Coping with swine flu & wishing I was already in France - where it's summer!!!

I spose like everybody else, I've been trying to avoid getting the swine flu. Well, I lucked out. But! it wasn't a bad dose, just a few days when I had to lie low and take things quiet as. My nephew Jonathan also had it but YAY he's made a complete recovery & is back to his usual indestructible self....

I looked after Jonathan & Rebecca (11 & 13) for a weekend so my bro & his wife could have a few days R&R at the bach. I also had to look after Ollie (the spoodle puppy), Katie (the cat), Minnie (a mouse) and Blossom (another mouse). See the pics - none of Jonathan sorry, he wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot).

Everybody survived the weekend (even me!) but one of the mice soon met an untimely end due to dehydration (DAYS after I'd left, I take no responsibility for this whatsoever). Fortunately, the children and other animals fared much better.

Now the countdown's really on as departure day rapidly approaches. That's Thursday the 27th of August at 1.30pm. That's less than 6 weeks. It's 37 days. Here's a map to give you an idea of where the heck Albertville is...

Exactly where the red blob is, in the SE.

2 hours east of Lyon.

1 hour south of Geneva.

A city of about 20,000.

In the alps.

Yes, it's good to be me!!

But it's really AFRICA that I can't wait to get to. Here's a map of Burkina Faso to give you an idea. I spose it's good that nobody's heard of it, just shows that it hasn't been in the news for dumb reasons like dictators or coups or wars. You have to look carefully to see where BF is. The capital's called Ouagadougou - cool name eh!!
I'm going to live in a city in the SW called Banfora, which has a population of about 65,000. (Hamilton has about 125,000 just to give you an idea). My first focus will be on the language and culture, getting to know the people. The language I'll learn is called Dioula ("jewel-a"). I'll be taught that from French - hence the need for me to study hard in France! So yea, not too many chocolate croissants or skiiing lessons for me. Unless I can parlez francais all the way down the slopes....

I got an email recently from Eileen, who's been a missionary in Burkina for 35 years. She said that gold was recently discovered!! But the terrrible thing is that they haven't always been mining it in sustainable or safe ways and some tunnels got dug pretty quickly. When the rain came, some tunnels collapsed, killing at least 35. Tragic eh. The other totally lousy thing is that some girls go along to the mines to sell water. Which is a good idea except they can't make enough to live off. Hence they sell themselves.

However, the literacy work that a missionary couple are involved in at Banfora has been going really well. They recently got asked to start literacy work in another town so they're getting really popular! Being able to read and write will boost people's job opportunities as well as help to keep the language and culture alive and well.

As time goes on, I'll fill you in on more details about the people and places.
For now it's time for me to sign off and brave the chilly night air.... Roll on French summer :)