Weekend Reflections

On Friday most Muslims celebrated Tabaski by killing a sheep in commemoration of the sacrifice of Abraham --- I say most because some performed the sacrifice on Thursday based on the sighting of the new moon. This was my first time to watch a sheep be sacrificed and it was interesting to watch how submissive it acted before its death. The father of the house performs the act with the assistance of his sons while the women and younger children prepare the onion sauce and grill the fresh meat. I have never seen as much meat as I saw on Friday, even a street lady I passed by had a large metal bowl full of meat others had given to her. The family below me killed two large sheep and spent a few hours skinning and chopping up the meat. I hadn't thought about how much work is involved, it's actually not a very restful day. A couple of my neighbors gave me meat and one piece of meat still had sheep hair on it. I decided to put the meat in my freezer for later...wish I appreciated fresh meat more...

Later in the day after the main meal, children get all dressed up in new clothes and visit neighbors. (My camera is broken so I don't have pics right now, but will have some later from my 35mm.) Not just neighbor kids asked me for money but random kids on the street. In some ways it is no different from any other day, just more accepted on Tabaski and they are dressed up. One of my friends told me she walked by two ladies with tied scarves stretched across a walkway and as she was about to walk past the ladies tightened the scarves for her to have to step over. They wanted her to pay a toll for walking by, but she didn't know and kept walking. I'm not sure the origin of this but it's common on Tabaski.

I spent the rest of Friday and a good portion of Saturday at a sleep over with girls, around my age, from the evangelical church near my house. More than anything it brought to the surface my personal and cultural disposition, such as not loving sleep overs the way I use to when I was younger. I wasn't anticipating the event to go until 2 in the afternoon on Saturday and was ready to leave soon after I woke up. I get restless easily if I have to stay in the same place for a while and don't feel like I can leave. Partly, I was not always interested in what was happening, for example when we had a discussion time on Proverbs 31 and focused primarily on the importance of keeping a house orderly when we get married. I'm going to try to continue to be involved at some level with this group and hopeful learn ways I can connect with these girls...

I've been reflecting lately on how much I miss the holiday season and how it's hard for me to get into the joy of the season here. Here, it is more a day event, than a whole month. It's interesting because even Muslims celebrate it by doing something special with their family. It's depressing though because the Christmas that has been imported is of a jolie Père Noël and his winter wonderland which has no connection to the local context of the Sahel. I hope this Christmas season has been special for you with it centered on the celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Savior. Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël!

Immanuel - God with us.

I had a Christmas party tonight with a few of my friends on the street; it turned out to be a true celebration of God's work in our lives. Despite language barriers, I read them the story of Matthew's account of Jesus' birth in Wolof (I didn't really understand what I was reading but they helped me with the pronunciation) and thankfully a couple of them were familiar with the story. After we talked about God giving His Son to live among men, Aissatou said to me that God brought me here to be friends with them. She said that it gave pleasure to God that we were friends and then she broke out in a song about God giving us each other as friends. It was a beautiful expression of her gratitude and reminder for me that is at work among us.

Christmas Cookies and Photo Booth

Are you serious?

More than once this week, I posed the question, Are you serious? Certain social encounters really throw me off like when you meet a friend for lunch and, as soon as you sit down, a man you do not know tells you to scoot over so he can sit at the same table. No, neither you nor your friend invited him to sit down much less know him. As you're trying to talk he interrupts to ask if you could speak French, because he cannot understand what you are saying. He tells you it as if you were speaking Chinese... When this happens the day after two guys expect you to pick up their tap after going out for a drink with a group of friends, even though they were the ones who invited themselves to come along, it begins to wear on you. And then your French teacher asks to end class early so he can go to the grocery store, even though it will still be open after class... sometimes it's just hard to understand. From others, you experience generosity and kindness that makes you feel a part of a family and gives you a sense of belonging such as cooking lunch with a friend, receiving a beautiful necklace from a beggar, and laughing with neighbors as they teach you a foot game.

December - strike, package bureaucracy, and Tabaski

This morning I walked past my sixteen-year-old neighbor sitting in a plastic chair on the sidewalk talking to a friend and stopped to ask why he was not in school. He informed me, with a smile, that the students decided to go on strict so they could get out of school earlier for Tabaski. Now starting today, instead of Tuesday, their school is on break until after the first of the year.

Small packages are the way to go because if you receive a large package you have to pick it up from the package office. I went to the package post office with a friend to pick up her package and we had to go through ten steps to get her package. First we gave the man in front her package slip, then we walked back to an office and had a man give us another slip, then another man stamped the slip, followed by someone else taking us to the package room who then found and opened the box up for us. He decided how much the box was worth and gave a price for the fee which was then negotiated. After my friend went and paid the fee and then took the slip to another who stamped it verifying she paid and then she received a slip to pay another small tax. Finally, when this was all done the man at the front who we originally talked to went and brought the package from the back to hand to us. It was a good thing we were the only ones there at the time.

The streets near my house resemble a barn, filled with sheep and hay, in preparation for the Muslim holiday next week (either the 20th or 21st depending on the moon). Besides the winter wonderland of Santa decorations at the near by bakery, an occasional street vendor with a Christmas tree or santa toy, and a few stores carrying Christmas decorations, life continues with not much attention to the festivity of the Christmas season. Despite this, you can pray that God would give opportunities for me to share with others the reason for Christmas and why it is significant.