Community Barbeque

We have been settling in at Galmi for a few weeks and, unfortunately, most of that time one or more of us has been sick. I guess that comes with the territory. Tab had a full week of work last week and I did a day or so, but, unfortunately, we keep getting interrupted by our kids vomiting on stuff. We have been taking prophylactic anti-malaria medicine for several weeks now but that did not stop one of our kids from getting malaria. We also had some sort of food contamination issue the other day. I was lucky enough not to eat any of the offending food and, therefore, I got to be the one that ran around with buckets and rags cleaning up while everyone else was sick. Thankfully, everyone seems to be on the mend and we should be back to our regularly scheduled programs soon. 

One of the more interesting activities we have participated in lately is a community barbeque. One of our friends has a herd of sheep and one of the lambs got the bloat. There is no vet here and they tried several things, but nothing worked to cure the problem. It was clear the animal was going to die, and the only real option was to euthanize it. 

Typically, the customs here do not allow for eating animals that are dying. In fact, there are quite a few things one must do before butchering an animal for it to be acceptable to eat. There are some good reasons not to eat an animal that is sick especially if you don't know why it is dying. However, in this case, it was just an animal eating the wrong thing or too much of it. I don't think that poses a danger to our health. So, our friend set up a butcher to come cut it up and take it to a man who would cook it. It was all a very interesting process. 

One of the more interesting processes is the cooking part. Back home, there is barbeque culture where people use charcoal or propane or smokers to cook and finish meat. Often people have very strong opinions of what is the best way to cook a hamburger or steak or brisket on a barbeque or a smoker or what-have-you.  

Here, there is also a serious meat cooking culture. They set up a fire very spread out on the ground and put sticks and rods through the carcass making it flat. sometimes they have a grate or grill to lay it on.  They spend hours and hours roasting it next to the fire adding spices and oil quite frequently. Then, when it is done, they wrap it in a paper bag and deliver it to the feast. It doesn't always look great, but I can assure you that it has the tenderness and flavors that everyone can love. 

After the meat was delivered, my friend took the meat off of the bones and onto a serving tray, and since there was so much meat that is best served hot, everyone here was invited to come and bring a side dish. It reminded me of a 4th of July barbeque, with kids running everywhere with food and sugary drinks. It was one of the better meals I have ever had in Niger, not just because of the meat, but also because of the community that was a part of it. 

Our January Travels

If any of you are still out there...we are here too! Its been a bit of a whirlwind...we've been like snails with our "house" on our back moving from place to place. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, we have our car (and generous friends and family that have provided homes for us).

A few of the highlights from January:

Visiting our friend Caiti in Boston- before they got all the snow! :)

Ice Skating 

Touring the TAZA Chocolate Factory

Ether Dome

The Ether Dome was on the top of my list of things to see in Boston. One of my attendings in residency would mention this place frequently- its where the first public demonstration of general anesthesia occurred.  Operating is so much better with good anesthesia!

Galmi reunion...complete with a game of Settlers.

We also enjoyed visiting with good friends from college and medical school...and meeting some new members of the their families!

Have we really known each other for almost 15 years?!

 

So fun catching up in person!

And Luke fulfilled on of his New Years Resolutions from January...."Buy a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and see how many I can eat."   

We helped him...but they didn't last more than a day or two.

We've come very close to completing our "fun" list of things to do while back in America. Now, if only we could figure out some more things on the "important" list. Like, where are we going to live?

arctic freeze

We are now mobile!! After a somewhat painful searching and bargaining process, we have found and purchased a used car. We took advantage of that and drove to the snowy mountains of North Carolina.  We didn't anticipate the "arctic freeze" with -19F weather with wind chill. Brrr....

Snow...so beautiful

Its is freezing cold here!  Fires are wonderful.

Bundled up to the max

We are also successfully crossing other fun stuff off our list (as you may have noticed, most of them having to do with food). :)

Chips!!

a nephew after my own heart...he loves potato chips! (yes, perhaps I am a bit of a bad influence on my niece's and nephew's food choices...but isn't that what aunties are for?)

Take-out Pizza! Check. This will likely happen many more times. :)

Zaxby's!!!  (helped keep us sane during car shopping)

Everything is Awesome

Jet lag has been pretty brutal...but so far, most things about America are as awesome as we remembered. At the very least, we are enjoying a "honeymoon phase" of re-entry. We have checked  eleven things off the list of "Things We Are Looking Forward to in America."  About 30 more to go, then we can get down to the business of figuring out what to do with the rest of our lives. :)

Page One of "The FUN List"

Bacon Hamburger in the D.C. airport

Gingerbread houses!

A good use of the leftover Halloween candy

Pickles! HAM!  Cream Cheese!!! AMAZING

Its so big :)

so much meat!

