My home

So I’m moved into my homestey and I’ve meet my family.  Wow, they are exactly what I was expecting and exactly what I was not.   But I really like them.  I have Baba who works til very late at night, like we’re talking bedtime, he’s getting home from work.  And Mama, who works at a day care.  Then there is Naheel, who is 16 and Nardeen, who is 10.  Nardeen is the biggest bundle of energy. She exhausts me!  But in a very good way.  She is constantly helping me learn more and more and more Arabic.  Just more than I can handle in a day.  But last night she sat and quizzed me over and over about numbers and days of the week and body parts, and again today.  Nardeen also helped me unpack everything, folding all my clothes and carrying my suitcases. 

They have another daughter, Jacqueline, who is 19 and just married like a month ago.  It was an arranged marriage from what I gather.  But according to Faize, a woman who lives in one of the apartment above us and might as well be an aunt, she met him 1 week, got engaged, married a few months later and after being married only 2 months, she loves him.  And Faize was very proud of this.  Faize speaks very good English, which is super reassuring.  In my family, Mama’s English is pretty good; Naheel’s is too. Nardeen, the youngest is either the best or just the most energetic and willing to try.  Baba is a little harder.  But its all good.  I’m getting along fine.

  And then mama’s sister and husband live just next door, in the same building.  And they also have an exchange student, Anna.  So us girls have each other if nothing else!  My aunt Neda is very willing to teach us Arabic too.  (And call off Nardeen when she overwhelms us!) Her husband, (and I can’t recall his name enough to spell it…) doesn’t speak much English.  So that conversation is limited for now.  The two families spend all their time together it seems. And Faise is never far. Every meal and time in between. 

They definitely keep feeding us.  Anna and I got Naheel to teach us how to say “I’m too full!”, as a way to avoid the overstuffing. But it barely works.  And only for like 10 minutes then they try again.  So in all these ways, they are what I expected.

            But they are Christian, and the girls and women all run around in less conservative clothes than I was expecting.  Short sleeves, knee skirts, capris, and tight fitting too.  Plus we were told to always have slippers in the house.   But the sisters don’t.  And to keep our rooms and closets very tidy.  But my sisters’ room has stuff in piles and messy like my room at home.  Well, on a good day…

In the end, I’m really happy I’m in this family.  And having Anna next door is such a blessing.  Between Nardeen and Aunt Neda, my Arabic is going to thrive. Because Neda doesn’t let us speak English if she can help it and Nardeen has too much fun playing teacher. Its gonna be great.

بيتي

Arabic word of the day: ba’it-ee

It means my house, my home.