Derby 138

And then – one of my absolute favorite weekends of the year arrived. KENTUCKY DERBY! Hannah agreed to host our 2^nd annual Derby party this year (living about 20 yards from the school isn’t really conducive to what we had planned) – so about 18 volunteers traveled to the little village of Kaunda. 

As was the case last year, I was the lone Kentuckian and thus had a lot of explaining to do. Sidenote – my family really likes to tell this story of how, when I was about 3 years old, I forced my aunts, uncle, parents and grandparents to don an array of hats on my grandpa’s hat rack  (ya know, newsboy caps, toboggans, cowboy hats – any type of hat you can imagine a really cool grandpa owning) for a “party” I was having in their living room. Then I proceeded to have them parade around the dining room table. Now, I was either a hella persuasive 3 year old, OR ( and this is the more likely case) there is something to say for being the first grandchild.  Anywaysss….. I requested that everyone coming to the Derby party wear a hat and a sundress (apparently some things don’t change).  Obviously, coming up with a derby hat in Mozambique was a challenge. However, being super crafty and resourceful Peace Corps volunteers, we came up with some pretty awesome ones (egg crates, cardboard, newspaper, and giant leaves all entered the picture).  In return for their compliance, I promised a spread of good Southern food (cheese grits, fried okra, chili with spaghetti noodles, etc), Derby pie (for those of you who didn’t grow up with all these apparently odd traditions – its chocolate pecan pie), and lots of bourbon.  And, of course, we made pool and all bet horses… lets be honest, its not as much fun if you’re not betting on the race. 

Since Derby fell on Cinco de Mayo this year, we also made piñata and all contributed a few little goodies from home. Now you may be thinking, how does one go about making a piñata in the bush? Wellll seeing as we are condoms are just about as common as nickels here… ya just blow one up like a balloon, tear up some newspaper, and then mix flour and water together to make paste. BAM. Piñata.  Now, we originally aimed for a horse shaped piñata, but that was a little too ambitious – so we settled for painting a horse on the piñata. Some of the really prized contributions to the piñata were sauce packets from Taco Bell, real Kleenex, glow sticks, a few airplane bottles of assorted liquor, and individual servings of Parmesan cheese. 

So at this point, its possible that you’re rolling your eyes and thinking “Good God Zoeller, you’re in Africa and you’re blogging about the Kentucky Derby?!”…… and the answer is, yes.  Those of you who really know me, know…I love Derby. I love Kentucky. And I love Louisville. It’s a wonderful place and it doesn’t get the credit it deserves for just generally being an awesome place. So anything that highlights my hometown goes down as pretty much amazing.  And honestly, missing derby festivities makes me homesick.  So yeah, I’m rambling about the Kentucky Derby. But the thing that’s so cool about this whole thing…. Half the people who came to the derby party came into not having any idea what Derby is. And now, they all know! And they helped me celebrate it 8000 miles away! And of course, they’re all welcome to come to the real deal next year J