Tea more than a drink.

Claire left this morning and I spent my day wandering around practicing the little Dioula that I now know. It is starting to come out a little easier and people are always happy to see that you are making an effort to speak Dioula.
Boris arrived tonight, finally able to travel, but he still not 100%. We spent the evening with Giselle’s family and then with her brother, Armand, and his friends. In Burkina the men like to drink tea and it is almost a ritual. Tea here takes at least half an hour if not hours! First you fill up a little tea pot with half tea leaves and half water then you let it boil on a little charcoal stove. Once the tea is thick, black and bubbly you pour it into a glass from a far above the glass, then back into the tea pot then back in the glass and back in the tea pot. I lost count of how many times you pour it back and forth. You let it boil a little longer, but now with lots of sugar (here people put tones of sugar in everything), then you repeat the whole process. Afterwards you add either mint or ginger, I have only tried the ginger so far and it is good, though very strong! You only drink enough for 2-3 sips, but it is powerful. If you drink a whole cup of tea I doubt that you would sleep for a week!