Chickens are evil raptors

Up until now my days in village have been fairly quiet since I've mostly concentrated on learning the Seereer language and integrating successfully into my village. This being the case I have had a sufficient amount of time on my hands to sit and think about the deep things in life like: what is the meaning of life? Where will the future lead me? and what the freak is that chicken doing!?! But don't be worried, it isn't only chickens. I also daily catch myself gazing awestruck at goats, sheep, cows and horses. Just the other day I was visiting another volunteers village when we both realized that we had been sitting and commenting on goats for 15 minutes. Yes, the life I lead is exceptionally exciting.

Since I've done so much 'research' on these beasts of Senegalese households, and since I've always been a huge animal person, I decided I'd compile a list of interesting facts that I've learned. So here we go:

1) Chickens are not herbivores. I learned this while I watched a 'pack' of them hunting down and eating frogs.
2) Chickens are cannibals. This was discovered when I watched them viciously fighting over the entrails of      one of their previous friends.
3) Roosters do not crow only in the morning. They crow ALL DAY LONG! Their favorite spot? Right next    to me while I'm trying to read or sleep.

(Can you tell I hate chickens yet)

4) A braying donkey sounds like a car crash.
5) Like roosters, donkeys like to bray all day long. They also very much enjoy braying randomly throughout    the night.
6) Baby goats are the cutest things in the world...except for my niece. Nothing is cuter than her.

Baby goat = adorable

My niece = beyond the ability of words to describe

7) The sheep here are the ugliest things in the world.
8) Apparently the inside of my hut is the perfect place for horses to hang out. (I need to get a picture of this     one)

9) According to Islam, cats hold the keys to heaven, and dogs hold the keys to hell. I tend to agree with the cat part since getting my two cats has means that I no longer have mice. However, I think the dog portion    should be changed to chickens. 

This is what heaven looks like. (This is one of my cats, Abdul Fall Cheese Ninja lounging about.)

And this is what hell dogs really look like

I think that's enough for now. I'll check back in soon with an actually informative update on my life :)