It's definitely a relief to know that the US side of the money is no longer a question, now if I could just get my students to bring in their contribution (like 75 cents a piece), but that's always a factor of parents seeing the money as a waste because it's for school or as a benefit because it's for school. Too much of the old, "What's school good for?" mentality hangs around with the older people. That's changing though and this donation should help to motivate even more young people to continue their education and to think it important to education their own children.
Paris for the holidays was great. Cold, but nice to be cold really after two years of HOT.
Though it's late, in celebration of being back in Africa, here's a quick pictorial rundown of my Tabaski (Eid in Arabic), the Muslim feast in memory of when Abraham (Ibrahim) was going to sacrifice his son because God told him to and then God stayed his hand at the last moment, proving Abraham(Ibrahim)'s devotion. To celebrate Muslims kill and feast on sheep (in place of Abraham's son). It's a straight up story from the bible. And I bet some of you never knew that Islam and Christianity had so much in common. This year, the celebration fell on the 10 of December.
Anyway, on a more worldly level, it's always an interesting process for me here to see food go from "baaa!!!" to "yum" in just a few short hours. Last year's thanksgiving turkey for example, but this year I bought a goat, name of Billy, and we had him for Tabaski (And for days afterward as well, sheep meat makes good sandwiches). Due to the graphic nature, viewer discretion is advised.
Meet Billy, he's your average male goat of indetermiable age. I bought him for 20000CFA, or 40 bucks.
Don't look Billy!!! (You're next)
Goodbye, God Bless, Irikoy ma Halesi, Asalam Alaykum....
A small cut, and air blown into it, helps to seperate the skin from the muscles
Then the skin's taken off and can become a prayer rug if it's in good shape
Then the insides are taken out. But don't worry, we'll eat this too!
Yum! Guts, Liver, Lungs, and Heart, my favorites!
Billy gets himself stretched and ready for cooking
Head and hoofs.... which will ALSO be eaten, but are cooked directly in the flame for that charred flavor.
At this point Billy started to smell really good. I was getting hungry!
And, after two hours of cooking, we're ready to eat!
Family Album (though since I'm terrible at names and only know two of them I won't try, but these are my buddy Ousmanne's kids)
Ousmanne and his lizard he's fattening up (to, ofcourse, eat)
Well that's about it for now. Off to see some people about some books.
Oh, and I added more christmas pictures to my Picasa page if you're interested.
2 comments:
Reminds me of when Dad would bring home the deer after hunting to skin and cut up! All I really remember (since I didn't watch the actual process) was the blood running down the driveway.
Hey Jeremy - where did you get that cool hat with the "A" om it? Looks expensive....
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