Burkina Trip, part 3: Bobo

After 3 nights in Ouaga, it was time for our first road trip.  We loaded up early Monday morning for the 5-hour drive to Bobo, where the Matheny's are renting a house.

We travelled African-style, with all of our belongings strapped to the top of our car. 

 There were 10 of us in the car:  our 4, the Matheny 5, and Paul, Philip's language tutor.  Not 10 minutes into our trip, we were pulled over by the police!  I can't tell you how stressful that experience was!  We were so thankful to have Paul with us since none of us are fluent in French.  It turned that some of the paperwork said only 9 people could ride in our car even though it had 10 seatbelts!  Apparently, white people get pulled over a lot in Burkina since we probably have money to pay a bribe.  That's what happened here.  The police officer asked for a certain amount of money, and Philip offered him less.  He took the money, and we were back on the road, praying that was the only time we got stopped!

About halfway into the trip, a tummy ache set in for poor Reef.  We stopped once at a gas station, where it took them awhile to even find a toilet, and Troy says it was the worst toilet he's ever seen!  The next time we stopped, it was in some bushes on the side of the road.

 FINALLY, after 7 hours in the car, we arrived in the city of Bobo.  I'd say this road trip might have been my least favorite part of the whole trip.  Can you see the mosque in the back of this picture?  It has logs sticking out of it; my boys were sure they could climb to the top using those logs.

 The Bobo house has bunnies!

Upon arrival at the house, we sat down to a typical Burkina meal of "rice and sauce" that the housekeeper had left for us.  While not my favorite meal ever, Sara and I were thankful not to have to cook dinner.

Reef woke the next day feeling much better.  The kids set out to explore the gardens and feed the bunnies.

 The plan for our only full day in Bobo was to visit the local orphanage.  First, we drove to pick up Paul.

 The amount of stuff they piled on the buses amazed us!

 These guys were playing outside Paul's gate.

 This is where this neighborhood goes to get water.

 Another bus/bush taxi.

 I have tons of pictures from the orphanage, but the director asked us not to put them on the internet.  You'll just have to ask to see them in person.  The orphanage was tough; the smell was enough to make me run back outside.  The toddlers were excited to see us, and then we headed to the baby room.  There were 7 or 8 babies on a rug in a room all by themselves.  Oh, how I wanted to bring some home with me!  Jonas struggled with the smell and too much attention from a toddler almost as big as him, so he headed outside, but Reef loved those babies.  He says this was the highlight of the trip for him!
That night we had smoothies for dinner, celebrated the arrival of another care package for the Matheny's, and presented Emily and Titus with letters from the Northside kids.

 Then Philip and Troy headed out to have tea with Jack, the night guard.  They were gone for a really long time!

 They had special tea (in a glass that Jack cleaned with his finger), visited with other guards on the street, and learned that Jack is armed with a slingshot that shoots both rocks and arrows.

Troy thought is was so cool that he bought it from him for Survivor.

After 2 short nights in Bobo, we were on the road again to visit the Richters, the Oak Hills missionaries in Dano.  Before leaving town, we visited Paul one more time.  These guys were trying to pick mangoes just outside his gate.

Burkina Trip, part 2

Our schedule had a couple of "rest" days built into it.  We spent them Ouaga, hanging out, eating, unpacking, and just enjoying being with each other.

The boys were up early on Day 1, eager to play with the Legos we packed for all.

 Troy bought this coffee contraption especially for this trip.  He was very worried about his caffeine intake and even brought his own coffee.  He was so excited to make it on the last plane with the coffee still in his possession!

 Daniel and some of his favorite items:  books.  Jonas really surprised us by playing with Daniel frequently.  They loved wrestling together, and Jonas was careful to keep Daniel away from any dangers.

 A sampling of what was inside those 8 bags. I asked several friends to pack a care package box for the Mathenys, thinking they could open one a month after we left.  Those friends forwarded it to their friends and this is what happened.  I cannot tell you how much God was involved in these boxes.  There were boxes from people even Troy and I haven't met yet at Northside, birthday and holiday packages for the kids, and answers to prayers Sara hadn't even prayed yet.  She got Twizzlers to go with a math book she JUST checked out at the homeschool co-op!  Emily asked to make a recipe from a cookbook that was sent, and they planned to improvise, only to find the raspberry Jell-O they needed in this pile!  I could go on and on... And this doesn't even include the 3 bags Sara's sweet sister Carla packed full of wish list items they hadn't thought to bring!

 It's the Matheny's family tradition to have a time of worship when they receive care packages.  I love how intentional they are in showing their kids the importance of this every day.  An inspiration for us!  We had a great time!

This is how we rolled in Burkina.  Don't let Jonas's frown fool you, he loved it back there.  These guys were so busy laughing and talking that I'm not sure they even noticed Africa as we drove through it!

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to the market for souvenir shopping.  Philip, Troy, and Emily loved it.  These guys:  not so much.  It was hot, and they were ready for dinner.  It's just like home; they're not hungry until we get to the places with no food.

How cute are they in these little chairs?

We went to the Gondwana, a nice restaurant, for dinner.  Linda, another newcomer to Burkina and Sheltering Wings, joined us.

The inside of this place was super cool.  My boys really impressed me with their ability to wait for food at a restaurant.  There is no "fast food" in Burkina, and it's not uncommon to wait an hour for food!  This was Reef's favorite restaurant of the trip, and he was a little sad we only ate there once.

 I'm sure the ice cream that came with the kid's meal (which Titus swears is just like Chick Fil A nuggets) had nothing to do with his love!

