3/13/2010

Quick side note – We got named yesterday, and I forgot to write about it. Jay was Lufuno, which was love, Benji was Takarandi, which was happy, Hannah was Mudzizo, which was questions, and I was Funzo, which was education. I don’t know why.
Turns out there was a scorpion in our hut last night. A big one. Avery poisonous one. TIA. We started out the day very similarly to yesterday, eating breakfast and washing our faces. Then we went to the store to buy a chicken to cook. We brought it back by holding the wings, and then let it run around the house area until we were ready to kill it. Then we went and collected wood. All of the kids went, including a 15-year-old girl named Delicious. She is my idol. She is only about 5 feet tall, and is as strong as a body builder. She was hacking away at the log so accurately that it looked like a machine. Hannah tried to chop wood (rather successfully, I might add) while I hung back, afraid of chopping my foot off in the process. When we had gathered enough, we tied it into bunches and brought it back. Lara came right as we were carrying it back, and was so proud of us 
**DISCLAIMER: DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE FAINT OF HEART AND/OR STOMACH**
When we got back, it was time to prepare the chicken. The first thing that happened was Cynthia (Mpo’s sister) teased the chicken by holding a knife to its neck in the middle of the house. Hannah and I were sure that she was just going to kill it right there. Luckily she didn’t, but then she brought it over to the side of the house and had us watch the process. They collected the blood in a basin to use later. It was definitely an experience watching her slaughter the chicken. Woof. After it was dead, she poured boiling water over it, and then cracked off all of the talons and de-skinned the feet. Then off came the feathers. Hannah and I helped with this part, as it wasn’t technically challenging or physically difficult. It was kind of gross though :P. Once it had been de-feathered, Mpo cut it into pieces like you would find in the market. She separated the intestines out, as they were going to be cooked as well, but in a separate dish. We then threw all of the meat parts (including the “walkie talkies,” or head and feet) into a pot to cook together. While waiting, Mpo had Hannah cut up the liver into little pieces and had me mush mealie meal into the congealed blood; later, Hannah had to mush the liver INTO the blood. Mmmmm. We cooked the intestines in a separate pot with the blood and liver, and also a bean leaf dish. When we were all done, the chicken (whom we had named “Dinner”) looked delicious, the intestines smelled good but looked weird, and the leaf dish was glue. That was the only leaf dish that I just couldn’t eat because of the texture. The boys finally came back, and we ate Dinner for lunch.
In the afternoon, we accidentally took a nap, and then were dressed in traditional Venda apparel. We had a photoshoot, and then went to play games and dance with the little kids and women. We played extreme jacks (which I suck at), and then danced our little hearts out. The kids kept teaching us things, and then laughing at us when we couldn’t do them very well. Ah well. We decided to name our dog Kevin, as it was a girl, made funny noises, and fell asleep with her tongue in the dirt, ala Kevin vega. For dinner, we didn’t really have to help much O.o so we watched and waited for them to ask us to do something. We actually had a chance to talk with the boys! For dinner, we had another leaf dish and fish. The fish smelled TERRIBLE, but tasted alright, kind of like butter. After dinner, our treat was coke (ick), and then we sat around talking for a while before completely PTFOing.