Katelyn_CP_#3

On January 30th, I met my conversation partner Fabrice for the first time at CIES. He is from Burkina Faso, and was actually roommates with Rasmane, one of my tutees, until that weekend.We sat outside in the back and talked about a ton of topics: school, food, family, movies and TV. He told me that food is incredibly cheap in America, but he really hates McDonalds and doesn't care for Chick-fil-a--the chicken in Burkina Faso is much healthier, just plain grilled chicken. Fabrice said that in his country, people mostly eat rice and vegetables, because meat is very expensive; he also said that when you buy meat, you buy the live animal at the marketplace, and then you kill and prepare it at home. I laughed and said that if Americans had to kill their own meat, we'd all be vegetarians. When asked about any culture shock, Fabrice had a hilarious example: he saw a woman with a baby carriage, but when he went to peek at the baby he realized it was a dog. He asked me why we treat our animals like family members--in Burkina Faso, it would be too expensive, and animals are left outside to take care of themselves. Fabrice has already graduated university, and wants to get his electrical/civil engineering degree in America, but he is not sure where yet. He said that because his parents both work--his mother is a nurse and his father is an engineer-entrepreneur--they can afford to send all of their children to school, but because school is not free in Burkina Faso, it's often too expensive for most people. It makes me reflect on the opportunities America has compared to other countries. We later talked about movies and TV--apparently, people in Burkina Faso adore our dramas, like Banshee, the Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones (my personal favourite!!). However, most of the shows are dubbed over in French, so there isn't much English used.