Thanksgiving FETE!

Novembre was a wonderful month here in Burkina; I cannot believe how fast it flew by!  All of the stagieres have settled into routines here, and most everyone has enjoyed experiencing life as a Burkinabe with our host families.  In addition, as of today, all of us have officially passed the required level for language (though I think some of the testers were a bit sympathetic), which means, unless drastic problems arise, all of us should swear-in as volunteers in LESS than three weeks!  It is hard to believe that in less than a month, I will be living alone in a village in southwestern Burkina, speaking only in French and Jula.  It is intimidating, but I think it will be a great experience also…

One of the best days in stage though, thus far, was our Thanksgiving celebration.  Weeks of planning went into the Thanksgiving fete, and several stagieres really did a great job with the logistics.  We had class on Thanksgiving from 8am-1pm, but afterwards, we were free to prepare for our grand fete.  We had invited all our LCFs (language teachers) and all the Training staff members to an American potluck in the evening, so we had a lot of food to prepare.  It is a bit difficult to exactly replicate an American Thanksgiving dinner in Burkina Faso, but we sure gave our best efforts!  There were different groups around town tasked with creating the different food groups; I was in the pasta/potatoes group.  However, we ran into a slight problem when we found out that potatoes could not be found now in the market; potato season is officially over.  Instead, we made a pasta salad, pasta with a tomato sauce, fried plantains and patates (like a mix of potatoes, yams, and sweet potatoes), and apple crepes.  Mind you, all of this food preparation was over a wood-burning stove in the courtyard of a friend’s host family.  Luckily, a Peace Corps vehicle was able to come by and pick up all the prepared food to transport it to the Centre; it was an amazing spread.

The staff was amazing by all the food we had prepared.  There was guacamole, homemade salsa, stuffing, green beans, mashed patates, fried chicken, fruit salad, lettuce salad, chips, and, best of all, TWO BUTTERBALL TURKEYS imported from America (thank you, American government).  We could not have been happier…nor more stuffed with food by the end of the night.  After dinner, we turned the music up, and the Thanksgiving dancing commenced.  This slight twist on a typical Thanksgiving Day celebration was fabulous, and most everyone broke it down a bit on the dance floor.  As we were able to stay at the Centre overnight, the party continued late into the night.  The next morning for class, we were all a bit tired…

Other than our big Thanksgiving fete, things have been pretty normal here.  I did have a great weekend with my family, especially as they took me out dancing on Saturday night.  It was a bit daunting to be the only nassara (foreigner in Moore) on the dance floor, but I soon got over it and enjoyed my time out.  This upcoming weekend, we are taking another weekend with a current PCV, like demyst, but this is a Tech Weekend.  I am going to a town near Ouahigouya, which is going to be a big change of scenery.  I cannot wait to go!