sirpenes survived tabaski (2/20/03)

things are back to normal again, and altho i'm glad that my transportation woes are over, i'm sad to see the festivities end. i am proud to say i watched my first sacrificial killing, skinning included, from start to finish. i thought i wouldn't be able to eat for days after that but sheep is just too tasty. and at least it was a quick and relatively painless death for the sheep, well as painless as death can be i guess. i must remind myself that this holiday doesn't center around killing a sheep, it's just part of a larger tradition. everyone wakes up in the morning. the men...and some women, go to mosque for a special morning prayer (women aren't expected to go since they are preparing the house for the festival...and besides, accordning to islam, women are closer to God than men therefore they don't have to pray as much). It was very touching to watch the service from my window and see the little children follow behind their parents in prayer. then, everyone returns home to get ready for the sacrifice. my job was to stoke the coals for the grill. hot hot hot. it's interesting to see the importance of community here. everyone has a job and works in harmony with everyone else. dinner was ready around 1. we ate, and ate, and ate. oooh, i ate tooo much. then we slept before dressing up for the evening. the main reason people celebrate tabaski is to ask for forgiveness from their neighbors. everyone goes to their friends house and say "baal ma ak" -- "please forgive me for any wrong i have done you, knowingly or unknowingly." then you eat more sheep. speaking of sheep, i hid sirpenes in my dresser for the whole weekend. he finally saw daylight the other day. now my sisters are really nice to him. hehe.

this past weekend i also had the opportunity to go to djifer, palmarin, and joal. we rode in canoes through mongroves, saw teh birthplace of leopold senghor in joal. joal was interesting because it's 90 percent catholique while senegal is 90 percent muslim. we also had time to chill on the beach before attending a traditional wrestling match in the village. there, we danced with the local children and enjoyed listening to the jembe drums. tomorrow i leave for st louis, the former capital of senegal which still has the colonial style in architecture. personally, i am glad to be leaving for the weekend to escape the stay puffed marshmellow man that lives in my sink. apparently, left over soap residue has built up in the pipes. each time you turn the water on, the growing fluffy mask oozes out of the drain and creeps up the side of the sink bowl. since i was young i've feared white fluffy massive substances, hence my negative reaction to sour cream and, at one point, clouds. while i've overcome this childhood fear, i can't stand turning on the sink until the problem is fixed. i think the plumber is coming today however. saved at last. (if this story made no sense, forgive me :-)

anyway, that's all for today. i look forward to hearing from y'all!

maya