The Goods

Well, only a portion of the goods. Turns out goats are made almost entirely of meat.

Team Jib!

One of the best things about meat in Ethiopia is that you don't have to wait for it to be cooked. Just grab a handful and get right to it. My site mate Joe is perfectly displaying what we dubbed "Team Jib (Hyena)". And for the special occasion, he wore his "Tib's shirt" and rocked the deep V all day. Just proof that you can take the boy out of Jersey, but you cant take the Jersey out of the boy.

If you don't want to see where meat comes from, don't scroll down!

Sometimes when I look at a grizzly situation, I like to assess how a picture of me that in that situation could one day help me. Perhaps my students will see these photos. Perhaps my children will see these photos. And the hope is, after viewing them, they not only respect me a little more but straight up fear me.

Once Abel and Dagam completely skinned the goat, there were some moments for photo ops. It was a silly time that kind of optimizes Peace Corps. It is a little wrong. A little disturbing. An outside might say, "what is wrong with those people?" But it was a fun and silly time.Having a completely foreign experience, but loving every moment of it.

I cannot remember what exactly lead to this moment, but I know Dagam was moving the goat's mouth as he did his best impression of our fallen friend. As to what we were pointing at, no clue. Probably someone's reaction to this ridiculous moment.

Dagam was such a gentleman, he actually washed blood off the goat's horns for me before I grabbed it. I was shocked with how heavy it was. But I was mostly shocked by how much Peace Corps has changed me.

Ethiopians brew and enjoy home made beer (called t'ella) on holidays. Here my sitemate Kelly demonstrates how to make t'ella look classy. Take it out of the 20 liter yellow can, and place it in a pitcher. Scores, just scores of liters of t'ella were drank over the course of the weekend.

After the kill, Abel and Dagam skinned and broke down the entire goat. It was pretty impressive to watch. And since it has been around two months with little meat, this didn't even turn my stomach. In fact, it just kind of made me hungry.

Dinner and I

 His day took a turn for the worse.

Fasika... 6 Months Late

I believe I've referenced Ethiopia’s greatest holiday about three times now. I keep saying I will post pictures and write something about it. But as I look at the calendar, I realize I am closer to 2014’s Fasika than 2013’s Fasika. As such, it just feels silly to write about it. But the pictures are awesome (which is why I keep referencing them). The solution I have come up with is to post a photo a day for a week or two highlighting the best parts of the holiday weekend. Everyone wins! I do not have to write something (and lets be honest, it was so long ago, half of it would have been lies) and you get to see photos. And lets be honest, you only look the pictures. I know it. 

The beginning of the weekend, I went with a couple of Ethiopian friends to buy our dinner. I'm pretty sure we ended up with a goat, but I cannot tell the difference between the goats and sheep here. Sheep have a wider tail, maybe. Anyways, this is the animal market of Asella the day before a 55-year day fast ended. Everyone was pretty much licking their lips. And while expectations rarely match reality here in Ethiopia, this is exactly what I wanted/expected an open-air animal market to be like. Pure, wonderful chaos. Or at least that is how it seemed to me.