Sunday I went to my colleagues house for a working fish fry. Behind his house, he built a student/parent community center. Sunday his students and I put up a white board and covered the floor. OK, so his students worked and I mostly watched. They would not let me do anything. I think it was because I was already sodden with sweat when I arrived. His daughter speaks English–she said they all said I sweat a lot. Hard to explain to someone who has never been anywhere else to experience cold what hot is. They have no context. Sometimes, I hear them say it is hot, but they have no idea how hot. I pretty much have a constant sheen and I feel like I am standing in mayonnaise. No wait! Maybe vaseline! No…I think mayonnaise. When I am home in January, I will cover myself in mayonnaise and vaseline and let you know which one it feels like here.

Pictures of working on the new student/parent community center. Yes. They are barefooted!

The fish fry! First we had to CATCH THE FISH! But not like southern catching fish–think more Beverly Hillbillies. Abdul raises fish in a cement pond. The trees block light and their leaves provide food. The netting you see in the video is for the baby fish to hide from the bigger fish. From fresh fish to fried fish, I tried to capture the nuances of the process.

Catching fish. (NOTE: If you are not wild about reading, you can skip down to the Youtube video.) Drain the pond and then just pick them up! Fill the pond up with just enough water to cover the fish and put banana leaves over them to protect them from the light. The rain will finish filling it. He raises tilapia and carp in 2 ponds. Yep they eat carp! I told him some stories about my grandpa and carp. Grandpa liked to catch them but not a big fan of eating them. Baby fish come to the surface to breathe because their gills are not fully developed.

Cleaning fish. (NOTE: If you are not into fish blood and guts do not look at the pictures and DO NOT watch the video.) Very interesting to watch them clean the fish. They do it a little different than I was taught. We cut the heads off. They (at least these girls did) beat the fish with a knife until it is unconscious–I think that is what they were trying to accomplish. If you are up to that watch the video.

Cooking and Eating fish. They fried the fish in a big wok. Yep with the heads–eyeballs and all. We sat on the floor in the new community center to eat. If you know me–you know I did not eat. I do not like fish. One bite and I was done.

The cat with snake eyes! Would not be a fish fry without a cat! This cat is beautiful. Her eyes are really cool!!!