Down and Dirty Update

I know, I know, you think I have fallen off the face of the earth and some of you haven't heard from me in who knows how long. But I haven't completly fallen off the world, just relocated to the other side, Bilamperga, Gnagna, Burkina Faso, West Africa to be exact. I have been here for 10 months now and thought I would jot down a quick update. First of all though I need to thank all of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers, those of you who have sent stuff (you're amazing) and those of you have kept up with my blog. Thank you all so much.
A quick run down for those of you who are out of the loop. I am working with Peace Corps. I live in a very small village, no electricity, no running water stuff like that. I have a bat who lives with me named Arnold (I have given up trying to kill him). I now think anything under 90 degrees is cool and get bundled up at anything under 80. I shaved me head in October, completly, utterly bald, luckily unlike my Dad, my hair grows really fast and might have to get cut soon for being to hot for the hot season. I bike an average of 12km a day. I have eaten to (pronouced toe) and don't recomend it too anyone. And that brings us up to now.
So I guess I should also give you a little update on life here in Burkina.
I am currently working on 3, hopefully soon to be 4 or 5, projects. First off is a girls math club for 5th grade girls. This mostly consists of flash card games and writing and grading homework, but it seems to be helping and the girls seem to like it. Second is a project to get flip flops for all the kids in the school I work with, our big day for this was the 31st when I had over 275 kids show up to clean the school in order to get the flip flops. With the help of 3 other volunteers and one of the teachers this happened without too many issues. I have also discovered due to this that all burkinabe kids between the age 5-15 have the same size feet. Who would have guess that? Not me when we started out with a variety of shoe sizes. But ca va allez. Other stuff going on is planning for 2 girls camps for this summer and working with an British NGO called Coaching for Hope which trains locals to coach soccer and also teach kids about AIDS. This is one project that I am really excited about and am hoping will work out. So that's work.
The rest of life here is always interesting. From experiencing the culture, traveling around the country, hanging out with other volunteers life seems to be going kind of fast. Lately life has been a little harder than normal. We are in the middle of a meningitis epidemic which has killed over 800 so far and some who were fairly close to me. We are also in the middle of the "real" hot season which is not particularly enjoyable, although some may find me odd I do like it when it gets below 98 degrees at 2 in the morning. I know I am strange like that. But life goes on and you learn to get by. I am looking forward to the future, the coming rainy season, my parents coming to visit, a trip to maybe see "African" animals (since I am told the donkeys don't count) and a possible trip to Ghana or Mali.
Bad News: my camera and the computers here have decided for the time being they don't really like working together. So although I have some amazing pictures you have to wait.
I hope this post finds you all in good health and happy. I would love to hear from you all. Best Wishes, Krista