Vol 17 Friend

Eman, the receptionist and I are becoming friends. She has taken me to meet her tailor. He makes a lot of her clothes and she always looks great. She doesn’t wear an abaya but does wear a head scarf. I bought a bunch of fabric at the big souk and I took one piece of it and a blouse that I have that I like to the tailor to copy. If he’s good I’ll have him make more. It’s only costing me about $5.00 US for him to copy the blouse and I spent about $5 on the fabric and lining as well. The fabrics here are gorgeous, especially the georgette, which is what I bought a lot of.

When I drove her home she invited me in. Eman is Omani. She lives with her husband, Yassir, and their 18 month old son in her in-laws house. I met Yassir’s mother, father, brother, brother wife and their house maid. They are all from Pakistan. It’s totally normal for a family to live together and is not economically related. Yassir owns his own house which he rents out. They were all very, very nice and very hospitable in a broken English kind of way. I was invited to dine with them. The dining room has a large Persian rug on the floor and pillows around the walls for lounging after the meal. No table or chairs. I was thinking, oh boy, my Mom would have trouble eating here with her bad knees. They laid down a strip of plastic over the rug, placed the dishes on that and we plopped down on the floor. Because they know I’m a vegetarian they served an all veggie meal. Yassir said normally they just scoop the food out of the serving dishes with their fingers and eat it but because I was there they busted out plates and forks. Ok, I have GOT to learn how to cook food like that. I have never tasted dhal that delicious and I have eaten a lot of dhal. And there was a sweet dish made from soaked grated carrot, ghee, raisins and cardamom with chopped almonds and pistachios. Maybe that doesn’t sound yummy but I got sent home with a big tub of it because I raved about it so much. Eman says she will have me over for a cooking lesson when she is feeling better. She has a sinus infection right now.

After the meal they showed me their photo albums. Pictures of their dead brothers. Eman’s 28 year old brother and Yassir’s 19 year old brother died within one month of each other in car crashes a couple of years ago. Eman’s brother left behind a wife and 2 children. She has since remarried and abandoned her children to be cared for by Eman and her sister. They take turns. She says this is not typical Omani behavior. Then they showed their wedding pictures. Combo Omani/Pakistani wedding. Lasted 4 days. That means 4 dresses for Eman. One Omani, one Pakistani, one western, and one more simple dress for the last day when Yassir came to her parents home and ceremoniously took her to his home. The first day of the wedding was ceremony and prayers. Second day was feasting. I never did get out of them what the third day was for but there were a lot of photos of family on that day. Everyone’s clothes were incredible. Her hands and feet were covered in mendi (henna). Gorgeous.

Eman is so sweet. And funny. She has a degree in translating and she’s trying to teach me Arabic but the sounds are so difficult I think she is only doing it so she can keep laughing at me. The phrase she has me say most is “come with me, please” so I can get the patient from reception to the treatment room without her help. This phrase contains the two sounds I am worst at. The phlegm clearing sound that is similar to the ch in “loch” as in loch ness monster. And the thd sound that makes me sound retarded. She laughs and laughs at me. And makes me say it over and over. I can hear that I am saying it wrong but my mouth just can’t seem to figure out how to make those sounds well yet. Every morning we run through the traditional series of hello’s and how are you’s. I pretty much have those down. And I can get the patients to open and close. I’m still working on “please wait here, while I get the Dr.” Much more difficult to learn than Thai was. I keep wanting to say things in Thai when I can’t remember the Arabic word.

She is taking me to see her hairdresser on Monday. She assures me he is good. When I see the women here without their head scarves their hair looks good so maybe I’ll be ok, but I am always nervous to try a new stylist.