Charles_CP3

After tutoring Majdi, he asked if I would like to come to dinner with him. He did not really give me too many details, he just said it is at his friends house and that is was to break fasting for the day. I did not really know what to expect but I didn’t think there would be more than a couple of people there. We walked to my car and on the way I explained to Majdi what fraternity and sorority houses were as we passed them. This was very hard to explain to Majdi because he has never heard of anything like this and because there is still a significant language barrier present. We got to my car and drove over to his friends house. When we got to the door, the first thing I noticed was how many shoes were outside. I knew that this was not going to be a small gathering. As we entered, I saw around 15 people in the house. All of them greeted me kindly and I recognized a few from class observations. On the living room floor was a mat with a bunch of food on it. Everyone was sitting indian style around the mat and eating. I was quickly given a plate with a bunch of food on it and encouraged to eat. I was not sure what I was eating but it was very good. I was also given Muslim coffee which was a bit spicy like chai; very good. They were mainly speaking Arabic but they still included me and they were making jokes. They asked me a lot of questions about where I’m from and what I’m studying. After the first course they cleared out the living room and got in lines to pray. They told me that I could just sit on the side and watch. I wasn’t sure if I could still eat while they were praying so I just waited. It was a very interesting situation, I have never seen Muslims pray in person. After they prayed, they laid down another mat. I wasn’t sure if they were having more food because we had already eaten so much but sure enough there was another course coming out. They started with a soup that I didn’t get much information on but it was very good. I was told to add some lemon to it. After there was a pasta and baked chicken dish with some sort of pita bread. I asked them what type of bread it was but they did not really know how to say it in English. To complete the course was some watermelon. After we finished eating everyone started to clean everything up before leaving. I stood up and said thank you to everyone, shook some hands and left with a few people. It was a very interesting experience. Everyone was incredibly nice and hospitable. I thought it was going to be a small group so when I saw all of the people I thought I was going to be imposing but that was not the case. I hope to see Majdi again before the semester is up.