with a class or two. So they gave me eleven hours of teaching English (ahhh). My first week of teaching was pretty intimidating, with about fifty students in each class, many of whom do not have books, paper, or pencils. I'm going to keep trying it out, but feeling a little conflicted that it will take time away from health work I should be doing. I also have a once-a-week health class that I will be teaching at the women's center and I'm pretty excited to start. Lastly, I'm finishing up a project that the volunteer before me started with the US Embassy. She got a grant to build a primary school in a small village close by. The school is built, but my job is to finish up with the buying of desks and inauguration of the school. Wish me luck!!!