Tabaski Prep

Most people are gearing up for a Mslm holiday here known as Tabaski.  It is more commonly known around the world as Eid al-Adha.  It is a holiday to remember "Ibrahima's willingness to sacrifice Ishmael but God provided instead."  [Yeah, there's an error in their telling of the story..  what is interesting is that their book does not say the child's name.. it's just assumed..]

So.. there are sheep EVERYWHERE!  As you can see from the video below, every available patch of land has been turned into a sheep selling market.  On November 7th, after morning pryers, families will sacrifice their male sheep as atonement for sin.  Most of you know how much I love animals so this is really disturbing to me.  The only consolation I have is the fact that these people are not wasteful and all the meat is consumed.  In fact, families are supposed to eat 1/3 of the meat, give 1/3 to families & friends, and finally, give the last third to the poor.  We've already been promised some sheep meat.. and Becky is currently trying to find recipies.  Not sure if I will be eating this or not....  I'm about 95% sure I'm not. 

It is such a big holiday here.  People buy new clothes, spend a chunk of money on a sheep and take time off.  People spend all of their money on this one day.  The saddest thing is that atonement has already been made.  None of this is necessary. 

I will not be able to remember the sacrifice the Jesus made in the same way after seeing this take place.   Just ask my roommates - I'm currently obsessed with "lamb music" - mainly Hillsong's "Worthy is the Lamb."  I'm so thankful that He provided our Lamb. 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Visit to our friend Sherrill :)

Lots of pictures and videos!!!  :)  To the market to practice language!

I just thought this was humorous.  The horse has it's food tied around it's head.

Videos of the market!!!  So you get an idea of the space and what the sell!

And the horseride back to her house!  Such a quieter, more simple way of life out in this city!!!



"That was a whole lot of words that I didn't know.."

Warning:  This is long.  But I guarantee you- it is worth it.

So we had our first homestay experience with an African family.  The purpose of this was to help us practice the language that we have learned as well as learn more about the culture and what goes on in a home on a typical day.

We've got a lot of things going on right now but overall I was really excited about the experience.  We got picked up around 5ish on Tuesday night by the head of the household (who works for our company).  He had a friend with him.  You can just see the culture differences in even the van ride to the house because he saw another friend and picked him up and gave him a ride to where he needed to go.  Just atypical for Americans. 

What's funny is that they crammed into the front seat when we had an entire van.  This is our "holy cow.. what are we doing...  we are in for it.. look..."

So moving along.  We get there and it was great to see this family again (we've been to their house once before for lunch).  They are really awesome.  We just did the African hanging out which I absolutely love.  Sitting outside - enjoying each other's company.  There is a little boy that is a twin that is this family's neighbor but the boy hangs out with the family we stayed with non-stop.  He literally only goes home late at night (like 10ish).  His family isn't bothered by the fact that their 2 year old son is gone.  The family we stayed with enjoys having him.  It's just a completely different mindset.  One of the sons wrestles with him like he was his own little brother.  There is a lot of joking around that happens.  I attempted to carry some more stuff on my head because I'm determined to do it.  But the oldest son thought he'd play a prank on me and give me the largest, heaviest bucket he could find.  I enjoyed the sheep (and I'm determined not to think about the fact that they are all eaten!)  I also had fun dancing with the girls and acting a fool.  I really just love cutting loose and being silly.  The girls thought it was really funny to see this white girl try to dance.  At one point, one of the younger girls turns to me and says a really long sentence....  I turn and look at Amanda and say the title of this post.  It was pretty hilarious.  It was just a good time! 

Then we had the first of our meals.  This meal wasn't bad at all.  It was some kind of beans with sauce, meat (tasted like beef...?), and potatos.  It was the traditional "eating around the bowl" style which I REALLY like!  I just love the communal aspect of everyone is eating out of the same dish!  And at EVERY single meal, Amanda and I could not eat enough to make these people satisfied.  Literally, I ate like a pig and they kept telling me to eat more. 

So we retire for the evening.  There was no power at first so the sleeping was little.  I did fall asleep eventually and the power came back on so that means... you guessed it!!  A FAN!  :)  The eventful thing of the evening was when I did have to use the restroom in the middle of the night (as in.. you know the kind where there is no sleep unless you go...)  So I venture forth with my flashlight to the outhouse squatty.  Now.  I'm not a veteran squatty user.  I do not mind them.  I just haven't had a whole lot of experience.  I'm generally not squeamish when it comes to places.  But in the middle of the night there were a few roaches crawling around.  As I squatted to do my business, I had one prayer:  Please do not crawl on me.  I'm okay with you being here right now.  You can do what you do.  But if you get on me.. I will scream and I will wake everyone up.  Because when you are squatting, you are very vulnerable and the critters in question were behind me.  The story has a happy ending - they did not crawl on me so all parties were happy.

Moving along. 

