[some unrelated cheeries]: I like that people say “upa!” I like that people walk…even if it’s several kilometers. I like that I sometimes hear Ice Ice Baby, Everybody Dance Now, and Don’t Hurt Me No More in coffeebars. I (almost) always really like the cheek-kissing greetings and handshakes. I like that we eat with our hands. I like that waiters no longer look at me funny when I order hot milk instead of coffee. I like that families (generally) spend so much time together. I like that gents wear berets. I like that I’ve been introduced to the wonderful world of leeks.
What brought on this (unusual) state of happy happy? Well, I just got back from a jolly good time with a jolly faboo family. Six sisters, ages 11-27, invited me for dinner. One girl met me at the Center to walk me to her home…a brisk 30 or 40 minute walk (uphill). Her family met me at the door with cheek-taps and handshakes. The mom is a jolly lady, and the beret-wearing dad is very kind. We had a nice little chat (eating little cracker cookies and drinking a fruit drink) while watching the news. (little fyi: so…there was an exposion in gjilan on Sun. night at the headquarters of a political party). ANYhoo, the oldest sister made 2 big pans of pite (one with a cheese mixture and one with leeks) and yogurt juice. The nine of us then gathered around the table and ate our hearts out. Yum-itty-yum-yum (that’s for you, E2).
As we sat back down on the couches, the electricity went off (hmm…come to think of it, does it ever stay on for a whole visit?). It was so neat, though. Of course it’s inconvenient. Of course it’s a problem that needs to be fixed. But sitting around a coffee table with a single candle sipping at a little glass cup of Russian tea with a big family is, well, really special. [maybe after the elec. problem in kosova is fixed families can still observe “no electricity family time around the woodstove”].
Then…wait for it…the mom brought in (wait some more)…POPCORN! What?! I didn’t know there was popcorn here. It was cooked over a fire outside, and we ate heap-loads of salty popcorn while sipping on RC Cola (of course). We talked about language mistakes, school, hair clips, birth order, worship songs…and having a sleepover sometime (yay:). When I decided that I should go, they gave me 3 little plates of food for my flat-mate and lots of invitations to come again.
It was a pleasant evening indeed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
berta that sounds awesome! ha and i like the cheeries at the beginning. i feel like i could be at a small group at acf hearing you talk about a particularly good day. :) and i'm pretty impressed with the conversation topics. i don't know if i ever talked about things such as birth order in a foreign country. families are that much cooler when you are temporarily without yours, aren't they? and i'm glad the sleepover happened. :)
acf small group: cheery/dreary time...ha!
maybe it was the same where you were, but the first questions i'm asked are about family (not "where did you go to school? what was your major? did you go to the football game?"). it gives me an outlet to gab about my faboo fam :)
Post a Comment