I've lost track of how many new people I met during the recent holiday. Most of them were family members of students, though some were family members of someone I affectionately call "my creepy friend R."
My history with R, in case I haven't yet recounted it for the blog, was receiving a text from him one day announcing that he was a friend of my friend Fanny's. Could he practice English with me and I practice Arabic with him? Except that he never specified that he was a him. He only said Fanny's friend. And in a society where girls don't really have guy friends, I never thought to question his gender. Until after we had set up a time for him to come to my apartment, and I asked for his name. And asked again. And asked a third time. I started to think this was a creepy person then.
But he did answer: R. A guy's name. So of course I quickly told him that there's no way he was coming to my house. He protested. "But I'm just a child!"
"How old are you?"
"24."
Twenty-four doesn't exactly qualify as a child in my book, so I still told him no. Maybe if he were 12. And then I started wondering, How old does he think I am?!
No matter. I didn't have him over to my apartment. And I asked him not to contact me. He respected that for months. I think I contacted him next, perhaps about a question regarding the bank he worked at. We would chat on and off after that.
Then when some of my colleagues had a 20-ish guy come to town to visit for a few days, I thought of R's desire to practice English. This could be the perfect outlet! He gave the friend a night on the town, introducing him to eight or nine friends. Q had such a great night, and I think R enjoyed it to.
But then I owed R something. So I made him candy and sent it to his workplace with my colleagues.
Only--heh--in the meantime, Fanny, who had first introduced me to R, informed me that he actually was a creep of the first degree, and she produced sufficient evidence to back it up. Evidence that also partially incriminated herself, but evidence nonetheless. I let R know that I knew some of it, and he hasn't spoken to Fanny since. Just as well.
So we've had a tenuous friendship for going on two years now. He's nice, but he slips back into creepiness when he texts me out of the blue to say that he saw me in the car with a "beautiful woman." Or when he gives my number to his best friend who subsequently half-proposes to me. Or when he tells me that he can help my friend get money from his bank on the weekend. (Um?!) Or that he wants me to find him a foreign girlfriend. I pretty much told him he was crazy. No, I always tell him where I stand on issues and how my faith impacts that.
But when someone from his bank creeps my apartment mate out by driving slowly next to her, I tell R and he promises to take care of the guy. Or when I have any questions about bank branches and so forth, he answers them for me. He's kind, and occasionally useful.
Last holiday, he told me that he saw my car in his neighborhood and told me to come over to his house. Right. I was never going there alone. But Betsy, who is motherly, and whose young friend he helped out, has a natural connection to R through that. So this holiday when he told me to come over to his house, I decided to call his bluff. Betsy and I went. I expected him to back out up until the last minute. I mean, what guy that I know that much dirt on is gonna put me in a room alone with his mother?! But he pulled up in his white car and escorted us to his house. He said, "Happy [holiday]. I will bring my family, and I will go out." And he did. In came his mother and sisters and sisters-in-law. Out he went, and I haven't seen him since.
I had a great time listening to his mother's health concerns. His sis-in-laws were warm, but it was hard to read his sisters. It wasn't until the night of the visit that they started WhatsApping up a storm, showing that they actually did like us. I think the language barrier was a downer, because Betsy speaks little Arabic, and I was concentrating on their mom's health problems a lot of the time. But they were very free on Whats, and then put us in a group with all eight sisters and sisters-in-law! They've been entertaining me ever since! A fun group of gals!
Truly this post wasn't supposed to be about my creepy friend R. But through him, I met nine new friends (well, eleven, if you count his aunt and cousin who stopped in). So maybe that's why I'm supposed to know him. Except that I love him even in his creepiness, even if I won't hang out with him. And I think there's a quote somewhere that says that it's not the normal but the creepy who need a friend. Okay, my paraphrase.
But between R's family and several other students and their families that I met--wow--I sometimes wonder if my heart will explode! Because I love them all so much. And I wonder how there will be room in my heart for a few more. But there always is. My parents used to say, "Where there's love, there's room." And that is why my heart is expanding, not exploding.
