Easter and Food

Since my last post we have had two celebrations. The first was on Sunday to thank our homesty families since we movie out tomorrow, and the second was with my family for Easter. Two parties in 8 days doesn't sound like much, but the amount of food that is eaten in order to be polite takes some time to recover from. It is almost 2:00 in the afternoon on Monday and I am still full from yesterday.

People spoke about Easter like we do Thanksgiving, where people plan on just getting together and eating a lot. That wasn't incredibly appealing because I already eat WAY more here than at home because guests are given an absurd amount of food. If I take an average size portion I am quickly told to "add more." Meals consist of a "food" and a "sauce"and sometimes a green (it depends on the family). The food is the bulk of the meal as is usually posho (maize meal that looks like mashed potatos but has less flavor) or matoke (a type of banana that is boiled or steamed and then mashed). The sauce is either meat or beans. Both are served as stew with a lot of broth so the posho or matoke have more flavor. The most common meats served are fish, chicken, goat, or pork. The fish and chicken are bought live generally, and the goat and pork are bought at meat joints. These are usually shacks with the meat hanging outside. To buy it you tell them how many kilos you want, then they remove that much with their machete. The bones and skin and whatever else may come with that particular hunk of meat are prepared with everything. With that in mind, here is how my Easter went...

I woke up at 7:30 for the 9:00 service. I was ready to go at 8:30, and I knew because of African time my family would not be but I did not want to be the reason we were late. By the time we arrived at the church the service was over (I think it was around 11), so we went to another church to pray. Two and a half hours later we returned home and took tea. We skipped breakfast, so tea at 1:30 consisted of tea, rolls, odi (which is sort of like peanut butter), bananas, and goat. As I was finishing my tea, my host mom tol me lunch would be ready in about three hours.

I went to help prepare lunch, we were making chicken and chips. This chicken was already slaughtered, that was what woke me up in the morning, but it still had to be boiled. When my family ran to the market to get more oil for making chips I went to visit my classmate to wish her family happy Easter. Before I knew it there was a plate of food in my hand. At that point it would have been incredibly rude for me to refuse, I was a bad enough guest for not finishing my food. I was given liver, potatos, two types of pasta, and chapati.

When I returned home we were still cooking, but the soda and beer had arrived, so when I was not given food I was given a coke. At three thirty lunch was ready. We had matoke, posho, chicken, more goat, and potatos. While I was eating lunch my host mom and brother informed me I was going to barbeque the pork. I have been trying to explain that I know how to cook at home, we just cook differently. This was true for grilling too. My host brother taught me how to clean the meet and get the grill ready. I quickly learned that the skin of the pig was left on because "it's one of the sweetest parts." By 5:30 dinner was ready. We sat outside listening to music and eating the pork off the gril. It was very tasty, but for some reason I wasn't hungry.

At about 10:00 my host parents told me we were going out for Easter. I got in the car and we arrived at a very nice house. Apparently we were meeting some of their friends. We were there for about a half hour before a plate of pork was put in front of me. We got home around one when I was informed that we will have to eat the rest of the pork for breakfast. Unfortunately I had to go to school before breakfast was ready.

Overall it was a fantastic Easter. It was very relaxed and a nice excuse to not do homework. I will definately not forget m first holiday in Uganda.