Wikipedia reference: Eid al-Adha
A lot of foreigners are repulsed by this ‘savage’ holiday as at first glance it does appear to be on the brutal side, but once you take the time to learn about it, it is quite fascinating, respectful, and very steeped in religious tradition, representing Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son and God providing him a goat instead. And then there is feasting! In the days leading up to it, there are lots of animals in the streets for sale, including camels (I did not ride one). I tried to avoid mentioning to Meagan WHY I saw a camel; I was successful for about a week and then she figured it out. Haven’t seen any camels since, SO THERE.
I did want to go out and wander the streets during this to start to experience the culture (Eid was 1-2 Sept, so I actually got the USA’s Labor Day off!), but I was still fighting jet lag and slept in. I’ll probably miss it next year too, as it will be earlier and probably before I get back from the States.
Most foreigners here come from cities, and so there tends to be an impression that foreigners aren’t used to seeing such things, so they have the (mostly accurate) idea that foreigners would not feel comfortable with this. I come from a hunting family and spent a lot of my life in rural Nebraska, plus I’ve taught dissections. I’m good!
Got to add Sarah and Katie to the cast list! They are also new teachers here, in the PYP (Primary Years Programme). And there ARE other Americans (contrary to what I was told). Cliff is another American who also started at AIA this year; he’s my partner in crime in the science lab.
This comic got delayed by several things, including a 4 TB external hard drive biting the dust (third one in four months; I’m never buying Seagate again) and discovering that Windstream was still charging me for internet back home despite telling them three times to cancel it. That gets a lot harder to deal with, both in hours and method of contact, when abroad. (Plus Windstream in general is hard to deal with, ugh.)