My history with R, in case I haven't yet recounted it for the blog, was receiving a text from him one day announcing that he was a friend of my friend Fanny's. Could he practice English with me and I practice Arabic with him? Except that he never specified that he was a him. He only said Fanny's friend. And in a society where girls don't really have guy friends, I never thought to question his gender. Until after we had set up a time for him to come to my apartment, and I asked for his name. And asked again. And asked a third time. I started to think this was a creepy person then.
But he did answer: R. A guy's name. So of course I quickly told him that there's no way he was coming to my house. He protested. "But I'm just a child!"
"How old are you?"
"24."
Twenty-four doesn't exactly qualify as a child in my book, so I still told him no. Maybe if he were 12. And then I started wondering, How old does he think I am?!
No matter. I didn't have him over to my apartment. And I asked him not to contact me. He respected that for months. I think I contacted him next, perhaps about a question regarding the bank he worked at. We would chat on and off after that.
Then when some of my colleagues had a 20-ish guy come to town to visit for a few days, I thought of R's desire to practice English. This could be the perfect outlet! He gave the friend a night on the town, introducing him to eight or nine friends. Q had such a great night, and I think R enjoyed it to.
But then I owed R something. So I made him candy and sent it to his workplace with my colleagues.
Only--heh--in the meantime, Fanny, who had first introduced me to R, informed me that he actually was a creep of the first degree, and she produced sufficient evidence to back it up. Evidence that also partially incriminated herself, but evidence nonetheless. I let R know that I knew some of it, and he hasn't spoken to Fanny since. Just as well.
So we've had a tenuous friendship for going on two years now. He's nice, but he slips back into creepiness when he texts me out of the blue to say that he saw me in the car with a "beautiful woman." Or when he gives my number to his best friend who subsequently half-proposes to me. Or when he tells me that he can help my friend get money from his bank on the weekend. (Um?!) Or that he wants me to find him a foreign girlfriend. I pretty much told him he was crazy. No, I always tell him where I stand on issues and how my faith impacts that.
But when someone from his bank creeps my apartment mate out by driving slowly next to her, I tell R and he promises to take care of the guy. Or when I have any questions about bank branches and so forth, he answers them for me. He's kind, and occasionally useful.
Last holiday, he told me that he saw my car in his neighborhood and told me to come over to his house. Right. I was never going there alone. But Betsy, who is motherly, and whose young friend he helped out, has a natural connection to R through that. So this holiday when he told me to come over to his house, I decided to call his bluff. Betsy and I went. I expected him to back out up until the last minute. I mean, what guy that I know that much dirt on is gonna put me in a room alone with his mother?! But he pulled up in his white car and escorted us to his house. He said, "Happy [holiday]. I will bring my family, and I will go out." And he did. In came his mother and sisters and sisters-in-law. Out he went, and I haven't seen him since.
I had a great time listening to his mother's health concerns. His sis-in-laws were warm, but it was hard to read his sisters. It wasn't until the night of the visit that they started WhatsApping up a storm, showing that they actually did like us. I think the language barrier was a downer, because Betsy speaks little Arabic, and I was concentrating on their mom's health problems a lot of the time. But they were very free on Whats, and then put us in a group with all eight sisters and sisters-in-law! They've been entertaining me ever since! A fun group of gals!
Truly this post wasn't supposed to be about my creepy friend R. But through him, I met nine new friends (well, eleven, if you count his aunt and cousin who stopped in). So maybe that's why I'm supposed to know him. Except that I love him even in his creepiness, even if I won't hang out with him. And I think there's a quote somewhere that says that it's not the normal but the creepy who need a friend. Okay, my paraphrase.
But between R's family and several other students and their families that I met--wow--I sometimes wonder if my heart will explode! Because I love them all so much. And I wonder how there will be room in my heart for a few more. But there always is. My parents used to say, "Where there's love, there's room." And that is why my heart is expanding, not exploding.
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1 comment:
Haha! Love the paraphrase! Paraphrases are just so useful, aren't they!? And sometimes do a really helpful job of communicating the spirit of things : )
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