After Ali and his friends invited me to experience their traditional cooking last time, I couldn’t wait to hang out and eat with them! They invited me to bring a friend, so my roommate Katie and I showed up around 10:30, were greeted by Ali, then he jokingly said they just started cooking- we were in for a late night haha… When we walked in there were at least 10 guys in the living room, made up of mostly Ali’s friends I had met before including Hassan and Mohamed and their good friend Jia. I didn’t realize what a fun feast they had planned, and for just starting, the house already smelled delicious. We sat down and talked with everyone while Mohamed and Mohamed were cooking away. One guy (wish I could remember all the names!) offered us Krispy Kreme donuts with the tea we all were having, and not one for donuts or wanting to spoil my dinner, I politely declined, but then found myself experience a mild cultural incident- Ali said (with a playful tone) “Ah, you’re doing to deny our sweets?” I explained my reason and thanked them genuinely anyhow, then Ali said, “In our country it’s common to have tea and eat something sweet before a meal rather than after.” I guess my face seemed embarrassed and I did feel I’d been rude now to refuse, but Ali quickly assured me it was fine and that they just wanted to show us their cultural traditions…still I didn’t deny anything else they offered for the rest of the night!
We all just talked and got to know about each other for the hour the boys spent cooking; everyone was so curious to ask me as well as Katie about FSU, our majors, our families and our future plans, just as we asked them a million questions about their culture and their plans.There is just never a shortage of awesome stories when discussing life with students from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey- even though among that group there is also no shortage of tangents breaking out in Arabic. It was funny to watch them joke around and slip into their native language, laughing and shouting and busting on one another, seeing who is the biggest joker among them; Katie and I couldn’t understand exactly what they were saying, but we could tell what they meant, like who had cracked the best joke or who had said something ridiculous. We were all laughing and having a great time, and then it was time to eat! Ali asked if we minded eating on the floor, to which we replied absolutely not, and all circled the multiple pans of chicken and rice, the curry smell making my mouth water. Then Ali passed out spoons (which they had just specially washed), and when one guy refused, Albraa (the joker) yelled something in Arabic and motioned at me and Katie; it seemed Albraa was trying to persuade him not to eat with his hands with the guests they had. Katie and I told them we didn’t mind at all and if that’s how they wanted to eat that way they should, but they all went along with spoons. After just a few minutes Mohamed was annoyed and whispered something about it to me, so I said, seriously, use your hands then! Still hesitant, Katie and I put down our spoons and started eating with our hands (even though rice is a challenge), and the guys loved it- they all started digging in. The meal was so delicious and after we finished I thanked Mohamed for cooking, prompting the group to teach us the Arabic saying when thanking the chef, which includes a response from him. Our pronunciation was definitely off, but they cheered our effort. I have truly never felt so welcomed and appreciated as a guest by anyone, let alone a group of college age guys- I love my Arab friendsJ
After dinner the gang taught Katie and I how to play a popular card game in their region called ‘kout bo 6.’ It’s somewhat similar to Hearts, but when everyone is a kout bo 6 expert, it’s really confusing! I paired with Mohamed and Katie was with Albraa, but you don’t speak to your partner, you have to just play and hope you’re on the same strategy- needless to say, both us girls had a guy in our ear telling us what cards to throw- it was so funny. The rules dictate playing to 100 points, and when we kept switching up partners and calling them practice rounds, we ended up playing until 3:30 am- no joke! After all that time Katie and I had gotten pretty good and we were all being competitive and lost track of time. I never expected a traditional dinner invitation to be such a full night of fun, not just discussing these students’ lives, but also experiencing a night of fun they would have together even if we weren’t there. Truly a night I’ll never forget!
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