Blue Cheese! Pears! Lettuce!

Christmas puzzles

VIDEO Skype...the power didn't go out even once

Hats, gloves, and a blue sky

$0.58 cents for a donut. WHAT?!

It all starts with a piece of bubble gum

There is a strange (to me) Saturday morning tradition here.  Its nothing like the American tradition of waking up late then eating a bowl of Lucky Charms while watching cartoons.

It all starts with a piece of bubble gum.

This is your invitation to a baby-naming ceremony: a piece of bubble gum is handed to you about a week before the ceremony.

A baby-naming ceremony, sounds like fun right? It is, except for one thing. They are always on Saturday morning. And not late morning...traditional start time is 7 am!  And, unlike many things here, the party starts on time.

After working for 12 days without a break, we dragged ourselves out of bed this morning to attend the baby-naming ceremony (biki) of some friends of ours.  When we arrived, Luke stayed outside with all the men, while I went inside the compound with the rest of the women.

All the men sit outside in plastic chairs.

The women are inside the compound, cooking food (see the metal pot in the background) and going inside to meet the baby.

Holding the baby before the name has been announced.

This is also the time to give a gift (usually done by discretely handing the mom some cash- awkward) and then to receive a "party favor" which is usually a plastic bag containing some variation of popcorn, biscuits, and the ubiquitous Robot bubble gum.

When the preacher officiating the ceremony outside is ready to announce the name, the baby is whisked outside and the name is announced to all of the men. The news quickly spreads in to the women waiting inside.  Then we eat breakfast. With our hands.

Breakfast- meat sauce with chunks of tuwo (pounded rice).

Then, its over.  On our way home, Luke stopped to buy a more American-style breakfast.

The doughnut shop. Hot and Ready...just add sugar. (As opposed to the traditional chilli powder, oil, and beans.)

success!

so we opened our fifth avocado...and fifth time's the charm

we added the guacamole mix

it was magically delicious!!!

life here can feel a lot like making guacamole

Life used to be like this: Walk through the produce section in the grocery story , see avocados on sale, buy avocados, wait a day or so until they are slightly soft, make guacamole. Simple. Delicious. We love guacamole.

So, when we were sent a package of guacamole mix we were pretty excited. Until we read the label: just add avocados. Um, ya, no avocados here. Well, we did have an avocado last year that someone brought from a neighboring country.  So, a couple of weeks ago when our friend C brought back four avocados from the capital, we were quite excited.

After a week in the refrigerator, their skins were still very hard. We couldn't tell if they were ripe, so we cut one open. Nope. Bitter, hard, definitely not ripe.

Then there were three.  We put them out on the counter to ripen more. Two days later, they had white moldy fuzz growing on them. We cut another one open. The outer 1/4 inch was ripe...the rest was still rock hard and bitter. Luke was a bit upset that we had opened the avocado and told us be patient and wait longer. So we did.

Two days later, two avocados left.

We cut through hard skin to find this:

appetizing? i think not.

Half of the avocado was rotten and the other half was rock-hard. None of it was ripe.  WHAT?!

End result: No avocados. No guacamole.
Just add avocados...why can't anything be that simple here?

Today, our friend J brought us a gift from the capital:

doesn't seem ripe yet, but maybe tomorrow there will be guacamole. we hope.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

spoiled weekend

As in, we are spoiled by you.  We have had a relaxing, fun, delicious weekend made possible by the generous gifts and packages we have received. It started when I got home from work and found a new package on the table!!!  Our friend C came over, saw it, and got super-excited as well....so excited she stayed to "help" us open it. :)

A package opening party- smiling and laughing and dancing about.

We had some friends over to play a game of Settlers while drinking tea and eating candy and chocolate.

We've been blessed with enough Skittles to share. Our Australian friend who had never heard of Skittles is now a big fan.

It poured rain for several hours on Friday night and it was blessedly cool Saturday morning.  

Martin coping with the cold weather by rolling up into a ball.

By "cool" I mean less than 90F...which means we can sit in our living room in relative comfort. After 120F, 82F feels downright amazing.

I enjoyed some coffee with flavored creamer and had some quiet reading time.

My weekend home improvement project: our toilet paper holder before.

After: Painted black using some paint my mom brought over for us.

Luke woke up and asked what was for breakfast. I reminded him about this tasty goodness in the refrigerator.

Pop Tarts = Happy

 Then, C came over and we had a cooking/baking party. 

chocolate chips...like gold around here :)

Chocolate chip pecan cookies!!!  (Vanilla, chips, pecans, baking soda all imported)

Salmon croquettes with Siracha mayo. They were amazing!!!

Chillin' reading some magazines.

After baking and eating salmon croquettes we enjoyed a few games of Dutch Blitz. And that was just our Saturday...made possible by people like you. :)