The doors are always open at the Bobo office

 Whenever I want to spend a couple of nights away from the simple life in village, I can come to the PC office in Bobo Dioullasso.  It's a small regional office that supports volunteers who are in the southwest of the country and a little more distant from the capital.  It's a magical place.

 Sometimes our work requires access to a computer or internet that we just can't get in site or even in cities near site:  quarterly reports, looking up information for a project or looking at opportunities for after service has finished.  There's a small library with all kinds of information on languages, project ideas, lesson plans and even novels left behind by years of previous volunteers. 

There's a kitchen complete with fridge and stove for cooking.  A bathroom with a toilet.  A room with AC!  It's practically America.  

 

 There are mango trees everywhere in Burkina, but we have one within the walls of the office compound, so they don't all get poached by wandering packs of elementary school kids. 

Sometimes you have one of those days where you have giardia.  I had a couple of those days last August.  If a volunteer is sick, they can go all the way to Ouagadougou to visit the main office medical unit, but that's such a hassle.  Buses are slow and not always air conditioned.  It can take 6 hours from Bobo to Ouaga.  Luckily, there is a private medical room that you can only use if you're sick that has it's own bed and AC and privacy from the rest of the house.  If you're sick, but not too sick, a couple days here is just what the doctor ordered.

 It might not look like much, but its our little slice of heaven

 I can't imagine what life would be like without this getaway in Bobo.  I love being in my village,  but I've experienced a strange phenomenon that I know has affected other volunteers.  After a couple of years in your village, you get to the point where being around other languages makes you uncomfortable.  Even going from my region of Gouin/Jula speakers to Mossi country in Ouagadougou is unsettling.  Sometimes you need to get back into a city to keep from immersing too far.

 

And sometimes you just want to read a book on a porch surrounded by walls next to a pretty pink tree where people can't walk by and yell "hey whitey" at you.