Desert Olives

Nice/Lekker/Hilu!

Of course we are learning plenty about our host culture here in the Middle East, but we are also learning about some other cultures due to some expat friends who have moved here.  Our closest neighbors are Dutch and have a little boy just a couple months older than Caleb (though a full size bigger, so we enjoy some great euro hand-me-downs!).  We learn so much from them and have incorporated some of their ways of doing things into our own lives.  I love hearing Caleb run around with his little friend Elias, exchanging Dutch and English words for “play”, “water” and other basics and sprinkling in a little Arabic too.  They even play “tea in a Bedouin tent”, mimicking their experiences of local hospitality.  Elias spends his Thursday mornings with us and I can confirm that, in English, Dutch or Arabic the sillies are totally cross-cultural.  Here are some of our Dutch favorites:

Toddlers and babies sleep in little sacks to make sure they stay warm

They bathe their babies in buckets – Evan loves this and seems to feel so secure.  It also made sense during the summer when water was scarce.

My friend Thea will almost always stop for coffee around 10:30 am.  We will be hanging our laundry on our dusty roof while our children play and she will bring up a little tray with coffee topped with foamed milk and a dusting of cinnamon.  Often there is a little cookie.  I just love this ritual.  It looks like this is the best time to drink coffee.

They use these great little portable tents for babies or toddlers instead of pack n plays when they travel or have a late evening with friends.  Evan loved his especially while we traveled this Summer.

 

 

Leave a Reply