after landing, quickly buying my visa (luckily no questions asked) and gathering my luggage i was greeted by an enthusiastic kamel and his youngest daughter bana, who has a delightful smile and sparkling eyes. upon greeting me and welcoming me ‘home’, kamel instructed bana to, “hug the glenna” which she did willingly. later when kamel stopped for some quick groceries the first thing she asked me was “are you on facebook?”. she’s 11. we then moved on to other subjects: reading, basketball, horseback riding, and most importantly who i was supporting in the world cup (“not brazil??”).
we arrived at kamel’s lovey home where i was surprised to find not only a pool but (i’m told) a sauna. upstairs i met his lovely wife, mervat, and eldest daughter, aya, as well as his brother who lives in the apartment next door. it was about 5:00 but we all sat down for “lunch” which turned out to be a huge meal –chicken, onions, potatoes, carrots, eggplant with yogurt, tzatziki, rice with pine nuts. (i had bana quiz me on the meal beforehand; i can now tell you how to say ‘knife’ and ‘carrot’..) of course food was heaped on to my plate without hesitation. as soon as i finished some, more would appear. needless to say, by the end of the meal i was sufficiently stuffed.
after watching a bit of the US-slovenia game and allowing our food to digest, i headed out with the girls for some shopping. we went to the outdoor shopping mall, which is quite posh. here i learned that aya (almost 16) is a master shopper, or more accurately a master of taking her time shopping. a bored bana asked her mother if they would be in the adidas store for two hours to which she replied, “of course. it’s aya.” we stopped in several other stores (i admit i was excited to see some french ones – promod, etam, zara. and i’m told sales start next month.. this could be bad..) before ultimately leaving with the intended purchase – a birthday gift for a friend – plus a few extras.
at this point mervat dropped off the girls and talked me into going to ‘the club’ to meet an old friend of hers. we arrived at the club (where she’s not a member, though she told the parking attendant different) and walked past a christian baptism and a meeting of a japanese organization. out on the terrace we met up with the other ladies, who were just beginning their hookahs and chatting. we ordered lemonade with fresh mint leaves (delicious!) and each of the women ordered several dishes. all told, there were 10 plates of food on the table, not including various breads. hummus, pita, tabouleh, mushrooms, zucchini.. just to name a few. the visiting friend talked about her life in copenhagen and showed us pictures of her adorable (and tri-lingual) 4- and 5-year old daughters. after a while we left, mervat using my tiredness as an excuse (though truthfully i was getting sleepy).
at this point i unpacked my things, a nice luxury after five weeks of spending no more than three nights in the same place. i think i’ve displaced bana from her room, given its rather pink-heavy decorations (a stuffed dog was left on the bed to greet me), which i feel somewhat guilty about. but the family is very welcoming and i already feel quite comfortable here.
hopefully i can make the most of the next few weeks and really learn a lot of arabic and even get in some work at the museum. insha’allah.
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