At the risk of coming off as one of those cloying, cat-obsessed memesters, I've pasted below a few pictures of us with our new small friends. Their names are Anton and Mina. Anton peed in the corner today and Mina tore open my toe with her claws this morning. Plus, we have to steal sand from nearby construction sites for use as kitty-litter. But in general I'm quite pleased with our larger household, despite the increasing scatological issues.
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On to sheep!
Which brings me to one of my favorite holiday songs,
"It's the most wonderful time of the year,
with the kids jingle belling,
and everyone telling you "be of good cheer",
It's the most wonderful time of the year
It's the hap-happiest season of all,
with those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings,
when friends come to call,
TO HIDEOUSLY SACRIFICE ENORMOUS SHEEP ON YOUR APARTMENT BUILDING ROOF!!!"
It's the holiday season here. But it's not Christmas, it's Eid Lkibeer. 70 days after the end of Ramadan, everybody who can afford to, purchases a sheep. They keep it around for a few days so that the children can grow attached. And then they slaughter it, eating its organs first. This is scheduled for Friday, but until then, we have a growing petting zoo outside our window. Our neighbors often spend their time out on the roof; keeping their sheep company, feeding it grass, playing it music. It's a festive time.
I realize Christmas must seem equally silly to the outsider. Every family goes to a parking lot and buys a small tree, puts it in their house so it sheds all over their rug, drapes it with crap that usually fills maybe half of their total household storage place, puts toys under the tree, and plays music about Jesus/Santa/reindeer/old men bearing spices.
To gain further perspective on Islam, I've started to read the Koran (simultaneously balancing it with the unflinchingly racist account of Lawrence of Arabia)- stay tuned for dead sheep and Koranic quotes!
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| Krista, Mina, sunset from window |
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| Mina napping |
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| Mina doesn't like this, Anton doesn't care. |
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| typical |
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| newest neighbors, future dead sheep |
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| petting zoo |
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