Beans, Dates, and Yarps on the Tile

Being hauled up in one room this week has brought about some very funny moments. Me and the sisters have successfully had some awkward moments while being in the sandbox, but I think being trapped together 24/7 has brought more excitement to them. Here are just a few to share:

Trying to buy fooul....for the hundreth time:
We have had a very hard time getting fooul since being here. Fooul is this bean dish that is very popular and the people eat it for pretty much every meal. We were very excited to get some, so me and Maria walked around every morning, unsuccessfully, trying to find some. Wednesday we get up, with the hope of some beans, and walk out to our nearby bean seller. We get excited as we think we have picked the right time, and arrive to see the fooul is ready!! We don't have a whole lot of language down, so used the sight of money and hand signals to communicate. The men at the stand seemed to understand, and fooul and bread were quickly received. I handed the man the money and we turned to walk away. Well something happened, not really sure what and I was afraid we didn't have enough money, so I looked at Maria and said "Just keep going"....which is never the right way to handle a international interaction! I wasn't trying to steal...I was just so befumbled...my first reaction was to flee and flee quickly. We stood confused, trying to figure out if we flee or use more hand signals....and if we do that which ones to use. The older man shoos us away, but then we're called back, given money, and shooed away again. We started for home, beans in hand, money in pocket, and internationally confused!

Asked on a date to see the Pyramids....in Egypt- -
Me and another sister were gazing in her room at the brand new tile to be layed. The tile we had was brown and gross, so to see the floors covered in white and streaks of silver excited our hearts. We walked around the room rejoicing, while in my head I saw visions of dance parties and late night talk seesions. The nice Egyptian tilemen tried to speak to us in Arabic, and we tried in the swaya (little) we knew to converse back. They told us they were nice....which is kinda odd to tell someone about yourself....and that they were from Egypt. We responded....stupidily I might add....that we hoped to go there someday. They quickly responded, "We can take you....show you the pyramids". My sister responds "Ummm...that's ok..we can go ourselves" as I replied "It's time to go back to the room" and we scurried rapidly in that direction.

Interrupting the tilemans prayer- -
The end of the day had come, and we had had it. We had spent the entire day in my wonderfully air conditioned room, but were done and wanted to check out the exciting work going on outside. We step out of the room, one by one, in awe of the great tile that lay before us. The other two walk quickly to Sue's room, as her room was the biggest and the first to be worked on. I hear the oohhs and aahhs of a job well done, so speed down to see the masterpiece. Upon my arrival at the door, I see that the tileman is in the knee of yarp, as the call to yarp has just come over the loud speaker. My sisters quickly realize the same, and we all scurry into the kitchen embarrassed by our loud American mouths in a land of sand and prayer.

Lessons learned:
Beans and hand signals...not a good combo...seeing the pyramids...something to do...alone...and men yarping on the tile...let them yarp in peace!