Burkina Faso

I was just in Burkina Faso for work. I took my pink messenger bag that I used the last time I was in the country seven years ago (before this blog)!

Two weeks of clothes, field gear and (of course) cleats (for a tournament I went to straight from the airport when I got back to Europe).

We spent a few days in Ouagadougo meeting with government and international development actors and stakeholders. There were also other folks from the institute (past and present) around town, which was neat. Then the team headed to a town a few hours away from the capital, which is known for being the place that the buses stop between Burkina's two largest cities. We used it as a base for accessing the other towns and villages that are part of the project.

Checking out a brand new, never been used, ventilated double pit latrine.

I have over 600 photos from the trip - mostly of toilets and their buildings, but also of residences, water and waste systems, interviews, and workshops. I'll spare you the bulk of them. This was a challenging, but rewarding trip (+ no one I was with got malaria this time!): everything was in French, and it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit every day, but I think we got solid data and a great grasp of the project elements we were studying.

One of the interviews was with the proprietor of a dolo (millet beer) home-brewery/bar. I didn't see any bottles of StarSan, but the women did comment that things were much cleaner since they had a sink basin installed through the program we were evaluating. 

There was no official work on Sunday, so my colleague and I tried to take advantage of the nearby Deux Bales National Park. With hopes of  catching a glimpse of elephants or hippos, we set off after lunch to meet our guide. We did spot some illegal cattle, some flowers, a few birds, lots of termite mounds and something very large in the antelope family running away.

An elephant had been there in the recent past - the guide guessed the day before we were there.

Cool trashcan. The bin is hinged, so the waste can be easily tipped out, but can be covered from rain and some vectors. These were fairly common in the town, but had JICA logos on them. The waste was collected by donkey driven carts, but unfortunately I could not get a photo - I did take a video of what might have been a transfer station, but have not gone through the movies yet.

The coolest paint job of the houses we visited.

A newly built EcoSan toilet. You squat with your rear over the big hole, peeing into the center hexagon, which drains through a hole in one of the corners. This allows the liquids and "solids" to be separated - meaning less smell, theoretically easier hygieneization, and the potential for nutrient recovery.

Switzerland - Two and a third months in

Longtime, no blog. My flat does not have internet and it feels strange staying late at work to do too much internet stuff. I move into a new flat this weekend, so dear readers, I should update more frequently (I know you have read that here before)! In other exciting news, I have been at my job for 3 months, and have passed my "trial period." In April I will go to Spain (twice!) and play my first team tournament in Switzerland.

The Blue Diversion Toilet, developed by an interdisciplinary team at my workplace was in an art exhibit about re-designing slums. The exhibition was at the Löwenbräu-Areal, an historical industrial building that now houses several galleries. This was really neat because there were so many types of art on display. It was also cool to meet colleagues from other departments. The exhibition was curated to from work out of the engineering/architecture school – conceptualizing an ideal shack and contemplating how to get folks to agree to realign their dwellings, so that roads and pipes could be installed (highly unlikely, in my opinion). The toilet was not the focus (in some ways it seemed like an afterthought) and a lot of people were confused about what it was, one woman said, “Look, a shower!” (It was designed for washers and wipers.)

The trail.

We’ve had a warm winter here in the city, but just outside there is plenty of snow! I went with some ladies from ultimate to Studen for some cross-country skiing (skate style). During our introductory lesson, everyone went around and explained their skiing background; almost everyone had downhill skied before. I was the only one with just waterskiing on my resume  The lesson was okay, but the instructor stressed to me that I needed to start slowly in this sport since everyone else had some knowledge of how to get around/balance on skis.  I am not a natural, but got into a pretty good groove. Or so I thought… I got to a little hill, fell over (well, not over… my legs started drifting apart), and had an elderly woman tell me that, “Maybe you should just get into the classic tracks.” I told here that I has no idea how that was supposed to work and could not handle anything else new right then.

I'm always on the lookout for toilets these days!

A well earned bowl of Gerstensuppe after a long day in the snow.

Yum! I ate this in a most unladylike fashion.
In public.

I went to Sweden on my second business to trip. It was great to catch up with my buddies and see my new university and visit my old one. Bonus: it was Semla-time! (part of the feasting season before Lent) A semla is a little bit like a dens doughnut, filled with almond goop and topped off with whipped cream. I also went to the doctoral defense of my master thesis adviser. This was important so that I could get a sense of how a Swedish defense flows (there is an actual opponent!) and it was nice to see other aspects of my adviser’s work.

Answering tough questions.

Controversial art on the library at Karlstad Uni.

I also went to Bern for Bundesbeach, an indoor beach ultimate hat tournament. This was a great introduction to the broader Swiss ultimate scene. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. I signed up (by mailing in a postcard) while I was still in the US this past autumn and while I know people who play with both of the clubs in Zurich, I didn't know if anyone I knew was going. As I asked in the first empty seat I saw on the train was free I looked up and found that I was talking to two of the guys who run one of the practices in the city. As we got off the train in Bern, we ran into friends from the other Züri club. So I would not be totally socially without bearings for the weekend. My team meshed together really well and didn't lose until the semi-finals, where we blew a 3 point lead :), but we won the 3rd place game. The party was in a cool student-ish house with a shiny DJ. I left in the middle, because it was Karneval and my officemate’s band was playing at a bar downtown. There was quite a line, so I couldn't get in, but it was cool to see all of the festivities, confetti, costumes, marching bands, and the capitol lit up at night.

The streets and trains were covered.

One of the tamer band costumes.

The DJ/band at the tournament party was an entertaining
enough alternative to seeing my co-worker's band.

One of the prettiest places I have worked out!

The next weekend, I went with the women’s team I will be playing with for a pre-season team bonding retreat. We took a cable-car up a mountain, ate some traditional Swiss food, were awoken by a kids’ slalom race, played tons of cheesy team building games, hiked to a beautiful, tiny chapel, and did an intense workout on Sunday morning (at my other training on Monday, I couldn't do proper sit-ups, not because I was tired, but because my muscles ached so much).

Älplermagronen: Pasta, potatoes, onions, cheese and
cream, topped off with applesauce! SO GOOD!
This is what maccaroni and chees aspires to be.

View from the Chapel. There might be some famous
mountains in sight, but my Swiss-German isn't quite up to
scratch, yet!

Birchermüesli: let raw oatmeal, fruit and nuts soak
 in milk and/or yogurt for at least a half hour and enjoy!

The grayness of Züri has finally broken… it was broken, it put itself back together for two days of rain and hail, but the few days of sun make me really excited for summer and being in the city to relax on the weekends, which I may not be doing very much, because I just got our training/tournament schedule. When put together with my work calendar, I only have 5 free weekends from now until mid-August.