Tuesday Oct. 19 - I don't wanna be a goat, Nope!

*Disclaimer - if you have a weak stomach or just don't like hearing about or seeing dead animals please skip the first part of this post.*

BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!  "Gary. Kimberly. Are you ready?" 

"Yes, just a minute," said Gary in his morning voice.

"Ok, the goats are here and they are waiting on you."

That is how we were woken up on Tuesday morning by Dharma.  The night before we were prepared to be woken up in the middle of night because they had ordered goats to be slaughtered and chopped into meat for the last day of the Narsapur workshop and we were going to watch.  I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting myself into.  Gary will bring fish home and I'll watch him fillet them and then I'm ok to eat them.  However, those fish are already dead by the time they get to our house.  We watched these goats from start to finish.  The goats were supposed to arrive in the middle of night but because of traffic they didn't get there until about 7am.  

What we saw:

There were 4 helpless goats laying on the ground about to face their doom.  Their legs were tied together  and they were not making any noise.  Two men were standing over them sharpening knives.  One leaned down and sliced one of the goats throat.  It was quick death for the goat.  They then skinned the bottom half of the goat and broke its legs to make it easier to hang and clean.  Before they hung it up they would completely decapitate it.   There were a couple that must have just eaten because when they hung them some watery green stuff (grass) gushed out.  The guys had a bucket of water sitting next to them and they would dip their hands in the water and then push their fist down the inside of the skin, as seen in the below picture.  They would do this until the skin was completely off.

They would then cut all of the insides out and disregard the pieces they didn't want and somehow hang the ones they did want to the legs.  They moved so fast it was hard to keep up.  They were even talking and laughing while they were doing this, so they obviously they had plenty of experience.  Once they got rid of all of the parts that were not edible they would weigh the actual meat. 

After weighing they threw it in a bucket and soaked it. 

This is after they weighed it and they were getting all of the meat off the bones.

Jyothsna only came out later because she doesn't like to see or hear all of that.

Chopping up the meat.

At first I was a little bothered by the whole idea, but once it turned into meat I didn't really think anything about it, except eating it.

This little guy on the right actually made it through.  He was later put on a rickashaw and driven off, probably to a different place of doom, but he made it through one.

This really brings a whole new meaning to the song "I don't wanna be a goat, Nope!"  Speaking of that at the end of this post I have a question for all of you readers so please continue reading.

You weak stomach readers can begin reading now ; ).

After the goats we went back upstairs and got ready for the day.  We came back down had breakfast.

This was our chef for the week.  From what I understand he is the cook at a school and Dharma will have him come and cook when they have fellowship meals or big gatherings for church.  Dharma taught him and some other guys how to prepare our food for the week (because we have weak stomachs and can't eat or drink what they can).  There was even one day we went to a workshop that was about 3 hours away and little did I know that he also came along to cook our lunch.  His name is Sudharshan and he was always smiling!!

We loved that he wore a chef hat when he cooked!

After breakfast (or tiffon as the Indians call it) Gary went upstairs to start the 2nd day of the SFT workshop, while I stayed downstairs with Jyothsna and Sirisha for them to dress me up.

The girls fixed my hair, put jewelry on me, painted my nails and toe nails, and the best part...I got to wear a saree!!!!!

The finished product!!!

I wasn't exactly sure how I was supposed to hold that extra piece.

Since I didn't go up with Gary I walked up in the middle of him talking and everybody stared at me.  I had to walk down this aisle.  I think I was more nervous than the day I got married. 

Dharma then made me stand up in front of everybody and announced that I was in traditional Indian dress, even though every could see that, and he was saying how beautiful I was. 

Since it was my first time to wear a saree of course I was a little self-conscience but every just kept reassuring me that it looked great!  It was so sweet!! 

I haven't completely mastered the saree yet.  There is a loose piece that hangs around the back of your left shoulder and you are supposed to hold it in you right hand.  Well, I would gather as much as I could and just wad it up in my right hand.  Jyothsna had to correct several times throughout the day and teach me how to hold it because if I wad it up then you can't see the flowers that are on that part of the fabric.  Also, when I would walk I would grab the bottom with both hands and hike it on up, especially up stairs.  Once again Jyothsna had to correct me and say that you only hold the middle up with your right hand and not very high : ).  I'm going to keep practicing and hopefully by my next visit I'll be a saree champ!!

These 2 guys were troopers for the whole week.  I don't think I really remember going to a place without them being there.  They were so sweet.  I wish I knew their names.

Sirisha brought this baby up at one point.

He is related to Teja some how.  He wasn't the happiest camper so I had to give him back pretty quickly.

We got to meet Teja's whole family that day.  I would try and explain how everyone is related but I'm not exactly sure.  I know the girl in the yellow is Teja's sister.  The guy hiding behind her is Teja's father, then Sirisha, and Teja.

Gary loves flipping the sides of his mustache up.  Thank goodness it's not long enough for him to actually wear it like that.  Everyone thought it was hilarious though.

He's goofy!

See you can barely tell.  Whew!!

I don't remember this man's story, but I just thought he was so cute!!! 

Here's Gary talking him and I'm sad I didn't have my flash on : (.

Tuesday was a good day!!  I love my saree, I loved the muton, and I love being around all of these great Christian people!!

Ok so here is the question that I was talking about earlier:

Do you know that song I don't wanna be a goat, Nope!?  Well, I'm not going to tell you whose answer is whose, but I want you to tell me how you sing it.

#1:  I don't want to be a goat.  Nope!  I don't wanna be a goat.  Nope...I just wanna be a sheep (pause a little) baa (actually sound like a sheep baaing).

#2: I don't want to be a goat.  Nope!  I don't wanna be a goat.  Nope...I just wanna be a sheep. ba ba ba baa. 

If that doesn't make sense I'm sorry and you don't have to vote, but if you have any idea what I'm talking about please let me know which way you sing it!! 

Happy voting,