Jimmy Carter and Chinese tea

Every Monday and Thursday evening (without exception), and other evenings as they require an exception, my host family "has tea." The tea is Chinese and served hot in a teacup fit for a smurf (about the size of a shot glass), and preparing it is a process. It is a ritual practised throughout this country by old and young, muslim and catholic usually sitting in a circle with friends. There are always 3 rounds of tea. The first round is the most potent, and the tea gets weaker with each subsequent round. The process is as follows: The tea is measured and poured into a small teapot. One glass of water is added. The teapot is placed on a little apparatus just big enough for the small teapot with hot coals which my host father fans occasionally to make the tea boil. After a while sugar is measured and poured into a second tiny teapot and the tea is poured back and forth between the two pots for mixing. The interesting part is that the tea must be poured from a distance in order to maximize the foam that gathers at the top when the tea is poured. So it is poured back and forth, back and forth over and over. Then placed back on the coals to boil again and then poured back and forth until is it "parfait." At perfection it is poured into the tiny teacups to be distributed to the party (max 6 due to tiny teacup availability). We sip the tea and then starts round 2. "Having tea" usually takes about an hour and I have grown to really look forward to it. So last night (Sunday night) was one of the exceptions because a friend of my host mom's was in town from the capital city. My host father gave me my first cup and offered some peanuts to go with. I wasn't in the mood for peanuts so I declined, which prompted a relatively lengthy discussion that I just HAD to write home about, the summary of which went a little something like..."Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer and was also the president of the states and I am american so I should like peanuts with my Chinese tea." Just another day in the life in Burkina and I am loving it:) Always entertaining. Today is Monday, aka "tea night." Stay tuned for more interesting discussion summaries;)