All in a Week's Adventures!

You never know where a week will bring you. Every day held some new adventure.

Sunday

I was heading to the grocery store, unhurried. A good time to stop and see my neighbor-friend at the shoe store where she works. She seemed delighted to see me, and we talked as much as we could (she not speaking much of my language and I not speaking much of hers) for a few minutes. She shared that her sister-in-law, also my neighbor, had recently miscarried her baby. She invited me to come see her on her only morning off, Friday, at 10:00.

A quick call to another friend. "What's appropriate to do for a neighbor-friend who has lost a baby?" The answer was a cake (yes, really--no gift), so I carefully chose a small fruit-covered one at the grocery store and delivered it later that afternoon.

That evening I took little gifts from my recent travels to a student and her mother who helped me acquire, then repair, local clothes. We chatted for a while, a strange mixture of English and Arabic. When the twelve-year-old brother/son came into the room to greet me, I accidentally offered him the greeting for females, but caught myself halfway through and made them laugh.

Monday

I met some friends of friends who were visiting from out of the country. They treated me to the local Turkish restaurant, and we swapped brief histories.

Tuesday

I finally caught up with my neighbor-friend who lost her baby, after having checked for her a couple of times. I had coffee at her place and a warm exchange. She asked me to please come back for lunch. So I did. And brought some raw vegetables to share . . . and some Dr. Pepper and root beer. Except that her husband was there, too, and that was different. Usually men sit quite separate from the women, but their place is so small that this would have been difficult. So we ate lunch together in the same room, though he had a separate plate of rice and tuna. He talked to me and asked me almost every nosy question in the book, from "How much do you make?" to "How much is your rent?" Awkward. I know that this is more normal here, but still I probably answered more than I needed to. Sigh.

After staff meeting for my work, I stopped by another friend's house to congratulate her on her recent engagement. "Do you know the man?" I asked her. I think what her answer meant was that she does know who he is (the nephew of someone's brother-in-law, or something complicated like that) but she doesn't really know him well. This is a cross between what I experienced in the last country I lived, where the girls often never saw their future husbands until the wedding day, and what most people say is normal here, where the man and woman do interact before they are married, and often choose their own spouses. Well, maybe this is consistent, because they will probably now interact before their wedding, even if they didn't know each other well before their engagement.

Wednesday

After language class, a different neighbor-friend came by to help me practice language. The first hour we were in Arabic about 3/4 of the time. When I thought she was about to leave, I switched into more English, and she stayed another 45 minutes! I loved having her, and we had a great conversation about faith, universal values and stories like Lord of the Rings and Narnia and Harry Potter (wow, so glad I read Harry Potter last  year so that I can intelligently discuss it), the impact of God's word in different languages. She's just fun to talk to. She's very strong in her faith, which I respect, but we have a lot of common interests.

Thursday

In the evening, I attended the engagement party for my aforementioned friend. It was maybe 50 ladies sitting on mats in her backyard. There was a dais decorated with "S [heart] T." For the first while, I visited with her cousins, also my friends. Then they took me inside to where she was getting ready. She was gorgeous in her local traditional clothes, beautiful silky pants and top down to the calves, decorated with embroidery and beads and sequins and you name it. We had our picture taken together, but not on my camera! Pictures with the girls should be at their initiative, and it's rare that they're okay with you having control of the picture.

Then I returned outside, where they served cake and cookies, then chicken and bread. She came out partway through. Then her fiance joined her. They sat together on the dais, where people could congratulate them. There was singing, a little dancing (mostly the younger girls). No men were present besides the fiance, though I think there were more nearby. Children were everywhere. I think that babysitting may be unheard of in this culture. Children go with mamas, period.

Friday

I knocked on my neighbor-friend's door a bit after 10:00 AM, as agreed, I could hear movement inside, and the lock wasn't on the outside, a sure sign that someone was home. But no one answered. So I returned at 10:30. This time my friend welcomed me. I thought it was time for coffee, but I think that it must be their sleep-in day, because they were sitting down for breakfast. All of them, my two girlfriends and the brother/husband. We had barely started eating when our mutual landlord showed up. He sat with us and ate a bit, also. Again, unusual to have men and women eat together, and I'm still pondering whether and how to avoid this in the future. It's a bit difficult because all of the times that my single friend is not working are the same times that her brother is not working, so it will be rare to ever spend time with her without her brother being present, unless I invite her over to my house all the time. Hmmm.

At the end of the meal, the girls suggested that we go sightseeing today! They discussed it and asked me when I needed to be back. I had a meeting with another girlfriend at 3:00, but they decided this was enough time to take me around. They packed some snacks, and we were off! Well, we weren't back until 3:30, and I missed my other meeting (she was very understanding), but we sure saw a lot of local sights (a traditional village, a fort and a castle from the outside, a museum, and a wadi)! And what better way to see them than with local friends, local-ish music blaring on the car stereo? We were a funny foursome, because they only speak a very little English, and I only speak a very little Arabic. But we made it work, and it was so good for me to be surrounded by natural Arabic for nearly five hours. I'm so thankful for kind local friends!

Now I'm enjoying a quiet evening at home, spending time with God and watching Masterpiece Theatre!