The meat from the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha is mostly given away to others. One-third is eaten by immediate family and relatives, one-third is given away to friends, and one-third is donated to the poor. The act symbolizes their willingness to give up things that are of benefit to them or close to their hearts, in order to follow allah's commands.

It is very important to understand that the sacrifice itself, as practiced by Muslims, has nothing to do with atoning for our sins or using the blood to wash ourselves from sin. This is a misunderstanding by those of previous generations: "It is not their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your piety that reaches Him." (Qur'an 22:37)

On the first morning of Eid al-Adha, Muslims around the world attend morning prayers at their local mosques. Prayers are followed by visits with family and friends, and the exchange of greetings and gifts. At some point, members of the family will visit a local farm or otherwise will make arrangements for the slaughter of an animal. The meat is distributed during the days of the holiday or shortly thereafter.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 

This weekend the Festival of Eid al-Adha is celebrated by Muslims here in Dhaka, and worldwide, to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as an act of obedience to God.
Eid al-Adha is the latter of the two Eid festivals here, as the first  one is much like our Christmas and is preceded by the 40 days of Ramadan.
The festival will last three days or more, and occurs the day after the pilgrims conduction Hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca), descend from Mount Arafat.

Tradition
All Muslims are expected to wear their finest clothing while performing the Eid prayer, which occurs in a large congregation or  mosque.  Then there is a sacrifice performed on the best household or bought animal that is most likely sheep and goats, but the rich can afford camels, cows and horses.
The sacrifices are done in the streets throughout Dhaka and there is blood drained out everywhere.  Being that it is not rain season, the blood stays on the street for weeks.  I know it is hard for you to picture this, and I will post some censored photos after this weekend.
The meat from the animals is chopped up and distributed to everyone,  it is common to see people walking down the street with their hands and bags covered in blood as they pick up and distribute sacrificed meat.

I can't say that I am really excited about this since the number of goats and sheep tied to trees in front of houses is increasing and they are very cute... I will be sure to post my thoughts on it after the event!

Until then, report writing continues....

On a light note!  My roommate has discovered Strawberry syrrup at the grocery store... it tastes a bit funny and is highly diluted... but we decided that when we were done reports we would have a celebration of our own which will include "italian sodas" since we have also discovered small cans of soda water....

Just felt like sharing!  I was pretty excited.  :)   I am freezing today... it's only + 25C out....

In Christ,

Corinne

The parks in and around our little area of Dhaka are actually quite beautiful and well-kept.  Here you can see three of us, myself, Hannah (my Korean roommate), and Sue (head of First School) in a park not too far from our apartments.  Although we do still have issues with getting followed and stared at sometimes, for the most part it is acceptable and safe to go here and walk and escape from the city.
Overall, I still do have moments where I feel out of place, yet I am trying to find "my version" of Dhaka, which I have found is entirely based on my attitude.
For example... when I was riding a rickshaw home from school the other day, I found myself almost shocked to pass a man riding the other way with his two monkeys sitting on the seat beside him...  you can see this two ways... you can laugh and say "Wow I wish I had my camera"  (like I did!), or you can get upset about how Dhaka isn't more civilized and Western.

I am really starting to appreciate the differences and I think that that in itself is part of the experience here... just because something is different doesn't mean that it's wrong.  Who wouldn't want their pet monkeys on the rickshaw with them?  Makes sense right? :)
That's all for today, I am just trying to note these little things more often.  Report cards are still weighing me down so I haven't been answering emails.  Please bear with me and I will get to you soon! :)

Thanks again for all of your support, it is much needed!

In Christ,
Corinne

These last few weeks have just flown by as I start planning many things as "year end" projects.  I am absolutely stunned that the time has gone by this quickly and I really barely feel like I have even settled in.  I do notice a difference in my reaction to large cockroaches.... the screams have stopped and now are replaced with mumbling and fumbling for the highly toxic spray...  but some other things have changed too that are far less obvious.

A girl was hit by a car and killed on the street in front of school today... I was speechless when I heard the news.  I felt as I had been struck.  So many things came to my mind, and after some reflection I have finally had a chance to nail down a few of them with words...

I suppose the first thing that bothered me was that her soul is now in eternity... and only God actually knows where she went.
As most of you know, I believe in one life and one death, and that if we are in this life that we can make a crucial choice about whether or not to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and follow Him.  Once we do die, I believe that our soul goes on into eternity in one of two places, heaven, which is a glory filled lifetime with God, or hell, which is a fire filled painful place of darkness away from God.

My thoughts then floated to how and what I could learn from this.... I thought about whether or not the girl knew that morning when she ran barefoot away from her tin-roof home that it would be her last... if her mother knew when she waved goodbye... sometimes I think that we can have a feeling about these things, like an instinct or a reminder in our hearts to cherish what we have...but perhaps that is more rare than we would like it to be, and even more likely, perhaps we are too busy to feel it.

I think that God does give us "reminders" in life, and that more often than not he uses other people to do so... today, for instance, I recognized that we not only need to be thankful to God for what we DO have, but also for what we do not.  That His grace is the reason I was not in the place of the girl in the street today, and that there is no other reason that I am kept alive.  

I am thankful that in 1 John 5:11 - 13 that God himself tells us this: