What's up all.

So I've added a counter to the website. I've got a feeling that some of you are checking it out without leaving comments. Leave comments! It really makes my day to read your words in my little internet cafe in the middle of the desert. Anyways all is good here and I'll be doing some traveling. There is a conference for volunteers who will be helping out with the next training group who is coming in August. It's always fun helping America's cope with the conditions here. You also get looked at as an expert because you can function under the conditions here. Anyways check out this link.
http://www.aznraps.com/public_site/news/articles/2005/07-11-05_etan_david/index.shtml
My guy David Yi from college is on the road to being a hot producer. For all of you in DC...he's the one that produced the spoken word track with Etan Thomas of the Washington Wizards being played on WPGC 95.5 currently. So yeah I'll be back soon as I'll be getting regular internet for the next 2 weeks.

Salut et bienvenu au blog de Ryan.
What's up. I have nothing of real substance to say to kick this thing off but take a look at the pictures and enjoy. I've got about 4 months left here in Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps and then maybe Inch Allah I'll be off to Senegal to do one more year in Saint Louis, Senegal with the Peace Corps program there. I'm sure Nelly would approve. I'll try and post something new soon. Till then prends soin de toi.

Here is my toilet..so to speak. It's really funny to me that this is what it comes down to. Yes I'm a volunteer that lives in a bigger city and I do have some amenities that some volunteers don't (phone, electricity, cold drinks), but this seems to be the common denominator. Only in Africa can you be so far ahead and behind at the same time. "Yeah, we got cellphones now, but that toilet thing..we'll get around to that" ;)

Here is the view from my porch. There is a neighbor's kid playing on a broken chair. Almost as fun as the Fisher Price variety. The two tin doors are the "showers" where you bathe with a bucket. To the right of that is a spicket. That is where all the water comes from. Usually you fill up a bucket take it back to your house to do whatever...laundry, dishes, cook, etc. On the far left is the latrine.

Here is what the row of houses looks like. You can see my bike sticking out on the second porch from the end. As may be expected I live amongst Burkinabé, in fact the clostest American is 25 miles away on a dirt road. During the hot season the courtyard is full of people sleeping as it is too hot to sleep indoors.

Here is my porch. On it is my Peace Corps issued Mountain Bike..which has allowed me to go around 1000km to date. The bucket is full of my dishes which I procrastinate doing..it's just not the same without a sink. The big A-frame is a pull-up bar constructed by a local metal worker, and next to that the H-frame which is a dip bar.

Here is my big front room (the kitchen is on the other side). I have it hooked up to my laptop and that allows me to play my music and watch movies and TV shows that I have saved on my 80GB external hard drive. Who knew, but it is in Peace Corps where my music collection went from 5GB to 80GB. I have 40 straight days of music altogether which is good because I don't like listening to the same song again for about 40 days (on average).

Here is my "kitchen" more like a corner in my front room. To the right is my $300 water filter (gone are the days of having to have to boil water to make it potable). It is sitting on top of the gas bottle that powers my stove which is much like the camping variety. Next to that is a green container, that is where I store my water for bathing, drinking, and occassionally swimming . Above that is one of the speakers for my stereo system. On the table next to that is my blender. If it wasn't for that thing I would really be suffering. Thanks to the blender I've had many a mango smoothie.

something new for ya