I would usually wake up around 8 AM either on my own or by the smell of the great foods mom is making for breakfast. I would sleep away from my family as I like this one room that has two windows and got some winds to cool the warm Gaza nights. There is also a roof fan that I would run at night to help with the air circulation. I wake up at 8, freshen up and get ready for breakfast with mom and dad and brother Mahmoud! mother would make different things for breakfast, but the list of items are not too crazy....French fried, fried tomato salad (more like sauce), fired eggplants (Yummy), olives (the ones I hand picked), fava beans (Foul), feta cheese, yogurt and sometimes Humus. There is always a plate with chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. then comes the tea, I took mine with no sugar, so my family with make the tea, take a mug out for me and then add sugar to the pot. Funny, but both my parents started taking less and less sugar as they saw my no sugar discipline. By the end of my trip everyone knew I take no sugar in my tea. Once breakfast is over, dad would go to the market to hang out with his friends' small business; Mahmoud would go to our store and help run it.
I would do one of few things, I would either go to the back of our house and hang out with grandpa at his man crib (his residence is attached to ours, he has a 4 bedroom house) and then I would take a book with me (Thanks to Roa'a, she manged to get my some English books) If Grandpa has work for me I would help out like take out the trash, clean up the place, kick the little intruders out, and most of the time there is something fresh to be picked from the trees. If not figs, pomegranate, guava, tangerines, olives, grapes for a while. all in his farm, my grandpa is protective of his farm, but he would let me do anything I want as I came to earn his trust and enjoy our little conversation. He would tell me stories about the old country and stories with graphic details about my grandma and him having a "good time".
If grandpa is not home, then I would either work on writing a blog on my laptop (no internet in my house) or watch a movie. I did watch at least 50 Arabic movies this summer, some of them are pretty awesome. Believe it or not Arab studios now spend money to make good flicks. About twice a week my dad will call me up to go the market to pick up few things he has bought (produce, cleaning, hygiene products and groceries) My nephew Ahmad, would show up asking to get his MP3 player back, as I charge it for home during the night. My mom would joke around with him and even hide it till he does some chores for her.
Then comes the prayer time, so I get read to rush to the local mosque and do my afternoon prayer, it's about three minutes walk form my house. Once that is over, I would return home and get busy till lunch is served. Once my dad shows up we can all eat together...my dad likes to give my mom some rest as she is now older and no one in the house to help her (Hey, I did wash the dishes) so he would order ready meals. so in Gaza your options are pretty limited. One can order kabobs, a tray of yellow rice and topped with roasted chickens, grilled chicken or turkey wings, fire grilled turkey kidneys...or baked goods such as manaqeesh. More later
0 comments:
Post a Comment