So now I truly understand the meaning of the expression “til the cows come home”. It’s probably my favorite part of the day. The cows really do come home. I’ll try to explain.

Pulaars, the ethnic group in my area, are traditionally herders. They herd cows, goats and sheep. Animals are everywhere. They’re usually making noise. My family owns 20+ cows, and 6 or 7 goats. A lot of mornings I wake up to moo-ing. It can be really loud. Anyway, every morning my host mom and every other herder in the town take their animals out to the fields. It’s pretty hilarious to witness.

One day I told my host mom that I wanted to go with her when she took the cows out. She laughed and said ok, like yeah right you’re gonna take the cows out. Turns out the next day I didn’t, because I had some minor stomach issues. I felt kinda dumb that I hadn’t kept my word, but a few days later I woke up to moo-ing and felt great, so I decided I’d go out with my mom. The cows sleep in the ‘back yard’ tied up to posts in the ground, so I went back there and found my mom untying them. She smiled, and I didn’t have to explain what I was doing…she just pointed at her walking stick and told me to pick it up. At this point I’m beside myself with giddiness, but I’m not sure why the prospect of taking some cows out was so exciting. It was though, and I was singing to myself “I’m becoming a herd-er, doo da, doo da, I’m becoming a herd-er, I could herd all day long!” I followed my mom around while she was untying all the cows and pretty much just stood there. She opened up the back gate and shooed out the cows, and I told her that my stomach didn’t hurt anymore and that I felt better. She laughed and said she was glad.

Our house is kind of on the far end of town, so it’s not far to the where the houses stop and the field/nothingness starts. When we got out there, several other herders were there with their herds. We walk up to them and greet and they start chatting. Some of them were kind of amazed that "Aissatoubab" (what many people around town call me) had come out, and my mom told them that I came out just to see the cows. She also told them what I had said about my stomach not hurting and feeling healthy today. They laughed. Thanks mom, now they all know that I’ve had the poos the last few days, not that it’s anything to be ashamed of. Neat. I appreciate it.

But that’s beside the point. The whole scene was pretty hilarious. It was like a bunch of moms and dads taking their kids to the bus stop in the morning. The little kids (sheep and goats) were hanging out together in one area, and the big kids (cows) were hanging out together, while the parents (the herders) were grouped together chatting. Of course at one point two of the big kids started fighting, and my mom had to go break them up (this really happened…two cows were starting to ram each other and my mom ran over and broke them up!). Then there’s always a little kid who’s afraid of getting on the bus and the mom has to drag him to the bus stop. Only instead of a mom pulling on a kid’s hand, I turned around and saw a lady literally dragging a sheep by its horn. I don’t know what its problem was, but it wasn’t budging and the woman had to put forth a decent amount of effort to drag this dumb animal along to the bus stop.

Eventually somebody drove off the animals and they meandered into the distance. It was kind of anticlimactic…I thought we’d have to do more. But that’s just the when the cows are going. It’s way better they come back. Everyday around 6ish the cows come home. That might not sound too exciting, but it puts a smile on my face everyday.

The cows come home everyday through the front door. It’s hilarious. They usually announce their presence with a loud moooooo as they’re scrambling up the front steps. Sometimes the ones with really big horns have to turn their head sideways so they can fit through the door. Most of the time they walk straight through to the back, but a lot of times the more curious ones kinda wander around our courtyard area. They sniff and lick at dirty dishes until somebody shoes them off. Some days when I’m really bored I give them names and personalities. Here’s some pics:

Ok I'm about out of time...hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Later!