A few weeks ago we went to a giant feast for the Nahmwarki, which is like our State, Kitti's, cheif. They killed something like 15 pigs, people brought hundreds of pounds of yams, tons of sakau (that narcotic drink). There were speeches and then the Nahmwarki handed out portions of the pigs and food and stuff. For some reason someone handed me a quarter of a pig. The back ribs and the hind leg. We had to put it on an inflatable raft in the trunk of my car for a long time before the party was over. Then everyone starts dancing and ladies come by and rub coconut oil on your arms and neck, give out gifts to everyone, I got a a towel and some Che Guvarra flip flops, Trieste got a hair thing that we think might be chicken feathers and a skirt with designs from Tonga or Fiji on it.

I won't even pretend to understand all the things that happened, but it was one of the best things we've been able to do here.

OH, then I had to have my neighbor show me how to carve a pig with a machete. It was awesome. Unfortunately, my years of school never told me that I was cutting out the bacon...we lost the bacon ;( But we ate pork like it was going out of style for a week, Ballin out of control.

jp