We wake up the next day to breakfast of buttered bread (so yummy!) and coffee.  The coffee was a really strong spicy coffee that was pretty hard to put down but we did it. 

Next, we travel to the market with the mother of the house so we can buy all of the items for the meals that day.  There really aren't adequate words to paint a picture for you of this experience.  It's hot.  All of these vendors of different things are crammed into a space with very little airflow.  They sell all sorts of things from vegetables, meats, fish, spices, rice, etc.  So we are wading through the masses of people there with fish smell assaulting our senses.  Everywhere we look are huge fish just laying out in the heat with flies swarming.  Same goes for the meat hanging in the butchery sections.  So while we're on that.  So they just have hunks of meat from whatever they have just killed either hanging out or on the table.  Again.  Flies.  The guy wacks chunks of meat here and there bones and all.  Oh yeah.. no problem.. discarded sheep skin just chilling on a tub next to us.  So we buy all sorts of things...  basically everything listed above except a fish.  Chunks of meat.  We have about had all we can take.  I start the prayer process about getting everything and keeping it all down during the market visit.

Then we walk outside to go home.  We pass by a guy selling chickens.  He asks her if she wants one and she says "too small."  So I thought we were clear but no.. he had to go get a fat one.  So he carries it out to her by the feet and it proceeds to poop on Amanda.  She agrees to buy him.  FPO is flashing back in my mind at this point.  The guy takes the chicken and kills it right then and there and plucks it for us.  I step away and cannot watch this happen.  So then the chicken was given to Amanda to carry home.. 

We get home and start the cooking process.  It is a few hour affair as we cook lunch and dinner at the same time.  We had "chebu yap" for lunch and "spaghetti" for dinner.  Lunch is rice and meat.  So we watched as she prepared the meat.  OH MY GOSH.  I am so glad I do not see other meals be prepared.  The grossest part:  bone marrow.  We ate all the meat (lamb, sheep, beef.. who knows!?) and it's bone marrow.  We also added tongue (of what..  we do not know) to the mix.  We also prepared the chicken.  Notice I didn't say - chicken wings, breasts, and legs.  The entire chicken.  Every piece of it but the head that was missing. 

So then... we eat lunch.  And I really do love the flavoring that they use.  The rice is really good.  It is just putting down those meat chunks.  And again.. we could not eat enough to make them happy. 

We took a nap.  Walked to the beach.  The beach is really beautiful minus all of the trash that is everywhere. 

Came home.  Ate dinner.  African "spaghetti" consists of noodles, sauce, the entire chicken, french fries, and ketchup all mixed together.  You scoop it up with pieces of bread.  As shocked as I was that the entire chicken made it's way into the bowl, I was even more shocked when the ENTIRE chicken was consumed.  Literally.  They ate the bones.  There were only a few pieces of larger bones left. 

We were told that we were "real women" as we helped cook that day.  I'm not sure what I feel about that. 

On a more serious note, we did get to see how dedicated they are to pryer.  They didn't all at one time but they would get out pryer mats and during the call to pryer, each one would perform the ritual of bowing and saying what they needed to.  The girls would cover their heads.  It just absolutely breaks my heart seeing these beautiful people do this.  The craziest thing is that this family has been exposed to truth often and they father is a dedicated employee to our company.  It just goes to show how deep-seeded tradition is around here and what a tough place we are in!  If you would continue to lift us and our team up especially in the area of our language study so that we can start jumping into sharing with people - we would appreciate it! 

Time to take out your trash!

So...  this is how trash is picked up on our street.  By the way, our view is not typical. We live in a wealthy neighborhood.  I pan the camera away because the guy was walking up toward the cart and I didn't want him to see me recording this as people here don't like pictures taken very much.  At the end you hear the whistle which is what notifies people who have trash pick up service that the horse and buggy is here and to bring your trash out.  Trash pick up service via horse cart and buggy - $6 a month!

One of the things that I really do like about this culture (and has the potential to get irritating as well) is the fact that people come to you.  They do not wait for you to come to them to buy their services.  There are several people who walk down our street daily yelling out different types of fish that they have to sell.  As you are backed up in traffic, you can buy all sorts of things from cashews to toilet paper to baby formula to remote controls to cell phone credit.  I really do like it.  Most people aren't pushy.. they simply walk by you, hold out what they have to sell so you can get a good look at it and if you don't show them any interest, they just walk on past to the next car. 

West African Humor

This absolutely made me laugh.  We had to go to the African doctor today to get medical clearance for our identity cards to be able to stay here.  We went with a guy from our center so we pull up to the "hospital" and walk up to a guard.  He talks to him and we are ushered into a side room that opens up to the outside.  One guard is laying on a bed a few feet from us reading a newspaper and the "doctor" is sitting at a desk.  We just sit there.  No words necessary.  We give the doctor our passports.  He copies our information off of them as you see above.  He signs several places and stamps the paper.  We give him $10 each.  He gives us the paper.  That is it.

