Monday, September 17, 2007

Lunch Anyone?

When we first got here this time, our friends Andrew and Monica told us an interesting thing about the Balinese culture. We have always known that dog meat is considered a delicacy here, but we didn't know that when you see this sign it means, in essence, "we sell dog meat. get yer' dog meat here!"
This particular "Doggy Depot" is near the orphanage we visit. Every Sunday we pass by these inviting signs. Needless to say, we have yet to stop for lunch. In the interest of this post a friend and I asked some local ladies what "RW" stands for, and nobody knew. So I'm sorry I can't enlighten you in that area.
Poor dog, this may be his last day with us...This sign means basically - "here is dog meat".

I have learned a few interesting traditional "remedies" in our time here:
-dog meat is thought to be good for asthma, among other health issues
-yesterday I learned that some Balinese save their children's umbilical cords, then when the baby gets sick, water is poured over the cord and the child has to drink it
-a Javanese woman told me that rubbing Thomas' hair over a cut on his face would help keep it from scarring.

I'm sure other friends who live here could add several remedies to the list. What a reminder of the hope we have in Christ. These people are bound to hundreds of superstitions that don't always "work", and then are left to figure out a new superstition when a sickness isn't cured or a life is lost. I can imagine some are always wondering, "How did I get that wrong? What can I do now?"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

very interesting about the "delicacy". : )

Anonymous said...

There are some pit bulls, etc in my neighborhood that I would love to ship over for your neighborhood to enjoy.

I think that dog is so pretty, but a little too meaty to survive much longer, eh?

Thanks for the cringe and the laugh!

Audrey

Anonymous said...

the thing is, i always picture 'dog' as eating cocker spaniel, and that doesn't go over well.

hmmmm.

Christy said...

no dogs I've seen here look like cocker spaniels. I can see the discouragement there.

Not that I've seen any dogs I WANT to eat here, but at least they're not all that cute...

I'm not sure if that helps things or not.

Anonymous said...

It is always such a delight for me to check your posts, especially if I have forgotten for a while and then there is more than one to read! The dog report is so interesting, especially all those signs, sort of like fruit stand signs here in the U.S...?!

The video of the boys is so precious and they are growing so quickly. Thomas is such a little boy, and much less a "baby". Although, I still consider Bernadette my "baby", but I guess not for long.

Love to all,

Kelli

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