Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

(So pretend it's this past Saturday) I woke up this morning, stumbled sleepily out of bed like I normally do, went into the bathroom to try and wake up a bit, when I heard my host mother call out to me, "Courtney! Courtney!  You're up?!  I want to show you something!"  Curious, I quickly I finished up in the bathroom, changed out of my pj's and followed her outside to the back of the house.  I peeked around to the back yard, not expecting anything too exciting, as it was still pretty early in the morning, but instead, there I stood, still half-asleep, face to face with my future dinner.

Picture this with more feathers.

Oh yes, they were in the back yard slaughtering chickens.  Don't get me wrong, I knew the chickens were there, and I knew what they were for, and I even asked to see what happens to them after 6 weeks of plumping up...but I don't think I was really prepared to see what was happening.  By no means was it gruesome or brutal, but it was something I could not expect, nor was it something I wished to take part in at that moment.  It's hard to explain the weird feeling I got, almost chills throughout my body.  I stood around and watched for a while, trying to be more interested and less disturbed-looking, even though I was very grateful for the experience, but I had to go back inside after about 10 minutes.

For those of you who want more detail into how it's done exactly.  First you need some sort of hanging funnel-type contraption hanging from a tree.  In this case, it was a bag with a small hole at the bottom.  Then you put the chicken in upside down (after it stops flapping it's wings from all the manhandling).  The head has to go down to the bottom through the hole, so just it's little face is poking out.  Then in a hopefully fast and swift motion, you simplly free it's body of it's chicken head.  It's not too messy, the head falls on the ground but only to be picked up and put in a bag for saving and I think to be cleaned off later and used for something. (Chicken beak soup anyone?)  Then the bodies, again after it stops flopping and moving around, (yes, the term running around like a chicken with your head cut off is very true) are removed from the bag and dunked into boiling water so the pores can open up and the feathers can be removed easily.  It was an enlightening experience. 

Where you goin'? NOWHERE!

I know, I'm a hypocrite.  I eat meat, I enjoy eating it, I have no remorse when eating it.  So why can't I do it?  Even more, why can't I be around others when doing it?  Perhaps it's just another one of those things I'll have to warm up to.  But for now, I will gladly accept that label - a hypocrite.

I came, I saw, I chickened out.



What am I thankful for today?
Trip to the beach this weekend - I love acting like a tourist on occasion
The chance to see how chickens are "prepared"
Kids at camp
Rediscovering Shel Silverstein poems
Mail works well here - I've sent and received letters successfully!
My host mom
My Maine mom
Curry shrimp and curry in general
Avocados - so big and good and free from the back yard!
Just watched "Bad Teacher" with Cameron Diaz - way funnier than expected
Listening to great music - I'm currently obsessed with Cold War Kids
Being here!
Being alive!
Thank you for today!