Visit with Buthina's Family

Yesterday we spent the day with Buthina’s lovely family. It was very relaxing. We arrived about 2 pm and first admired her family’s lovely home. The building that contains the home is on a busy street in Tefila but you would never know it as the back of the building where the family has their home has a beautiful view of the mountains. You can see all the way to the Dead Sea. The patio area is multi-level with beautiful plants, a terrace with grape vines, benches, and even some chickens. Cats also can be spotted roaming about. Children were flying kites a little farther off in an olive tree grove. Once we had a chance to take some of this in, we sat in the living room and met Buthina’s family members. Her mother is an incredible woman who emanates strength, wisdom, and grace. Buthina has eight sisters, two brothers, and 24 nieces and nephews. The women wear head scarves in public but the dress in the home is much more casual. We drank some tea during the introductions. Next we had a tremendous meal. Similar to the mansef there was a huge platter filled with rice, chicken, cauliflower, and almonds. There was also a pan full of delicious fish in a tomato sauce, yogurt, pita bread, stuffed grape leaves, pickles, and a cucumber tomato salad. They loved to continuously fill our plates. After lunch we had coffee and talked more and then came a huge assortment of fruit including some of the best tasting watermelon I have had in a long time. Next we moved outside on the patio. We saw more of the garden, played a clapping game, drank tea, and talked more. Buthina asked if we would each like to experience wearing a head scarf and we readily agreed (photo below). We took lots of photos and then went in to show Buthina’s mother and brother Tarek. Tarek and his mother came up with Arabic names for us. My name was Ameera. It means princess. Tarek also wrote the student’s names in Arabic for them. After that we sat and talked more and ate more fruit. Towards the end of the evening Buthina’s mother wanted to talk politics with us. She asked me my opinion of George W. Bush, Barack O’Bama, and the war in Iraq. We shared very similar views on Bush. It was clear she was very interested in my views on political issues like how come Bush was elected two times. There was a lot of laughter as we tried to improve our Arabic and they tried to improve their English. Needless to say their English was much better than our Arabic. We ended our visit around 10 pm. Upon leaving we gave kisses Arabic style -- one kiss on one cheek and two kisses on the other cheek. During the visit I also had a chance to talk on the phone with Jabbar back in the states. He is really working hard to ensure that we are able to complete our research. Shukran Jabbar!