But first, "Lonnie's" home (his Dad is still not well but on the mend). As predicted, everything fueled by testosterone magically started working upon his arrival. I'm not kidding, the car started right up for him. Acted like it was ready for the Daytona 500...stupid car. At least the AC waited a whole day before working right, and "Lonnie" had to take the cover off and it was scared straight. I can't tell whether I'm excited everything is fixed or annoyed that things only break in my presence. Sigh..
Either way, things are mostly back to normal (whatever that is). We were invited to a BBQ that was held by the Swahili class. Swahili is just one of the 10 languages that people can take here. I heard the words "roasted goat" and I knew we were going....no matter how far the drive! I was just happy for an opportunity to try food that wasn't fried or from a chain restaurant. There are a number of African officers in the school with us from Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, etc...along with the Swahili instructors, so I was hopeful the food would be good.
Oh my gosh was it ever! First off, the goat was butchered fresh (apparently you can just drive 10 minutes south of the city and buy live goats to butcher...wow). So the Navy guy who did that piece is now nicknamed "Goat Slayer". And then one of the African natives roasted it with all the traditional sauces. There were other foods there and some African wine. However, the best part of the evening was the ceremonial eating of the goat's balls. No really...it's like a delicacy and supposed to give a man 'extra manhood' or something like that. The native guys were all over it, and we Americans were skeptical, but some tried it. Heck, "Don't Ask Don't Tell' was repealed, so eating balls isn't a big deal anymore! Ha! Anyway, I wasn't going to try them. I'm not a weird food eater. I would totally lose that part of Amazing Race. "Lonnie" insisted that I've eaten cow balls and turkey balls (I'll deny it forever!), so I took the plunge and I was surprised that they were really good! Not that I'm going to be actively trying get more goat balls, but I won't run away screaming next time they are offered.
I was told in Zimbabwe that if a woman eats goat balls she will become infertile. Some weird traditional form of birth control?? I don't believe the hype, but it did give me a reason not to try them. Actually, "I don't eat goat" was one of the first Shona phrases I learned there because the goat I did try was so rubbery it was foul. Glad you had a better experience!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I was actually thinking about you the whole time and wondering if you had had a similar experience in Africa. There was a guy there who had goat in Uganda, and I guess it was a city goat and tasted horrible. Apparently the tasty goats are in the country. And as far as the birth control piece, that's OK by me :)
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