My first Ide

And all of a sudden, it feels like my foreign allure as a Peace Corps Volunteer has earned me admission into the outskirts of a pretty sweet social circle.  I spent the afternoon brushing shoulders with some of the city’s higher-ups while we inhaled plate after plate of savory, fall-off-the-gigantic-bone meat dishes, fries, rice, salad, and all the shamosas you could ever want.

We were celebrating Ide, an important day that marks the end of Ramadan and the month-long fast endured by Muslims.  Faruk, a well-off and festive Mozambican I met after his boss gave Vikram, Anna and I a boleia to Macomia once, invited me, Anna, and Mireya over to his house to celebrate with some of the town’s elite.  A couple university Professors, the Municipal Judge, the Commander of the local Army Base, a few prominent Store Owners and Delacaya, a chiquey Mozambican who works at the Mcel Telephone Store and has a passion for club dancing, we all in attendance.  Of course, I had no idea who any of these people were (with the exception of the cell phone guy, who I’d met a few times before).  But when the Scotch started following, that all changed.

We sat down to eat in the early afternoon and stayed seated as we went through the first course, indulging in just a few of the aforementioned delicacies.  And then we drank some Scotch.

The second round of food was served buffet style and was heavy on the meat.  Following Mireya’s bold lead, I dove right in, building a mountain of food on my plate until I got to a point where the slope of the pile was so steep that if I’d added anything else, it wouldn’t have fallen off.  A pleasant change of pace from my own under-flavored cooking, it took me a little under 3 minutes and 30 seconds to show that stack of food who it’s daddy was.  And then we drank some more Scotch.

As it turned out, there was more reason to celebrate than just the end of Ramandan.  Faruk’s son had a birthday, and that meant there was cake.  In the spirit of my sister, I managed to find some room on the upper shelf in my stomach for dessert, in all its chocolaty goodness.  And then we drank some more Scotch.

As the sun began to set, so too did our eyelids.  We excused ourselves and said our thank you’s and goodbyes.  A job well done.  Between the amount of food I’d eaten and scotch I took down, I figured I’d made my sisters and grandpa pretty.  I like this Ide thing.  I can’t wait for it to come again next year!