Safe and sound in Ouagadougou

27. September 2007 by admin.

I’m finally here! My flight to Montreal was un-eventful, except for the fact that one of my luggages was overweight by about umm…20 lbs. Really couldn’t help it though, I brought several software books for reference that added the weight. Along with my other personal effects…

Anywho, once in Montreal I picked up my luggage and checked in at the Air France counter. Jonathan hadn’t called me, so I asked the check-in guy. He told me he checked in about 5 minutes prior! So I wandered about the airport and browsed the duty free, where I bought some travel size facial creams. I was then told by the cashier that the bottles had to be under 100 ml, because I was transferring through France. So I went back and switched my product.

The awkward meeting with Jonathan was left to the last minute, once I got onto the plane and noticed a young man sitting in my seat! We chatted and watched a movie on our way to Paris, tried to sleep but couldn’t. Air France economy is tight, even for a short person like me!

Ah Paris! Charles de Gaulles airport is HUGE, it reminded me alot of HKIA (Hong Kong International Airport). Jonathan needed to smoke so he tried to find somewhere he could. Waiting for the transfer bus? No. At the bus drop off point? No. A smoking lounge in the airport? No. He had to lineup for customs and immigration to go outside of the aiport to smoke. So he got a nice stamp in his passport, one for arriving in France and also one for departing, with the same date. I was more enthused browsing the shops inside the airport, so I don’t have any stamps. I ended up looking in all the shops in my terminal except for Hermès, because I really can’t afford it. And there were playstation terminals with Grand Turismo which male passengers flocked to. Also they have internet terminals by the hour, fee paid in £ or Euros.

For our flight from Paris to Ouagadougou. Jonathan and I were seperated and I sat in the middle aisle (on the side) near a Chinese Hokkien grandmother and two kids! Ugh. I slept a total of 15 minutes on my overnight flight from Montreal to Paris and I was a millimetre close to become a crazed violent passenger. The kids were everywhere and one of them took my earplugs and my eye covers that Air France gave me. I needed them to keep me sane! Anyways, I was about to blurt out “Your kids are so naughty!” in chinese to her but I’m sure she would drag me into a conversation since we were the only Asians on the plane. I ended up blasting music for the rest of the flight, so I’m a bit hard of hearing now.
We arrived in Ouagadougou about 8pm to another smoking hurdle for Jonathan, who wasn’t allowed to smoke on the bus drop off point again. We lined up for immigration to show our yellow fever card and our passport. Slipped past customs (hehe) gathered our luggage and went outside to meet Stephanie holding up a “Oxfam-Québec” sign. I got help dragging and putting my luggage in the car and was driven to our “hotel”. Let me explain the situation, Stephanie had no place at our house for us since they were welcoming another Oxfam employee and other intern (both females). So Jonathan and I were put up in a Evangelical hostel type place until Saturday (when I move to my house permanently). We have our own rooms, bathroom, two beds with mosquito nets with a locked door. There are guards night and day to watch over the place, so it’s safe.
Last night, the three of us went to a Lebanese restaurant for some real food and for a chat. Shish Taouk, fries and papaya juice for me. We met up with Edgar, who is Stephanie’s Burkinabè husband and Geneviève, an intern with another organization (staying with them).
This morning I woke up to chanting, of what? No idea, some religious sermon or something. It was surreal because my bathroom has slits for natural light to enter and it shone through and into my room. I woke up and took my malaria pill only to feel queasy. The instructions with taking the pill include “Drink water and eat. Do not take iron and vitamins within two hours”. Ummm…oops. My stomach was empty and I ate my leftover gummy bears. Next time I’ll take it with breakfast.
Edgar then picked us up for their house, we had breakfast and had a question and answer periot and play a situation game. This game involved picking cards with situations which had occured with past interns in which we had to explain what we would do. Anyways, let’s say some of these situations were funny and others were a bit shocking.
Now I’m here at a internet cafe, with the others because the DSL connection is down in the city. Apparently, someone had physically cut the DSL line running throughout the city by accident!
I’ll leave it at that.
Error: The DSL connection at the Oxfam office had been physically cut. The DSL connection was not down throughout the entire city.

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On my way

25. September 2007 by admin.

It seems I’ve been awaiting this day for eons, when it’s only been two months! This pent up anticipation for a once in a lifetime experience begins today. I’ll be off to Pearson in a few hours to catch my flight to Montreal where I’ll meet up with another colleague, Jonathan (whom I’ve never met). We’ll go through the awkward “Bonjour, qui êtes vous/qu’est ce que c’est ton histoire? Hello, who are you and what’s your story?” conversation at the gate, fly to Paris together and wait for our final transfer to Ouagadougou.

For those who are keeping track:
Departure on Sept 25 at 18:30
YYZ->YUL via Air Canada
YUL->CDG->OUA via Air France
Arrival on Sept 26 at 19:40

For the first week, Jonathan and I will be staying at Stéphanie’s house, who is Oxfam-Québec’s youth coordinator at the Burkina Faso office. I don’t know if I have internet access at her place, but I’m sure our week-long orientation will be full of activities. After that I’ll be moving into the house where I’m living permanently until February 2008, which has no internet access. As far as I know, there’s an internet café 20 minutes walk from the house and my office is also within walking distance. How much of a walk? Who knows. Oh, I also don’t know if I have net access there either, let’s all cross our fingers!

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