Kings for a day . . . or two

This weekend, we had the privilege of helping a family in our apartment building celebrate the circumcision of their 2 sons. Here, families wait until their sons reach about primary school age to have it done (as a coming-of-age, religious rite). And when it's done, the celebrations begin!

Mom and dad had been preparing for this occasion for months! I don't know all the preparations that have to be done, but I'll tell you what I know happened over the past couple of days. I think you'll see for yourself what a task it is.

First, all the relatives came. And when I say relatives I'm talking probably at least 1/3 of their small family village! They all came in a bus together. Some of the relatives came earlier than others. I went by to say hello on Fri. and there were a couple of women sitting on the floor preparing some kind of food. No, the food wasn't on the floor. They sit cross-legged on the floor with a big round work surface raised about 2 feet from the floor (portable). I couldn't tell what they were making, but there was a lot of it. When I stopped by, the mom ushered me inside to show me her son's bedroom. The bed had a sheer piece of bridal veil-like material draped around it. It was all decorated with different colors of tinsel-like stuff. And neatly laid out on the bed were the special outfits the boys would wear to the festivities, along with a few other special items the mother had been preparing as gifts for family members who came.

So, the relatives start trickling in, and the kids are all running around playing. The adults are all greeting one another, talking, trying to get things set up for the party later on in the night, getting themselves and the kids dressed up, etc. Keep in mind that most of what we saw we saw from our window. After a while, all the women come out of the building: sparkley head scarves, make-up, fancy dresses, heels. And finally the guests of honor . . . the two boys. Let me take a moment to describe what they looked like . . . An entire outfit is tailored for this special day: white pants and shirt, white shoes, cape, regal hat, scepter, sash with a special message printed on it. On top of the white satin like material is a crimson design bordered by gold embroidery thread. And, yes, they do carry the scepter around the whole time!

Once mom, dad, and the boys were dressed and ready to greet their guests, everyone arrived to start eating. It was catered, much like we would do a big family get together at home. The food served was rice, bread, a soup-like dish, beans, and cherry juice. After eating, folks just kind of wandered around talking, listening to the live music, keeping their eyes peeled to the rain shower we could see coming over a mountain in the distance. Of course, the kids (and especially the two sons) were running around playing without a care in the world - as if they didn't realize they were dressed up for a really special occasion.

Well, at this particular party, all of the musical equipment had been set up outside. Then it started raining, so they had to move it inside. Then the rain stopped and it got too hot inside for everyone. Plus it was getting crowded. All the musical equipment got moved back outside. After that, the men started stringing lights. That was a learning experience! I don't know if any of them were licensed electricians, but they were doing things with live wires I'd be scared to do even if they weren't live!

Meanwhile more and more people continued trickling in. Stools were set up on the street under the lights that had been strung - men were on one side and women/children were on the other side. The little old man we had been talking with told us that the women were going to dance later. Unfortunately, we didn't hang around to see who danced the night away. We left after a couple of hours, but from our apartment we could hear the music as if we were sitting right there in front of the speaker. It continued well into the night, but thankfully our apartment is on the opposite end of the building and our fan blocks a lot of noise. We didn't hear a thing!

This morning we woke up to quiet, but it didn't take long for all those people to begin stirring. (We still don't know where they all slept!) They set up their musical equipment right outside our living room window and started playing about 10:30 in the morning - that's early for these folks on a Sun. morning. Not long after they started, the police showed up - no doubt someone complained that their sleep had been disturbed! And at some point in time this morning, there probably was a special religious leader who came to recite some words and prayers over the two sons.

All the hustle and bustle of feeding all of them started again. Our doorbell rang, and they invited us to eat with them. We had friends over for lunch, so we declined.

This afternoon, things have been quiet. The bus from the village is gone, and there's no one stirring outside. Typically, the boys are paraded around town in a caravan of horn-honking vehicles, accompanied sometimes by a drum and flute, and sometimes accompanied sometimes by a horse, on which the son is placed - as king for the day. We never saw a horse, never heard a drum, but we did hear some horns honking. It's possible they paraded around all the way back to their village 3 hours away. Who knows!

So you may be asking how in the world could those two little boys enjoy so much fun while enduring such a shocking experience. Well, in the past, the son was king for the day, and at the end of the day he got a big (not so fun) surprise. Now, it seems, the circumcision is done a week or so early, so that by the time the party rolls around, they can really enjoy themselves.

On top of all of that, the family receives gifts of gold from family and friends in honor of the special occasion. It turns out to be as much of a party for the parents and family as it is for the boys.

Recent Discoveries

Some of our family will be coming to visit later this year. Because of that we have been making a list of things we would like for them to bring to us when they come. Things like pancake syrup, chili powder, reese's pieces, etc. I recently (yesterday and today) discovered that I can get two of the items on my list here. I may not be able to find them all the time or at every grocery store, but I know at least one place to look for them.

So what are those two things . . . black-eyed peas and cornmeal! I've been craving black-eyed peas, so I was incredibly surprised when I passed a bin at the grocery store with a random assortment of beans and saw black-eyed peas among them! And I recently learned from a friend that she uses cream of wheat (easily found here) as a substitute for cornmeal. We can get corn flour really easily, too, but the texture is just not the same. So yesterday when we were walking around this wholesale kind of place, I was delighted to find what appears to be cornmeal. I haven't cooked with it yet, so I'm anxious to find out what the texture is like in the finished product.

