Cultural Things Mom's Done

Seriously, you should be impressed. My mom has been quite the trooper these last almost 2 weeks! Granted, most of her time has been with Lucy, but I mean, have you seen Lucy? She's precious. And of course, Mom wants to spend most of the time with her. You would, too.

I digress...

I just want to give you a glimpse into some of the things that Mom has experienced with us this trip:
-Using a "squatty"
-Sitting on the floor to eat meals
-Using hands to eat meals
-Trying every single thing that's been placed in front of her!

Tonight, we went to my neighbor's house. We had JUST eaten dinner, but they wanted us to come, so we did. Every visit with locals here includes some kind of food. We were lucky tonight, though. They brought out a big tray of fresh fruit! Then we had some hot tea and cookies. I thought we were "safe" with that, because a hot drink is usually served last.

But then they brought out this soup. It was....um....interesting looking. Mom got this, "Oh my goodness, do I really have to eat that?" look on her face. I feel I've come to know how to hide that look and just be super inquisitive about what I'm being served and then t a k e m y t i m e with it and talk a lot...that usually keeps me from having to eat most of what's been served.

SO, this soup. I'm asking her what's in it. I can see carrots floating around. Good. I know carrots. But I can't seem to understand the rest of the ingredients she's listing. She kept saying (in Arabic of course) "Soup of the Captain" and this other kind of soup. I had this feeling in the back of my mind that "soup of the captain" meant oatmeal because the oatmeal cans here have a picture of a Captain on the front.

Yes, I was correct. It was a soup of extremely watered down oatmeal, carrots and who knows what else! Those were the two basic ingredients. YUCK.

If you know me, you know I'm a texture person and oatmeal is right up there on my list of WORST textures around! Slimy. Gross.

So, Mom and I did our best. She ate a lot more of it than I did. I told you she's a trooper! I talked a lot and just held the bowl for a while, until finally the housemaid came in to take the tray. Yay. Saved.

And remember, we ate all this on the floor. Go Mom!

We sure will miss her when she leaves in 2 days, but I know there's one happy man back in the USA that can't WAIT to see her smiling face get off the plane!