Eid Fete

i survived ramadan and the fete that accompanies the end of it. i woke up this morning and the whole fam were hard at work slaughtering a goat right outside my window. ew... they skinned it then hung it up in the tree in my courtyard and started hacking at it with a machete. good excuse to hide out in my room in front of a fan and read a book. then i went out when the food was ready and they had a big mat out under the tree in the shade and a big plate of meat for them and baby plate of french fries, grilled onions and bread for me. not too shabby. this holiday is known to be an entire day slaughtering goats and eating meat so i was very happy to see that they had thought of me.

then we sat around in the salon for the most awkward thing in the world, greetings. i sat on the couch while round after round pf people came in and uttered greetings under their breathe without making eye contact while my host family did the same. after about 2 minutes of nonstop mutterings the guests took their leave. its so random but is very important to mauritanians... its hard for me to understand because the greetings include sayings that translate to "how are you", "how are you with the heat", "are you feeling well", etc. but the responses are just as automated and no one really wants a thought out response. all of the responses translate to something to do with "im fine thanks to allah" said a few different ways. sometimes when we do greetings after a long day i want to be like "no, im not fine with the heat! im exhusted and tired because ive spent the last 24 hours squating over a hole in the ground!" Then some of the other volunteers came over to greet my family and we left together to greet some of the other families that volunteers were friends with complete with more awkward greetings and meat plates.

im just so happy that ramadan is over. no more sneaking drinks of water in the market or feeling bad about buying food for lunch. no more hungry, thirsty, grouchy people everywhere. things can finally start getting normal and i can start being productive. school starts sunday oct. 12 and im really excited (and kind of nervous) to finally start working! still have 10 days to lay around though...