Saturday, September 20, 2008

This article is not for vegetarians ...

When there is 3 months or less left in
my tour I try and spend the majority of time with
the people who've been a big part of my life.
This means hanging out, and with
two years of the language under my belt, it's actually
fun to sit around, make conversation (important
things or not) and share in the local activities.

My next door neighbors have a farm they work
with the normal lineup of animals ... cows, sheep,
chickens, turkeys, pigs and so on.

Yesterday, Friday the 19th, I was in my house when
the next door neighbor came by to ask me if I smelled
the cooking that was going on. In fact I didn't, the
reason being that the weather is getting cold and I
had the doors and windows closed.

So I went to see what was going on. What I saw was
a pot of goulash (click here see prior article on how
they cook it) in the middle of it's preparation.



I asked, how come you guys are making this goulash?
My neighbor answered that it was the result of the
passing away that day of a 500 kilo (about 1,100 lbs
or so
) 13 year old cow from the farm. They explained
how it died ... it swallowed a spike/nail.

So for that reason they had to cut it up and prepare
or sell the meat that day.

I kind of thought ... what better way to spend one
of my last Friday nights in Romania, than to hangout
with my neighbors and experience what one does
when their cow becomes late.

The best part about this is the scene. Here we are sitting
around a pot of cooking goulash
with the remnants of the cow hanging out with the rest of us.

I mean it was really ... literally the remnants of the
cow hanging with us as we cooked the goulash. Here is
what I am talking about ...



You can see that I wasn't joking concerning the cow
hanging around with us. Those are the cow's lungs.



I really don't know what this is, other than it was
explained to me that it is something that's part of
the lung/breathing system. That's all I know about it.



This is supposed to be the spleen.



This picture could be called ... Have a Heart.



This is the cow's tongue.

I am wondering after writing this article if anyone
who has read this article will return to this blog.

But this is a point that the Peace Corps asks us at
our pre-selection interview. The question is ... are
you capable of accepting sacrificing of goats in
your honor or situations of that nature.

Over my years in the countries, I've seen
all kinds of things like this. It comes down to being
capable of accepting people's cultures, their right
to practice their daily cultural habits in their
own countries, without criticism.

I have found that my experiences have opened my
mind to alternative ways to do the same thing ... live.

I guess without getting out of our comfort zones we
never do get the chance of seeing
life from other peoples perspective.

I really like the fact that I am understanding this, and have
to say that my world has gotten and continues to get
bigger as I eliminate the borders that come from the
mind's perception of what is correct in the way of passing
one's life. The results ... there are fewer ideas that bring
thoughts of judgment. There are fewer situations
where a thought of judgment could exist. And with that
comes the gift of eliminating ideas that bring stress in
one's life.

That's one thing I've always said during my time in the
Peace Corps ... I wonder if I've helped the people as
much as they've helped me.

1 comment:

Bene said...

I love the imagery... and humor!