In my very broken Amharic, I tried to explain to him that my landlady was not present. He merely shrugged his shoulders, parked the sheep, and left. I haven't had a whole lot of experience with sheep during my farm-girl years, but I have learned a few things since moving to Ethiopia. The first is that sheep are the main source of meat and the second---a sheep knows when the end is near. Given that I was going to get nothing done due to the horrible racket that the sheep was making tied up to my back stoop, I decided to try to soothe it. I gave him some water and stale bread and then staged a photo shoot.
I was correct in assuming that the sheep's days were numbered, but I had no idea we were down to the final hour. My landlord came home for lunch, and proceeded to slaughter the sheep on my back stoop. He made a quick job of it and to give you an idea as to how routine this is…he didn't even change out of his work clothes! From that point, Hapti took over. The sheep was skinned, quartered, in a frying pan, and on my plate in less time than it takes to get through the McDonald's drive-through! The most amazing part is how much of the sheep is used. For those that are faint of heart, it will suffice to stay that very few parts go unused. I have a fairly strong stomach, but I made sure to point at parts that were going into the "food pile" that I would like advance warning as to when they are being served. I'm brave….but not that brave!
