nigerien for turkey

Just because there are no turkeys in the stores here doesn’t mean you can’t get a turkey. The low, low anasara (white person) price: $30. Probably this really means $10, eventually, after you sit down and have tea with bird man and send your housekeeper to get it later. We almost had mechoui for Thanksgiving–one of Niger’s national dishes, stuffed goat–but some admiral has shown up with four frozen birds, so what can we do?

When I went to the petit marché to see the turkeys, I kept saying the french word for turkey but they didn’t understand me. I finally gobbled, and believe me, that is the international word for crazy American and they whipped out a turkey right away. Later one of the Nigerien ladies I work with made a really nice turkey sound, more like the sound of a singing turkey or an old fashioned telephone ringing. She’d never heard gobble gobble before and thought it was hilarious. Ah, Thanksgiving.

It feels more like Thanksgiving to me this year. I think working at the embassy makes a difference. This year I helped coordinate the American community Thanksgiving and the planning and preparation makes a big difference for me. Nothing gets you in the spirit like keeping track of who is bringing what kind of pie and listening to people describe jello salad recipes.