Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tabaski 2010

This morning, my cell phone went off before I was even ready to get out of bed. Since today is a holiday in Burkina Faso, I was really looking forward to sleeping in! But someone had other ideas. It turned out to be a message from my cell phone provider, Zain, wishing me a bonne fête d’Aid El-Kébir. I wish they’d have let me sleep in instead!

But since I was now awake, Kathy & I decided to commence celebrating the Muslim holiday of Tabaski (otherwise known as the Fête de Mouton here) by having a special cup of delicious, home-brewed Starbucks coffee while lounging back in our comfy IKEA chairs and reading a good book and magazine respectively. We’re not Muslims, but that’s no reason not to have a fun time on this holiday, is it?!!

Later on in the morning, when the caffeine had kicked in and I felt ready to face the day, I headed out in the truck to find some chicken wire and window screen. I don’t get much time at home these days, so the handyman work piles up and I need to do it when I get the chance... like today. Let me tell you, it was a great day to be driving the streets of Ouaga. Because of the holiday, there was hardly any traffic! Unfortunately, there were hardly any stores open either. Just my luck that 95% of the hardware stores in Ouaga are owned by Muslims! I finally found one that was owned by a Catholic :)

So I was able to get my window screens repaired this afternoon while listening to the bleating of nearby sheep and firecrackers going off in the neighbourhood.

Our night guard is a Muslim, so he has the night off to celebrate with his family, and I hired a replacement guard. A couple of weeks ago, he mentioned that he needed to buy a sheep for the celebration. At the time, they were going for around $50 and he wanted the money now because the price was only going to go up as the date got closer. So I loaned it to him. Last night he told me that additional family members had arrived from the village to say that they were going to celebrate Tabaski with them. So he needed more money to buy additional food supplies. I gave him an advance on his salary.

Well, Kathy & I are going to finish today’s celebrations with calzone for supper. In my opinion, that beats mutton any day!

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