Now we can have a proper home-cooked southern meal of black-eyed peas and cornbread. (No, I'm not waiting until New Year's!) All that's missing is a little bit of ham!!

Was that what I thought it was?!

So today while sitting at the computer, like I'm doing right now, I began to feel a swaying motion. It was a little like being in slow motion, and there were three distinct "waves" of movement. At the first one, Mark and I turned simultaneously and looked at each other. As the second and third passed, we looked around the room to see what else was moving. Was it just us . . . or was it the building? Our hanging light fixture was swaying a bit, too. Well, we went to our trusty "most recent earthquake" website a few minutes later and found that there had been a decent sized earthquake in our general vicinity. Now don't let this scare you . . . there was no damage, no power outages, or any other really horrible thing you may be associating with an earthquake in your mind right now. This is the second one I've felt since we moved here 9 months ago, but they actually occur all around us on at least a weekly basis, some weeks on a daily basis. Typically they are very minor and undetected by people. The first one I felt (a few weeks ago) was so brief that I wasn't even sure I had really felt it. It was more like something I had imagined. In fact, I was so unsure of it, I didn't even mention it to Mark. Then, in our language class that night, our teacher asked us if we felt it.

It is quite an interesting sensation, feeling the building you're in sway. It kind of makes your insides feel like they're moving around a little, too. Strange!

Anyway . . . just thought I'd share about an experience we're learning to recognize in our new home.

Mixing it up . . .

So when a mason is hired to put down new tile around an older apartment building, where do you suppose he would mix his concrete for the base that goes under the tile? Why, of course, in front of the gate that every tenant in the apartment building has to use to enter the building!!! I'm just glad we saw the wet mixture there during daylight hours instead of finding out by stepping in it in the dark!!! The pile of " dirt" had been there for several days by the gate. We really didn't think it would be mixed right there where it had been dumped!

All jesting aside, the finished product has been remarkable, and we're grateful we have an apartment manager who wants things to look nice!

Thinking about food . . .

Well, maybe it was just wishful thinking when I told you that watermelons cost about 40cents here. I learned today that those signs don't mean 40cents for one watermelon - they mean 40cents for one kilogram. Still that's not too bad - that's 40cents for just over 2 pounds! Anyway . . . just wanted to clear that up. It seems that after going to the open bazaar so many times I would know how to read those silly cardboard signs!!

Oh yeah, on that same note . . . just thought I would tell you that I bought 1 kg (about 2 lbs) of tomatoes for about 50 cents. This time, my math is right, I'm sure!

I've also learned that seedless grapes aren't really seedless here. That was quite a surprise the first time I bit into a juicy round white grape that I bought in a package of "seedless" grapes! So here's my question for all of you . . . what's the best way to eat a grape with seeds? And what can you do with them besides eat and spit the seeds out? And if there are things that can be done with them, how do you remove the skins and seeds so that there's enough grape left to do something with??? Please pass along any ideas you have!

Here's a new summer recipe for all of you chefs: If you like salads like I do, maybe you'll like this variety of potato salad . . . Be forewarned, it's not very exact. I watched my friend here make it, and there was no measuring involved at all, so take the idea of it and experiment!!

a few potatoes (cooked and mashed - not whipped with a mixer, just mashed)
a couple (or 3 or 4) medium sized cucumbers (peeled and grated)
a couple (or more) cloves of garlic (crushed, mashed, grated - take your pick)
equal parts mayo and plain yogurt (however much you want to taste)

Add a little salt and pepper. Mix it all up. Chill it in the fridge for a little while. Voila! A new twist on potato salad!!! If you decide to try it, let me know how it goes!

Side note: To cook potatoes here for mashed potatoes or potato salad, the potatoes are cooked whole, peeling on, until soft. Then they cool the potatoes so that they can be handled, and the peeling is peeled off the potato. Although I've done it both ways, I haven't decided which is the fastest or easiest yet . . . peeling and cutting up by hand first or peeling by hand after cooking. What do you think?

It's just not fair!

Here's our beloved Titus' most recent discovery . . .

It's just not fair for him to enjoy such delicacies without us being able to share with him!!!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, it was a sunny day here for our 4th of July celebration. We had the opportunity to get together with some fellow ex-pats to celebrate the independence of our beloved America. The menu included hamburgers (and a few cheeseburgers with "cheddar" cheese), hot dogs (beef, of course), chili, potato salad, brownies, sugar cookies, a candy bar-pudding dessert, all the trimmings (a bag of real bacon bits even showed up), and the star of the show "Dr. Pepper" for everyone! No watermelon and no apple pie, but maybe next year. Watermelons are in abundance here, and we thought we would have them served by the facility that hosted our party, but they forgot to serve fruit as promised, and we forgot to ask. The guys enjoyed playing football, tennis, and frisbee, while the ladies played with the kids, walked around the park, and chatted about recent happenings. There was even a guest puppy dog there, which was a special treat for us, the dog-lovers!!

On the way to the park where we had our cookout (it was a little over an hour away) there were the most beautiful fields of sunflowers we've ever seen! The hills were covered with them!! Unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us, so we don't have any pictures to share. But maybe another day we'll be able to get some so you can see them, too.

We hope you also had an exciting day celebrating our nation's independence. Much love to you all!!