Strawberry Fields Forever

It's strawberry season, just in time for the beginning of hot season! Despite the fact that hot season is not supposed to start until March, the heat has already begun creeping in. So I'll be sleeping outside again soon. The past few weeks have been pretty good; Tougouri is beginning to feel like my home away from home. The second week in January was a little rough, coming back to village after spending more than 3 weeks with Americans, speaking English. So being alone in village was a little hard, especially because I had an ear infection, which meant that I couldn't hear out of one year. A lot of people asked me if something had happened to my French, but no, I just couldn't hear anything! But since then, life in village has gotten much better and I'm feeling readjusted already. I started my second trimester January 10th and feel as if it's almost over already. I've given 3 tests and have 3 more to give before the end of the trimester in March. I've been playing football with some kids in my village almost every afternoon since school started up again. I am pretty darn awful, but everyone wants to pass "Madam" the ball whether I'm on their team or not. I'm starting a girl's club next week, during which we'll talk about all sorts of things from HIV/AIDS to self-respect to decision making to the importance of staying in school. We'll see how it goes. That's about it for now...more to come soon!