 Local soccer field.  Can you imaging playing in that dust and heat and full sun?

 On Sunday, the boys gave us a VERY rare treat: they slept until after 8:30!!!! We headed to IBF, the English-speaking church in Ouaga. The kids jumped right into their coloring pages and enjoyed Bible class too.  Reef even says it was as good as Ms. Kenda's class, which is a HUGE compliment because she is amazing.

 After church, we headed to the infamous grocery store with playland.  They have a snack bar too, so we were able to get lunch, play, and grocery shop all in one place! This play area puts some American ones to shame, and our kids played for AGES and came out crazy sweaty!  Troy was surprised to find so many Australian items in the grocery store, including his beloved Milo (a chocolate milk powder).

 The afternoon was spent at home, and the kids enjoyed a Fandango in the courtyard.  It's like a drink pouch that you can freeze and eat like a popsicle, after you bleach the outside to get rid of germs/bugs/yuckiness.  It was a hit!

To top off a great day, we ate a small dinner of leftovers and were treated to the first batch of ice cream from Sara's new ice cream maker!  It was YUMMY!

 

On the schedule for the next day:  drive to Bobo.  That trip may get a post all its own!

Burkina Trip, part 1

I'm taking a break from playing catch-up on the blog to tell you guys about our trip to Burkina Faso!  I need to get it all down in writing before the details slip away...
Burkina Faso is a small, land-locked country in West Africa.  It is in the top 3 of the poorest counties in the world and number 1 in illiteracy. 
Our dear friends, the Matheny family, moved to Burkina in December; they plan to be there for several years aiding the orphan crisis.  We miss them greatly and were so excited to get to visit them!  You can follow their story over at frontrowburkina.blogspot.com. 
After much planning and praying, our tickets were bought for March 13-21.  After some debate, Troy and I decided Reef and Jonas would go with us.  They both miss Emily and Titus, and we felt like they could be a great encouragement to friends who might be missing home.  Lachlan and Poppy got to stay home with Oma and Opa; we felt they were just too little to handle that kind of travel well.
To prepare for our trip, all 4 of us needed a yellow fever shot (required to get in the country and hard to get in the States!), meningitis and flu shots, and malaria meds.  Let me tell you, there were moments we weren't sure Jonas would make it to Burkina because he fought the shots!  The malaria meds also don't come in a chewable, so we ended up crushing them and mixing them with Oreo filling.
Finally, the day to leave arrived!  This is what our luggage looked like:

 That's 8 full bags and 4 carry-ons, the max allowed!  Our church family were helped us pack some good surprises for our friends, plus Sara's sister brought over 2 bags packed with Sara's wish list items.
I packed some fun surprises in the boys' bags to keep them occupied through 3 layovers.  First to make an appearance: the Rainbow Loom!  Oh, they were so excited!

The biggest stress of this trip was the airline.  United was unable to get our family of 4 seats together on either of the first 2 flights!  Ummm, why is it not your policy to seat families together????  They also double-booked my seat on our middle flight and made me get off the plane!

Finally, it was all sorted, and we were settled into our flight from Chicago to Brussels.  The boys were thrilled with the in-flight entertainment and had to be forced to sleep!  Jonas watched Frozen both ways.

Our final leg of the trip was from Brussels to Ouagadougou.  We were really impressed with Brussels Air's service and food.  Plus the flight wasn't full, so we could let the boys lay down for a small sleep. 

And they served ice cream!  This picture is bad because we work them up to eat the ice cream.

Arriving in Burkina was unlike any other airport we've been to!  Luckily Sara had given us a great idea of what to expect.  You walk off the plane (it was hot!) and board a bus to the terminal.  Then your yellow card gets checked, then you get fingerprinted (a gift to Burkina from the U.S.), and then you get your bags.  Philip had already shown our bags with the Batman tape to a helper, and he was already gathering bags!  The boys and I could see our friends just outside!  After collecting all 8 bags, we zipped through customs, where they peeked inside just 1 bag (TSA had already searched 5 out of 8 in Chicago). 

What a sweet reunion with our friends!  In Africa!  Sometimes it still seems unreal!

This is how you load the car:

One of our first real looks at life here:

I can barely ride a bike, let alone balance something on my head at the same time!

 

That afternoon was spend unpacking, showering, and visiting their favorite restaurant, The Rec, which has lots of American favorites. It was early to bed for us because it had been a looong 2 days of travelling!

Stay tuned for more stories from Burkina tomorrow!

 

TV Time with Poppy

One day I walked in to our room and found this:


Can you see that they both have their own remotes?
This is what they were watching:

She actually asked for football!

A few weeks later she and I had a movie date, complete with popcorn and the Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That.

Sea World Homeschool Day

We were so excited to check out Sea World’s Homeschool Day.  The tickets were very inexpensive and the place was PACKED!  We had a good time, but I’m not sure we’ll be going back next year.
We made a quick trip through the aquarium and spent some time at the seals.

The highlight of our day was finding Ms. Missy in her department.  The kids loved the hands-on opportunities away from the crowds.
First, we met Wilson, the armadillo.


Then we met this cockatoo and had turns holding her!  Ellie’s courage increased as the picture-taking went on.

Reef didn’t need any coaxing.  He is his father’s child.

Jonas didn’t want anything to do with the bird.  Ms. Tiffany wanted a turn too.

Then we checked out the lemurs and got to feed them too!



Jonas liked them but still didn’t want to feed them.  Maybe next time we visit.

Thanks, Missy, for making our day great!