TGIF

It's 07h21 and my day is off to the right start. A co-worker came back from vacation so he gave us each a chocolate (It's like the rule here that when you leave on vacation, you have to come back with a gift for everyone. I'm sure the spelling is off but in Malagasy it's called vondalana).

And, I got sent this picture of a recent cow sacrifice. Each province has different reasons for sacrificing zebus. Marriage, completion of construction of a house, a death, and so forth. One area I visited sacrifices zebu when there is a circumcision and incest. My jaw kind of dropped when I heard about the incest part...but when you live in such a small village...well...I guess it happens.

The sacrifice was to celebrate the production of first Nickel. I think this project kicked off in 2007, so the production of first Nickel is a big idea. The same night of the sacrifice, an expat's villa was broken into and his passport/credit cards/ipad/ipod/big screen TV, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. In any other case, this would be cause for complete freaking meltdown, but the guy that got robbed is like the happiest, smiliest person - ever. He's obviously not happy he has to replace his stuff (especially as not of it is easily replaceable!!) but he's still generally a happy guy. Not like bull$h!t smiley, but like he chooses every day to be happy and smiley. (At first this drove me so, so crazy because he has some pretty ridiculous sayings. Now? Quite honestly, I'm just really jealous.