People always say "Come to my house." But then don't give a real invitation, like with a date and time. So then they get mad when you haven't just shown up at their house. "Where have you been? We're waiting for you." But this is all hard. I have never just shown up at a person's house. I wait for a real invitation. And then once you're there, they want you to stay, like for a very long time, and spend the night.
No one insists that you spend the night in the U.S. For most people, that's a pain in the ass. But here it's normal and expected. Maybe because it's the mountain, it's harder to move around. And people don't want to be moving around after dark--Who knows?
This has been a very different part of the culture that has been hard to navigate. I love the fact that people always want me over. It's like WHY I came to the Middle East in the first place. But then after a while, it becomes a pain because I actually have a lot of stuff to do and can't piss my whole day away.
Sometimes I literally don't leave my house because I know I'll see the neighbors and they'll invite me over. And when I walk through the souk, I have to zigzag back and forth--to say hi to some people and avoid others. My whole Aley world is a big zigzag, maybe deliberate visits, deliberately avoiding others.
2 comments:
Babygirl, your post is hilarious. Reminds me of a Nigerian friend of mine who comes over ALL THE TIME unannounced. I love it. He comes over and plants himself in the living room -- often sleeps over and we just put a blanket over him. He stays even after we've all left the house... you gotta love that.
I think that is also a part of the cultures of many African countries. Ghanaians who visit stay for a while. You have to really like your guests.
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