Malaika 1, Bloody Chicken 0

As in any household there are bound to be disagreements. And the honeymoon period between me and my host family is quickly approaching an end. I would call this three month period similar to dating. Once 90 days are up-you know whether you want to move forward or not. I’m ready to move on. I would say that it does offer some comfort knowing that I’m going to a different family for another 3-4 month dancing duel. This evening my host mom tried to convince me that the chicken with blood oozing out of it was in fact good. I shook my head in dissention-stabbed my fork in a drum leg (right..i only eat white meat but I left that behind when I signed up for the peace corps) and bubbles of blood burst out. Now I don’t mean gushing-I simply mean it rose to the surface as I put my fork in the meat. One of the biggest hurdles for many volunteers is being in control of their own food. If nothing else, when your day is organized from sun up to sun down, the only thing left for a trainee/volunteer to feel like they can manage is what they put in their mouth. But with language skills being low and reserving your adamant rejection for another time in service-even the comforting power over food is swiftly yanked. I’m not as big on Azerbaijani cuisine as some of the other trainees. I can appreciate it, but don’t wake up eager to eat it. There is also the hurdle of not eating red meat which is practically a staple in this cultures diet (as with almost any culture I know). So my host family was kind enough to provide me with chicken and I thank them for it. However (this is a BIG BIG HOWEVER) I will not eat chicken that is uncooked. Now I rarely utter 2 words when I notice my host mom’s dirty black finger tips picking up food and placing it on my plate. I eat it with a smile. I don’t blink twice when I watch her rinse off forks fresh from any one’s mouth in the sink of lukewarm water with no soap, carelessly throwing it in the drawer. (Side note: when she leaves, I rush and wash it with dish liquid and a clean sponge I hid in my room). I throw caution to the wind when I eat her Borish/Borsch or whatever it’s called, soup as she swears up the wall that it doesn’t have meat in it. All the while-every other bite I’m spitting out chewed beef or lamb or cat (there are so many cats here, I wouldn’t be surprised) into my napkin; swallowing all potential grudges for blatantly lying to me.  So when she tried to make me eat bloody chicken, raising her voice ever so slightly, because to her, I’m an unreal movie and she just has to have sound effects, I simply got up from the table and walked back into my room. I left her there with the chicken that she campaigned as good and sat on my bed counting the many times I had been a little too nice. A little too passive. There was one time she walked in on me while I was using the bathroom to ask me if I wanted tea. There was another time she burst in my room when I was getting dressed to press me about whether I wanted to have a piece of bread or not (yes, bread is so sacred that it is even placed higher than the naked holy temple). There was another time she was talking so fast that she burped out her sentence. An excuse me did not follow. I went after that burp, stopped it and asked if it had seen ‘excuse me’. The burp told me, that it had never heard of such a thing as an ‘excuse me’. I’ve watched her cough all over food. I’ve watched her come out of the bathroom hands unwashed. These things-these things that cause strep throat, colds, flu like symptoms, stress, earaches, the runs, weight loss, and salmonella related deaths are not to be taken likely. The bloody chicken was the last straw for me and I could have cared less that she raised her voice full of defense, illogical defense at that. I wasn’t trying to hurt her feelings but I look at it this way, I’d rather her be sad and offended for one night versus me being grossly, unforgettably sick all because this one time I wasn’t the all too appeasing reformed American. For dinner I had a Kashi granola bar and some tea. After this post I am heading to bed satisfied.

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