Holiday Season

Holiday season has finally arrived and rather than cold weather, and hot chocolate we have 100 degree days and dust...lots of dust. The rainy season has long since ended and now all the PCVs are concerned about the harvest and how it was bad. This could mean tough times when the food does run out for the Burkinabe. No food means food prices increase and for subsistence farmers, it means that they will not be eating 3 times a day, and might be forced to eat one or 2 times a day- not the best situation ever. However, the feeling I get from the Burkinabe that I talk is that they aren't concerned about the impending food shortage, and they continue to make dolo (alcoholic drink made out of millet) rather than try and save money (or millet) for later. I'm sure this isn't the case with all Burkinabe, just the one's I've observed/talked to. It's funny, but the thing I envy most about Burkinabe culture- the ability to just live one day at a time and not spend today worrying about tomorrow's problems is also the source of some of the problems that the Burkinabe face. What a paradox.
For Thanksgiving, the other Trainees and I are actually making our own meal with mac and cheese, turkey, probably a few pies if we can manage it, and all those fun things. I'm sure that it'll taste really good but for me the holiday has never been about the food. Thanksgiving is all about being thankful for what you have, and I'm most thankful for my family and friends- so while I'm happy to be celebrating with all the new friends I've made here, there will definitely be something missing because I won't have my big family to spend Thanksgiving (or Christmas) with. I hope that everyone reading this is able to find something that they're thankful for and is able to express that thankfulness in an appropriate manner.
On a similar note, I had held out hope that I would be able to be home for Christmas this year, and it turns out that is not going to happen which is sad but not totally unexpected. Christmas won't be the same without the people that made it what it was. I have experienced a slight health issue in Burkina and that is being taken care of before Christmas and in South Africa. If you want to know what's wrong with me, just shoot me an e-mail, I really don't mind saying, and if you don't care to know I won't bore you with the details here. Needless to say, it's not life threatening, and I'll end up okay. The real interesting part will be seeing what happens when I don't finish all of training and then try and become a volunteer. I'm going to guess that I'll probably have to do some additional training when I return from South Africa. But, I've never been to South Africa so I'm sure I'll have some fun things to blog about and some cool pictures when I return.