Good morning. Habibi is eating a second helping of yogurt now, but he will be coming over to help me spell names soon. I will get started without him. I am feeling a little self conscious writing today because I know so many people have been reading the blog. People are now asking me things “off the record” and telling me “don’t write about this part.” It makes me nervous. Alan is my editor and makes sure that I don’t say things that I should not. I hope I am writing things that people enjoy. Thank you for all of the nice comments that have been sent my way. I know that the blog is being read in at least four countries: the US, Iraq, Jordan and Sweden. Who knew I would have such an international audience thanks to Facebook? Oh my.
Yesterday was a very good day filled with family. Alan has so many relatives! He has 25 cousins just on his dad’s side! I tried to make a family tree once, but there were so many people that I got overwhelmed. Now that I have faces for almost all of the names, I am thinking of trying again. I can’t help but compare this to my family. My parents have a total of five siblings and I have a total of nine cousins. We are spread all over the US in Washington, Illinois and Georgia. I did not grow up with any of my relatives around me, other than my dad’s mom later on. It is so different here. Family is everywhere. It is so nice to watch the strong bonds they share. I feel lucky to now be part of this large network of loving people.
Our first visit was to the house of Inaam, Alan’s aunt and the wife of Mahir’s step-brother. She was full of energy when teasing Alan that he has been in America for far too long and that he should have come back much sooner. She was full of smiles towards me. Alan’s young cousin, Hassan, came inside during our visit. He saw me and quickly hid to the side of the door. A few seconds later, I saw his little face peek around the door. He saw I was looking and ducked away again. We kept telling him to come in, but he resisted. This seems to be a common trend I have seen with the cousins. They all seem to be shy. The aunts tell me that they all go to English schools and learn almost all subjects in English. They even speak almost all English when they are with their friends. However, they don’t speak English with their families even when they ask. They also did not want to practice their English with me. Most were too shy to talk to me at all. As we were living, Alan translated that she thinks I look a lot like her. I agreed. We have the same skin tone and similar soft features. Apparently, this has been a comment frequently mentioned among the relatives. They have been saying that there is no way I am foreign because I look so much like Mahir’s mom’s side of the family. She had light skin and blond hair. Maybe we have a common ancestor in the distant past.
Our second visit was to Alan’s aunt and uncle, Nezhet and Mohammed. Their daughter, Vian, was in town with her husband Ali. Vian and Ali are doctors that live in Manchester, England. They have lovely accents and it was nice to have a conversation in English for a while. They showed us pictures of their granddaughter and invited us to their son’s wedding in England. The traditional engagement event is in May and the wedding itself is in August. Unfortunately, one is right before finals and the other is right at the beginning of the school year. England is too far away for just a weekend trip. I told them that Alan may be able to get away, but I don’t think it would be possible for me. The house was beautiful. I have already posted a picture of it from the balcony overlooking the sitting room. I have more pictures of the layout that I will post when I get home and we have a faster connection speed.
It was now time for lunch. Aunts Sharmin and Faryal had invited us over for Kufftah, the dumpling soup that I had on my first day here. Lunch is no small affair. It is the main meal, but still larger than any main meal we have for dinner. I think I eat at least twice as much here. People keep telling me to eat more. I don’t want to act as if I do not appreciate their hospitality, so I always eat more. I am lucky my clothes still fit! ☺ You will have to look at the pictures of the lunch, if you have not done so already. It was a lot more that a casual lunch of soup! I forgot to take pictures of dessert, but there were also at least four different types of dessert to go with our tea.
Joining us for lunch were Sharmin, Faryal, Namir, Araz, Tawar, Kosar, Mahir, Tanya, and Shayan. The new addition to the party (to me) was Alan’s cousin, Leezan, and her three daughters, Dunya, Danya and Deema. Deema is only a year old and I had to go talk to her as soon as she came in with Danya. Dunya and Danya had been too shy to talk to me earlier. I got Danya to open up a little bit when I asked her questions about Deema. There is a picture already posted of Alan and I with Leezan, Dunya and Deema. Apparently, Danya used to have a big crush on Alan before he left. She was too shy to talk to him here. We need to hang out more, so they know we are not scary at all. I hope that can happen before the very end of our visit. We still have eight more days.
We left the family house for another compound of family houses of cousins Awat, Awreng, Sarok and Rashid (Rasho). Mahir, Tanya, Alan and I were escorted into a very large sitting room. The large room was needed and was soon filled with new faces. Rasho is married to Vian, and they have four daughters: Shem, Shara (my new BFF), Sharmin, and Danya. Shara is taking chemistry. I was known in the house already as “the chemistry teacher.” Namir called the girls that told them to come and to bring their science books with them! It was time to tutor! Most of the girls were shy, but Shara loves strangers and foreigners. We got along well from the start. I taught her about my reaction type square dancing, which really helped her remember the reaction types. We talked about how some reactions are BOTH synthesis and combustion. I made her get paper, so we could practice balancing. I told her that she needs to use Heather’s strategy of using different color Skittles to represent the different elements, so she can picture what these numbers mean and what the molecules look like. She doesn’t like Skittles, but she like M & Ms. I told her that she can do her homework and then eat them as a reward! ☺ Tanya told me later that they pay tutors $10,000 per student and a session usually has 4 to 5 students. They think I should come back this summer to be a tutor. They have promised me constant air conditioning and a lot of money. I will have to think about that. It is $6000 just for Alan and I to fly over. I doubt it will happen, but it was nice to be asked.
Instead of tea or coffee, sugar-free hot chocolate was served with icy cold pieces of chocolate. It was a yummy way to pass the time. Towards the end of our visit, we were taken to the family house still under construction in the compound. The roof has amazing views that I have posted pictures of already. The skyline is beautiful with all of the lights. Vian really wants to make a cheesecake. The thing called cheesecake at the Lebanese bakery tasted nothing like cheesecake. I shared the link for the recipe my mom and I use with Shara on Facebook and she is giving it to her mom. I have heard that sour cream is hard to find here, so we may have to play around with the ingredients. While we were roof, I saw a cat running along another part of the roof. I get so excited when I see a cat. There are strays all over the streets. There is a cat that the family feeds. They do not take the cat to the vet, but they thought it was ok for me to pet. That cat was so tiny and skinny. She ran towards me, but would not come close. I called out, “Wedda Pasheela,” which means “come here kitty.” The pasheela did not wedda. Sad. I don’t think I will have another opportunity to pet a cat while I am over here. I am missing Topo a lot.
Side note: Alan and I are arguing about the spelling of “come here.” I hear it as “wedda.” I know that when I say “wedda,” Alan says that I am saying it correctly. The problem is that Alan thinks it should be spelled, “warra” where you have to roll your r. I can’t make this sound at all. If you are American and pronounce it my way, then you will be saying it correctly. Do not worry. However, if you are middle eastern, then you probably think I am as crazy as Alan does right now. This means that you know how to roll your r’s and can say it Alan’s way. Mom, you are the speech therapist. Please give your expert opinion. You know how to roll your r’s.
We got back to Alan’s house in time for dinner. That is right. We are always eating. Good thing that the food is always so yummy. We had leftovers from Christmas dinner. It was light and casual. It was a quiet evening at home, watching TV and relaxing. It was a good end to a good day.
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