As I'm reading the French when we get in the car, I am laughing.  This paper certifies that we had a clincial exam including x-rays, vision tests, and an ear, nose, throat exam.  It also certifies that we are without contagious diseases.  That doctor could tell ALL of that just by looking at us.  And we think we are so advanced ;)

If American doctors were that cheap, easy and accurate (he diagnosed us correctly.. haha!), I don't think I would mind going as much!  Amanda's words echo my own as we left today: "That's my kind of Doctor!"

Dedicated to A. White

A. White and I have a philosophy that if you lower your expectations, then typically you're not dissapointed.  Let me tell you.  I've mastered and perfected that skill in W. Africa when it comes to trying new things here.  It's also amazing when your expectations are really low and you actually find something really good, it's on par with a miracle in your mind :)  Well, this may be just a slight exaggeration but slight is the key word.
Case in point:  two restaurants - Shaddy Shack (what a name!) and Caesar's.  Shaddy shack has a really good hamburger (and I mean good by even American standards) and Caesar's has chicken that is not just "chicken chunks."  PTL for these two places as they will supply 90% of my eating habits the next two years! hahaha :)

This really is just going to be a completely random post. 

Thankfully, Blue Thunder is back in our lives.  Just wanted y'all to see this beauty!  I attempted for the first time this morning to drive her..  it went okay.  I'm convinced that she does what she wants to.  I tried real hard to do the fancy footwork manuevering only to have her rebel against my wishes and come to a screaching halt several times as the nationals stare and Amanda fears for her life in the backseat.  Hopefully, one day I'll be able to win her heart :)

Friday night fun! You can't tell in this picture but it's pitch black so we busted out the headlamps. We got home to no power (it went off before we left at 4:30ish). It proceded to stay off the entire night.  Amanda literally lays in her bed with the hand fan at night and doesn't sleep..  I sleep off and on.   Last night, I had to use the restroom in the middle of the night and took the opportunity to stick my head in the sink to re-wet my hair to keep things cool.  When we say that (working + power usable) fans are our best friend, that is the honest truth.

Few noteworthy things:

1) I literally saw people go the wrong way in the roundabouts here this week.  This is just incredible to me.  I mean, traffic was backed up the correct way so they just go the opposite!  Makes perfect West African sense.
2) We got to help out cleaning at one of the centers here this week that has gone downhill over the years and has just been used for storage.  It's a really nice facility and we're excited to see how He's going to use it while we're here!
3)  Attended a fall festival at the expat kids school here (DA).  Super weird to be around so many English speakers.  We got to square dance though!  Are we supposed to dance?  I'm not sure if I broke any rules... :)  Good time to just relax and let loose for a little bit.
4) Went to the "market of thieves" for the first time.  Nothing was stolen although it is an experience being hassled to come buy things.  Hopefully, making some national friends and going with them will be better than three white girls going alone. 
5) Becky asks Amanda if she "wants one ball of ice cream or two...?"  Now, I know eventually it will be hard to recall English for us too but for the time being, it's really funny when Becky says something off in English.
6) Fridays are important in the Mslm tradition here.  Everyone wears their best clothes.  We were driving home from somewhere this past Friday and witnessed mass amounts of mainly men and boys "making the pilgrimage" to the msqe to pr.  It is really sad to see.

"Pause time"

So this is what we do during "pause time" during language lessons.  I did learn after this that it is easier to balance on your head when you have weight in it.  It keeps falling off because it is so light (or so I tell myself).

Few fun things to mention:

1) Amanda and I had our first experience with the taxi services here on Monday.  It was mostly a success.  Mostly.  We decided to go get ice cream after language.  So we get a taxi, negotiate the price, and are on the way to La Gondole.  Or so we thought.  After about a 15 minute drive on backroads we've never seen, the taxi stops and the man points and says, "Fi. La Gondole" to this shack on the side of the road.  Amanda says there is no way she's getting out.  We are discussing what we should do when a girl, who Amanda called a blessing from heaven, was able to speak limited English and explain to our taxi driver where the REAL La Gondole is... the one with air conditioning, ice cream, etc.  So we have to pay double the original price to get there.  We just got a nice tour in the back of a taxi of the city and eventually got some ice cream.  The taxi ride home was no problem.

2)  We are about asleep when Becky informs us that it is raining.  Now, I typically don't get that excited about rain.  But this warranted getting out of bed to see with my own eyes because I don't think I believed it.  I think the three of us must have looked really silly just standing at the door, watching the massive downpour of rain and letting the breeze flow in.  I've never been so grateful for rain!

3)  Blue Thunder, as I have aptly named our beloved blue truck, has had a breakdown.  Becky was the only one with her when it happened as Amanda and I were on our taxi tour of the city.  We really hope that she can be returned to us fixed or we will be having LOTS of taxi excursions in the future.