A Visit

Visiting is a huge part of culture here.  It is how one honors their friends and family and it is how people spend time together.  There are a lot of age-old customs and ways to make a visit hospitable.  A visiting friend joined me on a typical weekday visit with a neighbor and took a few photos.  I thought I would use them to share about all that is involved in visiting friends here.

• Some visits will start with a coffee spiced with cardamom called qawha sada (photo below along with girfa because we were visiting a mother after a birth).  I notice this shared more often in traditional settings and in Bedouin tents.  A host will come around with a carafe and pour a bit of the coffee into a little cup for each guest to drink, shaking the cup when to show they are done.  The cup and carafe are then taken to the next guest.

• At a typical visit, we greet at the door with kisses and questions about health and family.  We remove our shoes and settle into the mats set around a sitting room we call “farshaat.”  These are such a natural setting for moms with little ones, who love to play and tumble on the mats.

• A host will usually serve all three beverages: juice, sweet black tea (fresh mint is added in the Summer), and coffee (either sweet, strong Turkish coffee or Nescafe with lots of milk and sugar).  Coffee is served last and signals the the guests are free to go if they need to.  I try to keep to this system if I host though I usually make American coffee with foamed milk for friends to try instead of Arabic coffee.

• Often plates of cookies and bowls of fruit with knives for peeling will be passed around.  A host is up and down bringing these things.  My friends make it look easy and natural though all these expectation have taken some getting used to for me!

• Between all these beverages and snacks, we chat and laugh about all kinds of things – from weddings and babies to funny stories and memories to cultural discoveries to faith.  I find visits are often warm and fun.  Our friends are masters at making one feel welcome.

• On our way home from a neighbor’s house, we often stop at shops to get things like yogurt and eggs.  Caleb’s favorite is the bread baker where he almost always gets a sample…