One tradition they have here in Kazakhstan is the killing of sheep whenever there is a wedding, funeral, 40 day celebration for a newborn child, birthday, or holiday. One day about a month ago during recess time Nick came and told me that 3 sheep were being killed right outside our school gate. I did not witness the killings, but I watched in fascination as they hung the sheep upside down from a tree, skinned them, gutted them and drained all the blood out. They then put all the insides on the skins, rolled them up, and threw them in the back of a truck. The method that they kill the sheep is a learned art and called the halol method. (The younger generation have already lost this art.) They drug all the left overs to the garbage, leaving a dark stain across the packed dirt. When I walk to school I still see the stained ground and the sheep droppings. Are you having meat for supper?
I'm amazed that I got on my blog. It is generally closed down, so now that I am here I am out of words. I have been wanting to tell you that the thing I missed most about Christmas was the Christmas lights, but when I got back to Aktau they had Christmas lights up everywhere and just took them down a week or so ago. So I got my year's supply of Christmas light glory.
I'm still doing great and excited about coming home to the states for the summer. My school pays my way. I am coming back next year to put in my second year. After that I might try to transfer to another school to explore another part of the world.
Have a great spring.
Love, Rachel
Did your kids watch, too? They probably got an eyeful!!! Very interesting. Out walking the other night, we saw a set of intestines in the middle of the street and nothing else. Hadn't even been run over yet. Oscar smelled it as we quickly jerked him away! Strange. Glad you got back onto your blog. :o) Love you, Rose
ReplyDeleteI am glad your back too! It's hard to believe that we only have a month of school left. We had a day similar to yours here in Sumatra. Except on a much larger scale. Its called the day of Sacrifice. It's exactly what it sounds like. I figured it might be a little much for the kids to see so we stayed close to home that day.
ReplyDeleteMiss Ya! Kathi