Tuesday: I woke up (very) early again to meet Noura, a friend I met through my evening English classes here. She came to pick me up and take me to spend the first day of Al-Eid celebrations with her family, which was a great honor and experience for me. She apologized for being a little late, as she had had trouble getting a taxi on the holiday... oh, and also the cow that her family had bought for sacrificing was blocking the door of the house, so she couldn't get out for a few minutes until it moved. What!? But I got to see for myself when we arrived and the cow was once again solidly blocking the entrance to the building, where it was tied. We called for Noura's dad, a good-sized man who threw his whole weight into the cow's backside so that we could dash through before it overpowered him again.
...and that was only the first excitement of the day! After clearing the door, I was ushered upstairs to meet all of Noura's extended family who were gathering there to spend the day. Some spoke a little English, but most patiently asked me questions slowly and then waited either for me to comprehend or for Noura or her sisters to translate. Soon though, one of the male cousins came up to announce that the butcher had arrived, so they were about to sacrifice. We all hurried downstairs... and yes, I watched.
I assured them that I had seen animals slaughtered before, but when I really thought about it, my history of "animals slaughtered" is limited to chickens. A much different story than a whole cow--bull, actually, so even bigger. I won't go into details here about the excitement of getting this huge and frightened bull tied and on the ground, but soon enough the deed was done; the men of the family shouted "Bismillah!" and "Allahu-akbar!" and ceremoniously cut the throat. We didn't stay to watch the rest-- my host and most of the other cousins preferred not to see the butchering process.
I spent the rest of the day with Noura's family, which reminded me a lot of my own family Thanksgiving gatherings--lots of cousins and aunts and uncles crowded into a few rooms of a house, without much to do except talk and wait for food. It made me slightly less sad about missing Thanksgiving at my grandparents' in Kansas this year... or maybe a little more sad, or both.
We ate "fatHa" for the main meal, which consisted of a huge bowl with bread in the bottom, covered with rice and a small percentage of the sacrificed meat, which the menfolk had been in the sitting room chopping all morning from a hunk of beef hanging from the ceiling. What wasn't eaten by Noura's family would be distributed to friends and poor families around town-- not every family chooses to or is able to sacrifice an animal every year.
I left Noura's early enough to come home, shower, and get dressed for an engagement party for (my host dad) Ehab's cousin. I knew it would be a big deal after seeing Ehab & Jackleen's engagement video, but had no idea it would be almost exactly as extravagant as a wedding-- complete with a service in the church, video recording of every move the future bride and groom make, cutting the cake at the reception, the big expensive dress (this one colored, though), and dancing until the early hours of the morning. It was... a very long day for me.
Wednesday I slept late, then leisurely read in my bed for about an hour before getting a surprise phone call from Besem, one of the English course teachers and one of our coordinator/companions. He would be here to pick me up in 10 minutes to go hang out with the other four from my group. !! I jumped into some clothes and took off again. This day was much more low-key, which was needed... and it consisted of a nice short boat ride across the Nile, my first ever donkey ride, and teaching Besem and Teresa to play Dutch Blitz. A successful day, I think. :)
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