Hello my friends! I am back to the lovely/dirty city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. This will be our last trip here until September. I am teaching the first and second grade group at FES this session. They are great fun. I have 3 boys and they are treasures. I heard them whisper just yesterday, "Now that Ms.Birney is gone, Ms. Bell is the BEST teacher." I just love them, (even if I am only in second place.) They even promise me chocolate chip cookies!

So, I just want you to know that I do not speak French. There is a reason I am living in an English speaking country. I find myself speaking Spanish to Africans more times than I can count. Any foreign language will do, right?

My teacher friends, Christina and Robbie, and I went on a shopping excursion today. We forced Robbie to join us because he speaks French quite well. We made it all the way to the little street with all kinds of fun shops. No problem. breezed right through the taxi ride. Once we were on the street we, as expected, were greeted by all kinds of great deals. Here, buy this bracelet for 3 dollars, I only spent 3 cents to make it! Robbie did his best as translator, but we all managed to be dragged into different shops. They know one American is easier to trick than 2+1 British man who speaks French. At one point, I sat down and had an audience of about 8 African men watching me-waiting to pull my arm off in order to sell me their wonderful Ivory letter openers. When I say Ivory, I mean wood. I went shopping today just for fun with no plans to buy anything. I returned with 5 boxes, 2 elephants, 1 nativity set, 3 "silver" bracelets, and about a gazillion woven bracelets. What was I thinking? However, it was so much fun bargaining with them and going from 20 bucks for one thing to 14 dollars for two things (even though they weren't worth more than about 5-10 dollars together.) I was able to practice my French numbers and my ability to laugh with a French accent at their ridiculous prices. I was also told my head was too big and we must stretch the hat...I firmly refused that hat.

Anyway, things are going well. We will finish up school in about 3 weeks. Then I will go to Accra for a few weeks of doing VBS and vacation. Some of my favorite people in the world will come and visit me too! I am blessed.