This week has been one of the roughtest my training class has had. One of my closest friends here and one of the most wonderful people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing chose to go home. It was the right decision for her and she spent a lot of time thinking about it but I still miss her terribly. I am very much looking forward to our reunion in two years!

On a happier note this week also marked the end of Ramadan which meant a day off! We had Thursday off the celebrate the holiday with our families and we spent the whole day doing my favorite thing in the whole world...EATING! To make things even better my friend Casey got to come and stay with my roommate and I for two days for the fete. We slept in until about 8 and then realized that everyone was migrating to the field for prayer. We met almost the whole town out in the millet fields and watched as the Chef de Canton (aka Kingish person) came in on his horses and everyone bowed. I can only compare it to Easter Sunday. Everyone had new fancy suits on and clothes especially made for the day. As part of the celebration people are expected to give gifts to the children. Seeing as this was my first time celebrating I was a little unprepared and ended up gifting cookies I had previously purchased, I think I mentioned them in another blog they are the butter kind that come in a blue tin..Anyway, after we left the field we went back to my house and ate breakfast which was the best part of the whole day. Actually to really understand you're going to need a little back story first. There are these two chickens that live on our property. They are the MOST annoying things I have ever encountered. I don't know who taught me that chickens only crow at sunrise but that is BS! They crow all the time all day long. So my roommate and I have been talking about killing them since we met them. So to our lovely surprise on Thursday when our mom unveiled our breakfast I suddenly realized why I had been able to sleep until 8...the chickens are DEAD!! It was by far the best meal I have had since I arrived!

RIP Chickens.

Other than that the week has been pretty uneventful. We're about to enter our last week of training which is really exciting. Swear in date of September 23 is rapidly approaching. I took my material to the tailor today and here's hoping he could understand my description of my dress and is able to have it ready next Sunday...everything is a gamble here. Friday is my very last night with my host family and Casey is going to join in again for the farewell festival. Then everyone is moving up to site together for our last official week of training. Well I'm off to read the latest gossip headlines before I'm booted off the internet for another week.

Hope all is well in the States.