Giving Thanks

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMERICA!!!!!

For starters, I hope everyone is busy gorging themselves on good food with family and that no one reads this until next week. But since it's Thanksgiving today, and it's just another Thursday in Burkina, I figured I'd post today about things I'm thankful for!

That said, a small disclaimer: this is my blog, not my diary or a therapy session. So while I'm incredibly thankful for my family and friends (here and at home!) and the many blessings in my life, that's not what this post is going to be about. Focusing on the more light-hearted things - but they're no less honest! :)

Things I'm thankful for in Burkina:

My courtyard walls

Because a girl needs to be able to wear shorts every once in a while, okay??

Nestlé

Yes, the company. They make so many delicious things...my current favorite is "Le Chocolat," which gives me a shortcut to the village pudding described in my "Food I eat in village" post.

T9

i.e., the texting feature that (before coming here) I hadn't used since 2006. My first brick phone here didn't have it and every text message was surprisingly annoying. I may or may not have bought a second phone just for T9...

Pepto

Nuff said, I think.

Amusing Wildlife

Covered this in the "creatures" post but in light of the amusement I just felt watching one pigeon chasing another, I figured I'd include it here. "It's the little things," indeed.

Things I will be more grateful for in America thanks to the Peace Corps:

Refrigerators

More specifically, the ability to store food for later consumption. It's surprisingly difficult to prepare a single meal for a single person. And the dilemma of "make myself sick trying to eat it all vs having to throw the rest away" is no fun.

Also all the foods that are available when refrigeration is an option. Mostly cheese.

Sinks

Notice I did not say plumbing, indoor or otherwise. For me, the most frustrating thing about life with no plumbing is not peeing in a hole OR taking a bath with a bucket. Not even pumping my own water. It's trying to wash my hands or my dishes or brushing my teeth without getting water on my feet.

Admittedly, there are sinks in Burkina, but they're not a regular part of my life. One of my favorite parts of going to the nice hotels in Tenko to use the internet/eat a delicious and overpriced lunch is to wash my hands in a legit sink.

Waste Management Services

Oh, the ability to throw something away and never see it or worry about it again...the stuff of dreams. I have a trash pit area outside my courtyard (which I think is more than many volunteers have) but I usually only put compost type trash and cans out there. Why? Because not only do the village children like to come scavenge for toys, but anyone who walks by will inevitably examine the contents. More than once my neighbors have glanced in and gone, "oh you made spaghetti?" and "what's that?" ("That" was a tuna can). I know they don't have the same ideas about privacy as I do, but still.

The Produce Section

So. Many. Vegetables. All different kinds!! And fruit!! All in one place!!! And I can come back tomorrow? Be still my beating heart.

Washing Machines

I think this goes without saying. I thought I hated laundry before PC but boy was I wrong...

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Both of those lists could be a lot longer, but I think y'all get the idea. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Eat a pumpkin pie for me!!

xo, chlo