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My Big Fat [Arab] Wedding

by - 12:21 AM

Well, I officially hit the host family jackpot. The best way I can think to explain the extent of their amazing-ness [yes, that is now a word], is by picturing My Big Fat Greek Wedding... Arab version. I have a 13-year old host sister I share a room with who thinks I look like Taylor Swift [don't ask] so she refers to me as "too too", 4 brothers in their twenties [who happen to be extremely good-looking tall, dark, funny Arab men], and a host mom who is the sweetest, funniest woman and will shove anything down your throat that can be digested [mostly consisting of Syrian food, zatar, and pineapple juice with the highest sugar content possible...so I'm not complaining]. The most useful word I've learned to say so far is "ana shaaebana" meaning I'm full, which Arabs interpret as, "ok ok I will get you tea and ice cream." As far as the house goes, you could literally perform surgery on the floor it's so clean [mom and dad, you have competition]. Having a clean house is a sign of hospitality since Arabs have unexpected guests nonstop. And by unexpected guests, I mean within 20 minutes of sitting on the couch, the cousins, second cousins, third cousins, and neighbors brothers uncle will have all come over, and if the house wasn't clean, all of Amman would hear about it within about 15 minute upon leaving. All of my host brothers and sisters speak English which is nice since my Arabic is lacking in the conversation department, but we try and use mostly Arabic. My host mom [who will here on out be referred to as Mama], knows three words of English: sit, eat, and "you like?" so we communicate using a mix of Arabic and charades. The brothers and cousins are all extremely outgoing and hilarious and have shown me a side of Amman that I definitely wouldn't see other otherways.  Last night we went to a hookah bar [correctly known as Marghelleh or "hubbly bubbly"] that looked like it would be a high-end restaurant in New York or San Francisco, overlooking East Amman. They ordered me a Mexican beer, which is Red Bull, limon, some other unknown substance, and absolutely no beer involved whatsoever. I'm going to cut this short because Mama is yelling something at me in Arabic. Maasalama! 

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3 comments

  1. Sounds like ur having an amazing time! Love reading ur updates i can totally picture everything ur saying in my head. Looking forward to reading more about ur adventure in Amman

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  2. wow! looks like you have an awesome host family :) thats good to hear! have fun in Amman! take lots of pictures!!

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