OhEmGee!!! I'm pretty sure what just sat
before me on the dinner table was a huge bowl of chitterlings prepared just for
me. But, here's the thing...I don't eat
chitterlings...and even worse, THERE ARE NO PIGS AROUND HERE!!! So I'm sitting
at the table telling myself, it's okay you
can do this. It's okay, you can do
this. Just chew and swallow...chew and
swallow...QUICKLY!
**Sidenote:
To have meat in Rwanda is a privilege.
The people here are usually unable to afford it and so when my mom said
"inyama" ever so proudly, I shuddered a bit. I don't like the way the meat is prepared
here and I have already decided that I am going to keep with a vegetarian diet
until I get back to the states. ..but then my host mom makes meat. And it's rude to not eat it...**
Back to the story,
before I even attempted to put a piece of "meat" in my mouth, I just toyed around with the accompanying rice and tried to decide if I wanted to take in a mouthful of rice and then the meat to kind of hide the flavor...or if I wanted to take in the meat and then the rice right after. I decided on a combination of the two, chew some rice, then a small piece of meat, and then some more rice. Before I continue on with my dinner time horror story, here is a description of what the meat looked like. Imagine a spiral noodle or spiral piece of pasta...Okay now imagine that same spiral pasta about 4 times thicker and 3 times longer. Now when I attempted to cut the "meat" with my fork, it kind of bounced back after I pushed down on it; it wouldn't cut. Hmmmm...now what??! No knives, just my teeth and a fork. I remember a while back when I was in Phoenix on my way to church and I saw a dead cat squished in the street. The intestines that were splattered on the street were a nicer version of what this mystery meat on my plate looked like. So back to the task at hand. I ended up just picking up one of these pieces of "meat," held my breath, and put it in my mouth. (Mind you, I'm going through all of this and trying not to show my host mom that I'm definitely not sure of what is on my plate and I'm even less sure if I want to eat it). My facial expression said nothing (at least I hope it didn't) and the more I chewed, the larger the "meat" became. It's like it expanded in my mouth. So for about two minutes, (I am not exaggerating) I chewed on this "meat" and periodically put some rice in my mouth to help with the bad flavor and terrible texture. I kept trying to break the meat up with my teeth, but I couldn't. Eventually I decided I would just have to swallow it whole...and so I took a deep breath and I did. One large chunk of what I believe to have been cow intestine (I'll have to ask my language trainer tomorrow) slid slowly down my throat, leaving a very unwelcome taste in my mouth and chunks in my teeth. Next, I finished up my rice and toyed around with the thought of eating the other two pieces of "meat" on my plate. I quickly rejected the idea and decided that if I had to choose one time to "offend" my host mother that this would have to be it. I just couldn't take another bite.
before I even attempted to put a piece of "meat" in my mouth, I just toyed around with the accompanying rice and tried to decide if I wanted to take in a mouthful of rice and then the meat to kind of hide the flavor...or if I wanted to take in the meat and then the rice right after. I decided on a combination of the two, chew some rice, then a small piece of meat, and then some more rice. Before I continue on with my dinner time horror story, here is a description of what the meat looked like. Imagine a spiral noodle or spiral piece of pasta...Okay now imagine that same spiral pasta about 4 times thicker and 3 times longer. Now when I attempted to cut the "meat" with my fork, it kind of bounced back after I pushed down on it; it wouldn't cut. Hmmmm...now what??! No knives, just my teeth and a fork. I remember a while back when I was in Phoenix on my way to church and I saw a dead cat squished in the street. The intestines that were splattered on the street were a nicer version of what this mystery meat on my plate looked like. So back to the task at hand. I ended up just picking up one of these pieces of "meat," held my breath, and put it in my mouth. (Mind you, I'm going through all of this and trying not to show my host mom that I'm definitely not sure of what is on my plate and I'm even less sure if I want to eat it). My facial expression said nothing (at least I hope it didn't) and the more I chewed, the larger the "meat" became. It's like it expanded in my mouth. So for about two minutes, (I am not exaggerating) I chewed on this "meat" and periodically put some rice in my mouth to help with the bad flavor and terrible texture. I kept trying to break the meat up with my teeth, but I couldn't. Eventually I decided I would just have to swallow it whole...and so I took a deep breath and I did. One large chunk of what I believe to have been cow intestine (I'll have to ask my language trainer tomorrow) slid slowly down my throat, leaving a very unwelcome taste in my mouth and chunks in my teeth. Next, I finished up my rice and toyed around with the thought of eating the other two pieces of "meat" on my plate. I quickly rejected the idea and decided that if I had to choose one time to "offend" my host mother that this would have to be it. I just couldn't take another bite.
And tonight I'll say this prayer: Please
God, PLEASE...DO NOT let tonight's leftover's be dinner for tomorrow.
Love and Peace Corps,
Dametreea
(Written on 5/18/12 at 9:20pm)
(Written on 5/18/12 at 9:20pm)
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