letter 10-26-06

Dear Mom and Dad,Just got your lwetter with the pics, they were nice. Thankyou. Hope things are going well in Taylorville. I finished reading The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven. I enjoyued them, thanks. I got quite a chuckle on how the main character chose her name, Taylor. Pretty cool. The weather has been decidedly drier in the last few weeks. I was sure the rains had completely finished, but last evening the clouds built up and opened their full downpour that gave the crops one last boost. That was probably the last rain of the season. The next good rain probably won't come until latye June or early July. The 23rd was Ramadan, the biggest Muslim holiday of the year. It follows 31 days of fasting which during the day , no Muslim eats or drinks. They do a lot of praying throughout the month and celebrate the end of fasting ( the Karem) by feasting on Ramadan and partying. I tried doing the Karem a few days,but going without water all day and only drinking at night , that just seemed stupidly painful, so I stopped. Too many headaches. The thing that kills me, sometimes, is the women who are pregnant or breastfeeding also do the Karem when they don't have to. Then they complain that they don't have any milk for their baby. Ugh! It's a sacred practice and I don't blame anyone from doing it, but if it threatens your health, what's the point? There few enough people here who can stand to miss a ma meal for a month. All the more devoted, I suppose. The few days following Ramadan, the children tend to dress up and tour the village wishing "Happy Ramadan" in hopes you'll give them candy and/or money. Last year, Ididn't understand this and was annoyed. This year,I was prepared and bought a bag of candy to give out. However, I think I've sufficiently intimidated a number of children in the last year and not very many came tobother me. So,I have a little candy yet to givwe out. Another Habit/tradition during the Karem is to give people packs of sugar so they can add it to their drinks at night for added strength to get through the fasting. I didn't know this until recently and didn't understand why everyone was asking me for sugar. I was like,"Sugar? You've got sugar. Why are you asking me for sugar?" Just another example of clutural exchange/misunderstanding. The day of Ramadan itself I spent at various friends' homes, being fed until I vehementlyrefused more offerings. It was the most chicken I've had since I've beeeen in the country. A nice Change. Well, That's it for now, Hope this letter finds you both healthy and happy. Love,Laura eal, let alonethemain character chose her new name, Taylor. Pretty cool.