Moooo...

So many of you, I’m sure all of you, have noticed that I’m now on Facebook. Not a fan but it is a good waste of time when all I’ve got is time… sometimes. I still plan to use this as my primary means of getting the word out, but I’m sure I’ll be throwing some pictures up over there from time to time as well. But that’s not what this post is about.

This week was not as stressful as last week. I think mostly because I was counting down the days till Friday was over so I could relax over this weekend and then go to a conference all next week far far away from my school. Then the following Monday is a Georgian holiday so no school that day either. Thats10 days of no school starting tomorrow morning! Hells yeah! Can you tell my 9th graders are getting on my nerves?

This was the week of the cow. We killed an older cow and old cows are apparently the best for your health and you should use all of it. Wednesday was fried cow stomach (pretty good I might add) and cow brains in some kind of stewed fashion. Let’s just say that the Tuesday preparation of the cow was a little intense. My host-dad was sawing away at the cows feet so me can make more xhash (see my post below if you don’t know what that is) while my host-brother was working on the head of the cow to extract all the good bits. I’m going to post a video of this below, but it’s really dark and not all that good. Our dining room has very little light in there once the sun goes down. But, you’ll get the point. Nothing too gross.

The Head and my host-brother with The Head

Wednesday I also did my three hours of hand washing clothes. That was after being at school all day and going back to teach my night class. The cow helped me regain my strength though.

Thursday there was a concert at my school. It was some kind of Azeri historical holiday and the kids read a bunch of prewritten proverbs and information, sang some songs, did a few dances and in general put on a long drawn out program. I didn’t take any pictures because my view was obstructed by a flower arrangement. It wasn’t that exciting anyway. After the show, all the teachers stuck around and had a small dinner. After that the male teachers stuck around and we all had a big vodka fest. It was fun and we all had a good time once the kids were gone. I didn’t drink all that much because I knew I had to walk home afterwards on our less than even road. But, even so one of the teachers insisted on walking me home. It was funny because the whole way we have our arms locked together and I’m holding him up all the way down the hill to my house.

All my teachers say hello by the way

Friday was even better because when I got to school every male teacher except one was obviously hung over. I wasn’t that bad at all because I’m sure I was the only one that stopped drinking once I got home. After school and my Azeri language lesson I walked down to the next town and met another volunteer so we could try out the new café in town. Again, nothing too exciting. But, we did each get a free piece of cake for being American and stopping by. I doubt that’s going to be my deciding factor as to whether I go back or not though.

Anyway, that’s all for this post. Just thought I would catch you up and let you know that the next time you’re in the market for a good meal, don’t forget the cow. Cow; the other brown meat.

Peace!