Sheep Feet on the Fire
This afternoon brought another new experience. I paid a visit to our next-door neighbors; although I’d been admiring their garden from our bedroom window, I hadn’t met them yet. I found the women on their back porch, roasting sheep feet over a little gas burner! 
It looked messy and smelled disgusting, but I was curious, and went over and sat with them. They started by singeing off the hair, then scraped off the burned skin. After trimming off other unwanted bits, they tossed the cleaned and toasted bones into a big pot, along with small pieces of meat. (There seemed to be some prized meat between the “toes.”) There were at least 20 feet in the pot by the time they were done.
There were no English-speakers among the women, so I had to rely completely on my two months’ worth of local language. I tried to find out how the sheep feet would be cooked, and got the general idea that it involved onions and a long time. I was able to communicate that I was the one who looked down from the window next door, and they had lots of questions for me. I understood many of them, and was able to answer a few. They seemed pleasantly surprised that I would come and sit with them over an unpleasant job.
There was one question that they asked me several times, and I could only shake my head and reply, “I don’t understand.” Later that evening, while I was reviewing my language lessons, I realized what they had been asking. It was, “Do you want to taste it?” I’ve sampled a wide variety of new and strange foods over the years, and almost never regretted it. This time, I had missed my chance! Now I know what that phrase means, and the next time I’m asked, I’m going to say “Yes!”
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged sheep feet by Lisa